This is a love story.
And it is an amazing journey.
Written by Stephen Pearce — Founder, Tradies Bio®
Originally 1 November 2023 · Updated 1 June 2026 · TM No. 2408794
I Came Out of Retirement
I retired at 67 years of age. I had earned it. And then — despite opposition from places I never expected, from directions I never anticipated — I came out of retirement.
Not because I had to. Because I could not leave this alone.
What followed has been one of the most remarkable chapters of my life: learning things I never imagined I would learn, creating an opportunity that did not exist, and sharing it with the people I trust most. Trusted others who saw what I saw, believed what I believed, and said yes.
Tradies Bio® is the result. It is not just a platform. It is what happens when you refuse to accept that the best chapters are behind you.
I turn 72 on 7 June 2026.
The Story Behind Tradies Bio®
This platform exists because of a man named Steve Wells.
Steve is a civil trade-qualified plumber. Over a lifetime on the tools, he built a reputation the way every honest tradie does — through hard work, turning up on time, and doing the job right. Like most tradies, Steve never had a marketing team behind him. He had his skills, his word, and his reputation. That was his brand.
For years, businesses approached tradies like Steve with promises — more leads, better visibility, a stronger profile online. The fees were real. The results rarely were. Tradies are exhausted enough without being let down by people who don't understand what they actually do or what they actually need.
That injustice is what started Tradies Bio®. The idea is simple: the trade is the brand. A tradie doesn't need an agency. They need their credentials on display, their licences accessible, their reviews working for them, and a system that runs quietly in the background while they're on the tools.
Kalamazoo, a Lost Licence, and a Cargo Plane to New Zealand
Many years ago, I was a sales representative and business consultant for a company called Kalamazoo — a business that sold manual business systems. Asset registers. Receipts. Real, physical, hands-on business tools installed into real businesses. It was meaningful work, and I was good at it.
Then I lost my licence.
I was driving to Queensland to visit my mother, June Josephine. Between Sydney and the Gold Coast — between Sydney and Miami Beach — I was booked by police twice on the same day. Two bookings. One drive. And the moment I told my employer that I had lost my licence, I lost everything that came with it: the car, the job, the income. All of it, in a single conversation.
I will not pretend that was an easy time.
At home were my two young children — Daniel, aged 10, and Rebecca, aged 7 — in the care of Nelly, our housekeeper. I recall those moments the way you recall the things that mark you: completely, and forever. Daniel and Rebecca will have their own memories of that time. That is theirs to carry. What I carry is the knowledge that I showed up anyway — broken as I was — because there was no other option that I was willing to take.
I have never given up. I have never stopped showing up. Even when it looked dark. Even when it looked bad. Even when I was, by any honest measure, broken.
But a friend — a man I had met only once, who lived in New Zealand — heard what had happened. And he said: "Come to me. Let's do a week together."
At 2 o'clock in the morning, I boarded a DHL cargo plane — not a passenger flight, a working aircraft carrying mail and parcels — with two pilots and the kind of silence that sits between a person and a very large decision. I arrived in New Zealand at approximately 3 am.
My friend was, at the time, around the age I am now. He took me under his wing. He took me out hunting. He spent time with me — real time, unhurried time. And he showed me something quietly remarkable: he had built a small consulting practice helping the people in his local community navigate GST — goods and services tax. Simple, practical, grounded help. Exactly what people needed.
That was the week I became a consultant.
I flew back to Australia with something I had not arrived with: a direction. And I have not stopped learning since that point.
Daniel, Rebecca — Look at You Now
Daniel and Rebecca are now adults, married, building their own families. I am their father and I am their greatest fan. I am enormously and unreservedly proud of both of you — proud of the families you are building, proud of the people you have become, proud of the way you show up for each other and for the people around you.
Daniel — you live in Kamloops, Canada. You called me one day from there and you said: "Dad, you must check out ChatGPT."
I could not even spell AI at the time.
But I listened. And not long after that call, I sat on a train — from Engadine Station to Circular Quay — and I wrote a business plan. The whole journey. The whole idea. By the time the train pulled into the city, something was on the page that had not existed when I boarded.
That was the beginning of Tradies Bio®.
AI did not build this. But AI opened a door I did not know was there. And Daniel — you handed me the key.
Rebecca — you will understand this perfectly. You have heard my voice messages. You know the ones. The scripture that comes to mind as I write this is the Good Samaritan — the one who stopped when the crowd walked past. The one who was not in the crowd. That is the standard. Not to be in the crowd. To stop. To help. To be genuinely useful to the person in front of you.
Daniel — ask Rebecca. Rebecca — ask Daniel. Love from Dad.
What Tradies Bio® Is For
Tradies Bio® is not a marketing system. It is not a CRM. It is not another agency asking for a monthly retainer.
It is a foundation — and the deeper the foundation, the higher the building.
The goal is to give every tradie in Australia the tools to:
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Be foundProfessionally, credibly, on their own terms.
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Stay compliantEvery licence and insurance tracked and reminded automatically.
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Never miss a leadThe AI Co-Pilot handles enquiry replies while they're on the tools.
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Build their reputationThrough authentic Google reviews, NFC-enabled customer handoffs, and a bio page that works 24 hours a day.
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Recapture their timeFor the people who matter, not for admin that doesn't.
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Build genuine business wealthSo that one day, they can step off the tools, sell their business as a going concern, and retire on what they built.
Tradies Bio® has strategies for all of this. Some are built. More are coming.
The most important thing — the thing that makes this different from every agency and every platform that came before — is this:
Tradies Bio® is on the tradie's side. Full stop.
When the Ute Keys Come Out — It Is Family Time
Here is what Tradies Bio® is actually for. Not the technology. Not the features. Not the AI.
A tradie pulls up at home at the end of the day. He turns off the engine. He takes the keys out of the ute. And he walks inside — because the work is done. The quotes are sent. The leads are followed up. The enquiries are replied to. The admin is finished. The Co-Pilot handled it while he was on the tools.
Before Tradies Bio®, that tradie walked in the door and the second shift began. Quoting. Following up money. Responding to enquiries. After a full day on the tools — another two hours at the kitchen table. Tired. Stressed. Present in body, absent in mind.
That was the reality for tradespeople across Australia — not because they were disorganised or weak, but because no one had built a system that worked the way they work.
When the keys come out of the ute — it is family time. That is the promise. That is the product. Everything else is how we keep it.
Faith
I take no credit for any of this. None.
The ideas, the timing, the people who have come alongside, the open doors — I do not attribute these to my own cleverness. At the centre of my life, and at the centre of this venture, is my faith in Jesus Christ. That is my rock. That is my driving force. That is the anchor that held when the licence was gone, when the job was gone, when the income was gone, and two young children were at home with Nelly.
I read the Scriptures every day. Not as ritual. As nourishment. And I have never learned more quickly than when I am in them.
To our facilitators, to my family, to those who follow this document in years to come — I leave you with an open Bible. Proverbs 3 and Proverbs 4. Read them slowly. Read them when you are beginning something. Read them when you are afraid. Read them when someone tells you it cannot be done.
The People Who Made This Possible
No platform is built alone. These are the people who stood beside this from the beginning.
To all of them: this record exists so that when Tradies Bio® is what it is going to become, these names are in the foundation.
Win — Win — Win
Tradies Bio® is built to be a win for the tradie, a win for the facilitator, and a win for the platform. Not two of the three. All three.
The tradie wins because they have tools, support, and a professional presence that used to cost them thousands and now costs them nothing — and because when the keys come out of the ute, the work is finished.
The facilitator wins because they have a practice, a purpose, an income, and the deep satisfaction of knowing that the people in their care are growing.
The platform wins because when both of those are true, it sustains itself — and grows.
This is the model. This has been the model from 1 November 2023, when the first idea was written down on a train between Engadine and Circular Quay. Nearly two and a half years later, the foundation is in the ground. The building is going up.