Scott McQuade grew up in Colchester, Connecticut, where he learned early that real skill cannot be faked. Coming up through a vocational electrical program at a time when there was no computer to tell you the answer, you either knew your trade or you did not. That foundation — knowledge built by hand, not by shortcut — has shaped everything he has built since.

Scott went on to run an electrical contracting business and build API Pools from the ground up into a nine-person operation with four repair technicians and five pool cleaners. In 2008 the recession exposed what he had not yet learned. The electrical business was wide on revenue and shallow on profit. It cost him the pool business he loved to clean the debt and start over. That decision was one of the hardest of his life. It also became the education no program could have given him.

Out of that season came clarity. He rebuilt with intention, eventually founding Margie Mae's Holiday Decor in 2009 — now a family business in the truest sense. His daughter Samantha and his son Hunter, now 25 and 22, both work alongside him in the company. The electrical work continues today under MM Lightscapes.

In 2015 Scott walked into Ramsey Solutions and met Chris Oakley — a mentor who told him the truth and pushed him toward coaching when he was not sure he was ready.

One line from Chris has stayed with him every day since. If you are not moving up and to the right, you are losing. Scott has spent the last three years coaching service business owners one on one, focused on the same lesson 2008 taught him — net margin first, then grow.

He is a Christian, a past youth baseball coach, and an avid power boater. He is based in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Erin. He is hungry. He is humble. And he has been exactly where you are.