EP #57 – How To Go From Sole Trader To Running A Team w/ Brent Songhurst
📑 Table of Contents
TOC
📑 Table of Contents
Overview
Brent Songhurst joined the British Army at 16 and left at 24 with a mortgage, a child, and a plan to go self-employed.
Six weeks later JJS Gas and Heating was in business. Nearly 11 years on he’s running a team of 6 with his sights set on 7 figures.
This episode covers the whole journey, what the early days actually looked like, the moment he decided to grow beyond sole trader, how he’s built his team, and the ceiling he’s working to break through next.
Highlights
From the army to the trades
- (02:06) – Brent’s route into the trade: from Royal Engineer to going out on his own.
- (04:12) – The transferable skills the military gave him: leading teams, work ethic, staying calm.
Starting JJS as a sole trader
- (07:55) – Building the whole business in six weeks: van, sign-writing, logo and branding.
- (09:10) – Doing it the hard way: business cards, service stations, and working day and night.
- (09:56) – Why he specialised in gas and heating instead of bathrooms and kitchens.
- (11:03) – Choosing reactive work — breakdowns and gas leaks — over big site jobs.
Hitting the ceiling as a sole trader
- (16:21) – The honest question: are you self-employed, or do you want a business that runs without you?
- (33:34) – Some people are happy staying a sole trader — and why Brent wasn’t.
Learning to let go and manage people
- (18:06) – “Use people to your advantage”: leaning on other people’s strengths.
- (19:15) – The hardest part of hiring: letting people do the job their own way.
- (20:03) – Selling the vision when it isn’t only about the money.
- (23:42) – Managing engineers as individuals, not the way you’d do the job yourself.
Bringing the team under one roof
- (24:07) – The move into a bigger office: stock, tools, deliveries and a home base.
- (27:27) – What actually changed once everyone had somewhere to come in to.
Growing towards seven figures with the right systems
- (29:35) – Tripling revenue after ditching handwritten certificates.
- (30:37) – Why systems are his next ceiling on the way to seven figures.
- (33:03) – His advice for engineers wanting to grow past sole trader: work backwards from the goal.
- (35:53) – Brent’s real definition of success: leading by example and getting time back as a dad.