Garage Doors
& God Doors.
From a $100-a-door painting hustle to a $400M+ business, and the deal made on the way to the hospital that changed everything.
It's 2005, I'm twenty-two years old and I've figured something out.
Every garage door company in Phoenix needs a reliable painter and not one of them has one. So I cold call garage door companies in the Yellow Pages, and within a few weeks I’m painting ten doors a day, making a hundred dollars a door, then bartending at night.
I wasn't new to hustling.
My dad. A mechanic who always had a smile and a joke, and one joke always led to him telling ten. He was my coach in everything growing up. He’d say, ‘Tommy, we’re winners, and don’t you forget it.’ He had me in wrestling at five. Taught me to negotiate at garage sales. Never once handed me a participation trophy.
— Dad
My mom.
She took on three jobs when she and my dad divorced. I was seven. She’d jump out of the car and knock on a stranger’s door to be their realtor. She sold 53 houses in her best year.
I started mowing lawns and shoveling snow to lighten her load.
In 2007,
my best friend and I turned the painting business into a garage door company.
The first ten years I call practice.
Because I talked my way onto software that wasn’t even built for garage door companies, I got access to a world of hundred-million dollar HVAC shops. I’d show up with an empty notebook and leave with a full one. They taught me everything because I wasn’t a threat. I was just a garage door kid. I took every lesson home, put on the blinders and focused. I don’t know what it feels like to want to lose. I never have.
Everybody wants the views but nobody wants to take the hike.
I bought apartments for my technicians to live in while they train. I moved in there because I wasn’t going to be up in some high tower while they were building this thing with me. Stayed there for four years.
Then one day during COVID, my sister calls and says,
“They're about to put dad on a ventilator.
He's going to die today.”
I fall on my knees, and on the way to the hospital, I’m crying, pounding the steering wheel and praying.
“God, if you give me a second chance with my dad, I promise you, I'll tell the whole world about Jesus. I know I didn't earn any of this stuff that you’ve given me in this life. Please, give me a second chance to be a better son."
Four weeks later my dad walks out of that hospital. No oxygen. Lungs completely clear. The doctors have no explanation.
I don't talk about the promise.
I just try to keep it.
I watch technicians who were barely scraping by purchase their first house. I get messages every week. Guys who were about to commit suicide, who were living out of their cars, and now they’re living their dream. That’s what the business was always really about. I’m proud to say I’m a blue collar man. Today A1 Garage Door Service operates in 40+ markets, doing over 400 million in revenue. No garage door company has ever done what we’ve done. And we’re in the first inning.
"I'm proud to say I'm a
blue collar man."
We Are Now
But I’ll tell you something…
About a year after my dad walked out of that hospital, a stranger calls me. We had met once, briefly, after I’d spoken on stage. He says,
Tommy, did you make a deal with God in a parking lot?
I say, who is this?
He says, I just see you on your hands and knees. And you made a deal with God, didn’t you?
All of a sudden the hair on my arms stands up.
Yeah I did.
He says, I just want you to remember.
As quick as He gave it to you, He could take it away.
I do remember the deal I made.
And a deal
is a deal.
ABOUT
Tommy Mello is the founder and CEO of A1 Garage Door Service, the #1 garage door repair and installation company in the nation, generating over $300M in annual revenue with nearly 600 employees across 20+ states.
He built the business from $50,000 in debt into a national platform through disciplined systems, leadership development at every level, and a culture built to win.
Tommy is the creator of the Start. Scale. Sell. framework, helping entrepreneurs move from operator to owner and build companies that operate without depending on them.
He is the host of The Mello Millionaire Podcast, featuring founders, operators, and industry leaders across business, leadership, and growth.
He is known for radical transparency — openly sharing real numbers, structure, wins, and mistakes, not theory.
Tommy’s mission is simple:
build companies where everyone wins.
How I Operate
No excuses. No blaming the market, your team, or the economy. If it’s in your business, it’s on you.
Working harder isn’t the answer. Building systems is. Structure creates freedom.
You don’t build a great company with average talent. Recruiting is marketing. Culture is earned.
I share real numbers, real mistakes, and real lessons. Not theory. Not fluff.
Trades are not “lesser.” They’re one of the greatest vehicles for wealth, impact, and freedom when built correctly.
Tommy’s 6F’s
You don’t succeed to support your business.
You succeed when your business supports your life.
future self will thank you for.
