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The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe

All good stories have a twist, and all great storytellers are just a little twisted. Join me for a different take on the people and events that you thought you knew, from pop culture to politics, Hollywood to history… The Way I Heard It is a series of short mysteries for the curious mind with a short attention span.

DISCLAIMER: Each episode of The Way I Heard It is a true story about a real person, place, or thing. With respect to the facts, I try to be as accurate as possible. However, the Internet is full of conflicting accounts, and it’s entirely possible you might hear me say something about a person or an event that contradicts something you heard or read elsewhere. If so, feel free to bring any discrepancy to my attention. Just remember – I’m not wrong. It’s just the way I heard it…

  1. All Episodes
  2. 447: Tommy Mello—The Secret Sauce is the Grind

Aug 19, 2025

Tommy Mello founded A1 Garage Door Service—a 100 million-plus-dollar business. Tommy shares how he went from reselling Bowflex, cleaning pools, and painting garage doors to building one of the largest home service companies in the country. He talks about the hustle, the screw-ups, and the systems that helped him scale, including his no-nonsense approach to hiring and promoting based on performance, not resumes. It’s a real conversation about work ethic, taking ownership, and why a broken garage door—and a strong dose of meritocracy—can open a lot more than just your garage.

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