Built From the Ground Up, Literally
Our story doesn’t begin in a classroom or behind a computer screen...
It starts in the Pro Services department at The Home Depot.
My name’s Alex Laldin, Principal Partner here at SteelToe Digital, and I got my start at 18 pushing lumber carts and loading concrete bags in the summer Georgia heat. It wasn’t glamorous, but it taught me something invaluable: work ethic. And more than that, it introduced me to the people who would change my life and my career: contractors.
I worked 5 AM to 2 PM shifts, helping contractors get what they needed before the job site. Over time, those early mornings spent loading concrete bags turned into side jobs, from renovating mobile homes, priming tar-stained subfloor, vacuuming cockroaches out of cabinets, and solar flexing metal roofs. I didn’t know it then, but I was laying the foundation for what would become SteelToe Digital.
From Grease Traps to Google Ads
Back then, I was studying computer science and finance and figured I’d be writing code in a cubicle. But life had other plans.
A contractor asked if I could build him a website. I said yes, why wouldn’t I? That one project was more than I made in three weeks at Home Depot. That led to another question: “Do you know anything about SEO?” I didn’t, and I was honest about it. Turns out, it worked out pretty well for both of us. I didn’t know much, and he couldn’t afford to pay a bigger company. I learned fast. I dove into forums, explored tools like SEO Nuke, and started applying everything I could in real-time.
That small opportunity became something more when I met the son of the man who would become my mentor. He found me from a Craigslist ad — you know, before Marketplace ruled the world. He was just starting out. I redesigned his website and started marketing his business. Eventually, he introduced me to his father — my mentor, a wildly successful entrepreneur. I learned everything I know about leadership and running a successful business in the trenches next to this man. It was that investment from someone I could never repay that let me make the leap: I walked away from retail and stepped fully into digital marketing. My mentor has since passed, but his son and I still work together having turned his little business into one of the most prominent in his field not just here in Atlanta, but the entire Southeast, and today, we’ve partnered in another home service business.
We’ve Done the Work Not Just the Marketing
Before we talk about marketing strategy, you need to know something about us: we’ve lived your reality.
One of my first clients more than ten years ago was a septic service, they agreed to hire me on one condition, I come to work with them. Their logic? How could I market their business if I didn’t understand it? That sage wisdom was invaluable. They’re still clients, actually friends, if you’re wondering.
I’ve run field lines and pumped septic tanks. To this day one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had? Opening up a grease trap inside a Baskin Robbins, I can still smell it as I write this.
I know what it’s like to own a service business, because I’ve done it. I invested in and built a 7-figure tree service.
- I’ve ridden along on storm cleanups and dragged limbs.
- I can operate a skidsteer.
- I’ve had to bail climbers out of jail at 7 AM so that they could do a job that day.
- I can pull a trailer.
- I know what it’s like for business to fall off 30-40% during the slow season and still have equipment payments and payroll.
So when I sit across from a plumber, a tree service, a roofer, a remediation expert, a septic company, and talk about scaling from $1M to $5M, I’m not quoting theory. I’ve done it. I’m still doing it.
What Sets Us Apart
These days, everyone’s a “marketer.” There are countless agencies offering $500 websites or vague “growth strategies.” But most of them have never:
Pulled a trailer through a tornado with a skid steer on the back
Scaled a service business
Sold to private equity
Gotten their hands dirty for the sake of understanding what clients really need
We’re not outsiders looking in. We’re on the inside, in the trenches, guiding, advising, and growing with the businesses we serve.
What Sets Us Apart
These days, everyone’s a “marketer.” There are countless agencies offering $500 websites or vague “growth strategies.” But most of them have never:
Pulled a trailer through a tornado with a skid steer on the back
Pulled a trailer through a tornado with a skid steer on the back
Scaled a service business
Sold to private equity
Gotten their hands dirty for the sake of understanding what clients really need
We’re not outsiders looking in. We’re on the inside, in the trenches, guiding, advising, and growing with the businesses we serve.
One Core Value: Serve
Every decision at SteelToe Digital flows from a single core value: Serve.
To serve means:
- Acting in your best interest — always.
- Operating with honesty and integrity.
- Putting ourselves in your shoes.
- Building relationships that last.