Should you start your own roofing company?

By Dani Sheehan. 

Starting your own business sounds great, but do you understand the level of commitment it requires? Learn how to evaluate your strengths, gain valuable experience and determine your goals before jumping straight into ownership. 

RoofersCoffeeShop® has teamed up with SRS Distribution Para Latinos to provide special Lunch & Learn episodes each quarter for Spanish-speaking members of the roofing industry. In the latest episode, Julissa Chavez from SRS Distribution met with Francisco Serrano, CEO of Roofers Going Digital, to discuss the pros and cons of starting your own roofing company. They provide insights into building a business and how to establish long-term relationships for success in the industry. 

The first learning objective they look at is a personal, internal analysis of your goals and strengths to see if beginning your own company meets your needs and will be successful. Francisco shares, “I now have a digital marketing agency focused on the roofing industry, but I started selling commercial roofing, and selling products. I discovered that you could sell a lot of things through digital media in the roofing industry and that's how Roofers Going Digital was born.” 

While he’s successfully run his business for the last three years, he says it is not without its fair share of stress and it has taken him years of education and selling experience to get where he is today. With the digital age and an emphasis on entrepreneurialism in the United States, the assumption is that anyone can open a business and do well. But Francisco feels like this is not quite the reality. He says, “You can work in a very good company, you are going to do a thousand things, you are going to get a thousand benefits, you are going to learn a lot and you are going to do very well without opening your company. If you want to take a risk, open your company, you must consider that it will be difficult, you will not sleep, and you need to be prepared.” 

Before jumping into the decision to run a business, part of the internal analysis requires you to ask yourself what the most important thing is about who you are, what you want and where you want to go in life. Francisco says that roughly 90 percent of Latinos in the U.S. are installers or in labor work. While owning your own company might be an end goal, consider other positions to help you gain experience first. There are trade schools that can help. Francisco continues, “Many [trade schools] teach you how to become a manager so that you can grow to the next level. But you can also leave the [nail] gun and move to the next areas which is sales. A lot of times developing all these areas of sales and marketing, going to project management, leadership, etc. are the ones that are going to help you develop.” By moving into these various positions, you work to develop your strengths and see what part of the business you like best.  

Read the transcript, Listen to the podcast or Watch the webinar to learn more about the pros and cons of starting your own roofing business. 

You could win lunch on us when you send a photo of you and/or your team watching the Lunch & Learn! And one lucky viewer will receive an RCS Box of Love!