The Honest Builder
Lessons from distribution, family business, risk, AI tooling, and building something durable in public.
April 10, 2026 · 5 min read
Everyone treats $10M like it's the finish line. It isn't. It's the starting line for a completely different game.. and most of what got you here will not get you there.
April 3, 2026 · 4 min read
We were paying for an ERP, a CRM, an inventory system, a shipping platform, and a handful of other tools. Then I decided to build our own. Here's what happened.
March 8, 2026 · 3 min read
I’m not interested in performing success online. I’m interested in telling the truth about what it costs to build something real.
February 25, 2026 · 4 min read
From Roy Barber’s gas station in 1967 to my son Roy growing up around the business today, this is the family story behind four generations in automotive.
February 11, 2026 · 4 min read
I got tired of paying for software that almost fit the business. So I started building an AI-powered ERP around how we actually operate.
January 28, 2026 · 5 min read
In May 2018 I put $100,000 on one container of 800 winter tires. It was a risk, but it was a calculated one — and it changed the business.
January 12, 2026 · 5 min read
In 2017 I learned that ambition without operational discipline can get expensive fast. This is what a brutal first year taught me about business, family pressure, and staying in the game.