In this special relaunch episode of Beyond the Tools, Krystal Hobbs returns to the mic after taking a year off to travel the world and reflect on what matters most — in life and in business.
Krystal shares why she paused the podcast, how she used that time to refocus her marketing agency, and what’s ahead for this new season. From meaningful conversations with contractors to fresh video content on YouTube, Beyond the Tools is coming back stronger, more intentional, and more community-focused than ever.
This season, we’re also launching a bi-weekly episode schedule to ensure every conversation is packed with value—and produced with care.
Whether you’re a longtime listener or just joining in, this is your invitation to dive into a new season filled with real talk, real tools, and real stories from across the trades.
Transcripts
Krystal Hobbs (:
Hey, contractors, welcome back to a brand new season of the Beyond the Tools podcast. I cannot tell you how long I have waited to say that again. I'm Krystal Hobbs, your host, and today I want to share a little bit about where we've been and more importantly, where we're going this season. If you've been a long time listener of the show, you've probably been wondering what happened? Where did the Beyond the Tools podcast go?
It was a lifelong dream of my husband and I to be able to take a year off to travel. And when the pandemic happened and that option was taken away, we had some real conversations about what we wanted from our lives and how we were going to make that happen. So we made a plan to be able to take a year off. That meant focusing on building my agency, Reflective Marketing, and stripping away anything that felt extra. I'm sure as
All of you business owners can relate to be able to take a significant chunk of time away from your business. There's a lot of work that goes into that to be able to step away and not have to work in the business every hour of every day. I really dove into operations and systems, getting everything super streamlined, and that level of focus meant that some things had to be put on the back burner.
And the podcast was one of those things. So we got married, we took our little 15 pound rescue dog and we traveled. We spent three months in New York City. We spent three months in Europe. We had a couple of little trips here and there, really focused on spending time with family. And I was able to drastically reduce my work schedule to be able to make that.
During that time, and especially when I came back to status quo this summer, back to working in my business, the main thing that I missed was this podcast. I missed all the learning that I had. I really missed the conversations. I missed having the creative outlet. I missed all the learning that I was able to do in these conversations with different guests and experts.
But ultimately, the thing that I miss the most was the connection to the broader community. Nothing made me happier than hearing from one of our listeners that a concept really resonated with you or a guest really helped you to think about your business in a new way or some of the strategies that we shared helped you to grow. So that brings us to today. I am back with renewed energy.
This season we are back and better than ever. Some of the things that will stay the same is that we are still focused on HVAC and other trades and building your business beyond the tools. With our guests, we still want to have a balance there between hearing from absolute legends in the industry that I know none of us can get enough of.
with hearing from new voices. I know there are so many contractors that are working diligently and quietly in the background and those are the kinds of success stories that we can all relate to and I want to be able to shine a light on those people as well. There are of course a couple of new things. One is that we're going to be publishing every two weeks. This way we can really put a lot of
time and effort into every episode that goes out to make sure that you get the most value from these interviews. Another thing that is new that I am so excited about is that we are finally going to be publishing video episodes. So if you're a visual person, you prefer video, or you want to see the guests and see some of those nuances,
We are going to be publishing every podcast episode on our YouTube channel at Reflective Marketing. Ultimately, I want this to continue to be a resource for you. Whether you're brand new in business, you're in those early stages of building up your team and your operations, or you're a successful multimillion dollar company planning that exit or planning that next step.
Wherever you are in your business, I want this podcast to help you get to that next level, whatever that may be for you. Okay, and before we finish up here, I just want to thank you. This podcast would not be here without you. I wouldn't have this incredible opportunity to speak to so many of you and to our amazing guests. And really, your support means the world. If you'd like to continue to support the Beyond the Tools podcast,
Please write and review us wherever you listen. You can subscribe to Reflective Marketing on YouTube or go to our website, beyondthetoolspodcast.com to subscribe to get email notifications anytime there's a new episode. We've got an incredibly exciting season coming up. I really am so grateful to be able to kickstart this with you and I hope you'll tune in to the coming weeks for these incredible guests that we have coming for you. Thank you and we'll see you next time.
