The Hidden Cost of Being a Roofing Owner with Erick Hernandez

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
I had an individual who used to work for me and he

(00:02):
was bringing in some seriousrevenue.
In six months that he was withme, he brought in about 1.3, 1.4
million.
I think I paid him a little over$300,000 in commissions.
He was just deal after dealafter deal, right?
But he wasn't good for theculture.
It's not just about money.
Money is a very big importantfactor in what it is that we do.

(00:24):
But if money is the only thingthat a certain individual has to
offer, like I don't necessarilywant them on the team.
Social media, at the end of theday, uh is it's king.
It's it's what helped us get towhere we're at.
People buy from people they knowlike and trust.
If you just constantly put inreal, fruit fruit fruit, they're
gonna get annoyed, tired of it.
So I started adding some of mypersonal, my personal life in it

(00:48):
just to create that emotionalengagement.
There's a lot of people outthere that don't understand what
it takes to be in the positionthat us owner operators are in,
right?
Just because you're a very goodsales rep or you brought you
bring in two, three milliondollars a year, doesn't mean
that you're gonna besuccessfully running the

(01:08):
company.

SPEAKER_04 (01:09):
Welcome to the Roofing Success Podcast.
I'm Jim Aline and I'm here tobring you insights from top
leaders in the roofing industryto help you grow and scale your
roofing business.
Eric Hernandez with END Premier.
How are you, man?
I'm doing good.
I'm doing good.
Thank you for that, brother.
Yeah, man, I appreciate it.

(01:30):
Um down in the in the roofingmecca, in the in the land of uh
in the land of the roofingcontractors, where where
competition is at its highest,right?
You survive and thrive in the inin the Metroplex.
How's it going?
Tell everyone uh a little bitabout END and and about yourself

(01:53):
and how you you know how you gothow you got how you got started
roofing and how how the thejourney's been for for for uh
for you know successfullygrowing END.

SPEAKER_02 (02:05):
Yeah, sure thing.
So um I started the company weofficially started it in
February of 2019.
Uh prior to that, we had in2016, we had a really bad
hailstorm here in Wiley, Texas.
I'm talking about a great greatgroup size hell, went through

(02:25):
the decking all the way inside,broke sheetrock.
And so, yeah, um, that's when Istarted with my dad.
My dad's actually asubcontractor, and he's been
working for um one of hiscontractors that he still does
work for up to you know thisday.
And so growing up, I was alwayson a roof.

(02:47):
I was always on a roof.
My dad would always take me towork with him, but my dad never
necessarily wanted me to go intothe roofing industry.
He wanted me to, you know, go toschool, get the degree, you
know, the whole American dream,sit in an office in the AC.
Um, but I think it was morebecause my dad really didn't
know the business side of it, hejust knew the labor side of it.

(03:08):
And then so he didn't want me tohave to work as hard as him.
And so he never reallyencouraged me or let me go work
with him and learn until 2016.
You know, I was a man, I was amanager at a pawn shop for five
years, and I learned a lot ofreally good things at the pawn
shop, you know, how to readcustomers, how to sell, how to

(03:31):
communicate, the customerservice.
I mean, I just learned like thepawn shop was very viable for me
to be able to be successful now.
And so 2016, things didn't workout at the pawn shop.
I asked my dad if I could workwith him, and I saw that he had
a lot of work.
He told me yes.
He told me that his only concernwas the heat because it can get
really hot out here.

(03:52):
And I ended up working with mydad for about three and a half
years as on the labor side.
So I started off picking uptrash, I started off uh, you
know, just clean, making sureeverything was good, making sure
the guys had water, whateverthey needed.
And then eventually, towards theend of it, I was installing, I
was doing the whole nine yards.

(04:12):
Uh, it wasn't until I was uh oneof the houses that we were
finishing up, I was cleaning theyard, right?
And I saw a contract on thefloor and it said$18,000.
So I folded it up and I put itin my pocket, and then I went
and I talked to my dad, and I'mlike, hey dad, how much do you
think that material costs?

(04:33):
And then he did his numbers inhis head, it was like like six
thousand.
And I'm like, and how much is hegonna pay you?
And then he was like like fourthousand.
I'm like, dad, he's making eightthousand dollars and he's not
even here, right?
Not knowing that the businessside was actually a little bit
more difficult, you know, it'sit's it's a lot more difficult

(04:57):
mentally, right?
It's not not necessarily on yourbody, but it's now that I'm on
this side, it's uh it's a lotmore stressful and whatnot.
Very lucrative, but very uhstressful.
And then so that's when uh E andD, you know, the light bulb went
off in my head.
You know, I went, you know, andI went to Versa print or Vista

(05:18):
print, made some cards, and Ithe cards just sat in my truck
for like seven months because Ididn't know what to do or how to
do it.
I just knew that I wanted to bethe owner of a roofing company.
Um, so I got a little bit oftraction in about 2018, got a
couple houses here and there.
What I would do is um I wouldpack my bag in the morning,

(05:43):
right, with clean clothes, andthen I'd go work with my dad all
day in the sun about 4:30, 5o'clock in the afternoon.
Once my my appointments were, Iwould always schedule my
appointments later on in theafternoon.
That way I could uh still go andwork with my dad, you know, so I
could make some money.
And then I would find thenearest LA fitness to me, walk

(06:05):
in, take a shower, walk, youknow, put my clean clothes back
on, walk right back out, and goand uh try to get a contract,
file claims, you know, to get aroof.
I did about six, seven the firstyear, 2018, and then in 2019 um
is when I started getting moretraction.
Social media at the end of theday uh is is you know, it's

(06:27):
king.
It's it's what helped us get towhere we're at today.
And so social media, I wouldalways post, and then I learned
the algorithms and I learned howto post and and how to make it
you know more personal becauseyou know people buy from people
they know like and trust.
If you just constantly puttingreal fruit fruit fruit, they're
gonna get annoyed, tired of it.

(06:47):
So I started adding some of mypersonal, uh my personal life
and it just to create thatemotional engagement, emotional
attachment.
In 2019, I hopped off the roof.
I told my dad, hey dad, in orderfor me to do what I have
envisioned up here, I can't comeup, I can't do, I can't sell a
job and then help you do it.

(07:09):
And then at first, they help me,it's because it's my it's my dad
and a whole bunch of my unclesthat worked for my dad, my
brother, my cousins.
And so when I first got off theroof, they didn't take it very
uh they didn't take it verygood, right?
They thought that I thought thatI was better than them because I
wasn't getting dirty anymorebecause I was over here just

(07:32):
doing this side of the business.
But eventually, once they saw,you know, that I was for real
and what we've been able toaccomplish now as a company, you
know, I think I've I've I'veearned their respect um little
by little.
And so it's a hugeaccomplishment.
Um, I the relationship with meand my dad was a little iffy at

(07:56):
first whenever I was making thetransition, but it's just my dad
was trying to teach me somethingthat he had never done before,
right?
My dad knew how to be a sub.
My dad knew how to go out thereand and work for the companies.
But whenever my dad would comeand try to give me advice on,

(08:16):
you know, who to hire, who notto hire, what to do, what not to
do, they're gonna steal fromyou.
Just be careful, this isn'tthat.
I'm like, dad, at the end of theday, I have to go through all
this.
People are gonna do whateverthey're gonna do, they're gonna
steal from me there.
But though these are learninglessons that I have to go
through.
That way I can start picking upred flags sooner than later,

(08:37):
whenever it does happen again,if it happens again.
You know, this industry is verycutthroat.
So, but yeah, man, that'sbasically how we got started.
Uh, I I got started in my houseon my uh in a little studio, and
then from my studio, we outgrewit, went to the kitchen island
from my kitchen island, thenwent to my living room.

(08:59):
Like I would move my couches,put two two tables, and then put
some chairs, and then I wouldhave people come in and talk to
us, the suppliers, publicadjusters, whatever.
And um, yeah, that's where westarted until we finally got our
first office space in Mesquite,Texas.
It was maybe like a 1200 squarefoot office.

(09:20):
Well, we started with one 600square foot, and then the
tenants next door left.
So then I walked over there, sawthe space, and then I I asked
the property management companyif I could cut a hole in the
wall and make it one big office.
So then we did that, and thenthe team the team kept growing.

(09:40):
So then we needed some warehousespace, so they had available
units like right in front of uswith warehouse space.
So I moved to production overthere, and then like production
was there, and then we werethere very, very uh maybe like
about two or three months withall these new all this new
space, and then we had to make alarge pivot um and come to where

(10:04):
we're at now.
So now I have a 76, 7,600 squarefoot office.
I got one, two, eight, nine,ten, eleven, twelve.
I've got 12 offices, a big oldmeeting room, a big old
warehouse, a conference room.
I mean, just everything that weneed to be able to grow into the
company that that we're planningto be.

SPEAKER_04 (10:24):
Yeah.
That that's awesome, man.
I I have a a lot to I thinkthere's a lot of good things to
talk about around that.
The the first one that I that Ithought of is, you know, from an
ownership level now, you know,what were some of those early
lessons you learned from likepicking up trash and cleaning up

(10:46):
and just bringing water to theguys?
And like, you know, what weresome of those early labor
lessons that you learned thatyou still use at the highest,
you know, uh in in running thebusiness today?
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(11:07):
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You know, what were some ofthose early labor lessons that
you learned that you still useat the highest, you know, uh in
in running the business today?

SPEAKER_02 (11:46):
Yeah, I mean, just just staying organized, right?
Staying organized.
I mean, even just picking uptrash, there's a way that that
if you follow a certain process,you know, it's easier on you the
way you pick it up, the way youput it in the dumpster.
I mean, just finding ways to towork smarter, not harder.

(12:06):
And so, and then that's what weended up doing over here at the
company.
I mean, that's been a lot oftrials and tribulations, but
we're we're getting there forsure.

SPEAKER_04 (12:18):
Yeah, so process is is sounds like what you learned
there.
It's like, hey, let's let'screate a fish and process in
that.
Now that the next one, which wasa hard one, when you picked up
that piece of paper and foldedit up and put it in your pocket,
said$18,000 on it, and you'relike, my goodness, man, there's
eight thousand dollars here.

(12:40):
You know, you were like, youdidn't realize some of those,
like what like what really wentinto that eight thousand
dollars, right?
Like what what you you thoughtthat was just cash in the bank.
You know what I mean?
Like, we all think that way.
It's like when we when we lookat someone else's uh bank
account, right?
It's easy to be like, oh yeah,that was easy.
That you you got that, that waseasy money.

(13:02):
What were the lessons that thatthat you've learned now looking
back at that$18,000?
You're like, oh man, I know Iknow what that$18,000 is now.
Like how is that how has thatchanged uh you know through
through time now?
Looking back at that.

SPEAKER_02 (13:20):
Yeah, that's a very good question because now
thinking back of it, you know,looking back at what the profit
is, you know, and what themargins are, you know, we we've
got some of the you know, someof the best margins and I think
in the construction space, butit just so I think there's two
different types of owneroperators, right?

(13:40):
There's some owner operatorsthat don't necessarily want to
have all the overhead, right?
Um, all the the systems inplace, they want to run real
lean and mean, just a one-manshow, right?
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
Um, there's been severalcompanies that have been started

(14:02):
from END and they run like that.
They run real lean and mean, andand and they're they're out
there and they're killing it,right?
And um now looking back at whatthe overhead is here with
everything that we have inplace, you know, the rent, the
CRM, the our insurance, I mean,all that good stuff.

(14:22):
It's just it's it doesn't all gostraight into our pocket, right?
So the way that we pay is uh isand I know I get a lot of
kickback from from some of mymentors, but we do a 1050-50
split, right?
And so it's it's it's it'sfairly common here in North
Texas.

(14:43):
Yep.
And so what some of the some ofthe questions that I was always
I would always get from some ofthe sales guys, some of the
newer sales guys is like, whyare you taking 10% off the total
contract, right?
Why can't you just pay yourbills with the 50% that are
going to you?

(15:03):
And so sometimes it's kind ofhard to explain that to the you
know, to the sales guys, theyjust think that, you know, if we
have maybe 50,000 going out incommissions that one Thursday,
they literally think that we'reputting$50,000 in our pocket and
we're walking away, you know,walking to the bank, and it's
not necessarily like that.
And so I think, yeah, just nowseeing that there was an eight

(15:28):
thousand dollar profit,especially the way that we're
running and operating here, likeit's yeah, you you need it.

SPEAKER_04 (15:36):
Like you need it.
What are some of the things youbelieve that you need it for to
run the company the way that youguys want to, right?
The the build, you know, havingthe the big, the big beautiful
office, the you know, havingtraining rooms and having all of
the resources for your team,like you know, how how does that

(15:56):
how does that look like?

SPEAKER_02 (15:57):
Yeah, so here we have um we've got a really good
system to where we've got anoperations manager.
Under the operations manager, wegot three project managers that
are in charge of all of theproduction for right now, right?
So right now, um three roops aday is what we'd be able to do.
And before, like, so we're we'rea full service general, we're

(16:20):
full service general contractorswhen it comes down to storm
restoration.
So if there's a garage door,fencing, whatever needs to be
done that's on that insuranceestimate, we facilitate.
Uh, before the sales guys usedto have to project manage the
job from start to finish, right?
And then that's why we weredoing the profit sharing.

(16:41):
Now that we've got the threeproject managers, at first we
started them off just watchingthe jobs, just watching the
roof, the install.
All the trades still fell on theproject, on the sales guys.
But we recently transitionedaway from that, and now our
sales, our Salesforce, all theydo is sell.

(17:01):
They don't project manage, theydon't call any of the vendors,
they don't call any of the anyof the subcontractors that we do
use, um, to go out there andmeet them to get bids, to get
estimates.
So their their main job is tojust go out there and get more
deals.
Why uh the reason that we didthat is because some guys would

(17:26):
have a really big month, let'sjust say in April, 200,000 in
sales, right?
And then in May, they'd bring inmaybe 20,000, 25,000.
And then so I'd start askingthem, like, hey, what happened?
Like, why did you go from hereto there?
Because like it's because I did,you know, I sold nine jobs last

(17:46):
month, and all the jobs had fourdifferent trades, so I had to be
back and forth.
Like, I didn't have time to goget another job um to find more
work.
So easy fix.
I'm not like, all right, soundsgood.
Boom.
And then so I ended up addingmore to the company overhead by
having these uh these three PMsnow, right?

(18:07):
But it's it's running moreeffective, more efficiently,
right?
Yeah, and then the way that Iincentivize the PMs, um, because
they get a salary, a weeklysalary, and they get a company
van and they get a company gascard, right?
But the way that I incentivizethem because now they're doing a
little bit more work than justwatching the roof go up, now

(18:27):
they're going and getting gutterestimates, windows, this isn't
that.
So it's a tier system, they canget up to a$200 uh bonus, trade
bonus on each job, depending onhow many trades there are.
So if they've got five projectsgoing up this week, uh, and all
of them have they just say threeor more trades, they get an

(18:48):
extra thousand dollars.
Nice, and then so the tradebonus that comes out of the job
that that that actually getsintegrated into the job cost.
But the actual overhead, what wepay them, that's just company
overhead.

SPEAKER_04 (19:03):
But yeah, what do you think the difference is?
Like when you're when you'rewhen you're you know, why not
just run it lean?
What do you feel the advantagesthat you have in in in in you
know kind of building the all ofthe infrastructure that you've
built?
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(20:08):
journey today.
Why not just run it lean?
What do you feel the advantagesthat you have in in in in you
know kind of building the all ofthe infrastructure that you've
built?

SPEAKER_02 (20:22):
My thing is always so I went, I used to um back in
2021, 22, I knew how to sell aroof.
I knew how to sell a lot ofroofs, I knew how to make a lot
of money.
I didn't know how to run andoperate a company, right?
I didn't go to school forbusiness or any of this stuff.

(20:43):
And so I wasn't very, very goodin school to begin with.
I barely graduated high school.
And so I could go out there andtalk and knock on the door and
you know, and and convincepeople to use me and and why I
why to use me.
But then whenever it came downto actually building the

(21:04):
company, I ended up going andhiring a business coach, uh
business consultant.
His name is Mike Claudio withWinRate Consultant.
Shout out to Mike.
Yeah, um, and he literally, himand his team literally taught me
how to run and operate.
The first ever event that I wentto, it was in Fort Lauderdale,

(21:25):
Florida, because he would havequarterly meetups.
He still has quarterly meetups,so where like he teaches all
this in person.
And um, I met uh Dave Owens fromI believe Roofcrafters from
Florida, Tampa is his main, Ithink his main I think he's like
in three or four differentstates, but Tampa's where he
lives.

(21:45):
And then something caught myattention.
He got a whiteboard and he drewfive boxes, and then he put
sales, marketing, operations,HR, uh, like all the key roles,
right?
And then he asked everybody,raise your hand if you're
wearing all these hats.
And so everybody rolled theirhand for the majority, right?

(22:08):
And then he put CEO at the verytop, right?
And he goes, If you guys aretrying to build a business
that'll run on its own, this isthe only box that you need to be
in, and you need to findsomebody to be in the sales, in
the operations, in the HR.
This so the first time I heardthat, I'm like, I need to do

(22:30):
that, I need to do that, andthen so yeah, so then that's my
very first hire was or um adminhire was Mr.
Noah Gonzalez, which he'sactually he still works here,
and he is now our operationsmanager.
I started him off in production.
He started off as a sales rep.
And then whenever he heard mesay that my next hire is gonna

(22:55):
be someone to run production, hepulled me to the side and asked
me, like, hey, what does thatconsist of?
And he's got a well, he's got aconstruction and welding
background, so he's he's verylike what we do isn't
necessarily hard, right?
Um, like putting thingstogether, material orders and
all that, it's fairly easy.

(23:16):
So he was able to catch on realquick.
We started them off, you know,super low, and then we worked
our way up, and then now he heliterally runs production.
Like I think that's especiallyif you're if if you've got the
plans, the vision to grow into alike a like a big company like I

(23:38):
do, I think delegating tasks umis important, right?
Because my phone used to ringall the time, every day, all
day, as soon as I would wake up,five o'clock in the morning,
right?
Especially with production.
Uh, like if we had a roof goingup and something was missing or
this and that, they would callme.

(24:00):
And then so I think that'sthat's allowed me to be able to
work on the company instead ofin the company by being able to
delegate things.
So now whenever somebody callsme for production, I still hear
them out, I still give themadvice, I still coach them as
much as I can.
And then before I hang up, I'mall like, all right, I need you

(24:20):
to go put it in the file, and Ineed you to call Noahy, and he's
gonna tell you exactly what todo.
Right?
So I don't ever, I don't evernot make myself accessible to
the team or think or or makethem feel like I'm off limits,
right?
Because I could do every singlerole that we have, I could I

(24:41):
could fill in one day for Noahif he's not here.
Right?
Do I like ordering material andscheduling crews?
Probably not.
Because whenever I did it, I wasliterally ordering material
today for tomorrow and trying tofind my my calling my dad.
Hey dad, I got a house for youtomorrow.
Like, let's go.
And so he's found a system towhere like everything that's

(25:01):
turned in this week on Friday,he makes the build sheet and he
orders all the material for thenext week.
So for the next week, we alreadyhave all the jobs that were
going up, who the sales rep is,who the project manager is, and
who the foreman is.
So it's very, very um there's aprocess now.

SPEAKER_04 (25:21):
There's a process now.
You had said that over as you'vebeen building this up and and
and growing the company, some ofthe your your dad was giving you
advice uh on things, and andsome of the lessons uh were
lessons that you needed to learnyourself.
So as you looked out at that orgchart, you saw sales, you saw

(25:43):
marketing, maybe production,right?
Like you saw the HR finance.
As you started to put thesepieces into place, as you
started to build out each ofthese divisions, what were some
of those, what were some of thelessons that came with it?

SPEAKER_02 (26:04):
I think one of the biggest lessons that I learned
is uh this last year and a halfto two years is making sure that
you keep your the companyculture intact.
Right?
The culture intact.
Um, once you get one bad apple,like it literally spreads faster

(26:24):
than you even know it.
And then so um I had anindividual who used to work for
me and he was bringing in someserious revenue.
Like in six months that he waswith me, he brought in about
1.3, 1.4 million.
I think I paid him a little over$300,000 in commissions.
Um, he was just deal after dealafter deal, right?

(26:49):
But he wasn't good for theculture.
Um to me, it's a lot, to me,it's not just about money.
Yes, money is a very bigimportant factor in what it is
that we do, but if money is theonly thing that a certain
individual has to offer, like Idon't necessarily want them on
the team.
Um our core values, which isevolved, discipline,

(27:11):
persistence, and relationships,like if there's any type of core
value misalignment, like now,knowing what I've gone through,
and I I just I make the cut.
I don't give nobody the benefitof the doubt.
Like I we it's like you hireslow and fire fast, right?

(27:32):
So as soon as I see somebody,you know, affecting the company
culture or somebody that's justnot aligned with us anymore, I I
pull the plug.
I have well, not just rightaway, obviously, but I have
conversations with them first.
And then I pull the plug.
But yeah, just just making surethat at the end of the day that

(27:54):
you don't let anybody take yourpeace away.
Because this is already a very,very stressful job, right?
And especially having a bigteam, um, you're trying to keep
everybody happy.
Like my thing is like right nowI've got about 23 sales reps.
Uh, everybody in total, weconsist of 32 people, right?
That work directly for thecompany.

(28:16):
22 of them are sales reps,everybody else is W-2 in the
office or PMs, project managers.
And so right now the culture isvery, very great because
everybody gets along witheverybody.
But the moment that somebodystarts, you know, I can tell
right away.
The pawn shop taught me how toread people very good.

(28:38):
Right?
So I can tell whenever somebodyis having a good day or a bad
day, and then I can and then Ialways have a conversation with
them.
I always put them to the sideand talk to them and be like,
hey, you good?
Like, you have anything on yourmind?
You know, sometimes there'smoney issues because we all know
that it takes about two monthsfor you to start making some

(28:58):
money here because it's it'sstraight commission.
And so, yeah, just keeping thatthat that culture intact.
Uh, my dad would always uh comein here and then he would just
be like, you need to be carefulbecause I saw the sales guy and
the one of your other substalking, and they're gonna end
up stealing from you, and thisis and that.

(29:19):
And I'm like that until until weactually know that this is what
they're doing.
Like, I don't want to even putthat in my head because there's
no reason to put that in myhead, right?
So my dad is just very oldschool, very, very protective.
You know, my dad immigrated fromMexico when he was a you know
younger, and so my dad wasalways my dad grew up kind of

(29:45):
just always like making surethat he was safe, and I guess
that's what him and my mom donowadays, right?
Because my mom, my mom actuallycleans her office twice a week,
and so she comes and cleans.
The office, and so whenever mymom sees something that isn't
right, or if she sees somebodyhere late at night, she calls me

(30:07):
right away.
Hey, this truck is here.
What, like, what is it?
Do you want me to tell them toleave?
I'm like, mom, relax.
It's it's this person, likethey're okay.
And so they're just you knowbeing protective, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 (30:20):
Well, it's a different mindset, right?
Like it and I don't think it'sjust just possibly because of
you know they're immigratingover and things like that.
I think that a lot of peoplehave that mindset.
They they operate, I think a lotof people operate from the
perspective of fear, right?
And and and so when man, thatit's a hard thing to get through

(30:44):
sometimes.
It's a hard thing to think aboutwhen it's like you start
thinking about all the thingsthat could go wrong, right?
And and focusing and and gettingreally into that, like, man,
well, now what if this personsteals from you, or what if what
if they go out and start theirown company, like you've had
happen, right?
Like you've had people go andstill you you you mentioned it,

(31:04):
like that they're going outrunning lean, doing their own
thing.
There's two to me, there's twoways to look at it.
And I'd love your perspective onthis.
My perspective is uh, and I'veseen it in the roofing industry
over and over again, and apeople are gonna leave, right?
Like, let's just like they'rethey're they're just your
employees, they're not, youknow, they're not tied to you

(31:26):
beyond that.
They don't have a an obligationbecause you gave them the
opportunity to sell a roof, oreven if you trained them how to
sell a roof, like you don't, youdon't to me, you don't have an
they don't have an obligation toyou, right?
They don't it's if if somethingstarts going wrong or if they
have dreams that are bigger thanwhat are what they can

(31:47):
accomplish within your company,man, that you know, like they're
gonna move on.
Now, in that you can say, Yeah,man, I I I you know I've heard a
lot of contractors go down theroad of fuck them, really to to
say it bluntly, right?

(32:08):
Like, and and be very abrasiveand be very um, you know, uh,
you know, take it personal andand and really get frustrated
with it.
I've seen other contractors thatgo, man, look how many come look
how much opportunity has comefrom what I've created, right?

(32:32):
Like I created an opportunityfor this person, they went and
started their own thing andcreated more opportunity for
other people.
How do you keep your mindset incheck?
You know, uh as these potentialproblems like that, if you want
to even call them problems, likeas those potential fears come up

(32:53):
inside of you.
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Potential problems like that, ifyou want to even call them
problems, like as thosepotential fears come up inside

(33:36):
of you.

SPEAKER_02 (33:37):
So I I always tell everybody, you know, like one of
our modos, one of our sayingsright now that we have, oh, so
we have this uh we have amonthly founders' day, which is
uh basically like instead ofdoing one-on-one interviews, we
interview everybody on a like ina group setting, and we give

(33:59):
them a like a two-hourpresentation, hour, hour and a
half presentation on what it iswe do, um, what our vision is,
or like we go over the corevalues, how they get paid, like
the from start to process,right?
And uh just because sometimesit's just easier to talk to 10
or 15 people, and then some ofthem are like nope, this isn't

(34:20):
for me, and then they leaveinstead of me, you know, having
individual interviews every day.
But one of the the the slogansthat we're using is start here,
succeed anywhere, right?
Because I'm I'm I'm a very biguh proponent on that because I
came from, you know, I when Istarted, I went to go work for

(34:40):
another roofing company forthree months, right?
But like in the transaction ofme trying to learn everything, I
went to go see if there wasanything else I needed to learn.
And I went with the intentionsget in, learn, and then leave.
So part of the like once I startgetting to know everybody and I
have started having one-on-oneswith them, I started asking them
like what their like long-termgoals are, what their short-term

(35:03):
goals are.
And like if they tell me thatthey want to start a roofing
company, I'm like, great, that'sawesome.
I once was at a roofing companyand now I'm here.
I'm all like, as long as you uhstay loyal, loyal to the company
while you're here and don't doanything that that'll jeopardize
the company, you will always, Iwill always be a phone call

(35:24):
away.
Right.
And there's been five companiesthat have left um that have
started here, and three of themI still go have lunch with.
I still have a dailyconversation with.
The other two, if I see them,I'll say hi to them, but it's
just uh it wasn't the the thethe the the there could be some
nasty breakups every once in awhile.

(35:46):
For sure.
But but my thing is like I I'llget up there on my in front of
my room and I'll tell everybodyI know that you guys have bigger
plans.
Some of you guys might havebigger plans, and this is just a
way for you to facilitate that.
This is just uh this is justyour automobile to get you to
that.
Like I had the other day, I hadone of the guys say that he

(36:06):
wants to get into real estate.
I'm like, okay, so you want toget into real estate, that's
that's awesome.
Let's set up a plan so that tosee how much volume you need to
do here so that you can putmoney to the side so that you
can buy your first investment,right?
And then whenever it's your timeto go, it's your time to go.
So one of the core values, uhpause under underneath the

(36:29):
relationship is to remain honestwith yourself and with us.
So as long as you're honest andyou're transparent, and you come
to me and you tell me, hey, mytime here is done.
Thank you for everything, youwill always be welcomed back.
It gets to the point to wherelike I even go into the CRM and
I'm like, all right, you gotfive active jobs.

(36:51):
Which ones do you want?
Take them with you because thenI don't want that.
Like, I'm I'm I'm gonna reassignthe jobs, and once I reassign
them, and then you tell me youdon't want them anymore, and
then now you're still trying toget them.
Now we're gonna have tension,and that's what I don't want.

SPEAKER_04 (37:06):
Yes.

SPEAKER_02 (37:07):
At the end of the day, I'm a very big proponent,
and there's work out there, Ican go get it.
Right?
I want to keep everybody on theteam for as long as I can, but I
know that when their time comes,it comes.
The longest I've got two peoplethat are still with me that
started out at my house.
Hunted, which is now my salestrainer, he's been with me for

(37:30):
four years.
And then Luis, uh, the roofdoctor, Morales, he's been with
me for three years, and he wasmy first million-dollar
producer, right?
And and Luis has had Luis has,you know, me and Luis have had
conversations, you know, hedoesn't want to do roofing the
rest of his life, but right now,this is what's paying him and is
paying him well.

(37:51):
And he's gone, he's seen theheadaches that I've gone through
and and the stuff that I've gonethrough whenever you know people
leave or whenever just ingeneral.
And he's like, man, I don't wantto I don't want those problems.
I just want to be able to makemoney.
And you know, and there's a lotof people out there that don't
understand what it takes to bein the position that us owner

(38:13):
operators are in, right?
Just because you're a very goodsales rep, or you brought you
bring in volume, two, threemillion dollars a year, doesn't
mean that you're gonna besuccessfully running the
company.
I think at the end of the day,it's all about building people
up.
Um, the start here, succeedanywhere, that goes back to

(38:36):
we're not just teaching you howto make money, right?
We're teaching you how to makemoney, we're teaching you
essentially to become the bestversion of yourself.
Um, I don't drink, I don't dodrugs.
Um, I had to lead from examplefrom 2019 to 2021, 22.
I was very, I was doing a lot ofcocaine and I was drinking a

(38:59):
lot, right?
You're just your common roofingroofer, yeah, whatever.
And so um I I want to say that Iended up losing one of the you
know, one of the first guys thatjoined the team, I that helped
me win early on.
I feel like I lost him becausehe couldn't take me serious,

(39:20):
because I was always drinking, Iwas always high, I was always
showing up, hung over.
Uh sometimes I wasn't evenshowing up, you know.
Um, and so I feel like wheneverthat happened, like I'm like,
okay, like you lost him.
Like, what are you gonna do sothat you don't lose another
good, you know, another goodguy?

(39:43):
And so I decided I wentliterally cold turkey from one
day to another, and it'll bethree years, and December 10th,
it'll be three years.
No, no drugs, no alcohol.
And so I've lost a lot ofweight.
Um, I've got up to like 375pounds right now.
I'm down to 250.

(40:04):
Uh, I started lifting a littlebit, you know, I started going
to the gym, I started eatinghealthier, essentially becoming
the best version of myself,right?
So I'm I feel like I gotta leadby example, right now.
Am I gonna get everybody to belike me and to stop eating to

(40:25):
you know to eat healthy and togo to the gym and to stop
drinking?
No, I'm not, right?
But I'm not ever gonna encouragethem to do something that will
affect them or their family.

SPEAKER_04 (40:40):
Yeah.
That and that's that that's abig leadership lesson to learn,
right?
And as you're as you're growingthe company, I I always think
that like entrepreneurship andbuilding a business is personal
development in disguise, right?
Like there's a lot that you haveto, a lot that you have to
learn.
And congratulations for that,because it it it takes a lot to

(41:02):
to go, man, to have thatself-awareness.
I think that's it, it's it'salways it's been studied that
self-awareness is one of the oneof the traits of someone who
like a of a good CEO.
They're self-aware.
Like you had to look in themirror and go, man, I'm not, am
I someone who people wouldshould want to follow?

(41:26):
And and and and you make yourchanges in your life.
One of the things that I've seenof people who do make changes in
their lives or who do who arevery uh proactive in the in
their in their the betterment ofthemselves, stopping drinking
and partying and fitness andhealth and you know whatever

(41:47):
else goes along with that, isthat it's funny how how much
influence you have on othersthat you don't even realize.
Did you see any react anyone inyour team, like did it happen
that any part of your teamyou're like, oh yeah, I didn't
even realize it, but when Istopped doing that, some of my

(42:09):
team kind of went in the samedirection.
Did that happen with you?
Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_02 (42:18):
I mean, I used to just always tell everybody to
meet me for lunch here, and thenthe lunch would turn into shots,
and then more shots, and thennext thing you know, everybody
was canceling appointments,rescheduling for the next day
because we're just gonna stayand drink.
And then so when I when I firststopped drinking, we would still
go out to the same place, butthey would wait to see what I

(42:38):
would order, and I would justget a water, uh, you know, clip
soda, and then that's everybodybe like, all right, we're not
drinking today.
And so finally they saw, right,that I'm not drinking.
Um, but yeah, I had myoperations manager Noe, he has
been sober too for I think two,three years.
Like he went, like as soon as Idid it, I think he was like

(43:02):
right after me.
Um, yeah.
My GM Chris, he just started hisjourney as well.
Um, it's just and now he'sstarting to see and realize like
how much potential he has andhow much more opportunity there
is whenever you're just focused.

SPEAKER_04 (43:21):
Yeah, it's amazing, man.
And and and a lot of times I Iwould say that we don't even
realize the influence that wehave.
Right?
You you didn't even real, youprobably didn't even realize it.
But now when you go to lunch andyou you're still going to the
same lunch, there's just it'sjust a slight change.
Now everyone's going, they'rehitting out back back to their

(43:44):
appointments, they're doingtheir thing, they're they're
being more successfulfinancially from it.
They're you know, the company'sthe company is being is is is
achieving a greater level ofsuccess, and all of it just
builds upon it.
So then everyone can look backand go, man, that was uh, you
know, maybe like it it does taketake take that.

(44:07):
So for people listening, man, ifyou haven't taken those steps,
you know, be self-aware.
Look at yourself, you know.
Hey, am I someone that peoplewould want to follow?
You know, um, and and it doesn'thave to be all at once.
You could make small changesover time, you know, but but
it's a great thing.
I want to talk to you a littlebit about recruiting the team
because you've gone to, like youmentioned a little bit ago, kind

(44:29):
of a group recruiting process,right?
Let's walk through that.
Uh talk about it a little bit.
How do you how do you attractpeople to come to uh you do like
a presentation of theopportunity to work there?
Walk us through that from thebeginning all the way through

(44:51):
the you know training andonboarding.
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(45:55):
Walk us through that from thebeginning all the way through
the you know training andonboarding.

SPEAKER_02 (46:01):
Yeah, so we started the Founders Day uh maybe about
five or six months ago.
And uh we were trying to buildthe team at the beginning of the
year.
The first hailstorm that hithere in the in North Texas was
March, like the first week ofMarch, right?

(46:24):
And I we it was taking too slow,like the process that we had,
because we had them filling outa disc assessment and then
sending a video, and then it wasjust like a lot of people like
weren't even doing that, so itwas we weren't getting people in
the door.
And so I mean, this stormseason, I was even out in the

(46:44):
sales field.
That's how that's how busy wewere, right?
In March and April, I mean, Idid I ended up setting about
225,000 myself.
And so that was the first timelike in three years that I had
been like actively like in thesales position.
And it's just because like wewere like our we were we were
down in bodies and so inmanpower.

(47:06):
And so what happened was uh Iwent back and I started seeing
like what we were doing.
Like we have we had indeeds uh,I mean, we had uh ads on Indeed,
on Whiz Hire, I mean socialmedia, uh and then it's just it
just wasn't working, right?
So we started like Chris is theone that brought up the idea,

(47:28):
like let's just bring everybodyin as a group, we'll call it the
Founders Day, and then we'll goahead and uh still use Indeed,
still use WizHire, still usesocial media, right?
So we make a little uh of a PDFof like Founders Day, and like
so what we do is we bring peopleon once a month, and the reason

(47:51):
that we do that is because weput them through a 14-day like
boot camp, as I guess you wouldsay, right?
From nine to five, Mondaythrough Friday here.
Um, our sales trainer Hansenputs them through, like he's got
an agenda to where every day hetalks about something else.
That way, whenever the guys goout in the field, they know

(48:13):
somewhat of what's going on.
They're not just like, uh no.
Um, our goal is for Hansen toget these guys um in the first
30 days to be able to know howto run the inspection, how to
file a claim, how to meet theadjuster, and then how to just

(48:36):
and then just just to that pointwhere you know the the insurance
scope and the the first checkcomes in.
Then at that point, they'reunderneath the team lead, and
then the team lead goes andhelps them facilitate that work
order, pick colors out.
So it's it's an ongoing, it's anongoing project.
It's an ongoing, you know,thing.

(48:58):
But that's one of the thingsthat that has really worked for
us is doing the 14 days, youknow, in in the in the office,
yeah, and going over everything,going over examples, going over
the CRM, going over Hell Recon,going over everything that we
utilize, basically giving themthe whole playbook on what it is
that we do.

(49:18):
We just don't necessarily go indepth in everything, right?
Yeah, because we're trying toget these guys up on roofs as
fast as they can so they can getpaid.
And so one of the challengesthat we give them to is the
first week is like, hey, this isyour first week.
Um, your homework for this weekis to uh generate five five
inspections.
So go on your Facebook, telleverybody that you're you know

(49:41):
that you started a new career,go down on your uh your your
contacts, hit up all yourfriends and family, just tell
them that you need a, you know,that you need a roof to practice
on.
And I just want to see if ifyou're capable of generating
five five leads, right?
Whether we close them or wedon't close them or anything, I
just want to see that they putin the effort to generate the

(50:04):
five leads.
And so that's one of the firstthings that we get them to do.
And then, you know, and then wewalk them through the through
the process.
If any of the if any of them doget an inspection while they're
in the still in the 14 days,then one of the team leads or
one of the closures goes andruns that inspection with them.
That way Hansel can stayteaching everybody.

(50:26):
Uh, we go door mocking twice tooas a company so that they can
see and feel what it's like tobe out on the doors.
Um, we have in the our otherhouse and in our warehouse, I
have an actual mock-up of aroof, right?
So it's our it's it's it startsat the floor, it's about a nine
pitch, goes up about six feet.

(50:47):
And then so I've got a flat roofto show them what a flat roofing
system looks like.
I've got the gable going down,and then I got a small valley in
the middle, and I got stepflashing.
I've got almost every componentthat you can think of.
That way we can take them thereand we can show them what to
look for and what you know whatit's supposed to look like.

(51:08):
Show them the the terminology ofthe material of the structure.
I always tell the guys it soundsbetter whenever you say, like,
you see that piece of facialboard, yeah, it's it's rotten.
Instead of saying, like, you seethat wood right there, Mr.
Homeowner, that wood rightthere, yeah, it's not good no
more.
So it's just it's just you soundmore professional.

(51:29):
Before it was just like go outthere and get it.
Like this, you know, like ourtraining wasn't what it is now,
and there's been a lot of trialand error on trying to get the
training down right now.
This is what's been most uh youknow effective, and so this is
what we're sticking to rightnow.

(51:50):
And then every Tuesdays andThursdays, we have like a
continuing education uh hour, sowhere everybody comes in,
especially the newer guys, or ifwe see somebody that hasn't been
performing, or somebody that ontheir on their KPIs, you know,
they did 30 inspections butdidn't sign anybody, then we

(52:13):
know that there's there'sthere's some type of problem
from coming down and talking tothe homeowner, right?
So whenever we see that the theguys turn in scorecards every
Friday, whenever we see that weuh we put we tell them like,
hey, we need you to try to makeit to these, this one, and this

(52:34):
one, because we're gonna begoing over this and that.
And so they're they're they'regood about showing up and yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (52:44):
So using the KPIs, using the KPIs as feedback into
into continuous training.
Yes, right?
Like, hey, like that that that'sgreat.
So you're you're recruiting,you're you're attracting people
to come, you you have thisevent, you you explain
everything that's gonna happen,the company, the culture, the

(53:05):
all of that.
Then you if if they'reinterested from there, they move
into the the 14-day uh process.
What what do you think like itfrom a percentage-wise, like um
of the people that show up forFounders Day, how like what
percentage of them move in?
Like, have have you seen onaverage people moving into the

(53:27):
the 14-day training?

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SPEAKER_04 (54:01):
Like what percentage of them move in?
Like, have have you seen onaverage people moving into the
the 14-day training?

SPEAKER_01 (54:09):
Maybe like about 80.
Nice.
Yeah, about 80 of them, right?

SPEAKER_04 (54:15):
And then how many make it how many of those 80%
make it through the 14 week or14 days?

SPEAKER_02 (54:21):
Yeah, usually they make it first, you know, through
the first 30 days.
Um, and then I've just I've hadsince we started this, I think
I've only had two that just likesaid, like, hey, this isn't for
me.
Yeah.
Um, and then this last one thatwe did, I had two of two guys be
like, as soon as because Istarted, there's a slide that

(54:44):
says, like, this is acommission-based job, like
there's no base pay.
Like, if this isn't somethingthat is gonna, you know, be an
issue, then we suggest that youknow, you don't waste your time
and and you get up and leaveright now, you know.
And then so that helps us a lot.

SPEAKER_04 (55:01):
Just you know, do you filter that in the job ads
too?
Like in the in the ads thatyou're posting to attract people
to Founders Day?
Like, are you saying, hey, thisis a commission-based
opportunity, so people are arefiltered in that uh like before
they even come a little bit, oror are you just saying, Hey,
come and see, and we'll talkabout it from here?

SPEAKER_02 (55:20):
On the indeed ones, yes, on the indeed and Wizire,
whenever they're going, becausewe get a lot of candidates from
there, and then we I send them apersonalized message, like as
soon as they nice, you know,fill out the form.
I you know, I go on there andlike, hey, how you doing?
I'm Eric.
I'm one of the founders of EndPremier Uven.
You've made the first initialstep to do this, this, and that.

(55:42):
Founders day is on this day, andthen I kind of give them
instructions, and then the daybefore I give them, I send them
another video, and then I tellthem where to park and where to
come in, and like that we'll youknow, we're eager to meet them.
Nice.
And so, but yeah, I mean, it'sjust uh we do a lot of social
media.
Like I've got two uh I've gottwo videographers that are

(56:06):
always here, so they're alwaysfilming, like whenever we do
company events.
Uh like we're going to the statefair next Monday on the 6th as a
company.
You know, we get a big partybus.
Uh, we all go, we meet here, wewe we go for about three or four
hours as a team.

(56:26):
Uh, we, you know, the companypays everybody's way in and
gives them$50 worth worth oftickets to be able to, you know,
to buy lunch.
And everything else is on them.
But that's just a day that wetake off.
So we there's too much money inthis industry for for the owners
just to want to do everything bythemselves, and and there's just

(56:48):
too much, right?
So we we're very big on givingback, not just to our team, but
like back to the community aswell.
Like, just we're givers.

SPEAKER_04 (56:59):
Nice, nice man.
Let's talk about those socialmedia strategies because that
was one thing you mentionedearly on, and I definitely
wanted to hit on with you.
You know, you said kind ofgetting started.
That was that was a little bitof your like how how you got
things going was through postingon social media.
What why did you why was thatwhy did you start posting on

(57:24):
social media?
Like, was it a certain person?
Was it a certain like I heardthat this is gonna be the the
way to do it, or you juststarted doing it?
Like, how did that come to bewhere you're like, I'm I'm going
to become active on socialmedia?

SPEAKER_02 (57:38):
We just uh I was seeing what other companies were
doing, yeah.
Right.
Um, we have another mentor, hername is uh Kimbo Garcia, which
she is now Skyline Properties,but she also owns a consulting
firm, C E O A C E O E F.
And um, and she's actually oneof our mentors as well.

(57:59):
And she would always, when shewas starting out, um, back then
when she had RKG roofing andconstruction, um, she would put
out all this free content,right?
So I told Daisy, my wife, I'mlike, hey, I need you to follow
Kimba and I need you to learn asmuch as you can.
She used to she used to put alot of uh free stuff out there

(58:22):
before she started herconsulting firm.
I mean, she still does, right?
Yeah, but when I saw that, likeKimba's Kimba was one of the
first ones that we startedfollowing for you know to try to
grow my social media, uh,picking up little nuggets that
she would leave.
And uh, and that's where Ilearned, you know, the whole

(58:42):
algorithm, the whole 80%, youknow, you and then 20% business
commercials.
Before, when I first started, itwas just roof, roof, roof, roof,
roof.
Like you'd get onto my socialsand it'd just be a picture of a
house, another one, another one,another one.
Like, who wants to see that nowlooking back at it, right?
And then so I never reallywanted to post my personal life

(59:06):
or my kids or anything on socialmedia.
I wanted to use it strictly forwork, but it it would have like
we would have never been able toaccomplish in the early stages
what we did.
And then so I, you know, shewould always talk about the
algorithm, like get people toengage with you on a personal
level.

(59:26):
And so I started making stufflike that.
I started, you know, makingpictures of I would talk about
me and my wife, I would talkabout me and my kids, and I
would put emojis on the on theon the text and like make it eye
catch you.
And so it worked.
Like a lot of people wouldengage, like, comment, and then

(59:47):
I learned that if you commentback, it pushes it up on the
algorithm.
And then so I learned how toutilize social media to where I
was posting more about mypersonal uh progress than I was
the company.
Company, but whenever I wouldpost about the company,
everybody who engaged with myprevious post would see it, not
necessarily engage with it, butthey would see it.

(01:00:10):
Right.
And I got to the point to wherelike I I got a lot of referrals
from people I never knew becauseof the social media.
Right.
It's crazy, right?
I didn't do any door knocking.
When I first started, I didn'tdo any door knocking.
It was all social media.
All social media, all referrals,everything.

(01:00:30):
And I got to the point to wherelike I got the company.
I try to teach everybody how Idid it, but there's some people
that don't like to talk oncamera.
There's some people that reallydon't want to show anything on
social media that they just wantto go and knock.
Right.
So I had to transition fromokay, what God is here isn't

(01:00:52):
going to get us there.
So then I started getting deepinto like the like the
door-to-door and learning thepitches and going out there with
the guys and and just findingall different types of ways to
generate deals, right?
I mean, from networking eventsto insurance agents, real estate
agents, um referral partner.

(01:01:15):
I mean, just everything, codecalling.
I mean, we we do a little bit ofeverything.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:21):
And you should.
If you like if you had to, ifyou had to put together a
playbook for like just astep-by-step playbook on someone
to get started and and and andbuild up their social media
muscle, right, to start to toget this thing going for their
company, what would be the stepsthat you would take?

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:42):
Man, I I would have them, I would encourage them to
post something about whatevertheir hobby is, right?
I'll use one of our new guys,for example, his name is Lee.
Lee's into the like into thecar, like fixing cars up and
like fast cars and stuff likethat.
So his audience is differentthan my audience, right?

(01:02:04):
A lot of the people that followhim are a lot of car, you know,
car people.
And so I told him, I'm like,hey, just make your post about
your cars, about your hobby, andthen keep doing that, and then
throw in some roofing stuff.
And now he's starting togenerate deals from his car

(01:02:24):
people, right?
So I just think that you willhave you can't be scared if
you're trying to use socialmedia as a platform, you can't
be scared to post and be um howis it like vo vulnerable?
I can't say that word.
Vulnerable, yeah, yeah.
Vulnerable, yeah.
Yeah, you know, becausesometimes I share some things

(01:02:46):
that that a lot of people wouldbe like, dang, like like why are
you sharing that?
I'm like, because it's it's likeI'm human and I'm trying to make
an uh uh an emotional connectionwith whoever's on the other side
of that, right?
So that's awesome, man.
Whoever's trying to use socialmedia.
What I did too early on is Iwent and I started adding um

(01:03:11):
people that I knew from school,but that I didn't necessarily
talk to, right?
And then if I would go to theirmutual friends and they had 200
mutual friends, I'd add themtoo.
And then so I started creatinglike just a whole bunch of
people that I know who they are,but I really didn't talk to them
in person.

(01:03:32):
And then that's I mean, I'vegotten a lot of a lot of uh
referrals from that.
Like a lot of people know who Iam because of it.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:41):
Yeah, that's awesome.
That that's a great way to getstarted.
Hobbies, people post about yourhobbies to get the conversation
going, go and find people thatyou were connected to, or maybe
one degree or five, you know,that what's the six degrees of
separation, right?
Start going down that channel,friending people, getting
becoming part of theconversation.

(01:04:02):
Looking back at the highs andlows of of building END Premier
Roofing, you know, what what'sthe single biggest lesson you'd
want another roofing companyowner to know about your
journey?

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:16):
Make sure you have contracts in place.
Make sure you have contracts inplace.
Um, because one of the one of mymentors told me that once you
get to a certain level, likeit's yeah, you're gonna start
getting hit with lawsuits,you're gonna start getting hit
with with all different types ofthings.
Like it's just part of the game,right?

(01:04:39):
Like they even told me, like, Iwould say I'm sorry, but like
I'm gonna congratulate youbecause you've reached another
level.
And so um, we have a lawyer onretainer now to help us with all
these documents because before Iwould just type up like this is
your pay structure, this isn'tthat, boom, sign it.
And now it's an actual form fromthe lawyer that we have uh just

(01:05:02):
to make sure that at the end ofthe day they're protected and
we're protected, right?
So just making sure thateverything is in place.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:12):
I had an attorney uh back in the day that that that
said, hey Tim, you know, youknow why they call them
contractors?
It's like, why, Kaz?
He's like, because they work offof contracts.
I was like, boom.
That was uh that was one ofthose aha moments for me.
Eric Mann, I appreciate yourtime today.

(01:05:33):
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