I’m Delmar Barber.
I’ve been a self-employed carpenter most of my adult life.
Blue Collar Funded and Entrepreneurial Trades Academy are the capstone of that career. Here’s how they got built — and why they’re both free for you to use.
For most of my adult life I’ve been a self-employed carpenter. I’ve tried every form of contracting there is, to one degree or another, in a market that wasn’t built for every kind of contractor that’s actually out there.
I had a map of Kentucky on my wall and two circles drawn on it — my local market, and the market I planned on building once I conquered the local one. It was me, my kitchen table, a lot of research, and fifteen years of ups and downs.
Most of those years I was looking for tools that didn’t exist. Spreadsheets that handled what I actually needed. Estimating that respected how a tradesman thinks. Books that talked to a contractor instead of a venture capitalist. So I built them. Excel macros first, then a little HTML, then PHP. I patched my way through what should have already existed.
That long journey — every cut, bang, bruise, and setback of the CLIMB — is what produced what you’re looking at now.
What got built
Entrepreneurial Trades Academy is the school I wish I’d had. Personal finance, startup operations, sales, hiring, reputation, growth — every business subject the trades never get taught in school, written by a tradesman who lived every chapter, sequenced in the order you actually need them. It’s free. Anyone in the trades can attend. Including the contractors who buy from BCF.
Blue Collar Funded is the firm that funds the school. Websites, hosting, branding, the design work that pays the bills. Real overhead, real customers, real shop — and every cent of profit goes back into ETA. Most agencies bank the money. We don’t.
Why this exists
The trades teach you how to do the work. They don’t teach you how to run a business. Most of us learn the business side the hard way — expensive mistakes, hard lessons, late nights, sometimes a bankruptcy or two. I think that’s a waste of good tradesmen.
ETA exists to compress that learning curve. BCF exists to fund ETA. Same shop, two jobs.
If you’ve been in this long enough, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re new, you don’t have to take the long way around like I did.
I hope they’re both a help to you.
— Delmar Barber
Founder, Blue Collar Funded
Founder, Entrepreneurial Trades Academy
What you can do here
- Websites — mobile-first, lead-capture-ready, built for trades.
- Hosting & marketing tiers — Starter through Pro, fixed monthly pricing.
- Branding — logo, business cards, vehicle wrap, yard signs.
- Manuals — ETA’s book series, sold individually or as the full library.
Want to talk to me directly? Get in touch.