317 Collective

08/08/2026

Everyone needs strong relationships with their bankers.

As an entrepreneur, Fridays are set aside for buttoning up loose ends, all the fun administrative tasks, and local lunch dates like this one where we can support local businesses.

Yesterday was perfect.

Walk.
Emails.
Lunch meeting.
Errands.
Dinner and a movie.

Had a fantastic time reconnecting and discussing business goals and needs with Studio Bank rockstar, McCuiston Dye at the ever popular and never disappoint restaurant on the lake, Moby Dicky's Hendersonville.

The way Studio Bank proactively partners with its members is impressive and encouraging .

Thank you, Laura for your consistent approach to relationship building, warm introductions, and invites to events!

If you’d like an intro to this rapidly growing, client focused bank in and now , let me know or connect with Laura directly. She’s local here in .

07/25/2026

Bringing some of the 317 Mastermind band back together for lunch at Pinewood Social. Beside the fact that they all serve others generously, here’s what I love about them, from left to right:

A.J. Nardini - former middle school history teacher, Nebraska native, proud dog dad, owner of On Demand Solutions, LLC, a global HR and recruiting firm that loves working with small business owners.

Jim Thornton - former C-suite executives the technology space, unsuspecting comedian, excellent read of people’s strengths, and an outstanding EOS Worldwide Implementor focused on getting better traction with people, processes and profit.

Dan Mossakowski - U.S. Army Veteran, former school board member, serves on various boards, and the best financial advisor in Nashville. MN Retirement Services provides planning and guidance like no other…speaking as a happy client. 🤩

John D Johnson MBA, CPSL, CSL - this guy… We met two years ago on LinkedIn, scheduled a zoom call and absolutely hit it off. John lights up the room with his positive attitude and love of people. John owns J-Squared Consultants, Inc, specializing in cost reduction and building out sales systems / sales teams for small medium sized businesses. We are working hard to save Nashville businesses money in healthcare costs and third party expenses.

Thank you, gentlemen for your partnership and friendship! 🙏🏽🥰

04/08/2026

What does a room full of founders who've stopped pretending actually look like?

Something like this. 👇🎬

From 8am breakfast to a happy hour nobody wanted to leave — March 17th at The Bard Room in Nashville was something special.

Five founders got up and told the truth.

🔨 Jim Thornton — 100 chances to strengthen your business. Would you take them?

📈 Mark Stoner — The 5 stages of growth and how to stop being stuck in the wrong one.

🩹 Leon Leinbach — Ripping off the bandaids to get unstuck and build something profitable.

⚙️ Steve Kincannon — From chaos to clarity with Profit First and EOS.

💰 Paul Sparrow — Reading the economic health of your company and where it's actually headed.

No fluff. No theory.
Just hard-won wisdom from founders who've built real things.

And then we did the 317 Mastermind Experience together — and THAT's where the magic happened.

If you've been waiting for a room like this... it exists.

Drop a comment or send me a message — the next one is coming. 👇

What does a room full of founders who've stopped pretending actually look like?Something like this. 👇From 8am breakfast to a happy hour nobody wanted to lea...

04/02/2026

I didn't start 317 because I had it all figured out.

I started it because God kept whispering — and I finally listened.

Before I ever worked with business founders, I spent 25 years in education as a teacher, principal, and superintendent. I carried a lot.

And I carried most of it alone — no mentor, no peer group, no one who truly understood the weight of leadership.

That changed when I started meeting monthly with 8 school principals. And what happened in that room is exactly where 317 was born.

🍀 We met for 𝟑 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬
🍀 Everyone brought 𝟏 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 — a challenge, idea, or decision they needed help with
🍀 Around the table were 𝟕 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 who didn't judge — they challenged, supported, and encouraged while learning from each other

3 hours. 1 thing. 7 leaders.

𝟑𝟏𝟕.

I built it for trades and home services founders who are doing real work and carrying real weight — and who deserve the right people in their corner.

This is a mastermind. This is how we operate.

And no jerks allowed. 😄

If this is what you've been looking for — reach out. I'd love to connect.

04/02/2026

We asked 5 founders who were in the room on March 17th what they were implementing immediately after the event.

🎥 Watch what they said — then keep reading.

Tanner Schwannecke — finding other like-minded people who want to succeed and help others grow.

Justin Sharpe — new marketing ideas, ready to execute.

Johnny Lapp — actively seeking more community with like-minded operators.

John O'Dwyer — building SOPs after seeing exactly how they can transform a business.

Colin Price — an AI solution to automate workflows.

These aren't vague intentions. These are operators with real businesses making real moves the day after.

Colin said it best — "The journey you're on is not something you need to do in a vacuum."

Watch the video. And if it hits close to home, reach out. I'd love to connect.

1 day.22 founders deciding to make the move from hustler operator to CEO leader and learning how from others who've already accomplished it.

04/01/2026

Some speakers give you tools.

Jim Thornton gave us a mirror. 🪞

At VIP Founder Day, he challenged a room full of trades and home services founders at the identity level…

“You cannot become who you want to become by remaining who you are.”

100 chances every year to grow your business.

An L10 meeting structure to capture them.

And the mindset shift that has to come first.

Thank you for setting the tone for the entire day. 🙌

04/01/2026

Some speakers give you tools. Thornton gave us a mirror.

At VIP Founder Day, Jim walked our founders through 100 chances to grow your business every single year — and an “L10” meeting structure to actually capture them.

But what really landed?

“You cannot become who you want to become by remaining who you are.”

If you’re building a trades or home services business and you’re still in the field — this one’s for you.

The systems matter. But the IDENTITY shift has to come first.

Thank you Jim for setting the tone on March 17. 🙌

03/30/2026

March 17 happened because a room full of trades and home services founders made a decision.

They decided their growth was worth a day away from the job site.

That's not small. When you're still in the field, still getting calls, still holding it all together at $700K to $4M - choosing to invest in yourself and your business takes a different kind of commitment.

And they showed up anyway.

Steve Kincanon, CPC, ELI-MP said something that afternoon that I haven't stopped thinking about:

"𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."

The room felt that. We all watched it land.

What I 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 do well enough that day was tell everyone what comes next. That's on me. We built something real in that room - real conversations, real breakthroughs, real clarity... and I left people without a clear path to keep the momentum going.

So let me be clear now.

The founders we met on March 17 are at a specific stage. They've built something real. But they're still in it — still doing, still proving, still growing. And here's what I know about that stage: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐬, 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.

That's what 1:1 coaching does.

Not a group.

Not a monthly call you'll cancel when a job runs long. A dedicated hour, every week, built around 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 business and 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 next move.

If you were in that room on March 17 and the day lit something up for you — don't let it fade. DM me.

Let's figure out if working together makes sense.

The momentum doesn't have to stop. But it won't continue on its own.