Real leadership isn’t flashy. Rich Malachy shares what it takes to build culture, earn trust, and grow a trades business the right way.
The Trades Don’t Run on Shortcuts: Rich Malachy on Building What Lasts
Real leadership isn’t flashy. Rich Malachy shares what it takes to build culture, earn trust, and grow a trades business the right way.
In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Rich Malachy, CEO of Malachy Cares, for a candid conversation about leadership, culture, and the intelligence behind trade work that often goes unrecognized.
Rich walks through his journey from joining the family business—after realizing college wasn’t the right fit—to eventually taking over operations from his father. Along the way, he learned firsthand that success in the trades isn’t about shortcuts or hype, but about values, consistency, and people.
RC and Rich explore how strong company culture is built, why succession planning matters, and how branding and social media have become essential tools for attracting talent and earning customer trust. They also dig into the evolving role of AI in the trades, how to measure ROI on content, and why genuine leadership still matters more than any tool or platform.
In this episode you’ll hear:
(00:00) Introduction to the Trades
(00:20) Meet the Host and Guest
(01:10) Rich Malachy’s Journey into the Trades
(02:50) College Experience and Career Choices
(04:48) Building the Business
(07:15) Core Values and Company Culture
(09:46) Succession Planning and Legacy
(12:34) Social Media, Branding, and Visibility
(21:50) Building a Media Team
(22:17) Using Social Media for Business Growth
(23:25) Content Creation Strategies
(24:39) Engagement, Metrics, and ROI
(28:14) Industry Events and Vlogs
(30:06) AI and the Future of the Trades
(34:18) Career Paths in Skilled Trades
(36:13) Lightning Round
(40:37) Conclusion and Contact Information
About the Guest:
Rich Malachy is the CEO of Malachy Cares, a service-driven organization rooted in the skilled trades. Raised in a family business, Rich worked his way through the realities of trade work, leadership transitions, and succession planning before stepping into ownership. Today, he’s a vocal advocate for company culture, modern branding, and using technology—without losing the fundamentals that make great service companies last.
RC’s LinkedIn
Learn more about Rich Malachy
Learn more at BuildOps.com
Rich Malachy: [00:00:00] Some of the most intelligent people are, are, are, are in the trades, and it is not secondary. It's hard work. You're gonna be bending, twisting. Yeah, spiting crawling. You're gonna be in Greece, you're gonna be in grime. But if you put your head down and you really learn this thing over the next several years, you can take this anywhere in the world.
RC Victorino: All right, welcome. Welcome everyone to Commercial Grade, A podcast at honors. The unsung heroes of the trade. I'm your host, RC Victorino, and as always, I want to give a quick thanks to build ops for making this podcast possible. Today my guest is Rich Malachy, CEO, uh, fighter for the trades, and dare I say, whether he intended to or not a.
True, honest to goodness, social media, darling. So Rich, welcome to the show.
Rich Malachy: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here and then, uh, chop it up with you.
RC Victorino: Chop it up. Before, I think before we even dive in, I just wanna say I'm originally from New York, so in the end, no matter where this conversation takes, just listening to you talk is, is [00:01:00] it means everything to me, just so you know.
I love it.
Rich Malachy: I love it. I'll do, I'll do my best to be as Jersey New York as I can for you.
RC Victorino: Perfect. Wonderful. Well, well, you're, you're. A plus so far a plus. Alright. Uh, so I always like to kick off these conversations with, with a similar question, which is essentially, uh, tell us your story. How did you get into the trades themselves?
Rich Malachy: Yeah, I think my story is probably a lot like a lot of other guys and gals, um, from the service side especially, you know, you're. Uh, really one of the most, uh, common ways to find it is through family business. And that's, that's how I found it. So, my father started in the trades many, many years ago, back in the, probably late seventies, early eighties.
Worked for KFC for a long time. Um, and, uh. You know, I, I was six years old when he really, I think, started this thing and, um, started out of a kitchen, um, with office. The tape, with office sounds playing in the background. And my mom answering phones. 'cause he always told me perception was everything.
RC Victorino: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rich Malachy: Wow. And, um, you know, so fast forward, uh, I went, I went to high school over here in Jersey City, Hudson [00:02:00] Catholic Go Hooks. Um. And, uh, graduated in 99 and I was kind of working here all throughout high school, you know, for a few hours a day after school. And, um, from there I tried college. Uh, I went for a year or two.
Didn't really pan out for me. Um. So I really kind of jumped in full throttle with the business, uh, you know, doing some junior tech work stuff, um, early on, 18, 19, 20, you know, um, came in house around 22, 23, started doing parts, uh, service, um, you know, dispatch, warranties, billing, regular bill, just every job in, in the, in the place.
And, uh, back in, in 2012, I, uh. You know, took over operations and, uh, we put a succession plan in place with my father in 2017 for me and my sister. And, uh, here, here we are today. That's the, uh, kind of quick, uh, quick story.
RC Victorino: You mentioned that college wasn't for you, first of all. Did at that point, did you, um, I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna dive in, dive into this a little bit because it is, it is, you're not, not liar by any means.
And [00:03:00] this is, I'd love to. Basically get a better understanding and let other people who might be, you know, just starting out or, or thinking about whether college is for them and feeling maybe like. Um, underrepresented in wherever world they are, maybe in like their little social circle and that this might help them to understand like a direction they might wanna take instead.
So you mentioned how, uh, college was not for you, and I do wonder at first, did you go to college and have like an intentional major? Like did you have a direction where you might be doing though if you went, if you pursued college all four years?
Rich Malachy: Yeah. It, it was just, it was straight business. I was taking business courses and stuff.
I kind of went off and did some communication stuff. But, um, I, I, I've never been a great student. Um.
RC Victorino: Yeah, so that's what I wanted to dive in. So let's reverse even before that. So you still decided to go to college, even though before that you weren't a great student. But let's def, let's define what great means, honestly.
So, so in your opinion, what were you not excelling at in the, in the predetermined, define that definition of greatness of a student.
Rich Malachy: Yeah, for, I think for me, I mean, it was just, if, if I'm not interested in, in it, I, I can't [00:04:00] wrap, I can't, I can't put my life into it. My, my, my love into it. So,
RC Victorino: yeah.
Rich Malachy: Um, and, and truth be told, it wasn't that I was in love with this business either.
It was just better than, than the school option. So I, I started just digging in here and, um. I found, I found the love for, uh, for building business and the trades was just something, um, that obviously being born into you see the opportunity, um, here and yeah, that, that kind of made me really wanna see what I could do and put my life into it.
And that's what I did probably my. Mid, mid to late twenties, I really started doing that. And so, yeah, so being, being a good student at life and business and everything, for me, I think I, I have to, I have to want it. I have to love it. I, I didn't really care much about, you know, history class and, uh, you know, all those things.
Algebra. I've never used algebra anyway.
RC Victorino: Great. Yes. You, you had, I mean, you had some like option there because your father and the business, so there, there was a clear route there. However, like, I mean, I, I don't know more into, into that experience that you had, but like for me [00:05:00] personally. To go into the trades or to do something like that is, is, for example, I have never been a waiter.
That is a experience that like I'm very uncomfortable. Like that is not in my DNA, like to go and carry food. Like I know the things that I can and can't do and that is a thing that I cannot do. And so I think for some people being in the trades, no matter even how easy it might be to fall into is not a thing.
So yeah. Why do you think, like, I know you mentioned like you fell into the business, but still like it, it is. It is a decision to maintain a lifestyle like the trades. Was it difficult for you to do that or were you always kind of hands-on and, and mechanical, if you will.
Rich Malachy: No, I'm, and I'm, I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm some kind of dynamite technician or, I, I, I, I wouldn't even consider myself a technician at this point in the game.
I, you know, the, the work that I did early on, um, I was out, I was out there, you know, we were doing fry pot change outs on fryers and, uh, mo blow mortar, convection oven, you know, uh, replacements, uh, pumping motors and fryers, doing a lot of stuff and assisting other guys, and getting down [00:06:00] there and dirty and turning the wrenches, doing all that.
And it, it definitely gave me a respect for, for what these guys do. Um, I was more passionate about the business side of it and the operational side of it, and the sales side of it. And, you know, I, I was not always passionate about it. I think it took me a long time. Honestly, I feel like I was probably in my early thirties when I really, really.
Um, became self-aware of what I was good at. Like you said, what I'm good at and what I'm not good at. And then from there I was able to say, okay, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty good at building this business operationally and, um, making sure that I'm hiring the right people that are a little bit smarter than me and things that I'm, that I'm not so good at.
Right. You know? So, um, we have a lot of truth be told. That's how, that's how in my eyes, you build a business, you put people around you that are better at things that you're not good at. And that's what we did. And, um. So, yeah, I mean, it took, it took quite a while. So like, and I, I look at young guys out there and it's like, well, I'm gonna try the trades, I'm gonna try this.
And that's, and I think that's the key. You gotta try it, try as many things as you can. Um, you just don't know what you're gonna fall in love with. So
RC Victorino: I'll call it that [00:07:00] in your thirties. And being self-aware still ahead of the game, right? Like, like self-awareness can come at, I think maybe I just have started becoming self-aware a little bit and I'm well into my forties.
Right. So you weren't, you didn't, you didn't, uh, you weren't falling behind anything by any means. Yeah. Uh, how important. Was it, now that you are in the side of the business that that fits right to you, right? Like you're actually building this business up, et cetera. Um, how important was it to have that kind of firsthand experience though, of the people who, who are working for you?
How critical is it for a business owners to quite literally walk the walk?
Rich Malachy: Yeah. I think that, uh, you know, it's, it, it, it really, it's, it's imperative to, to have, have, you know, say sit here and say, I've done every job in the building. I've been out on the road. I've seen it all. Um. To, to garner that respect.
'cause respect is something that, that is very huge. It's one of our core values here. Um, you know, I just at unleash five new core values too, to, to go along with about, about becoming elite. We want to be elite and, you know, having the respect from, from your people, um, that [00:08:00] come in every day. Choose to come in every day and wear the logo and, and go to work.
For, for Team Malicky. Um, that's not lost on me. And, you know, bringing new people in, um, regardless of what industry they're in, you know, it start, we all start somewhere and we have to make sure that the leadership team's gonna get that respect. And it's earned, you know, it's being out in the trenches.
It's going out and visiting customers. It's riding with, riding along with the guys. It's showing up on the job sites and bringing 'em a coffee and seeing, you know, hey. What do you got going on here? Can I help you? Um, it's, yeah, I mean, that's So Walk, walk on the walk. I mean, it's especially in the trades where you have Yeah.
You know, technicians out there that, um, you know, know what they're doing and know their, and know their side of it. They expect you to know not only their side, but this side. So, very important.
RC Victorino: Yeah. There's a level of pride, uh, in the work itself that
Rich Malachy: Yes,
RC Victorino: that one must honor. Yeah. In whatever shape, shape or form that, that is, one must truly honor that.
So if you're gonna be the business owner, like how do you define that, you honor that work? And having walked the walk and having experience with experience, it's certainly, [00:09:00] uh, quite the effective way to do that. For sure.
Rich Malachy: Yeah, and talking pride, I mean, that's one of the new core values. We, we just, uh, unveiled yesterday at our breakfast meeting.
Uh, we did a visionary meeting for the company, um, kind of talking about what 2026 is gonna look like. And pride in the details is one of the new ones that we, that we unleashed. It's pride in the details. We wanna make sure that, um, you know, we're, we're. We're doubling down on the things, the things that matter outside of just, you know, listen, we, we, we fix equipment, but there's things that matter the way we treat people, the way we treat each other internally, externally.
Um, you know, one of the big things I said is that we're all protectors of this business, so we have to have pride in what we do.
RC Victorino: I wanna dive into that, uh, a little bit more about these core values and everything that you've done, because I think this dovetails nicely into, uh, the importance of retention, the importance of retraction, labor gap, all that, stuff like that.
But first off, I, I do want to talk about a little bit of the, not necessarily specifically the succession plan, but. I do believe, just like you mentioned, at the top of the, uh, top of the show that many people inherit or, or are [00:10:00] part of a business that already exists, and then eventually maybe they take it over.
What does that look like for you? Like, like how was it a challenge to, to how does that transition happen and how do you make sure that you do it in a way that feels good to you, but also to the people who are already working there and part of that transition?
Rich Malachy: You know, my dad is an old Irish guy. He's very tough.
He was very tough to work for and work with. Um, and I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It, it's just he's old school and, you know, uh, he had no filter, as they say. And, and what he said was, was the, the gospel and we had to follow it blindly. And it was, it was tough. So, and it was his baby. So getting to the, getting to the point where the succession plan had to come into place for various reasons, um, there was definitely a struggle, you know, and I, it was for me, I just, I, I wasn't trying to take anything away from him.
I wanted to, you know, uh, years ago. Um, when I was early twenties, uh, our, my, my father's financial advisor and and friend and accountant sat me down and said, you know, your dad built this for you. And, you know, I was, I was at a point where I wasn't really all in, [00:11:00] um, you know, 21 or whatever I was. He said, do, do you want this?
And I said, I think I do, but I don't know, you know, but obviously it came to the point where I, where I did, and, you know, thinking back on, on that, I, I reminded him of these conversations like, dad, you built this for me. You built this for Samantha? My sister Samantha, you know, he, he used to tell me, I put, you know, when I, when I used to get up in the morning, 4:00 AM he said, I would put one foot on the floor and I would say, Richie, I would put one the other foot on the floor and say, Samantha, and I'd get up and go to work.
This is legacies. You, you built something and to, to get to this point was unbelievable. I mean, he came from nothing. Nothing. Um, and there's a bigger, deeper story about how, you know, his, his life, but, um. The odds of him being here is improbable. Mm-hmm. And for me and my sister, I, you know, we looked at this and, and said, listen, we, we have to get there.
So we, with my mother's help and the financial advisors and accountants and friends and everything, we, it came, you know, it all came to a, a head where we finally sat down and came up with a plan to [00:12:00] make sure he's taken care of for the rest of his life. Um, which we're doing, which is still going strong today.
Uh, we're, we got about two and a half years left through the plan, but we'll take care of him for, for the rest of his life. So, um, anyone out there going through succession plans, they, they can be really tough, especially when you have, um, you know, a stubborn guy like my dad. But, um, I think in the end, it, it's about the legacy and, and we're doing the right thing.
You know, we're, we're getting up and we're putting our feet on the floor for, for them now.
RC Victorino: Yeah. And, and so let's, let's talk a little bit more about, uh, this culture, including if you wanna dive into your core values, the, the new core values that you have.
Rich Malachy: Mm-hmm.
RC Victorino: Um, but I think that, that in just, uh, again, for folks who don't, who Dunno, uh, you, you are all over social media.
If you've got Malkey tv by the way, like yeah, we'll talk more about all that stuff in a moment. But, uh. So experience to me is something very important to you and, and for various audiences. You have great experiences and what have you, and I think that your employees obviously a one set experience where that's very important to you, which then I think dovetails nicely into the experience of your customers.
[00:13:00] Right. Uh, and so did you know coming in that, that you were, that was an intentional, like important part of the business operations for you was quite literally the humans? And if so, like how do you form that? How, how do you get everyone to buy into this, this culture that you're looking to do, especially.
Inheriting something that didn't reflect, I think what you do now, right? That's a big shift. So how do you get people involved in that? How, like, was there like a roadmap? Was there, whatever it may be, was there an intentional plan or was it just like, eh, lemme see what happens.
Rich Malachy: Yeah, I think there's a little bit of both.
I definitely, I'm, I'm a big whiteboard guy, so I mean, I have whiteboards everywhere and every, I have my, everywhere you go there's whiteboard. So there's a lot of intentional things that, that were done. But I think, you know, getting people to buy in. It, it's just being a genuine, good human. I mean, there's really no other way to do it.
RC Victorino: Totally.
Rich Malachy: We're people, you know, when I sit down with people, like they have families, you know, they have, they have lives outside of this company. I, I know that, um, you know, and I, I know there's a lot of companies that don't really care about that. We happen to care about that. You know, we want you to go and see your [00:14:00] kids, you know, Christmas choir play or whatever they got going on in December.
You gotta leave early on a Thursday. You gotta take the day. Do that. I, I don't want you to miss those things. You know? That, and that's kind of the, the. You know, the human side, the culture that we, we are building culture of the people we want, we want people here that live and die by our core values, for sure.
But at the same time, you know, we're, we're gonna sit down and, and we're gonna break bread together at the end of the year. We're gonna, you know, we have our big holiday party. We're gonna, we're gonna do giveaways and we're gonna give bonuses, and we're gonna, we're gonna thank everybody for their hard work and, um, just, just be good.
It's, it's not that hard.
RC Victorino: I had the same mantra. Uh, so I'm in marketing for folks who don't know, uh, here at Build Ops, and it's, that's my same mantra, is that just be genuine. Uh, I think a lot of marketing in general is very much like trying to, trying to beat a system, try to game a system. SEO is one example, for example, but, uh, I mean, man, if you just are more genuine with, with what you do.
People will want to be a [00:15:00] part of that orbit. Right? And same thing with being a company owner. A business owner, if you're just genuine, I think more employees are gonna ge rather than trying to figure out how best to optimize them for the whatever. Like, you know, NPS scores, et cetera. Like there's all sorts of stuff that you can do, et cetera.
But if you're just genuine at the core at the beginning, then I think that's a great step up for sure.
Rich Malachy: Yeah. And, and just to one more quick thing, you know, my mother was, is, you know. I wouldn't, uh, obviously I wouldn't be here without her too, you know? I mean, my, obviously my dad was building the business, but she was behind the scenes making sure that he was able to do what he did.
And, you know, she taught us three words all the time. And now she's teaching my, my nephews and my, my nieces gentle, loving and kind anytime something's going on. But I can hear, I can still hear her. My, you know, grandma's now, she's grandma. I could hear her saying, no, gentle, loving, and kind. That's what we are, you know?
And so these things, they stick, you know, and I'll never forget those three words. And I try to, I try to bring that to my daily life, that I'm human. Gosh, those
are
RC Victorino: hard ones though. Like, I need more of that for sure. Like, those are hard ones to which if it, if it's hard, that means it's, it's worth it though.
But that, so, but [00:16:00] like, alright. Gentle, loving, kind. That's, that's interesting. In, in a, in an industry. That for, right, right or wrong, is concerned as very masculine. Like, and I don't mean like male dominated, although
Rich Malachy: a hundred percent,
RC Victorino: but very masculine. How does that translate? Like how do folks receive that kind of, I I, I don't know if you're necessarily saying that specifically to your employees, but regardless, your, your imbibing it.
Right. So does that transl.
Rich Malachy: I, I, I really do believe so, you know, um, anyway, yeah. I'm not walking around saying that, but, um, maybe I'll make a t-shirt after this or maybe I do. Yeah. Um, but I, it, I mean, you, you see stuff like, so for me, where the rubber meets the road is like the stuff that we do for, you know, out outside of the work.
We have Family Day every year where I rent that an entire camp. We get, you know, t-shirts made, we have a softball game, there's water slides, there's basketball. We have different challenges. You know, and, and when I get to sit next to, to these guys, these men, these are men, right? Um, you know, and they put their arm around you and they, and, and we're just having honest, genuine, authentic conversation.
Then, you know, [00:17:00] I could, I could hear my guy, rich man. I love you, man. Love you. I love you too. You know, we, we have an, uh, an honest respect for each other. Especially the guys that have been here for 20, 25 years. We grew up together and, um. So, yeah, I mean, it's, it, it's, it's, it's seen through, through, through all those, all those things every, every, uh, every year.
And that's, that's makes my heart full. So
RC Victorino: is, is, um. We can talk about retention. You already mentioned about 25 years some of these folks. That's, I mean, that's incredible. And like in the world that I come from, like that's, that that doesn't happen. Right? Like tech, tech world, that's, you know, five years is like, oh my God, you've been there forever.
Like, it's, it's, it's, it's unbelievable. Uh, but what about from an attraction standpoint, like in. When you have new hires or trying to get new hires, is how much is culture and the reputation of your company as being what it is, uh, a deciding factor for folks to, to join your team?
Rich Malachy: Yeah, I think, uh, 2025, I think going into the [00:18:00] future, the next five years in, in perpetuity, honestly.
Um, I think brand, you know, talking about culture and stuff like that, but brand, personal brand, company brand, I think that is going to be the differentiator. Not just in our industry, I think across multiple industries, because we're gonna, we're, I think we're gonna see more people that, uh, want to be part of something bigger than them.
They wanna, they wanna, they wanna know that there's a path. They wanna know that there's not a dead end. And, you know, so when talking from social media to the stuff that we do internally with people, um, you know, portraying who we are and showing who we are every day is gonna be critical in, in attracting people, keeping people.
Um, so yeah, I mean, uh, I'm, we're gonna be doubling down on brands. Big time in the new year.
RC Victorino: Can, can I just about, I want, this is a great, great segue into social media and, and the reasons behind this, and, but first I just wanna like, I agree because I but with a caveat. So I agree with everything you say.
Uh, and in part because of [00:19:00] AI and the ability to make a lot of noise very fast.
Rich Malachy: Yeah.
RC Victorino: And so to be able to be genuine again, I think it's the word of the, of the episode here, um, is gonna be a game changer for, for all sorts of, like all sorts of companies. I, I don't think that people quite get it yet, right?
Like in the end, this stuff is all gonna table out and everyone's gonna sound exactly the same. And the folks who sound differently and feel differently and feel again genuine are the ones who are actually, whatever their intent is, is to hire people or retain people, or convert people to, to subscribe to a whatever.
Uh, that's the differentiator. So I do fear though, that like people are gonna for a while. Overuse things like AI to try to
Rich Malachy: Yes.
RC Victorino: Build their brand and be authentic and there's just gonna be a lot of noise out there. Right.
Rich Malachy: I agree. I mean, I think AI is gonna be, uh, obviously is gonna take over our world.
Yeah. And that's just the, it is what it, that is what it is. So if you choose to be a part of it or not, that's up to you. I think you should be a part of it. Learn it. Um, use it as a tool, um, and, and not let the, the human part of, of, of [00:20:00] your brand and your business and everything go away. You have to keep showing the people.
I mean, for me, that's, we, we we're, we're gonna be getting, doing some videos next year where we're, you know, on the road with guys, um, we'll use it as marketing, um, yeah. You know, to show. What they're doing to show what we offer as a company. And it's, it's not gonna be AI generated. It's gonna be me and my team and we're gonna be doing that stuff and we'll probably use chat GPT to flesh some things out and get some things together and make sure we, you know, 'cause that's, it's a tool.
Um, but yeah, I think, I think, um, anyone who's gonna be out there trying to build the brand or in, in the middle of that now. Stay, stay focused on being human. That's it.
RC Victorino: Yeah. If I look at your Instagram, by the way, it's all like the, your, you know, it's reels. It's you, it's, it's a lot of you is it's a lot of you talking.
I see. I see you in front of you guys. You, you ought to go to his, uh, uh, rich Malachi is the Instagram. Good for you for grabbing that handle. You're nice. Well, well done with your brand. Uh, but a lot of it is quite literally you were just talking like, as it should be very TikTok kind of experiencing as well.[00:21:00]
You talk about this in Per in, per, I will never be able to say that words. I'm not, I'm gonna ignore it. Imp perpetuation to whatever. From here on out.
Rich Malachy: Yes.
RC Victorino: From here on out. Building brand is gonna d be a differentiator, but like, so is that the reason why you started becoming so socially active? Or is there any other reason why.
Why this became a thing for you? I,
Rich Malachy: I will say that I had a lot of inspiration from a guy named Gary V, which you may know. Yeah,
RC Victorino: sure. I, I, I see you with a picture with him. Yep, yep. Yeah.
Rich Malachy: So I, I, I had the opportunity to meet him, you know, back in 2018 or 19, whatever it was, and I was on the small business episode and, you know, just, just watching him.
Develop, uh, his brand and, and what he's been doing, what he was doing back then. Um, you know, he, he, he was saying basically to you, to me, to anyone he was talking to, you need to, you need to pay attention about building a, a media company inside your own business. Mm-hmm. And not that I started an actual media company, but from that point, you know, we ended up bringing in a team of people.
I have, I have a media team here. We, we we're doing things, um, and. [00:22:00] You know, it was really, it was to it, well, it was to build my brand and show people who I am connected to Malkey, Parson service. Uh, so when you see the, the, the, the, you know, there's a, there's a connection here. This guy is running this company.
Yeah. He's talking about his people. He's talking about this and, and then the opportunities start to flow and that, listen, it took a lot of time to do that stuff. Uh, LinkedIn is a very, very big tool for me. Um, for new work, for new, new opportunities. So many things come through my social channels now. Um.
Just because everything is connected. You know, you, when you do that, you become an industry thought leader, and then people look to you and then they ask you questions and you're just having conversations. And then those, those conversations can turn into a business transaction six months from now, a year from now.
It's, it's just doing these things consistently over time. Being genuine, like we were talking about, um, and talking about stuff that you know about. You don't have to go out there, bring, bring value to somebody. At the end of the
RC Victorino: day is, is now you're, now you are, you are going down a path that I, uh, I mean this is part of my, my bread and butter, uh, for the job that I do essentially.
So now I know a little bit more, hopefully it, it's relevant for everyone [00:23:00] else who's listening. I think it would be for business owners, but like, so how, uh, again, going back to your whiteboard thinking and intentionality versus just like, oh, let's see what happens. How, um. Prescriptive or organized or intentional?
Are you or ha were you at least to start with, like your messaging of what it was to be a, a quote unquote thought leader? Like, did you have pillars that you were like, I'm gonna focus on this, this, and this? Or did you just kind of like spit out what you were thinking at that moment?
Rich Malachy: It's, it, it was a combination.
I mean, early, early on we, um, started, if you go back to 2019. We committed to a, a vlog a day or a video a day on YouTube, and we did it. Um, and we, we really, we started, it was, it was just really to be focused on, um, we had ti, we had Tip Tuesdays that we would, you know, develop those out, what they're gonna be, and I'd film maybe eight or nine of 'em.
And then my guy will, uh, my team will go in and edit them, get them ready, get them ready to go post them, schedule 'em. Um, there was some off THEC cuff things that we would do random. Uh, it was, it's really a combination and it, and, and it was always to just kind of bring light to the industry. That was [00:24:00] a big, a big thing for me.
I wanted to bring light to the industry. Um. No one talks about the trades. I mean, I have friends for 25 years. They still don't even know what I do. I even even know I've explained it to them 10 times. But bringing, bringing light to, to the trades and, and, um, bringing awareness, talking about the topics that we talk about, what it's like to run a service company.
So you go back and see a lot of stuff of us here in the office and the warehouse just going through some of the day and what we're experiencing. Um, there was a lot of that early on. Um. Yeah, so I mean, it's, it was really just to portray, um, what a small service company does here in Jersey and New York City, and, and, and it took, you know, took, took a, you know, little, uh, legs of its own and we've been running with it ever since.
RC Victorino: I mean, you talked about like, especially on LinkedIn, particularly how there's pipeline growth, like you're actually getting new business from this effort. Do you. Yeah. Do you, in a, at a granular level, level, do you try to figure out the business value of this, or is it much more of a gut feel and like this is [00:25:00] just part of business operations, this is part of what you do?
Rich Malachy: Yeah. So I mean, I, I guess what you mean like the ROI kind of thing? Yeah,
RC Victorino: KPIs and stuff. Like we talked
Rich Malachy: offline
RC Victorino: before that you're not a huge KPI guy, but I'd love to know more about
Rich Malachy: it. Yeah. When it comes, when, when it comes to this stuff as far as ROI and KPIs and all this stuff, I'm, we're really, we're really not paying attention to, to the likes and all this stuff.
It's, it's, for me, it's more about, I like to see the engagement. That's, that's where I know that things are happening. Um, you know, and, and I think, and I've been following some things out there and it's, it's not so much, uh, social media anymore. There's, it's being kind of dubbed interest media. So you're starting, you're gonna start seeing more things in your feed that you're truly interested in.
The algorithms changing really rapidly. And, uh, you know, I'm, I'm seeing numbers, you know, change in, in a positive way. Um, and it's not necessarily the likes, but sometimes it's just the views and the engagement where these things start to, to, to go off and that brings people in, um, that you might not have, uh, had the opportunity to talk to before.
And, uh. That's where the consistency comes in. You gotta stay consistent with it. So,
RC Victorino: yeah.
Rich Malachy: Yeah. The r the ROI is, is tough to, to kind of [00:26:00] gauge. But
RC Victorino: yeah,
Rich Malachy: when you look at all the things that have come through LinkedIn and, and the things that have come through emails, Hey Rich, I've watched this video, I did this.
RC Victorino: Right.
Rich Malachy: Um, it's there.
RC Victorino: I'm, I'm smiling a little bit to myself 'cause I know like after the, my social media manager will be going through this podcast to do what she does on social media as well, and she's gonna enjoy the, the interest media aspect of this because, um. It is true. Much of the engagement and, and the eyeballs on our content is not from the people who even follow us.
And so it's very, it's very challenging and difficult. So not, not out to you, uh, uh, Vanessa, 'cause I know you're listening to that and saying Yes, I totally agree. How much, um, yeah, someone if like, there are a few of you, but only a few of you who are this active on social media and, uh, I'm talking to someone, uh, soon for the podcast as well.
Carly, who does this as well, and I'll ask her the same question, but like. Man, what's, what's the, the workload for this? Like, how much of your time is toward this versus the other business critical things that are on your plate every [00:27:00] single day.
Rich Malachy: Yeah, I mean, this, this is a question that, uh, you know, 'cause I, I've, I've, I've worked hard to try to get my other fellow service, uh, men and women out there doing more of this.
And, and that's, that's always the question, like, rich, where do you find the time for this?
RC Victorino: Yeah.
Rich Malachy: Uh, well, you know, you're, it's, it's part of our business now. It's part of our strategy. You know, we, I have, like I said, I have Lisa here and Sierra, we have some people here that, you know, we're having weekly meetings, we're having monthly meetings.
We're, we're, we're going through things, we're seeing what's working, what's not, what we wanna do. We just had a 2026 discussion on what we're gonna focus on. Um, 'cause it's part of the business. So if it's part of the business and, and it's a priority. Yeah. Then you make time for it. So what, you know, and I, I don't know exact, I, I would say I'm probably spending several hours a week focused on a lot of this stuff.
RC Victorino: Mm-hmm.
Rich Malachy: You know, from, from writing copy. 'cause I do write my, a lot of my own stuff, my, my posts and everything like that. Um, copy just to, uh, you know, think tank stuff. Um, I'm posting my own things on LinkedIn, doing some creative stuff with, uh, different tools like Canva and other things like that. And so, yeah, I mean, just, there's, there's a, [00:28:00] it's, it's, I the same thing I tell everybody, it's gotta be a priority.
RC Victorino: Is there, is there a favorite thing that you've done or something on the top of mind that like, you think of like, yeah, that's, I'm really proud of that content that I did. Is there anything that comes to mind to you for that?
Rich Malachy: Uh, well, I mean, I do, I do love going through the industry. So when we have like shows like we have nafa, which is the North American Food Equipment Show every other year.
Uh, NRA show, the International Restaurant Show. Um, we go to rma. So I, I love bringing my media team there and walking, walking the show floors, going into different, you know, uh, things of that nature. And you can see that that's more of vlog style, but you get to get out there and you get to see the people and, um, you get the feedback.
That's where the feedback really comes. Like, you don't, sometimes you sit there and you're like, am I doing this for no reason? Who's watching?
RC Victorino: Yeah,
Rich Malachy: yeah, yeah. And then you go out into your world with your people and they're coming up to you and they're hugging you and they're high fiving. You're like, oh man, I love the video.
I love this. Hey, there's the video guy. It's. Um, so I, I love doing those vlogs. Those are things that I, and I, I love to look back where, where we were and [00:29:00] how far we've come. So I love that stuff. Um, you know, and I just, I love talking about industry hot topics that, that really gets me going. So what are
RC Victorino: some industry hot topics, by the way, that's, that's a great segue to that.
What, what are some hot topics right now?
Rich Malachy: These hot topics are probably things we'll be talking about 10 years from now, but,
RC Victorino: okay.
Rich Malachy: Site surveys, um, before we go and do an installation. You know, uh, I think there's a lot of misperception and the value of that. It's like, Hey, just, it's easy. Everything's easy.
It's easy. It's apples to apples. Uh, go, go, go install the com oven. You'll be fine. You. Famous last words, you know. Interesting. So the site survey, we get to go in, we get to see if we need to run, if electrical needs to be run, if drains need to be run, uh, you know, made, if we have to run pipe, if we have to, where's the equipment going?
I mean, we walk into sometimes, uh, places that, that are, or kitchen that have dirt on the floor. It's not, there's not even a floor in yet and they're ready to do the install. There's a lot of things that cost, uh, money, uh, pay me now, pay me later type thing. So the site survey really, um, is an overlooked thing in this [00:30:00] industry.
And, uh, so we talk a lot about that. Um, yeah, I mean, that's, that's a big one. So
RC Victorino: how much is, is the talk of the impact of ai, uh, on your mind as a business owner, as someone in the trades, et cetera?
Rich Malachy: Yeah, I mean, that's one of the reasons we, we were investing in the new software, uh, with build ops. You know, we're, we want to have a, a software that's gonna be AI driven, that's gonna help us, you know, that we could scale with, that we can grow with, and, um.
You know, I think it's gonna probably change the landscape in different ways from. Uh, you know, I, I do hear, I do hear, talk about the phone, um, going from the phone and we're gonna be doing a lot of stuff with glasses and the phone is gonna go away at some point. I, I dunno if that's the case, but I, I see smart glasses and smart and all these different technologies that'll probably come down the pike very soon.
They're already out there, but on, on a much higher scale where they're gonna. Helping the technician diagnose the right. I see
RC Victorino: that as a really cool, like, I, I'm very like, wary of like smart glasses in general for [00:31:00] like the normal human being, but like on a job site, when you need some sort of like asset history or just the, the whatever the, the, the manual.
I see that as very interesting opportunity right there for
Rich Malachy: sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, having technicians have all the stuff at their fingertips very quickly. Um, yeah. 'cause we sell time. Time is everything.
RC Victorino: Yeah.
Rich Malachy: So if we can improve the, the, the fix rate. And the diagnostic rate that's gonna change, change things for us as a business.
RC Victorino: Do you think that that, um. Do you think there's a positive impact of ai, uh, in the labor force for the trades? And what I mean specifically, and also I'll, I'll spoon feed this a little bit more to you, is like, so basically someone like me, like my job could be on the chopping block at any moment, right?
Like it's very, uh, I mean, not as much as a co coder per se, unfortunately for them, but like,
Rich Malachy: yeah,
RC Victorino: uh, man, ai, AI is chopping off a lot like. I, I live in outside Seattle, Amazon just chopped a few thousand people off of, of their, uh, workforce followed previously by Microsoft, et cetera, et cetera. So, I mean, it, it, it's.[00:32:00]
Some call it a blood bath. It is what it is. But, you know, quote, quoting Mike Rowe, you know, AI's not coming from the plumbers, for example. Do you think that that, that this new technology is making the trades more attractive to a younger generation?
Rich Malachy: Yeah, and I think that's one of the things that we're looking to market.
Um, I, I, you know, you probably see some of that stuff coming up in the, in the, in the new year. I have some initiatives to. To, uh, recruit some young, young people. Um, it's not just the, you know, the, the picture back in the day with the plumber and the crack and, you know, the don't work, don't work harder, work smarter, go, you know, all that stuff.
It, the tool, the tool bag has changed. You know, this is a tool. The iPads, they're tablets. Yeah, they're tools. There, there's, it's not just turning the wrench anymore. We're, we're, um, we're updating software. You know, we're, we're, we're doing menu stuff. I mean, there's a lot of data that we're, that we're out there doing now.
It's not just, you know, turning the wrenches anymore. So I think that is gonna get some, uh, some eyes on us, um, moving, moving forward. 'cause, uh, yeah, AI is, [00:33:00] like I said, it's not coming for the plumber, but it's, it's definitely gonna enhance what we do. So, um, from troubleshooting before we get there, um, from having access to manuals and parts and different things at a instant, um, yeah.
It, it's, I think it's gonna attract the, the, the younger gen generation to say, Hey, this is, this is not what I thought it was.
RC Victorino: Yeah, yeah.
Rich Malachy: Yeah.
RC Victorino: I, I, I, I like that idea of a, a, an evolved tube belt, but I also, uh, I mentioned someone, uh, before Carly Rose, who, who. Her, her voice is in my head right now from a conversation I had with her as well.
But like, uh, so I, I wanna bring that into the play here. Yes. That it's more than just turning wrenches, however, it is still hard fricking work, right? It is work, yes. Right. It is work. Yes. So how, how do we ensure that folks who are potentially like trade curious, I guess is a good way to put it? Um. They get the experience that they need to, and in order to make the right decision, right?
So they don't feel you, you never want anyone to feel like they're backed into like, this is their only option. Like, that's how people feel like [00:34:00] that we're in the trades that went to college, right? This is my only option. This is what everyone's saying that I need to do. We don't like, again, going back to user experience and like, you know, being genuine, like we don't want anyone to be.
The trades is what I have to do. This is my only option. They, we want them to feel good about that. What's the best experience for them to ensure that they understand what they're getting into before they get into it, essentially.
Rich Malachy: Perfect. I, I just interviewed two young guys that we're gonna bring on for trainees in January.
Um, I sit these guys down. I say the same thing to them. I want them to know what this is. This is, again, this is not, yes, it's hard work. It's not just turning the wrench, but it's hard work. You're gonna be bending, twisting. Yeah, sitting, crawling. You're gonna be in Greece, you're gonna be in grime, you're gonna have cockroaches on you, you're gonna have rodents running around.
There's gonna be a lot of different variables on every call. Um, and they're all gonna be different. But if you put your head down and you really learn this thing over the next several years, you can take this anywhere in the world. That's number one. Number two, this is not the end of the road. There's, there's, there's a career path.
And that not just for my [00:35:00] company. Um, many, many of us in the trades, there's a career path that I say one day, you know this, he was a young guy. 20, 25 years old. I say, listen, one day you're gonna be old like me, 43. And uh, you know, but fifties coming, we're gonna get older. And you might say, you know what?
I'm done rolling around on the floor. I'm ready to be in leadership. What's, what's the next, what's the next step I want to be in? I wanna be in management. I wanna be in sales, uh, you know, I want, I wanna do something different. The opportunities are endless here. We, we need people on the road with our key accounts.
We need new salespeople. Um, you know, we need, we need people, you know, overseeing or our mat service managers, um, operations managers. As we grow, we're gonna, we're gonna have these roles that are gonna be needed. I have a example here. Um, one of our guys here that's, uh, I think he's in his mid fifties. He came off the road recently.
Um, we developed an in-house tech support manager role for him. He's here now supporting our technicians, our customers, um, talking, talking to customers before we get [00:36:00] there to see if we can alleviate some of these nuisance calls. Did you plug it in? Did you check the break? Or did, so we have him kind of facilitating a lot of that.
So there's always opportunity here, always. That's big.
RC Victorino: Amazing. Awesome. Uh, I wanna shift to our lightning round if it, if that's all right with you. Uh, where I ask a few questions and then whatever comes top of mind to you is, is the answer you're gonna go with and you'll be, uh, be on your tombstone. Oh, that's how it's gonna go.
Alright. Question number one. What's one tool you can't live without? It could be on the job or off the job. Phone.
Rich Malachy: Phone,
RC Victorino: phone. Do you think that one day, uh, you mentioned glasses, but this is not lightning round. This is light, lightning, round out addendum. Uh, do you think that one day we'll truly have like implants in our brain and like people will actually be okay with that?
Rich Malachy: It's coming
RC Victorino: and people are gonna be okay with that? Yes. Or do you think like.
Rich Malachy: Do I think, I don't know if I'm gonna be
RC Victorino: what I, at what, at what age are the, then what, what's the age of consent for now? We've gone down a whole path, folks. That's all right. What's the age of consent for brain? I implantation of a, of a chip?[00:37:00]
Rich Malachy: My god. 30. At least.
RC Victorino: 30 at least. I
Rich Malachy: don't know.
RC Victorino: Well, it's true because you know, your brain's still growing at what, 20, 21, 22? Yeah.
Rich Malachy: Yeah. Your 20, your twenties. A lot of decisions you make in your twenties are a little suspect. You know what I mean?
RC Victorino: Yeah, yeah. The, the legalities of maturity and the realities of maturity definitely are not.
N not the same, for sure.
Rich Malachy: Yeah. Yeah.
RC Victorino: Uh, what's one thing you've built that you're most proud of? Again, could be at work, could be anywhere in your life?
Rich Malachy: One thing I've built, I'm most proud of, I mean, I, geez, I mean, I don't wanna be corny, I guess, um, is building, building relationships, is that, uh,
RC Victorino: a hundred percent
Rich Malachy: that families, people here I have, even, even, um, my, you know, which everybody needs an outlet.
Like my, my friends that I've grown up with, we've been friends since third grade, there's five of us. Um. I'm, I'm very proud that we're, we're still connected and still still doing what we do all these years later.
RC Victorino: That is an interesting, um, correlation to how you run your business, by the way, the fact that you have these friends for so long.
Um, [00:38:00] so, so it's representative basically, you, you've done a good job of, of, of taking what matters most to you and trying to share that into a, the blueprint of your company. So kudos to you. Um, what is the biggest misconception people have about the trades?
Rich Malachy: Uh, that it's, that it's a second rate career perhaps.
Maybe you feel like, uh, you know, 'cause like, again, going back 50, 60 years in, in, in, in high schools, like my mom had the picture of, they showed the plumber and the guy in the white collar thing and was like, work, you know, don't work harder, work smarter. And I think that's still translate today. I don't think there's enough talk about what this really is.
There's some of the most intelligent people are, are, are, are in the trades and it is not secondary.
RC Victorino: No, I, I, it's, uh, I mentioned this other episode, so I don't wanna sound like a broken record to folks, but like, uh, it, it is a, a core of me. Uh, one of the jobs I have at Build Ops is to help just tell our, the narrative of the brand, but also of, of our customers, our prospects, our, our commercial contractors.
And one of the biggest pushes for me, uh, of the course of [00:39:00] this, this next year as well, is to really honor the precision and the intelligence that goes beyond this. It's the unique blend of, of grit and also smart, which not many. Jobs have that combination. So yeah, like, you know, one degree matters. One, one false turn matters.
Like it's a cascade effect of, of terrible things if you don't get it right. And so some, some ape walking around like knuckle dragging is not doing that right. This is an actual very, very intelligent person with patience by the way. In, in a, in a. An environment that begs you not to be patient because you're not, again, you're not in a well ventilated space with all the like, like luxuries.
No. You're, you're in an attic or you're under the house or whatever the hell you may be. Like you're in a tight space, you're not doing well.
Rich Malachy: It's true. You're in 115 degree kitchen in a, in a space this big. You got people prepping and things are falling over the place and oil's splashing on you burn. Oh yeah.
RC Victorino: Yeah. Amazing. Uh, what's one thing that gets you fired up about the future of the trades?
Rich Malachy: Ah, fired up. That's, that's, that's my, that's my term. I, I had a, a live [00:40:00] that I used to do called Fired up.
RC Victorino: There you
Rich Malachy: go. Um, what gets me fired up about the trades? Um, uh, well, that's a good question. Uh, I would say, I would say probably that, um, you know, the future.
The future is endless. So, um, when I, when I wake up every day, there's always opportunity. There's always, there's always something coming down the pike. There's always something to look forward to. Um, and that doesn't go away. So I think I'll be excited for the rest of my life, you know, getting up and doing this.
'cause there's, there's just so much, um, out there for the taking.
RC Victorino: Yeah. Totally. Well, rich, thank you so much for joining us. Uh, you are everywhere on social, you're on Instagram, uh, you got Rich Malicky. Uh,
Rich Malachy: yes,
RC Victorino: you got Malkey TV on YouTube, you're on LinkedIn obviously. Um, and tell us a little bit more like how folks can find, uh, your company online.
Rich Malachy: Uh, yeah, so I mean, what we have our, our website, malachy cares.com and uh, we also have our, uh, parts [00:41:00] distribution website, malachy parts plus.com. So you can go on there and, uh, see more about us.
RC Victorino: Awesome. And we'll add a bunch of links to our show notes as well. So folks, uh, find out about, by the way, as I look to this, uh, your National Bagel Day video where you are looking fired up, by the way, on that orange sweatshirt that is, that is a hoodie.
That is, that, that's a hoodie. That, that is a wine. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us and uh, everyone else, thank you so much for listening, and until next time, keep building.
Rich Malachy: Thank you.