Roofers Success International?????

| recently attended one of there profit days. I was wondering if anyone here has any information on them or maybe even become a member. I really like a lot of what they had to say and offer but it is very expensive. I just don't know if it is worth it or not. I have only been in business for myself for 5 years and really don't know anything about running a successful roofing business. I just see myself as great installer. I don't have any employee's I just do it all myself. I would really appreciate some help from any of you more successful roofers out there.

P.S OnARoofTop tinner666 from roofing.com said you have had membership with them and might be able to give me some advice

Chris

Richard Kaller was a handful. Smart guy. Very organized and mentally disciplined. The way I remember it he got himself into a wringer here ostensibly because he was not merely contributing, but also de facto touting his organization without any ante to the site as a vendor. That was deemed to be "spamming" and if memory serves, he chose to retreat from the site rather than pay for the exposure he was getting. I may be wrong, but that's what I remember. He knocked people out of joint a little because he had everything locked in and cross-linked in his methodology and not all of that agreed with opinions held by other strong personalities. He didn't seem to mind the conflict at all, rather seemed to thrive on it, and his coolness under fire was a wonder to behold. But you know, when it comes to business, no matter how you might try, you can't cut it out of the whole herd of life and treat it as if it has a set of rules entirely its own. Part of business is taking care of your health and he even stated on here that he needed some serious physical regimen and admitted he was failing to make himself keep up with it. Intellectually, he burnt down a major bridge when he tried to insist that if a contractor made a mistake in his bid, got the job, and started the job that the contractor needed to go back to the customer and impress upon them that "to do the right thing" they needed to make up the difference. He definitely lost a few people over that one. All in all, and definitely from outside looking in, I would say he had his act together and provided value. You always have to ask yourself how much knowledge is worth and whether or not you want to ferret it out on your own or pay to have it loaded on your plate by someone else. If not today, then maybe a different day. If you are in a large market and want to grow, if the jobs you seek are high-intensity demanding projects, and you don't feel in control of what it takes to keep a business from plunging off the road, then yeah, better to take advantage of several lifetimes of accumulated know-how and sophistication than wing it on a prayer. That wasn't my cup of tea and I do love tea. We are all different.

Old School Said: I dont see anything wrong with that ad I dont think that is slamming anyone.

A lot of what we do is time and Material but in a lot of cases that is the best deal for the consumer because there is more that we dont know on a lot of these projects. I tell them I can give a prive up front, but it will be higher. A lot of the time we give them a not to exceed price and then just keep track of the time and costs.

Answering the phone is a no brainer. I hate to get a message machine or an answering service, but then again, either one of them is better than nothing.

If they can make good on their promises as stated in the ad, I think they are smart and not bashing anyone. They will get business from it too!

As far as Kaller goes, I just got on the forum when he was posting, so I dont think I ever saw how it all started. He was basically telling us to charge more for our services, and suggesting ways to add Value so that we could charge even more and actually make a profit. The guys were giving him hell because as you said, I think they felt threatened or criticised because it was different than the way that they had all been running their bussinesses for all those years. Now at the same time, they were bitching because they werent making enough money and the cash flow was bad and the insurance was high and such, but they didnt want to admit that someone else might be right and that the cause of their problems was themselves.

I believe that the definition of insanity is to do the same thig and expect a different result. Dont ask me why we all fight change. Like I said earlier on this thread, IF we could all charge $1,000.00 a square for shingles installed on a walker single layer tearoff, we would all be able to take the winter off and al of us could drive new trucks and pay for them before they were delivered. DONT KID YOUSELVES, THERE ARE A FEW OUT THERE THAT DO THAT, AND THEY JUST SELL, THEY DONT INSTALL THEMSELVES. Sounds like a good gig to me!

THANK YOU! http://stealthflashingbrakes.com/

After reading through this post and visiting RSI's site, I've decided to sign up for one of their "profit days" in February here in Atlanta.. I will be sure to post and let everyone know how meaningful the experience is. I'm sure I'll learn more than I knew before even if I decide not to join.

Is this the old Richard Kaller organization?

The only people who make money are the ones who "teach" others how to make money.If the stuff they are preaching works they'd be doing it themselves.

I'm going to Copy and Paste a quote .

"There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power." - Honore de Balzac .

It was on the refdesk site this morning as the quote of the day . For those keeping score . I emailed this to THE LOVELY MRS CIAK . She is extremely talented . She struggles with the tenacity to keep going when things get tough . When she runs into opposition to her talents she turns to me for advise and comfort . She is amazing . Best thing I ever did was marry her . 30yrs + of marriage she is thrilling and gorgeous .

A lot of good advise here . I'll put in my two cents . First and I mean first may seem totally disconnected to the subject is essential to any success . 1. Love your family . without this you are doomed to failure. Be passionate about what you are doing . With that be transparent . I have learned this on here and other areas of the Internet . Transparency is always there whether you know it or not . Building a business is not overnight . It takes years . It should be realized and treated like a relationship . Slowly building one moment at a time with trust ,flexibility and broad shoulders . Know you are building your personal brand TCR. Remember that when you get up in the morning all through the day till you lay your head on the pillow . Just a start . Keep it real very very real . Build your community.

Thanks you guys I really appreciate all of your advice it's always nice to know there are good people out there willing to help others in need

P.S. Twill has some excellent advise there!

TCR Roofing ****** I think i'm looking for more sales and advertising help than anything. I need to learn how to sell my quality over the low bidder. 90% of my work is word of mouth and they usually already know and I don't have to sell them. ******** That is the #1 way by far. To be referred and thus trusted BEFORE you even get to the site for the estimate. I don't know about you Chris but i don't want some NON ROOFER trying to teach me how to be a bull Schitter! Homeowners can be pretty silly sometimes but they often know when someones feeding them a line or trying to beef everything up. For me the best way has been just to be myself and shoot it to them straight. They really appreciate it. lol It doesn't sound to me like you would be happy with a lot of employees but at the same time you feel like you need some help. I can relate to that more than you'll ever know. Try adding 1 at a time until you get the help you are looking for. Just remember the more help you get the more work you will need to keep it all together. Thus more advertising dollars, payroll taxes, insurance costs, etc. I don't have a real large business ( I work 6-8 roofers, 1 secretary, 1 roof replacement salesman and i sell all the repairs and perform some of the smaller repairs myself ) I would prefer to sell the replacements but i cannot find anyone worth a crap to sell repairs for me. I've tried about a half dozen different guys and all they do is screw up and create call backs costing me money, time and headaches. I was able to find a guy who is not a roofer but is a good salesman. He had a little experience measuring roofs and selling insurance. I spent a few years working with him and molding him into a good estimator and roof salesman. Now, 5 years later he rarely needs my assistance anymore. Good help is hard to find and can be even harder to keep. I pay him fairly well, pay 100% of his health insurance and set him up a retirement plan. I have had a half page color ad in the real yellow pages for many years now. One day ( after i decide my customer base is large enough ) I plan to eliminate all advertising and cut back on roofing employees. Thats my plan for what im going to call Semi-Retired. lol Hopefully i can do that for 10-15 yrs and then Fully Retire. Might work out that way might not but thats the plan. lol Good Luck to ya!

Thank I hear you. I guess i'm not really sure what I want and I know I need to make that decision before I do anything. Sometimes I think just me and maybe one guy would be fine. I know I can make money like that. I'm just tired of doing it all myself. I don't think i'm the kind of guy to have a big crew anyway. I know there are good roofers out there unfortionaly I have worked along side to many bad ones and it scares me to have that kind of liability out there working for me. I won't have someone that as soon as I turn my head will do it whatever way they want. I think i'm looking for more sales and advertising help than anything. I need to learn how to sell my quality over the low bidder. 90% of my work is word of mouth and they usually already know and I don't have to sell them.

Chris, for what its worth: If you've been running your own business for 5 years then im assuming that you had several years experience before that. I installed for 12 years and have been running my own business for 13 years ( 25 yrs. total ) and i get these letters ( and many others) all the time in the mail. Sometimes i open them just out of curiosity and sometimes not. When i was at your stage of the game i wanted to be "successful" too ( i mean who doesn't )and thought maybe somebody had something to offer just like what you are thinking. But i have not found anything like that to be worth 10 cents. Worse than the money you will spend is the time lost where you could be doing what you do best. And thats selling, repairing and installing. It can also throw you off track sometimes. Doesn't seem to me that you need this type of thing. Especially if its just you with no employees. At that pace you dont need a lot of work to stay busy. I dont know what your definition of "successful" is. But to me its making a comfortable living and being able to put a little away for a rainy day. Although i have had some very profitable time frames in this business over the years I gave up on trying to get rich a long time ago. lol If by "successful" you mean that you want to grow and have a few employees and more work then theres nothing wrong with that but be very careful not to overspend in the process. You should grow a little at a time over time. Don't try too many new things too quickly. Like, if you want more work then advertise more. A lot of people don't like the yellow pages but they have been very successful for me. When i first started out i advertised in the yellow pages and the newspaper. Then i started using yard signs, lettered trucks etc. The leads from the advertising will turn into jobs and then those jobs will turn into more jobs. Over time you will build up a nice customer base. For me "True Success" as a roofer comes from being exactly that! "A Roofer"! Not some big shot business man type.

I tried to find the post on NRG but couldn't find it

no they do not send you any jobs. you just pay to be a part of the the club i guess you could say. they tell you how to market and run your company. among other things.

On reflection, I think there was a real long thread at NRG. I know Kyle is a member. I assume if it's a monthly fee, the fee must come out of the jobs they're sending you after you get paid on completion? Right?