Aug. 29, 2022

E.S. Sparks: Service manager in title, COO in function! The life of an unlicensed sparky.

E.S. Sparks: Service manager in title, COO in function! The life of an unlicensed sparky.

“Get good at your trade and then worry about how you’re going to manage people. If I didn’t know what to do in the field, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing now”
You guys might know Evan Sparks @e_s_sparks from his previous handle where he was a budding IG influencer, but did you know he’s reluctant to call himself an electrician?

Since many of you last saw him publicly, life has changed for Evan. He got this new andthought he was going to be a service manager leading a couple dudes. It turned into bids, chases down regulations, hiring & firing, negotiating with clients and essentially running the company he works for. It’s not where he thought he’d be right despite always knowing that he would one day make moves to climb the ladder in addition to learning his trade.


Managing people is different today than it was just a short time ago. Evan’s first boss used the brutal techniques of leadership from a past age. It’s also the expectations of the incoming crew.

Service manager in title only, Evan acts as fill blown COO for his company.

Evan salutes the tradespeople and community he befriended on Instagram and their dedication to passing the torch to those who follow into the trades. Despite acknowledging that IG was a creative outlet, it doesn’t look like that “second job” at IG is in the cards….

Evan knows many truths about himself, he observes his limitations, and that’s where the progress happens.

As for the future, baby steps. This current position is a learning opportunity, and a future will come of it, plus, babies.

He and the company just promoted one of their hands to foreman. I’m looking forward to watching them grow!

This show is dedicated to the late, Mark “The Foot” Rosser, out of the Fairbanks, Alaska Laborers’s Union Local 942. “If you wanna keep the boss happy, walk fast and look worried.” LOL, thank you, sir.

The Contracting Handbook podcast is all about the builders and skilled tradesmen and tradeswomen in the construction industry from all over the world. Here you’ll meet the tradespeople who took a leap of faith from working their craft to running the own construction company. You’ll meet people who left lucrative careers to enter the trades. For newcomers to running a construction business, there is a ton of advice on “how to” run your contracting company. For established contractors, you get to meet other industry leaders and get behind the scenes of their business and stay up to date with industry change. Mike Knoche, your host, keeps the conversation interesting. He’s been operating his contracting business for over 15 years in the oddly wonderful, Fairbanks, Alaska. Mike’s philosophy is “we are all experts in how we build where we live, but the business basics and business management are universal”. Join us for this global conversation on operating a construction company, mental health, cool projects, and construction industry progress.

 

Host: Mike Knoche

Website: The Contracting Handbook

Instagram: @thecontractinghandbook

Venmo: Mike-Knoche-1

info@thecontractinghandbook.com

 

Guest: Evan Sparks

Handle: @e s sparks