The Lakeside Hustle
The Lakeside Hustle dives into the real stories behind the businesses shaping the Newfound Lake region. Hosted by Corey Caza, each episode features local entrepreneurs, makers, and doers who turned vision into reality—right here in our backyard. Whether you're a curious local, a business owner, or just love a good hustle story, tune in to get inspired, learn something new, and celebrate the people powering our lakeside community.
The Lakeside Hustle
Ep 3. From Roof Work to Ring Fights: Nick Monty's Journey
Every great success story begins with a moment of decision—that crucial turning point where someone chooses to bet on themselves despite overwhelming odds. Nick Monty's story exemplifies this courage in action.
When COVID shut down the world and employment opportunities vanished, Nick faced a critical decision with two children and a pregnant girlfriend depending on him. Rather than wait for circumstances to improve, he launched Monarch Roofing and Carpentry with nothing but his skills and determination. "It's survival at this point," Nick explains. "You have no choice but to grind and figure it out."
Growing up in New Hampshire's Lakes Region in what he describes as a "lower middle class" household, Nick witnessed his father's unwavering work ethic—never missing a day, never being late. This foundation of discipline became the blueprint for Nick's own path, though he adapted it to fit his entrepreneurial spirit. "When you're working as an employee, you know you're making that company a lot more money than what you're getting paid," he observes. "If you do that same exact work for yourself, you could end up in a better position."
What makes Nick's journey particularly remarkable is his simultaneous pursuit of professional boxing at age 29. Drawing on the resilience built through grueling roofing work—whether in freezing temperatures or sweltering heat—he applies that same grit to fighting. After his first professional bout in Springfield, Massachusetts, he's already looking forward to his next challenge, demonstrating the fighter's mentality that permeates every aspect of his life.
Nick's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs cuts to the heart of success: "You better be ready to commit to it because you can't just have one foot in, one foot out." His story proves that when you're willing to push through fear, doubt, and uncertainty, you can transform your circumstances and create something meaningful. Subscribe to hear more inspiring stories of hustle, heart, and the relentless pursuit of dreams on the Lakeside Hustle.
Welcome to the Lakeside Hustle, where we share real stories of inspiration, hard work and the journey to becoming a successful business owner. This show is brought to you by the Bellator Blueprint Podcast and the New Hampshire CASE team, your trusted real estate professionals. Well, let's get into it. Today's guest is a definition of grit. He grew up in New Hampton, new Hampshire, came from a family where nothing was handed to him and built everything from the ground up with zero help.
Speaker 1:When COVID shut down the world, nick didn't wait for opportunity. He created it. He launched his own roofing and carpentry business, bet on himself, with a pregnant girlfriend and two kids to support, and turned fear into fuel. Nick is living proof that hustle, discipline and raw determination can take you from survival mode to standing tall in your own story. This episode is about betting on yourself, breaking generational cycles and finding the fight both in life and in the ring. Let's get into it. Welcome, nick. Appreciate you having on man. Thank you for having me here. All right, nick. So tell us about yourself, man, where you grew up, what's going on?
Speaker 2:So I grew up in Lakes Region, new Hampshire. We moved up from Massachusetts. When I was real young. My dad actually grew up in Brockton and, you know, moved us up here in search of a better life obviously. So in that aspect I'm glad we grew up in New Hampshire Because you know, I did have a rough environment growing up and it probably could have been worse. So I am thankful for that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you went. Did you go to Newfound, yeah, high school? Yeah, okay, when did you graduate?
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't graduate from there. I actually yeah. I moved to Inner Lakes when I was in 10th grade.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, okay, okay, awesome, and now you have a roofing business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, monarch Roofing and.
Speaker 1:Carpentry, monarch Roofing and Carpentry. What do you like? What's your main like? I guess roofing, and Try to stay away from metal roofing.
Speaker 2:It depends on the type of job, so mostly indoor finished carpentry and asphalt roofing on residential properties, okay, cool.
Speaker 1:So what inspired you to want to start your own business? What were you doing before this?
Speaker 2:So I was working with SEH Roofing steven hanser in bristol, new hampshire and I was working there for a couple years and just saw how he ran his business and was inspired to start my own. Uh, he actually got hurt and had to retire and then. So it was like uh, already kind of like in a position where I was looking for a new job and then COVID hit and then it was like almost impossible to find a job. So I figured you know what? It's time to just bet on myself and just create my own job.
Speaker 1:I mean, you already got the skill right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:You can do it for anybody if you can do it for him. Exactly Right. So you did that just after COVID, is that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What made you, especially during COVID? Like you said, it was hard to find a job, but, like, starting a business in general is scary, exactly, especially when you already have two kids and your girlfriend's pregnant.
Speaker 2:So now you have like activated hustle mode and like it's like, yeah, exactly, so now you have like activated hustle mode. And like it's like survival at this point, like you have no choice but to grind and figure it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was your main motivation. Inspiration was your wife and kids, I imagine.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because, like you got to, you know provide and you know you want to feel like you can do that. You know what I mean. So your wife has a business as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, honestly, without her I don't think any of it would be possible, because, you know, like um, just like, by her being there, allows me to have the freedom to also do things that I want to do.
Speaker 1:Well, that's great. Sounds like she really supports. Supports what you're doing, supports you and believes in you, know your future and what you're trying to do yeah so you mentioned, you mentioned the gym.
Speaker 1:Um, you just had a, your first, what is it? Professional? Um, pro debut, pro debut. Okay, that's what it's called. Sorry, I couldn't think of the name. So that was april 26th down in massachusetts. Yeah, springfield, massachusetts, at the mass mutual center. Okay, that's awesome. Before we get into the fight, let's, let's bring it back a bit. What made you want to get into that? Get into fighting.
Speaker 2:Yeah professionally. I mean, I've always wanted to be good at something, whether it was music or football or basketball, and I knew I always leaned towards more athletic things and I just wanted to be an athlete growing up so bad. And I just wanted to be an athlete growing up so bad and at 29 years old I felt the only thing where you know it's not that ridiculous to show up at 29 years old and be like, hey, I want to do this.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so it seems like you have a really strong work ethic and a lot of motivation, ambition. You know, starting your own business, wife, kids doing the, the fighting. Where do you think you get that work ethic from, like that motivation, ambition from? Where does that come from?
Speaker 2:It definitely comes from my dad, actually, when I think about it, because he has never been late and never missed a single day of work his whole life. Like other than like vacation time or whatever than that. But like his work ethic is like to the next level, like I can't even compete, like I actually have to care about something to have a work ethic towards it. Like, um, like for him it's just like a non-negotiable Well that's a that's.
Speaker 1:That's a pretty good, uh pretty good example. I guess you know he'd grown up Well, that's a pretty good example. I guess Growing up seeing him do that like okay, well, it's not okay to be late.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because even though we grew up not the richest, like we were lower middle class, but he worked so hard to make sure we still had what we needed at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:So when I saw that it kind kinda pushed me to be like that, in different ways, though okay cause at the end of the day, like, uh, showing up to a nine and five every single day like um, and having the discipline to do that, Like I don't have that. That's why I started my business Like I couldn't just um, be a regular person. To like help I mean not help someone else line their pockets, but like when you working as an employee, like you know that you're making that company a lot more money than what you're getting paid, and if you just do that same exact work that you're doing for that company but for yourself, you could end up being in a better position one day, would you say, you grew up doing sports too mainly football, basketball.
Speaker 2:Yeah, football was the only sport I actually played for actual team. I played basketball, but I didn't actually played for actual team, like I played basketball but I didn't actually play for the school would you say, like the growing up in the football, uh world would help, would shape, you know, your work ethic now oh, absolutely yeah um, you know, like doing two a day practices, and you know like, after your body's sore and you're thinking in your head like damn, I don't know if I want to go to practice today, but you have to, you have no choice.
Speaker 2:And like, um, the discipline that you learn, like I would say like that was the biggest thing that shaped the like, the type of grit and the type of energy that I have, is because of football.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, dude. Yeah, I can. Just the energy you're giving off. I can feel that. I can feel that you have that like drive. That's awesome. What would you say were some like more of your significant challenges in creating your business and finally making that leap to do that on your own, like what was like mental challenges, physical challenges.
Speaker 2:My own fears and my own doubts, like but not just my own, but like other people around me. Like oh, are you sure you want to do this because you know you have three kids or whatever, or you're about to have three kids. Like it's a risky decision to start a business, cause if it does fail, then you might be in a tougher spot than you were before you started it. But I just couldn't let myself think like that. And, um, you know, getting over my own fears of like will this work? I think was definitely a big obstacle.
Speaker 1:That not, will this work?
Speaker 2:it will work exactly it has to work, yeah absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Um. Yeah, so I recently left my um full-time gig in the government, um, due to the doge and the federal cuts, all that, whatever that stuff. I've made a story about it, um. But yeah, so I'm just doing full-time real estate now and kind of the same thing. It's like, well, now there's no more, you know, bi-weekly paycheck. I got to go out and, you know, kill my food. Now, like you, you got to go get the business, you know. So, like there really is no choice. Like, yeah, I don't have a job a nine to five, but't have a job a nine to five, but I have a job. I have to still go get business. Like you do, still go to advertise the market, and that's tough, that's hard to do, because then you get like the imposter syndrome. Like I would get like, well, nobody wants to work with me yeah exactly why am I better than that agent or better than this person?
Speaker 1:what can I offer? You can't think like that. You got to be like I'm actually better than all the agents, and here's why you know. Or I'm better than all their carpet roofers and whatever. Because you provide some sort of service that you believe is much better and higher than than your competitors, would you say?
Speaker 2:that's correct I would say, um, I have a pretty good reputation of getting my roofs done in a timely manner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's for sure. You have like one crew, two crews. How do you operate?
Speaker 2:Sometimes my brother and I or I do sub it out sometimes to some friends I know down in Manchester that do a really good job.
Speaker 2:Okay, what kind of feedback do you get from your clients? So a lot of my clients are generally happy with the work because when you do someone's roof you might never have to talk to them again for 40 years. So sometimes they're just happy with it and then the interaction ends there. It's a tough business because you kind of like work yourself out of a job because every roof you do is another roof that is not available to be done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that does make sense, you know, and then you have other companies also doing so I'm always fighting and scrapping for, like you were saying, you're in that hustle mode because you don't have a regular nine-to-five job. So it's like it, that hustle just never ends. Yeah, you're always on the hunt, looking for the next one yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:Um, so tell me about, uh, what you're.
Speaker 2:You're telling what your wife did already yeah, so she does, yeah, she does residential cleaning okay, so unpack that a little bit. I mean, I understand what that is, but like she cleans houses or like what, yeah, so she actually does a lot of deep clean and post-construction cleanings for like wood and clay, so she does some million dollar homes that.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 2:Really nice. She does a lot of work, like honestly, like her business might end up being bigger than mine one day, so that's okay well, she can come and clean up the sites after you, yeah and actually it does work really well like that, because whenever I'm done with the job she'll just come in and it works out perfectly, because then we're both keeping busy with everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did roofing for about two years after I got off active duty. I was over in Italy for a bit, came home, had some money saved. I wasn't really trying to get into a job right away, so I chilled for a bit. And then I was like this friend of my parents had a roofing company, so I did that for about two years. Man, that's some hard work, dude.
Speaker 2:And he did that shit through the winter. Yeah, like straight through.
Speaker 1:That's how Steve was my old boss and I'm like man, this is brutal, but yeah, man, that's some hard work for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not easy and I mean that also helps with, you know, motivating me with like boxing and stuff, because you know it's like it is hard work and like you have that discipline to do something that you might not necessarily enjoy doing, but yeah, and when you're put in tough situations like that, even like it's hard work or it's a hundred degrees out, it's humid or it's freezing, and, as you know, like it's a lot harder to strip a roof when the frigging roof is frozen, they don't come off in patches, they come off in little chips, you know, and even just doing that it builds, I think, a certain level of resilience to being able to get through something tough.
Speaker 1:You're like, okay, I did that, I can also do something as tough, maybe even tougher, you know, and it doesn't even have to be roofing, you can apply that to, you know, relationships or whatever you know other types of work. So I think it's important to do stuff like that you know that's hard and build that resilience. You know, like you're doing you probably bring that all into the ring too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, I'm still working on that resilience like of just not like. I mean, there's times when I doubt myself, like with my first fight when I came in.
Speaker 2:I came in with no coach, no corner, and I mean I knew the kid's name but I had everything about him was a ghost. And I'm walking into the fight, like what did I get myself into? And I'm like, uh, you know this guy could kill me out there. I have no clue. So it's like, uh, the nerves of like walking out there to just fight a random guy that you don't even know what he's capable of. And you know, I still went out there and fought past that as well.
Speaker 1:That's good. Do you have like another fight set up, like, how does that work? You can't fight like every week, I imagine yeah so I'm in the works.
Speaker 2:It's not 100% yet, but we are negotiating, hopefully to get a rematch. If it doesn't happen, I still will be fighting, probably in June, just be a different opponent okay, but you want to have a rematch with that guy. I absolutely want a rematch.
Speaker 1:I would too, probably. You know you gotta redeem yourself. Hope he doesn't beat you twice in a row, hey. I'll just say this time this, but do probably.
Speaker 2:You know you're going to redeem yourself. Hope he doesn't beat you twice in a row. Hey, I'll just say it this time. I mean, last time I didn't leave it all on the line. This time I'm ready to die out there.
Speaker 1:That's funny, man. I like the energy dude. All right, man, what would you? What kind of advice would you have for anybody else you know, listening, looking to start their own business, become an entrepreneur, you know, or even getting into the fighting industry? What kind of advice would you give somebody if someone was like, hey man, I want to start my own business, what would you tell them? Someone was like, hey man, I want to start my own business. What would you tell them?
Speaker 2:You better be ready to commit to it, because you can't just have one foot in, one foot out. And I'm almost at that point with boxing as well. If I truly want this, I might have to commit to it full time and treat it like it actually is my job. Yeah, if I want to be successful with it, because I'm realizing that, uh, especially with fighting, it's not the type of thing where you know there's no person that it just happens to be a fighter and they're also a brain surgeon. Like you have to devote your craft to be a fighter. And I like, like I do appreciate everything my business has afforded me to even think about the idea of something like fighting or whatever, because without it it wouldn't even be a possibility in the realm of possibility to even think about. And then, on top of that, my girlfriend also having her own business helps a lot as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, absolutely. And how old are your kids?
Speaker 2:My daughter's four. My son is three and then our newest daughter she just turned one.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, Awesome, that's cool. You got a full house. Yeah, you got two upstairs. They're both teenagers now. But yeah, I don't know what's more difficult teenagers or babies A different level of difficulty. I guess I could say when can? If people want to learn more about you, whether about you personally or your roofing company, where can they find you?
Speaker 2:They could find me on Instagram at Monty Nick. That's where I document most of my boxing journey and um all my business. Stuff is mostly on facebook right now. I don't have like my own website or anything yet um, I'm still working on all that kind of stuff everything all right man, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Um, I think I have one more question. I'm trying to think last podcast. I asked what was it like?
Speaker 2:to pick one thing and become good at that one thing, because, like I've always found myself having too many eggs in like one basket, like I'm trying to be good at everything and you can't. You need to, like, pick one thing and just try to laser focus on that and if you truly want to be successful in that, thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a book by Gary Keller who is the founder of Keller Williams real estate.
Speaker 2:He wrote a book called One Thing, and that's what he talks about is like finding that one thing you're good at or want to be good at, and just laser focus on that Exactly, I think that's like I'm in that point where it's like, do I go this way or do I go this way, like do I push harder with my business or do I go all in for fighting, and it's like that's even more scary than when I actually first started my business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2:Awesome um any last words of advice or wisdom um I just say, like, no matter how hard life gets, don't give up and keep pushing through it. And I mean there's always going to be people out there that like, if you fail, they're going to be like oh see, I knew he couldn't do that or this, or blah, blah, blah. And like people are always going to. No matter what, even if you succeed, someone will still probably be like ah, yeah, and have something negative to say about that too Always haters, for sure.
Speaker 2:So I don't think people should let what everyone else thinks get too much into their head, because the only thing that matters is what you think about what you're doing with your life. Like, at the end of the day, in 100 years from now, we're all going to be dead and no one's going to remember. Oh, Nick Monty lost his first pro fight. Yeah, yeah, An ugly fashion Like uh, I mean, at least I attempted to do something that I enjoy doing. And yeah, I actually got paid to do something I love. Oh, that that's awesome. Yeah, so at the end of the day, it wasn't all bad. That's cool, man. Well, it's only going to get better from here. Exactly when you're at the bottom, there's only one way and that's up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, man, awesome Dude. Well, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me here.
Speaker 1:It's great Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Lakeside Hustle. If you enjoyed it and want to be a guest on the show, head over to Instagram, find the Lakeside Hustle, click the link in the bio and fill out the guest form. Talk to you soon.