Manhood Matters Podcast
Conversations around challenges dominating a man's journey through life. These topics are explored by real, everyday friends, with a lot of experience... And we have the occasional expert guest.
Manhood Matters Podcast
Tobiah Rocker’s Squirrel Theory: How to Attract Success
Ever wonder what separates successful entrepreneurs from those who struggle for years without breakthrough? Tobiah Rocker's story might just hold the answer.
From borrowing a neighbor's lawnmower as an eight-year-old to fund a school field trip his mother couldn't afford, to building Roof Bullies, a thriving roofing and restoration company, Rocker's journey demonstrates the power of unwavering focus and strategic positioning. Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma—home to the historic Black Wall Street—shaped his understanding of both racial dynamics and business opportunity.
The pivotal moment came when Rocker, with zero roofing experience, dramatically underbid a church roofing project. Rather than retreating in embarrassment, he invested $4,500 in a premium ticket to RoofCon, immersing himself completely in an industry where he observed only one other Black business owner among thousands of attendees. This bold move accelerated his learning curve by years, connecting him with multi-millionaire mentors who shared their expertise freely.
What truly distinguishes Rocker is his philosophical foundation: "No one is going to save you," he emphasizes, taking complete responsibility for his success path. At 35, he remains laser-focused on building generational wealth before pursuing personal relationships. His "Squirrel Theory" of success—that success, like a squirrel, cannot be caught by chasing it directly but through strategic positioning and patient value delivery—offers a refreshing counterpoint to hustle culture.
Perhaps most compelling is Rocker's commitment to creating opportunities for others, particularly in trades that remain resilient against AI disruption. His advice to young entrepreneurs? "Try everything, then make a decision and be obsessed with it."
Ready to transform your approach to business and life? Listen now and discover how Tobiah Rocker's principles can help you attract success rather than frantically chase it.
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Host: StéphaneAlexandre
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Music by Liam Weisner
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The philosophies that I live off of is you're going to die, tobiah. That's inevitable, and you don't know when it's going to happen. So you can't take no days for granted and you have to give everything that you have, no matter how tired you are, exhausted, mentally drained, that doesn't matter because it's not about you. That philosophy allows me to understand that I have to show up for this business every single day that is an amazing philosophy mindset.
Speaker 2:How old are you? 35. Rocker is his last name, which is very fitting because tobias rocker is indeed a superstar. I got a chance to sit with him so he could share his secrets about his principle-based successes, his past failures and his perpetual learning. Now, if you're seeking a life of abundance and feel that you've tried many things and yet haven't cracked it, you just haven't gotten that break yet. This conversation is for you. But don't just follow the show. Please share this episode with at least one friend. I guarantee you there is someone you know who could use this recipe for success, Knowing there's something else, and they just aren't fulfilling that purpose. Today, Tobias Rocker speaks of that purpose. He shares his principles, his ideologies and the secrets that have made him successful and continue to elevate his company. Thank you, family, for pressing play on this enlightening episode. I'm glad you did and you will be too. Welcome to Manhood Matters. Let's get to it. Tobiah Rocker. Yes, sir, Welcome to the show. Brother, my man, my man.
Speaker 2:Glad you're here, Appreciate you having me, Of course, Of course Anytime. I do these whenever there's someone that I kind of admire look up to. I always feel funny saying this because you're a lot younger than I am and I say I look up to you, but I don't look at the age, I look at the accomplishments, I look at the body of work and I think you've done some amazing things. I've only met you once, but I heard you speak at an event. I thought you were impressive.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:So now we're going to go back to the roadmap that got you from where you started to where you are today.
Speaker 1:So it has always kind of started like years ago, like when I was probably in the middle school, and my first kind of business that I kind of took on is like I had a neighbor and he had. He was an old man, he had a lawnmower in his garage and he always kept his garage open but he never used it. So one day I kind of seen my grandpa we cut this yard and it kind of inspired me like, oh, I'm gonna cut some grass and this is like when I was, you know, probably eight, something like that. So I went next door, jumped the gate, took my neighbor's lawnmower and gas can and snuck it on the side of his house and I just knocked on my neighbor's doors and told him I'll cut their grass. And they, when they asked me how much they'd do it but I'll do it for being a kid I was like $10, you know $8, you know whatever. Kid, I was like ten dollars, you know eight dollars, you know whatever. So, um, the thing is it only took me time. So I cut probably five people's yard on my street for ten dollars and then I made 50 bucks and I had to. I ran out of gas. I had to kind of ask somebody what should I do? And then I got on my bike, went up to the street, got some gas, rode back, spilt it all over myself. It was just like an experience of starting something. So from there I've always had and started businesses. In regards to my access when I was a kid I was just doing it to what I can do. So it was another situation.
Speaker 1:Once I got into middle school. I had a particular guy. His name was brown gravy and he was a crackhead, but he had a car. Okay, and brown gravy, if I give him, you know, five dollars or whatever ten dollars, he'll drive me wherever, as long as you know he can put gas in the car. Yeah, and he had, like this, this old little van, but it fit like five, seven people.
Speaker 1:So my school gave us these jump rope for heart envelopes and they gave us some shirts and they told us to go home and get donations for this jump rope for heart. They gave me an envelope. I went into my neighborhood, got a lot of money, took it back, gave it to my teacher and I kind of found out that my teacher didn't even she kind of kept the money. So I found the envelopes in the booklets of Jump Rope for Heart, and I took probably 20 of them. And then I got about seven of my homeboys that I played sports with and we all piled up in this crackhead's car Brown Gravy, brown Gravy and we went to this particular neighborhood just raised money from hey, the middle school, the Jump Rope for Heart, yeah, and they donate, donate, donate, and then we kind of just Kept that, kept the money. But the way that I did it, I just I gave them $20, $50. But I kept the remaining from everybody that was in the van. You gave them a commission, I gave them a commission.
Speaker 2:Because they didn't know what the business plan was.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So it was just more of me seeing what my teacher did because I was like, oh no, I'm turning this money in. But once I seen that I was like, well, if she going to keep it, I'm going to keep it. And it kind of took me to another position where I start buying these boxes of candy from this wholesaler and it was like peanut brittle and gummy bears and it was in a luxury little box.
Speaker 1:So I went to Walmart, got some tubs filled up, these like 15 containers with candy and those my same friends that we did the Jump Broke for Heart with. We just took these tubs and then we sold candy in high prestigious area so I sold it for like something that cost me a dollar. I sold it for $10. Yeah, you know, I just made my margins. And you were how old at that point? I was in the seventh grade, Dude. That's crazy, yeah. So it was just like I've always kind of typically been this way.
Speaker 2:You were destined to be well, not to be. You were an entrepreneur back then, and you were destined to never work with anybody else.
Speaker 1:Period. That's crazy, because my mom, she was never able to afford school clothes and shoes. And you know we wanted the Jordans, we wanted to be super fresh. But you know my mom being a single mom, having me and my sister, you know she could only do so much right. So for me I wanted a lot. So and plus, I didn't want to take from my mom either. I knew it was my responsibility to kind of do what I had to do.
Speaker 1:So me being in that kind of entrepreneur space and me making my own money, I never looked at my mom to give it to me. So I've always tried to do something to make my own money. So I didn't have to ask anybody if I wanted to eat, if I wanted to buy some clothes, if I wanted to go on a field trip that costs $30. And I wasn't able to go on a few field trips because my mom wasn't in a position. So that was the main reason why I took my neighbor's lawnmower and cut those yards, because it was a field trip and it cost like 30 bucks. That was my reason and like, oh, if she doesn't have it, I'm just going to go make it myself. So it just spiraled into like my adulthood.
Speaker 2:And I got to jump in because it's such an interesting story, because a lot of people could have made a sharp left turn into something that would have landed you in a whole lot of trouble. You're taking your life in a very different direction. I always look at guys who ended up I don't know whether it is selling drugs, whether it's weapons, whether it's whatever it is things that kind of lend you, you know, a lifetime of imprisonment. And I look at those guys and they're business savvy entrepreneurs. They just picked the wrong vehicle, the wrong product. Yeah, what was it that kept your moral compass in check so that, yeah, I'm going to play in the gray area a little bit, right, I'm going to raise money where I'm not going to give it out. But then look at the example I was given and at that point you're in middle school. Yeah, but what was that thing that kept you from taking that sharp left turn?
Speaker 1:I mean, the thing is I had a I mean I had a cousin that got shot in the head for breaking into a vehicle and he was the only one that got killed, and it was four of them. I've played in that world. We used to break into houses. We used to. You know that was our Environment. You know we call it kick door. So it's just like you were going to a neighborhood, kick a door in and just take as much stuff as you want and get out of there. Because, culturally, if you're in a neighborhood and you have Friends and buddies and people that you look up to, that move in that frequency, it doesn't seem too criminal. It just seems like, oh, this is what everybody's doing to make money because you are a product of your environment.
Speaker 1:So for me, I've been on that side of the track and I was blessed to not go with my cousin that night and who's to say that could have been me. So that was a pivoting point of seeing how serious this is. Yeah, so I was able to pivot through an experience of I was supposed to go with them and I didn't and that took place. So it allowed me to pivot. I don't want to die just because I'm breaking in. You know we were kids. We're stealing things that wasn't even valuable, you know. So it's just like that's what allowed me to pivot and take my friends and go sell candy and go do jump rope for heart, because I just lost a family member from doing this particular thing and I had common sense at that age, so that's what made me really pivot in the space of staying in a gray area. But it's better than selling crack with my friends or breaking its houses. So Gotcha.
Speaker 2:So those are the early days. And where did you grow up.
Speaker 1:So I grew up in Oklahoma, okay, tulsa, oklahoma. My dad he's from Atlanta and my mom's from Oklahoma. Okay, so me and my sister has always been back and forth from Atlanta and Oklahoma my whole entire life. So we have like a country perspective and we have a city perspective. So we kind of always bounce back and forth in those realities.
Speaker 1:But being raised in Oklahoma it's just a country town, a lot of gang banging, but there was a lot of wealth building due to Black Wall Street and things like that. So it's it's a balance of the opportunity, what it used to be and just where it is now. So growing up in Oklahoma you don't have, especially after Black Wall Street, you don't have too many political or entrepreneurs. That's Black, that's successful, like you have in Atlanta. So you typically are still around a frequency that still resonates from that Black Wall Street era.
Speaker 1:So being a Black man in Oklahoma starting a business is pretty difficult because you don't have the support you would have in, like in Atlanta, like here. In Atlanta people want to support black, they want to work black. In Oklahoma it's a little bit of the opposite. They would rather work with a white organization, just simply because that's just what has been programmed for our culture, because there's no successful black companies. So if you're so used to going to predominantly white schools being around predominantly white people being around all successful white businesses anytime a black business arrives, you have to kind of go through a lot of trial and error to make your stamp.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:I used to have such a racist perspective against white people because I didn't understand them and they didn't understand me. So me, going through the journey of living in Oklahoma, I developed white friends, I developed white families that I was very, very close and strong with. So it allowed me to kind of understand like white people are not too much racist. They just don't understand us and what is portrayed in our culture. They only see us gangbanging, violent, crazy, over-sexualized due to the media and content and things like that. So they can't help but to think a certain way. So as you connect with them and you show them a different light of education, intelligence and things like that allows them to get a better understanding.
Speaker 1:So for me, I took that data and once I got into industries where I had to start dealing with white people when I got into the roofing space the only prestigious areas in Oklahoma are predominantly white I had to close my own deal. So I didn't have, I didn't start with a roofing company. I didn't start, you know, with anything like that. So through my lessons of life it allowed me to know how to close a white gentleman, asian, indian, whoever it is, just due to my journey of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2:Indian, whoever it is, just due to my journey of entrepreneurship. Yeah, not to stray too much from the topic at hand here, but to push back a little bit, I think there's an aperture through which they choose to view us sometimes, where I think, if given, not given, a choice, the choices are there. I think sometimes, if it's more convenient for them to look through this lens as opposed to this other lens, because it bothers me sometimes when I, when I feel like I have to perform right, I don't have to put the way I am now, the way you are, still where. We are sure we can cut up a little bit more, we can relax, we can use more colloquialism when we're talking to each other.
Speaker 2:There's so much we definitely can do. We can relax just like any, any ethnicity, when they're at home and they're comfortable and they're around their folks. There's a certain way they they communicate which you don't do with the outside world all the time. Um, I'm all I've heard so much of. They won't say it to me that way, but it's like oh, we like you. You're a little bit different you. You don't sound like the other guys.
Speaker 1:You don't act like that. Why?
Speaker 2:can't it all be like you? For sure, stuff like that, so that always kind of rubs me the wrong way. But I know exactly what you're saying when you say you had to learn to deal with them. And this is the way it is, because, yes, overall, I don't think people wake up and choose to be racist. If it benefits you, if it's convenient, you continue, even though you realize it's probably not the best way to be. But if it's convenient for me and it helps me and it puts more money in my pocket and it keeps me in a situation where I have more advantages as opposed to the next person, I'll take it Absolutely Right. You mentioned one pretty traumatic experience that you had that kind of changed and kind of shaped you a little bit. Were there others? Tulsa?
Speaker 1:Oklahoma has a full season of first 48. We're extremely small demographic. When a first 48 comes to a particular city, it's Chicago, it's Atlanta, it's Florida, memphis, memphis, you know, it's somewhere that's pretty big, yeah. So for us to be able to make it on the first 48, it gives you a perspective of like, it's a lot of crime, it's extremely a lot of crime Per capita, and it's extremely small. It's a neighborhood just full of you know, murder, deaths, killings. It just is senseless. They have succeeded Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, because I think about the pillar and what tulsa represents to us as a community, the thriving community that it was. And I was crushed and burned, burned down, bombed to death, yeah, just massacred, and when we look at what it is today, the only phrase that comes to mind is them.
Speaker 1:They have succeeded yeah, they play a longer game than anybody. So with that, and even when I just think about black wall street, like I have family members who had businesses doing black wall street. So people have to understand when you look at pepsi and coca-cola and bank of america and all of these high, prestigious 500 corporations, these are the businesses that we would have to this day. We will be the Coca-Cola's, we will be the Bank of America's and things like that, because these business and these corporations started a hundred years ago and it just been able to continue. So those bakeries, those bread manufacturers, starbucks, coffee shops, all of these Fortune 500 companies that would have been a lot of blacks catch on to this particular way of economic stimulation, then it jeopardizes our bloodline.
Speaker 1:So for that, always knowing that being in a predominantly area that was successful with, you know, blacks and things like that, and to see it now like yeah, you look at it, like, yeah, they definitely accomplished what they sought out to do. But also it's the resilience of what we have to be in order to even have enough mental fortitude to push towards entrepreneurship, seeing that everything that we typically work from they take it away. So for me, I couldn't fall in a category, because I have a lot of black men that was around me that always pointed a finger at the system and the man and all of these things, but they never did anything through their everyday life to exceed and to position their families to be in a better position, because they're so fixated on what somebody did to them. And I didn't want to fall under that category. It's like, yeah, you guys are extremely knowledgeable about what the man is doing and what the system is doing, but you guys are still getting assistance from the man.
Speaker 1:You guys are still using the programs that they're going, know, going to the liquor store you're part of the system you're part of the system, so you can speak about this as much as you want, but what are we going to do so far?
Speaker 2:and it's okay to be transitional in that phase, meaning it's okay to be part of the system. If there's a plan and you're working towards that plan, yeah, if you're born into it, what do you do? Right, this is just what it is. But, like you decided at some point, you were practically a baby when you said this is not right. There's something I want to do about it, for sure. And then decided to do something about it absolutely, man.
Speaker 1:My environment has molded me to be this thing that I am today. I'm just trying to take my today and move it forward to better my future family and my future bloodline, because it has to start with somebody. Everyone has that one person in their family that changes the trajectory of correct everybody's life. That's why I have such a forward mindset. I've been able to have these blinders took off my eyes to see things for what they really are. So now it allows me to get out of this victimizing mentality because we can find ourselves being exactly there and just saying, okay, what can I do today to move forward? And I only have control over what I have control over.
Speaker 2:Control the controllables. The noise is going to be there, no matter what, point blank. Ignore the noise, focus on your solution, focus on your why, focus on what you're trying to achieve, because the noise is going to keep coming at you, point blank and granted. Obviously, there is a system in place that doesn't favor you, doesn't favor me, it exists. So, yes, the battle is something you have to go through, but you just have to decide that you're going to go through it and understand that it's going to be a little harder for you than it is for someone else, absolutely so. With that said, how did you start your business and why? What's the name of the business?
Speaker 1:The business is Roof Bullies, so it's a roofing company Roofing and construction Roofing and construction Gotcha Restoration Okay. Company roofing and construction. Roofing construction gotcha restoration okay. So I had a pastor and I was doing like remodels and things like that. In oklahoma there's a particular church in black wall street that's still there. It's one of the original churches from black wall street that I was raised in. So every four or five years you know know, they change pastors and I don't too much understand it, but it's a thing Like every few years a pastor will move from a different state, come to a church that they get moved to, and he was just particularly one.
Speaker 1:He was the first pastor that was kind of, you know, in his early 40s he knew what was going on and things like that. So he was kind of like a young pastor. So, as we connected, one day I was getting a smoothie and he came in he was like, yeah, we were replacing the roof on the church. And I see, you know, I see you on Facebook kind of posting this and this, go ahead and do a bid. So I went ahead and did the bid for the church before even you know, I had no idea about roofing, just completely lost. What were? You know? I had no idea about roofing, Just completely lost.
Speaker 2:What were you posting if you had?
Speaker 1:no idea about roofing, so I was posting kitchen remodels. Gotcha Okay, flooring. And just you know I was doing fix and flips. And I had a relationship with a buddy of mine that was a contractor, gotcha, so I didn't understand contracting work, I just understood money. So it's just like have a client, he wants a remodel, I go to my buddy how much you gonna charge me, redo the floor, the just do everything. He'll tell me 5500 or whatever and I'll go to the my client and be like I can do it for 8500.
Speaker 1:Yeah so it's just like I didn't understand the elements of contracting. I just understood like brokering. You know, he sent me the bid, he sent me this long email and it was asking questions and then it asked for a price point. So I looked at the roof and I just put 165 000 and submitted it. A week or so went by. I was like hey, did you give him? He's like, yeah, we received it. We just went ahead and went a different route. Okay, but he was like you know, I want to show you. So he came and the bid who won it Was like 360,000. It was a metal roof.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, I thought you went. I thought you overbid, I thought you went too high. You went. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:So he couldn't take you seriously, couldn't tell me. That gave them an indication. He does not know what he's doing. Yeah, your quality he's done like, and plus, I didn't have a roofing company established or mine, no, google, no, nothing. So just like a, you know, a two man in the truck, kind of feel so. But what that did was in the midst of that I was going down this rabbit hole of roofing. You get ads. Once you start clicking on certain roofing, or you click on, it's going to pop all over your all over the time, all over. So I jumped into the roofing algorithm and then I began to see it was a conference it's called roof con, yeah, and it was in like a week or something and I was seeing the packages like gold and platinum, and I think the most expensive one was like $4,500 and it gave you access and things like that. So I just I bought the $4,500 gold member ticket. It was in Orlando, so when was that? This is probably four years ago, okay.
Speaker 2:So your company is still well-established, but relatively new, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So I flew down a day early because I have a buddy that stays in orlando and he was like what you up past, like I got a roofing convention going. He was like roofing convention, like you and roofing, and I was like I'm, I'm thinking about it. Proofing keeps, yeah, presenting itself and I kind of explained that too. But I was like, yeah, you know, I want to get a better understanding about it. So I'll go to this conference called RoofCon Got an Airbnb for because the event was like three days. Yeah, stayed there for like four.
Speaker 1:So I go to this RoofCon convention and it's about 4000 people there, yeah, and I'm kind of amazed to a certain degree because I'm just like, when I got here, in the parking lot is Range Rovers, rari's, lambo's yeah, it's the property Huge trucks I mean trucks was predominantly a big thing Big, dually big trucks, big wrap trucks, like just this is what you're seeing outside this convention. As I checked in, it was a guy, his name was Woody. He was just like, hey, man, you know, you know, kind of introduce yourself. Yeah, I'm in PDR, he's in dent restoration, so when a hailstorm comes, he's the individuals that will fix the dents out of your car. So he comes to the roofing conventions for a network to connect with other roofers, to send him vehicles, gotcha. So that's his game, white guy. You know, if you kind of sit back and look at him he looks racist. But he's the nicest, sweetest guy, because we all know there's that, look that.
Speaker 2:Look. Yeah, they have the oakley song, oakley sunglasses.
Speaker 1:That's always scary to look, just I'm just that look so, it's just like and they'd be the most cool dudes in the world and just like for us, they will see us with dreads, yeah, with probably a scully on, and just assume, and assume what. We're just exactly vicious. But then when you meet him it's like oh, he's just sweet, exactly it's it goes hand in hand so I'm at the convention.
Speaker 1:He takes me and he just begins to introduce me to this supplementing company and this roofer and this roofer and this roofer and this roof and this PA and this guy who teaches sales and this guy who teaches different suppliers. He was introducing me to people. I was just like what's a PA?
Speaker 1:so you know, I mean, why everybody's so big about the suppliers, and you know I was just in this world, lost. But he's introducing me and I'm adding him on instagram, facebook connecting. Yeah. So, as I'm going through this convention of 4 000 people, I didn't see one black person that owned a roofing company. It was one black speaker. His name is deshaun. I know him, yeah. So sean bryant, deshaun bryant, he the out of all 36 speakers. You know he was only the black guy, yeah, and so I'm kind of watching him from a distance. Just I don't want to introduce myself, cause I like to observe somebody and I know I'm going to be here for three days and it allows me to kind of see how he is, how he move, you know, just watching, because he's the only black person that's on his panel. So I'm like, what is it that you do?
Speaker 2:Let's see if you're just there just to bring a little color to it, or do you?
Speaker 1:actually have some substance, absolutely. So that's what I'm viewing and seeing from that perspective. And then after the event, the last day, they have all these vending booths. It was probably 65 booths. I went to every single booth, got content, information, contact, and I just came back with a suitcase full of brochures, flyers, softwares, so I can begin to start doing my due diligence on everything. I'm also going to these retreats and resorts that a lot of roofers were doing. It was this company called Revolt and they basically it's a whole bunch of roofers and we go out to cabins and we all just connect and kind of talk about the industry, kind of it was just retreats basically. So I went to a lot of roofing retreats. I went to a lot of roofing. You really went all in.
Speaker 2:You invested. Listen, man, I don't. You dove in, I'm not playing. I've been to RoofCon and I know roofing companies who don't go and I don't understand why, as an established roofing company, you don't have to send 10 people One of the managers, someone you have to have some type of representation there, yeah, and if they do go, they're spending maybe $300 or $400 for the price of hey, just entry, but you have access to nothing else, absolutely, and you just went in and threw it all in there, Because they are stuck in their ways and they're stuck in their processes.
Speaker 1:People who created these conferences they're moving more like social media influencers and bringing community together. For myself, I was able to get a jumpstart of nothing but value and information and conversations and, like I talked to close friends of mine to this day that sold their roofing company for $23 million, $46 million, $16 million, $8 million. So not a bad exit Not a bad exit at all and all they do is go start another LLC and open up another roofing company to compete with what they used to do so to sell that one so it's just
Speaker 1:like. The conference has changed my life and it helped me to get years of trial and error to the point of you know there's buddies, that's that. You know I have black friends that's in roofing but but they're not killing it. You know they haven't been able to go to that next level because of the lack of understanding about insurance and restoration. You guys are only moving off of one vertical when it's dealing with this roofing space. Like we got water, we got fire, we got wind, we have hail, we have storms, we have those trades. That's implemented into the actual restoration process. So I've been in the industry about four years, like three years and a half, but I was learning my first year. Second year I start storm chasing, going to work for roofing companies, working for months, closing deals and the person who owned the company ran off to China and stole over $7 million.
Speaker 2:Didn't pay anybody.
Speaker 1:Huh, didn't pay anybody, absolutely not. They took all money, restoration, all checks and moved overseas.
Speaker 1:So I had experience in this space, everything is not going to be rainbow. So my experience of you know, working for restoration companies, storm chasing companies, watching the process of, if a hurricane hits florida, what those steps look like. Okay, once the water ties out. Okay, now the electric. Okay, general mode general. Okay, you can do this. Let's help feed people, clothe people, put them in apartments okay, where's their homes? Okay, do you have a contractor to help facilitate to this? Oh, you need water mitigation. Oh, you need water mapping. You need, you know, wind fenestration, like it's a whole world in that restoration space, to the point where I was able to get that information and data and leverage it in the future. I tell people it took me almost four years to be this knowledgeable in this space and I went through hell to do it.
Speaker 1:Being in roofing. You close a deal and then you're expected to get an $85,000 check for some work that you did. Then the client keeps it and then this client keeps it. Then you know you go into because your systems and processes wasn't structured. You didn't have your contracts structured to the point where, if they keep the money, you put a lien on their property and go through that process and then it's like, oh, you'd rather not even go through the court thing, because that's not your world, that's not what you do. You haven't learned that. You have to learn how aggressive you have to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and those are things that you learned going through a roofcon putting yourself in that space, meeting all the right people, because it would have taken you over a decade to learn that stuff on your own. Absolutely and more. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I have roofing friends that's been in roofing for 20 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, don't know this stuff.
Speaker 1:And they're like bro, like I've helped so many of my buddies make an additional two, three $400,000 added on to what they do by just implementing small things to their already established companies, implementing small things to their already established companies. So we are in a space of building a reputation building, notoriety building. You know all of these things that you need to. When a person thinks about roofing, they want to pick you, so you want to think about roof bullies that's it well.
Speaker 2:it sounds like the business right now is thriving. I've seen you do it, I've kind of watched from afar and 100% would definitely recommend your company time and time again, just from what I've seen from the outside. Talk to me about your personal philosophies. Some of them you apply to your career, to your business, but how? Those shape who you are now and affect your priorities.
Speaker 1:One, no one is going to save you. That, right there, allows me to know that I do not wait or depend on anything or anybody for what I want in my life, because everything that I go through no one's going to care about but me through no one's going to care about but me when it's dealing with my success path. I've always had a mindset of just being resilient in whatever it is that I do, because time has always shown me that, whatever industry that you are in, as long as you put the time in, the energy, the focus, if it's not working out, it's because of you, and it's your responsibility to find out and figure out what it is to allow you to be in whatever this position that you visualize and see yourself in. Yeah, so I don't know how to prioritize my life outside of what I'm focused on. People always talk about this work-life balance. It's not a work. It's not a life it's not.
Speaker 1:It's impossible. So, for me, my philosophies are always based off of knowing that I have to do what needs to be done or it will not happen. And if I don't do what I have to do while I'm on this earth, I am doing a disservice to my family, my future kids, my bloodline, because everything that I complain about oh, I didn't have nobody to set me up this way. Oh, I didn't have nobody to teach me. Oh, I don't want to be a man that speaks of all these things that I complained about growing up. And then now I'm in a position to be the change. I want to be the change, I'm going to be the change.
Speaker 1:So my focus is always wrapped around. I have to make this work and I have to put our family on the same page, and I have to put our family on the same page so we're not allowing our generation that's coming up to go through so much turmoil, confusion. It's just all it is is confusion. Our bloodline just don't know what to do. I'm structuring my life that it allows anybody in my family to look at me and be like I'm going to do any and everything that he says, because the lifestyle that he lives and the way that he moves is a reflection of what I look at as success when it's dealing with my appearance and my body, my health, how I eat, how I talk, how I articulate, how I everything I have to be a reflection of what I want people to move, because if you're fat and lazy, you can't tell me what to eat.
Speaker 1:I can't tell me when to work out your reflection of who you are. You just run in your mouth the philosophies that I live off of is You're going to die to buy, and that's inevitable. Yeah, and you don't know when it's gonna happen. So you can't take no days for granted and you have to give everything that you have, no matter how tired you are, exhausted, mentally drained, overwhelmed, that doesn't matter because it's not about you. That philosophy allows me to understand that I have to show up for this business every single day.
Speaker 2:That is an amazing philosophy mindset. How old are you? 35. Are you married? No, okay, dating no.
Speaker 1:Okay. So I'm in a relationship with my business to the point where I can't Don't have time for it. It ain't that I don't have time for it, it's like, as a man, I want to bring my family into paradise. I want to bring my family into structure. It is my responsibility to create the order in my household. A man that doesn't have his life together or where he wants it to be is a chaotic man, and I don't want to be a chaotic man to a woman because it's going to affect our relationship and me.
Speaker 1:Being a serial entrepreneur, I'm going to pick my business over any woman that I will ever be with, because I care about my business more than I care about me. Having somebody to lay with at night or someone to support me or be my companion lay with that night or someone to support me or be my companion it's just a part of my ideology. It's just. You know, I've been in relationships and I seen how you not picking the right person and not having the right woman can be detrimental to your business and your mental space and your focus. So, living in a generation where everyone is pretty much damaged, I'm such a want to help and heal a person. That energy that I'm pouring into all your childhood traumas and issues I'm taking away from my business and my family and my focus. I have enough mental issues with my family, so it's just like me adding that on right now.
Speaker 1:I had a gentleman years ago I was probably 20 years old. He said, bro, you don't have to worry about being married until you're at least 40, because even at 40, you have more time in front of you than you've already lived. So it's with that mindset. If God has a woman in store for me, she's walking a certain journey and I'm walking a certain journey and we connect. I'm not going to stop what God has for me. I'm not in control of anything, so I can be as intentional as I want to be to try to find somebody. But that may not be my journey. This is my journey. Entrepreneurship is my journey. Entrepreneurship is my focus, my, my purpose on this earth. So I have to show up and get that established first before I even entertain and go into that world.
Speaker 2:I don't know where your friend was or that old man who told you what he told you was a long time ago for a lot of us, because we had it backwards. Obviously, you have a lot of friends, family members, you can see most people did it backwards. Right, you're 20 years old, 21 years old, and you go and have a kid and you have a second, and then you're in this marriage and then you're trying to establish yourself in the business world. You're struggling, and then you can't struggle in the business world and do what you have to do and give it your all because you have to take care of these kids and this person. So, yes, a lot of us did it backwards because the role model wasn't there or because, simply, we didn't have the advice or just awareness, rather just to kind of see hey, this is the way it should be, this is the way I should do it.
Speaker 2:Some people realize this very early on. You did. But yes, I think I would agree that you wait and you build yourself and you have something that is impenetrable, that is strong, and you can bring a family into that. Then you guys never have to worry about money or anything like that. But I guess what I want to ask is what's the point of all of it and I guess this is more of a sentimental question than anything else. Right Because you're married to your business, else right Because you're married to your business. But at the end of the day, is there an end goal to? Yeah, I want to do this so that I can have the family to raise and not have to worry about money and I can pass on these teachings. Or is it just for the sake of chasing more and chasing more you?
Speaker 1:know what I mean. It's for the sake of having it established across the board financially, like Jews and Asians have for their family. It's not too much. I don't want it to be a chase, because I think success and money is like a squirrel to me. It's like you can't catch a squirrel. You can't run up to a squirrel and touch it or grab it. Run up to a squirrel and touch it or grab it.
Speaker 1:But if you sit down and you focus and you create or you think of a way to create something that's attractive and then you think, okay, what do squirrels like? They like nuts. Okay, they like acorns. Okay, all right, cool, let's try a nut.
Speaker 1:So I will take this nut and position myself by a lot of squirrels and I will be patient and I will be still and I will be focused and you will see that over time that they will notice you see, you see you. They might not deal with you, but they'll see you. They okay, he's over there, but then the squirrel is hungry and he's been looking for nuts all day, but he knows I'm there. So I'm sitting there patient, I'm just holding it. Once that first squirrel comes and grabs the nut and seeing they were safe and everything was good, that will begin to vibrationally allow other squirrels to know this is what he has, to the point where I can just hold my hand out with nuts and then a whole bunch of squirrels just grab, grab, grab, grab, eat. I feel like that's what success is.
Speaker 2:That's a wonderful analogy, I mean. I think it's gonna go over a lot of people's heads. So I'd encourage people to rewind this piece, because it sounds initially, when you first started speaking, like what the hell is brother talking about?
Speaker 2:you know squirrels ands and nuts and shit, but as you're speaking, because the first part of it was find out what they like. We all know what squirrels like, but if you're thinking about success as a squirrel, well, what attracts success? Doing your research, like you did when it comes to the roofing business, and going to RoofCon and paying to be in the room and learning from all these people. So you had to first do the research, then you had to position yourself in a way that brings and adds, creates value for these people and these businesses to come to you. Then you had to deliver. Once they see that being delivered, then they can trust it and at that point people always say well, why do the rich keep keep getting richer? Because they deliver value and people know that they're established. So now you got your open hand and success is coming to you and you don't have to chase it, that's right.
Speaker 1:So that's where I am, and sometimes it takes a little time and sometimes you have to be a little patient. I'm doing what I can do locking in, staying focused, establishing and having everything that I'm in control in, but I am presenting something that will allow this thing to move as it needs to move. So in life, I'm not too much chasing anything. I'm not chasing success. I'm not chasing to look a certain way. I'm not chasing to have whatever this big house, these cars I'm chasing stability, structure and just a foundation for my family, for us to go acquire some dirt and build whatever it is that we want. If our aunties and grandmas want to live next to us, go ahead and build a house on the land. I want that access. My success is coming from a place of establishing a asset that we can actually leverage as a family.
Speaker 1:So that's where I'm at. Wonderful man.
Speaker 2:I feel like your audience if you were a speaker. I'm sure you are, but if you were to be on stage doing a TEDx, yeah, I think that your audience would be the kid in middle school who aspires to be an entrepreneur, or maybe doesn't know that he needs to be or she needs to be, but that person needs to listen. Then there's a 20 something year old who just hasn't figured it out. Yeah, I have a son that age who's like what do I do? I'm not sure. And then there's a 30 year old who might be feeling a little discouraged. Facts because, like man, I haven't done it yet. What am I doing? I'm already 30 and you know, when you turn 30, you feel like your life's about to be over. Oh, my god, I'm so old. Right, it's not. Until you hit, you know, you get a little older, you realize, oh, I wish I could be 30 again absolutely.
Speaker 2:But when you're in your 20s and you hit 30, you're like, oh my god, I'm still not rich, I'm still not successful. What's happening? My life is over, right? So if you're talking to that audience, that 10 year old boy, 20 year old, any of the 30, something who hasn't figured it out yet, it's a wide range. But what's your advice?
Speaker 1:My advice is always try everything, bro. Who cares? What do you think you like? What do you think you would want to do? Whatever you think you would do, instead of thinking about it, go, try it. You have 10 years to fail. You have 15 years to fail to be able to be in a position to be successful for the rest of your life. If you are sitting here looking at your current now and being discouraged, you're going to die like this.
Speaker 1:Like I explained, my blinders got took off a long time ago. So when I talk to a 50 year old man, we can't make it seem like we didn't have men in our life telling us the same thing all over and over and over again. If I was 20 again, if I was 30 again, if I was 40 again. We've been hearing it all our lives. So by me always hearing it, I never adopted the concept of time, of being too late, because this is my perspective about my life. I am just allowing worldly thoughts to be intrusive and invasive to make me feel like I'm running out of time. And that goes for relationships, business, it goes for everything. So my advice for a 20 year old that's just lost, it's just like okay, if you're lost, what is it that you think you want to do? Oh, I think I want to.
Speaker 1:Okay, then start directing your energy towards doing that yeah because let's just say you do it for two years, bro, or three years. You're only going to be 23 years old and you're going to find out that you don't like it. Yeah, pick something else. Let's just say you do that for four years, one year, six months, whatever it is, but I'm here to tell you, once you get to 30, you have to make a decision. And whenever you make that decision because this is what has happened from the age of 15 to 30, you had 15 years to experience life Right, fail many, many times what you like, what you like, what you kind of like, what you wish you would have came back what you got some sex in whatever industry that that is and say that you are willing to die before you do something else. The mindset has to be if you don't figure this out, you are going to be a failure to your whole entire family. And this gift you wasted it because you could not make a decision. Once you make a decision and you stand on that decision, your life experience and your work ethic, the universe and God is going to reward you and put you through a journey that he's going to make sure that that thing that you chose works, because faith without works is dead. But the main thing is you having to work.
Speaker 1:So when I speak with anybody, it's like I've read a book. It was called the power of one and it was basically about one of the analogies was about Mickey Mouse and this artist. He drew Mickey Mouse and that's all he drew. He was just Mickey Mouse all the time. And then all of a sudden, mickey Mouse. He put in a newspaper and he only wrote about Mickey Mouse and then he'd start writing about Minnie Mouse. But in this process what happened is that Mickey Mouse was his thing. He maximized Mickey Mouse where he had to add Mickey and Goofy and all of these other characters, as it established, but in the newspaper it was only about Mickey Mouse. As years progressed, this Mickey Mouse character has now turned into Walt Disney. This Walt Disney has now turned into Universal Studios and all of all of this real estate that he like. It became a multi trillion dollar industry. But what happened is that he started with Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:People have to understand where you start is the process of where you want to get and where you want to build and where you want to project your life to be. But if he got off course and start doing something else for Mickey Mouse, he wouldn't be who he is today. So try everything for 15 years, whatever time that's going to be Right. Make a decision and make that one thing be obsessed with it Right. Give everything that you have, because every leader, every entrepreneur, every athlete that we can think of, who's been iconic and powerful, their base was something yeah, if it's music, if it's entertainment, if it's an iPhone, if it's PayPal, if it's Amazon, if it's whatever, it started with one thing.
Speaker 1:So I'm always I'm a huge advocate, and I've had a lot of different businesses in my life too. I've been in logistics, I've been in delivery, I've been in taxes, I've been in concerts, I've been in construction. So I've been in logistics, I've been in delivery, I've been in taxes, I've been in concerts, I've been in construction. So I've been in different. I've been in several verticals, and this is why I am Taking your own advice, taking my own advice.
Speaker 1:You know I'm telling you what I did Like I've tried it. I tried so many different industries but my journey has allowed me to be this diverse in this.
Speaker 2:I can pivot off so many different verticals because my experience but I always remind people, these businesses say you try something and it doesn't work. You have to remember again. It's working for someone else. So the common denominator here is you Period. So you still have to go back to the fact that if it's working, it's working. Whether it's insurance, whether it's roofing, whether it's whatever it is restoration, you name it it does work, it works Right. So now can you live through the hardship and make it work? And the second thing that you touched on also is something that I actually heard the young lady, emma Green, who's a multibillion dollar founder. She said people overestimate what they can do in one year and they underestimate what they can do in 10.
Speaker 1:Facts.
Speaker 2:Man, there's no stopping you?
Speaker 1:There ain't no stopping you. And then if you add the philosophy of one, and then there was another audio, and this is one thing I know about myself, and if I showed you my Audible, I'm on a membership where I at least buy at least one credit a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me too. I got to get your list. Most definitely, I'm interested?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, and I'll show you and I add that to my personal development, like that's a part of my personal development. So for me there's another book, and a lot of books is kind of common, as you know. You have those popular books like it's 48 laws about. You know, you have these books.
Speaker 2:Sure, how to Win Friends and Influence People and all that know. You have these books how to win friends and influence and all that.
Speaker 1:So you have I can grow rich. All of you have standards the standards, yeah, and their standards. For a reason. That's right, and sometimes I'll be. You know my, my personality. I'm not a follower, so sometimes I gotta get out of my way and, like man, just check this book out. So it's just like it's another book. It's called like a 12 week work, four hour work week, four hour work week, and they have another one. But we're we're on the same page so four hour work week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and basically what that book taught me was, when we start a business, okay, at the beginning of the year I'm going to make a million dollars this year, energy's high first quarter goes past, then we're in our second quarter. He was just like okay, realistically I've only made 50. So, all right, five hundred thousand dollars, that's what I'm gonna make. So you readjust the contract you're made with yourself, most definitely but, this is what happens first quarter lit excited.
Speaker 1:Second quarter still lit, kind of excited. Third quarter you're a little discouraged. Reality check, reality check. Fourth quarter you compromise I'm not gonna do 500, but I'm gonna do 100 and you make 100. And this is what we do. We keep readjusting. We the time that we give ourselves is too much time. I stop making my goals associated to years because it's too broad. What I've learned and what I've done for myself is I've implemented that thought process, but I do it in 12 weeks. Whatever my goal is, I make it for 12 weeks. So if you implement your main focus on one thing and then you condense your time to a more tighter restraint, it allows you to have pressure applied every single day where you know for a fact, I have to put some energy towards my business. Today, now that you're able to focus on one thing, let's focus on giving you time restraints. Let's focus on compounding.
Speaker 1:I had a buddy. He had a ball, a red ball, and he squeezed it and he made it disappear in front of my eyes. Fuck me up. I was amazed I'm talking about amazed and in my mind, that's right. How? How the fuck you do that, bro? How did you do that? How did you do that? Right? It's called pressure deprivation, it's something. It's like that. It's well. Basically, you position your hands well when you squeeze the ball. It's a foamy ball, so you press it to the point where it may go between your fingers. It gives the illusion of it disappearing because he closes it and it read back up here.
Speaker 1:The analogy of what I received from that is that he showed me something that I felt was impossible, but once I understood what he did, it's possible and it can be taught. So in life and in this business world, the things that we feel like it's impossible For us to do, it's not impossible, we just don't know how to do it. Yet that, also In this journey, has allowed me to understand. We honestly can do anything that we put our minds to, and if we're not getting the results that we want, it's just because we don't understand it. We have to be relentless in figuring out this information of taking our business to the next level. Yeah, I ran into a buddy of mine last night. He came up to me. He was like bro, I'm just so proud of you, g. Like you found your thing. You dig what I'm saying, like everybody out here trying to find they shit, like we all out here just trying to find our shit.
Speaker 1:And you found it yeah, and I can tell because every time I get on your instagram, bro, you just on some roofs, you just, you, just a roofing ass, motherfucker, that's what he said.
Speaker 2:That'd be a great name for a company roofing ass motherfucker. Roofing ass motherfucker.
Speaker 1:So itoofing ass motherfucker. So it was like when he said that to me. I'm not looking at it like that, I'm looking at it as man. I got so much I have to learn about this business. Insurance is changing and shifting Retail shifting and moving the economy. I'm finding my niche in regards to this space to maximize the opportunity.
Speaker 1:So as long as Mother Nature is being tempered with and she's all over the place, we're going to have hailstorms, we're going to have hurricanes, we're going to have. No one can stop Mother Nature. Stop mother nature right. As long as the insurance companies don't go out of business and bankrupt across the board, this is an industry that we will always be able to make money from. I know how much good I can do. I can take a, a yn off the street and say oh, if you don't want to sell when they, knocking these shingles off, clean up everything, all five of y'all. I'll pay y'all three hundred dollars a day to clean up all these shingles and throw it away, and every day I have a roof that I'm putting on. So 300 times five or six.
Speaker 2:It's a lot more than to make anywhere else just work in minimum wage or some fast food place. So it's the good that you give back to the community. Also, I love your purpose because it's not totally. Obviously, if we're not not selfish, a term sometimes has a negative connotation. Right, it's self-centered, which is a good thing, because you got to take care of self first. That just makes sense, period. But you do take care of other people in the process and not leaving anybody behind as long as they'll listen.
Speaker 1:So that's a beautiful mindset to have as well because the only thing like I have, you know, when my homeboy, you know, get out of jail from laying down for 16, 17 years, they have the same mindset that we were when we was 18 years old. You know, 17 years old, I have buddies who's just now getting out of jail. I was around when these like the things that I used to do. It shows me how blessed I truly am and how how much favor that God has over my life. I can't waste that gift. I can't waste not showing up and doing my part for one person, two person. I'm not. I'm not saying that I can sit up here and change the whole world, and Tupac said it I ain't. I might not change the world, but I will spark something in somebody to be the one to change the world.
Speaker 1:So when I bring a YN on a project, I see how excited they are with a chainsaw. I see how excited they are when I bring my bobcat guys in and I say watch him. And I'm like, hey, bro, let him ride it for a little bit, because we're in the field, we're in the woods. What you going to break, you know. All right, hopefully a tree, hopefully a tree. So just pull this knob back, pull this down, grab this, put it up. It has exposed them, just like that, into a world that they didn't think they were interested in. So guess what? I know you got felonies, all these tattoos on your face, you know, and nobody's going to hire you. But guess what? No one cares about who's in his Bobcat truck. Do what I asked you to do being able to be in these worlds and having these understanding, I can begin to start plugging in our youth to these trades. That's going to be highly needed we're getting out of it.
Speaker 2:Correct, I was going to say everything you just mentioned. None of it can be taken away by AI At all, not anytime soon anyway. Right, so you're creating pretty much the future Point blank bro.
Speaker 1:Yeah, trades are going to be the last thing that technology can take over, because there's not a robot, there's not a machine that can go into a small area and put a drywall up, do some electric work, do some flooring work. There's not an ai that can put a whole roof on. Yeah, so the only thing that that would change is we're decades away.
Speaker 2:I mean we're, yeah, we'll be gone. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, will it come? Sure, initially it'll be a super high premium, because if you buy one of those robots, we're talking about a million dollars per for sure, right? So companies are not going to be rolling out opening up the checkbooks to say, well, I want to save on six laborers because one robot won't take a break. Come on, you're, we're too far away, so for a long time trades are going to be. That's the new set of millionaires, man.
Speaker 1:And that's the agenda that I'm on. We have all these content guys credit stocks, transportation, things. That's always been a multi-trillion dollar industry, but Tesla can take away logistics, stocks can be took away with AI, credit take away with AI. So now, with this trade space, it's like that's what I'm on. I'm in the world and I'm in the industry to teach African-Americans, predominantly this industry, this world, this space.
Speaker 2:Where can we find your business yourself? How can we follow you? How can we support you?
Speaker 1:So you can go to wwwroofbulliescom. That will be the channel to connect and book appointments. My Instagram is Mr Rocker, so it's at underscore Mr Rocker, my LinkedIn. To buy a rocker LinkedIn is more business. Instagram is just my lifestyle.
Speaker 2:And I'll make sure that's all in the show notes as well, so someone's listening. Can you just go ahead and click on that and it will take them directly to your pages? Perfect, and it will take them directly to your pages Perfect. Now, I do have a tradition on this particular podcast where at the end of every show, someone has to read the outro, doing an impression Cool.
Speaker 1:Who could I impersonate? Okay, I do a Jamaican.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, Are you Jamaican?
Speaker 1:No, I ain't Jamaican at all.
Speaker 2:Are you about to do a Jamaican accent? I'm going to try. I'm going to attempt. Let's see how good your Jamaican accent is, brother, let's go.
Speaker 1:Please support us by following the show. Leave us a five-star rating on podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Well, catch you next week. We share conversations surrounding real issues.
Speaker 2:Real deal that every day man perspective. We're true, a podcast for all, but our point of view.
