First Year In Roofing Part 2

I never sold a house. Not one.

After 6 weeks of going to his house everyday talking about how

to become an elite sales person he hit me with an unexpected but understandable question.

“Are you going to work with me? I’ve been coaching you for weeks and if you continue to work

with her I’m wasting my time developing you. If you want to work with me you need to quit

working with her now. If you want to work with her, please get the fuck out of my house.” He was

abrasive, and it worked very well with me. I was a rebel, newly in recovery, still thinking I ‘knew it

all’. I thought for a minute about being an agent and started asking questions regarding if I could

replicate the same lifestyle with roofing, I really didn’t believe I could. I had never heard of some

roofer making millions, it just wasn’t a thing that was publicized. Or so I thought. At the end of

the day I didn’t really care how I got there, I just knew I needed training. I was well aware that

the level of care he gave was unheard of, and I wasn’t about to pass up that opportunity. I texted

her and quit being a real estate agent, and off I went to the land of the roofers. I learned yet

another valuable lesson in this. It’s not about where you work, it's about who you work with.

Your chosen industry must have the potential to make 6 or 7 figures, there's no doubt about that.

Almost all sales jobs have that potential.

It doesn’t matter if it's selling real estate, roofs, solar panels, mortgages, pest control, or alarms.

It matters who you work with, because those individuals are the ones who will teach you the skill sets necessary to make the funds you

desire. My Ryan Serhant dreams were not going to be my reality but I was still going to get to my

destination regardless. The lifestyle awaited me and I knew in my heart that I was destined for

greatness.

I began the roofing industry as any other newbie would.

I needed to learn, and that's exactly what we did.

I spent my early days getting accustomed to the schedule. Waking up early, going

to the gym, and being in the field on roofs was a new experience for me. I was previously

working out at night but changed to the morning per my coach's advice. It was needed. The

day's work didn’t end until I was dead beat tired. We kept at it until far past sundown most

nights. I wouldn’t get home until almost 10pm most days. When I say we sold roofs I mean more

specifically we sold people on allowing us to inspect their roof; we did insurance claims. We

inspected for storm damage and if they qualified we helped them to file a claim with their

insurance representing them throughout the entirety of the process. I never even had car

insurance so all of this was incredibly new.

Passion creates purpose though, and purpose keeps us focused.

I had a passion for getting as far away from active addiction as possible, generating

an insane amount of money and becoming so successful that people wouldn’t believe where I

came from when I told them. That passion created a purpose. My purpose: helping homeowners

through the claims process, ensuring the installation goes smoothly, and turning customers into

raving fans.

I have always had a competitive nature.

Selling roofs amplified it and my coach developed it into a positive tool for me. Competition is healthy, and drives us to achieve incredible feats. I made

friends with several of the other sales reps and would compete against them. Who could get the

most roofs in a night, week, month. I saw my sales numbers growing as the months progressed,

by the end of summer I was in first place with a solid lead. I was driven to keep pushing

everyday and see just how great I could be. My sales were my main focus but I would help the

team where I could. I started to organize group door knocking sessions, where I’d drop a

location in our group chat and meet the team to knock a neighborhood together. I noticed that

doing this brought satisfaction to the owner and his brother, and started to get a feeling I could

be more than just a sales rep. It felt like working in a restaurant where I’d always tried to be the

closer so I could cut everyone and take all the tables for me. Except I was selling roofs, and

even though there was no official manager position, I was gunning for it. It works the same

regardless of where you are. Go above and beyond helping your team and eventually you will

lead them. I was fully immersed in the sales world and September proved to be my biggest month. I sold 24

roofs that month, making over $40,000. I did absolutely nothing except workout and work. It felt

great, like I was actually making something of myself. In the end all the effort paid off, because

the owners asked me if I would be interested in a promotion. It wouldn’t be until the end of the

year, but I would move to Colorado and open an office of my own there. I’d be a branch

manager responsible for recruiting, interviewing, hiring, coaching, and developing the sales

team.

This was music to my ears, not to mention the pay.

I would make more than a percentage of the sales volume I was able to produce. It sounded like a win-win to me. Always remember

your mission whenever you start a new job is to be the best. There will always be someone

that’s been there longer or has more rapport with management. But you can always be the one

that works the longest and is the most charismatic team player your company has ever seen.

You are competing to sell the most in your company while bending over backwards to help

everyone else on the team. You won’t be paid for it, and that’s where most bitch out. They say

things like

“this is above my pay grade”

and

“that’s not my job”.

They will also be the people who stay in that same position complaining about how they’re so broke forever. By doing way more

than you’re paid to do you will attract the attention of your bosses. You will attract amazing

attention, and without you having to ask they will inquire about you taking on more responsibility,

thus more pay. Eventually, you will be making 3 times what the “that’s not my job” person is

making and you’ll know why. You did way more than you were paid to and now you’re paid for

more than you do.

I ended the year with an infamous melt down. I was at 1.8 million in personal sales, with 89 roofs sold.

Those numbers had never been produced in the company before, nowhere near it. I

was in first place by a long shot on the leadership board, but I was exhausted. My coach was

pushing me to sell 2 million, and I was not having it. I snapped. In early November I said I’m

done. That there was no way I’d sell another roof and I never wanted to knock doors again. That

wasn’t the truth, I was just burnt out. 14 hours a day 6 days a week plus a few hours every

Sunday took a toll on me. I later realized that burn out is simply lack of purpose driven

fulfillment, but at that moment I simply thought I had over done it. I ended the year with $ 1.8

million in sales, generating me over $200k profit. The skills I learned that year were the

foundation to something great. The foundation to building an empire. I was a confident,

adaptive, disciplined, persistent, driven leader. The development that occurs doing door to door

sales is exceptional. I highly recommend it.

As we approached my second year of sobriety I was overjoyed with the year's accomplishments.

If you told me 24 months ago that I would be enjoying the holiday season

with my mom happy and healthy with an income of several hundred thousand dollars, I wouldn’t

have believed you. I knew I was destined for a life like this, but imagined it would take much

longer. I envisioned 5+ years of hard dedicated work and I'd achieve that kind of salary. But if

you believe in yourself and are genuinely willing to do whatever it takes, you can make it

happen. It's really a simple equation. Extremely hard consistent work with zero distractions

equals massive results. When you do produce those results, a reward is in order. I rewarded

myself with a solo trip to Mexico to get my teeth done. I had been insecure about my teeth for

years, all the meth had ruined my grill. My teeth were yellow, crooked, and made me feel ugly. I

went to Mexico and got the crooked teeth pulled. Then a full set of crowns, top and bottom. I got

the brightest white they had. Leaving that dentist office felt good. Damn good.

Turning dreams into goals and executing until mission complete had become my new addiction, and i was only getting started