September 2, 2025 • 54 mins
Fired up. Broke. Single mom in 2020.
That’s where Taylor Miller was when she decided she’d never let anyone hold power over her paycheck again.
With zero plans to start a roofing company, Taylor and her husband Jay launched Miller Storm Roofing in one of the most chaotic years in history. They built it from the ground up—turning $5,000 into a multi-million-dollar operation—by mastering systems, automations, and leadership.
In this episode, Taylor shares the raw truth of her journey:
- Growing from “iron-fist” boss to a compassionate, high-performing leader
- How to spot and attract “A players” for your team
- Scaling to $20M+ goals with rock-solid processes and communication
- Why over-communication with homeowners turns into more referrals
- The mindset shifts that turned a rocky start into life-changing careers for her team
If you’ve ever battled hiring struggles, cash flow headaches, or the chaos of wearing every hat in the business… this is your blueprint for building a company with strength, structure, and heart.
Links:
https://www.millerstorm.com/
https://www.instagram.com/millerstormroofing
https://www.facebook.com/millerstormroofing
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00:00 – Taylor Miller: From Fired Up & Broke to Multi-Million Roofing Company Owner
02:35 – Starting a Roofing Business as a Single Mom
06:15 – Roofing as a Second-Chance Career: Real Success Story
09:03 – The Turning Point: Launching Miller Storm Roofing in Texas
11:19 – How to Start a Roofing Company During COVID-19
12:28 – Biggest Challenges in the First Year of a Roofing Business
13:38 – Roofing Leadership Skills: From Micromanaging to Empowering
16:15 – How to Attract and Keep Top Roofing Sales Reps (“A Players”)
21:45 – Roofing Company Systems, SOPs, and Automations That Scale
32:44 – Best Roofing Customer Communication Strategies for Referrals
35:37 – Scaling a Roofing Business to $20M+ Revenue
38:18 – Roofing Sales Hiring Tips: Finding the Best Team Members
42:52 – Roofing Business Cash Flow Management for Growth
45:33 – How Over-Communicating Builds Roofing Customer Trust
46:24 – Roofing Company Culture: Team Events That Boost Morale
49:46 – Hard Truths About Running a Roofing Company
51:45 – Measuring Success Beyond Roofing Revenue
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What happens when your former boss threatens your
paycheck and you decide that'sthe last time someone holds
power over your income?
In this episode, we're talkingwith Taylor Miller about the
gritty, no excuses journey fromsingle mom to co-founder of
MillerStorm.
You'll learn how she built aroofing company rooted in
(00:20):
communication, culture andsecond chances, despite having
zero plans to ever start aroofing company.
Taylor is the co-owner ofMiller Storm Roofing in Texas.
She built the businessalongside her husband, jay,
during one of the most chaoticyears in modern history 2020.
From chasing down invoices tosystematizing everything through
(00:41):
automations and SOPs, taylorhas become a force in operations
and leadership.
Taylor's story is one ofresilience from a rocky family
background to helping createsix-figure careers for her team.
Her evolution from leading withan iron fist to developing
compassionate, efficientmanagement systems is one every
(01:04):
entrepreneur needs to hear.
If you're navigating growth,team drama or the chaos of
operational bottlenecks, thisepisode gives you a real-life
playbook on how to lead withstrength, structure and heart.
Let's dive in with TaylorMiller of Miller Storm Roofing.
Welcome to the Roofing SuccessPodcast.
I'm Jim Alin and I'm here tobring you insights from top
(01:26):
leaders in the roofing industryto help you grow and scale your
roofing business Taylor MillerMiller Storm.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Doing good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm wonderful.
I had a great visit to youroffice about a month ago.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That was fantastic man visit to your office about a
month ago.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That was fantastic man yeah, that was a lot of
people.
That was a lot of people.
Yeah, we had a great rsra eventdown there.
Uh, adam introduced themarketing control system to the
roofing and solar reformalliance.
Members, fantastic content.
Thank you for being fantastichosts.
You guys have a great man.
You've built something.
You guys have a great.
You've built something reallyspecial down there.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I appreciate it.
I appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, for people who maybe didn't, I think in our
first episode you were on withJay, with your husband, jay
Miller, and he's a talker, so heprobably did more of the
talking, but we know who runsthe show, so we wanted to have
Taylor on to make sure we gotthe the like what really happens
(02:34):
at Miller store.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, Wow, I was listening to that podcast
probably like a year ago, and Iwas like what idiots I mean?
We thought I mean we thought Imean looking back right, like
you think you, you know a lot,and then you fast forward and
then I'm looking back down likehindsight being 2020.
I'm like man.
We've learned and grown so muchfrom that, you know so I love
(02:59):
it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That.
That's one of my favoritethings about business is like to
me, if you're not embarrassedabout where your company was and
who you were Like, I thinkabout it.
Like, if you don't think, likewhy did someone buy from us?
Like how could someone even buyfrom us back, then You're not
(03:23):
iterating, you're not improvingright, you're not going through
the process.
So you guys have done a lot ofthat.
So let's talk a little bitabout Taylor and how you got
into the roofing business.
You know how did you become.
You know the, the, the behindthe scenes killer at Miller
storm.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Uh, so funny story.
Well, it's kind of a long storyso I'll give you tidbits.
But so I was a single mom, Iwas living in Round Rock, austin
, texas, with my son and my momwas like hey, you know, you
should really come up here andget in a roofing with me.
You know, I just bought myhouse, just bought, bought a
(04:04):
Lamborghini.
I'm doing really well.
Um, she started off as aroofing company and she was a
door knocker, worked her way upto a sales rep, sales manager,
and then eventually to apartnership.
Um, so she was really in fromthe ground level, worked her way
all the way up.
It was a true success story.
Um, and so she, she reallyinspired me.
(04:26):
She, you know, had no degree,no, you know, a pretty tarnished
background, a lot of turmoil inher background.
Uh, you know, that's acompletely different story.
But she was out of my life for15 years and incarcerated, drug
background and all that.
So for me to firsthand witnessmy mom get out of prison and
(04:49):
literally turn her life aroundfrom homeless to, you know, a
millionaire with a half milliondollar house, a lamborghini and
a office in a skyrise buildingin dallas was super inspiring,
especially for me because Inever grew up with my mom.
I went to college because I wastrying to make a different way
(05:10):
of life, because I grew up withmy dad being a single father and
living paycheck to paycheckwith five kids in a two bedroom
apartment.
So I was eager to break thatcycle.
I didn't know how, and so goingto college was, like you know,
the obvious thing, I guess, tofigure out.
I mean, everyone gets tiredwith the degree.
(05:31):
You know, like that's thebrainwash, like go to college
and you're going to be so easyfinding a good way.
You know a good paying job andit's going to be so easy if you
go to college and work your buttoff in college and you'll find
your dream job and make goodmoney and all that right.
So it was really inspiring tosee someone that you know really
(05:53):
lost everything.
You know my mom and my dadowned a business and she lost
all the drugs, lost her kids dueto drugs, went to prison and
then got out and rebuilteverything from scratch and made
up for a lot of lost time bymaking better choices and
working her butt off.
So that's how I got into.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It was my mom and that really speaks to the
opportunity in roofing.
Like it's, it's a, it is, it isa second chance industry like
no other.
Right, it's pretty phenomenalyeah.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So that's, you know, that's how I ended up making
meeting.
Jay was at her company.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Which was a big no-no .
But you know so some peoplemight ask like okay, so if your
mom started her roofing company,why are you still not with her?
You know, why are you still notworking there?
That would probably be like thenext question.
You know sad story.
(07:02):
But she relapsed again and losteverything again.
Really, really sad to seesomeone fall from such, you know
a high state to, you know,starting over again.
So when she got, you know, sherelapsed and, you know, left
that company.
You know me and Jay went andworked for a couple other
(07:24):
companies, some mom and popstartups, and it just wasn't the
uh, it wasn't the same, itwasn't the same culture.
So after, after all thathappened with her, we were like
you know what, um, we went totwo other companies help those
startups like systems, processes, hiring, recruiting, all that
(07:46):
um, and I just you know me andjay broke up for a little bit in
2020 and that guy thought jaywas going to go start his own
company.
When, uh, when we got backtogether, he thought he
automatically assumed that wewere gonna go start our own
company, which is kind of weirdbecause we never thought about
that.
That wasn't.
We were wearing all the hatsand doing all the paperwork.
(08:09):
That sounded like a lot of workfor us, it was not attractive.
And so one day he called Jayand threatened Jay's commissions
and I was like how dare him,you're going to sit here and
threaten to take away hiscommissions if we're starting
our own?
I was like, first of all, wenever had any interest in that.
I was like that just rubbed methe wrong way.
(08:30):
I was like he shouldn't havethat type of power over us,
especially since everythingwe've done to help build his
company.
There's no reason why we'd go dothat For him to say that and
then threaten it withcommissions.
We were like what that?
And for him to say that andthen threaten it with
commissions we were like what um?
And this was during 2020.
You know, yeah, it was alreadysuper.
(08:51):
It was already a super unstableyear as it was, and I was like
for you to sit here and try tothreaten.
You know, jay's commissions waslike a big uh turnoff.
Like I was like, all right,well, I'm done with this company
.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I was like you know, yeah, that's a culture killer
right there, right, like that'sa, like that's.
But it's all the horror storiesthat you hear.
Right In the roofing industryand there's such a a lot of
owners have a hard time with,you know, people on their team
that find success and that worryabout them going and starting
(09:25):
other companies and competingwith them.
You know, along with the other10,000 companies in Dallas.
So it would make a bigdifference if you guys went.
You know, like it's crazy to me, like there's no but, but so
okay.
So all of a sudden it's likethis doesn't feel right anymore.
So all of a sudden it's likethis doesn't feel right anymore,
(09:46):
like now it's time I guess wehave to start our own company.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So we make sure that we get our checks or what you
know you're now, if you'reaccusing me of doing something
I'm not doing, and the firstthing you do is threaten my
commissions, and it was like itwas just a super cold call.
It was like a super, like harshcall.
I feel like we didn't doanything to earn that call or
earn that threat.
He told him like hey, you know,because we broke for two months
(10:12):
, got our own places.
And then we were like, allright, we're going to make it
work.
We got to now consolidate backof our stuff, move back in and
all that.
And he told him and wascompletely transparent, and when
that happened, it was like thatwas super unwarranted, that was
(10:33):
unnecessary.
So we were like let's just, youknow, instead of building this
up, because now it feels likewe're building this on sand
again, right, like it's.
The trust isn't there.
You know, you're notthreatening us, it's I don't
feel like we're building on,we're building on sand.
So we're like you know, ifwe're gonna restart again, it's
time to just do it under our ownthing.
We helped these startups, didall the paperwork, did all the
processes, found all thecontractors, found the sales
(10:56):
guys, trained the sales guys,and so we were like all right,
we're just going to do it forourselves.
So that's really what startedthat in 2020.
All right, all right, we'rejust gonna do it for ourselves.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
So that's, that's really what started that in 2020
.
All right, so what did thoseearly days look like?
Because 2020 was not the bestyear for door-to-door sales no,
it wasn't, maybe in texas.
But you know like people herein minnesota were like mask up
and get away from me.
You know like, yeah, so intexas.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It was a lot different.
Actually.
I you know everyone was scaredand was shutting doors, but I
think that our business actuallytook off in 2020, like I think
that was the best year that youcould start a door-to-door
business, especially in texas.
You know, texas is a littlemore laid back and they're not
fearful with masks and diseasesand all that um and sicknesses
(11:42):
and so, uh, everyone was soexcited when we knocked on their
door.
It was like it was a differentreaction than what you would
expect, for sure yeah, peopleare like I've been putting off
all this stuff, like now I'm athome and now I'm bored and I
want to have some interaction.
So it was a different.
It was a different uhinteraction at the door.
It wasn't what you would expectit.
(12:03):
We were definitely nervous whenwe opened up in 2020.
We were like, hmm, everythingin the news, right, don't watch
the news, because the news hadeveryone scared to come outside.
When you turn the TV off andyou go outside, people were so
excited to have humaninteraction.
It was the opposite.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
What were some of the early surprises of the new
venture of launching MillerStorm?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Oh my goodness, being the boss is hard.
You can't be everyone's friend.
You're wearing all the hats.
You don't realize everythingthat takes to put a roof on.
Like from the sales repmentality when we first got into
it, it's like, oh well, we'regonna board the material and pay
for the crew and we're gonnakeep all the money and it's
(12:49):
gonna be so easy.
And you don't see all thewarranty calls that happen when
it rains and all the nails, likeyou know, the homeowner's fine,
and going through the crappyconcept contractors and the
titled sales reps and it's like,wow, wow, this is not.
This is not as easy as wethought it was going to be.
It was definitely a challenge.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, so you know.
The first thing that you saidwas being the boss is hard, and
I think this is what a lot ofpeople don't understand.
Is that so all businesses arepeople and so you know, when
you're an owner of a business,now, all of a sudden you're a
manager of people and you're incharge of all of these things
and it really all lands on you.
(13:33):
How did what?
What has been your journey indeveloping that skill set?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I've definitely came a long way as a leader.
Back then I rolled with theiron fist.
No one wants that type ofleader.
I it was like with leadership,there's just like happy medium
you have to be like.
What Jay likes to say iscompassion and compression.
I was worried that if I was toonice, people were going to take
advantage of me.
So I was either too nice or toohard and I had a hard time
(14:01):
finding the balance of um beingempath but having firm
boundaries, like I was really.
I didn't realize how much Istruggled with boundaries.
I either was super firm on myboundaries or I was super loose,
because and I ended up that wasthe biggest thing as a leader.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, what were like, what were some of the
boundaries that you found hardto put up, like, and what were
some of the ones that you'relike?
That was easy, like I'll put upa boundary here, but this one
over here is a little bit hard.
Was it person to person?
Was it person to person?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Okay, Person to person.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So there was an inconsistency in your management
.
At the same time, right Like,this person got treated this way
and this other person gottreated this way, and now it's
like a little bit, you know,dramatic, and I didn't want that
.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So I just I either just shied away from it or I
would be like super, I guessdominant or strong on where I
stood and I didn't really knowthe fun, like I really it made
(15:16):
me work on my communication forsure.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
What did you like?
How did you work on yourcommunication?
Was it books?
Did you go like take classes?
Did you just practice Like whatwas your?
What was your process ofimproving your communication
skills?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Definitely books and podcasts.
Definitely books and podcasts21 Year Fertile Laws of
Leadership.
The other one was how to WinFriends and Influence People.
How to Win Friends andInfluence People the Layla
Ramosi podcast, and really it'skind of silly to say this, but
every time I'd have this likeweird conversation that was
coming up, I was like I don'treally know how to have this
(15:53):
conversation with someone.
I'd literally YouTube it,google it, like how to have a
conversation about this topicwith an employee, like you know
it's, and I just figuring outlike the framing and you know,
the book I wish I would haveread back then.
That I'm reading right now isNever Split the Difference.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Such a great book.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yep, chris Voss, yeah , yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Such a great book Like Negotiating with Terrorists
.
Such a great book likeNegotiating with Terrorists
because sometimes I feel likeback then, you know, the
employees that we attracted, youknow, was a reflection of our
weak leadership.
I would say.
We were just in ourinsecurities of being new
business owners.
But back then I could say itfelt like a lot of time I was
negotiating with terrorists andthat's probably because of my
(16:46):
avoidance of having toughconversations.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah, that's, that's super interesting, that's a
super self-aware thing that yousaid the employees we attracted.
Yeah, right, like, wow, that'sa, that's a big aware, like
that's, that was a big ahamoment I would.
I would assume when, when,along the journey, did you go?
This is us, like we were we.
(17:15):
We don't have the skill set toattract or the culture to
attract.
You know a players or 10 Xersor whatever you'd want to call
like really good people to thebusiness.
Where was that?
Where did you guys like, wheredid you go?
Did you have conversations withJay?
Like, oh goodness, man, likewhat's going on?
How come these are the peoplethat are in our company?
Before we carry on with theepisode, let's give a shout out
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(17:40):
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(18:01):
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Oh, my goodness, man, likewhat's going on.
(18:24):
How come these are the peoplethat are in our company?
How?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
did that process go yeah it was a lot of fights
between me and Jay Cause, youknow we had to be honest with
each other, and you know andit's like this he would say
things that hurt my feelings,but it was the truth.
It hurt my feelings Cause itwas the truth, right, and I
would say things to him thathurt him, but it was the truth.
And it's like it's kind of likeI hate to say this, but it's
(18:50):
kind of like dating Right, likeI don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I used to like in the beginning.
You're not bad, you're not goodat being like.
Have you like looked into whymaybe this is the second guy you
attracted like, attracted likethis like have you looked into
why you keep attracting certain,these, certain like
(19:13):
personalities?
and I was like interesting, andthat question has always stuck
with me.
And so, like anytime, likesomething happens, it's like
instead of blaming, like theother person or the situation,
or I'm a victim, like like no,you're not a victim.
You got to figure out why thiskeeps happening.
What are you?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
doing.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
What are you allowing ?
Because sometimes it's not.
It's like not what you'resaying and sometimes it's what
you're not saying, so like nothaving the confidence, not
giving them the feedback givingthem, you know, constructive
feedback.
So you know, I think being newin business is kind of being new
to dating.
(19:50):
We didn't have.
We were like we don't know whata successful business looks
like operationally.
You know, like we knew what asuccessful business looked like
for sales reps to show up to youlike what got us inspired?
What did we like when we wentto other companies?
But we never saw the back endoperations.
This was our first business towear all the hats, so there was
a lot of insecurity.
We're like is this, is thissupposed to happen?
(20:12):
You know, humans aren't perfect, but at the same time, this is
a business and there has to be astandard.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So we always were like second guessing ourselves,
like you know because you'relearning and that's what I think
a lot of people don't givethemselves grace in the learning
period, right like we have togive ourselves grace that we
just like a lot of times.
This is a, this is new, we're,we're inexperienced in a lot of
things and it like it takes alot of time and a lot of
(20:40):
practice and a lot of reps notjust sales reps but you may have
.
You may have to go through alot of sales reps to lot of reps
not just sales reps, but youmay have.
You may have to go through alot of sales reps to know how to
find a good sales rep or whatis a good sales rep or what is a
good sales rep to your company.
But you just need the practice,the reps.
You know, like how many the,the number of jobs that have
gone through your productionprocess.
Now you're like, oh, we have tofix this, we have to fix this,
(21:02):
we have to tweak this, we haveto do that.
But I like to say you don't knowwhat's broken until things are
going through it.
You don't know what.
From a sales rep perspective,what am I saying wrong?
Well, you have to say the wordsto a prospective customer to
learn and get that feedback, toknow if you're saying the right
(21:24):
thing or not, how to hiresubcontractors good
subcontractors, how to managegood subcontract right Like
there's so many things that youdon't think about.
What were some of thoseoperational foundations that
that you've put in place overtime that have really made a the
strongest impact?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Oh my goodness, automations, automations,
automation systems and processes.
Telling departments what youlike, knowing what you want out
of people and what you like.
Knowing what you want out ofpeople and what you expect out
of them, I think is the mostimportant.
And so they, and so they knowwhat fires they're responsible
for, putting out, like noteverything's an emergency, like
figuring out what's priorityright now or what's priority for
(22:08):
that department and, like youknow, separating and delegating
their responsibilities and whois responsible for what, and
having like a smooth trend, likea smooth handoff from one
department to the next.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So how have you guys implemented that Like, what is?
How do you determine what's afire and what's not a fire?
Let's start there.
What are some examples?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
What are some examples?
Is this going?
Is this something that has toget done right now or is this
something that can be put offtill tomorrow?
If it's not like a right nowthing, it's not a fire If
someone's not going to get hurt.
If it's, we're not going to getsued, if you know, if it's not
going to cost a lot of money.
You know, I would say thosethree things like financial
(22:58):
welfare those are my big thingslike funny, like is someone okay
and is it going to cost a lotof money?
Like is someone hurt?
If is it going to cost a lot ofmoney?
Like other than that it's aslow burning fire.
We'll figure that out tomorrowor or write down, like you know
also like writing down likesmall issues as they come up,
(23:20):
and then like let's talk allabout it at once, like let's not
keep interrupting your work day, my work day, to talk about
these like issues.
That you might think is a bigdeal, but to me it's not a big
deal.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So that's a good management tip right there, like
do you know when, if your teamcomes to you with with every
little thing, how do you get it?
How do you get what you'regetting done during the need to
get done during the day, right,like, if so.
So I like thatcompartmentalizing it and saying
, hey, you know, we'll have aconversation at a specific time
(23:53):
about that.
Let's have the wholeconversation, not just each,
each aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And I think that that gets fixed with, like, weekly
meetings.
I realized the more meetings wehave, the quicker the feedback
gets to us.
And then they people feelconfident holding onto
information until like, oh well,we're going to talk Mondays or
we're going to talk Wednesday,whenever that scheduled weekly
meeting is, they're like, oh,I'm gonna talk to her in a
couple days.
That can wait till then, youknow.
And then also you knowattracting right, like the
(24:22):
office managers and the peoplethat we have here that we
attract now.
They're very independentthinkers, problem solvers and
nine times out of 10, they'llfix the problem before I even
hear about it.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yes, yes, I, and nine times out of 10 they'll fix the
problem before I even hearabout it.
Yes, yes, so I, I had aconversation with someone
yesterday about about this, andwe're um a company that I coach,
and and I and I said we werehaving a conversation and he's
he's talking about kind of moreof a like do I need a general
manager role, operations managerkind of person in my business?
And and we started talking andI was like, well, let's, let's
walk through where where thebreakdown in uh, in, uh, um,
(25:08):
ownership is, because what Iheard from you is that you have
a team that owns things, andthat's when people own their
role they get things done andthey come and tell you that
things are done Instead ofhere's the problem, solve my
problem for me, right?
And so we had a conversation oflike, where is the ownership
(25:31):
breaking down in your company,in your team, versus like, do
you really need someone else tomanage them?
Do you need to add anotherlayer of management to this to
babysit these people, or is itthat?
No, it's just these people overhere aren't owning their role
the way that they should.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
And yeah, so I would.
I'm so glad that you said that,because that just sparked
something.
Is this is something.
Looking back, the reason whypeople came and asked me a
million questions, or asked Jay,a million questions on every
time they ran into something, isbecause I didn't empower them.
So, you know, back then I wouldwalk up and if they were
(26:12):
handling something or doingsomething, like, why are you
doing it that way?
Right, and that's not how youapproach that.
You know, oh, that looks like agreat, that's a great idea how
you're doing that.
That's I'm glad that youhandled it that way.
Next time, you should probablymaybe think, maybe do it this
way or that way.
And I'm like, oh, ok, likeencouraging that and like we're
(26:36):
like applauding them fixing theproblem and at least jumping in
trying to do it.
But I think back then, like aleadership era that we used to
do is we used to be so critical,like, why are you doing this
way?
You should do it this way, youshouldn't do that, we should do
it this way.
So then it trained them rightto now, every time they run into
a problem, they're like let mejust go ask them, they probably
have a better idea.
And it's like no, like you haveyou.
So that's something else.
Is like getting lettingrelinquishing control Right.
Like if you want growth, yougot to relinquish control.
(26:58):
As long as they're doing it 80percent the way that you would
want them to do it, it's good,just let them do it.
It's never going to be the wayyou want to do it.
Everyone's different.
Everyone's brain worksdifferent.
What I think is great, someoneelse might think is not.
You know what I think is great,someone else might think is not
.
You know what I think is whatthey think is great I might not
completely agree with, butthat's one thing that I've taken
(27:18):
away.
Is this 80 percent the way thatI would have done it?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Absolutely.
So where is the, where's thebalance there in your like SOPs
then?
Like because, and how, I guess,how rigid do you develop your
SOPs?
Because, if you're the, whatI'm hearing, if you allow them
(27:43):
some autonomy in their role, butyou still want to confine to a
specific process, you want thatcommunication handoff the
correct way and you want thingslike that.
So how do you balance that the?
How do you?
How do you?
Or how do you think about that?
Like when you balancing the,their autonomy in getting the
job done but also doing theprocess the way that you would
like them to do it I have tworeally good examples I'll share
(28:05):
with you.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
so one of them is, like we know, we knew that every
time we showed to a customer'shouse, we wanted them to leave
them with a photo report or sometype of report saying, hey, we
were there and this is what wefound, um, with photo documents
so they can see what's going on.
Because, you know, here in Texas, and probably roofing companies
across the nation uh, some ofthem, or a lot of them here that
I saw they weren't leavingphoto reports, they weren't
(28:27):
leaving any type ofdocumentation documentation
They'd be on the roof oh, you'regood season, like storm season,
and the homeowner never gotanything.
And that's how we were actuallyable to steal a lot of
businesses by, you know,offering those photo reports.
Well, anyway, I had one of oursales, one of our inside sales
guys look at the photo reportsthat we're sending.
He goes man, like I love theidea, I think they could be
(28:51):
better.
So instead of coming and sayinghey, I think they could be
better.
So, instead of coming andsaying hey, I think they could
be better, he went and did, madethe presentation better and
then brought to me.
I was like, absolutely love it.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Same thing with commission reports.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Aaliyah was awesome.
She was like, hey, like,instead of doing each individual
commission report, we shouldjust do one mass Excel sheet.
Made it look awesome, broughtit to me Absolutely, absolutely
loved it.
So they're still sticking tothe sops.
But it's like, how can I makethis process better?
They're more efficient, uh,more beautified, I would say
(29:24):
right like on the eyes, on thephoto reports, like he made them
look way, way more creative.
So they're still sticking intothe sops, just like making
things better.
Like you know, when they gothrough and those sops, right
like they're not, they're good.
Sops are kind of like a livingdocument.
They should always be they're.
They're a living document.
(29:46):
You should always be updatingthem, figuring out better ways,
like you know now.
Like you know, my sops a yearago are completely different now
because I found out all thesecool automations where it
literally, you know, task themlike this is where this is, so
they don't have to look for it.
Like my project managers, sopsare different.
My back office SOPs aredifferent because now they're
(30:08):
getting tasked and reminded likeautomatically, as soon as a job
hits a certain milestone, sothey don't have to go like daily
, look through there.
So I mean, I think with time,as you feel like you always find
a better way to do something.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Your sops are kind of like just a guiding, like a
compass I, I agree, like theliving document statement is one
that I use too.
Like all of the're livingdocuments, they're not, it's not
a.
You don't build an sop one time.
It's, it's.
It constantly evolves in thatevolution.
How do you determine what tofix next?
(30:46):
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How do you determine what tofix next?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Is this going to save our company time?
That's my biggest thing time.
Time is the most expensiveresource, so time and
communication like those are mytwo biggest things.
Like is this going to improvethe communication inside the
organization?
Is this going to improve thecommunication to our homeowners?
(32:06):
Is this going to improve thecommunication to the insurance
companies, to the warranty?
You know, with Atlas, you know.
And then time.
How quick is this?
How much time are we going tosave by doing this new process?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
So that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, what are some?
What are some examples of onesthat you've implemented recently
?
I know you said I meanautomation, saved time, so
that's a that's always a big one.
What are some of thecommunication processes that
you've put in place that havethat you've seen real impact
around?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah, I would.
I would have to praise on thecommunity on the automations.
That literally they go togetherbecause it literally it, they go
together.
Yeah, communication because,like, because there's
communications that arehappening inside the automation,
so like it looks like themessage is coming from alia, but
it's actually an automationlike hey, production, please
look at this job, make sure theinvoice is red.
(33:05):
Yeah, so, um, that's thebiggest thing.
It's it's keeping the guysorganized.
Putting everything in in thisin the crm, putting the task on
auto, like the automated task,the automated emails that go out
to the homeowner, is the bit.
Actually that is the answer.
The automations that aregetting sent to the client on
(33:27):
hey, your roof is in, isscheduled for this day of
install, and then the reminderautomation on hey, your roof's
getting installed tomorrow.
Those are the biggest ones.
Communication to the customer,because then they can never say
I didn't know, I couldn't planfor this, I wasn't aware that
they're going to get here at 630in the morning.
I think communication to thehomeowner is always.
(33:48):
You're always going to win onthat front that on that front?
Speaker 1 (33:56):
yeah, and and automating it is is the best way
.
Have you found that?
Is it emails text?
Is it like an automated taskfor your team to call?
What have you found as beingsome of the the better ways of
communicating with yourhomeowners?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
um, I say email, but I haven't turned on the text
automation and acculance.
I'm a little bit nervousbecause I'm like it's super.
I mean it's super expensive andI just don't want that to get
abused.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, really.
So, the emails have beeneffective enough, where people
are opening their emails andthey're seeing you don't get a
call like hey, why, why arethese guys here at six, 30?
They the email was sent, theemail was opened, it's, it's get
, the message is getting, isgetting across yeah, I, I love
(34:40):
the emails.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I mean, the one thing that we have implemented is our
even our quickbooks are getting.
Those invoices are gettingtexted to the homeowner now, um,
so I know that that's workingbetter.
I know that more people arepaying on text message, so I
would probably if I turned ontext message, it would probably
be a way better outcome.
Yeah, I don't know if I wantthat.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, it's like people do open text messages
more than emails a lot of times,because we have our phones in
our hands way too often.
Right, like, it's just rightthere, so you had the watch on
the Apple watch or whatever.
Right, like, you're alwaysgetting your notifications, new
text, new, you know, but it'sexpensive, so it's a cost thing,
right, especially as you guysare growing.
How many?
(35:22):
What's the goal this year?
How many sales reps?
How many like, how many jobsare you guys trying to do?
What's the?
What are you trying toaccomplish?
Because you guys have, you'vedecided to go big.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Yep, so last year so last year we had, you know, the
Round Rock office in the FortWorth office, between both
branches we did 505 roofs.
This year our goal is to do athousand roofs.
Our goal is to do 20 million.
We did 10 million, 10 or 12, 11, somewhere between there.
Last year I'm in revenue, andwe were wanting to get to 20.
(35:57):
Uh, I think that's superachievable, especially since we
opened up our commercialdepartment.
Uh, we have some really big,heavy headers that came from a
300 million dollar commercialroofing company that's helping
us do our commercial here, whichis a great, um exciting thing
because we've always had so manycommercial jobs come across our
desk.
But just, you know, you heardthe horror stories about
(36:20):
residential roofing companies,you know, going out of business
Cause they did one badcommercial roof, cause they're
not, you know, stepped out ofthe wheelhouse, and so I'm
really excited about that.
But that's our goal.
We do want to eventually open abranch in San Antonio, houston.
Yeah, that's our goal.
(36:43):
We definitely do want to go big, though.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah, how have been?
What have been the operationalchallenges in implement in
adding the commercial division?
Speaker 2 (36:57):
challenges in implement.
In adding the commercialdivision, commercial division we
haven't really had that manyhiccups yet.
I mean, that's what happens.
It goes back to attracting aplayers because if you have
eight players.
It's it.
It's not as much work as as youneed to like.
You're hiring people for themto.
That's their problem.
You know what I mean?
yes, it's my problem too, butwhen they are, you know an A
player and they come withoutexpectations and communication
(37:19):
upfront on the initial agreementand conversation saves you time
again, right Like attracting Aplayers and not you know when
people try to cut corners and gocheap.
And you know, if I would havefound someone with no experience
I would have been way moreinvolved in that.
But he's hiring all this guys,he has all the crews, he has all
(37:42):
the connections, so it's reallya plug and play.
I don't see any issues rightnow.
We have a lot of stuff cookingup.
I mean, it's only been twomonths since we started the
commercial division.
You have to ask me again inlike six months.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, there'll be things that come up, I'm sure,
but but the the the lesson thereis ownership, right, like is
that the person that you hiredowns the role.
They're taking ownership of allof that and and taking it off
your plate.
Um, you know, talk about someof those first hires and and the
difference in your hiringprocess now.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Sell the dream and don't get sold on the candidate,
and what I mean by that.
There's been a lot ofcandidates that come in here and
talk a big game.
A big game, and I realize thetalkers are not the showers.
For the most part, the goodones are the most humble guys.
They're the guys that are goingto come here and talk about how
(38:40):
hard they're going to work andthey're not going to talk about
how much they did in sales andhow much money they made and how
they're so awesome and they're,uh, it's normally the humble
ones that are the bestcandidates.
But, um, hiring, I think that'sone of those things.
It's kind of like dating.
(39:01):
It's hard to tell, to tell youthe secrets.
It's just like go through itand you'll understand what I'm
talking about.
But, um, I don't know, hiringis so weird to me because
sometimes there's guys that comein here and it's I, I don't
know.
Recruiting and hiring is stilla little bit tricky for us.
Yeah, I don't think you reallyknow if someone's a good
(39:24):
candidate or not until they comein.
I honestly, that's how I,that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
That's one of my favorite quotes and I've said it
on the podcast a million times,so people are probably getting
sick of it, but it's a quotefrom Gary Vaynerchuk and it's
hiring is guessing, firing isknowing.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I love that.
There is no secret.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
It's like you're just making your best guess possible
.
But, on the other end, thethings that I've learned over
time is if you have the rightmetrics that you're tracking and
you have the right you knowmeasurement of a cultural fit.
Also, if it's definitive notlike you're making you know,
like a judgment call on peopleon it, but if you have a
(40:05):
definitive and I think you guysmight be running EOS now, like
we run EOS, so you have thepeople analyzer and it's do they
fit with your cult, with yourcore values, values and do they
get it wanted and have thecapacity to do it Like and so it
gives you a little bit of amore clear knowing right, like
(40:25):
you get to know in a much moreclear way, because a lot of
times we get emotional with youknow what I mean.
Like someone has a story andit's like, oh well, you didn't
do that because.
Yeah, okay, I guess I guess youdidn't do that because, yeah,
okay, I guess you didn't do thatbecause and you know we get
wrapped up in that or we likethem and you know I like taking
(40:48):
the feelings out is probably thebest thing that you could do,
because then you know you get tothe knowing faster right.
You make your best guess.
Let's get to know as fast aspossible, and if it's not it I
know you're enjoying the episode, but let's give a shout out to
another one of our sponsors.
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Speaker 1 (41:35):
Make your best guess.
Let's get to know as fast aspossible, and if it's not it,
you gotta go.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
I love that you said that.
I absolutely love that you saythat, because anytime that me,
jay Naaman, anyone in management, anytime we're feeling some
type of way about someone, we'relike, all right, take the
person out of it For this role.
What metrics, what expectationswould we have out of this
person?
Okay, so I know that we'refilling this way towards this
person, but let's go look at thenumbers and let's be like you
(42:07):
know, start this conversationwith the numbers.
Like take the feelings out ofit.
Like numbers don't lie.
What's that saying?
Women line, men line?
Numbers don't.
So it's like let's look at thenumbers before let's make data
driven decisions.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yes, making data driven decisions.
Speaking of data drivendecisions, you know, going from
a startup to, you know, 10, 12,20 million, that's a.
There's a lot of differences incash flow management.
How has?
How have you like?
(42:42):
How is that?
How have you implemented goodcash flow management, financial
management, in the company asyou've grown?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
spending less than you have coming in.
I'm going to be honest with you.
I feel like I guessed the firstfive years of business.
I felt like I just guessed.
I was like I don't know.
Make sure we collect depositsand make sure we're making smart
financial decisions and we'renot going and paying for a
Lamborghini and going to Parisand buying Rolexes.
(43:19):
I mean, jay just bought hisfirst Rolex last year.
You know, a lot of guys start aroofing company.
It's like car Rolex vacation youknow, and that's probably why
they don't last past a year herein Texas most of the time.
But, um, you know, just I don'tknow stack it.
We grew a lot very organicallyand so and I was always pretty
(43:43):
good with money management andso I don't, I don't know that's.
I mean, the biggest thing isknowing where your financials
are.
I think a lot of roofingcompanies get in trouble because
they don't know where theirfinancials are.
Like, like you know, I have ateam here that's calling on
depreciation.
They're we're sending off themortgage check for the homeowner
so we can track it.
(44:03):
So we know it got sent to thehomeowner, doesn't you know?
Because homeowners are busy.
I'm a homeowner, I'm so busy,like when I get home I don't
want to talk about my personalstuff, I don't want to open my
mail half the time.
So I'm like you know, I think,um, just knowing where your
financials are making it, themore convenient you make it for
the homeowner, the quickeryou're going to get paid.
(44:24):
So so you know, I figured youknow opening up credit card
processing, zelle, ach, you knowthe slice financing that we
offer so they can just keep theinsurance money and finance the
whole roof so we get paidquicker.
Um, you know, your your cycletime on picking up.
(44:46):
Picking up the money is likethe biggest thing that we focus
on here.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Nice, getting the cash in back to the business as
fast as possible, cause it's allinsurance, mostly insurance
claims.
I would assume that you guysare working down there in the
dfw, austin things like that.
So, um, what about?
Like?
It sounds like you've developedmore, you know, consistency
(45:13):
with customers, customercommunication, customer
experience.
What other things are you guysdoing from the sales perspective
, from the operationsperspective, to impress the
customer, to maybe have thempotentially refer you or, when
the next storm comes in there,they know who to call?
Speaker 2 (45:33):
I would just say over communication.
Every time we send a supplementout, they get CC'd on it.
Every time we send a finalinvoice, they get CC'd on it.
Every time we file theirwarranty, they're getting a CC
on it.
If your homeowner is reachingout to you for an update, that's
the number one red flag.
Your homeowner should never beasking you for an update.
(45:55):
You should be telling themevery week.
Your homeowner should never beasking you for an update.
You should be telling themevery week.
They should never have aquestion on where they stand.
What this means, I thinksetting expectations from the
get-go and then communicatingwith them every step of the way.
So that's my biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
How do you think culture and communication go
hand in hand in Miller Storms?
Your guys need to know.
Well, you know, you have toknow their love language and you
have to know what they're, whatthey're expecting of you and
what you're expecting of them.
You know, you know.
So here it's like with our corevalues.
It's like do what you say,right.
(46:43):
Like if you tell a homeowneryou're going to be there at a
certain time, be there.
If you're going to be at themeeting, be there.
You know our meetings aren'tmandatory.
But if you tell us like, hey,you're going to be here, then
let us know, cause we're waitingaround on you.
You know, and this is you know,this is not one of our core
(47:03):
values, even though we shouldprobably make it.
One of our core values is speed.
Like speed is one of our corevalues and it's not like a
formally documented anywhere,but we're always like on speed,
like moving the job along fast,like communicating with the
homeowner fast, communicatingwith back office fast, giving
our guys quick feedback and thenthem also giving us quick
feedback on what's going out onthe field, you know if people
(47:24):
are struggling with something orif they're like hey, we need
like a team outing.
You know, just over.
Communicating like this is youspend more time at work than you
do with your family do you know.
And so when you start feelinglike things are a little bit too
professional, too much aboutwork, too transactional, I think
you have to really rely on yourleadership team to be like, hey
(47:46):
, we need to take the guys on ateam outing.
Or, yeah, let's do somethingfun.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
This, you know, next month, or you know so what are
some of the things that you guysdo?
Speaker 2 (47:56):
oh well, we're to.
We do an annual boat party.
So we're going to do our annualboat party here in about two
weeks.
We've gone paintballing, we'vedone the little drive, the
exotic cars we took.
Take our guys to the conferenceonce a year.
We just, we actually took ourguys to Mexico, our million
dollar producers, we took themto Mexico in January, which was
(48:16):
a really cool experience.
So, you, our million dollarproducers, we took them to
mexico in january, um, which wasa really cool experience.
So, you know, take them out todinner, doing their doing the
team dinners, which we need toactually do one of those here.
So it's been a while, but youknow we can pull parties so you
guys have fun too yeah, you have, you have to.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
You have to Like everyone knows like roofing is a
lifestyle I mean sales arereally in general is a lifestyle
.
There's no off time, especiallywhen you're a 10 am sales guy.
It doesn't matter what industryyou're in, You're always
selling or prospecting.
So I think having that healthywork-life balance I know balance
is like a word that peopledon't like, Right, but what my
(49:01):
version of balance is like notevery day is going to be like
this.
Some days are going to be allwork and then some days are
gonna be all family, but whenyou average every day out in the
year, it's 50, 50.
You know what I?
Speaker 1 (49:13):
mean Okay.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Yeah.
So people think that when I,when people say balance, it's
like oh, every day is balanced.
No, some days I'm working 12,14 hour shifts, and then maybe I
take off on Friday.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
You know that's right .
I don't believe in balance atall.
I'm way off of balance.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
I honestly don't believe in balance, but when we
look on a 365 rolling schedule,there's balance.
You have to there is, there iseven if you don't like to admit
it, there is balance what do youthink?
Speaker 1 (49:47):
uh, what do you?
What do you think people shouldknow more, like because you
guys have gone through thejourney, right, like you said,
you went through this like theopening of a company yourselves.
What do you?
What's?
What's one thing more peopleshould understand about running
a roofing company man, there'scash flow, I mean.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
I mean it's probably like any business, right, you
have to make sure you have theright people in the right seats.
Don't try to wear all the hatsbecause you don't want to spend
the money on overhead to getpeople.
I think a lot of people here inTexas I mean like the truck
checking, a truck type of guysthey think that they're going to
go start their own so they cankeep all the money and it's like
, yeah, but then you know howlong are you going to do that
(50:29):
for?
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Yeah, that's pretty lonely.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
That's pretty lonely, I don't I?
I, that's not what thelifestyle I like.
I like to work with people, Ilike having a team.
I like you know, I think toopen a true legit business in
texas, that you're gonna have toput people in the right seats,
have to manage cash flow ifyou're gonna do it organically,
like me and jay did, like weflipped five grand and now here
we are.
You know that's right.
(50:53):
That's another company, butwe're really disciplined on
delayed gratification,sacrificing yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Yeah, delayed gratification is a big one that
people struggle with.
For sure it's a tough one.
It's tough when you look in thebank account and you're like,
oh, there's money there.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
No, it's not yours yet.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
Do you want to look rich now or do you really want
to be rich in 20 years?
You know like that's right.
It's don't, don't exchange that, that money, for short, short
term, you know gratification.
Yeah, it's a long-term vision.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
What are you most proud?
Speaker 2 (51:44):
of when you reflect on what you guys have built, how
much personal growth.
I mean it's not it's like youknow the vanity of like the
revenue and all that's cool,Like that's not really like it.
To me it's like how much I'vedeveloped as a leader, helped
other people grow, like we'rereally like a personal
development slash life coachcompany.
(52:05):
I, you know like people havecome in here, made money, got
their credit card.
Like when my sister came uphere I'm gonna use to use her as
an example she was a completelydifferent person.
You know she didn't believeherself, self doubt, didn't have
a reliable vehicle, didn't have, didn't know what a credit
(52:27):
score was, didn't know what acredit card was.
And to literally see hertransform her life Like many
others here have many peoplehere have.
You know she got her dreamtruck, she got her.
You know her dream house shegot.
You know for people to writethose you know achieve their
goals is the most gratifyingthing.
(52:48):
That's better than making moneyand putting it in my bank
account is seeing other peoplehappy and their kids happy and
then making the most amount ofmoney that they've ever made and
being the best shape of yourlife and being positive, and you
know that's that's the biggestthing that I am happy for is how
many people's lives we'vechanged and are going to change.
Speaker 1 (53:11):
That's awesome.
Appreciate your time today,Taylor.
This has been another episodeof the Roofing Success Podcast.
Speaker 4 (53:17):
Thank you for tuning into the Roofing Success Podcast
For more valuable content.
Visit roofingsuccesspodcastcomWhile there.
Check out our sponsors forexclusive offers, shop for
merchandise and sign up for ournewsletter for industry updates
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(53:39):
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insights.
The website link is in thedescription.
Thanks for listening.
What happens when your former boss threatens your
paycheck and you decide that'sthe last time someone holds
power over your income?
In this episode, we're talkingwith Taylor Miller about the
gritty, no excuses journey fromsingle mom to co-founder of
MillerStorm.
You'll learn how she built aroofing company rooted in
(00:20):
communication, culture andsecond chances, despite having
zero plans to ever start aroofing company.
Taylor is the co-owner ofMiller Storm Roofing in Texas.
She built the businessalongside her husband, jay,
during one of the most chaoticyears in modern history 2020.
From chasing down invoices tosystematizing everything through
(00:41):
automations and SOPs, taylorhas become a force in operations
and leadership.
Taylor's story is one ofresilience from a rocky family
background to helping createsix-figure careers for her team.
Her evolution from leading withan iron fist to developing
compassionate, efficientmanagement systems is one every
(01:04):
entrepreneur needs to hear.
If you're navigating growth,team drama or the chaos of
operational bottlenecks, thisepisode gives you a real-life
playbook on how to lead withstrength, structure and heart.
Let's dive in with TaylorMiller of Miller Storm Roofing.
Welcome to the Roofing SuccessPodcast.
I'm Jim Alin and I'm here tobring you insights from top
(01:26):
leaders in the roofing industryto help you grow and scale your
roofing business Taylor MillerMiller Storm.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Doing good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm wonderful.
I had a great visit to youroffice about a month ago.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That was fantastic man visit to your office about a
month ago.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That was fantastic man yeah, that was a lot of
people.
That was a lot of people.
Yeah, we had a great rsra eventdown there.
Uh, adam introduced themarketing control system to the
roofing and solar reformalliance.
Members, fantastic content.
Thank you for being fantastichosts.
You guys have a great man.
You've built something.
You guys have a great.
You've built something reallyspecial down there.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I appreciate it.
I appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, for people who maybe didn't, I think in our
first episode you were on withJay, with your husband, jay
Miller, and he's a talker, so heprobably did more of the
talking, but we know who runsthe show, so we wanted to have
Taylor on to make sure we gotthe the like what really happens
(02:34):
at Miller store.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, Wow, I was listening to that podcast
probably like a year ago, and Iwas like what idiots I mean?
We thought I mean we thought Imean looking back right, like
you think you, you know a lot,and then you fast forward and
then I'm looking back down likehindsight being 2020.
I'm like man.
We've learned and grown so muchfrom that, you know so I love
(02:59):
it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That.
That's one of my favoritethings about business is like to
me, if you're not embarrassedabout where your company was and
who you were Like, I thinkabout it.
Like, if you don't think, likewhy did someone buy from us?
Like how could someone even buyfrom us back, then You're not
(03:23):
iterating, you're not improvingright, you're not going through
the process.
So you guys have done a lot ofthat.
So let's talk a little bitabout Taylor and how you got
into the roofing business.
You know how did you become.
You know the, the, the behindthe scenes killer at Miller
storm.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Uh, so funny story.
Well, it's kind of a long storyso I'll give you tidbits.
But so I was a single mom, Iwas living in Round Rock, austin
, texas, with my son and my momwas like hey, you know, you
should really come up here andget in a roofing with me.
You know, I just bought myhouse, just bought, bought a
(04:04):
Lamborghini.
I'm doing really well.
Um, she started off as aroofing company and she was a
door knocker, worked her way upto a sales rep, sales manager,
and then eventually to apartnership.
Um, so she was really in fromthe ground level, worked her way
all the way up.
It was a true success story.
Um, and so she, she reallyinspired me.
(04:26):
She, you know, had no degree,no, you know, a pretty tarnished
background, a lot of turmoil inher background.
Uh, you know, that's acompletely different story.
But she was out of my life for15 years and incarcerated, drug
background and all that.
So for me to firsthand witnessmy mom get out of prison and
(04:49):
literally turn her life aroundfrom homeless to, you know, a
millionaire with a half milliondollar house, a lamborghini and
a office in a skyrise buildingin dallas was super inspiring,
especially for me because Inever grew up with my mom.
I went to college because I wastrying to make a different way
(05:10):
of life, because I grew up withmy dad being a single father and
living paycheck to paycheckwith five kids in a two bedroom
apartment.
So I was eager to break thatcycle.
I didn't know how, and so goingto college was, like you know,
the obvious thing, I guess, tofigure out.
I mean, everyone gets tiredwith the degree.
(05:31):
You know, like that's thebrainwash, like go to college
and you're going to be so easyfinding a good way.
You know a good paying job andit's going to be so easy if you
go to college and work your buttoff in college and you'll find
your dream job and make goodmoney and all that right.
So it was really inspiring tosee someone that you know really
(05:53):
lost everything.
You know my mom and my dadowned a business and she lost
all the drugs, lost her kids dueto drugs, went to prison and
then got out and rebuilteverything from scratch and made
up for a lot of lost time bymaking better choices and
working her butt off.
So that's how I got into.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It was my mom and that really speaks to the
opportunity in roofing.
Like it's, it's a, it is, it isa second chance industry like
no other.
Right, it's pretty phenomenalyeah.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So that's, you know, that's how I ended up making
meeting.
Jay was at her company.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Which was a big no-no .
But you know so some peoplemight ask like okay, so if your
mom started her roofing company,why are you still not with her?
You know, why are you still notworking there?
That would probably be like thenext question.
You know sad story.
(07:02):
But she relapsed again and losteverything again.
Really, really sad to seesomeone fall from such, you know
a high state to, you know,starting over again.
So when she got, you know, sherelapsed and, you know, left
that company.
You know me and Jay went andworked for a couple other
(07:24):
companies, some mom and popstartups, and it just wasn't the
uh, it wasn't the same, itwasn't the same culture.
So after, after all thathappened with her, we were like
you know what, um, we went totwo other companies help those
startups like systems, processes, hiring, recruiting, all that
(07:46):
um, and I just you know me andjay broke up for a little bit in
2020 and that guy thought jaywas going to go start his own
company.
When, uh, when we got backtogether, he thought he
automatically assumed that wewere gonna go start our own
company, which is kind of weirdbecause we never thought about
that.
That wasn't.
We were wearing all the hatsand doing all the paperwork.
(08:09):
That sounded like a lot of workfor us, it was not attractive.
And so one day he called Jayand threatened Jay's commissions
and I was like how dare him,you're going to sit here and
threaten to take away hiscommissions if we're starting
our own?
I was like, first of all, wenever had any interest in that.
I was like that just rubbed methe wrong way.
(08:30):
I was like he shouldn't havethat type of power over us,
especially since everythingwe've done to help build his
company.
There's no reason why we'd go dothat For him to say that and
then threaten it withcommissions.
We were like what that?
And for him to say that andthen threaten it with
commissions we were like what um?
And this was during 2020.
You know, yeah, it was alreadysuper.
(08:51):
It was already a super unstableyear as it was, and I was like
for you to sit here and try tothreaten.
You know, jay's commissions waslike a big uh turnoff.
Like I was like, all right,well, I'm done with this company
.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I was like you know, yeah, that's a culture killer
right there, right, like that'sa, like that's.
But it's all the horror storiesthat you hear.
Right In the roofing industryand there's such a a lot of
owners have a hard time with,you know, people on their team
that find success and that worryabout them going and starting
(09:25):
other companies and competingwith them.
You know, along with the other10,000 companies in Dallas.
So it would make a bigdifference if you guys went.
You know, like it's crazy to me, like there's no but, but so
okay.
So all of a sudden it's likethis doesn't feel right anymore.
So all of a sudden it's likethis doesn't feel right anymore,
(09:46):
like now it's time I guess wehave to start our own company.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So we make sure that we get our checks or what you
know you're now, if you'reaccusing me of doing something
I'm not doing, and the firstthing you do is threaten my
commissions, and it was like itwas just a super cold call.
It was like a super, like harshcall.
I feel like we didn't doanything to earn that call or
earn that threat.
He told him like hey, you know,because we broke for two months
(10:12):
, got our own places.
And then we were like, allright, we're going to make it
work.
We got to now consolidate backof our stuff, move back in and
all that.
And he told him and wascompletely transparent, and when
that happened, it was like thatwas super unwarranted, that was
(10:33):
unnecessary.
So we were like let's just, youknow, instead of building this
up, because now it feels likewe're building this on sand
again, right, like it's.
The trust isn't there.
You know, you're notthreatening us, it's I don't
feel like we're building on,we're building on sand.
So we're like you know, ifwe're gonna restart again, it's
time to just do it under our ownthing.
We helped these startups, didall the paperwork, did all the
processes, found all thecontractors, found the sales
(10:56):
guys, trained the sales guys,and so we were like all right,
we're just going to do it forourselves.
So that's really what startedthat in 2020.
All right, all right, we'rejust gonna do it for ourselves.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
So that's, that's really what started that in 2020
.
All right, so what did thoseearly days look like?
Because 2020 was not the bestyear for door-to-door sales no,
it wasn't, maybe in texas.
But you know like people herein minnesota were like mask up
and get away from me.
You know like, yeah, so intexas.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It was a lot different.
Actually.
I you know everyone was scaredand was shutting doors, but I
think that our business actuallytook off in 2020, like I think
that was the best year that youcould start a door-to-door
business, especially in texas.
You know, texas is a littlemore laid back and they're not
fearful with masks and diseasesand all that um and sicknesses
(11:42):
and so, uh, everyone was soexcited when we knocked on their
door.
It was like it was a differentreaction than what you would
expect, for sure yeah, peopleare like I've been putting off
all this stuff, like now I'm athome and now I'm bored and I
want to have some interaction.
So it was a different.
It was a different uhinteraction at the door.
It wasn't what you would expectit.
(12:03):
We were definitely nervous whenwe opened up in 2020.
We were like, hmm, everythingin the news, right, don't watch
the news, because the news hadeveryone scared to come outside.
When you turn the TV off andyou go outside, people were so
excited to have humaninteraction.
It was the opposite.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
What were some of the early surprises of the new
venture of launching MillerStorm?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Oh my goodness, being the boss is hard.
You can't be everyone's friend.
You're wearing all the hats.
You don't realize everythingthat takes to put a roof on.
Like from the sales repmentality when we first got into
it, it's like, oh well, we'regonna board the material and pay
for the crew and we're gonnakeep all the money and it's
(12:49):
gonna be so easy.
And you don't see all thewarranty calls that happen when
it rains and all the nails, likeyou know, the homeowner's fine,
and going through the crappyconcept contractors and the
titled sales reps and it's like,wow, wow, this is not.
This is not as easy as wethought it was going to be.
It was definitely a challenge.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, so you know.
The first thing that you saidwas being the boss is hard, and
I think this is what a lot ofpeople don't understand.
Is that so all businesses arepeople and so you know, when
you're an owner of a business,now, all of a sudden you're a
manager of people and you're incharge of all of these things
and it really all lands on you.
(13:33):
How did what?
What has been your journey indeveloping that skill set?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I've definitely came a long way as a leader.
Back then I rolled with theiron fist.
No one wants that type ofleader.
I it was like with leadership,there's just like happy medium
you have to be like.
What Jay likes to say iscompassion and compression.
I was worried that if I was toonice, people were going to take
advantage of me.
So I was either too nice or toohard and I had a hard time
(14:01):
finding the balance of um beingempath but having firm
boundaries, like I was really.
I didn't realize how much Istruggled with boundaries.
I either was super firm on myboundaries or I was super loose,
because and I ended up that wasthe biggest thing as a leader.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, what were like, what were some of the
boundaries that you found hardto put up, like, and what were
some of the ones that you'relike?
That was easy, like I'll put upa boundary here, but this one
over here is a little bit hard.
Was it person to person?
Was it person to person?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Okay, Person to person.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So there was an inconsistency in your management
.
At the same time, right Like,this person got treated this way
and this other person gottreated this way, and now it's
like a little bit, you know,dramatic, and I didn't want that
.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So I just I either just shied away from it or I
would be like super, I guessdominant or strong on where I
stood and I didn't really knowthe fun, like I really it made
(15:16):
me work on my communication forsure.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
What did you like?
How did you work on yourcommunication?
Was it books?
Did you go like take classes?
Did you just practice Like whatwas your?
What was your process ofimproving your communication
skills?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Definitely books and podcasts.
Definitely books and podcasts21 Year Fertile Laws of
Leadership.
The other one was how to WinFriends and Influence People.
How to Win Friends andInfluence People the Layla
Ramosi podcast, and really it'skind of silly to say this, but
every time I'd have this likeweird conversation that was
coming up, I was like I don'treally know how to have this
(15:53):
conversation with someone.
I'd literally YouTube it,google it, like how to have a
conversation about this topicwith an employee, like you know
it's, and I just figuring outlike the framing and you know,
the book I wish I would haveread back then.
That I'm reading right now isNever Split the Difference.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Such a great book.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yep, chris Voss, yeah , yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Such a great book Like Negotiating with Terrorists
.
Such a great book likeNegotiating with Terrorists
because sometimes I feel likeback then, you know, the
employees that we attracted, youknow, was a reflection of our
weak leadership.
I would say.
We were just in ourinsecurities of being new
business owners.
But back then I could say itfelt like a lot of time I was
negotiating with terrorists andthat's probably because of my
(16:46):
avoidance of having toughconversations.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah, that's, that's super interesting, that's a
super self-aware thing that yousaid the employees we attracted.
Yeah, right, like, wow, that'sa, that's a big aware, like
that's, that was a big ahamoment I would.
I would assume when, when,along the journey, did you go?
This is us, like we were we.
(17:15):
We don't have the skill set toattract or the culture to
attract.
You know a players or 10 Xersor whatever you'd want to call
like really good people to thebusiness.
Where was that?
Where did you guys like, wheredid you go?
Did you have conversations withJay?
Like, oh goodness, man, likewhat's going on?
How come these are the peoplethat are in our company?
Before we carry on with theepisode, let's give a shout out
to one of our sponsors.
I talk to contractors every daythat feel stuck, not because
(17:40):
they're not working hard, butbecause they're missing the
structure to grow without chaosor their culture's falling apart
, because their team's unclear,unaligned or just burned out and
when change hits, they'rereacting instead of leading
because time and prioritiesaren't under their control.
(18:01):
Day 41 Thrive helps to fix thatwith proven strategies for
growth, culture and leadershipthat actually work, ready to
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journey today.
Oh, my goodness, man, likewhat's going on.
(18:24):
How come these are the peoplethat are in our company?
How?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
did that process go yeah it was a lot of fights
between me and Jay Cause, youknow we had to be honest with
each other, and you know andit's like this he would say
things that hurt my feelings,but it was the truth.
It hurt my feelings Cause itwas the truth, right, and I
would say things to him thathurt him, but it was the truth.
And it's like it's kind of likeI hate to say this, but it's
(18:50):
kind of like dating Right, likeI don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I used to like in the beginning.
You're not bad, you're not goodat being like.
Have you like looked into whymaybe this is the second guy you
attracted like, attracted likethis like have you looked into
why you keep attracting certain,these, certain like
(19:13):
personalities?
and I was like interesting, andthat question has always stuck
with me.
And so, like anytime, likesomething happens, it's like
instead of blaming, like theother person or the situation,
or I'm a victim, like like no,you're not a victim.
You got to figure out why thiskeeps happening.
What are you?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
doing.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
What are you allowing ?
Because sometimes it's not.
It's like not what you'resaying and sometimes it's what
you're not saying, so like nothaving the confidence, not
giving them the feedback givingthem, you know, constructive
feedback.
So you know, I think being newin business is kind of being new
to dating.
(19:50):
We didn't have.
We were like we don't know whata successful business looks
like operationally.
You know, like we knew what asuccessful business looked like
for sales reps to show up to youlike what got us inspired?
What did we like when we wentto other companies?
But we never saw the back endoperations.
This was our first business towear all the hats, so there was
a lot of insecurity.
We're like is this, is thissupposed to happen?
(20:12):
You know, humans aren't perfect, but at the same time, this is
a business and there has to be astandard.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So we always were like second guessing ourselves,
like you know because you'relearning and that's what I think
a lot of people don't givethemselves grace in the learning
period, right like we have togive ourselves grace that we
just like a lot of times.
This is a, this is new, we're,we're inexperienced in a lot of
things and it like it takes alot of time and a lot of
(20:40):
practice and a lot of reps notjust sales reps but you may have
.
You may have to go through alot of sales reps to lot of reps
not just sales reps, but youmay have.
You may have to go through alot of sales reps to know how to
find a good sales rep or whatis a good sales rep or what is a
good sales rep to your company.
But you just need the practice,the reps.
You know, like how many the,the number of jobs that have
gone through your productionprocess.
Now you're like, oh, we have tofix this, we have to fix this,
(21:02):
we have to tweak this, we haveto do that.
But I like to say you don't knowwhat's broken until things are
going through it.
You don't know what.
From a sales rep perspective,what am I saying wrong?
Well, you have to say the wordsto a prospective customer to
learn and get that feedback, toknow if you're saying the right
(21:24):
thing or not, how to hiresubcontractors good
subcontractors, how to managegood subcontract right Like
there's so many things that youdon't think about.
What were some of thoseoperational foundations that
that you've put in place overtime that have really made a the
strongest impact?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Oh my goodness, automations, automations,
automation systems and processes.
Telling departments what youlike, knowing what you want out
of people and what you like.
Knowing what you want out ofpeople and what you expect out
of them, I think is the mostimportant.
And so they, and so they knowwhat fires they're responsible
for, putting out, like noteverything's an emergency, like
figuring out what's priorityright now or what's priority for
(22:08):
that department and, like youknow, separating and delegating
their responsibilities and whois responsible for what, and
having like a smooth trend, likea smooth handoff from one
department to the next.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So how have you guys implemented that Like, what is?
How do you determine what's afire and what's not a fire?
Let's start there.
What are some examples?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
What are some examples?
Is this going?
Is this something that has toget done right now or is this
something that can be put offtill tomorrow?
If it's not like a right nowthing, it's not a fire If
someone's not going to get hurt.
If it's, we're not going to getsued, if you know, if it's not
going to cost a lot of money.
You know, I would say thosethree things like financial
(22:58):
welfare those are my big thingslike funny, like is someone okay
and is it going to cost a lotof money?
Like is someone hurt?
If is it going to cost a lot ofmoney?
Like other than that it's aslow burning fire.
We'll figure that out tomorrowor or write down, like you know
also like writing down likesmall issues as they come up,
(23:20):
and then like let's talk allabout it at once, like let's not
keep interrupting your work day, my work day, to talk about
these like issues.
That you might think is a bigdeal, but to me it's not a big
deal.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So that's a good management tip right there, like
do you know when, if your teamcomes to you with with every
little thing, how do you get it?
How do you get what you'regetting done during the need to
get done during the day, right,like, if so.
So I like thatcompartmentalizing it and saying
, hey, you know, we'll have aconversation at a specific time
(23:53):
about that.
Let's have the wholeconversation, not just each,
each aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And I think that that gets fixed with, like, weekly
meetings.
I realized the more meetings wehave, the quicker the feedback
gets to us.
And then they people feelconfident holding onto
information until like, oh well,we're going to talk Mondays or
we're going to talk Wednesday,whenever that scheduled weekly
meeting is, they're like, oh,I'm gonna talk to her in a
couple days.
That can wait till then, youknow.
And then also you knowattracting right, like the
(24:22):
office managers and the peoplethat we have here that we
attract now.
They're very independentthinkers, problem solvers and
nine times out of 10, they'llfix the problem before I even
hear about it.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yes, yes, I, and nine times out of 10 they'll fix the
problem before I even hearabout it.
Yes, yes, so I, I had aconversation with someone
yesterday about about this, andwe're um a company that I coach,
and and I and I said we werehaving a conversation and he's
he's talking about kind of moreof a like do I need a general
manager role, operations managerkind of person in my business?
And and we started talking andI was like, well, let's, let's
walk through where where thebreakdown in uh, in, uh, um,
(25:08):
ownership is, because what Iheard from you is that you have
a team that owns things, andthat's when people own their
role they get things done andthey come and tell you that
things are done Instead ofhere's the problem, solve my
problem for me, right?
And so we had a conversation oflike, where is the ownership
(25:31):
breaking down in your company,in your team, versus like, do
you really need someone else tomanage them?
Do you need to add anotherlayer of management to this to
babysit these people, or is itthat?
No, it's just these people overhere aren't owning their role
the way that they should.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
And yeah, so I would.
I'm so glad that you said that,because that just sparked
something.
Is this is something.
Looking back, the reason whypeople came and asked me a
million questions, or asked Jay,a million questions on every
time they ran into something, isbecause I didn't empower them.
So, you know, back then I wouldwalk up and if they were
(26:12):
handling something or doingsomething, like, why are you
doing it that way?
Right, and that's not how youapproach that.
You know, oh, that looks like agreat, that's a great idea how
you're doing that.
That's I'm glad that youhandled it that way.
Next time, you should probablymaybe think, maybe do it this
way or that way.
And I'm like, oh, ok, likeencouraging that and like we're
(26:36):
like applauding them fixing theproblem and at least jumping in
trying to do it.
But I think back then, like aleadership era that we used to
do is we used to be so critical,like, why are you doing this
way?
You should do it this way, youshouldn't do that, we should do
it this way.
So then it trained them rightto now, every time they run into
a problem, they're like let mejust go ask them, they probably
have a better idea.
And it's like no, like you haveyou.
So that's something else.
Is like getting lettingrelinquishing control Right.
Like if you want growth, yougot to relinquish control.
(26:58):
As long as they're doing it 80percent the way that you would
want them to do it, it's good,just let them do it.
It's never going to be the wayyou want to do it.
Everyone's different.
Everyone's brain worksdifferent.
What I think is great, someoneelse might think is not.
You know what I think is great,someone else might think is not
.
You know what I think is whatthey think is great I might not
completely agree with, butthat's one thing that I've taken
(27:18):
away.
Is this 80 percent the way thatI would have done it?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Absolutely.
So where is the, where's thebalance there in your like SOPs
then?
Like because, and how, I guess,how rigid do you develop your
SOPs?
Because, if you're the, whatI'm hearing, if you allow them
(27:43):
some autonomy in their role, butyou still want to confine to a
specific process, you want thatcommunication handoff the
correct way and you want thingslike that.
So how do you balance that the?
How do you?
How do you?
Or how do you think about that?
Like when you balancing the,their autonomy in getting the
job done but also doing theprocess the way that you would
like them to do it I have tworeally good examples I'll share
(28:05):
with you.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
so one of them is, like we know, we knew that every
time we showed to a customer'shouse, we wanted them to leave
them with a photo report or sometype of report saying, hey, we
were there and this is what wefound, um, with photo documents
so they can see what's going on.
Because, you know, here in Texas, and probably roofing companies
across the nation uh, some ofthem, or a lot of them here that
I saw they weren't leavingphoto reports, they weren't
(28:27):
leaving any type ofdocumentation documentation
They'd be on the roof oh, you'regood season, like storm season,
and the homeowner never gotanything.
And that's how we were actuallyable to steal a lot of
businesses by, you know,offering those photo reports.
Well, anyway, I had one of oursales, one of our inside sales
guys look at the photo reportsthat we're sending.
He goes man, like I love theidea, I think they could be
(28:51):
better.
So instead of coming and sayinghey, I think they could be
better.
So, instead of coming andsaying hey, I think they could
be better, he went and did, madethe presentation better and
then brought to me.
I was like, absolutely love it.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Same thing with commission reports.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Aaliyah was awesome.
She was like, hey, like,instead of doing each individual
commission report, we shouldjust do one mass Excel sheet.
Made it look awesome, broughtit to me Absolutely, absolutely
loved it.
So they're still sticking tothe sops.
But it's like, how can I makethis process better?
They're more efficient, uh,more beautified, I would say
(29:24):
right like on the eyes, on thephoto reports, like he made them
look way, way more creative.
So they're still sticking intothe sops, just like making
things better.
Like you know, when they gothrough and those sops, right
like they're not, they're good.
Sops are kind of like a livingdocument.
They should always be they're.
They're a living document.
(29:46):
You should always be updatingthem, figuring out better ways,
like you know now.
Like you know, my sops a yearago are completely different now
because I found out all thesecool automations where it
literally, you know, task themlike this is where this is, so
they don't have to look for it.
Like my project managers, sopsare different.
My back office SOPs aredifferent because now they're
(30:08):
getting tasked and reminded likeautomatically, as soon as a job
hits a certain milestone, sothey don't have to go like daily
, look through there.
So I mean, I think with time,as you feel like you always find
a better way to do something.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Your sops are kind of like just a guiding, like a
compass I, I agree, like theliving document statement is one
that I use too.
Like all of the're livingdocuments, they're not, it's not
a.
You don't build an sop one time.
It's, it's.
It constantly evolves in thatevolution.
How do you determine what tofix next?
(30:46):
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How do you determine what tofix next?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Is this going to save our company time?
That's my biggest thing time.
Time is the most expensiveresource, so time and
communication like those are mytwo biggest things.
Like is this going to improvethe communication inside the
organization?
Is this going to improve thecommunication to our homeowners?
(32:06):
Is this going to improve thecommunication to the insurance
companies, to the warranty?
You know, with Atlas, you know.
And then time.
How quick is this?
How much time are we going tosave by doing this new process?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
So that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, what are some?
What are some examples of onesthat you've implemented recently
?
I know you said I meanautomation, saved time, so
that's a that's always a big one.
What are some of thecommunication processes that
you've put in place that havethat you've seen real impact
around?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah, I would.
I would have to praise on thecommunity on the automations.
That literally they go togetherbecause it literally it, they go
together.
Yeah, communication because,like, because there's
communications that arehappening inside the automation,
so like it looks like themessage is coming from alia, but
it's actually an automationlike hey, production, please
look at this job, make sure theinvoice is red.
(33:05):
Yeah, so, um, that's thebiggest thing.
It's it's keeping the guysorganized.
Putting everything in in thisin the crm, putting the task on
auto, like the automated task,the automated emails that go out
to the homeowner, is the bit.
Actually that is the answer.
The automations that aregetting sent to the client on
(33:27):
hey, your roof is in, isscheduled for this day of
install, and then the reminderautomation on hey, your roof's
getting installed tomorrow.
Those are the biggest ones.
Communication to the customer,because then they can never say
I didn't know, I couldn't planfor this, I wasn't aware that
they're going to get here at 630in the morning.
I think communication to thehomeowner is always.
(33:48):
You're always going to win onthat front that on that front?
Speaker 1 (33:56):
yeah, and and automating it is is the best way
.
Have you found that?
Is it emails text?
Is it like an automated taskfor your team to call?
What have you found as beingsome of the the better ways of
communicating with yourhomeowners?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
um, I say email, but I haven't turned on the text
automation and acculance.
I'm a little bit nervousbecause I'm like it's super.
I mean it's super expensive andI just don't want that to get
abused.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, really.
So, the emails have beeneffective enough, where people
are opening their emails andthey're seeing you don't get a
call like hey, why, why arethese guys here at six, 30?
They the email was sent, theemail was opened, it's, it's get
, the message is getting, isgetting across yeah, I, I love
(34:40):
the emails.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I mean, the one thing that we have implemented is our
even our quickbooks are getting.
Those invoices are gettingtexted to the homeowner now, um,
so I know that that's workingbetter.
I know that more people arepaying on text message, so I
would probably if I turned ontext message, it would probably
be a way better outcome.
Yeah, I don't know if I wantthat.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, it's like people do open text messages
more than emails a lot of times,because we have our phones in
our hands way too often.
Right, like, it's just rightthere, so you had the watch on
the Apple watch or whatever.
Right, like, you're alwaysgetting your notifications, new
text, new, you know, but it'sexpensive, so it's a cost thing,
right, especially as you guysare growing.
How many?
(35:22):
What's the goal this year?
How many sales reps?
How many like, how many jobsare you guys trying to do?
What's the?
What are you trying toaccomplish?
Because you guys have, you'vedecided to go big.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Yep, so last year so last year we had, you know, the
Round Rock office in the FortWorth office, between both
branches we did 505 roofs.
This year our goal is to do athousand roofs.
Our goal is to do 20 million.
We did 10 million, 10 or 12, 11, somewhere between there.
Last year I'm in revenue, andwe were wanting to get to 20.
(35:57):
Uh, I think that's superachievable, especially since we
opened up our commercialdepartment.
Uh, we have some really big,heavy headers that came from a
300 million dollar commercialroofing company that's helping
us do our commercial here, whichis a great, um exciting thing
because we've always had so manycommercial jobs come across our
desk.
But just, you know, you heardthe horror stories about
(36:20):
residential roofing companies,you know, going out of business
Cause they did one badcommercial roof, cause they're
not, you know, stepped out ofthe wheelhouse, and so I'm
really excited about that.
But that's our goal.
We do want to eventually open abranch in San Antonio, houston.
Yeah, that's our goal.
(36:43):
We definitely do want to go big, though.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah, how have been?
What have been the operationalchallenges in implement in
adding the commercial division?
Speaker 2 (36:57):
challenges in implement.
In adding the commercialdivision, commercial division we
haven't really had that manyhiccups yet.
I mean, that's what happens.
It goes back to attracting aplayers because if you have
eight players.
It's it.
It's not as much work as as youneed to like.
You're hiring people for themto.
That's their problem.
You know what I mean?
yes, it's my problem too, butwhen they are, you know an A
player and they come withoutexpectations and communication
(37:19):
upfront on the initial agreementand conversation saves you time
again, right Like attracting Aplayers and not you know when
people try to cut corners and gocheap.
And you know, if I would havefound someone with no experience
I would have been way moreinvolved in that.
But he's hiring all this guys,he has all the crews, he has all
(37:42):
the connections, so it's reallya plug and play.
I don't see any issues rightnow.
We have a lot of stuff cookingup.
I mean, it's only been twomonths since we started the
commercial division.
You have to ask me again inlike six months.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, there'll be things that come up, I'm sure,
but but the the the lesson thereis ownership, right, like is
that the person that you hiredowns the role.
They're taking ownership of allof that and and taking it off
your plate.
Um, you know, talk about someof those first hires and and the
difference in your hiringprocess now.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Sell the dream and don't get sold on the candidate,
and what I mean by that.
There's been a lot ofcandidates that come in here and
talk a big game.
A big game, and I realize thetalkers are not the showers.
For the most part, the goodones are the most humble guys.
They're the guys that are goingto come here and talk about how
(38:40):
hard they're going to work andthey're not going to talk about
how much they did in sales andhow much money they made and how
they're so awesome and they're,uh, it's normally the humble
ones that are the bestcandidates.
But, um, hiring, I think that'sone of those things.
It's kind of like dating.
(39:01):
It's hard to tell, to tell youthe secrets.
It's just like go through itand you'll understand what I'm
talking about.
But, um, I don't know, hiringis so weird to me because
sometimes there's guys that comein here and it's I, I don't
know.
Recruiting and hiring is stilla little bit tricky for us.
Yeah, I don't think you reallyknow if someone's a good
(39:24):
candidate or not until they comein.
I honestly, that's how I,that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
That's one of my favorite quotes and I've said it
on the podcast a million times,so people are probably getting
sick of it, but it's a quotefrom Gary Vaynerchuk and it's
hiring is guessing, firing isknowing.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I love that.
There is no secret.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
It's like you're just making your best guess possible
.
But, on the other end, thethings that I've learned over
time is if you have the rightmetrics that you're tracking and
you have the right you knowmeasurement of a cultural fit.
Also, if it's definitive notlike you're making you know,
like a judgment call on peopleon it, but if you have a
(40:05):
definitive and I think you guysmight be running EOS now, like
we run EOS, so you have thepeople analyzer and it's do they
fit with your cult, with yourcore values, values and do they
get it wanted and have thecapacity to do it Like and so it
gives you a little bit of amore clear knowing right, like
(40:25):
you get to know in a much moreclear way, because a lot of
times we get emotional with youknow what I mean.
Like someone has a story andit's like, oh well, you didn't
do that because.
Yeah, okay, I guess I guess youdidn't do that because, yeah,
okay, I guess you didn't do thatbecause and you know we get
wrapped up in that or we likethem and you know I like taking
(40:48):
the feelings out is probably thebest thing that you could do,
because then you know you get tothe knowing faster right.
You make your best guess.
Let's get to know as fast aspossible, and if it's not it I
know you're enjoying the episode, but let's give a shout out to
another one of our sponsors.
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Speaker 1 (41:35):
Make your best guess.
Let's get to know as fast aspossible, and if it's not it,
you gotta go.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
I love that you said that.
I absolutely love that you saythat, because anytime that me,
jay Naaman, anyone in management, anytime we're feeling some
type of way about someone, we'relike, all right, take the
person out of it For this role.
What metrics, what expectationswould we have out of this
person?
Okay, so I know that we'refilling this way towards this
person, but let's go look at thenumbers and let's be like you
(42:07):
know, start this conversationwith the numbers.
Like take the feelings out ofit.
Like numbers don't lie.
What's that saying?
Women line, men line?
Numbers don't.
So it's like let's look at thenumbers before let's make data
driven decisions.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yes, making data driven decisions.
Speaking of data drivendecisions, you know, going from
a startup to, you know, 10, 12,20 million, that's a.
There's a lot of differences incash flow management.
How has?
How have you like?
(42:42):
How is that?
How have you implemented goodcash flow management, financial
management, in the company asyou've grown?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
spending less than you have coming in.
I'm going to be honest with you.
I feel like I guessed the firstfive years of business.
I felt like I just guessed.
I was like I don't know.
Make sure we collect depositsand make sure we're making smart
financial decisions and we'renot going and paying for a
Lamborghini and going to Parisand buying Rolexes.
(43:19):
I mean, jay just bought hisfirst Rolex last year.
You know, a lot of guys start aroofing company.
It's like car Rolex vacation youknow, and that's probably why
they don't last past a year herein Texas most of the time.
But, um, you know, just I don'tknow stack it.
We grew a lot very organicallyand so and I was always pretty
(43:43):
good with money management andso I don't, I don't know that's.
I mean, the biggest thing isknowing where your financials
are.
I think a lot of roofingcompanies get in trouble because
they don't know where theirfinancials are.
Like, like you know, I have ateam here that's calling on
depreciation.
They're we're sending off themortgage check for the homeowner
so we can track it.
(44:03):
So we know it got sent to thehomeowner, doesn't you know?
Because homeowners are busy.
I'm a homeowner, I'm so busy,like when I get home I don't
want to talk about my personalstuff, I don't want to open my
mail half the time.
So I'm like you know, I think,um, just knowing where your
financials are making it, themore convenient you make it for
the homeowner, the quickeryou're going to get paid.
(44:24):
So so you know, I figured youknow opening up credit card
processing, zelle, ach, you knowthe slice financing that we
offer so they can just keep theinsurance money and finance the
whole roof so we get paidquicker.
Um, you know, your your cycletime on picking up.
(44:46):
Picking up the money is likethe biggest thing that we focus
on here.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Nice, getting the cash in back to the business as
fast as possible, cause it's allinsurance, mostly insurance
claims.
I would assume that you guysare working down there in the
dfw, austin things like that.
So, um, what about?
Like?
It sounds like you've developedmore, you know, consistency
(45:13):
with customers, customercommunication, customer
experience.
What other things are you guysdoing from the sales perspective
, from the operationsperspective, to impress the
customer, to maybe have thempotentially refer you or, when
the next storm comes in there,they know who to call?
Speaker 2 (45:33):
I would just say over communication.
Every time we send a supplementout, they get CC'd on it.
Every time we send a finalinvoice, they get CC'd on it.
Every time we file theirwarranty, they're getting a CC
on it.
If your homeowner is reachingout to you for an update, that's
the number one red flag.
Your homeowner should never beasking you for an update.
(45:55):
You should be telling themevery week.
Your homeowner should never beasking you for an update.
You should be telling themevery week.
They should never have aquestion on where they stand.
What this means, I thinksetting expectations from the
get-go and then communicatingwith them every step of the way.
So that's my biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
How do you think culture and communication go
hand in hand in Miller Storms?
Your guys need to know.
Well, you know, you have toknow their love language and you
have to know what they're, whatthey're expecting of you and
what you're expecting of them.
You know, you know.
So here it's like with our corevalues.
It's like do what you say,right.
(46:43):
Like if you tell a homeowneryou're going to be there at a
certain time, be there.
If you're going to be at themeeting, be there.
You know our meetings aren'tmandatory.
But if you tell us like, hey,you're going to be here, then
let us know, cause we're waitingaround on you.
You know, and this is you know,this is not one of our core
(47:03):
values, even though we shouldprobably make it.
One of our core values is speed.
Like speed is one of our corevalues and it's not like a
formally documented anywhere,but we're always like on speed,
like moving the job along fast,like communicating with the
homeowner fast, communicatingwith back office fast, giving
our guys quick feedback and thenthem also giving us quick
feedback on what's going out onthe field, you know if people
(47:24):
are struggling with something orif they're like hey, we need
like a team outing.
You know, just over.
Communicating like this is youspend more time at work than you
do with your family do you know.
And so when you start feelinglike things are a little bit too
professional, too much aboutwork, too transactional, I think
you have to really rely on yourleadership team to be like, hey
(47:46):
, we need to take the guys on ateam outing.
Or, yeah, let's do somethingfun.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
This, you know, next month, or you know so what are
some of the things that you guysdo?
Speaker 2 (47:56):
oh well, we're to.
We do an annual boat party.
So we're going to do our annualboat party here in about two
weeks.
We've gone paintballing, we'vedone the little drive, the
exotic cars we took.
Take our guys to the conferenceonce a year.
We just, we actually took ourguys to Mexico, our million
dollar producers, we took themto Mexico in January, which was
(48:16):
a really cool experience.
So, you, our million dollarproducers, we took them to
mexico in january, um, which wasa really cool experience.
So, you know, take them out todinner, doing their doing the
team dinners, which we need toactually do one of those here.
So it's been a while, but youknow we can pull parties so you
guys have fun too yeah, you have, you have to.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
You have to Like everyone knows like roofing is a
lifestyle I mean sales arereally in general is a lifestyle
.
There's no off time, especiallywhen you're a 10 am sales guy.
It doesn't matter what industryyou're in, You're always
selling or prospecting.
So I think having that healthywork-life balance I know balance
is like a word that peopledon't like, Right, but what my
(49:01):
version of balance is like notevery day is going to be like
this.
Some days are going to be allwork and then some days are
gonna be all family, but whenyou average every day out in the
year, it's 50, 50.
You know what I?
Speaker 1 (49:13):
mean Okay.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Yeah.
So people think that when I,when people say balance, it's
like oh, every day is balanced.
No, some days I'm working 12,14 hour shifts, and then maybe I
take off on Friday.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
You know that's right .
I don't believe in balance atall.
I'm way off of balance.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
I honestly don't believe in balance, but when we
look on a 365 rolling schedule,there's balance.
You have to there is, there iseven if you don't like to admit
it, there is balance what do youthink?
Speaker 1 (49:47):
uh, what do you?
What do you think people shouldknow more, like because you
guys have gone through thejourney, right, like you said,
you went through this like theopening of a company yourselves.
What do you?
What's?
What's one thing more peopleshould understand about running
a roofing company man, there'scash flow, I mean.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
I mean it's probably like any business, right, you
have to make sure you have theright people in the right seats.
Don't try to wear all the hatsbecause you don't want to spend
the money on overhead to getpeople.
I think a lot of people here inTexas I mean like the truck
checking, a truck type of guysthey think that they're going to
go start their own so they cankeep all the money and it's like
, yeah, but then you know howlong are you going to do that
(50:29):
for?
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Yeah, that's pretty lonely.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
That's pretty lonely, I don't I?
I, that's not what thelifestyle I like.
I like to work with people, Ilike having a team.
I like you know, I think toopen a true legit business in
texas, that you're gonna have toput people in the right seats,
have to manage cash flow ifyou're gonna do it organically,
like me and jay did, like weflipped five grand and now here
we are.
You know that's right.
(50:53):
That's another company, butwe're really disciplined on
delayed gratification,sacrificing yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Yeah, delayed gratification is a big one that
people struggle with.
For sure it's a tough one.
It's tough when you look in thebank account and you're like,
oh, there's money there.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
No, it's not yours yet.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
Do you want to look rich now or do you really want
to be rich in 20 years?
You know like that's right.
It's don't, don't exchange that, that money, for short, short
term, you know gratification.
Yeah, it's a long-term vision.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
What are you most proud?
Speaker 2 (51:44):
of when you reflect on what you guys have built, how
much personal growth.
I mean it's not it's like youknow the vanity of like the
revenue and all that's cool,Like that's not really like it.
To me it's like how much I'vedeveloped as a leader, helped
other people grow, like we'rereally like a personal
development slash life coachcompany.
(52:05):
I, you know like people havecome in here, made money, got
their credit card.
Like when my sister came uphere I'm gonna use to use her as
an example she was a completelydifferent person.
You know she didn't believeherself, self doubt, didn't have
a reliable vehicle, didn't have, didn't know what a credit
(52:27):
score was, didn't know what acredit card was.
And to literally see hertransform her life Like many
others here have many peoplehere have.
You know she got her dreamtruck, she got her.
You know her dream house shegot.
You know for people to writethose you know achieve their
goals is the most gratifyingthing.
(52:48):
That's better than making moneyand putting it in my bank
account is seeing other peoplehappy and their kids happy and
then making the most amount ofmoney that they've ever made and
being the best shape of yourlife and being positive, and you
know that's that's the biggestthing that I am happy for is how
many people's lives we'vechanged and are going to change.
Speaker 1 (53:11):
That's awesome.
Appreciate your time today,Taylor.
This has been another episodeof the Roofing Success Podcast.
Speaker 4 (53:17):
Thank you for tuning into the Roofing Success Podcast
For more valuable content.
Visit roofingsuccesspodcastcomWhile there.
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merchandise and sign up for ournewsletter for industry updates
and tips.
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other professionals and stayupdated on the latest trends.
(53:39):
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