What if your biggest dream—building a wildly successful roofing company—is actually your biggest risk? Curtis Eshghy scaled his business to $30M+, but along the way, he learned some hard lessons that almost took him down. In this episode, he shares the dangers of rapid growth, the leadership mindset shifts that saved his business, and how you can scale smarter—without losing control.
Curtis reveals:
✅ Why hiring too fast can backfire (and what to do instead)
✅ The #1 leadership mistake that turns success into chaos
✅ How to protect your business from becoming a "house of cards"
✅ The key to keeping your team motivated and your company profitable
Most roofers think more sales = more success. But if you’re not careful, rapid growth can destroy everything you’ve built. Watch this now and learn how to grow with purpose, keep your company strong, and create a legacy that lasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What if your dream business is secretly a ticking
time bomb?
Curtis SG's journey reveals thedangerous mistakes
entrepreneurs make and thegame-changing mindset that saved
him from disaster.
In this episode, curtis takesus on a masterclass in
leadership, growth and the artof stepping back to see the big
(00:21):
picture.
He shares the tough decisions,personal evolution and
strategies that helped himcreate a legacy company built to
last.
Curtis is more than the CEO.
He's a builder of dreams, bothfor his business and for the
people within it.
With over $30 million in annualrevenue, curtis has redefined
what it means to grow withpurpose and lead with heart.
(00:44):
From staffing 150 installers tolearning the value of balance
over relentless growth, curtishas mastered the art of scaling
without losing sight of whatmatters most.
Get ready for actionableinsights and inspiring stories.
Curtis doesn't just share hiswins.
He shares his playbook.
(01:04):
Let's jump in and learn how togrow smarter, lead better and
dream bigger.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Welcome to the Roofing Success Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'm Jim Alleyne and I'm here to bring you insights
from top leaders in the roofingindustry to help you grow and
scale your roofing business.
Chicago land's finest.
Curtis Eschie how are you,brother Good?
How are you doing, jim?
Good, man, good to see youagain, good to have you back on
the show.
It's been a long time.
(01:34):
The first conversation that wehad was about building a strong
foundation in your roofingbusiness.
You were already a roofingcontractor top 100 a couple of
years.
It was about two years ago, Ithink, when we spoke last and we
did an episode you know andbuilt your company to 25, 30,
maybe 30 million in revenue.
You haven't stopped, man.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, that's been keeps going.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It keeps on going right Like the vision is big.
Let's start off with that.
Let's start off about thevision.
What was your vision?
What was your vision in thoseearly days?
Did you, were you in thoseearly days?
Did you have any thought thatyou were going to build
(02:21):
something, a company with 250employees and you know?
Did you ever think of that?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Not necessarily to that scale.
I always had a vision, I alwayshad a dream of building
something that you know leaves alegacy and that I could kind of
pass on to you know, familymembers and you know close
friends and my daughter and thatvision has matured I would say
(02:59):
I wouldn't say it's changed hasmatured, and knowing where you
become the asset and not theliability is something that you
know.
The past two years have really,you know, helped me identify
within the company, withinmyself, within, you know,
maturing as a, as an adult, asyou know, um, I think that kind
(03:33):
of by the knowledge, experienceand the ability to take a step
back and watch things, not youknow, you get a different
perspective.
So if you're playing football,for example, right, and you're
an offensive lineman, the visionthat you see is directly in
front of you and, and that'skind of what your focus is is,
you know, making that block ormaking a tackle.
(03:55):
When you take a step back andnow you're the coach, right,
you're watching it from thesideline and you get a different
perspective.
You start, start to be able tosee, you know, maybe five or six
different players at one time,when you're the offensive
coordinator or you're the GM andyou're sitting in a skybox and
you're looking down, you get tosee the whole field and I think
(04:18):
that that's kind of with withthe help of the people in the
company, with all these you know, all these people's hard work
and dedication it's given me theability to have a different
perspective and that perspectivebecomes the ability to make
tough decisions, and a lot ofthose tough decisions are to
(04:41):
kind of save everybody.
You know, even when it'suncomfortable, even when it's a
decision you don't want toreally make, something that
takes you a while to sleep on.
I think that you know that hasbeen where I become.
The best suited asset was beingable to play all of those
positions and work my way upinto being able to see the field
(05:06):
as a whole, and that'ssomething that you know.
Like I said before, I thankeverybody here in the company to
allow me to mature and growinto that role.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, what?
What do you think theimportance is in learning all of
the positions and how much doyou have to play each position?
Like, do you have to really beon the field in every position
in your company to really, or doyou think that, like you can,
you can learn how to coachsomeone right, because coaching
(05:38):
is different than playing a lotof times?
What's your thoughts on that?
It definitely is.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You also know when.
You have to know when toidentify someone that is more
skilled or more talented thanyou at a certain position as
well.
Your ego can't get in the wayof what's best for the company
or or what's what's going tohelp our growth, because maybe I
(06:04):
can tell you right nowproficiency when it comes to
using a software.
I may not be that guy.
I may not be the day-to-day youknow, a million phone calls and
problem solving over and overand over again.
That may not be where I'm bestsuited.
Over and over and over again,that may not be where I'm best
(06:27):
suited.
So, really identifying people'sstrengths and keeping them
focused and empowering them toelevate through whatever
position it is that they are inthe company, I think that you
know myself not necessarilyhaving to play every position,
but kind of, in the growth of acompany, you, you, you know you
(06:48):
want to kind of start out at thebottom and kind of work your
way through stuff and then whenthat next guy comes and he this,
you know, he's better than me,you know what I mean.
He's better than me at closing,you know, let him kind of take
that responsibility of teachingothers how to close.
Right now.
I felt like you know, when I wasknocking doors, you know, five,
(07:11):
six, seven years ago I wasgreat at getting people to open
the doors.
My partner, kevin, was a masterby getting the closing done.
So once I kind of identifiedthat it was, it was an easy
transition to say, hey, kevin, Ineed you to teach this part.
Right, and I'll teach this part.
And then another individualcame in and they showed me hey,
(07:35):
maybe they're better at openingthan I was.
Okay, so now moving out the wayto allow them to kind of, you
know, grow and whatever worksyou know or whatever knowledge
they have or what's working, letthem kind of share that with
the rest of us.
And in that process everyone'skind of moved up.
(07:56):
You know, like the Kevin is theVP of the company now and it's
just the constant.
You know being able to take,you know, three steps forward,
two steps back.
Kind of analogy is you know,you get out there, you try
things out.
Either they work or they don't,but either way you kind of have
(08:17):
to take that step back, realignand then actually get out there
.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That different viewpoint is really important.
I've heard it.
I heard, I listened to aninterview.
There's a big marketing guy,his name is Alex Hermosi, and
then Dave Ramsey, the financeguy.
Yeah, alex was interviewingDave and Dave was talking about
his entrepreneurial journey andhow, like entrepreneurs, if
(08:44):
entrepreneurship is a maze,entrepreneurs, business, you
know, small business owners man,we're we don't care where the
maze goes Like we'll go under awall, over a wall or through a
wall if we need to, right, we'relike we don't.
The strategy of how to getthrough the maze isn't what
we're concerned about.
We're concerned about gettingout of the other side.
(09:06):
Right, and he said that therewas a phase in his place in his
business, that his business hadgotten to a certain level where
he started having to hire a lotof people that were smarter than
him, the MBAs.
He called them right, like theyou know, know the, the finance
guys and the you know the realstrategic operations guys.
(09:27):
And, and he said they it waslike what he learned from them
is that they, they look down atthe maze, they go all right,
take three steps and then make aleft, take four steps and make
a right.
And he said those people taughthim how to get that viewpoint
like you're talking about, toget up in the stand above the
(09:48):
stands and watch the game getplayed and kind of be more
strategic in in what you'retrying to do.
But he also had to teach themthat we're getting to the other
side, no matter what.
Definitely that's right andthere's this balance there.
Right, there's this balance andI'm sure you've had to find
some balance in that.
(10:09):
Right.
But what are, what is, whatwere some of those situations
that you've run into?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
We were discussing before starting that, that labor
force.
Yeah, you know, it was it, itit was a great.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Let's explain that.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
For a second, explain what you did so so we we were,
we were mostly um subcontractingall of our workout to, um you
know other roofing companies,you know labor force type
situations, um we actuallystaffed and hired about 150
installers.
(10:46):
We bought, staffed and hiredabout 150 laborers.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
About 150 installers.
Right, like this is.
This is what I want.
I want people to understand.
Like this is an I want.
I just want to highlight theenormity of the undertaking.
So now go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
There's a lot of stuff that went into that and it
was a big investment from thecompany.
And we also purchased fourgutter trucks and machines and
staff that side of things aswell and it was a great
situation and a great learninglesson for the company and for,
(11:27):
like I was saying before, kindof get in there and try things
out and then you can come backand then put it together
correctly.
It's really important that whenyou are building something, you
(12:08):
are building it with the rightpeople and's desire and love to
actually grow something and be apart of something.
And I feel like sometimes, whenthings get too big or when
outside people kind of getinvolved, their intentions may
not be the same as the corevalues of the company.
And you go through stuff.
You, you know you it's likeriding a bike.
(12:29):
You know when you're a kid, youknow you get on the bike, you
fall off the bike, you get backon the bike and you know,
eventually you can still falloff the bike eventually.
But you know you become a moreproficient, you know rider, you,
you have the you know foresightto make sure I stop and I look
across both sides of the streetso I don't get hit by a car.
Um, sometimes we get veryexcited.
(12:53):
You know especially thepersonality type I have.
Usually when I get intosomething I go 199 percent into
it.
Um, and most of the time itworks out right, and if it
doesn't work out, at least I gettaught a really good lesson at
the end of it, and that kind ofas much.
(13:14):
As as much as it may not looklike that to other people,
that's probably the mostimportant part of the process is
is the understanding you getfrom taking chances.
You know playing it safe willnever get you anywhere.
You know you're going to be inthe same place as you were 10
years ago if you're just playingit safe.
And I've never in my life, youknow, kind of been a super safe
(13:39):
individual.
I've kind of I like to push thelimits, I like to push the
capacity of.
I like to push the limits, Ilike to push the capacity of
people, I like to push thecapacity of the company and a
lot of, a lot of people here, alot of my partners and employees
and friends, they're like slowdown.
The beautiful part of this yearwas me internally getting to a
(14:08):
place where I could say, hey,sometimes it's not necessarily
just about going up, but it'sabout finding that sweet spot
right.
What's the difference betweenbecoming a $70 million company
or being a $100 million company?
It's really not that much.
And if it's going to cause somuch stress on your personal
(14:29):
life, your personalrelationships, the people in
your business, you'reoverworking them.
They're not enjoying coming towork anymore.
That might not necessarily bethe formula for a long lasting
situation.
The formula for a long lastingsituation, um, so balance 2024,
(14:53):
my focus has been on balance andum, kind of knowing where you
need, um, where you need people,right, and kind of where you
realizing where you don't needpeople.
Um, I spoke to a guy he owned ahuge factory in Mexico and he
was talking about how his, like,his main foreman was a guy from
(15:16):
over there and kind of that.
That individual's vision ofbeing was how many people could
he employ.
It wasn't about the money, itwas about how many people could
he staff.
And we had a long conversationabout it and there is a value in
(15:39):
that, right, there is a strongvalue in that, especially when
you're building something, youwant to keep going, keep going,
keep going.
You kind of need every as muchenergy as possible around that.
But when you get to a certainpoint you start to realize you
know, maybe this one person isdoing three people's jobs and
those other two people are kindof just sitting on their ass
(16:01):
Right of just sitting on theirass right and you have to kind
of make certain decisions,because if you're going up
you've got to create thatbalance, you know.
Then there has to be kind of alob diminishing, right.
The lob diminishing is you can,you can keep going, and then
you might end up in the stars,right, or you can kind of figure
(16:25):
out what works, what's actuallyneeded.
Are there people that maybewe're not giving enough
gratitude or appreciation to,because they're covering
multiple other people'ssituations and they're kind of
taking the rewards of someoneelse's hard work?
So, like saying before, whenyou get up in the, in the skybox
(16:49):
, or you get up in the, the gmsection, you start to see the
game a little different.
And, um, I had an opportunity tokind of take a step back for a
few months and kind of reallywatch the game from from up
there, and I I made some reallygood decisions, I think as a
company that strengthened ourfoundation and protected the
(17:13):
company.
It's very important that Iprotect this, and I was having
this conversation with somebodythe other day.
I said I've got 250 employeesright.
If I get in the car and drivedown the street and get in a car
accident, I'm risking 250people's lives, right?
(17:33):
Not saying that it's anydifferent than if someone who
isn't responsible for 250 peopleto do something like that, but
I have to think about those 250people in every action I make in
my life, because if I don't,I'm jeopardizing all of their
hard work, all of their energy,everything that they've put into
(17:54):
this, by kind of being selfish.
So making sure you go out, takean Uber home.
That's just what you got to do.
You can't get behind the wheel,you can't make these decisions,
you don't have the ability totake those chances anymore and I
didn't know where it wasgetting to as a company, because
(18:16):
I'm still a younger guy.
You start to realize you have tominimize your liabilities.
You have to minimize yourliabilities and you can't be so
available for certain things andcertain conversations because,
(18:37):
as unfortunate as it is, it's adog world out here.
I mean, I think I had somebodytrying to pretend they were me
so they could trademark theircompany the other day and
somebody called the office andwas talking to katie and it's
just like these, these thingsthat you don't really think
about start to occur when youget to a certain level.
Like my dad says, you know,when I was getting larger, he's
(18:58):
like you know, you're gonna beunder the microscope, you pretty
soon, and everything you do isgoing to be monitored, watched,
judged, and whenever anybodyfinds a weakness, they're going
to try to exploit that weakness.
So, strengthening the armor2024, making sure that we
(19:20):
minimize our liabilities and we,you know, have a vision for
moving forward.
We opened a few new officesNorth Carolina, charlotte and we
got rid of a few offices andthe things that work you know
we're working and the thingsthat don't seem to work.
(19:40):
You don't got to just keepsomething around for an ego
reason or to say I got sevenoffices or because, at the end
of the day, it's a revenue basedsystem.
Right, you want to see how muchmoney do I put in and how much
can come out.
Right, so you know that moneycould be spent in other areas.
(20:03):
We've recently, you know,invested a lot into outside
marketing.
We have billboards around.
You know all the majorexpressways now around the city.
We rebuilt our website withSpectra AI SEO-based system.
We've, you know, grownsubstantially when it comes to
(20:31):
the amount that one individualsalesperson is actually, you
know, closing and and sealing in.
I think this year we had over 23million dollar producers, um,
so that's a nice bulk of ourbusiness comes from our core
group and that's reallyimportant when you have a
business Right, because if yourbusiness is all over the place
(20:55):
and you haven't really builtthat core group of individuals
who can sustain the business, itbecomes kind of scary, it
becomes very fragile.
And you know I'm blessed to havethese guys around and you know
their hard work doesn't gounnoticed.
And you know we recently justhad our.
(21:15):
You know, every year we do acompany Christmas party and it's
, you know, something that Ireally take pride in.
So this year was amazing,something that I really take
pride in.
So this year was amazing.
There'll be like some recapvideos on our website or on
social media.
You know everybody had a greattime and the camaraderie there
was, you know, next to none I'veever seen.
(21:39):
I mean it was very that's theword I'm looking for very
touching to me as a person andit's something that you can kind
of take a step back and say,damn, look what we built.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It's amazing.
I think you said a lot ofthings there that I'd love to
kind of go a little bit deeperon.
One of them was the conceptthat I feel like a lot of people
don't.
They don't treat their businessas a as as its own thing, as
its own, like the reason it's anLLC or a C right, like it's its
(22:21):
own entity for tax purposes.
But we don't treat it as itsown entity that we want to keep
alive and thrive and help growand feed and nourish.
But when you get to that level,what I heard and you can tell me
(22:42):
if I'm off or not, but itsounds like when you started to
have that realization that man,this is something that is
outside, it's not just Curtisanymore Not that it was ever
just Curtis.
It hasn't been just Curtis fora long time.
You've had a great team for along time.
But it's beyond you and theteam even.
(23:04):
It's beyond that.
It's its own, like there's a it, it, it really has its own
existence.
And what I hear from you isthat in that realization or in
that moment of that, thosethought processes that you
started to understand orcontemplate risk reduction yeah,
is that along those lines andnot just risk reduction in terms
(23:29):
of you know, do we have theright liability policies and
who's going out to which jobsite and what's going on there,
and you know, do we have, youknow, are we OSHA compliant for
this or that?
Like not just that, but risk.
You reduce the risk in your ownpersonal life and that's
(23:49):
personal development.
Right there and I've beentalking about this recently I'm
like on the entrepreneurialjourney.
Is is like the epitome of apersonal development journey.
Right, like it's.
It's a crazy thing.
So, risk reduction I want to goback to the hiring of the, of
(24:10):
the labor force here in terms ofthat, because in the hiring of
the labor force that you did,that, you took on man, you added
a lot of liability, you added alot, you know, from an OSHA
compliance standpoint, you wewere talking a little bit off
camera about things that you hadto learn around foreign labor
(24:31):
and and and all of these typesof things.
What were the, what were thelike the biggest lessons that
you learned?
That now you've you can kind ofturn into risk reduction in the
you know as, as you move intothe, into this further.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I think it was.
There's a saying I don't knowthis thing, but it's something
like spend a dollar to make apenny or save a dollar,
something like that when make apenny or save a dollar or
something like that, um, when,when you look at things from a
different perspective, you getto see them in a different light
, right?
So you know the the things thatwe've learned and that I've
(25:15):
personally learned is that Iagree, like we were talking
about before, personaldevelopment, development, stuff
like that.
Also corporate development andhow to keep your company safe.
There's a lot of things out herenow and a lot of people and
situations where people arelooking for an easy come up or
(25:37):
for looking for a way to benefitfrom something that's that
large.
Now, and you know, like we weretalking about before, you know,
when you're a smaller company,your risk factors are a little
lower when you go and putbillboards on the side of the
expressway or when you do allthese things.
(25:59):
Now you become, you know, thistarget, kind of yeah there's a
guy here in Minnesota, curtis.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
His name is oh, why did I?
He's a realtor and now his namejust escaped me really fast.
But he has so many billboardsaround town that there are
Facebook hate groups.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, exactly so.
It's like finding that balanceand kind of removing yourself
from some of the decision-makingfactors of the company as well,
of healthy for the company.
(26:47):
Allowing people to really owntheir position and, you know,
live and die with the decisionsthat they make has been
something in 2024 where I'veallowed to happen.
I used to get involved and tryto save things and then
eventually it ended up happeningeither way.
So, like I said before, takinga step back and allowing things
to play out, allowing kind ofsituations to either excel and
(27:08):
when they do excel you put somegas on it or to kind of, you
know, drizzle out and don't giveit, you know, resuscitation.
If it's not working, let it die, right.
If it's not, it's like holdingon to something because you just
want it personally, not so muchthat it's even beneficial, it's
(27:35):
up and down.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It's a growth.
How many of those things wereyou holding on to A lot Going
into?
Last year there was a lot ofthem.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
There was a few, there was a few, there was a few
.
You know there's a few egothings too as a young man that
you try to put into differentcategories, but a lot of it has
to do with you know certainpersonal qualities about
yourself.
So I feel like, as your companyis growing, you should also be
(28:08):
mentally maturing with yourcompany, or it's going to
outgrow you, right, yes, andhopefully it does Right, because
you have the minds of a hundredbeautiful, a hundred beautiful
lines and you only have yours.
So sometimes, when it doesstart to outgrow you, knowing
(28:29):
when to take a step back,knowing when to seek the right
help, knowing when to reach outto, like you were saying, like
that other company like the NBA,saying like the that other
company like the nba, that, yeah, reaching out to people who
kind of have been through thesesituations before and can help
(28:49):
guide the company, um, to the,to whatever the finish line is
that we're we're trying to getto.
You know, I heard earlier yousaid um, you said that you sold
your, your company, to what wasit?
Job Nimbus, job Nimbus, yeah,yeah.
So like I doubt, when youstarted it, that was like what
you was, that your vision.
(29:11):
When you started, did you eventhink that it would go there, or
it?
Speaker 1 (29:14):
would be there.
No, you just want somecustomers, right Like.
You just need some customers.
That's what you start outwanting, right Like you start
out wanting some customerswanting to pay your bills.
That's what you start outwanting to do.
It evolves, man.
(29:35):
One of the things that you saidthere was allowing people to, to
, to live with the mistakes thatthat were made in their, in
their, in owning their roles iswhat I'm hearing.
And and not not stepping in tosave it, but what you and not
not stepping in to save it, butwhat you also said is not
stepping in to save it because,even a lot of times, even when
you stepped in to save it,things still went wrong.
Right, like, so, my goodness,those are growth moments.
(29:57):
Right To learn.
Like, wow, I can't, like, I mayhave the ability to step in, I
may have, I want to step inbecause I want the best for the
situation, whatever it is, butit may still end up going.
You know, it may changedirection a little bit, but it
may still end up not beingresolved in the way that we were
(30:19):
hoping for, not being resolvedin the way that we were hoping
for.
Definitely, what have been someof those lessons of, of, of, of
helping people become thoseleaders that they need to be,
because they they, because yourteam has to grow, too right, the
difference between 25 millionand 80 million.
(30:40):
There's there's leadership.
Uh, there's leadership growth,not just in Curtis, I would
assume.
How's the team grown?
Have you made any intentionalefforts to help them grow?
What are some of the thingsthat you've been doing?
(31:00):
A?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
lot of times the people who have, you know, kind
of taken these leadership roleson, like we talked about before,
started at the bottom right, sothey kind of went through each
position in the company.
I mean, like the guy who runsproduction now he was in sales,
he was in accounting, he was insupplementing.
(31:23):
Now he's in production.
Right, he was something elsetwo years ago, last year I think
, he was in a different position.
So being able to have a fullunderstanding of the thing
allows that person to be so muchmore efficient and
(31:44):
understanding and he canunderstand, he can see the
problem and it may not be theproblem that's in his face, it
may have been something thathappened three months ago in a
completely different departmentand he knows how to fix it.
He knows how to solve thatproblem without having to go and
find somebody to solve theproblem for him.
(32:14):
So I think that just theevolution of a company, right
people eventually, and you keepthem around and you kind of move
them around and let them, youknow, grow and learn and and go
find things out and come back toyou and say, hey, this is what
I found out, you know this.
If we do it this, this this way.
You say you know they, theywould.
(32:37):
There's things that you wouldnever be able to find out unless
you came from, uh, you know,supplementing department.
Oh, you know, we can get moremoney for this, this and this is
something we're doing on everyjob.
Let me go let Amber andsupplementing know this, because
they know that we're not doingthat Right.
So you know, the natural growthand evolution of a company is a
(33:02):
beautiful thing.
I mean, it was hard for me tohold back tears at the Christmas
party just by watchingsomething.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I think those are.
Those are those moments whenyou're looking around the room
and you see that and you see therelationships that have been
built, you see, like there's awhole, it's.
It's a.
It gives you an, even a wholedifferent perspective.
It's like it like becauseyou're not looking at the game
(33:35):
that's being played, you'relooking at, you know, you're
looking, it's it's everyone'sfamilies and it's everyone's
everything and everythingtogether.
Man, that's a.
I can imagine I've never had250 people, right, like I've
never had a company with 250people or led a company with 250
(33:55):
people.
But, my goodness, man, lookingaround the room must have been
pretty cool.
What were?
Tell me a moment, moment like,tell me a moment about that,
like when you saw, like you knowwhat were some of the moments
where you were like a littlechoked up um the camaraderie
(34:16):
between the people there was wasreally something that, uh,
there was was really somethingthat, uh, it's hard to even talk
about.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Friendships, right, and yeah, if I like, if I
remember right, you went, youknow, your whole your whole time
in business.
You've really, um, you've,you've, you've employed a lot of
close friends, family members,things like that along the way,
so that that that must besomething that's important,
Definitely.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yeah, and then just seeing people who have taken an
opportunity and turned it intosomething that was beautiful in
their life, in their life, it'sthe most rewarding thing in the
world to see somebody where theywere five years ago, see where
they are today, see wherethey're at today.
There was a situation I thinkit was Salesman of the Year they
(35:16):
carried him in a chair to thestage.
It was just people were happyfor him, for genuinely happy for
another person's success, andthat's, you know, honestly, what
it's all about in life.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
So, yeah, how did, how intentional was the creation
of that culture?
How much of that culture justjust came to be?
Speaker 3 (35:47):
much of that culture just just came to be.
Um, I would say the majority ofit was intentional.
You know, I, I I never liked to.
Uh, structure was alwaysdifficult for me.
Right, normality was alwaysdifficult for me.
To say you can only play thisgame this way was always
difficult for me, you know.
So I've tried to make it a pointto kind of be more of an
(36:08):
unorthodox style of company um,younger company, kind of second
chance type company, um, and Imean it worked out, you know,
and kind of my greatest personalsatisfaction is kind of being
(36:33):
able to say that.
So you know, the worst thing inthe world for somebody to say
is I told you so.
But I'm going to say I told you, so you know.
And that's kind of where I getto smile.
I don't have to say anythingbeyond that.
You know, because I told you soyou know, third grade teacher
or you know whoever right.
(36:57):
Sometimes you have to take thosesmall battles.
You have to take some stuffpersonal to help you overcome it
.
Maybe show yourself, if youcan't find it in yourself to
want to do it for yourself.
Sometimes take those smallbattles in life and by the time
that battle is done, it won't beabout that person anymore.
It will be about yourself-development,
(37:24):
self-development.
And when you get there you'lllook back and say, man, I'm glad
I kind of used that for youknow, uh, something to
accelerate my growth.
But it's not.
The reasoning isn't the sameanymore so that's right, it
becomes unimportant.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
But but it but it was a great source of fuel.
It was exactly but you get touse that fuel.
that fuel burns was exactly, butyou get to use that fuel.
That fuel burns out, right,like after you don't need that
fuel forever.
But but a lot of those early,you know, maybe early life
things that happened to you,taking that and and, uh, yeah,
being like, yeah, yeah, this is.
(37:59):
Look look at me now you knowlike there's a, there's
something to it, but then alsoin the ability to give someone
else an opportunity, that thatand then and then being able to
to tell them look at you now,yeah, right, like that's kind of
.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
that's really what it's about.
It's like, you know, like Imean, it's almost unreal.
You know, the story is almostunreal, the, the, it's, it's
just life.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
There was a point in our business, curtis, where I
was talking to my businesspartner before we.
There was a point in ourbusiness where I was looking it
was.
I started saying the numbers,like we'd run through our
numbers and uh and I and I, uh,they didn't sound real to me,
almost Right.
Have you had that kind ofexperience, like when you guys
(38:54):
are talking about your revenuefor the year?
Does it all to me?
It felt.
I felt more connected to thenumbers when they were smaller.
Yeah, like they meant a littlemore, right, and then as the
numbers got bigger, I felt moredisconnected from the nut, like,
from the, the enormity of it,right, like it then.
And we didn't get to your size,but like it.
(39:16):
Just.
There was a point where I waslike, okay, it doesn't even make
sense coming out of my mouth,like when you're talking about
you know 80 million, you knowwhat's that, you know monthly
and you know what I mean.
Like what are you doing?
Like six million a month, likewhat's that's crazy.
Right, like or to from from thebeginnings, right from the
beginnings.
(39:36):
It's like you know to be, likeyou know.
You probably remember the yearyou hit six million or five
million, right now you're you'redoing now?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
you have months.
We're not quite at $80 yet Notto $80.
Okay, we're a little bit underthat.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
But still, what point did you have you had that?
Did you ever get to a pointwhere you're like is this?
Even I've got to pinch myself?
Is this real life?
Like, does this?
You know?
Speaker 3 (40:04):
yeah, I mean it's, it's a you know I, I look at it
and it.
The thing, though.
The thing about it is, though,is with more comes more, that's
right.
Responsibility comes more,bills comes, moreibility comes
more bills comes more, liabilitycomes more.
So that was kind of you knowit's.
(40:28):
I mean, last week, I think, webrought in one point five
million dollars, right, which isawesome, you know.
I mean it's like you know itwas the Christmas party week, it
was my birthday.
I'm like this is this, you knowit was, it was the Christmas
party week, it was my birthday.
I was like this is you know,it's all gone?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
It's all went to ABC and beacon.
That's where it goes.
At least I got to look at it forfive minutes At least I got to
look at it, but yeah, it's a lotof people can't even imagine it
, right, and that's where Ithink it's.
I want to expand people'shorizons in that thought, not,
not not to say, like my goodness, curtis, you're, you're
(41:11):
crushing it.
Like it's that, I think, are we, like it's unbelievable what,
what people can do, like itreally is and for everyone
listening, that's what I'mtrying to get across here is
that, like it can like, and itdepends on what you want, right,
it depends on what you want outof your business too, because
(41:33):
you don't have to have amultiple eight figure business,
right, like you can, you knowyou can have a smaller business
that's really profitable and youknow you can have what you want
.
But but it you know it, ifyou're someone that you know, if
you have the talent, use yourtalent.
Man like I, I don't know, Ibelieve that you know what it's
(41:57):
really about.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Like we were talking about in the beginning, it's
it's about when the peoplearound you are hungry, when the
people around you want more youcan't it's.
It's hard to stop that growth.
It's easier, it's easier to getthere and get bigger than it is
to even get smaller, becausenow they're hungry for growth
(42:18):
and you've built 20, 50, 100,200 people.
Now they all want to eat andthey all want more than they
wanted last year.
So just by human nature and byjust just the evolution of
people, I mean, it's just, it'ssomething that could.
It could just keep going, keepgoing, keep going.
And maybe you know it gets to apoint where you know certain
(42:46):
people step out of the way.
You know what I mean.
And that's just the, thenatural cycle of business as
well.
And, uh, you know we don't haveto get into that topic too much
.
We could probably do anotherone and say six months, yeah,
that's right, really different,uh, conversation uh, what about
(43:08):
the?
Speaker 1 (43:09):
the industry changes, man, like, what are your
thoughts on on, on how theindustry's changing?
And then you know what, how youcan best adapt to what, what,
what's on your horizon?
Because in in entrepreneurshipbut one of the best things I've
heard or ways to describe it is,the wolf is always chasing.
Yeah right, like you, you can'tstop evolving, you can't stop
(43:32):
moving, you can't stop doing so.
What are some of the big things, big changes that you see in
the industry, that you see may,may disrupt, and how are you
approaching them?
Speaker 3 (43:46):
One of the biggest things that I've seen in this
industry is private equity moneycoming in right.
How are you going to competeagainst a $7 billion private
equity company that's going outand buying 65 companies, right?
65 companies, right.
Let me get real with yourselfand let's not, you know, play
(44:08):
the uh, yeah who.
You know the, the measuringcompetition that you know with
something that's going to hitthe ground.
You know what I mean.
So it's like there is no.
You know that's.
That's something that I've seen.
A lot of you know, even whenyou were talking earlier.
You know your company waspurchased by something like that
(44:30):
, um, not saying that that's thewhole industry, but but how do
you how, how, how?
Speaker 1 (44:40):
because we've had private equity in the in the
space for four years now, I'msure they've bought in a few
companies in Chicago, in theChicagoland area.
Right, how, how have you seenwhat, how?
What changes do they make inthose companies?
Is it like I've seen a lot ofthe private equity companies go
(45:03):
really hard on marketing?
Like they, their budgets aremuch larger than yours I promise
like yeah, oh, exactly it'slike, uh, you know, we go back
to sports.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
It's like, okay, the salary cap for you know, that's
right.
It's like the new york knickstrying to play the you know, uh,
college of dupage.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
You know, yeah, I mean, I, I've said it I've said
it a few times, it felt likeover the years sometimes that
the minnesota twins were like afarm club for the yankees.
Right like as soon as a playerwould get good enough, they just
pick them off with a highersalary, right Like it's.
There's that kind of vibearound it, and not that you know
(45:47):
the Twins are a professionalteam, they've won World Series,
but it's still like it's so.
So what other things are youseeing the private equity
companies do that are, you know,encouraging to you and
discouraging to you?
Speaker 3 (46:04):
I haven't really seen a lot of discouraging you know,
private equity deals orsituations.
I think that the owners of thecompanies you know are making
some good decisions and kind ofknowing that you don't really
know what you've built.
Until someone values whatyou've built, either you could
(46:27):
say, oh, I've got this company,until somebody kind of puts that
stamp on you, you don't reallyunderstand what you've built.
I don't really have anypersonal opinions on it.
Either way, I know that for thegrowth and for the um future of
(46:50):
cnn construction, I know thateventually things natural
occurrences have to happen.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
you're a you're, you're, you're a target for them
for sure.
Yeah, you know, and and I wouldassume I if you're, if you're
in anywhere in this industryrevenue wise, you're getting
emails, phone calls, linkedinmessages, whatever it is, from
people reaching out to havethose conversations.
(47:16):
But they are definitelytargeting the companies who have
made a name for themselves inan area.
Right, that's a prime target.
And so how have you thoughtabout that?
You know, like, how have youthought about those
conversations?
Is it a tough one?
I mean, you built a family andfriends business, right, like I
(47:37):
feel like people that have donethat have a harder, not a harder
, time, but it's like maybe it'snot the intention, right, like
it's not, or maybe it's not theright thing, or or you would
have to make sure that it's theright thing.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
I mean I would say, um, I want to get back to one
other thing.
So you start, you start acompany, right, you're selling
roofs, right, you're sellingroofs to customers.
And then you want to grow yourcompany and then you start
selling the opportunity to otherindividuals.
And then you get to that nextlevel where now you're selling
(48:13):
the opportunity, the product andthe function of the company.
Now you're selling the brand.
Now the brand is on billboards.
Now you're selling a brand,you're not selling roofs anymore
, the brand is what's sellingthe roofs.
And eventually you get what Imean and it's.
(48:35):
It's nice because, um, you know, a lot of the blue collar type
guys are kind of getting their,their due diligence.
(48:56):
You know what I mean and it'snice to see.
You know that you don't have tosee it that's a good point, man
.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
It's a good point that, uh, you, a lot of people
in the blue collar industry, areit?
It's a testament to theindustries that that have
evolved over time and the in thecompanies that have been built.
They wouldn't those, thoseprivate equity companies
wouldn't be here if there wasn'tsomething special in a lot of
(49:23):
these companies.
Yeah, that's a.
That is really good, a good wayto look at it, man, and there's
, there's a lot of people thatdeserve a good check at the end
of it.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Yeah, there is and you know like the goal is to.
You know I'm 38, um, I gothopefully a long life ahead of
me and just you know, for 2025,.
You know staying focused on ourgrowth.
(49:52):
Staying focused on that.
You know 20 to 30 percentyearly.
You know growing.
Staying focused on, you know,quality and craftsmanship,
getting back to some of our corevalues, getting back to some of
our things that made us great.
You know like let's makeAmerica great again type
situation.
You know let's get to thosecore.
(50:14):
What are the things thatseparated us from everybody else
?
And let's get back to that andlet's get back to business, so
2020.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
It has to be hard to manage as you scale right,
especially when you get into, Imean, what's in, you know, I
mean with the number of jobs youguys are doing per month, kind
of thing.
Right, like to have this, tohave the, the quality, and to
have with the number of of teammembers for them all to be
brought in on the core valuesand things like that.
(50:45):
Like that's something that I'msure could get off track easy,
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
And everybody is a reflection of it as well.
So it's like you know, and Ihave to kind of own that and
people have to understand that.
You know, like what you'redoing is a reflection of the
person sitting next to you andthe way you deal with that
customer is it's not just areflection of you anymore.
Like we were talking aboutearlier, another 70 sales guy
(51:15):
standing next to you, you justmade their job harder.
Or when you, you know, get intoit with an insurance adjuster
and he's a POS or whatever, andnow we got to go see him again,
that's right.
Three hours later that day,that's right.
You got to deal with the guywho's, like you know, get out of
here.
You know, you know, I think,taking a step back, I'm glad
(51:37):
that you know winter's here.
It gives the guys a little bitof time to kind of, you know,
just to have a little bit of abreak.
This year has been crazy.
I mean we started, we ended inJanuary and started in February,
so and it never stops.
But you know people need thisis an intensive, mentally and
(52:00):
physically intensive job.
I mean you're dealing withmultiple personalities, multiple
customers, up and down ladders,on hot roofs, on cold.
You know sheets of ice on.
You know it's like the mostextreme situation that you could
, you know, get into.
You know I always tell people Isay I don't know if anyone ever
(52:22):
grew up and said I want to, Iwant to be a roofer when I get
older.
Speaker 1 (52:29):
It's amazing all the stories and all the
conversations that I've had.
We're getting close to 250episodes now.
It's like the industry findspeople.
It's like the industry finds youand you can't get out, but you
don't want to get out becauseyou find your tribe, right like
(52:50):
there's, there's a lot of reallygood people in this industry
and a lot of really good peoplein your businesses and, um, you
know, it's really cool man, um,that's awesome.
What, looking back now thatyou've had a chance to to, you
know, for the, the, the growthover many years right, you've
(53:12):
had the growth over many years.
You've had, um, you, you, youkept, we kind of started off.
You talked about one of thethings that you wanted, what,
like you, you're just youmentioned, mentioned you just
wanted to want to leave a legacy.
Right, like you know, nowyou've had your stopping points.
You've gotten to step back.
You've gotten to see the fieldfrom a different view.
(53:35):
What you've gotten?
You got to see that amazingchristmas party with all the
camaraderie and all the people.
You know what is that legacyfor Curtis?
Speaker 3 (53:50):
The legacy.
There's a lot to do witheveryone else around and just
kind of some of the memories andthe um.
I mean, of course I could sithere and say I want to leave, I
want to leave the largestroofing company in the country,
(54:13):
but it's really about just beingable to spend my life with the
people that are around.
You know, like I, I thoroughlyenjoy the people in my company.
I thoroughly enjoy the peoplein my company, like it's not a
job for me to come to work or to, you know, go through life
standing next to a lot of theseindividuals.
(54:34):
You know, I choose them andthey choose me, and that's the
legacy.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
That's awesome, man.
Thanks for your time today.
This has been another episodeof the Roofing Success Podcast.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
Thank you for tuning into the Roofing Success Podcast
For more valuable content.
Visit roofingsuccesspodcastcomWhile there.
Check out our sponsors forexclusive offers, shop for
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(55:08):
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The website link is in thedescription.
Thanks for listening.
What if your dream business is secretly a ticking
time bomb?
Curtis SG's journey reveals thedangerous mistakes
entrepreneurs make and thegame-changing mindset that saved
him from disaster.
In this episode, curtis takesus on a masterclass in
leadership, growth and the artof stepping back to see the big
(00:21):
picture.
He shares the tough decisions,personal evolution and
strategies that helped himcreate a legacy company built to
last.
Curtis is more than the CEO.
He's a builder of dreams, bothfor his business and for the
people within it.
With over $30 million in annualrevenue, curtis has redefined
what it means to grow withpurpose and lead with heart.
(00:44):
From staffing 150 installers tolearning the value of balance
over relentless growth, curtishas mastered the art of scaling
without losing sight of whatmatters most.
Get ready for actionableinsights and inspiring stories.
Curtis doesn't just share hiswins.
He shares his playbook.
(01:04):
Let's jump in and learn how togrow smarter, lead better and
dream bigger.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Welcome to the Roofing Success Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'm Jim Alleyne and I'm here to bring you insights
from top leaders in the roofingindustry to help you grow and
scale your roofing business.
Chicago land's finest.
Curtis Eschie how are you,brother Good?
How are you doing, jim?
Good, man, good to see youagain, good to have you back on
the show.
It's been a long time.
(01:34):
The first conversation that wehad was about building a strong
foundation in your roofingbusiness.
You were already a roofingcontractor top 100 a couple of
years.
It was about two years ago, Ithink, when we spoke last and we
did an episode you know andbuilt your company to 25, 30,
maybe 30 million in revenue.
You haven't stopped, man.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, that's been keeps going.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It keeps on going right Like the vision is big.
Let's start off with that.
Let's start off about thevision.
What was your vision?
What was your vision in thoseearly days?
Did you, were you in thoseearly days?
Did you have any thought thatyou were going to build
(02:21):
something, a company with 250employees and you know?
Did you ever think of that?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Not necessarily to that scale.
I always had a vision, I alwayshad a dream of building
something that you know leaves alegacy and that I could kind of
pass on to you know, familymembers and you know close
friends and my daughter and thatvision has matured I would say
(02:59):
I wouldn't say it's changed hasmatured, and knowing where you
become the asset and not theliability is something that you
know.
The past two years have really,you know, helped me identify
within the company, withinmyself, within, you know,
maturing as a, as an adult, asyou know, um, I think that kind
(03:33):
of by the knowledge, experienceand the ability to take a step
back and watch things, not youknow, you get a different
perspective.
So if you're playing football,for example, right, and you're
an offensive lineman, the visionthat you see is directly in
front of you and, and that'skind of what your focus is is,
you know, making that block ormaking a tackle.
(03:55):
When you take a step back andnow you're the coach, right,
you're watching it from thesideline and you get a different
perspective.
You start, start to be able tosee, you know, maybe five or six
different players at one time,when you're the offensive
coordinator or you're the GM andyou're sitting in a skybox and
you're looking down, you get tosee the whole field and I think
(04:18):
that that's kind of with withthe help of the people in the
company, with all these you know, all these people's hard work
and dedication it's given me theability to have a different
perspective and that perspectivebecomes the ability to make
tough decisions, and a lot ofthose tough decisions are to
(04:41):
kind of save everybody.
You know, even when it'suncomfortable, even when it's a
decision you don't want toreally make, something that
takes you a while to sleep on.
I think that you know that hasbeen where I become.
The best suited asset was beingable to play all of those
positions and work my way upinto being able to see the field
(05:06):
as a whole, and that'ssomething that you know.
Like I said before, I thankeverybody here in the company to
allow me to mature and growinto that role.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, what?
What do you think theimportance is in learning all of
the positions and how much doyou have to play each position?
Like, do you have to really beon the field in every position
in your company to really, or doyou think that, like you can,
you can learn how to coachsomeone right, because coaching
(05:38):
is different than playing a lotof times?
What's your thoughts on that?
It definitely is.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You also know when.
You have to know when toidentify someone that is more
skilled or more talented thanyou at a certain position as
well.
Your ego can't get in the wayof what's best for the company
or or what's what's going tohelp our growth, because maybe I
(06:04):
can tell you right nowproficiency when it comes to
using a software.
I may not be that guy.
I may not be the day-to-day youknow, a million phone calls and
problem solving over and overand over again.
That may not be where I'm bestsuited.
Over and over and over again,that may not be where I'm best
(06:27):
suited.
So, really identifying people'sstrengths and keeping them
focused and empowering them toelevate through whatever
position it is that they are inthe company, I think that you
know myself not necessarilyhaving to play every position,
but kind of, in the growth of acompany, you, you, you know you
(06:48):
want to kind of start out at thebottom and kind of work your
way through stuff and then whenthat next guy comes and he this,
you know, he's better than me,you know what I mean.
He's better than me at closing,you know, let him kind of take
that responsibility of teachingothers how to close.
Right now.
I felt like you know, when I wasknocking doors, you know, five,
(07:11):
six, seven years ago I wasgreat at getting people to open
the doors.
My partner, kevin, was a masterby getting the closing done.
So once I kind of identifiedthat it was, it was an easy
transition to say, hey, kevin, Ineed you to teach this part.
Right, and I'll teach this part.
And then another individualcame in and they showed me hey,
(07:35):
maybe they're better at openingthan I was.
Okay, so now moving out the wayto allow them to kind of, you
know, grow and whatever worksyou know or whatever knowledge
they have or what's working, letthem kind of share that with
the rest of us.
And in that process everyone'skind of moved up.
(07:56):
You know, like the Kevin is theVP of the company now and it's
just the constant.
You know being able to take,you know, three steps forward,
two steps back.
Kind of analogy is you know,you get out there, you try
things out.
Either they work or they don't,but either way you kind of have
(08:17):
to take that step back, realignand then actually get out there
.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That different viewpoint is really important.
I've heard it.
I heard, I listened to aninterview.
There's a big marketing guy,his name is Alex Hermosi, and
then Dave Ramsey, the financeguy.
Yeah, alex was interviewingDave and Dave was talking about
his entrepreneurial journey andhow, like entrepreneurs, if
(08:44):
entrepreneurship is a maze,entrepreneurs, business, you
know, small business owners man,we're we don't care where the
maze goes Like we'll go under awall, over a wall or through a
wall if we need to, right, we'relike we don't.
The strategy of how to getthrough the maze isn't what
we're concerned about.
We're concerned about gettingout of the other side.
(09:06):
Right, and he said that therewas a phase in his place in his
business, that his business hadgotten to a certain level where
he started having to hire a lotof people that were smarter than
him, the MBAs.
He called them right, like theyou know, know the, the finance
guys and the you know the realstrategic operations guys.
(09:27):
And, and he said they it waslike what he learned from them
is that they, they look down atthe maze, they go all right,
take three steps and then make aleft, take four steps and make
a right.
And he said those people taughthim how to get that viewpoint
like you're talking about, toget up in the stand above the
(09:48):
stands and watch the game getplayed and kind of be more
strategic in in what you'retrying to do.
But he also had to teach themthat we're getting to the other
side, no matter what.
Definitely that's right andthere's this balance there.
Right, there's this balance andI'm sure you've had to find
some balance in that.
(10:09):
Right.
But what are, what is, whatwere some of those situations
that you've run into?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
We were discussing before starting that, that labor
force.
Yeah, you know, it was it, itit was a great.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Let's explain that.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
For a second, explain what you did so so we we were,
we were mostly um subcontractingall of our workout to, um you
know other roofing companies,you know labor force type
situations, um we actuallystaffed and hired about 150
installers.
(10:46):
We bought, staffed and hiredabout 150 laborers.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
About 150 installers.
Right, like this is.
This is what I want.
I want people to understand.
Like this is an I want.
I just want to highlight theenormity of the undertaking.
So now go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
There's a lot of stuff that went into that and it
was a big investment from thecompany.
And we also purchased fourgutter trucks and machines and
staff that side of things aswell and it was a great
situation and a great learninglesson for the company and for,
(11:27):
like I was saying before, kindof get in there and try things
out and then you can come backand then put it together
correctly.
It's really important that whenyou are building something, you
(12:08):
are building it with the rightpeople and's desire and love to
actually grow something and be apart of something.
And I feel like sometimes, whenthings get too big or when
outside people kind of getinvolved, their intentions may
not be the same as the corevalues of the company.
And you go through stuff.
You, you know you it's likeriding a bike.
(12:29):
You know when you're a kid, youknow you get on the bike, you
fall off the bike, you get backon the bike and you know,
eventually you can still falloff the bike eventually.
But you know you become a moreproficient, you know rider, you,
you have the you know foresightto make sure I stop and I look
across both sides of the streetso I don't get hit by a car.
Um, sometimes we get veryexcited.
(12:53):
You know especially thepersonality type I have.
Usually when I get intosomething I go 199 percent into
it.
Um, and most of the time itworks out right, and if it
doesn't work out, at least I gettaught a really good lesson at
the end of it, and that kind ofas much.
(13:14):
As as much as it may not looklike that to other people,
that's probably the mostimportant part of the process is
is the understanding you getfrom taking chances.
You know playing it safe willnever get you anywhere.
You know you're going to be inthe same place as you were 10
years ago if you're just playingit safe.
And I've never in my life, youknow, kind of been a super safe
(13:39):
individual.
I've kind of I like to push thelimits, I like to push the
capacity of.
I like to push the limits, Ilike to push the capacity of
people, I like to push thecapacity of the company and a
lot of, a lot of people here, alot of my partners and employees
and friends, they're like slowdown.
The beautiful part of this yearwas me internally getting to a
(14:08):
place where I could say, hey,sometimes it's not necessarily
just about going up, but it'sabout finding that sweet spot
right.
What's the difference betweenbecoming a $70 million company
or being a $100 million company?
It's really not that much.
And if it's going to cause somuch stress on your personal
(14:29):
life, your personalrelationships, the people in
your business, you'reoverworking them.
They're not enjoying coming towork anymore.
That might not necessarily bethe formula for a long lasting
situation.
The formula for a long lastingsituation, um, so balance 2024,
(14:53):
my focus has been on balance andum, kind of knowing where you
need, um, where you need people,right, and kind of where you
realizing where you don't needpeople.
Um, I spoke to a guy he owned ahuge factory in Mexico and he
was talking about how his, like,his main foreman was a guy from
(15:16):
over there and kind of that.
That individual's vision ofbeing was how many people could
he employ.
It wasn't about the money, itwas about how many people could
he staff.
And we had a long conversationabout it and there is a value in
(15:39):
that, right, there is a strongvalue in that, especially when
you're building something, youwant to keep going, keep going,
keep going.
You kind of need every as muchenergy as possible around that.
But when you get to a certainpoint you start to realize you
know, maybe this one person isdoing three people's jobs and
those other two people are kindof just sitting on their ass
(16:01):
Right of just sitting on theirass right and you have to kind
of make certain decisions,because if you're going up
you've got to create thatbalance, you know.
Then there has to be kind of alob diminishing, right.
The lob diminishing is you can,you can keep going, and then
you might end up in the stars,right, or you can kind of figure
(16:25):
out what works, what's actuallyneeded.
Are there people that maybewe're not giving enough
gratitude or appreciation to,because they're covering
multiple other people'ssituations and they're kind of
taking the rewards of someoneelse's hard work?
So, like saying before, whenyou get up in the, in the skybox
(16:49):
, or you get up in the, the gmsection, you start to see the
game a little different.
And, um, I had an opportunity tokind of take a step back for a
few months and kind of reallywatch the game from from up
there, and I I made some reallygood decisions, I think as a
company that strengthened ourfoundation and protected the
(17:13):
company.
It's very important that Iprotect this, and I was having
this conversation with somebodythe other day.
I said I've got 250 employeesright.
If I get in the car and drivedown the street and get in a car
accident, I'm risking 250people's lives, right?
(17:33):
Not saying that it's anydifferent than if someone who
isn't responsible for 250 peopleto do something like that, but
I have to think about those 250people in every action I make in
my life, because if I don't,I'm jeopardizing all of their
hard work, all of their energy,everything that they've put into
(17:54):
this, by kind of being selfish.
So making sure you go out, takean Uber home.
That's just what you got to do.
You can't get behind the wheel,you can't make these decisions,
you don't have the ability totake those chances anymore and I
didn't know where it wasgetting to as a company, because
(18:16):
I'm still a younger guy.
You start to realize you have tominimize your liabilities.
You have to minimize yourliabilities and you can't be so
available for certain things andcertain conversations because,
(18:37):
as unfortunate as it is, it's adog world out here.
I mean, I think I had somebodytrying to pretend they were me
so they could trademark theircompany the other day and
somebody called the office andwas talking to katie and it's
just like these, these thingsthat you don't really think
about start to occur when youget to a certain level.
Like my dad says, you know,when I was getting larger, he's
(18:58):
like you know, you're gonna beunder the microscope, you pretty
soon, and everything you do isgoing to be monitored, watched,
judged, and whenever anybodyfinds a weakness, they're going
to try to exploit that weakness.
So, strengthening the armor2024, making sure that we
(19:20):
minimize our liabilities and we,you know, have a vision for
moving forward.
We opened a few new officesNorth Carolina, charlotte and we
got rid of a few offices andthe things that work you know
we're working and the thingsthat don't seem to work.
(19:40):
You don't got to just keepsomething around for an ego
reason or to say I got sevenoffices or because, at the end
of the day, it's a revenue basedsystem.
Right, you want to see how muchmoney do I put in and how much
can come out.
Right, so you know that moneycould be spent in other areas.
(20:03):
We've recently, you know,invested a lot into outside
marketing.
We have billboards around.
You know all the majorexpressways now around the city.
We rebuilt our website withSpectra AI SEO-based system.
We've, you know, grownsubstantially when it comes to
(20:31):
the amount that one individualsalesperson is actually, you
know, closing and and sealing in.
I think this year we had over 23million dollar producers, um,
so that's a nice bulk of ourbusiness comes from our core
group and that's reallyimportant when you have a
business Right, because if yourbusiness is all over the place
(20:55):
and you haven't really builtthat core group of individuals
who can sustain the business, itbecomes kind of scary, it
becomes very fragile.
And you know I'm blessed to havethese guys around and you know
their hard work doesn't gounnoticed.
And you know we recently justhad our.
(21:15):
You know, every year we do acompany Christmas party and it's
, you know, something that Ireally take pride in.
So this year was amazing,something that I really take
pride in.
So this year was amazing.
There'll be like some recapvideos on our website or on
social media.
You know everybody had a greattime and the camaraderie there
was, you know, next to none I'veever seen.
(21:39):
I mean it was very that's theword I'm looking for very
touching to me as a person andit's something that you can kind
of take a step back and say,damn, look what we built.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It's amazing.
I think you said a lot ofthings there that I'd love to
kind of go a little bit deeperon.
One of them was the conceptthat I feel like a lot of people
don't.
They don't treat their businessas a as as its own thing, as
its own, like the reason it's anLLC or a C right, like it's its
(22:21):
own entity for tax purposes.
But we don't treat it as itsown entity that we want to keep
alive and thrive and help growand feed and nourish.
But when you get to that level,what I heard and you can tell me
(22:42):
if I'm off or not, but itsounds like when you started to
have that realization that man,this is something that is
outside, it's not just Curtisanymore Not that it was ever
just Curtis.
It hasn't been just Curtis fora long time.
You've had a great team for along time.
But it's beyond you and theteam even.
(23:04):
It's beyond that.
It's its own, like there's a it, it, it really has its own
existence.
And what I hear from you isthat in that realization or in
that moment of that, thosethought processes that you
started to understand orcontemplate risk reduction yeah,
is that along those lines andnot just risk reduction in terms
(23:29):
of you know, do we have theright liability policies and
who's going out to which jobsite and what's going on there,
and you know, do we have, youknow, are we OSHA compliant for
this or that?
Like not just that, but risk.
You reduce the risk in your ownpersonal life and that's
(23:49):
personal development.
Right there and I've beentalking about this recently I'm
like on the entrepreneurialjourney.
Is is like the epitome of apersonal development journey.
Right, like it's.
It's a crazy thing.
So, risk reduction I want to goback to the hiring of the, of
(24:10):
the labor force here in terms ofthat, because in the hiring of
the labor force that you did,that, you took on man, you added
a lot of liability, you added alot, you know, from an OSHA
compliance standpoint, you wewere talking a little bit off
camera about things that you hadto learn around foreign labor
(24:31):
and and and all of these typesof things.
What were the, what were thelike the biggest lessons that
you learned?
That now you've you can kind ofturn into risk reduction in the
you know as, as you move intothe, into this further.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I think it was.
There's a saying I don't knowthis thing, but it's something
like spend a dollar to make apenny or save a dollar,
something like that when make apenny or save a dollar or
something like that, um, when,when you look at things from a
different perspective, you getto see them in a different light
, right?
So you know the the things thatwe've learned and that I've
(25:15):
personally learned is that Iagree, like we were talking
about before, personaldevelopment, development, stuff
like that.
Also corporate development andhow to keep your company safe.
There's a lot of things out herenow and a lot of people and
situations where people arelooking for an easy come up or
(25:37):
for looking for a way to benefitfrom something that's that
large.
Now, and you know, like we weretalking about before, you know,
when you're a smaller company,your risk factors are a little
lower when you go and putbillboards on the side of the
expressway or when you do allthese things.
(25:59):
Now you become, you know, thistarget, kind of yeah there's a
guy here in Minnesota, curtis.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
His name is oh, why did I?
He's a realtor and now his namejust escaped me really fast.
But he has so many billboardsaround town that there are
Facebook hate groups.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, exactly so.
It's like finding that balanceand kind of removing yourself
from some of the decision-makingfactors of the company as well,
of healthy for the company.
(26:47):
Allowing people to really owntheir position and, you know,
live and die with the decisionsthat they make has been
something in 2024 where I'veallowed to happen.
I used to get involved and tryto save things and then
eventually it ended up happeningeither way.
So, like I said before, takinga step back and allowing things
to play out, allowing kind ofsituations to either excel and
(27:08):
when they do excel you put somegas on it or to kind of, you
know, drizzle out and don't giveit, you know, resuscitation.
If it's not working, let it die, right.
If it's not, it's like holdingon to something because you just
want it personally, not so muchthat it's even beneficial, it's
(27:35):
up and down.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It's a growth.
How many of those things wereyou holding on to A lot Going
into?
Last year there was a lot ofthem.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
There was a few, there was a few, there was a few
.
You know there's a few egothings too as a young man that
you try to put into differentcategories, but a lot of it has
to do with you know certainpersonal qualities about
yourself.
So I feel like, as your companyis growing, you should also be
(28:08):
mentally maturing with yourcompany, or it's going to
outgrow you, right, yes, andhopefully it does Right, because
you have the minds of a hundredbeautiful, a hundred beautiful
lines and you only have yours.
So sometimes, when it doesstart to outgrow you, knowing
(28:29):
when to take a step back,knowing when to seek the right
help, knowing when to reach outto, like you were saying, like
that other company like the NBA,saying like the that other
company like the nba, that, yeah, reaching out to people who
kind of have been through thesesituations before and can help
(28:49):
guide the company, um, to the,to whatever the finish line is
that we're we're trying to getto.
You know, I heard earlier yousaid um, you said that you sold
your, your company, to what wasit?
Job Nimbus, job Nimbus, yeah,yeah.
So like I doubt, when youstarted it, that was like what
you was, that your vision.
(29:11):
When you started, did you eventhink that it would go there, or
it?
Speaker 1 (29:14):
would be there.
No, you just want somecustomers, right Like.
You just need some customers.
That's what you start outwanting, right Like you start
out wanting some customerswanting to pay your bills.
That's what you start outwanting to do.
It evolves, man.
(29:35):
One of the things that you saidthere was allowing people to, to
, to live with the mistakes thatthat were made in their, in
their, in owning their roles iswhat I'm hearing.
And and not not stepping in tosave it, but what you and not
not stepping in to save it, butwhat you also said is not
stepping in to save it because,even a lot of times, even when
you stepped in to save it,things still went wrong.
Right, like, so, my goodness,those are growth moments.
(29:57):
Right To learn.
Like, wow, I can't, like, I mayhave the ability to step in, I
may have, I want to step inbecause I want the best for the
situation, whatever it is, butit may still end up going.
You know, it may changedirection a little bit, but it
may still end up not beingresolved in the way that we were
(30:19):
hoping for, not being resolvedin the way that we were hoping
for.
Definitely, what have been someof those lessons of, of, of, of
helping people become thoseleaders that they need to be,
because they they, because yourteam has to grow, too right, the
difference between 25 millionand 80 million.
(30:40):
There's there's leadership.
Uh, there's leadership growth,not just in Curtis, I would
assume.
How's the team grown?
Have you made any intentionalefforts to help them grow?
What are some of the thingsthat you've been doing?
(31:00):
A?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
lot of times the people who have, you know, kind
of taken these leadership roleson, like we talked about before,
started at the bottom right, sothey kind of went through each
position in the company.
I mean, like the guy who runsproduction now he was in sales,
he was in accounting, he was insupplementing.
(31:23):
Now he's in production.
Right, he was something elsetwo years ago, last year I think
, he was in a different position.
So being able to have a fullunderstanding of the thing
allows that person to be so muchmore efficient and
(31:44):
understanding and he canunderstand, he can see the
problem and it may not be theproblem that's in his face, it
may have been something thathappened three months ago in a
completely different departmentand he knows how to fix it.
He knows how to solve thatproblem without having to go and
find somebody to solve theproblem for him.
(32:14):
So I think that just theevolution of a company, right
people eventually, and you keepthem around and you kind of move
them around and let them, youknow, grow and learn and and go
find things out and come back toyou and say, hey, this is what
I found out, you know this.
If we do it this, this this way.
You say you know they, theywould.
(32:37):
There's things that you wouldnever be able to find out unless
you came from, uh, you know,supplementing department.
Oh, you know, we can get moremoney for this, this and this is
something we're doing on everyjob.
Let me go let Amber andsupplementing know this, because
they know that we're not doingthat Right.
So you know, the natural growthand evolution of a company is a
(33:02):
beautiful thing.
I mean, it was hard for me tohold back tears at the Christmas
party just by watchingsomething.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I think those are.
Those are those moments whenyou're looking around the room
and you see that and you see therelationships that have been
built, you see, like there's awhole, it's.
It's a.
It gives you an, even a wholedifferent perspective.
It's like it like becauseyou're not looking at the game
(33:35):
that's being played, you'relooking at, you know, you're
looking, it's it's everyone'sfamilies and it's everyone's
everything and everythingtogether.
Man, that's a.
I can imagine I've never had250 people, right, like I've
never had a company with 250people or led a company with 250
(33:55):
people.
But, my goodness, man, lookingaround the room must have been
pretty cool.
What were?
Tell me a moment, moment like,tell me a moment about that,
like when you saw, like you knowwhat were some of the moments
where you were like a littlechoked up um the camaraderie
(34:16):
between the people there was wasreally something that, uh,
there was was really somethingthat, uh, it's hard to even talk
about.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Friendships, right, and yeah, if I like, if I
remember right, you went, youknow, your whole your whole time
in business.
You've really, um, you've,you've, you've employed a lot of
close friends, family members,things like that along the way,
so that that that must besomething that's important,
Definitely.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yeah, and then just seeing people who have taken an
opportunity and turned it intosomething that was beautiful in
their life, in their life, it'sthe most rewarding thing in the
world to see somebody where theywere five years ago, see where
they are today, see wherethey're at today.
There was a situation I thinkit was Salesman of the Year they
(35:16):
carried him in a chair to thestage.
It was just people were happyfor him, for genuinely happy for
another person's success, andthat's, you know, honestly, what
it's all about in life.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
So, yeah, how did, how intentional was the creation
of that culture?
How much of that culture justjust came to be?
Speaker 3 (35:47):
much of that culture just just came to be.
Um, I would say the majority ofit was intentional.
You know, I, I I never liked to.
Uh, structure was alwaysdifficult for me.
Right, normality was alwaysdifficult for me.
To say you can only play thisgame this way was always
difficult for me, you know.
So I've tried to make it a pointto kind of be more of an
(36:08):
unorthodox style of company um,younger company, kind of second
chance type company, um, and Imean it worked out, you know,
and kind of my greatest personalsatisfaction is kind of being
(36:33):
able to say that.
So you know, the worst thing inthe world for somebody to say
is I told you so.
But I'm going to say I told you, so you know.
And that's kind of where I getto smile.
I don't have to say anythingbeyond that.
You know, because I told you soyou know, third grade teacher
or you know whoever right.
(36:57):
Sometimes you have to take thosesmall battles.
You have to take some stuffpersonal to help you overcome it
.
Maybe show yourself, if youcan't find it in yourself to
want to do it for yourself.
Sometimes take those smallbattles in life and by the time
that battle is done, it won't beabout that person anymore.
It will be about yourself-development,
(37:24):
self-development.
And when you get there you'lllook back and say, man, I'm glad
I kind of used that for youknow, uh, something to
accelerate my growth.
But it's not.
The reasoning isn't the sameanymore so that's right, it
becomes unimportant.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
But but it but it was a great source of fuel.
It was exactly but you get touse that fuel.
that fuel burns was exactly, butyou get to use that fuel.
That fuel burns out, right,like after you don't need that
fuel forever.
But but a lot of those early,you know, maybe early life
things that happened to you,taking that and and, uh, yeah,
being like, yeah, yeah, this is.
(37:59):
Look look at me now you knowlike there's a, there's
something to it, but then alsoin the ability to give someone
else an opportunity, that thatand then and then being able to
to tell them look at you now,yeah, right, like that's kind of
.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
that's really what it's about.
It's like, you know, like Imean, it's almost unreal.
You know, the story is almostunreal, the, the, it's, it's
just life.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
There was a point in our business, curtis, where I
was talking to my businesspartner before we.
There was a point in ourbusiness where I was looking it
was.
I started saying the numbers,like we'd run through our
numbers and uh and I and I, uh,they didn't sound real to me,
almost Right.
Have you had that kind ofexperience, like when you guys
(38:54):
are talking about your revenuefor the year?
Does it all to me?
It felt.
I felt more connected to thenumbers when they were smaller.
Yeah, like they meant a littlemore, right, and then as the
numbers got bigger, I felt moredisconnected from the nut, like,
from the, the enormity of it,right, like it then.
And we didn't get to your size,but like it.
(39:16):
Just.
There was a point where I waslike, okay, it doesn't even make
sense coming out of my mouth,like when you're talking about
you know 80 million, you knowwhat's that, you know monthly
and you know what I mean.
Like what are you doing?
Like six million a month, likewhat's that's crazy.
Right, like or to from from thebeginnings, right from the
beginnings.
(39:36):
It's like you know to be, likeyou know.
You probably remember the yearyou hit six million or five
million, right now you're you'redoing now?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
you have months.
We're not quite at $80 yet Notto $80.
Okay, we're a little bit underthat.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
But still, what point did you have you had that?
Did you ever get to a pointwhere you're like is this?
Even I've got to pinch myself?
Is this real life?
Like, does this?
You know?
Speaker 3 (40:04):
yeah, I mean it's, it's a you know I, I look at it
and it.
The thing, though.
The thing about it is, though,is with more comes more, that's
right.
Responsibility comes more,bills comes, moreibility comes
more bills comes more, liabilitycomes more.
So that was kind of you knowit's.
(40:28):
I mean, last week, I think, webrought in one point five
million dollars, right, which isawesome, you know.
I mean it's like you know itwas the Christmas party week, it
was my birthday.
I'm like this is this, you knowit was, it was the Christmas
party week, it was my birthday.
I was like this is you know,it's all gone?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
It's all went to ABC and beacon.
That's where it goes.
At least I got to look at it forfive minutes At least I got to
look at it, but yeah, it's a lotof people can't even imagine it
, right, and that's where Ithink it's.
I want to expand people'shorizons in that thought, not,
not not to say, like my goodness, curtis, you're, you're
(41:11):
crushing it.
Like it's that, I think, are we, like it's unbelievable what,
what people can do, like itreally is and for everyone
listening, that's what I'mtrying to get across here is
that, like it can like, and itdepends on what you want, right,
it depends on what you want outof your business too, because
(41:33):
you don't have to have amultiple eight figure business,
right, like you can, you knowyou can have a smaller business
that's really profitable and youknow you can have what you want
.
But but it you know it, ifyou're someone that you know, if
you have the talent, use yourtalent.
Man like I, I don't know, Ibelieve that you know what it's
(41:57):
really about.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Like we were talking about in the beginning, it's
it's about when the peoplearound you are hungry, when the
people around you want more youcan't it's.
It's hard to stop that growth.
It's easier, it's easier to getthere and get bigger than it is
to even get smaller, becausenow they're hungry for growth
(42:18):
and you've built 20, 50, 100,200 people.
Now they all want to eat andthey all want more than they
wanted last year.
So just by human nature and byjust just the evolution of
people, I mean, it's just, it'ssomething that could.
It could just keep going, keepgoing, keep going.
And maybe you know it gets to apoint where you know certain
(42:46):
people step out of the way.
You know what I mean.
And that's just the, thenatural cycle of business as
well.
And, uh, you know we don't haveto get into that topic too much
.
We could probably do anotherone and say six months, yeah,
that's right, really different,uh, conversation uh, what about
(43:08):
the?
Speaker 1 (43:09):
the industry changes, man, like, what are your
thoughts on on, on how theindustry's changing?
And then you know what, how youcan best adapt to what, what,
what's on your horizon?
Because in in entrepreneurshipbut one of the best things I've
heard or ways to describe it is,the wolf is always chasing.
Yeah right, like you, you can'tstop evolving, you can't stop
(43:32):
moving, you can't stop doing so.
What are some of the big things, big changes that you see in
the industry, that you see may,may disrupt, and how are you
approaching them?
Speaker 3 (43:46):
One of the biggest things that I've seen in this
industry is private equity moneycoming in right.
How are you going to competeagainst a $7 billion private
equity company that's going outand buying 65 companies, right?
65 companies, right.
Let me get real with yourselfand let's not, you know, play
(44:08):
the uh, yeah who.
You know the, the measuringcompetition that you know with
something that's going to hitthe ground.
You know what I mean.
So it's like there is no.
You know that's.
That's something that I've seen.
A lot of you know, even whenyou were talking earlier.
You know your company waspurchased by something like that
(44:30):
, um, not saying that that's thewhole industry, but but how do
you how, how, how?
Speaker 1 (44:40):
because we've had private equity in the in the
space for four years now, I'msure they've bought in a few
companies in Chicago, in theChicagoland area.
Right, how, how have you seenwhat, how?
What changes do they make inthose companies?
Is it like I've seen a lot ofthe private equity companies go
(45:03):
really hard on marketing?
Like they, their budgets aremuch larger than yours I promise
like yeah, oh, exactly it'slike, uh, you know, we go back
to sports.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
It's like, okay, the salary cap for you know, that's
right.
It's like the new york knickstrying to play the you know, uh,
college of dupage.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
You know, yeah, I mean, I, I've said it I've said
it a few times, it felt likeover the years sometimes that
the minnesota twins were like afarm club for the yankees.
Right like as soon as a playerwould get good enough, they just
pick them off with a highersalary, right Like it's.
There's that kind of vibearound it, and not that you know
(45:47):
the Twins are a professionalteam, they've won World Series,
but it's still like it's so.
So what other things are youseeing the private equity
companies do that are, you know,encouraging to you and
discouraging to you?
Speaker 3 (46:04):
I haven't really seen a lot of discouraging you know,
private equity deals orsituations.
I think that the owners of thecompanies you know are making
some good decisions and kind ofknowing that you don't really
know what you've built.
Until someone values whatyou've built, either you could
(46:27):
say, oh, I've got this company,until somebody kind of puts that
stamp on you, you don't reallyunderstand what you've built.
I don't really have anypersonal opinions on it.
Either way, I know that for thegrowth and for the um future of
(46:50):
cnn construction, I know thateventually things natural
occurrences have to happen.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
you're a you're, you're, you're a target for them
for sure.
Yeah, you know, and and I wouldassume I if you're, if you're
in anywhere in this industryrevenue wise, you're getting
emails, phone calls, linkedinmessages, whatever it is, from
people reaching out to havethose conversations.
(47:16):
But they are definitelytargeting the companies who have
made a name for themselves inan area.
Right, that's a prime target.
And so how have you thoughtabout that?
You know, like, how have youthought about those
conversations?
Is it a tough one?
I mean, you built a family andfriends business, right, like I
(47:37):
feel like people that have donethat have a harder, not a harder
, time, but it's like maybe it'snot the intention, right, like
it's not, or maybe it's not theright thing, or or you would
have to make sure that it's theright thing.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
I mean I would say, um, I want to get back to one
other thing.
So you start, you start acompany, right, you're selling
roofs, right, you're sellingroofs to customers.
And then you want to grow yourcompany and then you start
selling the opportunity to otherindividuals.
And then you get to that nextlevel where now you're selling
(48:13):
the opportunity, the product andthe function of the company.
Now you're selling the brand.
Now the brand is on billboards.
Now you're selling a brand,you're not selling roofs anymore
, the brand is what's sellingthe roofs.
And eventually you get what Imean and it's.
(48:35):
It's nice because, um, you know, a lot of the blue collar type
guys are kind of getting their,their due diligence.
(48:56):
You know what I mean and it'snice to see.
You know that you don't have tosee it that's a good point, man
.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
It's a good point that, uh, you, a lot of people
in the blue collar industry, areit?
It's a testament to theindustries that that have
evolved over time and the in thecompanies that have been built.
They wouldn't those, thoseprivate equity companies
wouldn't be here if there wasn'tsomething special in a lot of
(49:23):
these companies.
Yeah, that's a.
That is really good, a good wayto look at it, man, and there's
, there's a lot of people thatdeserve a good check at the end
of it.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Yeah, there is and you know like the goal is to.
You know I'm 38, um, I gothopefully a long life ahead of
me and just you know, for 2025,.
You know staying focused on ourgrowth.
(49:52):
Staying focused on that.
You know 20 to 30 percentyearly.
You know growing.
Staying focused on, you know,quality and craftsmanship,
getting back to some of our corevalues, getting back to some of
our things that made us great.
You know like let's makeAmerica great again type
situation.
You know let's get to thosecore.
(50:14):
What are the things thatseparated us from everybody else
?
And let's get back to that andlet's get back to business, so
2020.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
It has to be hard to manage as you scale right,
especially when you get into, Imean, what's in, you know, I
mean with the number of jobs youguys are doing per month, kind
of thing.
Right, like to have this, tohave the, the quality, and to
have with the number of of teammembers for them all to be
brought in on the core valuesand things like that.
(50:45):
Like that's something that I'msure could get off track easy,
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
And everybody is a reflection of it as well.
So it's like you know, and Ihave to kind of own that and
people have to understand that.
You know, like what you'redoing is a reflection of the
person sitting next to you andthe way you deal with that
customer is it's not just areflection of you anymore.
Like we were talking aboutearlier, another 70 sales guy
(51:15):
standing next to you, you justmade their job harder.
Or when you, you know, get intoit with an insurance adjuster
and he's a POS or whatever, andnow we got to go see him again,
that's right.
Three hours later that day,that's right.
You got to deal with the guywho's, like you know, get out of
here.
You know, you know, I think,taking a step back, I'm glad
(51:37):
that you know winter's here.
It gives the guys a little bitof time to kind of, you know,
just to have a little bit of abreak.
This year has been crazy.
I mean we started, we ended inJanuary and started in February,
so and it never stops.
But you know people need thisis an intensive, mentally and
(52:00):
physically intensive job.
I mean you're dealing withmultiple personalities, multiple
customers, up and down ladders,on hot roofs, on cold.
You know sheets of ice on.
You know it's like the mostextreme situation that you could
, you know, get into.
You know I always tell people Isay I don't know if anyone ever
(52:22):
grew up and said I want to, Iwant to be a roofer when I get
older.
Speaker 1 (52:29):
It's amazing all the stories and all the
conversations that I've had.
We're getting close to 250episodes now.
It's like the industry findspeople.
It's like the industry finds youand you can't get out, but you
don't want to get out becauseyou find your tribe, right like
(52:50):
there's, there's a lot of reallygood people in this industry
and a lot of really good peoplein your businesses and, um, you
know, it's really cool man, um,that's awesome.
What, looking back now thatyou've had a chance to to, you
know, for the, the, the growthover many years right, you've
(53:12):
had the growth over many years.
You've had, um, you, you, youkept, we kind of started off.
You talked about one of thethings that you wanted, what,
like you, you're just youmentioned, mentioned you just
wanted to want to leave a legacy.
Right, like you know, nowyou've had your stopping points.
You've gotten to step back.
You've gotten to see the fieldfrom a different view.
(53:35):
What you've gotten?
You got to see that amazingchristmas party with all the
camaraderie and all the people.
You know what is that legacyfor Curtis?
Speaker 3 (53:50):
The legacy.
There's a lot to do witheveryone else around and just
kind of some of the memories andthe um.
I mean, of course I could sithere and say I want to leave, I
want to leave the largestroofing company in the country,
(54:13):
but it's really about just beingable to spend my life with the
people that are around.
You know, like I, I thoroughlyenjoy the people in my company.
I thoroughly enjoy the peoplein my company, like it's not a
job for me to come to work or to, you know, go through life
standing next to a lot of theseindividuals.
(54:34):
You know, I choose them andthey choose me, and that's the
legacy.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
That's awesome, man.
Thanks for your time today.
This has been another episodeof the Roofing Success Podcast.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
Thank you for tuning into the Roofing Success Podcast
For more valuable content.
Visit roofingsuccesspodcastcomWhile there.
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(55:08):
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