Finding Passion: Moving from Property Management & Construction to Running a Marketing Agency

CarrotAgency works, and my agency is living proof.

When you own a construction business, landing a contract should be the start of the exciting part. But after several years in property management and construction, Chris Tighe realized that all the pieces that lead to a new project are the things he actually likes most.

“I really enjoy the frontend stuff,” he explained. “I like bringing the leads, the websites, the YouTube channels, the social media, the networking. I like bringing them in, but once a contract is sold, I get bored.”

When he was offered the chance to become COO, and later CEO and partner, of Black Box Business Solutions — a small business advisory firm for contractors, construction companies, and trades and home-service business owners — it seemed like a good fit. 

“I was in networks and all I was doing was talking about websites and virtual assistants, and people started coming to me for help. I get more energy from that, and I get excited about it. When people have a good experience and they start telling other people about it, that makes me feel really good. Trevor [Carrot’s CEO] talks about following your energy a lot; I was just following my energy and leaving behind the stuff I don’t like doing.”

Around the same time, Carrot announced CarrotAgency, a local search marketing platform that helps agencies support home service providers and other small businesses with online lead generation and AI search visibility.

The timing seemed perfect.

Trusting Carrot for Real Results

Chris launched a Carrot website for his construction company in 2023. He had learned the importance of a good website more than 25 years ago … and what a bad site looked like.

“If you have a website and it’s not bringing in leads, why do you have a website? The first website I created was in 1998, and I remember publishing it and being like, ‘Why aren’t people reaching out to me? I’ve got a website!’ I had no idea what I was doing,” he said. “So when I started my construction company, I hired several different agencies to do my website, tens of thousands of dollars down the drain, no leads. I didn’t see any results until I moved to Carrot.”

“If you have a website and it’s not bringing in leads, why do you have a website?”

At the time, he didn’t know what was wrong or how to fix it. That’s when he heard Trevor speaking on a real estate podcast.

“He wasn’t talking about websites, he was just talking about business. And I really liked what he said. So I looked him up and found [Carrot’s podcast] and I started listening to that. That’s when I started getting introduced to SEO. I really didn’t know anything about it.”

Eventually, Chris decided to take control of his site and launch it with Carrot. Despite not having any marketing or professional website experience, he found almost instant success using Carrot’s proven website conversion framework, easy-to-use editor, and built-in marketing tools.

“I’m not a web designer, nor do I feel like I’m an SEO expert, but Carrot makes it easy for me. I just follow the instructions, and I see results. I moved over to Carrot, and I did it myself. Four days later I got my first lead. Over time, 52% of my leads came from my website, and the majority of my revenue came from my website. I did it all by myself with what I learned from Carrot.”

He liked the thrill of generating leads, even when he was off the clock. 

“I can be in the movie theater watching a movie and I’m getting text messages of leads coming in. I’m watching the movie, enjoying the movie, and at the same time I’m excited because I’m getting leads. And I’m not doing anything but watching the movie,” he gushed.

He knew Carrot worked, and now there was an easy way for him to help other home service providers launch and manage Carrot sites to create a better online presence and motivated lead generation. It also aligned with his transition to a full-time role with Black Box Business Solutions, giving him a prime opportunity to introduce a new service that their clients could benefit from.

“I had great success using Carrot for my construction business. Once I heard about CarrotAgency, I jumped at the opportunity. The fact that I enjoy Carrot and that I had a target audience already, it just made sense to jump on board.”

He’s trying things on his own before pulling the offering into Black Box Business Solutions. But in less than six months, he’s already finding impressive success. 

Early Success for His Brand New Marketing Agency

Chris started his agency in the summer of 2026, landing his first client in just one day. A friend in the construction industry knew Chris was closing his own construction business, so he asked for help building a website. He knew Chris’ site had been a lead generation machine, and now that their companies no longer competed, he wanted to take over that online space.

“I was a little afraid at first because I know it works for me, but I’m not sure I can do it for someone else,” Chris confided.

He didn’t need to worry.

Within four months of their new site launching, Mint Construction generated 40 online leads. Those leads turned into several lucrative contracts. 

“Last month he closed about $300,000 – $350,000 in sales from website leads. So that was good.”

Since then, Chris has launched three more client sites: 

• Kentuckiana Property Solutions
• GCCS Roofing
• Zions Strength

Plus — at the time of this writing — he has three more hot leads he’s working. 

All of his clients and leads have come from his network; he hasn’t committed time to cold outreach. Instead, people like his friend in construction or a connection with his VA network bring his agency new clients.

“[I got my roofing client because] he hired my former executive assistant — who’s a VA — when I closed my company. He had issues with SEO, and she said, ‘Oh, you have to talk to Chris.’ So that’s how I got that lead.”

And it’s grown from there.

“My roofing client said, ‘Hey, I’m starting a consulting business, I want you to create a website.’ So I’m creating his second website for him. Then he says, ‘Hey Chris, I’ve got all these roofers in my contact list, I’m going to tell them all about you.’ Then he gave me the lead of a roofer in Kansas City to do his website.”

Part of building his business is sharing the knowledge he’s picked up along the way and helping his clients craft a marketing plan that puts them in front of leads when and where they’re searching, not just launching a website.

“I was talking to a potential client, and he was asking me a few questions. I was like, ‘Yea, you’ve got to get a YouTube channel, start doing some long-form videos because AI’s going to pull from the transcripts.’ I was telling him how it all works together for the website. He spent $14,000 in the last two months on his current website, and he goes, ‘Chris, you’ve given me more information in the last 10 minutes than this other guy has in the last couple of months.’”

Scalable for Anyone

While Chris had experience with his own Carrot website, he doesn’t have a professional marketing background. He’s learned tips and tricks along the way by listening to Carrot’s webinars.

“Whenever Carrot has a webinar, I always try to make it. Because whether you’re talking about websites or Trevor is talking about business, there’s always value there.”

He feels he’s proof that you don’t need to be an expert or have extensive experience to start your own agency. To give him the confidence and tools to move forward with this passion, Chris joined the CarrotAgency Accelerator program. 

The CarrotAgency Accelerator is an 8-week on-demand training program that walks new agencies through finding clients, building their pricing and packaging, and how to set clients up for online lead generation and AI search success. It also has an active community for collaboration and weekly office hours where Carrot team members provide additional training and answer questions.

“If you want to help local business owners get found online, join this program. It gives you the framework, the tools, and the coaching to actually deliver results for your clients,” Chris said of his Accelerator experience.

He also particularly likes being in a “community of like-minded individuals to grow together.”

“I leave each office hours call feeling a burst of energy. I enjoy hearing from the group and learning from the staff. Whenever I ask a question in the group, someone quickly answers. I love it! Everyone is very helpful. I don’t think I’d feel confident doing this agency without the training and community.”

Outside of the Accelerator, Chris is also finding ways to launch better sites, faster. While his first client site took him 10-12 hours to perfect, he’s now much faster at launching sites.

“I created the Zions Strength website in probably about an hour and a half. It was easy.”

Carrot’s platform makes launching a site easy, but Chris is also perfecting his own processes to gather the information he needs and generate high-quality content. One of his new onboarding steps is setting up a video call with clients to capture important information and background in their own words to create more authentic website copy.

“I say, ‘Ok, tell me your backstory. Why are you doing this, what’s your passion, what’s the why behind it, what happened to call you to want to do this?’ And I’m going to use that transcript to help create the About Us page,” he explained. “I’m refining my whole process, trying to make it easier. If I record them, it’s in their words, not mine. I’m not trying to figure it out based on prior conversations.”

He hopes to eventually grow his agency to $20,000 in monthly revenue (with the help of VAs), and feels that’s very achievable. Not just for him, but for anyone willing to try.

“CarrotAgency works, and my agency is living proof. ”

“If you’re at all interested and you have the ability to learn and execute, you can find success in this. I don’t consider myself an expert in SEO and all that stuff. I consider myself a student who constantly learns and I apply what I learn. If there are people out there like that, this is an easy thing to do.”

“There’s enough business out there for everyone.”