Episode 120: From Homeschooling and Trades to C-Suite Leadership with Corey Gray

Created for This with Danielle Roberts

In this episode of Created for This, Danielle is joined by Corey Gray, a general manager at Beyond Wow Plumbing with a unique career path and a personal journey steeped in homeschooling and trades. Corey shares his experiences growing up as a homeschooler, how it influenced his values of ownership and self-leadership, and his journey into the trades. He discusses the importance of planning and setting goals, using the entrepreneurial operating system (EOS), and how those strategies can help business owners focus their energy effectively. Corey also emphasizes the growing acceptance of trades as a viable path to generational wealth and offers insights on how to integrate leadership skills between personal and professional life. The episode wraps up with a heartfelt message on the importance of supporting systems and legacy in both business and family life. 00:00 Introduction to Created for This 00:37 Meet Corey Gray: A Unique Career Path 02:20 Corey's Personal Life and Family 03:17 The Impact of Homeschooling on Leadership 10:07 Journey into the Trades 17:32 Marriage and Moving for Career Growth 20:35 Focusing on Strengths and Leadership 31:33 Creating Generational Wealth through Trades 42:05 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

More about Corey

Corey is the general manager at Beyond Wow Plumbing in Austin, Texas, where he specialize in turning bold visions into systems, scorecard and leadership framework that actually work in the real world of the trades. As he said, he started in his family business, earned his master plumbing license and have since shifted from working in the business to working on the business by building leaders and eliminating bottlenecks. His personal mission is to elevate the trades by creating cultures of relentless ownership or teams, execute with clarity and back without needing to be micromanaged. He's led leadership transformation efforts, built scalable accountability systems, and reimagined industry best practices to align with local organizational culture and built tools that feel deeply human while being operationally rock solid. His faith informs how he leads and builds, and he's especially passionate about helping other men lead with clarity capacity and conviction, both in business and in life He was homeschooled and am the husband to my high school sweetheart Melissa (also homeschooled) for 16 years and new father to our one year-old daughter Gabrielle and soon-to-arrive son Ezra.

His LinkedIn

If you're in the local Austin, TX area and need a great plumber, check out Corey's company, Beyond Wow.