Freedom, Risk-Taking & Roofing Success with Dallas Offil | TRM Episode 5 - The Roofing Millionaires

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
One by one my guys just kind of started to quit.

(00:03):
I would get a phone call and he's in jail and I got to pay the subcontractors.
Do you feel that the inner traumas that you have in yourself and the turmoil that you
are facing and all this inner chaos that you carry kind of affect your business?
You know I would say one of the hardest things I struggle with when it comes to managing
people is like giving people grace.

(00:25):
If I tell someone one time I want something done I'll get pretty like antsy when I'm
like if I don't think it's being implemented or if I don't feel like it's being heard.
Most business owners are working in their business instead of working on their business
and when I look at you, you are doing the quality work as well yet you are taking time
for yourself, you are enjoying life, you are doing all these things that most people just

(00:50):
dream of and they can never find time to do this.
How did you create a company that allows you to do all of these things that you aspire?
I want to sit here and say hey this has just been a strategic play but to be honest with
you I can't live any other way.
From the very beginning the early days of me working by myself I never gave up my freedom.

(01:14):
When you are not there how do you make sure that everything is running smoothly?
At this point my team is very used to it, my team is very experienced and they know
that I leave.
How do you see the future of solar and roofing combined?
I think if you are not doing them together you are just leaving so much money on the

(01:37):
table.
If you are going to build a roof and then have some other solar company come and install
on your roof and then god forbid there is any type of issue 5-10 years down the line
your customer calls you, you go out there to the solar guy and the solar guy is trying
to blame you and you are trying to blame him.
It's just a mess.
I saw you doing swinging, rope swinging, ice skating and you do this paragliding.

(02:00):
I want to ask you that I understand that you take time for yourself but all these things
that these are thrilling and adventurous and they are risky as well.
What motivates you to do all of these things?
If you are willing to jump out of a plane or run with the bulls and you go and you do
that type of stuff it's not so scary to step away from your business and maybe lose a little

(02:21):
bit of money.
You are not going to die.
Lions live like this.
They spend most of their day sleeping.
They are sleeping most of their time and all of a sudden they see that okay this is a deer
and I have to hunt it.
Now all their energies are there.
They are laser focused on that prey and they will do anything to kill that.

(02:41):
And you can compare it to a sheep who just stands around and nibbles all day long.
They are eating all day.
They are spending their whole entire day sitting there eating grass whereas like you said yeah
the lion he is hanging out with his family.
He is hanging out.
He is chilling.
He is chilling in the shade enjoying himself.
When an opportunity comes up.

(03:02):
I just want to learn from you that what kind of impact love brings to your life.
When a man and a woman join together on a common goal it's an unstoppable force.
It is incredibly powerful the amount of energy she brings me and when we are in alignment
together and when she is able to bring her feminine when I am able to bring the masculine

(03:27):
and we channel that energy in the same direction it is an unbelievable unstoppable force of
nature.
Hey everyone welcome to the latest episode of the Roofing Millennials podcast.
The only roofing podcast where we don't promote anyone and we don't sell you anything.
In this episode we are sitting down with Dallas Ophiel from Happy Roofing in Utah and we have

(03:51):
talked about how you can build a roofing business that is packed with freedom and how you can
train your roofing team so that your business runs like a well-oiled machine even when you
are not around.
Plus we have also mentioned how the roofing and solar industry might merge in the future
and how you can thrive in your business while managing your love life as well.

(04:14):
Do like and subscribe our YouTube channel if you want us to bring more roofing experts
like this on the show that can help you grow your roofing business.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to the Roofing Millennials podcast Dallas.
It's a great pleasure to have you on the show and I hope we can make this conversation as

(04:36):
valuable as we can for the listeners.
So to kick things off I'd like to ask you how's been the year so far for you?
This year has been crazy.
As far as sales we've definitely exceeded our expectations.
We had a really really big week last week.
I think we ended up booking like 13-14 jobs last week which is pretty major for us here

(04:58):
in Utah to be booking that type of jobs in January.
Usually January is super slow but the weather has been good to us and we just have a fire
in us from last year that's just carried over the excitement to get back after it.
We almost can't help ourselves.
We're just getting new people out there, getting lead setters and just getting after it.

(05:22):
Starting the season off early and starting off strong.
The first month of the year was really good.
We got good weather breaks.
We were able to build quite a bit and had some really good sales so far.
I'd say we're off to a pretty good start.
That's great to hear.
As far as I know you are the owner of Epi Roofing in Utah and before the episode I was

(05:45):
looking at your social media profiles and I was impressed to see that you are living
an action packed life I would say.
And normally we don't see people in roofing like you living a life like you.
That is so much interesting and thrilling.
Would you walk me through your journey?
How did you end up in roofing and how's the journey been so far?

(06:06):
Yeah absolutely.
So I guess just to go all the way back as a kid my dad was in the military so we moved
around a lot.
Always just moving to a new place, moving to a new place.
So I got to kind of travel and explore quite a bit at a young age and it just kind of got
ingrained in my soul and in my character that moving around and seeing new places was just

(06:30):
going to be a part of who I am.
As I got a little older my parents they got a divorce and home life was pretty rocky so
I ended up moving out when I was about 16 years old.
Dropped out of high school, went started entered the workforce and realized life was going
to be pretty hard and I wasn't looking too good back then.

(06:53):
But I got an opportunity when I was 17 to go sell solar in California.
I took a Greyhound from Tennessee and I was on my way to California and I ended up finding
out that I actually wasn't old enough to start doing that yet.
So I hung out in Utah for a little while, got just some basic restaurant jobs and kind

(07:14):
of hung in there until I turned 18 and didn't end up going to sell solar but I got into
door-to-door sales.
I sold all the home security systems and that was kind of the first time I saw light at
the end of the tunnel.
I started having control over my time and my income and I had such a fire in me to be

(07:35):
successful.
I was so insecure about dropping out of high school and you know what was my life going
to look like that ultimately it gave me just every ounce of fuel that I needed to learn
my process, learn about finance, learn about investing and just start laying the foundation
for myself.
So I did home security systems for five years for five summers and that was my routine for

(08:01):
my early 20s was just my late teens and early 20s was I would just sell during the summer.
I would take all that money and I would just go travel and blow it back down to zero dollars
basically and then go back out and make some money the next summer and you know I was five
years into it and I'm like man it feels like I'm just kind of starting back on square one

(08:27):
every year and so then I was like you know I am gonna go out to California I'm gonna
sell solar because I think I can make you know some more money and in the transition
my buddy hit me up and was like dude you should come check out this roofing stuff like and
I'm like all right you know I don't have anything else to do like I'll go give it a shot and

(08:49):
I really didn't know this guy too well I met him my first year doing sales and so but you
know he seemed like a cool guy and seemed like he had something really really interesting
going on so I went out and started selling roofs and I actually had a little group of
guys that were kind of my team that did sales with me and I trained them and managed them

(09:11):
and stuff so they came with me and you know that first week I think we ended up booking
like 50 root and we ultimately basically ruined his company by selling too many jobs he was
just basically a one man show he didn't have he didn't have the capacity to run the type
of numbers that me and my team were were selling and so we really didn't get paid for basically

(09:37):
any of those deals most of them the vast majority of them never got built and he didn't really
have the infrastructure for the company to be able to handle a team like what I had and
so one by one my guys just kind of started to quit and it transitioned from me wanting
to take this opportunity to sell for him me being like hey dude like this isn't working

(10:00):
out and I ended up just working with him and learning how to do it all myself and then
after working with him for about eight or nine months I just went off and started putting
the pieces together myself and for a while I just ran solo I would just do the door knocking

(10:24):
the closing everything coordinate the job basically do everything besides the actual
for myself at this point yeah I basically did that for him and then once I kind of realized
okay I can do this all start to finish like I know how this is working and like he's really
not very organized and there was a lot of mistakes I couldn't get him to you know resolve

(10:47):
he was struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction he's he would you know he would
I would get a phone call and he's in jail and I got to pay the subcontractors and it
was just it was the craziest situation to be in that I found myself in working with
this guy and it just basically spiraled all the way to the bottom but you know in the

(11:13):
in the pit of it I ultimately realized like hey I can do this for myself so yeah so I
went out and I just started doing everything myself selling the jobs managing them and
I got a little a little ambitious I guess you could say and I'm like okay yeah I got
this thing figured out so now I start hiring people I start putting and it was just too

(11:37):
much for me I was I was 23 at the time I had like seven or eight people working working
for me they're doing sales or you know other parts of business and it just it kind of came
crashing down to be honest with you I couldn't handle I just didn't have the capacity to
handle that so I went back to just being a one-man show actually bought a van built

(12:04):
it out I lived out of my van for two years while running my company and I would just
go sell jobs manage them and after you know a couple more years of experience this was
now early 2023 I got a girlfriend and he she worked a different schedule than me and he
worked a different schedule than me so when I would go out and start doing sales and meet

(12:30):
with customers you know I'd be going to work around two o'clock three o'clock and then
go tell dark he'd getting home from work at five and then leaving really early so we were
kind of on this opposite schedule and ultimately I was like hey why don't you know why don't
you just come work with me you can manage kind of the back end stuff for for all these

(12:51):
roofs and then I'll you know I'll have a little bit more capacity to sell and we'll see how
that goes so I brought her in and it was just basically like the beginning of the company
really starting to grow in a beautiful way because we just had so much more organization
and say that again it's 2023 you are talking about yep yeah 2023 2023 in the we met in

(13:21):
snowboarding and then it was like the early spring right when I was kind of getting things
going that I ended up bringing her in in 2023 and so yeah we just started cruising and then
you know she would she was only working maybe 15 20 hours a week to manage all my jobs it

(13:41):
was like easy for her she could stay all organized and do everything and I was like okay you
know so she's got capacity for more so then I brought in my brother and he starts doing
sales and he starts doing really well and then we just kept growing the sales side and
then we grow the operations side and we grow the sales side and we grow the operations

(14:01):
side and you know here we are two years later after I brought her in she's still still my
number one we call her the we call her the CPO of the company she's the chief princess
officer that's her job title over here and everyone loves her she just helps train all
the new people now you know she we're trying to kind of dial back the day-to-day obligations

(14:25):
for her and just move her more into like a training training type role and that's kind
of that's kind of how everything developed on the business side and that's kind of how
we we got here actually it's good that you you talked about her as well because I had
to discuss that later in the interview because I read your Facebook post and it just mentioned

(14:46):
the journey of how she came into your life and how everything changed and it's a great
source of power when you have love or someone who loves you and someone who supports you
in your life so I agree with you on that and we'll bring we'll bring that later on you
just said that you worked with that guy and he was into drugs and he was into all these

(15:09):
things so you know why I started this podcast it is the reason I don't want to talk about
roofing I don't want to talk about how to install a chimney I don't want to talk about
the ridge vents and how do you do ventilators because these are all the things that someone
can learn and everything is there on the internet but the roots of the business or the things

(15:33):
that make you a true or genuine businessman they are missing everywhere and not so many
people know that so that's why I want to ask you that what did you learn out of that experience
and you decided that okay I've I will never ever do these things in my business yeah you
know there was there was a couple things really I mean there's a saying that one of my good

(15:54):
buddies just posted recently and it hit home it's so true it was basic it said if you stay
small enough long enough you'll be big enough soon enough and I think that was probably
the biggest lesson and say that again have he if you stay small enough long enough you'll
be big enough soon enough and it's it's so so true because he made the same mistake that

(16:21):
I kind of made initially and I didn't even realize what he was doing until years later
when I dialed my company back to just me again was you know when you're learning the process
don't feel once it looks like it's fashion when you're learning the process and you're
you're putting everything together if you if you rush the scaling part before you really

(16:45):
know everything then I think that's probably the biggest mistake that you could make I
think one of the best things you can do is just stay small get your systems really dialed
get your get all your legal stuff your tax stuff get everything figured out on a really
small scale and create a really smooth system before you start growing and before you start

(17:08):
adding all the pieces and complexity because that that stuff will come later on down the
road you can always scale you can always you know increase the size of your company but
where I see where I saw him go wrong and where I saw me go wrong in the early days was trying
to rush that instead of just settling in getting used to things being willing to kind of do

(17:31):
a couple different parts of the business yourself and I definitely think that can be overdone
as well where people will wait too long too long to start scaling and giving away parts
of the business and you know getting getting some of the responsibility off the shoulders
for the day-to-day stuff but that was where I went wrong in the in the beginning and that

(17:51):
was that was what I saw him do as well was just you know you get it you're excited you're
like okay cool now I can go to the moon with this and you don't realize how hard it is
to manage people and you don't there's just certain hurdles that you just don't expect
that'll come up and if you do it too soon it can it can definitely damage you luckily

(18:11):
we we made it through that chapter and you know we're here today still standing but it
was hard man getting getting all these people involved and people trust you and they you
know they follow you and you've got their livelihood in your hands it's a lot of responsibility
and mental takes a lot of mental capacity and I think that that shouldn't be underestimated

(18:35):
how much it takes out of you to start bringing people in do you feel that that inner traumas
that you have in yourself and the turmoil that you are facing and all this inner you
know chaos that you carry kind of affect your business somewhere yeah I would say there's
definitely certain things that affect the business you know I would say one of the hardest

(18:56):
things I struggle with when it comes to managing people is like giving people grace you know
it if you if I if I tell someone one time I want something done I'll get pretty like
antsy what I'm like if I don't think it's being implemented or if I don't feel like
it's being heard and so that's kind of the I think that stems I don't know what that

(19:17):
stems from strict parents or whatever you know they tell you once and you just do it
and so when I'm working with other people who don't quite have that I've had to learn
that it's okay if it takes people a little bit to kind of figure things out they're not
they're not intentionally trying to be disrespectful or you know not listen to what you're doing

(19:38):
it just sometimes takes people a few times to really implement a habit or a policy change
that you might want to implement and you know you are right about that because you can't
just have the A players in your team always you need to have the B players and the C players
as well because I personally feel that it's like a puzzle and every piece has its own

(19:59):
value in that you can't just have all the A players and expect your team to win you
might you will definitely need the B players and all these people as well because some
way or the other God has created them and they are part of this world and everyone has
carries their own value and they bring them that's what I feel and I even watched a clip

(20:23):
about that on the internet the other day it was maybe a show in which they had someone
who wasn't that much aggressive in work or productive but the owner of that company said
that I will never let this person go away because he brings this energy to the team

(20:44):
if he is there all these A players can work fine as well just because he is there that's
why I need him.
Yeah definitely that's something that's probably one of my more recent lessons is being more
okay with some of the B players because I'm the type of person I want the A players I
want the people who are super savage I want the people who just you know I see myself

(21:07):
in who are just want to get after it and when it's go time when it's time to be on and when
it's time to get stuff done they're super super serious but the reality of it is you
can have somebody that does bring that type of energy to your company that isn't all that
serious and they kind of make it more fun for everybody to be around and it brings that

(21:29):
kind of diversity of the energy to where it's not just go go go but it's like hey let's
also enjoy this a little bit you know so I'm glad you said that because it's very true.
And what's the story behind this name Appai Roofing because I first like when I read this
I read this as Happy Roofing personally it kind of you smile to my face like how do you

(21:52):
pronounce and what's the story behind this name?
I feel it's yeah so it is Happy Roofing it's funny you know I want to have this big this
big situation on where it all came from I was so focused on just getting it going and
making money and going that when I actually very first started the company before I had

(22:16):
my own license I had a partner who was the license holder and I just asked him I was
like hey what do you think we should what do you think we should name the company and
he's like oh I think Happy Roofing would be cool like that's a cool brand and I was like
alright let's do it you know and so I just kind of asked the license holder like hey

(22:36):
what should we name it?
He named it and we ended up running with it and you know he's he has since we've got our
own license and he's kind of moved on to other things but we still carry the name to honor
him and what he did for us in the early days and everything that he helped us with and
I just like the name you know we really do try to make people happy we do some pretty

(22:59):
ridiculous stuff to make people happy actually to just try and embody the name so I love
it it's here to stay and that's kind of where it came from.
And you know it kind of gets reflected in all the things you do as well I'm actually
really inspired by you because you are living the kind of life that I try to live and I

(23:22):
see you as my inspiration so I had one question in my mind when I was looking all these things
that you do that most business owners or even me we don't live like that like we are not
living in freedom we are we are calling that we are business owners we are not actually
free and I have no shame in admitting that as well so I have personally felt that most

(23:46):
business owners are working in their business instead of working on their business and when
I look at you you are doing the quality work as well yet you are taking time for yourself
you are enjoying life you are doing all these things that most people just dream of and
they can never find time to do this.
How did you create a company that allows you to do all of these things that you aspire?

(24:10):
That's a really good question I'll tell you I want to sit here and say hey this has just
been a strategic play but to be honest with you I can't live any other way it's simply
not possible for me I'm the most unemployable human being on the face of the planet like
couldn't work a normal job I can't have too many day to day responsibilities so from the

(24:36):
very beginning the early days of me working by myself I never gave up my freedom from
very one everything has been built with how can we do this without giving up the freedom
I never went through a chapter where I was in the grind and couldn't go or couldn't leave
and I've just never had that I've just always put that at the front of my priorities that

(25:00):
freedom is number one and if I can make some money great but freedom is number one and
I just prioritized it I just made it the number one priority over making money over anything
I want to be free and that's how I did it I would say that's kind of the mindset behind
it is making it the number one priority because if you say I'll build this and then have freedom

(25:26):
it's really hard to go back it's really hard to you know scoot away from all the responsibilities
you're looking at the next thing yes you're right yeah exactly but if you just say hey
freedom is number one and that might mean I have to take a small step back that was
why I got rid of all my team was because I started feeling the walls close in and everybody
starts you know saying stuff about me leaving or that it starts to affect everything is

(25:51):
that okay these aren't the right people then because that's just not what I'm gonna do
and so now my team if you saw my Instagram story and tomorrow I'm about to leave for
Japan for three weeks like we have crazy momentum for the year I could stay here and ride the
momentum and hype the sails up and keep recruiting and keep making sure everything's working

(26:13):
but and to be honest it was a hard decision to make like yesterday I was I was facing
some resistance like man that's a that's a long trip I'm gonna be 16 hour time difference
there's quite a few people here now you know compared to even just last year I got I got
a pretty good good-sized team you know the people that are you know relying on me for

(26:35):
direction everything but it's like I thought I thought about it and I was just like you
know it's just I just can't give up that freedom if I can't if I can't go to Japan and stay
there for three weeks and enjoy my life if that if that means I'm gonna make less money
or if that means that you know something's gonna go wrong so be it like I'll fix it when

(26:57):
I get back or I'll you know have my brothers here you know I've got some good guys who
are experienced and I just put my full full faith in them I put my trust in them and
I just let the cards go as they make.
You there?
Yeah you were saying that you have people relying on you and it's a good decision by

(27:19):
the way I feel that you are still taking the trip I have that question that how do you
make sure that your business is still running like a well-loyalty machine when you are not
there and how do you make sure that everything is running smoothly?
Yeah at this point my team my team is very used to it my team is very experienced and

(27:41):
they know that I leave last year I went to 11 countries I was gone a lot of the year
but when I come back I'm giving them my all I'm recruiting I'm helping make sure that
they've got good deal flow good height that they're getting that questions answered I'm
still on my phone and available while I'm gone touch base with them as much as I can

(28:02):
but this isn't something that's new to them they understand that you know I'm gonna continue
to live my life and they also see the benefits of it you know I introduce them to a lot of
these people that I meet and they they also feel the inspiration they see that I'm able
to not only have financial resources but time and so they see me as somebody worth following

(28:28):
and worth letting letting lead their life because they ultimately know if it's something
that I can achieve for myself then I can teach them how to achieve it I can teach them how
to make it a priority and how to build a team that's understands that you know I've been
doing you know I started door-to-door sales 10 years ago and this is a 10 year process

(28:51):
to have the to have these types of resources and have this type of time so they understand
that it's a process and they they value the the perspective that I get when I go on these
trips and when I meet these people when I spend time with other business owners other
people who have that type of lifestyle they appreciate everything that I come back with

(29:12):
and I think that ultimately they respect it it's something that inspires my team as well
that wow if Dallas can achieve that life then he can teach me how to do it and actually
I learned this from you so far is that you have already set the expectation that your
team knows that Dallas won't be here and we have to get our shit together because we can't

(29:35):
just rely on him for all the time and that this is what I have learned from you because
most of the businessmen like me when we think that we need we need to train the team and
we need to be there for them and we need to be there for them again and again and again
until they learn that thing and they never learn if we do this like if we do it this

(29:55):
way however your approach is quite nice because it just sets the expectation for them that
they have to do things on their own.
Yeah I empower my people I mean sometimes they'll come to me with questions and if I
think that if I think that the answer to that question is available somewhere else I won't

(30:15):
answer it I will you know when someone's new and they start coming to me with a bunch of
questions I'll be like you got to do your independent research like go online and learn
it join the Facebook groups talk to the supplier like go go to the job site see how things
get done and self-educate because you're not always going to be able to call me if it's

(30:35):
something super unique or something sales related that I it's more my background then
then yeah I'll help them and you know I want to give my input it's not like I won't train
them but I really do try and train them to self-educate that's what I try and train them
to do is I try and train them to be used to figuring out their problems for themselves

(31:00):
and once you can train somebody how to do that then the training is automated then they
train themselves they once they know how to train themselves once they're empowered to
do their own research and come to their own conclusion and you watch them develop into
that space where they they get good at it and they can actually implement things and

(31:21):
they're bringing you stuff that you're all you're like I didn't even think of that that's
actually really cool yeah let's let's start doing that or oh that's an amazing feature
that we can start adding you know or that's a really good tip that we can incorporate
in the sales process like people go out and they find these things and it doesn't become
this echo chamber where everyone internally is bouncing stuff off everybody here is trained

(31:44):
to not go to a team member if they need to learn something they need to go to either
a supplier a subcontractor the internet they got to go somewhere else and we're all collect
we're all taking knowledge from these other places and then bringing it in rather than
everybody asks everybody within the company and then it becomes hard to really learn what's

(32:06):
going on in the outside world we're just repeating all the stuff that we already know so yeah
yeah actually it's a great thing I was watching a video by Dan Martel when the other day he's
a business coach and he talks about this one three one rule in business that if your team
has one problem then they need to figure out three optimal solutions for that problem and

(32:29):
out of those three solutions they need to figure out one best solution and then they
need to bring that solution to you for approval and I have started implementing this in my
business as well and it works right oh yeah that sounds like a fantastic system yes and
I read that on your website that you have been working in solar installation and you

(32:52):
just mentioned that as well so I want to ask you like how do you see the future of solar
and roofing combined I mean I think if you're not doing them together you're just leaving
so much money on the on the table because you know like they go together like in the
future like we'll see a merger of solar and roofing they go together like peanut butter

(33:16):
and jelly I mean if you're gonna have if you're gonna build a roof and then have some other
solar company come and install on your roof and then god forbid there's any type of issue
five ten years down the line your customer calls you you go out there it's the solar
guy and the solar guy is trying to blame you and you're trying to it's just a mess so whenever

(33:36):
you do it all you're like hey I'm the I'm the guy for everything on the roof okay the
roof the solar like you just call me and I'll solve it people love bundling those together
and doing them at the same time because they're both designed to last 30 years so if you if
you've got a brand new roof we what we do is we say hey we give a free solar quote to

(34:00):
every single one of our customers just so you're aware of what the market can offer
I say we're a roofing company I'm not here to make a full-time living on solar the reason
why I offer solar is for the peace of mind of being able to do both those things with
the same person and since you've already got the trust you've already you've already established

(34:23):
like I'm your guy and I can do this type of stuff for you then when you sit down and you
show them the numbers it becomes a lot more real whereas if you're just selling solar
80% of the battle is just building the trust but you already have that trust with your
existing customers so if you're not if you're not offering solar to your customers just

(34:47):
tell them hey we give a free solar quote for every single one if you're not doing that
you're leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table every single year at least you
with a small company like if you're doing 30 roofs a year there's a good chance you
could have booked you know five solar jobs and you know made an extra 25 30 grand if

(35:08):
you had just told them hey we give a free quote to everyone and all you need to do
to do that is start calling up the solar companies around you tell them hey I own a roofing company
I want to be able to offer this you know get a couple get a couple different like commission
structures see what their products like find someone that's good and then just start offering

(35:32):
it to your existing customers I think that's I think that's how it goes together with roofing
I sell a lot more solar as a roofer than I did when I was just doing solar that's interesting
and you know I have heard people saying particularly in the US that solar is a scam and I actually
did a Facebook post about this as well and most of my Facebook friends they just commented

(35:55):
that homeowners are being sold way more than they need and all these solar guys are doing
scam with people some of my friends commented under that post that roof top shouldn't be
the place where solar should be installed we would need to find or figure out something
else and another guy that was pretty interesting comment he commented that we don't need homes

(36:20):
on on solar power solar power we need the power plants running on solar power so these
power plants can you know then they are running on solar power and then they are transferring
the power to these ones and that was quite interesting and if you don't know I am an
electrical engineer graduate as well and I feel that solar is the future even though

(36:41):
I haven't majored in solar but I know that solar is the future but considering all these
peoples and and the concerns they have like raises concerns in me that why it it is happening
when when we have such a great technology taking over the industry what's your take
on on these concerns that people have and how would you address them yeah the number

(37:05):
one problem with the solar industry is most people who sell solar do that as their full-time
income so when they come across somebody that likes solar or is willing to make the investment
they're financing massive commissions that's how the how it works is essentially your commission

(37:27):
on the deal is financed by the customer so these guys who are selling thirty thousand
dollars systems and walking away with ten grand the customer has financed a third of
their system simply to pay your bills for that month so they're now paying payments
for the next twenty five years so that you can have money for that month or that couple

(37:53):
months right so the issue isn't that solar doesn't work it's that the commissions are
simply way too high because they have to be because there's if people went around and
started showing numbers for a twelve hundred dollar commission you know or a two thousand
dollar commission they're gonna sell maybe lightly more but for the most part people

(38:18):
don't really understand the difference between okay my monthly my monthly bill with this
option is a hundred dollars or my monthly bill is a hundred and eighty dollars you know
and so it's that that eighty dollars is thousands and thousands of dollars you know over time
whereas you can you can dramatically cut the cost of the system for the customer if you're

(38:41):
willing to walk away with a twelve hundred dollar two thousand dollar commission that's
not possible if solar is your full-time income as a roofer where you're just doing solar
as an add-on you don't need to make those crazy commissions you can go in there and
say hey I am a roofer I make my money with roofs I show this as an option so that you're

(39:03):
aware and when you go in there and you've got price to walk away with you know a tenth
of the commission that is the industry standard then it starts to make sense then the then
the investment really does start to start to pan out and now with interest rates being
as high as they are that definitely throws a curveball and makes it a lot tougher but

(39:26):
back in you know a couple years ago whenever we had we could do solar for one percent you
are lowering people's bills and when you size it correctly I mean that's the other thing
you gotta you gotta go with the right company you can't go with these companies who people
know that you know if who you're working with is ethical or not if they're if they're intentionally

(39:47):
either over sizing the systems to sell as much as they can or under sizing the systems
to try and to try and show better numbers because that's the other thing they'll do
is they'll they'll undersize the system and say yeah this is gonna take care of your bills
look it's only 50 bucks a month and then they're still getting you know 70 80 dollars a month

(40:08):
from the electrical company so it has to be balanced it has to be done properly and you
can't be financing a twenty thousand dollar commission which happens all the time people
people will finance these systems and walk away with a twenty thousand dollar fifteen

(40:29):
thousand dollar ten thousand dollar commission that's normal like that's not that's not even
that special to make ten grand fifteen grand on a system when you're doing it as your full
time when you're doing it as your full-time deal but if you can do it as an add-on where
it's just a little bonus like hey I already have the relationship so I don't need to I
don't need to spend I don't need to spend all this time building trust and building

(40:53):
rapport I can go in there with an existing relationship that I already have sit down
with them my solar deals take like 15 minutes I'm not even kidding I say hey this is the
numbers do you guys like it should we do it cool let's see if you qualify it's the quickest
simplest easiest thing when they're already your friend they already trust you you've
already done great work and so because it's such a low time commitment because it's you

(41:18):
know you've already you've already made your money on the roof you can go in there and
you can actually give them an excellent deal you can actually sell it at a really low price
not gouge them with this giant commission that they're going to ultimately finance and
be paying on for the next 25 years and you can make it a good deal for them so I think
that's probably the biggest issue with the industry is as a standalone product man these

(41:42):
guys are just incentivized to when they find someone that's excited about solar the incentive
to charge them an extra 70 80 90 dollars a month to make those extra thousands of dollars
it's it's too hard to say no to that because they know they can sell them on an extra 80
bucks a month you know they're 90 bucks a month they know they can convince them over

(42:04):
the long term and they don't want to take a five thousand dollar hit just to lower their
bill you know 70 80 bucks no I think that's the number one issue I think it's all solar
should be hybrid with a roofing company I think if we could do more roofing companies
doing solar and undercut a lot of the guys who just do the solar full-time then I think

(42:29):
that's where the industry is going I think I think if the whole industry was willing
to make less on the solar and then people would not be you know have such a bad taste
in their mouth about it but it's it's tough with door-to-door reps and it's relatively
unregulated on what you can charge and stuff like that I mean obviously there are limits
but they're pretty high and it is what it is I mean people gotta make their money and

(42:55):
do their saying but I think that I think that stains the industry and it makes people really
not like solar because when they when they get the they're looking at the numbers and
they're like this is way too high and it probably is you know it's probably a lot higher than
what they could give you if they really wanted to yeah that's insightful and you just mentioned

(43:15):
that the solar guys undersize or oversize your system so if I am a homeowner and I don't
know anything about solar like is there any process or anything that homeowners can use
to figure out that if they are being oversized or if their guy is undersizing their system I
would say I mean obviously getting multiple bits you can always email me I'll send you what I

(43:39):
think it should be I think getting multiple multiple opinions on it is probably the best
thing that you can do solar is not one of those things you just want to kind of take the first
first bid on you know you you want to get have some numbers to compare it to that's probably the
best thing you could do to protect yourself as a homeowner is really try and get a handful of

(43:59):
people to come out and show you and teach you and there are really good guys out there there
there's some really good teams that I've worked with that are very ethical and honest about how
they how they set up their system so they do exist you just gotta you just gotta be careful
and make sure you talk to a couple different people before you pull the trigger cool let's
just come back to your adventures I saw you doing swinging a rope swinging ice skating and you do

(44:24):
these paragliding and you have been even on in that like the Spain they have this bull race you
have been part of that as well I don't know what they call it in Sierra or something like that I
don't know the term exactly yeah the indoor tunnel the I fly yeah that we're talking about
no I'm not the only one that participated in Spain the bull race that we are running running

(44:48):
with the bulls yeah yeah yeah that's a good time I'm actually going back there this summer
to run with them again I only touched one bull last time I got to touch all of them okay that's
cool now I want to ask you that I understand that you take time for yourselves but all these things
that these are thrilling and adventurous and they are risky as well so what motivates you to do all

(45:10):
of these things that's a good question man I just I like I like the adventure I like I love to feel
tolerance is pretty high and I think that that it transfers over in business too because if you're
if you're if you're willing to jump out of a plane or run with the bulls and you go and you do that
type of stuff it's not so scary to step away from your business and maybe lose a little bit of money

(45:34):
you're not gonna die you know so it's like it transfers over and now nowadays like to be
completely honest with you one of the biggest motivating factors is to inspire other people
they really live their life I went through I went through a period where I kind of transitioned
away from the action sports and started to just really enjoy business and the risks that you can

(45:59):
take in business because like I said if you fail you don't die you just restart nothing nothing
really all that bad happens whereas if you fail on a base jump some bad stuff happens you know and
it's a pretty permanent loss so that's kind of why I liked channeling my my risk into into business
but now I'm kind of circling back around and I'm starting to find joy in the action sports again

(46:25):
and I'm kind of revitalizing that part of my life because I've realized well one I have a knack for
it and that it's not it's not something that's super challenging for me to do it's exciting and
it's fun does contribute to my business it does contribute to my branding because people see the
things that I do and they're attracted to it they want to live that type of lifestyle so it's kind

(46:48):
of a multi-purpose win I get to enjoy my life have fun I get to you know remember that the risks I
take in business aren't all that serious and I get to inspire other people I get to you know build
my brand which ultimately attracts more people into my business which grows the opportunity for

(47:09):
the people that are here and so to me it's just a no-brainer like why not just go live live let
let God take care of the rest you just enjoy it you don't need to you don't need to be fearful and
if you can if you can overcome the fears out there jumping out of planes and doing all that type of
stuff when you come back to your business man it just it's a whole nother world you're just like

(47:34):
man nothing matters over here like this I can I can just take some diabolical risks with business
I can go leave you know leave my entire company in the hands of my 22 year old brother for three
weeks while I'm on the other side of the planet because it's like I'm used to taking risks at
that point it built my risk tolerance I've experienced so many things and I'm still standing

(47:57):
to where I'm like well everything's gonna be fine like if there's something that pops up we'll
figure it out and so I think it's a huge confidence boost it's a huge confidence boost when you go do
something like that run with bulls jump off a bridge something just it just totally boosts your

(48:18):
confidence and it it breathes a lot of stoke into your team too when they see me going and doing that
type of stuff I mean they're they're showing their friends look look this is my boss like this is who
I work with and you know it just gets them all excited they love hearing the stories they love
coming with on some of these adventures you know and and like I said it just expands the opportunity

(48:40):
for everyone if I have the ability and I'm willing to go do these things and garner this type of
attention and build this type of brand and it ultimately brings more people in which grows the
opportunity for the people that are already here why wouldn't I do it if it's fun if I'm enjoying
my life and it's beneficial for everyone I might as well I'd be silly not to that's powerful and

(49:02):
you have charming personality and you know I feel that human beings have this ultimate desire
of freedom everyone god has made us to be free I feel and we enslave ourselves like even if we
are doing nine to five even if we are a business owner I read a quote by Aristotle the other day

(49:23):
and he goes like the life of a slave is punishment work and food you know the life of a slave is
punishment work and food and I just I reflect it back on our lives and I feel that this is what
we are living like we are just working we are punishing ourselves we are constantly into this

(49:45):
grind and we just have food and we are constantly just repeating the same cycle and looking at you
I feel that we are really made for freedom so how do you feel like do you really think that this
grind culture that is being promoted overall on the internet is it really worth it not even close

(50:09):
bro you can set yourself free a lot earlier than people think I mean what's what's the purpose of
grinding it's to ultimately be free right but you could die tomorrow you could die a year from now
so you have to have to allocate time along the way to enjoying your life because you can you can get

(50:30):
right where you want to be you can snap into that place right now you can you can take the rest of
the day off and go do whatever you want the rest of the day and guess what you're gonna be fine
everything's gonna be fine if someone has an issue they'll call you you know you can go instantly
enjoy your life it's a psychological cage built it's been built into us from the time we were

(50:51):
very little that we mostly need to work I disagree I mostly need to play and enjoy life and be in my
creative space and you know have fun and then when I go work it's it's like a laser it's super
powerful and concentrated and condensed and then I go right back to being free and creative and

(51:14):
letting my spirit flow and that's how I come up with certain ideas or you know I'm able to
solve problems from a creative angle because I'm able to decompress from it I'm able to get away
from it I'm able to you know see it from a different angle and I'm able to work through
stuff I think a lot faster and I think I'm able to be a lot more productive by staying free you

(51:37):
know mostly enjoying my life and then being super effective when I go do it if you look at somebody
that has a really fit body they only work out once or you know an hour or two a day like that's all
you really need to have a fit business in my opinion is a couple hours a day maybe you know

(51:58):
like maybe maybe a few potent hours a day and if you're finding yourself in the day-to-day stuff
you got to get out of that as a business owner you got to remove yourself from that as quickly as
possible so that you can use your creative brain if you're stuck in the day-to-day and you're using
your mental capacity to talk to customers or log into your crm and do all this stuff go through all

(52:23):
your numbers or whatever that's that's less mental capacity that you're able to use at the high level
stuff to provide direction and solve the big problems in your company you're you're robbing
yourself of that brain power to use it on the really really really important stuff so I try to
only use my brain power on the super super super duper important stuff and anything that somebody

(52:47):
else could probably figure out I give it to them and if they don't figure it out at first that's
okay I'll let people fail and yeah no don't worry about it it'll just fix it and go on like that's
the cost of doing business and it all comes back to the action sports stuff of like you got to
realize losing a little bit of money in the short term is completely worth it to have somebody on

(53:12):
your team that's really capable that understands you trust them and for you to have that time and
mental capacity to focus on the things that truly truly matter that you're the only person in the
world that can do that very specific thing for your business if you're the only person that can do it
then do it if there's anyone else who could maybe even potentially learn to do it even if it takes

(53:38):
six months then make them do it because if you don't let them fail for those first few months
if you're too scared to take the little temporary loss and for somebody to cost you a little bit of
money in the short term or say something that isn't you know maybe 100 correct to one of your
customers or whatever it may be that if you're not willing to make that that investment in the short

(54:02):
term you're never going to have that team member who's capable in the long term you're not going
to have that and when you are the one that develops them you have so much more trust you can you can
hire somebody from another company you're going to pay more and they're going to be a stranger
and you're not really going to know if you can trust them you're not really going to have their
relationship but when you bring somebody in at you know 13 14 dollars an hour and you work them all

(54:28):
the way up to where they're making some real money and they you know they've made the mistakes with
you and you've stuck with them and you you've proven to them that you want them as a long-term
asset it creates this level of trust and in these relationships that are just so beautiful that
beautiful that i wouldn't trade it for anything i love the opportunity to build other people up

(54:52):
and i'm perfectly willing to take a short-term temporary loss to help get them there because i
know in the end i'm going to have somebody that's extremely loyal and that's down for the ride that's
cool you know i was reading the other day that lines lines live like like this they spend most
of their day sleeping they are sleeping most of their time and all of a sudden they see that okay

(55:15):
this is a deer and i have to hunt it now all their energies are there they are laser focused on that
on that prey and they will do anything to kill that that's what i was reflecting on when when
you were saying all these things that's how i feel you are living and you can compare it to a sheep
who just stands around and nibbles all day long they just nibble nibble nibble and they just eat

(55:39):
their grass and they just sit there and they've got all the they got what they need and there's
not anything inherently wrong with it but they're eating all day they're spending their whole entire
day sitting there eating grass whereas like you said yeah the lion he's hanging out with his family
he's hanging out he's chilling he's chilling in the shade enjoying himself when an opportunity

(56:03):
comes up home they're in there they're getting after it they give all their energy on that
opportunity and once you can start creating habits like that you'll realize how effective you can be
in such a short period of time and you'll resist the urge to sit there and nibble on grass all day
you'll just you'll just go for the hunt you'll just go for the kill and it's the lions that

(56:25):
get up and then they go and they get the kill and then they bring that kill back and they can share
it the sheep can't you can't share any of the food you can't share that but the lion that goes and
kills the gazelle he brings it back to the pride and he shares it right so it's so much more powerful
to be in the lion's space when it comes to being an entrepreneur when it comes to being a leader

(56:49):
you have to be willing to go for those sprints and give everything in a short window and in order to
do that you can't sprint all day long you have to take that decompression you have to take that
relaxation you have to let that energy build right if you when i leave and i go on a trip the energy
build within me it starts like i want to work like i want to get back i want to do something super

(57:14):
effective right now but i can't the opportunity i'm not the window window is closed there's nothing
i can do so the pent-up energy builds build build build builds and then when i get back and and
there's the gazelle and there's the opportunity to win it's just an explosion of energy into whatever
that needs to be you know if you don't ever take that rest and you don't ever let that energy build

(57:38):
the second you start feeling yourself oh it's time to get something done and you release that
pressure you release that energy and you don't let it truly build up to where it's killing you to not
like just attack then you don't ever let it get to that level then you're not gonna have the energy
you need to go after those big big kills amazing yes i'm learning so much from you and let's just

(58:05):
get back because we have to end this i read in your post the other day that you made on facebook
about the girl that you met and you mentioned that as well i don't want to dwell too much into
your personal life however if you are willing to share that story with the listeners you can
and i would love to hear it again as well but i'm really happy for you after reading that and i

(58:29):
really felt after reading that post about your love life that love has really this power of
power of transforming human beings i would say and i am young a lot younger than you i just want
to learn from you that what kind of impact love brings to your life yeah when when a man and a

(58:51):
woman join together on a common goal it's it's an unstoppable force it is incredibly powerful the
amount of energy she brings me and when we're in alignment together and when she's able to
bring her feminine when i'm able to bring the masculine and we channel that energy
in the same direction it is an unbelievable unstoppable force of nature so if you ever

(59:17):
have the opportunity to work with your significant other i would say a thousand percent take it i
would never send maddie that's my fiance's name i would never send maddie to go work for somebody
else i tell her all the time she doesn't need to work i try and stop her from working she
likes to work more than i do and she she's in the trenches quite quite often actually but one thing

(59:41):
i would never let her do is go work another job she she ever got to that play like she would never
even want to do that but like yeah it would be such a loss of power to divide that energy up on a
daily basis that it would just it would hold me back it would hold her back so much when you can
channel and get in alignment with your significant other and she's able to bring her special energy

(01:00:07):
and you're able to bring yours it's unbelievable what you can accomplish together i mean it's been
a complete just complete shift in how easy life has been and how fluid the business flows
with her her here is just not even comparable so if you ever do have that opportunity to work with

(01:00:29):
significant other anybody listening absolutely take it the saying of don't mix business with family
i think is a complete lie i think it's a scion i think that that is used to hold you down who else
are you going to do business with you need to be doing business with people who are close to you
who trust you you know ideally who live with you because then you're able to just expedite the

(01:00:54):
process everything gets done so much faster the communication is so much easier so yeah having
having maddie be a part of the part of my business and you know integrated in in my life in such a
deep way has been one of my biggest you know accomplishments and it's one of the biggest
life hacks i say you could possibly have i am actually quite happy for you that you have called

(01:01:16):
maddie in your life and you're right about this because if you and me are even working together
in a business we are sitting down today we'll at least need a year or six months or two years to
build that level of trust however if you are doing the business with your brother let's say
or your spouse that that isn't exist isn't existing there in the first place because you trust that

(01:01:39):
person and you know that but they are capable of and you can do business with them however you
just mentioned that you you never want her to work for someone else and that's the kind of belief i
have for for my spouse or my love as well now that raised a question in me that it's a blessing it's
an absolute blessing for you that you have caught someone like that in your in your life however

(01:02:04):
if if let's just say let's just use myself as an example that if i have some someone in my life
and i don't want her to work for someone else because i know that ultimately she is my queen
and she if she is in my kingdom she can rule and if she is working for someone else he is telling
her to do things that i don't want her to do in the first place but if she wants to do that

(01:02:29):
how can someone cope up with that like i see girls nowadays they are they are too much passionate
about their careers and they don't just think like that yeah you want to avoid those ones
how can you do that right now it's you would you attract them by being that type of person
i think um if you if your wife or significant other wants to go work for somebody else and

(01:02:53):
she thinks she can create a better opportunity for herself than you can then that i think i think
you need to level your stuff up you need to be the best opportunity she's ever seen you need to you
need to level yourself up that should light a fire within you to get after it go get rich go teach

(01:03:14):
her that you're the one with the opportunity you're the one with the knowledge you're the one worthy
of following you know because if she if she's like i don't quite trust that you know you've got the
best opportunity for me i'm gonna go build my career separately from you then to me that would
just that would just light me up like that would be okay you want to see an opportunity then i i

(01:03:37):
would just get after it and build myself up and uh that that to me just says like either she really
does want to have and there's certain exceptions to that obviously you know this is this is my
personal just opinion and it's not a one size fits all people are pretty pretty diverse but i
would say in general what that means is that you need to level yourself up you need to be able to

(01:04:00):
you need to level yourself up you need to get after it and you need to you need to make the
opportunities that you're offering even better if she doesn't feel like she's ready to follow you
fully on the business side that just means you got to get more done you got to show her that you are
worth worth to follow you're going to give her the best opportunity and that there's no other better
opportunity out there other than to follow you you are right actually that's what i learned

(01:04:25):
because ultimately she is not seeing you as the standard she's seeing someone else and you haven't
actually achieved your or unlocked your true potential that's why she feels unsafe and she
feels that if she's working there she'll be more fine yeah and it might take time it might take
five to ten years for some people to really build their business up but eventually the day will

(01:04:49):
come where you're going to be willing to pay her more than somebody else i mean a doctor even if
she wanted to be a doctor i mean you're talking a couple hundred thousand dollars a year like
if you're a legitimate business owner and you you're you're in it for a while you can get to a point
where there's nobody else in the world willing to pay your wife more than you are because in a way

(01:05:13):
you're just recirculating money back into your own home so it's like at some point at some point
you're going to hit a certain success level you're going to be able to offer her you know a position
that she just can't resist and for some people you might be able to offer that right out of the gate
for other people you might need to work on yourself work on your business for five ten years

(01:05:34):
and she might be right she might she might have an other opportunity that's better
but that just that just means you need to build a better opportunity for her and that day will come
if you keep chasing it down and you keep getting after it and you keep putting that as a priority
that hey i want to build an opportunity for my wife or my significant other to follow me on a

(01:05:54):
more legitimate level you'll get there eventually just might take some time awesome do you enjoy
solitude as well like do you enjoy being alone i do at times i've definitely had some pretty
lonely periods especially like during when i lived out of my van for almost two years that was a
pretty lonely period of my life and it definitely got to the point where it wasn't enjoyable but

(01:06:17):
it's something that i'm pretty used to i do spend a good amount of my time you know in solitude and
it's not something that i'm all that scared of or anything like that but i'm aware of it as i if it
starts to get too much then yeah you know i need to go out and be social and meet with some people
and hang out with some friends and you know go go and do some stuff but ultimately it's really not

(01:06:44):
a huge problem for me to spend some time alone and reflect and be by myself and sit in my own space
it's really it's not a huge problem for me you know what i feel is that when you sit in silence
and you face your demons and you face you face the internal emptiness that you have and you are
sitting down with yourself you are having the conversation you are looking at your traumas and

(01:07:06):
you are looking at your true selves and you face that and you conquer that you beat that and you
just take control of yourself that helps you so much in making better decisions in your life
what are your thoughts on that yeah i agree i agree i think you know especially you're using
solitude to reflect and get to know yourself you have to spend time with someone if you want to

(01:07:30):
get to know them and you got it and that applies to yourself as well if you can really spend time
with yourself and reflect on what you've done and what period of your life were you accomplishing
a lot and super motivated and what periods of your life were you drained and didn't have energy
that reflection time is very valuable and you can use those data points to make better decisions

(01:07:52):
and set your set yourself up for more success in the future so dallas my last question to you would
be what's your biggest fear in your life my biggest fear in my life would probably be losing my
freedom i i'm really not all that afraid to die or go broke honestly part of me thinks that that
would be fun and exciting to lose everything and have to start from the beginning but finding

(01:08:17):
myself in a in a job where i have to ask for time off or i have to be there at a certain minute and
i can't leave until a certain minute that that would be the scariest existence i could possibly
imagine and i will resist that till the day that i die i will do everything i can to never give up
my freedom even if it means i have to move back into my van or go live in a tent i'll always have

(01:08:43):
control over my day-to-day life and you know i think that that fear is healthy i think it helps
keep me centered and keep me focused on what i need to do and it helps me resist the temptation to
pursue money over freedom and you know slip back into saying no to trips or you know saying no to

(01:09:03):
doing the stuff that i ultimately want to do simply because i can make more money or even that the
people around me can make more money because that's that's really that's part of it you know it's like
when i feel resistant when i felt resistance to go to japan it really wasn't necessarily because
it's gonna affect my income like i personally i don't care about that it's it's more like you know

(01:09:24):
i want the people who have chosen to follow me to also make as much as they can i want them to sell
as many deals as they can i want them to have the best opportunity that they can and you know being
able to compartmentalize that and say hey i have to have to stay free i have to do my thing and
people will learn to self-motivate and and achieve what they need to achieve whether i'm here for

(01:09:49):
you know this month or whether i'm gone people are gonna people are gonna do what they're gonna do
and i can't i can't you know give up my freedom just so that somebody else can make a little bit
more money or so that i can make more money amazing and you know i feel that you need this kind of push
to achieve things that if i don't do this i will rather die like there is no other option for me

(01:10:15):
to pursue this otherwise i can't just work because i will never ever compromise my freedom
and there is no other option besides that so i have even if i go broke even if anything happens
i have to do this this is the thing that makes you achieve things so yeah delas
yeah delas yeah it was really insightful and deep conversation with you and i hope that the audience

(01:10:42):
enjoys this as well i got i personally got so much to learn from you so yeah i'm just observing all
of that thank you so much for your time delas it was amazing having you on the show thank you so much
have a great year as well

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Freedom, Risk-Taking & Roofing Success with Dallas Offil | TRM Episode 5

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Freedom, Risk-Taking & Roofing Success with Dallas Offil | TRM Episode 5