Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros

S3 EP13 How Much Can Electricians Really Make in 2026?

• Clay Neumeyer • Season 3 • Episode 13

Share episode

Are electricians really making $100K in 2026? Or even more?

In this episode of The Million Dollar Electrician, we unpack exactly how much different electricians are earning right now, from apprentices to seasoned business owners. We share real stories from the field, exact income numbers, and the simple formula for unlocking six figures in the trade: Time × Value.

Whether you're just starting out or looking to grow your shop, this episode will give you a fresh perspective on what’s possible in the trade and how top-performing electricians are doing it without burning out.

💡 What You’ll Learn:

-How much apprentices, journeymen & service techs make today

-Why some electricians break $100K and others don’t

-The one question that unlocked a million-dollar mindset

-From $14/hour to $250K years: real stories from the trade

-Why time × value = schedule control + income growth


⚡️Want more tools, strategies & trainings to take your electrical service business to the next level? Join the community inside SLE Pro App!


⚡️Podcast Powered by Duromax Generators.

Making turnkey power solutions easy. 

📧 Email: jesse@duromaxpower.com 

🌐 Website: www.duromaxpower.com 

📞 Call: 909-490-5789


⚡️ Book your complimentary call with Forrest Schwartz
CoFounder and CEO of TopLineGrowth
Focused on helping companies grow their top line revenue via digital marketing. 

🌐 https://topline-growth.com/sle


⚡️Jump into the Million Dollar Electrician Community and connect with real business-minded sparkies!


⚡️If you are an electrician looking for trade-specific business training in pricing, options, sales, attraction, and marketing strategies, Then our Loop Method is your answer! 


⚡️Learn how to serve and earn at the highest level. Contact us, we’d love to help!


#ElectricianLife #TradeTalk #ServiceLoopElectrical #MillionDollarElectrician #SkilledTrades #MillionDollarElectricianPodcast
#ElectricianPodcast

SPEAKER_01:

So do you believe in 2026 that any electrician can earn a hundred K plus?

SPEAKER_02:

I personally think that not just electricians, but specifically service electricians. The reason being was the value that I found was learning how to sell. It's like I can do the job, but I could also convince the customer that working with us is the right decision. And when we were able to do that, unlock that skill, now you're in a niche in and of itself. Because there are salespeople and there are electricians, but there's very few who do both. If you want to make a six-figure salary in today's industry, it's doable, but you have to find the niche that people are willing to reward at this point. Get into service and learn how to communicate. Because if you can communicate, they will ship you off install and they will put you somewhere else because now you have to be someone who's customer faces. And that guy's working.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast, where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and spark up those sales.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm Joseph Lucani, and together with my co-host Clay New Meyer, we're here to share the secrets that have helped electricians sell over a million dollars to a single service man.

SPEAKER_00:

Now it's time for sales. It's time for scale. It's time to become a million-dollar electrician.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello guys, and welcome back to another great episode of the Million Dollar Electrician. Today we've got something super fun in store. We haven't really covered this before, but the more we've gone over and found relatability in our past journeys, Joe, the more we've been excited about this particular episode, which is how much can you make as an electrician really? What is an electrician worth in 2026? Use my blip there. And by the way, guys, welcome to the new year. Happy New Year, Joe. How are you doing, brother?

SPEAKER_02:

It's a great year, man. Honestly, what continuously feeling blessed. I'm very grateful to have what we have. I'm great, very grateful to be where we are. Uh, it's a lot of reflections this year. You know, it's a lot of really good things happening and just putting it forward to continue in the future.

SPEAKER_01:

I love it. You know what? Since this episode is actually, I mean, yeah, it's about money and what you guys are gonna make. And we're gonna give you hard numbers on this episode. Not only what we made, but what we're seeing people make now and what you could expect as an apprentice, as an electrician, as someone coming up in the trade and the different niches within the trade, and even heck, like we're doing, helping other electricians is an avenue that we all have available to us at some point. We're gonna explore all of that, all of it. But Joe, you said something important to me last week about how much in reflection on 2025, how much you feel you grew just in the last year. You shed some light on that just a little bit. Let us in.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, just in the last year, as far as like as a person, because I know that was like one of the conversations we had, is I'm a kind of person who's overly hard on themselves. I'm sure if anyone who's grown up similar to me, where you feel like you constantly need to prove yourself to earn love or earn self-worth, I never show I never shook that quite. And as a result, I always want to be a better coach. I want to be a better teacher, I want to be a better partner, I want to be a better friend, a better son, a better, you know, a better husband, a better father. And I think that if we don't continuously focus on those things, even our professional selves won't thrive the same way they should. So, what I can say for certain is that I've learned a lot from coaching a lot of people at this point. And I can say that my teaching strategy has definitely improved and that I'm seeing a lot of great wins coming from our clients as a result from it. Um, I'm loving how I can be more present with my children. I love that I could be still present with my wife and treat them with the the love that they deserve. And I'm grateful to be a good partner to you and I'm able to serve this wonderful mission.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks, man. Yeah, it was a big year for me too. I think anyone that works close to me understands that my standards are unforgiving. And so it's like it's not even an option, you know? And I'm sure there's people listening that feel this the same way. Um, Austin, one of our uh support specialists, he he said to me, Hey, maybe you should try jujitsu. I feel, Joe, like I already do jujitsu every day. I'm tapping, man, every night. It's like I put myself in a submission for higher standards, if you know what I mean. You know, so 2025 was a big year for me too.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. And I'm gonna I'm gonna throw in with Austin here. I've been boxing now for almost about, let's say, half a year. And there's nothing better than waking up and just absolutely punching the bag like it owes you money. Your day just starts so much better from there. So I guarantee if you haven't tried it yet, just hit something. I guarantee you'll feel better.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. I've thought about that. Uh, if you follow me on social media at all, I recently did a teenage girl post about uh my teens and some of the troubles and the uh acknowledgments of of self-growth through that. And a punching bag definitely comes to mind, Joe. Something, something for uh not just for me. I've thought about getting one for them. Hey, uh, maybe hit this instead of the old man. Not physical, just a verbal joke. Joe, let's jump into the trade stuff, though. Man, tell me, when you started as an apprentice, what was it worth being an electrical apprentice back then?

SPEAKER_02:

Now it feels weird even thinking back because I started when I was somewhere between 14 and 15, depending on what month I actually started. But I got right into the field working for my brother's boss, and they were an electrical company, and I was making, and I'm proud of this. It was at the time I was making$14 an hour. And at the time, this is like 2007, 2006, my mind is blown. I'm like,$14 an hour. Oh my god, my friends are making seven working at these restaurants in the Woodbury Commons. I'm working double. This is great, this is amazing. I could buy stuff now. It was it was the craziest feeling, and all I wanted was overtime. All I wanted was more overtime. I thought I was rolling in it.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm curious what your pathway to growth was on your side over in New York. Uh, for us, I started similarly uh late 2007, early 2008, which was really interesting because it was in a crash. I think other staff at this company were actually pissed off that I got hired at that time because there wasn't a ton of work. It was almost like they saw potential and just made the hire because I had already been in business. And of course, for those of you that know me and been following for a while, my first business was concrete, fell short, absolutely. Um, you know,$44 million project that I just completely dropped the ball on the foundation for. But sticking to this trade,$15 an hour. That's what it started. What was it?$15, so dollar more than you. But it was Canadian. Let that let that's Canadian. That's why, yeah. And the dollar was a little more even, so about the same, I guess. It was$15 an hour. Now, I hear guys paying more than that in some places now, and some places less than that. But I think there's something really important to note. We're starting at the barrel bottom. Neither of us really had electrical experience. Is that true for you?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I mean, I I did not know anything. My parents were not handy. I didn't learn how to be handy. I just knew I wanted to be like my grandparents who could fix everything. So I was told to get into the trade, and yes, sir, I did it, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

I remember back then at this point, I had already read a book called The Wealthy Barber. You ever hear about that one?

SPEAKER_02:

Can't say that I have. No. I think you've mentioned it before. I don't think I actually read it though.

SPEAKER_01:

It's not my favorite book. I don't think a ton of people love this one a ton because it's it's that whole saving to millions kind of piece with a couple extra get some more out of life uh uh nuggets in there. But one of those get more out of life nuggets was a stat that I don't remember, but it was essentially saying that not enough people ask for raises. Sorry to all the guys uh with companies that your staff hear this, but it's a real thing. Uh, a lot of people just work for years without acknowledgement or performance review and no raise. And so I took that to heart in my early apprenticeship. And I remember the first raise I asked for. I asked to go from 15 to 16, and I asked the owner of the company, despite there being about 30 other people in management that could have helped me with this. And the story I gave him, I remember this. I was at the supply house with my journey one min one morning, and I was eyeing up this uh UE meter, this multimeter, the clamp, right? Had had uh basic functions, and it's like uh 259, somewhere in there, dollar multimeter with the construction and some of the service work we were doing. It was like, hey, this is a useful device. Everyone else has one. I want one. So I literally asked for a dollar raise so that I could afford that meter. You know what he said? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I got the raise that day. So I got to 16 in my first eight months of the apprenticeship. Joe, let me ask you this though. What did you see? What do you remember seeing for yourself at that time? Like as far as where could this go for me and what could I earn that I'm committed to this trade?

SPEAKER_02:

So it's a weird, it's a it's a hard question to answer. And the reason being is because I was in a very different place. I was at that time when I first started, I knew there was something different, but I didn't think I was gonna make it to 21. So I was just doing everything I could to find inspiration and hope. I knew if I was going to somehow get through what I was going through, I needed to find a way to get into a higher position. I needed I thought if I learned more skills, they would treat me nicer at work. If I learned more skills, they wouldn't know people wouldn't be as insulting or as rude or treat me like I was that much different. I figured if I just knew more skills, I could be worth something. So I just busted my ass to try and learn everything and ask as many questions, even if it annoyed everyone around me, because I didn't see myself staying there. But I said I gotta learn everything I can here, and eventually when I get to that new place, I'll have something and then I'll be worth something. You know, so it's may not be the answer you're necessarily looking for, but that's that's where I was at at the time.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you have any amount of like financial forecast for your future, whether that be an hourly rate or I could make XYZ per year, and so I know this trade is worth it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, but it wasn't routed, it wasn't rooted in actual forethought. And here's why I said at the youngest age, I want to retire at 55. I didn't know how I was gonna get there. I knew the end goal was I wanted to have all the things that I seem to have now, but I wanted to be able to retire early so that I could actually enjoy life because I saw my grandparents, they were in the trades, whereas everyone else was white collar, and they ended up with hurt knees and bad backs and broken hands and missing limbs and hearing damage and all this stuff. I'm like, I don't want to work to that point where I'm dying while I'm still alive. So I said, I gotta retire early. I had no idea how I was gonna get there. I just assumed that once again, if I learn more skills, people will naturally pay me more. I just thought it was hand in hand. You know, you know more, you're worth more. No more, worth more. So I had no idea how I was gonna get there, other than just learning more stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, I agree. I agree 100%. And I want to preface um my kind of take on this by saying obviously, uh maybe obviously it's the wrong word, but I think it's fairly obvious that we believe as an electrician, you could make over a million dollars in a year just based on the name of this podcast. I agree with that. Now there's some things that need to happen for that to fall in place, but I will also say that I never imagined myself making a million dollars a year as an electrician. That that was not on the radar. I remember when I took my job in this trade, I literally said the words to the guy that hired me, that's fine, just give me the ticket. Which actually suggests something. It sounds arrogant, and it was an answer to, like, hey, do you want a job here? I can get you in electrical, because they also did instrumentation. So I was like, you know what, that's fine, just give me the ticket. But what it also suggested is I knew it was plan B. I knew that I needed something to substantiate my value for the rest of my life, and that's how I thought of the electrical ticket at first. But that's like day one before I realized how much I actually loved this trade. Does that make sense, Joe?

SPEAKER_02:

It does. And you know, like eventually when I got to the point where I was owning my own business and I had a little bit of a different view of the world, I really loved being an electrician. And I remember specifically going back and finishing a panel, and there was one panel that it was it was perfect. You know what I mean? Like we did the whole thing. My partner had a bad situation happen, and I took on the job, I did all by myself, and the panel was great and the service was great, and every line was parallel. And I walked back and I remember staring at it, just staring at it for like probably 30 minutes, going, I did that. Like, wow, I did that. That came out so nice. And I just circled the property looking at it. So yeah, I didn't really fall in love in love with it until I owned my own thing. But yeah, I know what you're talking about, man. It's a feeling that's almost indescribable.

SPEAKER_01:

I loved that, and I just wrote an email recently about this. So if you're on our email list, uh our newsletter, I send a daily one out that I write over coffee each morning. And one of these was my first project in the trade was actually on a rotophase project. You know what that is, Joe?

SPEAKER_02:

I know that it's a tool that is good for bumping voltages, but I've never used one as I'm a res residential guy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's really not common. And this is like my first week in the trade, but we were at a pig farm that was miles from the nearest three phase, and the utility had quoted them like a quarter to a half million bucks for running three phase to their farm. So instead, what rotaphase does is you use single phase motors to spin a three-phase motor and basically generate three phases.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So they call it like an idler motor or whatever, but it's not an exact science. And there's some tuning, you got to kind of mess with the legs a bit. And there was a lot of stuff I didn't understand at this time, and I still deem this to be a fairly technical challenge. But what happened was I was working with this very new, or maybe not even quite a journeyman at the time, who was my senior that I was working with direct, but we would spend like half hour to an hour on the whiteboard every morning with our master electrician who'd been in the trade for 40 years, and no one was right. And what I mean by that is in all the technical back and forth, we didn't really know. And that to me, coming from a concrete and carpentry and different contractors in that regard, was like there was so much arrogance and so much everyone knows everything. And coming into this trade and experiencing that firsthand early on, I was like, wow. The master in this case, with three decades more experience, doesn't know the answer. We have to literally test and measure and find our result and and learn as a team. That was an incredible feeling. That's when I actually fell in love with electrical.

SPEAKER_02:

That's really awesome, man. You know, and it actually matches your personality. Like, I love how you live in the 30,000 looking down and saying, like, all right, how does this work? Why does this work? How can I replicate it? What's the next move? And I love that about your personality. So I can almost imagine young play in that class with the gears turning inside your head, like, all right, we're gonna figure this out.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's crazy time. It's crazy time. So my journey in the trade, like at that time, basically in the industry I was in, which was more industrial, doing a lot of oil and gas stuff and bigger projects. Of course, I had failed a project and I had failed a business already. So my drive has always been here to help first recover my own mistakes. I had to do that. But then also, like, I learned later on that, hey, I want to help people solve those problems so they don't have to go through the same shit that I went through and basically lose everything. I'm so glad I was young when this happened because I didn't have a lot to lose other than my dignity. That said, that's what kind of catapulted me in the trade. So I could see a clear direction to a hundred to even two hundred thousand dollars a year as an electrician in that field, in those positions. However, it was a major trade-off. These guys were like getting divorced left and right, right? You're out in camp for weeks at a time, and no one knows what the missus is doing. All of a sudden she's doing I don't even want to go down that road, but you get it. It's just like constant chaos. You're missing uh weekends with your kids, you're missing the evenings, you're missing all the tuck-ins, all the moments, right? And so the trade-off was massive. And I remember thinking to myself, like, this is just the home of the delinquents. And I was one of them. And we were just like a bunch of misfits together out in the bush, drinking too much, working too many hours, and really having a very hard life. So in the end, I kind of got settled and stuck in that. And my greatest year in those positions, I started running managing projects, not managing, but running like supervisor stuff as a second year electrician because of my background and my understanding and quick learning. So I cracked my first 100K year in my second year in the trade, actually. I was very fortunate to do that. But I think that's still possible today. What are your thoughts on that, Joe?

SPEAKER_02:

I agree with that. You know, and it really comes down to positioning yourself in a way that you can either provide value or you can provide time, right? And the reason why I say that is because you can almost hit the grind wheel. And that's like the hourly punch-in, the clock kind of guys. Like, if I put time in, yeah, you can do it. But then there's other people, like you mentioned the instrumentation. One thing I did was I actually worked as a robotics tech before I actually started my own company. Actually, no, no, that was during the props. I was actually doing nice. I was doing nice as a robotic while I was trying to pay for the company. But the reason I actually got into that was because I had the background in college and that offered a great, like kind of supplemental income. The benefit was I was able to pay for all my materials and actually fronting the business and doing all the things while also paying for a wedding. So it was great. So I understand what you mean. You either have the time, you're on the grind wheel, or you have something of value that you can cash in on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I love that you said that. That's exactly where I would have taken it to was I found the value that they needed. And that's the only logical reason that anyone would ever take a second-year apprentice and give them a truck and the keys to their own project. The value of that project is like, I don't know, they were$1.5,$2 million projects, a bunch of cookie cutter um gas compressor stations, natural gas. Anyways, I had known just from working on them for a year, year and a half, I was a quick learner, so I was able to adapt, but it's the value and my commitment of time, both the things that you said, that led to that really kind of extraordinary income for an apprentice. Although these days, I think even in service, if you're someone that really leans into the service side and is able to treat customers well, uh, residential electrical isn't really rocket science. You can learn it pretty quick, really, if you put your mind to it. And on this episode, I also wanted to share with you guys just a couple of the tricks that I use to accelerate extremely quick in anything new that I learn. And it was something that I really became known for in the field, if that was all right.

SPEAKER_02:

By all means. I mean, you're gonna share some of the value, everyone's gonna benefit from it.

SPEAKER_01:

They used to call me, and this I'm not proud of this name, but it's true. They would call me the notepad Nazi because literally what would happen that I recognized in the trade is Joe, you ever you ever speak to someone and you're giving them directions and they go, uh huh. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. And then at the end you say, Okay, now what is your instruction? What are your next steps? And they go, uh uh, uh, and they don't know. That was like the Biggest problem. And when there's so many moving parts, all you got to do is recognize that one of the biggest values is just knowing you can trust someone to do what they said they would do. So notepad's your best friend for that. But I didn't just grab the standard little steno pad that you'd fit in your pocket. That's what they gave away for free. I would go and buy a$30 eight by 11 and I would fill pages every day. And as I learned the trade and our niche more and more, those pages started filling less and less. So you could literally tell how much the absorption was kicking in. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02:

It actually does. And I didn't know we had that in common because when I first started, the weird name they gave me was Safety Joe. Because I came out of college and I'm like, I just assumed I didn't remember, I didn't want to be like my grandparents. So I had the safety glasses and the hard hat and the thing, the full like tickered thing, and all my other guys are like looking at me like, what are you wearing? But the reason I bring it up is I had a notepad in my front pocket and I was like, anything someone tells me I think he's gonna learn, I'm gonna write it down. And you're right, it's like the best way of doing it because that's how you learn things. If I can look at it, I may miss it in the moment, but if I can record it and reflect on it in the evening, I'll be better the next day. And maybe it takes a little bit longer to do, but if I keep making that effort every day and I retain even a fraction of what I'm writing down, I will improve faster than everyone else who's yes manning the boss.

SPEAKER_01:

100%. Yeah, it's a major tactic, guys. If you're not taking notes already, like if you're an apprentice or someone thinking about our trade or any trade for that matter, this applies to anyone. Please get a big notepad. Jim Rohn used to say, why buy an expensive empty book to make sure I put enough value in it to tip the scales on that, on that uh price, on that expense, on that investment. And I think that's such a great way to look at it. To cut right to the chase, as an apprentice today, going 2026 now to 2027, you should easily be able to generate between 16 and 26 bucks an hour the whole way up. And if you're creating extra value, like myself and Joe were able to do, you could easily break near that$30 an hour threshold. But again, all this takes is understanding what the business needs, not just my journeyman's next tool, not just the next cover to put on. Like, how do I serve the business and the value as a whole? And for that reason, I wanted to bring up another lesson I had. I was about a third or fourth year running projects for a while. I might have even been a journeyman already, but it would have been pretty fresh. And the owner of this family business that I worked with before, who's actually the son of the guy I asked for a raise from, we were driving out to a site, it was about a one-hour drive. And he looked over at me and he said, Clay, is it unreasonable to think that I would pay you a million dollars a year? And I laughed. Like, who did a nervous laughter? But like, well, I mean, yeah. I wasn't unlocked yet. I didn't understand. But there's an unlock in this moment because he followed that up with saying, Well, if you earned me$2 million, why wouldn't I pay you a million? And in that moment, I realized exactly what you pointed out, Joe. Value, time. How do I increase my impact for this business? Because I'm actually in control. So it's not all just about asking for a raise, it's not all just about positioning yourself to look shiny and clean. It's actually how do I improve the revenue and the profitability of this business to justify a greater wage? And if you do that and you work with us, I'll increase your pay all day, every day.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree. You know, one of the things that I like is that I remember struggling against like all these. I remember when the at somewhere was it, like 2015, 2014, somewhere around there, all the fast food industries were like, we'll pay$20 an hour, we'll pay like it was something ridiculous. We'll pay like$18 or$22 an hour for like the entry 11 McDonald's job. And everyone's argument was I'm here digging a trench for$17 an hour, and I can flip burgers for$20. So what we did was we said whatever the fast food was doing, we tried doing a dollar more than that. Because I wanted to at least say if you could flip burgers for this, and I'm once again, I'm not insulting the fast food industry, you guys have a hard job to an extent, but at the same time, I'm digging a trench, right? I want to make sure that if I'm gonna do this, I gotta get paid for it. Like, I don't want to say I could do something easier and pay more, then do something harder and get paid less.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, I agree 100%. Joe, in your on the tools career, what's the most you're able to make? I know that you really took off when you started in your own business. So where did that kind of cap for you for other people?

SPEAKER_02:

So it's a mixed answer because I remember being able to cross a six-figure salary right around 24, 25, somewhere around like as far as like my age. And I remember being like, wow, it for a 25-year-old, that was pretty nuts. But a lot of it wasn't as much a salary because when we were running our business, we had so much structured about like this is covered and this is covered, and this is a perk, and that's a perk, and this is a perk. So on paper, it was a six-figure salary, but we were doing very, very, very, very well for ourselves. And I'm very happy about that because it allowed me to be in a situation where I didn't have any debt. Like everything was paid off. I didn't buy boats or planes or cars, I just everything was paid, and I was able to enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01:

Those boats and planes you mentioned were a direct shot at me, by the way, guys. Don't ignore that. That was a straight jab to the solar plaques.

SPEAKER_02:

You know what? It's you know me. My thing is my first goal is pay the mortgage. When the mortgage is paid, then I can buy the things. So that was my goal. Once the mortgage was cleared, we're good.

SPEAKER_01:

So do you believe in 2026 that any electrician can earn a hundred K plus?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I really think so. And the reason being is because if you can understand almost how to hack the formula, right? Like you start off turning the wheel, but if you can get off that line and say, either I actually personally, I'll even be more direct. I personally think that not just electricians, but specifically service electricians, the reason being was the value that I found was learning how to sell. It's like I can do the job, but I could also convince the customer that working with us is the right decision. And when we were able to do that, unlock that skill, now you're in a niche in and of itself. Because there are salespeople and there are electricians, but there's very few who can do both. And then when I got into generator niching and saying, I just want to do generators, like that's it. That's all I want to do. It's like, okay, how many real generator specialists are there? So I agree. If you want to make a six-figure salary in today's industry, it's doable, but you have to find the niche that people are willing to reward at this point. So my first suggestion get into service and learn how to communicate. Because if you can communicate, they will ship you off install and they will put you somewhere else because now you can be someone who's customer-facing, and that guy's worth more.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree. I agree. We're hearing uh rates all all across the industry right now, US and Canada, for a good journeyman, you're 35 to 40 an hour in service or even in other trades. I know there's some low spots in the projects, et cetera, guys, but even just that times your 2,000 hours a year, 35, that's 70K. So$70,000. What we're suggesting is you can, you have the opportunity to break$100K by just adding another 30 to 40% value over what others in your company or the company you're working at are providing. And I do believe that's possible for anyone here, either by time or value, right? You could also work more hours, which was a huge part of my strategy. We worked not 2,000 hours, like some years it was three, 3,500, even 4,000 hours. Like we cranked out some hours. I think my longest shift was 92 days of 12 and 13 hour days straight. Oh it got insane. Now I'm not saying you guys have to do that to make this because that was when I was making 28, right? 30 bucks an hour. The wages were lower, and in that industry they were lower, and in that time they were lower. So now I mean, union guys, 50 bucks an hour, you know, 90,000 to 100,000 a year already. Some union guys are are on the fast track to 120, 130 a year just for showing up. So I really believe there's big opportunities out here. Joe, I just want to thank you for sharing some of the inside scoops uh from your history. I know I always enjoy those discussions as well. So appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Truly my pleasure. It's always one of those things where like I always feel a little weird when someone's like, How much do you make? I just grew up with this weird thing where we didn't have money. So it's like that little sweet spot where you're like, uh, I don't want to say anything. But I I'm always happy to be open with you, man. I appreciate you having helping crack my shell.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I'm gonna finish this one off by breaking down the name of this podcast episode with just some brief math. If you're in business or not in business, whatever, either way, this will help you kind of assess. Well, million-dollar electrician, of course, we're not saying that you're gonna earn that every year in your pocket personally, but what we advocate for is your ability to actually serve people at a level where you can do that much in transactions in a year, which does become quite lucrative for the person behind that as well. If you're running a business, you might be paying yourself 100 to 150K a year from that million, plus still having 15, 20, 25, in some cases up to 30% net profit, which means another 200K at the bottom line. Now, I don't suggest you'd put that in your pocket, but I would suggest you split it in half and put 100 in your pocket and 100 back in the business for growth. And that means you could be earning 200 to 250K a year as an electrician with nothing else but a desire to serve, to provide value, and to give a little bit extra time and a little bit extra in the intention. Would you agree with that, Joe?

SPEAKER_02:

I would agree with that as well. Because it really at the end of the day, you need to invest in your future. If you believe there's a future and you want it to be better than your today, it's like, what is it? How did the expression go? Hard decisions now equal an easy life. Easy decisions now lead to a hard life. So rather than taking that whole amount and blowing it and having fun and going on the vacations, take it, have a little bit of the harder life now, and those dividends will pay when they matter most.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I've heard that too, in the sense of uh an ounce of discipline versus a ton of regret. Another Jim Rohn quote, very similar. Guys, we've enjoyed this episode. We always love sharing our experience, just a couple of master electricians here with business addictions trying to show you guys the way. I hope this helps you enlighten the way for some other people that are interested in the trade. For yourself, if you're an apprentice or just starting out, or even for the electrician who's second guessing and maybe doubting that there is a position for them. There is a future here. I think you guys could do really well. I think we've covered that really well here. I can't wait to see you guys in the SLE Pro app. And again, welcome into 2026. We just crossed a thousand subscribers on YouTube. Please join us there. Catch the video, see us face to face, and answer this question. How much do you think electricians can make? How big could this get? Where do you think the wages are going at the end of the year and into 2027, especially as the supply falls and the demand increases? Thanks, guys. We'll see you again next week.

SPEAKER_02:

Take care, my friends. Be well.

Head Shot

Clay Neumeyer

Host
Head Shot

Joseph Lucanie

Co-host