From Your Side of the Table

The section before this one belongs to my team. This one belongs to the people we built all of it for.

When I asked our clients to write for this book, I asked for the real thing — not testimonials. Why they chose us, and what almost made them not. What it is actually like working with a company that moves this fast, the good and the disorienting. What they see, from their side of the table, when they compare how we operate to the rest of the industry. I promised their words would run exactly as they sent them — no edits from me, attributed to them, their titles, and their companies.

Eleven voices are in this section — scroll or jump to any of them:

John Dean · Superior Air Duct Cleaning
Paul Wiese · Built by the Trades / Door Serv Pro
Crystal Williams · Lemon Seed Marketing
Utku “Dave” Kaynar · OnePath AI
Amanda · Cherry Blossom Plumbing
Bekka Martel · Advanced Air Conditioning + Heating
Anthony James · Six Star Heating & Cooling
Anthony Hamilton · THE Water Heater Company
Joe Zimmer · Legendary Service
Frank Cichetti · Cabrillo Plumbing, Heating & Air
Les Lomedico · Central Washington Heating & Air

The founding entry arrived from John Dean, who owns Superior Air Duct Cleaning in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. John is not a developer, not an SEO expert, not an AI engineer — which is exactly why his account matters. He watched this industry's argument about our direction from the one seat that counts: the customer's. Here is his story, exactly as he sent it.

John Dean

Owner, Superior Air Duct Cleaning · superiorairduct.com

My CI Web Group Journey

My name is John Dean, and I own a small business called Superior Air Duct Cleaning. We clean air ducts and dryer vents throughout western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. Like many small business owners, I quickly learned that running a company means wearing far more hats than you ever expected. One minute you're working with customers, the next you're balancing the books, managing employees, fixing equipment, and somehow trying to become an expert in marketing.

For someone on the back side of five decades on this planet, the digital marketing world has probably been the most confusing hat I've had to wear. Just when you think you've finally figured it out, everything changes.

In March of 2022, something happened that every business owner dreads.

The phone stopped ringing.

The company managing my website told me Google's latest algorithm update had crushed our rankings. Their solution? A brand-new custom website that would solve all my problems—for the bargain price of $12,000.

I was scared.

When your livelihood depends on that phone ringing, fear has a way of making expensive decisions seem reasonable. I agreed.

I was promised a three-month build.

Three months became nine.

When the website was finally delivered, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. It was, without exaggeration, one of the worst websites I had ever seen. Twelve thousand dollars was gone, my rankings hadn't improved, and I was left with the familiar promise that "it just needs more time."

It never worked.

At that point, I knew I had to start over—but this time I wasn't going to make another emotional decision.

I became obsessed with finding the right digital marketing partner.

I talked to everyone I could find. I asked other business owners who managed their websites. Some used small local agencies. Others had someone's cousin building websites on the side. The answers were all over the map.

Then I attended an event hosted by an HVAC company generating over $50 million in annual sales. I asked one simple question:

"Who handles your digital marketing?"

Without hesitation, they answered, "CI Web Group."

That immediately got my attention.

Around the same time, I was researching many of the larger marketing firms serving the home service industry. After countless conversations and hours of research, I eventually spoke with Jennifer Bagley and liked what she had to say.

Then something unexpected happened.

I attended a business leadership retreat called BOLD Leadership, where I happened to meet Jennifer's husband Michael. Of all the people who could have been in my group, there he was.

Was it coincidence?

Maybe.

Or maybe it was exactly the conversation I needed to have.

Moving to CI Web Group meant building another website. Normally, that thought would have terrified me after my previous experience.

Instead, the process was completely different.

Within a couple of months, my new WordPress website was live. It looked modern, professional, and finally reflected the company we had worked so hard to build. It incorporated our newly redesigned logo and mascot and immediately felt like the brand we wanted customers to see.

For the first time in a long time, I felt optimistic.

As I continued following Jennifer's webinars and educational content, she began talking about something many people hadn't even considered yet: a low-code website. She believed the future of websites was changing and encouraged clients to start thinking beyond WordPress.

At the same time, something interesting was happening throughout the digital marketing industry.

On Facebook and across various marketing communities, I started seeing other agencies criticize CI Web Group. They rarely mentioned Jennifer by name, but everyone knew exactly who they were talking about.

"The world runs on WordPress."

"AI-generated marketing is going to hurt businesses."

The message was always the same: Jennifer was wrong.

One day, a friend of mine who was also a CI Web Group client invited me to sit in on a call with another digital marketing company. Their goal was simple—to convince us Jennifer was making a huge mistake by embracing AI and moving in a different direction.

I listened carefully.

Then I stayed the course.

While others were busy attacking, I started paying attention to something more important.

I watched Jennifer.

I wasn't a web developer. I wasn't an SEO expert. I certainly wasn't an AI engineer. But I could recognize one thing.

The world was changing faster than most people realized.

Artificial intelligence wasn't another marketing trend. It was fundamentally changing how people searched for information, how businesses were discovered, and how customers made buying decisions.

Of every digital marketing leader I was following, Jennifer seemed to be the only one investing heavily before everyone else understood what was happening.

She wasn't reacting to change.

She was preparing for it.

She wasn't reacting to change. She was preparing for it.

Eventually, something clicked for me.

The resistance I was hearing from other agencies wasn't necessarily because they genuinely believed Jennifer was wrong. Many simply didn't want to make the enormous investment—in time, money, education, and technology—that would be required to reinvent their businesses for an AI-driven future.

Change is expensive.

Staying the same is comfortable.

It's much easier to criticize the future than invest in building it.

What I find fascinating today is listening to many of those same marketers. Six to twelve months later, they're now talking about AI, automation, large language models, and the future of search using many of the same ideas Jennifer was discussing long before it became fashionable.

Sometimes the people who look different today are simply the ones everyone else follows tomorrow.

Jennifer's ability to anticipate where the industry is heading is only one part of the CI Web Group advantage. The other is education.

She has built a culture around teaching rather than simply selling. Through webinars, workshops, videos, and ongoing training, she helps business owners understand not only what is changing but why it matters.

For someone like me—who spends his days running a business rather than writing code—that education has been invaluable.

Technology will never stop evolving. Search engines will continue to change. Artificial intelligence will reshape digital marketing again and again.

I've accepted that I may never fully understand every technical detail. But I've learned something far more valuable.

The right marketing partner doesn't just build you a website. They help you understand where the future is going—and they make sure you're already headed there before everyone else realizes the road has changed.

— John Dean, Owner, Superior Air Duct Cleaning · superiorairduct.com · July 2026

That is John's story, told from the seat every argument in this book is ultimately about. He watched the industry tell him I was wrong. He watched the same industry, six to twelve months later, start repeating what I had said. And he made his decision the way the best operators always do — not by listening to the noise, but by watching what got built.

Paul Wiese's entry arrived next. Paul appears in chapter ten among the coalition, where I disclosed our relationship in full — the board seat I hold at Trade Rated, the equity, the strategy we shape together. That is exactly why his client-side account belongs here too: nobody sees this company from more angles than Paul does. Here is his entry, exactly as he sent it.

Paul Wiese

Founder, Built by the Trades · Founder, Door Serv Pro

The Client's Side of the Table

I've spent more than four decades in the trades. I've been the technician, the installer, the salesperson, the manager, and the owner. I've built companies from nothing, experienced success, made plenty of mistakes, sold businesses, and started over again. Every chapter taught me something different, but one lesson has remained constant: businesses aren't built by ideas alone—they're built by execution.

When I moved to West Virginia, I wasn't arriving with investors or a corporate safety net. I came with determination, experience, and the belief that if I worked hard enough and surrounded myself with the right people, I could build something meaningful again. That journey became Door Serv Pro, a company that grew into a multi-million-dollar business serving customers across multiple states.

Today, I'm building what I believe is the most important project of my career: Built by the Trades. Our mission is simple but ambitious—to build technology that actually helps contractors succeed. We're creating platforms like Profit Wizard, TradeRated, TrueQuote, ServiceDash, Goose, BudgetGenius, and TradeGames because they're solutions to problems I've personally lived for decades. Every product exists because I wished I'd had it when I was running service trucks, managing technicians, or trying to grow a business.

Because of that background, I don't evaluate companies the way most clients do.

I've worked with marketing agencies for years. I've seen polished presentations, heard every sales pitch imaginable, and been promised the world more times than I can count. Most agencies sell websites, SEO packages, or advertising campaigns. Very few understand business itself.

That was the first thing that stood out about CI Web Group.

Our conversations weren't centered on colors, fonts, or rankings. They were about business models, positioning, artificial intelligence, customer behavior, long-term brand value, and where the industry was heading. They weren't trying to build me a website—they were trying to help build a company that could compete in the future.

Did I have concerns? Absolutely.

CI Web moves fast—faster than almost any organization I've worked with. Sometimes you're still processing one strategic decision while they're already discussing the next several. That pace can be uncomfortable, especially when you're building multiple companies at once. But I've also learned that's part of their advantage. They're focused on where the market is going, not where it's been.

What I've watched over the years is an evolution.

The company I originally hired isn't the company I work with today. They've grown, adapted, invested heavily in AI, and continually challenged themselves to improve. More importantly, they've challenged us. They haven't been afraid to question our ideas, push us toward better solutions, or rethink an approach when something could be stronger. That's the kind of partnership I value.

Like any real business relationship, it hasn't always been perfect. Building companies at this scale creates pressure, changing priorities, and difficult conversations. But I don't judge partners by whether every project goes exactly as planned. I judge them by how they respond when things get difficult, whether they communicate honestly, and whether they're committed to finding the best solution. On those measures, they've continued to earn my trust.

The biggest difference I see is that CI Web thinks in systems instead of campaigns. They're not chasing the next marketing trend. They're building businesses to succeed in a world where AI, search, automation, and customer expectations are changing faster than ever before.

That's exactly the kind of thinking we needed as we built Built by the Trades.

We've trusted them with one of the most ambitious visions I've ever pursued because they understand that we're not creating software for the sake of software. We're building tools that can help contractors become more profitable, create better customer experiences, and build businesses that last for generations.

I've built businesses my entire life, and one thing has become clear to me.

Products matter. Strategy matters. Execution matters.

But in the end, everything comes down to people.

When you find people who challenge your thinking, keep learning, adapt when necessary, and genuinely care about helping you build something meaningful, you don't just hire them—you build alongside them.

That's been my experience with Jennifer Bagley and the team at CI Web Group.

I don't know exactly what the future holds for either of our companies. But I do know we're both trying to build something that outlasts us. That's the kind of partnership worth investing in.

They weren't trying to build me a website—they were trying to help build a company that could compete in the future.

— Paul Wiese · Founder, Built by the Trades · Founder, Door Serv Pro · July 2026

Crystal Williams's letter arrived for chapter ten of this book — the coalition chapter — and it belongs here too, on the client-and-partner side of the table. Crystal is the CEO of Lemon Seed Marketing. When I asked her for a quote, she sent a letter instead. Here it is in full, unedited, in her words.

Crystal Williams

CEO, Lemon Seed Marketing

AI Didn’t Replace Branding — It Made It Essential

When artificial intelligence first became part of the public conversation, many business owners reacted with equal parts curiosity and fear. Every headline seemed to ask the same question:

“Will AI replace us?”

I don’t believe that was ever the right question.

The better question was, “How will AI change the way people find and trust us?”

After nearly two decades helping contractors build recognizable brands, I’ve learned one thing that AI has only reinforced: technology changes, but trust doesn’t.

We’ve watched marketing evolve from newspaper ads and phone books to websites, search engines, social media, review platforms, and now AI-driven search experiences. Every new platform promised to change everything. In reality, each one simply changed how consumers discovered businesses, not why they chose them.

People still buy from companies they trust.

The difference today is that AI has become the new front door.

Instead of scrolling through pages of search results, consumers increasingly ask AI a question:

“Who’s the best HVAC company near me?”

“Who can I trust to replace my roof?”

“What’s the most reputable plumber in my area?”

AI doesn’t invent those answers. It assembles them from the digital reputation businesses have built over years: websites, reviews, educational content, community involvement, media mentions, customer experiences, and brand consistency.

In many ways, AI has become the world’s fastest researcher.

That should encourage business owners, not scare them.

At Lemon Seed, we’ve always believed marketing wasn’t about chasing algorithms. It was about building a brand worthy of being recommended. AI simply rewards companies that have done that work well.

The businesses that will thrive in this next chapter aren’t necessarily the ones producing the most content. They’re the ones creating the clearest identity.

They know who they are. They consistently communicate what they believe. They educate instead of simply advertising. They show up in their communities. They earn five-star experiences instead of chasing five-star reviews.

Those are the signals AI recognizes because those are the signals people have always trusted.

The companies struggling with AI usually aren’t facing a technology problem, they’re facing a branding content problem.

A weak brand cannot be fixed with better prompts.

A strong brand becomes amplified by AI.

That’s why I don’t believe marketing professionals should compete against artificial intelligence. We should help businesses become the kind of organizations AI naturally recommends.

The future belongs to brands that are unmistakably human.

AI can generate content. It can summarize information. It can answer questions.

But it cannot replace authentic relationships, community involvement, company culture, genuine expertise, or the trust earned one customer at a time.

Those are still profoundly human.

As we move forward, I believe our responsibility isn’t simply to teach clients how to use AI. It’s to help them become so clear, credible, and consistent that whether the recommendation comes from a neighbor, a search engine, or an AI assistant, the answer remains the same.

Build a brand people trust.

The technology will continue to evolve.

Trust never goes out of style.

Every major shift in marketing has rewarded the businesses that invested in relationships over shortcuts. AI isn’t rewriting that rule, it’s proving it.

The future belongs to brands that are unmistakably human.

— Crystal Williams, CEO of Lemon Seed Marketing

Utku “Dave” Kaynar's voice belongs here for the same reason. Dave is the CEO of OnePath AI — a client, a board-adjacent collaborator, and one of the clearest technical operators in this coalition. His words below are exactly as he sent them for chapter ten; I am including them here so the Voices from the Clients section carries the partners who built beside us, not only the contractors we serve.

Utku “Dave” Kaynar

CEO, OnePath AI

From the technical-infrastructure layer

“Most contractors meet AI for the first time as a lead that didn’t get called back. A homeowner fills out a form at nine at night, nobody answers until Tuesday, and the job is already gone to whoever picked up first. That’s the problem I started with. OnePath is an AI lead manager — it answers, it qualifies, it follows up in the contractor’s own voice, so the lead that used to die in the inbox turns into a booked job. But the lead manager is just the part the contractor can see. Underneath it we’re building the agentic infrastructure their whole business is going to run on, because in a few years ‘answer the phone’ and ‘run the company’ are going to be the same system.

I’m not building this so a contractor can fire his people. I’m building it so a thirty-person shop can compete with the private-equity roll-up that just bought every competitor in his county. The trades kept this country running long before anyone in my industry paid attention to them, and they deserve infrastructure built to make them stronger, not infrastructure built to extract from them. That’s the line I won’t cross. We document what we build, we publish the integrations, and we share the architecture — because if this only works for the contractors who can afford a technology team, we’ve failed. The whole point is that the guy in the truck gets the same firepower as the people trying to put him out of business.” — Utku “Dave” Kaynar, CEO, OnePath AI

“Jennifer is one of the true visionaries in this industry — someone who sees what’s coming before the rest of us do, and then builds it anyway. That second part is the rare one. Plenty of people can describe the future on a stage. Very few will restructure their own company, bet their reputation, and do the hard building required to actually get there. Jennifer does both, and she has been doing it for twenty years.

We come at this from different layers — she has spent two decades earning the trust of the contractor and the supply chain, and I come at it from the technical infrastructure underneath — but we have never once treated that as competition. She shares what she knows. She builds for the whole ecosystem, not just her own clients.

So when Jennifer writes that the contractor shouldn’t have to walk this road alone, I believe her — because that is exactly how she has shown up for the people building alongside her, including me.” — Utku “Dave” Kaynar

Jennifer is one of the true visionaries in this industry — someone who sees what’s coming before the rest of us do, and then builds it anyway.

— Utku “Dave” Kaynar, CEO, OnePath AI · July 2026

Amanda's entry arrived from Cherry Blossom Plumbing in Arlington, Virginia — a contractor story about what a real partner does when the phones go silent. Her Google Business Profile was hijacked a hundred miles away; her team left; they could not pay us. We stayed. Here is her account, exactly as she sent it.

Amanda

COO, Cherry Blossom Plumbing · Arlington, Virginia

A Partner Who Refused to Let Us Lose

When we first opened Cherry Blossom Plumbing, we did what a lot of new business owners do: we hired a marketing company that wasn't built for us. They weren't a bad company — they just weren't made for a brand-new business right out of the gate. The fees were more than we could sustain, and we learned another hard lesson on the way out the door: we didn't own our own website. We swore we'd never let that happen again.

So we swung the other direction and hired a more affordable agency. And, well — you get what you pay for. When they rebuilt our website, the transition went badly. Our traffic didn't dip; it fell off a cliff. If you saw the chart, you'd wince.

That's when I thought of Jennifer Bagley. I'd seen her speak at several industry events, and something about her approach always stuck with me. I reached out and asked if we could meet, and from that first conversation, I was impressed. Her approach to SEO wasn't guesswork or buzzwords — it was mathematical, analytical, a real formula. And CI Web Group's model matched their philosophy: no contracts, you own your website, and your investment directly determines the work. You choose your budget, you buy your keywords, and you build a strategy together. For a small company just getting on its feet, it was exactly what we needed. We signed up, set a modest budget, and things went well.

Then strange things started happening.

At the time, we had no idea what was going on. We only knew our call volume was dropping, and we couldn't figure out why. What we eventually discovered was that our Google Business Profile had been hacked. Someone had changed our business address — moving us, on paper, a hundred miles away to Fredericksburg, Virginia. It took us far too long to connect the falling phones to the address change, because it's not something you look at every day. And by the time we did, Google wouldn't let us change it back.

The only path forward was a new physical office. So while our phones sat silent, we were finding a space, signing a lease, transferring insurance, updating licenses — anyone who has ever done that knows exactly how long it takes. And after all of that? We got suspended anyway and had to fight through Google's verification process.

We were down for months. And here's what people don't understand until they live it: not being on Google is like not having a business card. It's like not existing. The only work coming in was face-to-face referrals. Our employees left, one by one, until it was just Johnny and me — right back where we started on day one. We were a razor-thin distance from closing. 2024 was supposed to be a growth year. Instead, it was as hard as our first year in business.

We couldn't pay our bills. Including CI Web Group's.

And this is the part of the story I'll never forget. They didn't drop us. They didn't pause our services or send us to collections. They kept doing the work. I got to know their accounting department very well during that stretch — I assured them we wanted to pay, that we would figure it out — and they worked with us, even scaling the services to something we could manage, instead of walking away.

It wasn't until early 2025 that I finally pieced together what had actually happened to us. When I brought it to CI Web Group and sat down with Jasmine and the leadership team, their response floored me. They said, "We are your partner in this, and we want you to succeed." Jasmine told me, "I'm taking care of this for you." They erased the back debt we owed. They had already been doing more work than we were paying for. And then one of the men in the meeting said something I'll never forget: "You don't know me, but I hate to lose. We're going to build you a brand-new website."

And they did. A brand-new site on Webflow, and it's been going great.

So when Jennifer came to us about being part of the new AI tools CI Web Group was building, I'll admit I was apprehensive at first. There's a lot of noise out there — a lot of skeptics, a lot of haters. But I had been watching Jennifer, participating in what she was building, and I realized something: I trust her. This company had earned that trust in the hardest way possible — by standing beside us when we had nothing to offer them. And the tools? They're genuinely impressive. I was excited to dive in.

Here's one more thing that says everything about CI Web Group: we've been with them for three years, and I have worked with the same people the entire time. The only new faces I've ever encountered were in that leadership meeting — people I simply hadn't met yet. In an industry where your account rep changes every quarter, that kind of stability is remarkable.

The story of Cherry Blossom Plumbing and CI Web Group isn't really about SEO, or websites, or even AI. It's about what a real partner looks like. They helped us come back from the worst period we've ever faced. They were there for us when it would have been easier — and more profitable — to walk away. They still are.

And that is priceless.

The story of Cherry Blossom Plumbing and CI Web Group isn't really about SEO, or websites, or even AI. It's about what a real partner looks like.

— Amanda, COO, Cherry Blossom Plumbing · Arlington, Virginia · July 2026

Bekka Martel's entry arrived from Advanced Air Conditioning + Heating in Cedar Park, Texas — a co-owner story about leaving a five-figure monthly website-and-ads grind for a partner that moves as fast as the market. Her words below are the ones she sent for her CLIENT SHOWCASE, published here in Voices from the Clients exactly as she gave them.

Bekka Martel

Co-Owner, Advanced Air Conditioning + Heating · Cedar Park, TX

A Website That Finally Keeps Up

Before CI Web Group, my husband Joe and I — owners of Advanced Air Conditioning + Heating — were spending over $10,000 a month on website management and ads, but the results didn't match the investment. It felt like because we don't have PE backing, we were stuck at what we could afford, which continuously put us lower and lower on ad searches and caused budget to be spent pretty quickly. Our site wasn't keeping pace with how fast the home services industry — and AI — was moving.

I first connected with Jennifer Bagley and CI Web Group through a WinSupply Austin training event, The AI Advantage, in 2025. I kept following Jennifer's work from there — researching, trialing tools myself, and watching as she disrupted the website industry for home service companies. We chose CI Web Group because they are forward-thinking — not allowing bureaucracy to slow down their decision-making, and giving home service companies leverage to dominate the market.

The partnership kicked off in mid-April with a go-live target of late August. CI Web Group delivered on July 2 — nearly two months early. Communicating with CI Web Group is seamless within Slack and email. I get frequent updates of what is being posted, when, where.

Jennifer, Michael, and Vee — my account manager — made the transition feel effortless. Vee is so thorough and answers all my questions and ideas. Jennifer and the team are so transparent about what they're doing that it put me and my husband at ease as we went through the build process. I loved watching our site come together in real time — and picking up ideas from other builds happening alongside ours. We're already planning a brand refresh for late 2026 / early 2027, and I'm confident CI Web Group will move just as quickly to implement it.

I love how clean our website looks. Price Builder, Price Lock, and What's Going On At Your Place give us functionality few competitors in our market offer. The Learning Center, Rebates & Incentives, and Community sections let us reinforce our role beyond HVAC repair — they allow us to remind people that we are here to educate them, support the community, and take care of them in their homes like family.

Using Google Search Console, I tracked our sitemap going from 54 discovered pages in 2025 to 1,323 pages just 10 days after go-live with CI Web Group.

Our team loves the website. We love how interactive it is for our clients, and how quickly we can get updates in — employees on and off the Meet the Team page, promotions, rebates, community impacts.

CI Web Group gave us features our competitors don't have — and a website that finally keeps up with how fast this industry moves.

We are so thankful for Jennifer and her team being in our corner during this journey to grow as a home service company, while the market and tools available change so quickly, and keep us ahead of the game.

CI Web Group gave us features our competitors don't have — and a website that finally keeps up with how fast this industry moves.

— Bekka Martel, Co-Owner, Advanced Air Conditioning + Heating · Cedar Park, Texas · July 2026

Anthony James’s letter arrived from Six Star Heating & Cooling — a client letter written to me personally, about hope, pressure, and what it means when someone finally listens. His words below are exactly as he sent them.

Anthony James

Six Star Heating & Cooling

A Letter to Jen

Jen,

I've been thinking about writing this message for a while, and honestly, it's hard to put into words.

When I first came across CI Web, I wasn't searching for a marketing company. I wasn't shopping websites. I wasn't looking for SEO. I wasn't even looking for a new business relationship.

What I was looking for, although I didn't realize it at the time, was hope.

As business owners, we carry a weight that very few people truly understand. We carry the responsibility of our families, our employees, their families, our customers, our reputation, and every decision that determines whether we move forward or backward. Most days we carry that weight quietly because that's what leaders do.

Over the last several years, I've experienced incredible highs and some incredibly difficult lows. I've had people let me down. I've trusted the wrong people. I've poured my heart, time, energy, and resources into things that didn't work out the way they were supposed to. There were moments where I questioned myself, questioned my decisions, and questioned whether all the sacrifice was truly worth it.

What makes this message difficult is that I don't often let people see that side of me.

Most people see the business owner.

Most people see the confidence.

Most people see the drive.

Very few people see the pressure.

Very few people see the sleepless nights.

Very few people see the fear that comes with knowing that every decision impacts the lives of other people who are counting on you.

Then our paths crossed.

What started as a conversation about a website became something much bigger.

You probably don't realize it, but from the very beginning I could tell there was something different about you. You weren't selling me a service. You weren't trying to close a deal. You genuinely cared.

That may sound simple, but in today's world it's incredibly rare.

You cared about my vision.

You cared about my goals.

You cared about my family.

You cared about what I was trying to build.

You listened.

And when someone spends years carrying the weight of a business largely on their own, having someone truly listen is more meaningful than you can imagine.

The reality is that Six Star Heating & Cooling isn't just a company to me.

It's every risk I've ever taken.

It's every setback I've fought through.

It's every lesson I've learned the hard way.

It's every early morning and every late night.

It's the opportunity to create a better future for my wife and children.

It's the opportunity to create careers for people who trust me to lead them.

It's the opportunity to leave something behind that matters.

And for the first time in a long time, I feel like someone genuinely understands that.

When I look at what your team is building, I don't see a website.
I see the future.

When I look at what your team is building, I don't see a website.

I see the future.

I see future employees who haven't been hired yet.

I see future families that will be supported because our business continues to grow.

I see opportunities that haven't happened yet.

I see dreams that become achievable.

I see legacy.

That's why this matters so much to me.

What you've built at CI Web is far bigger than websites, rankings, traffic, or leads.

You are helping business owners take years of sacrifice, passion, and vision and finally bring it to life in a way the world can see.

You are helping people create generational wealth.

You are helping families build security.

You are helping entrepreneurs who have carried impossible burdens finally feel seen.

You are helping people leave a legacy.

That impact cannot be measured by analytics or revenue reports.

It's measured by lives changed.

And you've changed mine.

Not because of a website.

Not because of a marketing strategy.

But because of who you are.

Your kindness.

Your authenticity.

Your leadership.

Your belief in people.

Your ability to make someone feel like they matter.

Those things are rare.

The older I get, the more I realize that success isn't about money, buildings, or accomplishments.
It's about people.

The older I get, the more I realize that success isn't about money, buildings, or accomplishments.

It's about people.

It's about the lives we touch along the way.

It's about who we become while building something bigger than ourselves.

And I want you to know that you've left a mark on my life.

No matter where business takes either of us in the future, I'm grateful our paths crossed.

I'm grateful for your friendship.

I'm grateful for your leadership.

I'm grateful for the belief you've given me during a season where I needed it more than you probably know.

Most importantly, I'm grateful for the reminder that there are still extraordinary people in this world who lead with both excellence and heart.

Thank you for everything you do.

Thank you for what you've built.

And thank you for being exactly who you are.

The world needs more people like you.

— AJ (Anthony James)
Six Star Heating & Cooling · July 2026

Anthony Hamilton's entry arrived from THE Water Heater Company — a co-founder story about years of same-playbook agencies, finding a strategic partner who thinks better than you do, and betting on people over software. His words below are from his CLIENT SHOWCASE, published here in Voices from the Clients.

Anthony Hamilton

Co-Founder & CEO, THE Water Heater Company

Find Someone Who Thinks Better Than You Do

Over the first several years of building THE Water Heater Company, I partnered with multiple digital marketing agencies. Every one of them taught me something, and every one of them helped the company get to where it is today. This is not a story about good agencies versus bad agencies. It is about what I learned while searching for the right strategic partner.

When we were preparing to launch in January 2019, we had already hired a digital marketing agency to build the website and establish an online presence. About a month before launch, that agency unexpectedly dropped us as a client due to a conflict of interest. Overnight, we were scrambling to find a new agency while launching a brand-new business.

Like most startups, we did not have the luxury of slowing down. We hired another agency that helped get the company off the ground — first website, original van wraps, genuinely great people. Looking back, I realized something that would become a recurring theme: I thought I was hiring experts so I would not have to become a marketer myself. Instead, I spent an enormous amount of time thinking about digital marketing because I was the one bringing the strategy. The work got done, but I was constantly asking the questions, bringing new ideas, and trying to figure out where the industry was headed. That was not what I thought I was paying for.

Over the next several years, every agency had talented people and brought something valuable — but I kept running into the same feeling. It was not that anyone was doing anything wrong. It was that every agency seemed to be operating from the same playbook: two blogs per month, standard SEO, monthly reports, best practices. Everyone moving at roughly the same pace, following roughly the same strategy. That led to a question I could not stop asking: if every agency is doing the same things at the same speed, how does anyone ever get ahead?

Around that time, I had started experimenting with AI — long before it became mainstream. ChatGPT had just come out, and even though it could not browse the internet yet, I knew something significant was happening. I started looking for agencies that were not simply reacting to where marketing was today. I wanted someone trying to understand where marketing would be tomorrow. That is how I found CI Web Group.

My first meeting was supposed to be with Mike. About fifteen minutes into the call, Jennifer Bagley joined. She said something simple: she had noticed THE Water Heater Company on their calendar, thought the name was interesting, and wanted to meet us. That meeting lasted nearly three hours.

What struck me was not the technology, Webflow, AI, or a sales presentation. Jennifer spent most of that conversation trying to understand me — how I thought, the business model, why we existed, where we were trying to go. At one point her son and daughter-in-law arrived with their baby. Jennifer held her grandson while we continued talking for hours about business, leadership, technology, and the future of marketing. That conversation told me far more than any product demo ever could.

Two months later, just before Christmas — December 23rd at three o'clock in the afternoon, when most people were mentally on vacation — Jennifer and Mike still took another two-and-a-half to three hours talking through the business. By the end of that meeting, we had made our decision. Not because of software or features. Because of people.

A few weeks later, Jennifer introduced me to Hydra. My immediate reaction was not "sign me up" — it was "let's talk." I wanted to understand the risks. Hydra was not fully mature yet; it was ambitious and evolving rapidly. I asked a lot of questions. At the end of that conversation, I realized I was not betting on software. I was betting on Jennifer — her vision, the way she thought, and that she was building for where the industry was going instead of protecting where it had been. Being an early adopter always carries risk. Sometimes you pay a price for being early. Other times it becomes a competitive advantage. For me, the decision was about trusting the person building it.

I will not pretend the onboarding was easy — it was probably the hardest onboarding process I had ever gone through. Hydra was evolving incredibly fast; every time I thought I had completed everything, there seemed to be another layer. Some days it felt like the platform was improving by the hour. Trying to keep up while running the company was not easy. Looking back, I understand why: we were not onboarding into a finished product. We were participating in the creation of something new.

Today the website has only been live for a few weeks — far too early to claim massive business results. What I can say is that organic performance had already improved year over year while CI Web Group was simply hosting and maintaining the previous website. Now that the Hydra website is live, I believe we are just getting started. The bigger change has happened inside me: Jennifer introduced an entirely different way of thinking about AI — not as a shortcut for generic content, not as a replacement for people, but as a force multiplier for creativity, collaboration, speed, and execution.

I had been using AI since ChatGPT was first released, but working with Jennifer opened my eyes to what was actually possible. Since then I have built AI tools for the team, fundamentally changed how I think about solving problems, and been introduced to other founders and experts who continue expanding my perspective. Instead of bringing fully formed projects to my marketing partner, I now bring ideas. Together we build them, iterate, and improve them. Many of the initiatives we are working on today never would have existed if Jennifer had not challenged the way I think.

After I sent a long list of ideas, Jennifer replied: "Let me see what I can do, lol. I'll try anything. Break everything. It's my specialty." I have never worked with another agency that responds that way.

Mike, Camille, and the rest of the team approach problems with the same curiosity, collaboration, and willingness to experiment. That tells me this is not one person's personality — it is the culture.

Most agencies try to be everything to everyone and end up competent at many things but exceptional at few. CI Web Group intentionally stripped away what they do not believe they can be the best at to focus on becoming world-class at building authority, creating advanced websites, and helping home service companies dominate organically. As someone who built an entire company around specializing in one thing exceptionally well, that philosophy resonated immediately.

Even as lead volume has slowed across home services, my confidence has never been higher — not because everything is easy, but because I believe we are building the right things. My marketing partner no longer feels like a company that maintains a website. It feels like a strategic partner helping shape the future of the business.

Find someone who thinks better than you do.

Early in my career I evaluated partners on size, reputation, and how many services they offered. Today I evaluate people. Companies do not innovate — people do. Culture does not innovate — people create cultures that innovate.

I thought I was hiring a marketing agency. What I actually found was a strategic partner who changed the way I think about my business. For me, that's been the biggest impact CI Web Group has had on THE Water Heater Company — and I believe that impact will continue compounding for years to come.

— Anthony Hamilton, Co-Founder & CEO, THE Water Heater Company · July 2026

Joe Zimmer's entry arrived from Legendary Service — a plumbing operator with over thirty years in the trades who started his company in 2008, rebranded and expanded into heating and cooling in 2022, and chose CI Web Group after years of marketing shops that sold patience instead of direction. His words below are from his CLIENT SHOWCASE, published here in Voices from the Clients.

Joe Zimmer

Owner, Legendary Service

Thinking About Where Marketing Was Going

My name is Joe Zimmer, and I've been in the plumbing industry for over 30 years. I started my own plumbing company in 2008, and in 2022 we rebranded as Legendary Service and expanded into heating and cooling.

Like a lot of business owners, we've worked with several marketing companies over the years. Every time we switched, we heard the same things. "Google takes time." "You need to spend more money." "Just keep waiting." It felt like we were getting a lot of promises but not a lot of real direction. We wanted a company that was thinking about where marketing was going, not just where it had been.

As AI started changing search, websites, and the way customers find businesses, I realized this wasn't something that was years away. It was happening right in front of us. I had been following Jen and what she was doing with CI Web Group, and I could see she understood where things were headed. She wasn't chasing trends. She was already building for them.

After going through multiple marketing companies, we knew it was time to make a change. Looking back, it was the right decision.

Jen and her team have been great to work with. They communicate with us, keep us informed about what's changing, and explain what those changes mean for our business. Technology moves fast, especially with AI, and it gives me confidence knowing they're paying attention to it every day.

The website they built for us looks incredible. It's still being finalized, but we're already excited about where it's headed. What impressed me the most was how much time they spent learning about our company before they ever started building. They asked a lot of questions, gathered a lot of information, and really wanted to understand who we are and how we do business. That made the entire process smoother than any website project we'd been through before.

One thing I've learned over the years is that your website isn't something you build once and forget about anymore. It has to keep evolving.

Search is changing. AI is changing. Customer behavior is changing. You need a team that's willing to change with it.

We wanted a company that was thinking about where marketing was going, not just where it had been.

That's why we chose CI Web Group. They're always learning, always adapting, and always looking ahead. To me, that's the kind of partner every business should be looking for.

— Joe Zimmer, Owner, Legendary Service · July 2026

Frank Cichetti's entry arrived from Cabrillo Plumbing, Heating & Air in San Francisco and the Peninsula — a story about earning the next call, choosing a home-services partner for the next stage of growth, and keeping people at the center of AI. His words below are from his CLIENT SHOWCASE, published here in Voices from the Clients.

Frank Cichetti

Owner, Cabrillo Plumbing, Heating & Air · San Francisco & the Peninsula

Earning the Next Call

For Frank Cichetti, building a successful business has never been about making the next sale.

It's about earning the next call.

At Cabrillo Plumbing, Heating and Air, the focus is on doing things the right way, not just getting the job done. Serving homeowners throughout San Francisco and the Peninsula, the team invests in training, quality installations, and helping customers understand their options before making important decisions.

Our goal has always been to deliver the service customers expect and the quality they deserve.

As Cabrillo continued to grow, Frank began looking for a marketing partner that could support the company's next stage of growth. He wanted a partner that understood the home service industry, could generate higher-quality leads, and would continue evolving alongside the rapid changes in digital marketing and AI.

That search led him to CI Web Group.

We chose to partner with CI Web Group because they specialize in the home service industry and really understand the challenges contractors face. They weren't just offering a website or marketing services. They had a clear strategy for helping companies grow.

What stood out most wasn't the technology. It was the people.

Frank says account manager Danny Loa took the time to understand Cabrillo's business, its goals, and what makes it different. Designer Dani Osio brought the company's vision to life, while the entire team communicated well, listened to Cabrillo's feedback, and made the company feel like a true partner rather than just another client.

That level of collaboration and personal attention really set CI Web Group apart.

The experience also aligned with the way Frank thinks about AI.

We don't see AI as something that replaces people. We see it as a tool that helps people do their jobs better.

Hydra OS and AI have helped Cabrillo think differently about marketing and customer engagement, making the company more efficient and providing better insights. But for Frank, technology is only part of the equation.

At the end of the day, it's still the people behind the technology who make the real difference.

Although Cabrillo's website has only recently launched, Frank says the experience has given him confidence that the company has the right strategy, the right technology, and the right team behind it.

We've gained confidence that we have the right strategy, the right technology, and the right team behind us. We're looking forward to seeing the impact over the coming months.

Frank doesn't hesitate when asked what he would tell another contractor considering CI Web Group.

If you're looking for more than just a marketing company, I'd recommend talking with CI Web Group. They take the time to understand your business, communicate well, and genuinely want to help you succeed.

They combine experienced people with innovative technology, and that's what sets them apart. AI and great tools are important, but it's the team behind them that makes the difference. If you're looking for a long-term partner that's focused on helping your business grow, I think they're a great choice.

— Frank Cichetti, Owner, Cabrillo Plumbing, Heating & Air · San Francisco & the Peninsula · July 2026

Les Lomedico's entry arrived from Central Washington Heating & Air in the Wenatchee valley — more than thirty years of service-before-sales, a website he once ranked himself, and a Hydra launch that shifted how he thinks about marketing. Les answered our questions by email; Krista shaped his answers into the narrative below, using only what he provided. Published here in Voices from the Clients.

Les Lomedico

Owner, Central Washington Heating & Air · Wenatchee valley, WA

Service Before Sales

For more than 30 years, Les Lomedico has built Central Washington Heating & Air on a simple philosophy: take care of the customer first. In an industry where replacement is often the first recommendation, his company has always taken a different approach, focusing on service before sales. That commitment has helped make Central Washington Heating & Air one of the longest-running HVAC companies in the valley.

As the business continued to grow, Les knew his website needed to evolve with it. For years, he had managed it himself and had seen strong results, but eventually that approach wasn't working anymore. He hired two different companies to take over, only to watch them fall short of the search rankings he had already achieved on his own.

That search led him to CI Web Group through a recommendation and a presentation at a Thermal Supply meeting. What stood out wasn't flashy marketing or big promises. It was the team's knowledge, clear vision, and ability to explain complicated concepts in a way that made sense.

Although Central Washington Heating & Air has only recently launched on Hydra, the experience has already changed the way Les thinks about the future of his business.

I'm more focused on marketing so that we can adapt and be effective.

Because the launch is still recent, it's too early to measure long-term results. For Les, the biggest change so far has been a shift in mindset and a renewed focus on marketing as his business prepares for the future.

Asked what he would tell another business owner considering CI Web Group, Les didn't hesitate.

If they aren't a competitor in my market, I would tell them that it is worth every penny. If they were competing in my market, I would tell them, 'You suck.'

— Les Lomedico, Owner, Central Washington Heating & Air · Wenatchee valley, Washington · July 2026