June 4, 2025 • 39 mins
What does it truly mean to serve others in today's disconnected world? Blake Burkhart is redefining success through authentic service and community impact in Northeast Ohio.
From walking onto his college football team despite doubters telling him he was "too small" to now transforming lives through his work at Royalty Roofing, Blake embodies the underdog spirit that refuses to quit. His approach to business goes far beyond transactions—offering free repairs to those in need and building genuine connections with every client he serves.
"I feel like I'm more than a roofer," Blake shares, recounting stories of tarping damaged roofs at no charge and the surprised reactions when homeowners learn they won't be billed. This servant-leader mentality stands in stark contrast to the high-pressure tactics common in his industry, where most companies last only 3-5 years.
What drives this 27-year-old's uncommon dedication? A grounding in faith, the unwavering support of his fiancée and a profound belief that we're called to help one another regardless of differences. Blake laments how technology and political division have eroded our sense of community: "People forgot the one thing—it's not whose side you're on, it's that we're there to be together."
His message resonates with universal truth: "Live with patience, with a little more faith in yourself and others... inch by inch, day by day, you will get to where you want to go if you believe in yourself." In a world hungry for authentic connection, Blake's journey offers both inspiration and a practical roadmap for making a meaningful impact.
Ready to be inspired? Listen now and discover how small, consistent acts of service can transform not just your community, but your own sense of purpose and fulfillment. Share your thoughts with us after listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is, as always, your host,Mike Bono.
We've got a great guest for ustoday.
I believe he's up in theYoungstown Cleveland area.
He is a roofer by trade.
We're going to get into allthat, but Blake Burkhart joins
(00:20):
the show.
Blake, thanks for joining,brother.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you, man, I appreciate it.
I've been dying to get on.
Thanks for joining brother.
Thank you, man, I appreciate it.
I've been dying to get on thisshow for two years now.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We had to do a little remake, man.
Yeah, we've been trying to makethis happen for a little while
now, but glad we could finallyget it worked out
scheduling-wise.
I think this is like the fourthtime we're supposed to record
and something always seems tohappen to us as well.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, so glad we finally got our schedules to
sync up, for sure.
Yeah, man, you and I are twobusy guys.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Man, it takes a a lot of effort for us to make
something like this happen yeah,I say my schedule even right
now is is crazy, uh, as it isbetween day job, comedy, this
podcast and everything else thatgoes along with that.
So I definitely understand that.
I'm glad you can take some timeout of your busy schedule so
you know for listeners out theretell everyone where you're from
(01:14):
.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm from Medina, ohio .
I used to play ball at MedinaHigh School.
I was a running back and widereceiver.
Ball at Medina High School wasa running back and wide receiver
Ended up taking kind of a bigchoice in my life.
At about 18 years old my dadactually handed me basically a
card to go to the Army as abirthday gift and my mom was
(01:39):
always pushing me to you know,go to college, get an education.
You know I believe in youbecause a lot of those years in
my life I didn't have a lot ofbelievers, I didn't believe in
myself too much.
I kind of was not the beststudent either, to be honest
with you, mike, like kind of wasthat D, maybe N-ish type of
(02:00):
student.
But once I went to college, youknow, a lot of things changed,
uh, and we could get more intothat as well.
But I think the biggest thingum is just I.
I love helping people and man,I'm grateful to be on this
podcast, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Well, we're glad to have you on, but you know what?
What changed for you when yougot into college, cause I mean,
I wasn't the best student evereither.
I tell everyone you don't go tocollege because you're book
smart, you know, and everythinglike that.
So what changed for you?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
To be honest, man, I think it was just building
self-belief in myself with.
You know, I kind of have tohave some tunnel vision.
Freshman year, I didn't.
A lot of years during college.
I remember a lot of stories Icould tell you, man, but like
just a lot of nights where Ididn't go out drinking, I didn't
live.
I'd live still like a collegestudent, but to a certain extent
(03:01):
where it was balanced, sominimal of partying, because I
was kind of that college studenthigh school.
So I learned a lot of lessonsfrom those trials and
tribulations.
And maybe not having the mostfriends during my college year,
because they were all at the bardrinking and like I still
indulge in some of it, but notas much Cause, you know, I had
(03:25):
this football team.
I remember walking up therewith my mom and looking at the
team and it was like aorientation day, right, and I
was like I'm, I'm destined toplay football here, mom, and she
kind of looked at me like Idon't know if you could do this,
these guys are pretty big butit was D two ball and I was like
you know, I'm going to try twoball and I was like you know,
(03:45):
I'm gonna try to walk on thisteam any way I can.
And uh, coach is handing me acamera, said dude, your grades
aren't good enough from highschool.
You gotta get some extracredits.
And uh, it was motivation.
Dude, like every, I've had alot of motivation in my life.
I was a nose guard, believe itor not, when I was six years,
maybe four years old, six yearsold, and I used to be so small I
used to jump under dude's legsand tackle the quarterback and
(04:06):
they couldn't stop me.
But it's just.
I was always told dude, you'retoo little Like, you're not
going to play any college ball.
Man, you're never going to goto college, you're not smart
enough.
Man, and my dad's even handedme a packet.
And just, long story short, meand my dad aren't very close and
I don't know, and I don't know,we used to have that kind of
closeness, but he lives inArizona.
Long story.
(04:27):
I'm not going to get into mypersonal stuff, but I think I
just try to be a leader forpeople.
From the things I've beenthrough in my life and literally
lead as a servant leader andthrough God, you know, because
he's everything, man, I thinkthat he's helped me with so many
things that I've accomplishedin my life and I'm thankful for
him because he's first, my wifeMarina second and my family
(04:50):
third and then my career will befourth.
You know I still have dreamsand aspirations to do other
things, but I don't really knowwhat all those things are yet.
I think I'm still.
I'm turning 27 tomorrow, got alot of things I got to figure
out, changed a lot of lives, youknow, in college I get it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Man, everyone goes through.
You know a bunch of stuff.
I wasn't, like I said, beststudent.
I operated on C's get degreesand got through college that way
.
Operated on C's get degrees andgot through college that way.
But you know, you got to findthe balance to what makes you
(05:34):
happy and to get through it.
What makes me happy is makingpeople laugh and getting on
stage.
So you know that definitelyhelps out a ton, um, definitely
when it comes to thanks, man,appreciate that, but definitely
understand that.
(05:54):
Um, with the football aspect ofit, I thought I was going to go
somewhere and play football anddidn't get.
A lot of playing time in highschool was the habitual backup.
I mean, at 6'5", 155 pounds, Iwasn't the biggest guy on the
team, so I definitely get it.
(06:15):
But shooting your shot incollege and walking onto the
team, I mean that takes ballsfor anybody to even attempt to
think about wanting to do that,especially at the D2 level.
So kudos to you for being ableto do that for sure.
So fast forward.
(06:36):
Now, like I said, you have yourroofing company.
Why roofing, and what made youget into that?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's not my roofing company.
No, a lot of people ask methating company.
No, a lot of people ask me thatmike.
A lot of people ask me theythink I'm the roofer or going on
the roof to.
I actually do a lot of freerepairs for folks and we do free
inspections.
But, um, you know, I work forroyalty roofing you see it on my
shirt.
But they, they are a blessingin my life, man, I I used to
work for a number one roofingcompany in the nation.
(07:04):
Um, they were a great company.
I give me learned a lot ofthings there, made a lot of
mistakes too, um, and I'm thisis going on four years in the
roofing industry for me.
So, uh, you know, at the end ofthe day, honestly, like I feel
like I'm more than a roofer nowat this level that I'm at, um,
helping people with real worldsituations at whatever it may be
(07:27):
, you know, and other businesses, small businesses, and shouting
them out and making a platformon social media is, you know,
just really trying to help mycommunity of Northeast Ohio,
because Royalty Roofing theirwhole slogan is.
There's a difference, you know,and I think I really took that
to heart, their slogan, and theyhave a big saint emblem on all
(07:48):
the trucks and that's our kindof thing, right?
So it's all about putting thecustomer first.
It's all about integrity andhonesty.
And we do storm damage stuff.
We're telling customers whetherto put a claim in or not.
We're well educated in thetrade to know what's, what's the
best benefit for Mike Bono ifhis roof fails and the tree hits
(08:08):
it, you know, is that somethinghe should?
He should claim or not claim.
But there's so manycomplications with the industry
because there's so many changeswith insurance, changes with
roofing, changes in the product,changes in the economy.
So you have to make it work forany single person and royalty.
I know the number, like theback of my hand, should be
tattooed on me, but the numberyou call is 330-362-4700.
(08:33):
See, we have an inside salesteam which is not it's don't
think of sales, it's, we're justthat's our team that basically
sets leads for us.
Um, I'm not going to give allthe insides of what we do,
because I think it's magicalwhat we do out of this company,
but we even have a dedicatedteam for insurance so I can have
someone that can look over someof my.
(08:53):
I have 30 customers I help at atime.
Sometimes that can kind of helpme because we work with
Xactimate that insurance uses,so we just want to make sure
we're doing the proper things soinsurance is happy, the
customer is happy and we'redoing the right thing all the
time.
I've done a lot of free repairsfor people.
The other day I was in I thinkit was Garensville or
(09:16):
Warrensville somewhere and I wasrepairing this guy's roof, put
huge, big tarps on it.
He had a lot of damage fromwind but sadly the roof's been
probably installed so youcouldn't put a claim in and he
kept.
He came out three times out ofthe house.
He's like Blake, you paying,you making me pay for this man,
you're doing a lot of tarping upthere.
And I'm like man, no, this isall for free.
And I know man, like I'm justdoing this courage in my heart.
(09:48):
He's like, well, why?
Like I don't know, because God,like I'm just, this is who I am
and what I believe in and thisis why I work for this company.
And like that's a really goodstory to tell, because that's
that's who we are.
You know, um, we're not here tohigh pressure do the roof today.
You know, and you see thosecompanies out there.
Average roofer only lastremodeling company lasts about
three to five years because it'shard to keep it going.
It just is because it's aboutthe quality, the service and
(10:11):
your experience You're giving tothe customer and the warranty,
of course, but some people don'tcare about that.
But we have a lot of optionsfor folks financing, cash out
whatever you want.
You know, and I think that'sthe plus, because I made so many
relationships mike with peopleand businesses and I'll be
honest, I've been hired a lot ofpeople.
I feel like in my family even,like I'm the first college
(10:35):
athlete with three rings in myfamily, like that's never,
that's never happened and walkon like no, no one in my family
got that far.
My family makes me aware and,um, it's hard for me to be not
hard on myself because I wasalways kind of doubted.
So being the underdog issometimes the best thing that
can happen to you, because I'mjust grateful for all the ups
(10:58):
and downs of life, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, I always root for the underdogs.
I love the underdog story.
I mean for anyone that thinksthat it never happens.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I wear it every day when it's raining, as it's
raining out.
That's not the real Notre Dame.
That's not the Falcons.
I still like the Rudy story,even though it's made up.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well, you have that, but you also have the Kurt
Warner story.
Dude was bagging groceries,love that movie.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I love that movie man .
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, I watched it a couple weeks ago for the first
time and it's an amazing movie.
If anybody out there needs towatch the Kurt Warner story on
Amazon Prime, it's worth everypenny to see that movie because
it tells a great story that Idon't think everybody gets to
see that part of it and, like Isaid, I always root for the
(11:54):
underdogs.
Hell, I'm 13 years into comedyand I'm still considered an up
and comer and the underdog ofthe comedy world.
So you know, it doesn't make mewant to quit ever, just makes
me want to keep getting back onstage as many times as I
possibly can.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I love that man.
You already know.
I want you to win.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I appreciate that man .
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Next Kevin Hart, man, but better.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I hope so.
I really hope I can make KevinHart money.
That would be the end goal tobe able to do what he's doing.
It'd be everywhere.
I think every movie you turn onhe's in it.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, one of my favorite football movies is
definitely invincible, becausethat that movie inspired me a
lot.
Um, since I was probably fouror five years old, I used to
watch that before every singlegame and I'd some why remember
this?
I used to wear my pads when Iwas younger, put them all on in
my helmet and watch the movie.
Not when I was in high school alittle weird, I probably
(12:58):
wouldn't be in college I'm justjoking, but like just, I just
was obsessed with the game, likeI, and I think that movie
really got me obsessed with it.
And I'll be honest, like I giveall the support to god.
But second, my future wife,marina, because she, she's an
angel in my life, man, likeshe's really been there for me
through some pretty tough times,you know from a lot of things
(13:22):
in my life.
So I give her a lot of kudosbecause she's sometimes I look
at her, I look up to her a lotand that's kind of the partner
you need in your life, because alot of people struggle nowadays
with marriage and you knowrelationships, like, a lot of
people in my generation don'thave girlfriends because they
just they're struggling man,everyone's on their phone,
everyone's worried aboutwhatever Right.
So, um, I'm just very gratefulbecause we're coming up on seven
(13:46):
years and can get married heresoon, like tomorrow.
I'd love that, but we'regetting, we're getting a look.
So it's like, you know, we'rejust taking our time.
But I love her to death and Iknow she loves me.
So I'm just very grateful forthe people I got in my life,
especially my mom, my sister,and especially Marina.
She's my rock, my soul.
So I just bought a homeSaturday, so I'm pretty excited
(14:09):
about it.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Oh, there you go, man .
Congratulations to that.
For sure, it's a big step, andyou know you're young.
I'm to that.
Uh, for sure.
Uh, it's a big step, and youknow you're young.
Uh, I'm not gonna age myselfany more than I already do on
this show.
Um enough with how old Iactually am.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Um, oh you've got grades, you don't got grays yet
though you can't see.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
This camera does wonders for me, my man.
Like there are so many grays inthe beard, I get it.
There's a reason I always weara hat.
This hairline is tragic 36years old my dad is bald.
My guy.
This is just so unfortunatewith where it's going.
(14:57):
I don't have long to have hairleft is where I'm at.
It's getting taken off herevery soon.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
You can go overseas and spend 15 grand for new hair,
I think.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, not doing that.
I know they say you need tolook at your family history,
basically on your mom's side.
That's where the hair comesfrom.
On both sides of my familythere's not a follicle on any
man In the order.
So I know it's coming.
It's delaying the inevitable.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I'm really fortunate Because I talk with my hands, so
I'm definitely more Italian.
My last name is Burkhardt, it'sGerman, but I'm half fortunate
because I talk with my hands, soI'm definitely more Italian
than I am.
My last name is Burkhardt, it'sGerman, but I'm half Italian,
half German, but I way more onmy Italian side.
I got that Sicilian in me, ifyou know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I'm Sicilian myself, so I definitely understand it.
It takes a lot for me to nottalk with my hands that's how I
express myself.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Sometimes it's bad because in business some people
they think you're mad at them orsomething, but you're just
expressing yourself.
It's kind of funny.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
The one.
I get a lot because I'm a veryloud individual as it is, and I
get the.
Why are you hollering all thetime?
And it's just like if you thinkthis is me yelling, I got
another couple octaves.
I can get up there this is myconversation voice.
Nobody's ever said huh to mebecause they couldn't hear me.
(16:31):
I'm a very loud person.
Even people at work tell me allthe time.
I think some customers thinklike you're being aggressive,
it's have an aggressive soundingvoice, like I'm not trying to
be aggressive, I just have avery deep and I'm voice and I'm
very loud I mean, I do it for awhile, this job it's all about
(16:52):
your tonality, like if I'm withan older woman, she needs me to
go slower.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Right, I will slow my voice down, maybe talk a little
louder if they can't hear, orwhatever it is that I need to do
to make sure my communicationskills are pretty good, cause,
like I was saying, yours aren't.
I'm just just saying like ingeneral, like it's all about
tonality, and sometimes peoplejust don't understand.
Like you know, you're justpassionate as a cause.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It from your who you are yeah, and it definitely
helps on stage, like I thinksometimes there's like that's
like I don't need a mic for this.
Like they're, they're gonna beable to hear me.
There's no chance they'reanybody's gonna miss anything.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I'm saying yeah, I started getting back into
playing guitar.
Man, I'm not a singer, but Idefinitely played guitar a lot
too.
When I was a kid, I tooklessons on it.
I used to play the violin,believe it or not, when I was in
middle school.
But my mom's like, yeah, if youwant to play guitar, you can do
that.
Yep, I'm doing that.
So I love like old school rock,uh, red hot chili peppers, acdc
(17:54):
, metallica, black, sab, allthose people like they're
amazing dude.
I've been listening to a lotmore of that.
Well, maybe not less of it,because it can sometimes be a
little too loud of the eardrums,but I still love that type of
stuff Builds character.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
getting that type of music for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah, man, life is great, great.
I just thank god every day forlike where I'm at my position
now, because there's a lot ofyears I kind of didn't look at
myself that much and maybe feltdepressed or anxiety or me I
don't know just.
I think I just was developingand evolving as the years went
on.
Because even now, likesometimes I look at like I don't
know just, I think I just wasdeveloping and evolving as the
(18:39):
years went on.
Because even now, likesometimes I look at like I don't
even know how I got this far,but I do know it's just straight
, you know faith, hard work andlike just never, ever, ever,
giving up, always so, and I tryto inspire other people with
that.
And we could talk off cameraanother day because I don't need
to put my personal business outthere.
(18:59):
But, um, man, like tell my momand close members like marina,
my sister, mia, all the time youknow like I'm kind of I feel
destined to help people, like Ireally feel god attaches himself
to, uh, broken people whenthey've been through some hard
times, you know, because Idefinitely had those.
(19:20):
But I feel fearless because Ihave him and being guided on a
better journey and better path.
And I'll be honest with you,even in the past couple of
months, you know, with some ofthe stuff I've dealt with
getting a home and working andyou know I like I got the
funding guy still texting meabout the home right now, but
he's awesome and um, you know Icould have had every excuse to
(19:43):
even be on this phone call, youknow.
But I want to put more of amessage out there.
You know, lighting up thedarkness like what I like to say
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
But no, I, I love that attitude in people, uh for
sure.
So like what's the end goalwith that?
Do you have an end goal in mindwith that?
Or like, yeah, what do you see?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
um, you know, I think , uh, being humble through all
this is huge, but you helpingmen and women with whatever it
is, because a lot of people Ifeel like we're just so taken
over by our phones and otherthings Like just being there for
(20:27):
one another, showing peopleit's okay to love.
You know, I think there's a lotof hatred in the world nowadays
.
There's a lot of politics stuffthat people man like, like I'm
living, I'm not living in medinaanymore, I'm moving next month
and uh, there's a lot ofpolitical fusion.
You can kind of feel it, see itout in public, people with
(20:47):
signs and you know, I thinkpeople forgot the one thing it's
not whose side are you on, it's, we're there to be together.
And a lot of this country's kindof be honest with you falling
apart with politics and I don'tget political because I don't
care about that crap but peopleare kind of losing their focus
of what the true meaning of lifeis.
(21:08):
Community is work, like youknow what I mean, like my
passion level is so differentand I'm misunderstood by a lot,
honestly, people, mike, becauseit's just my attention to detail
, attention to hustle and out oflove, you know, is big Because
I want everyone to win, I wanteveryone to be positive.
(21:30):
But it's not a perfect world.
I'm not a perfect man, but ifyou can lead by example, be a
servant leader through God foryour family because that's my
why it's my future wife, myfamily, my future kids Like I'm
ready to be a dad tomorrowprobably, but I don't know.
Man, Just try not to look atthe future right, I'm already
talking about it but just try tolive in the present more and
(21:52):
remember that and remind myselfof that every day.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
That's a good place to be.
You know you can't look too farahead.
I mean, you kind of have tohave your your eyes on it to
know where you're going, but youdon't want to look too far and
there's a lot of noise throughall of it and you got to cancel
out a lot of the noise.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
But you do have a lot of success.
People don't.
They don't want to, they don'twant to accept it or they don't
want to look at themselves.
So, and you?
I'm not a judgmental person, Idon't look at people black and
white, I just don't.
Everyone's human.
You know bones and flesh.
So at the end of the day,that's how you treat everyone
(22:30):
the same.
A lot of people don't do that,no more.
So it's it's that's my goal.
That's what I want to changewith certain things.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Now I can't be Superman, spiderman, batman or
Iron man, but I can definitelybe my own hero every day and I
feel like I'm doing that that'sgreat for sure, and you're right
, I think a lot too many peopleare glued to the phones and
(23:00):
technology and I don't want tosay it's running the world
because we're.
We're talking on zoom right nowand on a podcast, but yeah
we'll kind of be hypocritical,but it's a little bit a little
hypocritical.
But there's people that theirphone is their personality.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Like I've dealt with it.
I admit to my stuff as a man.
You know I've dealt with itbefore, but I never let that
take over me or consume me oraffect my career, life or
relationships.
You know right.
I mean, yeah, use it for good,not for bad.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
You know you, you can get caught up in it real quick
and like, honestly, like I got avacation scheduled for the
first time and I can't even tellyou how long and we're going to
a place where there is zerocell service and I cannot wait
to get out there and just relaxand just sit by a fire with my
(24:01):
wife and son.
I'm so excited for thisvacation.
It's unreal.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Vacation's real man.
It's all reset A little bit ofmeditation because you're away
from your phone and the worldlythings, right yeah, and kind of
reflect on yourself, Right Like.
The things I'm working on are alot of things like, because I'm
very hard on myself.
I look a lot into my own mindevery single day and life's not
(24:28):
easy.
But being self-righteous and aleader is not easy either.
You know, and I could see aleader in you.
I already.
That's why I already look up toyou with this whole podcast,
Because it's not easy and youare the.
In my eyes you're not theunderdog.
I think you're the Kevin Hartof comedy and a great podcast
(24:48):
host.
But at the end of the day it'speople me and people believe in
them and sometimes not a lot ofpeople help their neighbor
anymore type of you knowmentality.
So that's what I love about youand love about your, what
you're doing too nah, man, yeah,I definitely appreciate that,
for sure it's.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It's always nice to have somebody in your corner and
, um, for sure, like I, you knowI follow you on everything.
I see what you're doing.
I see you doing big things allthe time.
So what's next here for oldBlake?
Here, either career-wise, andeverything that's going on there
(25:30):
and everything that you've gotgoing on out there.
And Medina, I know you've gotthe house and everything like
that.
So, like what it's on adistorted location.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I don't want the whole world to know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Well, I'm not going to say where you're at, like
that, it's on a distortedlocation.
I don't want the whole world toknow.
We're not going to tell youwhere you're at.
We're not going to do that.
What else you got going onother than the work and family
life going on?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Well, I think the biggest thing I'm learning now
in my life is with certaindreams and things you have kind
of in the back of your head thateat away at you every day.
I definitely feel like some ofmy dreams I'll kind of not share
the world, but just do itthrough actions.
(26:11):
You know, and you know word ofmouth is huge, right, like we're
talking on the phone.
Word of mouth is huge, right,like like we're talking on the
phone right now and usingtechnology, right.
I think resetting and remindingourselves who we are is huge.
And my next step in life issome other big dreams, but I
think, for one, is just helpingothers, like being a coach,
being a strength coach, being Idon't know like I might even get
(26:34):
into something else in my lifethat I don't need to share with
everyone because it's a dream ofmine and, at the end of the day
, you don't need to share yourdreams with everybody.
You know and I think that's agood way to live Um again,
doesn't need to be on everyplatform what exactly my life
plan is and what I'm doing everysingle day.
Um, I'm still learning thatjust because Gone viral on
(26:54):
certain things, but it's hard tobuild those things.
I understand that.
That's why I respect yourpodcast, respect doing your
comedy, because that's how Ifeel about what I do with the
roofing industry.
I see myself Pretty muchclimbing to the top.
There's a lot of those viralguys that make videos.
Oh, I made the company go from2 million to 5 million.
(27:16):
I changed so many of myemployees' lives and they're
filming themselves and they'reviral on TikTok, instagram,
whatever it is, and where'stheir employees?
They're not truly helping them,they're just acting like they
are and they're viral, makingmoney off of these social media.
And that's not my goal, youknow.
Um, I think it's just like themessage that I try to bring to
(27:37):
people and that's what the pointof when I use those things.
Just use it for good right, useit to support small businesses.
Um, support your own career,what you do and what I do.
You know I make a lot of videosfor homeowners.
Like, holy crap, you made awhole like commercial from my
house.
I'm like, well, it's that theexperience you get with me.
(27:57):
You know, it's the cherry ontop, because not only are you
getting good quality service, aguy that's just going to take
care of you and maybe even kindof help you with some real life
stuff, cause I've been through alot, being 27 years old now.
Um, I think I'm kind of an oldsoul sometimes, cause I don't
know, people don't expect theenergy that I bring to them.
(28:18):
Sometimes they expect maybejust a 27-year-old average guy,
that's, I don't know.
You know, just not reallytrying to help their friend or
family or neighbor, becausethat's kind of hard to do
sometimes.
You know, like I got up at 5o'clock today, trained my buddy
for about an hour and a half inthe gym and made a whole
marketing video for the gym andgoing on another podcast next
(28:43):
month for the gym.
They have like a whole custom,not custom, but they had a
really good idea.
It's called the Gym Seshpodcast and they just kind of,
you know, shot you out in thegym and, you know, want to hear
why.
What's your why to go to thegym.
So I'm really getting into thatand helping their business and,
(29:04):
um, they, they got a good thinggoing on over there.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
So yeah, absolutely, um, love that, Love helping
anybody out that we can here onthis Show, for sure, how all of
the sponsors Of this show aresmall business owners.
So that's One thing we like tolike to Do, like to get out
there, like to help, and Two ofour sponsors One helps Veterans
(29:33):
and the other one helps firstResponders like that's Two of
our big things that sponsors Onehelps veterans and the other
one helps first respondersthat's two of our big things.
You can use cues with that.
The hat I'm wearing now, deemedFit, helps first responders
with their mental and physicalhealth, even especially the ones
that had to work through COVID.
It helps them.
Tactical Brotherhood helps outveterans in any way.
(29:55):
Part of all the proceeds fromevery sale that happens goes to
those causes, and that iscompanies I want to align myself
with, for sure.
So I definitely am always downfor helping that out and
anything like that.
But, blake, we are running downhere near the end of the
episode.
I'm always down for helpingthat out and anything like that,
but Blake, we are running downhere near the end of the episode
(30:18):
.
Now, I do give every guest thisopportunity at the end of every
show If there's anything youwant to get out there I know
we've talked a good bit about it.
If there's a good message outthere, whether it's for roofing
or anything like that, anythingyou want to get out, anything
you want to help out, I'm goingto give you about a minute and
the floor is yours, my man.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I think with everything I've built for others
and myself and my life, I guessmy biggest message to everyone
is just to live with patience,with a little more faith and um
in yourself and others, and umespecially in the roofing
(31:00):
industry.
Man, you know it's not easy.
There's, I know, so many catshave gone in the industry and
they quit like within a month,two months, three months,
because it's not easy, it's notinstant gratification type of
job.
Um, there's a different type ofatmosphere and satisfaction I
get with the job because I'mtruly helping people.
(31:20):
You know, I, driving home todayin the rain, pretty, pretty
crappy summer, we haven't reallyseen the sun, have we Mike?
So like at the end of the day,like I'm just living with
positivity, and the two people Iwent to their homes today, I
feel I made their lives better,not just with a roof or whatnot.
You know, like just truthfully,you know, being my true self
(31:41):
every day and living in thepresent every day and always
trying to learn and improve.
And if people kind of movedifferently with love and grit
in their life, a little moregrit, because sometimes it
drives me nuts when I see othersdon't try as hard and I their
potential.
You know, and that's how I knowI'm going to be a coach and I'm
going to manifest all thosethings.
I'm not there yet but, um, startsmall and then build your way
(32:05):
up, and that's always kind ofhow I've been inch by inch, day
by day.
You will get to where you wantto go if you believe in yourself
.
Whether it's roofing and beingthe well-known guy like I am in
northeast ohio or ohio or thenation, I don't know, I don't
really care about that.
Um, you know, validation, Icare about who, who I am and
(32:25):
what I prove to myself me versusme every day.
So people could live a littlemore like that, I think people
will love each other a littlemore.
That's kind of the message Iwant to put out.
There is my message.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Oh yeah, man, you know I'm all down for helping
people promote anything they gotgoing on at the end of the show
like that, but I love it whenpeople have a great message like
that to end the show on.
It's great to finally get tosit down and talk with you, man.
Then we finally got ourschedules to line up and be able
(33:00):
to make this happen.
It's been a while in themegging, but that is actually
going to do it for this week'sepisode of the ride home rants
podcast.
I want to thank my guest, blakeBurkhart, for joining the show.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
It's a lot of fun to get for joining the show.
Appreciate you, Fist bumpthrough the phone.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
There you go, brother .
Absolutely Appreciate that,everything that you got going on
, as always, if you enjoyed theshow, be a friend, tell a friend
.
If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it.
Just because you didn't, that'sgoing to do it for me and I
will see y'all next week.
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is, as always, your host,Mike Bono.
We've got a great guest for ustoday.
I believe he's up in theYoungstown Cleveland area.
He is a roofer by trade.
We're going to get into allthat, but Blake Burkhart joins
(00:20):
the show.
Blake, thanks for joining,brother.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you, man, I appreciate it.
I've been dying to get on.
Thanks for joining brother.
Thank you, man, I appreciate it.
I've been dying to get on thisshow for two years now.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We had to do a little remake, man.
Yeah, we've been trying to makethis happen for a little while
now, but glad we could finallyget it worked out
scheduling-wise.
I think this is like the fourthtime we're supposed to record
and something always seems tohappen to us as well.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, so glad we finally got our schedules to
sync up, for sure.
Yeah, man, you and I are twobusy guys.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Man, it takes a a lot of effort for us to make
something like this happen yeah,I say my schedule even right
now is is crazy, uh, as it isbetween day job, comedy, this
podcast and everything else thatgoes along with that.
So I definitely understand that.
I'm glad you can take some timeout of your busy schedule so
you know for listeners out theretell everyone where you're from
(01:14):
.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm from Medina, ohio .
I used to play ball at MedinaHigh School.
I was a running back and widereceiver.
Ball at Medina High School wasa running back and wide receiver
Ended up taking kind of a bigchoice in my life.
At about 18 years old my dadactually handed me basically a
card to go to the Army as abirthday gift and my mom was
(01:39):
always pushing me to you know,go to college, get an education.
You know I believe in youbecause a lot of those years in
my life I didn't have a lot ofbelievers, I didn't believe in
myself too much.
I kind of was not the beststudent either, to be honest
with you, mike, like kind of wasthat D, maybe N-ish type of
(02:00):
student.
But once I went to college, youknow, a lot of things changed,
uh, and we could get more intothat as well.
But I think the biggest thingum is just I.
I love helping people and man,I'm grateful to be on this
podcast, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Well, we're glad to have you on, but you know what?
What changed for you when yougot into college, cause I mean,
I wasn't the best student evereither.
I tell everyone you don't go tocollege because you're book
smart, you know, and everythinglike that.
So what changed for you?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
To be honest, man, I think it was just building
self-belief in myself with.
You know, I kind of have tohave some tunnel vision.
Freshman year, I didn't.
A lot of years during college.
I remember a lot of stories Icould tell you, man, but like
just a lot of nights where Ididn't go out drinking, I didn't
live.
I'd live still like a collegestudent, but to a certain extent
(03:01):
where it was balanced, sominimal of partying, because I
was kind of that college studenthigh school.
So I learned a lot of lessonsfrom those trials and
tribulations.
And maybe not having the mostfriends during my college year,
because they were all at the bardrinking and like I still
indulge in some of it, but notas much Cause, you know, I had
(03:25):
this football team.
I remember walking up therewith my mom and looking at the
team and it was like aorientation day, right, and I
was like I'm, I'm destined toplay football here, mom, and she
kind of looked at me like Idon't know if you could do this,
these guys are pretty big butit was D two ball and I was like
you know, I'm going to try twoball and I was like you know,
(03:45):
I'm gonna try to walk on thisteam any way I can.
And uh, coach is handing me acamera, said dude, your grades
aren't good enough from highschool.
You gotta get some extracredits.
And uh, it was motivation.
Dude, like every, I've had alot of motivation in my life.
I was a nose guard, believe itor not, when I was six years,
maybe four years old, six yearsold, and I used to be so small I
used to jump under dude's legsand tackle the quarterback and
(04:06):
they couldn't stop me.
But it's just.
I was always told dude, you'retoo little Like, you're not
going to play any college ball.
Man, you're never going to goto college, you're not smart
enough.
Man, and my dad's even handedme a packet.
And just, long story short, meand my dad aren't very close and
I don't know, and I don't know,we used to have that kind of
closeness, but he lives inArizona.
Long story.
(04:27):
I'm not going to get into mypersonal stuff, but I think I
just try to be a leader forpeople.
From the things I've beenthrough in my life and literally
lead as a servant leader andthrough God, you know, because
he's everything, man, I thinkthat he's helped me with so many
things that I've accomplishedin my life and I'm thankful for
him because he's first, my wifeMarina second and my family
(04:50):
third and then my career will befourth.
You know I still have dreamsand aspirations to do other
things, but I don't really knowwhat all those things are yet.
I think I'm still.
I'm turning 27 tomorrow, got alot of things I got to figure
out, changed a lot of lives, youknow, in college I get it.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Man, everyone goes through.
You know a bunch of stuff.
I wasn't, like I said, beststudent.
I operated on C's get degreesand got through college that way
.
Operated on C's get degrees andgot through college that way.
But you know, you got to findthe balance to what makes you
(05:34):
happy and to get through it.
What makes me happy is makingpeople laugh and getting on
stage.
So you know that definitelyhelps out a ton, um, definitely
when it comes to thanks, man,appreciate that, but definitely
understand that.
(05:54):
Um, with the football aspect ofit, I thought I was going to go
somewhere and play football anddidn't get.
A lot of playing time in highschool was the habitual backup.
I mean, at 6'5", 155 pounds, Iwasn't the biggest guy on the
team, so I definitely get it.
(06:15):
But shooting your shot incollege and walking onto the
team, I mean that takes ballsfor anybody to even attempt to
think about wanting to do that,especially at the D2 level.
So kudos to you for being ableto do that for sure.
So fast forward.
(06:36):
Now, like I said, you have yourroofing company.
Why roofing, and what made youget into that?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's not my roofing company.
No, a lot of people ask methating company.
No, a lot of people ask me thatmike.
A lot of people ask me theythink I'm the roofer or going on
the roof to.
I actually do a lot of freerepairs for folks and we do free
inspections.
But, um, you know, I work forroyalty roofing you see it on my
shirt.
But they, they are a blessingin my life, man, I I used to
work for a number one roofingcompany in the nation.
(07:04):
Um, they were a great company.
I give me learned a lot ofthings there, made a lot of
mistakes too, um, and I'm thisis going on four years in the
roofing industry for me.
So, uh, you know, at the end ofthe day, honestly, like I feel
like I'm more than a roofer nowat this level that I'm at, um,
helping people with real worldsituations at whatever it may be
(07:27):
, you know, and other businesses, small businesses, and shouting
them out and making a platformon social media is, you know,
just really trying to help mycommunity of Northeast Ohio,
because Royalty Roofing theirwhole slogan is.
There's a difference, you know,and I think I really took that
to heart, their slogan, and theyhave a big saint emblem on all
(07:48):
the trucks and that's our kindof thing, right?
So it's all about putting thecustomer first.
It's all about integrity andhonesty.
And we do storm damage stuff.
We're telling customers whetherto put a claim in or not.
We're well educated in thetrade to know what's, what's the
best benefit for Mike Bono ifhis roof fails and the tree hits
(08:08):
it, you know, is that somethinghe should?
He should claim or not claim.
But there's so manycomplications with the industry
because there's so many changeswith insurance, changes with
roofing, changes in the product,changes in the economy.
So you have to make it work forany single person and royalty.
I know the number, like theback of my hand, should be
tattooed on me, but the numberyou call is 330-362-4700.
(08:33):
See, we have an inside salesteam which is not it's don't
think of sales, it's, we're justthat's our team that basically
sets leads for us.
Um, I'm not going to give allthe insides of what we do,
because I think it's magicalwhat we do out of this company,
but we even have a dedicatedteam for insurance so I can have
someone that can look over someof my.
(08:53):
I have 30 customers I help at atime.
Sometimes that can kind of helpme because we work with
Xactimate that insurance uses,so we just want to make sure
we're doing the proper things soinsurance is happy, the
customer is happy and we'redoing the right thing all the
time.
I've done a lot of free repairsfor people.
The other day I was in I thinkit was Garensville or
(09:16):
Warrensville somewhere and I wasrepairing this guy's roof, put
huge, big tarps on it.
He had a lot of damage fromwind but sadly the roof's been
probably installed so youcouldn't put a claim in and he
kept.
He came out three times out ofthe house.
He's like Blake, you paying,you making me pay for this man,
you're doing a lot of tarping upthere.
And I'm like man, no, this isall for free.
And I know man, like I'm justdoing this courage in my heart.
(09:48):
He's like, well, why?
Like I don't know, because God,like I'm just, this is who I am
and what I believe in and thisis why I work for this company.
And like that's a really goodstory to tell, because that's
that's who we are.
You know, um, we're not here tohigh pressure do the roof today.
You know, and you see thosecompanies out there.
Average roofer only lastremodeling company lasts about
three to five years because it'shard to keep it going.
It just is because it's aboutthe quality, the service and
(10:11):
your experience You're giving tothe customer and the warranty,
of course, but some people don'tcare about that.
But we have a lot of optionsfor folks financing, cash out
whatever you want.
You know, and I think that'sthe plus, because I made so many
relationships mike with peopleand businesses and I'll be
honest, I've been hired a lot ofpeople.
I feel like in my family even,like I'm the first college
(10:35):
athlete with three rings in myfamily, like that's never,
that's never happened and walkon like no, no one in my family
got that far.
My family makes me aware and,um, it's hard for me to be not
hard on myself because I wasalways kind of doubted.
So being the underdog issometimes the best thing that
can happen to you, because I'mjust grateful for all the ups
(10:58):
and downs of life, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, I always root for the underdogs.
I love the underdog story.
I mean for anyone that thinksthat it never happens.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I wear it every day when it's raining, as it's
raining out.
That's not the real Notre Dame.
That's not the Falcons.
I still like the Rudy story,even though it's made up.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well, you have that, but you also have the Kurt
Warner story.
Dude was bagging groceries,love that movie.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I love that movie man .
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, I watched it a couple weeks ago for the first
time and it's an amazing movie.
If anybody out there needs towatch the Kurt Warner story on
Amazon Prime, it's worth everypenny to see that movie because
it tells a great story that Idon't think everybody gets to
see that part of it and, like Isaid, I always root for the
(11:54):
underdogs.
Hell, I'm 13 years into comedyand I'm still considered an up
and comer and the underdog ofthe comedy world.
So you know, it doesn't make mewant to quit ever, just makes
me want to keep getting back onstage as many times as I
possibly can.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I love that man.
You already know.
I want you to win.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I appreciate that man .
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Next Kevin Hart, man, but better.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I hope so.
I really hope I can make KevinHart money.
That would be the end goal tobe able to do what he's doing.
It'd be everywhere.
I think every movie you turn onhe's in it.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, one of my favorite football movies is
definitely invincible, becausethat that movie inspired me a
lot.
Um, since I was probably fouror five years old, I used to
watch that before every singlegame and I'd some why remember
this?
I used to wear my pads when Iwas younger, put them all on in
my helmet and watch the movie.
Not when I was in high school alittle weird, I probably
(12:58):
wouldn't be in college I'm justjoking, but like just, I just
was obsessed with the game, likeI, and I think that movie
really got me obsessed with it.
And I'll be honest, like I giveall the support to god.
But second, my future wife,marina, because she, she's an
angel in my life, man, likeshe's really been there for me
through some pretty tough times,you know from a lot of things
(13:22):
in my life.
So I give her a lot of kudosbecause she's sometimes I look
at her, I look up to her a lotand that's kind of the partner
you need in your life, because alot of people struggle nowadays
with marriage and you knowrelationships, like, a lot of
people in my generation don'thave girlfriends because they
just they're struggling man,everyone's on their phone,
everyone's worried aboutwhatever Right.
So, um, I'm just very gratefulbecause we're coming up on seven
(13:46):
years and can get married heresoon, like tomorrow.
I'd love that, but we'regetting, we're getting a look.
So it's like, you know, we'rejust taking our time.
But I love her to death and Iknow she loves me.
So I'm just very grateful forthe people I got in my life,
especially my mom, my sister,and especially Marina.
She's my rock, my soul.
So I just bought a homeSaturday, so I'm pretty excited
(14:09):
about it.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Oh, there you go, man .
Congratulations to that.
For sure, it's a big step, andyou know you're young.
I'm to that.
Uh, for sure.
Uh, it's a big step, and youknow you're young.
Uh, I'm not gonna age myselfany more than I already do on
this show.
Um enough with how old Iactually am.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Um, oh you've got grades, you don't got grays yet
though you can't see.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
This camera does wonders for me, my man.
Like there are so many grays inthe beard, I get it.
There's a reason I always weara hat.
This hairline is tragic 36years old my dad is bald.
My guy.
This is just so unfortunatewith where it's going.
(14:57):
I don't have long to have hairleft is where I'm at.
It's getting taken off herevery soon.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
You can go overseas and spend 15 grand for new hair,
I think.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, not doing that.
I know they say you need tolook at your family history,
basically on your mom's side.
That's where the hair comesfrom.
On both sides of my familythere's not a follicle on any
man In the order.
So I know it's coming.
It's delaying the inevitable.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I'm really fortunate Because I talk with my hands, so
I'm definitely more Italian.
My last name is Burkhardt, it'sGerman, but I'm half fortunate
because I talk with my hands, soI'm definitely more Italian
than I am.
My last name is Burkhardt, it'sGerman, but I'm half Italian,
half German, but I way more onmy Italian side.
I got that Sicilian in me, ifyou know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I'm Sicilian myself, so I definitely understand it.
It takes a lot for me to nottalk with my hands that's how I
express myself.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Sometimes it's bad because in business some people
they think you're mad at them orsomething, but you're just
expressing yourself.
It's kind of funny.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
The one.
I get a lot because I'm a veryloud individual as it is, and I
get the.
Why are you hollering all thetime?
And it's just like if you thinkthis is me yelling, I got
another couple octaves.
I can get up there this is myconversation voice.
Nobody's ever said huh to mebecause they couldn't hear me.
(16:31):
I'm a very loud person.
Even people at work tell me allthe time.
I think some customers thinklike you're being aggressive,
it's have an aggressive soundingvoice, like I'm not trying to
be aggressive, I just have avery deep and I'm voice and I'm
very loud I mean, I do it for awhile, this job it's all about
(16:52):
your tonality, like if I'm withan older woman, she needs me to
go slower.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Right, I will slow my voice down, maybe talk a little
louder if they can't hear, orwhatever it is that I need to do
to make sure my communicationskills are pretty good, cause,
like I was saying, yours aren't.
I'm just just saying like ingeneral, like it's all about
tonality, and sometimes peoplejust don't understand.
Like you know, you're justpassionate as a cause.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It from your who you are yeah, and it definitely
helps on stage, like I thinksometimes there's like that's
like I don't need a mic for this.
Like they're, they're gonna beable to hear me.
There's no chance they'reanybody's gonna miss anything.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I'm saying yeah, I started getting back into
playing guitar.
Man, I'm not a singer, but Idefinitely played guitar a lot
too.
When I was a kid, I tooklessons on it.
I used to play the violin,believe it or not, when I was in
middle school.
But my mom's like, yeah, if youwant to play guitar, you can do
that.
Yep, I'm doing that.
So I love like old school rock,uh, red hot chili peppers, acdc
(17:54):
, metallica, black, sab, allthose people like they're
amazing dude.
I've been listening to a lotmore of that.
Well, maybe not less of it,because it can sometimes be a
little too loud of the eardrums,but I still love that type of
stuff Builds character.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
getting that type of music for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah, man, life is great, great.
I just thank god every day forlike where I'm at my position
now, because there's a lot ofyears I kind of didn't look at
myself that much and maybe feltdepressed or anxiety or me I
don't know just.
I think I just was developingand evolving as the years went
on.
Because even now, likesometimes I look at like I don't
know just, I think I just wasdeveloping and evolving as the
(18:39):
years went on.
Because even now, likesometimes I look at like I don't
even know how I got this far,but I do know it's just straight
, you know faith, hard work andlike just never, ever, ever,
giving up, always so, and I tryto inspire other people with
that.
And we could talk off cameraanother day because I don't need
to put my personal business outthere.
(18:59):
But, um, man, like tell my momand close members like marina,
my sister, mia, all the time youknow like I'm kind of I feel
destined to help people, like Ireally feel god attaches himself
to, uh, broken people whenthey've been through some hard
times, you know, because Idefinitely had those.
(19:20):
But I feel fearless because Ihave him and being guided on a
better journey and better path.
And I'll be honest with you,even in the past couple of
months, you know, with some ofthe stuff I've dealt with
getting a home and working andyou know I like I got the
funding guy still texting meabout the home right now, but
he's awesome and um, you know Icould have had every excuse to
(19:43):
even be on this phone call, youknow.
But I want to put more of amessage out there.
You know, lighting up thedarkness like what I like to say
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
But no, I, I love that attitude in people, uh for
sure.
So like what's the end goalwith that?
Do you have an end goal in mindwith that?
Or like, yeah, what do you see?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
um, you know, I think , uh, being humble through all
this is huge, but you helpingmen and women with whatever it
is, because a lot of people Ifeel like we're just so taken
over by our phones and otherthings Like just being there for
(20:27):
one another, showing peopleit's okay to love.
You know, I think there's a lotof hatred in the world nowadays
.
There's a lot of politics stuffthat people man like, like I'm
living, I'm not living in medinaanymore, I'm moving next month
and uh, there's a lot ofpolitical fusion.
You can kind of feel it, see itout in public, people with
(20:47):
signs and you know, I thinkpeople forgot the one thing it's
not whose side are you on, it's, we're there to be together.
And a lot of this country's kindof be honest with you falling
apart with politics and I don'tget political because I don't
care about that crap but peopleare kind of losing their focus
of what the true meaning of lifeis.
(21:08):
Community is work, like youknow what I mean, like my
passion level is so differentand I'm misunderstood by a lot,
honestly, people, mike, becauseit's just my attention to detail
, attention to hustle and out oflove, you know, is big Because
I want everyone to win, I wanteveryone to be positive.
(21:30):
But it's not a perfect world.
I'm not a perfect man, but ifyou can lead by example, be a
servant leader through God foryour family because that's my
why it's my future wife, myfamily, my future kids Like I'm
ready to be a dad tomorrowprobably, but I don't know.
Man, Just try not to look atthe future right, I'm already
talking about it but just try tolive in the present more and
(21:52):
remember that and remind myselfof that every day.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
That's a good place to be.
You know you can't look too farahead.
I mean, you kind of have tohave your your eyes on it to
know where you're going, but youdon't want to look too far and
there's a lot of noise throughall of it and you got to cancel
out a lot of the noise.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
But you do have a lot of success.
People don't.
They don't want to, they don'twant to accept it or they don't
want to look at themselves.
So, and you?
I'm not a judgmental person, Idon't look at people black and
white, I just don't.
Everyone's human.
You know bones and flesh.
So at the end of the day,that's how you treat everyone
(22:30):
the same.
A lot of people don't do that,no more.
So it's it's that's my goal.
That's what I want to changewith certain things.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Now I can't be Superman, spiderman, batman or
Iron man, but I can definitelybe my own hero every day and I
feel like I'm doing that that'sgreat for sure, and you're right
, I think a lot too many peopleare glued to the phones and
(23:00):
technology and I don't want tosay it's running the world
because we're.
We're talking on zoom right nowand on a podcast, but yeah
we'll kind of be hypocritical,but it's a little bit a little
hypocritical.
But there's people that theirphone is their personality.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Like I've dealt with it.
I admit to my stuff as a man.
You know I've dealt with itbefore, but I never let that
take over me or consume me oraffect my career, life or
relationships.
You know right.
I mean, yeah, use it for good,not for bad.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
You know you, you can get caught up in it real quick
and like, honestly, like I got avacation scheduled for the
first time and I can't even tellyou how long and we're going to
a place where there is zerocell service and I cannot wait
to get out there and just relaxand just sit by a fire with my
(24:01):
wife and son.
I'm so excited for thisvacation.
It's unreal.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Vacation's real man.
It's all reset A little bit ofmeditation because you're away
from your phone and the worldlythings, right yeah, and kind of
reflect on yourself, Right Like.
The things I'm working on are alot of things like, because I'm
very hard on myself.
I look a lot into my own mindevery single day and life's not
(24:28):
easy.
But being self-righteous and aleader is not easy either.
You know, and I could see aleader in you.
I already.
That's why I already look up toyou with this whole podcast,
Because it's not easy and youare the.
In my eyes you're not theunderdog.
I think you're the Kevin Hartof comedy and a great podcast
(24:48):
host.
But at the end of the day it'speople me and people believe in
them and sometimes not a lot ofpeople help their neighbor
anymore type of you knowmentality.
So that's what I love about youand love about your, what
you're doing too nah, man, yeah,I definitely appreciate that,
for sure it's.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It's always nice to have somebody in your corner and
, um, for sure, like I, you knowI follow you on everything.
I see what you're doing.
I see you doing big things allthe time.
So what's next here for oldBlake?
Here, either career-wise, andeverything that's going on there
(25:30):
and everything that you've gotgoing on out there.
And Medina, I know you've gotthe house and everything like
that.
So, like what it's on adistorted location.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I don't want the whole world to know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Well, I'm not going to say where you're at, like
that, it's on a distortedlocation.
I don't want the whole world toknow.
We're not going to tell youwhere you're at.
We're not going to do that.
What else you got going onother than the work and family
life going on?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Well, I think the biggest thing I'm learning now
in my life is with certaindreams and things you have kind
of in the back of your head thateat away at you every day.
I definitely feel like some ofmy dreams I'll kind of not share
the world, but just do itthrough actions.
(26:11):
You know, and you know word ofmouth is huge, right, like we're
talking on the phone.
Word of mouth is huge, right,like like we're talking on the
phone right now and usingtechnology, right.
I think resetting and remindingourselves who we are is huge.
And my next step in life issome other big dreams, but I
think, for one, is just helpingothers, like being a coach,
being a strength coach, being Idon't know like I might even get
(26:34):
into something else in my lifethat I don't need to share with
everyone because it's a dream ofmine and, at the end of the day
, you don't need to share yourdreams with everybody.
You know and I think that's agood way to live Um again,
doesn't need to be on everyplatform what exactly my life
plan is and what I'm doing everysingle day.
Um, I'm still learning thatjust because Gone viral on
(26:54):
certain things, but it's hard tobuild those things.
I understand that.
That's why I respect yourpodcast, respect doing your
comedy, because that's how Ifeel about what I do with the
roofing industry.
I see myself Pretty muchclimbing to the top.
There's a lot of those viralguys that make videos.
Oh, I made the company go from2 million to 5 million.
(27:16):
I changed so many of myemployees' lives and they're
filming themselves and they'reviral on TikTok, instagram,
whatever it is, and where'stheir employees?
They're not truly helping them,they're just acting like they
are and they're viral, makingmoney off of these social media.
And that's not my goal, youknow.
Um, I think it's just like themessage that I try to bring to
(27:37):
people and that's what the pointof when I use those things.
Just use it for good right, useit to support small businesses.
Um, support your own career,what you do and what I do.
You know I make a lot of videosfor homeowners.
Like, holy crap, you made awhole like commercial from my
house.
I'm like, well, it's that theexperience you get with me.
(27:57):
You know, it's the cherry ontop, because not only are you
getting good quality service, aguy that's just going to take
care of you and maybe even kindof help you with some real life
stuff, cause I've been through alot, being 27 years old now.
Um, I think I'm kind of an oldsoul sometimes, cause I don't
know, people don't expect theenergy that I bring to them.
(28:18):
Sometimes they expect maybejust a 27-year-old average guy,
that's, I don't know.
You know, just not reallytrying to help their friend or
family or neighbor, becausethat's kind of hard to do
sometimes.
You know, like I got up at 5o'clock today, trained my buddy
for about an hour and a half inthe gym and made a whole
marketing video for the gym andgoing on another podcast next
(28:43):
month for the gym.
They have like a whole custom,not custom, but they had a
really good idea.
It's called the Gym Seshpodcast and they just kind of,
you know, shot you out in thegym and, you know, want to hear
why.
What's your why to go to thegym.
So I'm really getting into thatand helping their business and,
(29:04):
um, they, they got a good thinggoing on over there.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
So yeah, absolutely, um, love that, Love helping
anybody out that we can here onthis Show, for sure, how all of
the sponsors Of this show aresmall business owners.
So that's One thing we like tolike to Do, like to get out
there, like to help, and Two ofour sponsors One helps Veterans
(29:33):
and the other one helps firstResponders like that's Two of
our big things that sponsors Onehelps veterans and the other
one helps first respondersthat's two of our big things.
You can use cues with that.
The hat I'm wearing now, deemedFit, helps first responders
with their mental and physicalhealth, even especially the ones
that had to work through COVID.
It helps them.
Tactical Brotherhood helps outveterans in any way.
(29:55):
Part of all the proceeds fromevery sale that happens goes to
those causes, and that iscompanies I want to align myself
with, for sure.
So I definitely am always downfor helping that out and
anything like that.
But, blake, we are running downhere near the end of the
episode.
I'm always down for helpingthat out and anything like that,
but Blake, we are running downhere near the end of the episode
(30:18):
.
Now, I do give every guest thisopportunity at the end of every
show If there's anything youwant to get out there I know
we've talked a good bit about it.
If there's a good message outthere, whether it's for roofing
or anything like that, anythingyou want to get out, anything
you want to help out, I'm goingto give you about a minute and
the floor is yours, my man.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I think with everything I've built for others
and myself and my life, I guessmy biggest message to everyone
is just to live with patience,with a little more faith and um
in yourself and others, and umespecially in the roofing
(31:00):
industry.
Man, you know it's not easy.
There's, I know, so many catshave gone in the industry and
they quit like within a month,two months, three months,
because it's not easy, it's notinstant gratification type of
job.
Um, there's a different type ofatmosphere and satisfaction I
get with the job because I'mtruly helping people.
(31:20):
You know, I, driving home todayin the rain, pretty, pretty
crappy summer, we haven't reallyseen the sun, have we Mike?
So like at the end of the day,like I'm just living with
positivity, and the two people Iwent to their homes today, I
feel I made their lives better,not just with a roof or whatnot.
You know, like just truthfully,you know, being my true self
(31:41):
every day and living in thepresent every day and always
trying to learn and improve.
And if people kind of movedifferently with love and grit
in their life, a little moregrit, because sometimes it
drives me nuts when I see othersdon't try as hard and I their
potential.
You know, and that's how I knowI'm going to be a coach and I'm
going to manifest all thosethings.
I'm not there yet but, um, startsmall and then build your way
(32:05):
up, and that's always kind ofhow I've been inch by inch, day
by day.
You will get to where you wantto go if you believe in yourself
.
Whether it's roofing and beingthe well-known guy like I am in
northeast ohio or ohio or thenation, I don't know, I don't
really care about that.
Um, you know, validation, Icare about who, who I am and
(32:25):
what I prove to myself me versusme every day.
So people could live a littlemore like that, I think people
will love each other a littlemore.
That's kind of the message Iwant to put out.
There is my message.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Oh yeah, man, you know I'm all down for helping
people promote anything they gotgoing on at the end of the show
like that, but I love it whenpeople have a great message like
that to end the show on.
It's great to finally get tosit down and talk with you, man.
Then we finally got ourschedules to line up and be able
(33:00):
to make this happen.
It's been a while in themegging, but that is actually
going to do it for this week'sepisode of the ride home rants
podcast.
I want to thank my guest, blakeBurkhart, for joining the show.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
It's a lot of fun to get for joining the show.
Appreciate you, Fist bumpthrough the phone.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
There you go, brother .
Absolutely Appreciate that,everything that you got going on
, as always, if you enjoyed theshow, be a friend, tell a friend
.
If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it.
Just because you didn't, that'sgoing to do it for me and I
will see y'all next week.
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