Roofing Success

Fired Up & Broke in 2020—Then They Launched a Multi-Million Dollar Roofing Business with Taylor Miller

• Jim Ahlin • Episode 271

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Fired up. Broke. Single mom in 2020.

That’s where Taylor Miller was when she decided she’d never let anyone hold power over her paycheck again.

With zero plans to start a roofing company, Taylor and her husband Jay launched Miller Storm Roofing in one of the most chaotic years in history. They built it from the ground up—turning $5,000 into a multi-million-dollar operation—by mastering systems, automations, and leadership.

In this episode, Taylor shares the raw truth of her journey:
- Growing from “iron-fist” boss to a compassionate, high-performing leader
- How to spot and attract “A players” for your team
- Scaling to $20M+ goals with rock-solid processes and communication
- Why over-communication with homeowners turns into more referrals
- The mindset shifts that turned a rocky start into life-changing careers for her team

If you’ve ever battled hiring struggles, cash flow headaches, or the chaos of wearing every hat in the business… this is your blueprint for building a company with strength, structure, and heart.

Links: 
https://www.millerstorm.com/
https://www.instagram.com/millerstormroofing
https://www.facebook.com/millerstormroofing

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00:00 – Taylor Miller: From Fired Up & Broke to Multi-Million Roofing Company Owner
02:35 – Starting a Roofing Business as a Single Mom
06:15 – Roofing as a Second-Chance Career: Real Success Story
09:03 – The Turning Point: Launching Miller Storm Roofing in Texas
11:19 – How to Start a Roofing Company During COVID-19
12:28 – Biggest Challenges in the First Year of a Roofing Business
13:38 – Roofing Leadership Skills: From Micromanaging to Empowering
16:15 – How to Attract and Keep Top Roofing Sales Reps (“A Players”)
21:45 – Roofing Company Systems, SOPs, and Automations That Scale
32:44 – Best Roofing Customer Communication Strategies for Referrals
35:37 – Scaling a Roofing Business to $20M+ Revenue
38:18 – Roofing Sales Hiring Tips: Finding the Best Team Members
42:52 – Roofing Business Cash Flow Management for Growth
45:33 – How Over-Communicating Builds Roofing Customer Trust
46:24 – Roofing Company Culture: Team Events That Boost Morale
49:46 – Hard Truths About Running a Roofing Company
51:45 – Measuring Success Beyond Roofing Revenue

Speaker 1:

What happens when your former boss threatens your paycheck and you decide that's the last time someone holds power over your income? In this episode, we're talking with Taylor Miller about the gritty, no excuses journey from single mom to co-founder of MillerStorm. You'll learn how she built a roofing company rooted in communication, culture and second chances, despite having zero plans to ever start a roofing company. Taylor is the co-owner of Miller Storm Roofing in Texas. She built the business alongside her husband, jay, during one of the most chaotic years in modern history 2020. From chasing down invoices to systematizing everything through automations and SOPs, taylor has become a force in operations and leadership.

Speaker 1:

Taylor's story is one of resilience from a rocky family background to helping create six-figure careers for her team. Her evolution from leading with an iron fist to developing compassionate, efficient management systems is one every entrepreneur needs to hear. If you're navigating growth, team drama or the chaos of operational bottlenecks, this episode gives you a real-life playbook on how to lead with strength, structure and heart. Let's dive in with Taylor Miller of Miller Storm Roofing. Welcome to the Roofing Success Podcast. I'm Jim Alin and I'm here to bring you insights from top leaders in the roofing industry to help you grow and scale your roofing business Taylor Miller Miller Storm. How are you?

Speaker 2:

Doing good. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm wonderful. I had a great visit to your office about a month ago.

Speaker 2:

That was fantastic man visit to your office about a month ago.

Speaker 1:

That was fantastic man yeah, that was a lot of people. That was a lot of people. Yeah, we had a great rsra event down there. Uh, adam introduced the marketing control system to the roofing and solar reform alliance. Members, fantastic content. Thank you for being fantastic hosts. You guys have a great man. You've built something. You guys have a great. You've built something really special down there.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate it. I appreciate it a lot.

Speaker 1:

Well, for people who maybe didn't, I think in our first episode you were on with Jay, with your husband, jay Miller, and he's a talker, so he probably did more of the talking, but we know who runs the show, so we wanted to have Taylor on to make sure we got the the like what really happens at Miller store.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Wow, I was listening to that podcast probably like a year ago, and I was like what idiots I mean? We thought I mean we thought I mean looking back right, like you think you, you know a lot, and then you fast forward and then I'm looking back down like hindsight being 2020. I'm like man. We've learned and grown so much from that, you know so I love it.

Speaker 1:

That. That's one of my favorite things about business is like to me, if you're not embarrassed about where your company was and who you were Like, I think about it. Like, if you don't think, like why did someone buy from us? Like how could someone even buy from us back, then You're not iterating, you're not improving right, you're not going through the process. So you guys have done a lot of that. So let's talk a little bit about Taylor and how you got into the roofing business. You know how did you become. You know the, the, the behind the scenes killer at Miller storm.

Speaker 2:

Uh, so funny story. Well, it's kind of a long story so I'll give you tidbits. But so I was a single mom, I was living in Round Rock, austin, texas, with my son and my mom was like hey, you know, you should really come up here and get in a roofing with me. You know, I just bought my house, just bought, bought a Lamborghini. I'm doing really well. Um, she started off as a roofing company and she was a door knocker, worked her way up to a sales rep, sales manager, and then eventually to a partnership. Um, so she was really in from the ground level, worked her way all the way up. It was a true success story. Um, and so she, she really inspired me. She, you know, had no degree, no, you know, a pretty tarnished background, a lot of turmoil in her background. Uh, you know, that's a completely different story. But she was out of my life for 15 years and incarcerated, drug background and all that. So for me to firsthand witness my mom get out of prison and literally turn her life around from homeless to, you know, a millionaire with a half million dollar house, a lamborghini and a office in a skyrise building in dallas was super inspiring, especially for me because I never grew up with my mom.

Speaker 2:

I went to college because I was trying to make a different way of life, because I grew up with my dad being a single father and living paycheck to paycheck with five kids in a two bedroom apartment.

Speaker 2:

So I was eager to break that cycle. I didn't know how, and so going to college was, like you know, the obvious thing, I guess, to figure out. I mean, everyone gets tired with the degree. You know, like that's the brainwash, like go to college and you're going to be so easy finding a good way. You know a good paying job and it's going to be so easy if you go to college and work your butt off in college and you'll find your dream job and make good money and all that right. So it was really inspiring to see someone that you know really lost everything. You know my mom and my dad owned a business and she lost all the drugs, lost her kids due to drugs, went to prison and then got out and rebuilt everything from scratch and made up for a lot of lost time by making better choices and working her butt off. So that's how I got into.

Speaker 1:

It was my mom and that really speaks to the opportunity in roofing. Like it's, it's a, it is, it is a second chance industry like no other. Right, it's pretty phenomenal yeah.

Speaker 2:

So that's, you know, that's how I ended up making meeting. Jay was at her company.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Which was a big no-no. But you know so some people might ask like okay, so if your mom started her roofing company, why are you still not with her? You know, why are you still not working there? That would probably be like the next question. You know sad story. But she relapsed again and lost everything again. Really, really sad to see someone fall from such, you know a high state to, you know, starting over again.

Speaker 2:

So when she got, you know, she relapsed and, you know, left that company. You know me and Jay went and worked for a couple other companies, some mom and pop startups, and it just wasn't the uh, it wasn't the same, it wasn't the same culture. So after, after all that happened with her, we were like you know what, um, we went to two other companies help those startups like systems, processes, hiring, recruiting, all that um, and I just you know me and jay broke up for a little bit in 2020 and that guy thought jay was going to go start his own company. When, uh, when we got back together, he thought he automatically assumed that we were gonna go start our own company, which is kind of weird because we never thought about that.

Speaker 2:

That wasn't. We were wearing all the hats and doing all the paperwork. That sounded like a lot of work for us, it was not attractive. And so one day he called Jay and threatened Jay's commissions and I was like how dare him, you're going to sit here and threaten to take away his commissions if we're starting our own? I was like, first of all, we never had any interest in that. I was like that just rubbed me the wrong way. I was like he shouldn't have that type of power over us, especially since everything we've done to help build his company.

Speaker 2:

There's no reason why we'd go do that For him to say that and then threaten it with commissions. We were like what that? And for him to say that and then threaten it with commissions we were like what um? And this was during 2020. You know, yeah, it was already super. It was already a super unstable year as it was, and I was like for you to sit here and try to threaten. You know, jay's commissions was like a big uh turnoff. Like I was like, all right, well, I'm done with this company.

Speaker 1:

I was like you know, yeah, that's a culture killer right there, right, like that's a, like that's. But it's all the horror stories that you hear. Right In the roofing industry and there's such a a lot of owners have a hard time with, you know, people on their team that find success and that worry about them going and starting other companies and competing with them. You know, along with the other 10,000 companies in Dallas. So it would make a big difference if you guys went. You know, like it's crazy to me, like there's no but, but so okay. So all of a sudden it's like this doesn't feel right anymore. So all of a sudden it's like this doesn't feel right anymore, like now it's time I guess we have to start our own company.

Speaker 2:

So we make sure that we get our checks or what you know you're now, if you're accusing me of doing something I'm not doing, and the first thing you do is threaten my commissions, and it was like it was just a super cold call.

Speaker 2:

It was like a super, like harsh call. I feel like we didn't do anything to earn that call or earn that threat. He told him like hey, you know, because we broke for two months, got our own places. And then we were like, all right, we're going to make it work. We got to now consolidate back of our stuff, move back in and all that. And he told him and was completely transparent, and when that happened, it was like that was super unwarranted, that was unnecessary.

Speaker 2:

So we were like let's just, you know, instead of building this up, because now it feels like we're building this on sand again, right, like it's. The trust isn't there. You know, you're not threatening us, it's I don't feel like we're building on, we're building on sand. So we're like you know, if we're gonna restart again, it's time to just do it under our own thing. We helped these startups, did all the paperwork, did all the processes, found all the contractors, found the sales guys, trained the sales guys, and so we were like all right, we're just going to do it for ourselves. So that's really what started that in 2020. All right, all right, we're just gonna do it for ourselves.

Speaker 1:

So that's, that's really what started that in 2020. All right, so what did those early days look like? Because 2020 was not the best year for door-to-door sales no, it wasn't, maybe in texas. But you know like people here in minnesota were like mask up and get away from me. You know like, yeah, so in texas.

Speaker 2:

It was a lot different. Actually. I you know everyone was scared and was shutting doors, but I think that our business actually took off in 2020, like I think that was the best year that you could start a door-to-door business, especially in texas. You know, texas is a little more laid back and they're not fearful with masks and diseases and all that um and sicknesses and so, uh, everyone was so excited when we knocked on their door.

Speaker 2:

It was like it was a different reaction than what you would expect, for sure yeah, people are like I've been putting off all this stuff, like now I'm at home and now I'm bored and I want to have some interaction. So it was a different. It was a different uh interaction at the door. It wasn't what you would expect it. We were definitely nervous when we opened up in 2020. We were like, hmm, everything in the news, right, don't watch the news, because the news had everyone scared to come outside. When you turn the TV off and you go outside, people were so excited to have human interaction. It was the opposite.

Speaker 1:

What were some of the early surprises of the new venture of launching Miller Storm?

Speaker 2:

Oh my goodness, being the boss is hard. You can't be everyone's friend. You're wearing all the hats. You don't realize everything that takes to put a roof on. Like from the sales rep mentality when we first got into it, it's like, oh well, we're gonna board the material and pay for the crew and we're gonna keep all the money and it's gonna be so easy. And you don't see all the warranty calls that happen when it rains and all the nails, like you know, the homeowner's fine, and going through the crappy concept contractors and the titled sales reps and it's like, wow, wow, this is not. This is not as easy as we thought it was going to be. It was definitely a challenge.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so you know. The first thing that you said was being the boss is hard, and I think this is what a lot of people don't understand. Is that so all businesses are people and so you know, when you're an owner of a business, now, all of a sudden you're a manager of people and you're in charge of all of these things and it really all lands on you. How did what? What has been your journey in developing that skill set?

Speaker 2:

I've definitely came a long way as a leader. Back then I rolled with the iron fist. No one wants that type of leader. I it was like with leadership, there's just like happy medium you have to be like. What Jay likes to say is compassion and compression. I was worried that if I was too nice, people were going to take advantage of me. So I was either too nice or too hard and I had a hard time finding the balance of um being empath but having firm boundaries, like I was really.

Speaker 2:

I didn't realize how much I struggled with boundaries. I either was super firm on my boundaries or I was super loose, because and I ended up that was the biggest thing as a leader.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what were like, what were some of the boundaries that you found hard to put up, like, and what were some of the ones that you're like? That was easy, like I'll put up a boundary here, but this one over here is a little bit hard. Was it person to person? Was it person to person?

Speaker 2:

Okay, Person to person.

Speaker 1:

So there was an inconsistency in your management. At the same time, right Like, this person got treated this way and this other person got treated this way, and now it's like a little bit, you know, dramatic, and I didn't want that.

Speaker 2:

So I just I either just shied away from it or I would be like super, I guess dominant or strong on where I stood and I didn't really know the fun, like I really it made me work on my communication for sure.

Speaker 1:

What did you like? How did you work on your communication? Was it books? Did you go like take classes? Did you just practice Like what was your? What was your process of improving your communication skills?

Speaker 2:

Definitely books and podcasts. Definitely books and podcasts 21 Year Fertile Laws of Leadership.

Speaker 2:

The other one was how to Win Friends and Influence People. How to Win Friends and Influence People the Layla Ramosi podcast, and really it's kind of silly to say this, but every time I'd have this like weird conversation that was coming up, I was like I don't really know how to have this conversation with someone. I'd literally YouTube it, google it, like how to have a conversation about this topic with an employee, like you know it's, and I just figuring out like the framing and you know, the book I wish I would have read back then. That I'm reading right now is Never Split the Difference.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

Such a great book.

Speaker 1:

Yep, chris Voss, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Such a great book Like Negotiating with Terrorists. Such a great book like Negotiating with Terrorists because sometimes I feel like back then, you know, the employees that we attracted, you know, was a reflection of our weak leadership. I would say. We were just in our insecurities of being new business owners. But back then I could say it felt like a lot of time I was negotiating with terrorists and that's probably because of my avoidance of having tough conversations.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's, that's super interesting, that's a super self-aware thing that you said the employees we attracted. Yeah, right, like, wow, that's a, that's a big aware, like that's, that was a big aha moment I would. I would assume when, when, along the journey, did you go? This is us, like we were we. We don't have the skill set to attract or the culture to attract. You know a players or 10 Xers or whatever you'd want to call like really good people to the business. Where was that? Where did you guys like, where did you go? Did you have conversations with Jay? Like, oh goodness, man, like what's going on? How come these are the people that are in our company?

Speaker 1:

Before we carry on with the episode, let's give a shout out to one of our sponsors. I talk to contractors every day that feel stuck, not because they're not working hard, but because they're missing the structure to grow without chaos or their culture's falling apart, because their team's unclear, unaligned or just burned out and when change hits, they're reacting instead of leading because time and priorities aren't under their control. Day 41 Thrive helps to fix that with proven strategies for growth, culture and leadership that actually work, ready to thrive beyond the storm. Visit the link in the description or visit the Roofing Success Podcast website on the sponsors page to start your journey today. Oh, my goodness, man, like what's going on. How come these are the people that are in our company? How?

Speaker 2:

did that process go yeah it was a lot of fights between me and Jay Cause, you know we had to be honest with each other, and you know and it's like this he would say things that hurt my feelings, but it was the truth. It hurt my feelings Cause it was the truth, right, and I would say things to him that hurt him, but it was the truth. And it's like it's kind of like I hate to say this, but it's kind of like dating Right, like I don't know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I used to like in the beginning. You're not bad, you're not good at being like. Have you like looked into why maybe this is the second guy you attracted like, attracted like this like have you looked into why you keep attracting certain, these, certain like personalities?

Speaker 2:

and I was like interesting, and that question has always stuck with me. And so, like anytime, like something happens, it's like instead of blaming, like the other person or the situation, or I'm a victim, like like no, you're not a victim. You got to figure out why this keeps happening. What are you?

Speaker 3:

doing.

Speaker 2:

What are you allowing? Because sometimes it's not. It's like not what you're saying and sometimes it's what you're not saying, so like not having the confidence, not giving them the feedback giving them, you know, constructive feedback. So you know, I think being new in business is kind of being new to dating. We didn't have. We were like we don't know what a successful business looks like operationally. You know, like we knew what a successful business looked like for sales reps to show up to you like what got us inspired? What did we like when we went to other companies? But we never saw the back end operations. This was our first business to wear all the hats, so there was a lot of insecurity. We're like is this, is this supposed to happen? You know, humans aren't perfect, but at the same time, this is a business and there has to be a standard.

Speaker 1:

So we always were like second guessing ourselves, like you know because you're learning and that's what I think a lot of people don't give themselves grace in the learning period, right like we have to give ourselves grace that we just like a lot of times. This is a, this is new, we're, we're inexperienced in a lot of things and it like it takes a lot of time and a lot of practice and a lot of reps not just sales reps but you may have. You may have to go through a lot of sales reps to lot of reps not just sales reps, but you may have. You may have to go through a lot of sales reps to know how to find a good sales rep or what is a good sales rep or what is a good sales rep to your company. But you just need the practice, the reps. You know, like how many the, the number of jobs that have gone through your production process. Now you're like, oh, we have to fix this, we have to fix this, we have to tweak this, we have to do that.

Speaker 1:

But I like to say you don't know what's broken until things are going through it. You don't know what. From a sales rep perspective, what am I saying wrong? Well, you have to say the words to a prospective customer to learn and get that feedback, to know if you're saying the right thing or not, how to hire subcontractors good subcontractors, how to manage good subcontract right Like there's so many things that you don't think about. What were some of those operational foundations that that you've put in place over time that have really made a the strongest impact?

Speaker 2:

Oh my goodness, automations, automations, automation systems and processes. Telling departments what you like, knowing what you want out of people and what you like. Knowing what you want out of people and what you expect out of them, I think is the most important. And so they, and so they know what fires they're responsible for, putting out, like not everything's an emergency, like figuring out what's priority right now or what's priority for that department and, like you know, separating and delegating their responsibilities and who is responsible for what, and having like a smooth trend, like a smooth handoff from one department to the next.

Speaker 1:

So how have you guys implemented that Like, what is? How do you determine what's a fire and what's not a fire? Let's start there. What are some examples?

Speaker 2:

What are some examples? Is this going? Is this something that has to get done right now or is this something that can be put off till tomorrow? If it's not like a right now thing, it's not a fire If someone's not going to get hurt. If it's, we're not going to get sued, if you know, if it's not going to cost a lot of money. You know, I would say those three things like financial welfare those are my big things like funny, like is someone okay and is it going to cost a lot of money? Like is someone hurt? If is it going to cost a lot of money? Like other than that it's a slow burning fire.

Speaker 2:

We'll figure that out tomorrow or or write down, like you know also like writing down like small issues as they come up, and then like let's talk all about it at once, like let's not keep interrupting your work day, my work day, to talk about these like issues. That you might think is a big deal, but to me it's not a big deal. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

So that's a good management tip right there, like do you know when, if your team comes to you with with every little thing, how do you get it? How do you get what you're getting done during the need to get done during the day, right, like, if so. So I like that compartmentalizing it and saying, hey, you know, we'll have a conversation at a specific time about that. Let's have the whole conversation, not just each, each aspect of it.

Speaker 2:

And I think that that gets fixed with, like, weekly meetings. I realized the more meetings we have, the quicker the feedback gets to us. And then they people feel confident holding onto information until like, oh well, we're going to talk Mondays or we're going to talk Wednesday, whenever that scheduled weekly meeting is, they're like, oh, I'm gonna talk to her in a couple days. That can wait till then, you know. And then also you know attracting right, like the office managers and the people that we have here that we attract now. They're very independent thinkers, problem solvers and nine times out of 10, they'll fix the problem before I even hear about it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, I, and nine times out of 10 they'll fix the problem before I even hear about it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, so I, I had a conversation with someone yesterday about about this, and we're um a company that I coach, and and I and I said we were having a conversation and he's he's talking about kind of more of a like do I need a general manager role, operations manager kind of person in my business? And and we started talking and I was like, well, let's, let's walk through where where the breakdown in uh, in, uh, um, ownership is, because what I heard from you is that you have a team that owns things, and that's when people own their role they get things done and they come and tell you that things are done Instead of here's the problem, solve my problem for me, right? And so we had a conversation of like, where is the ownership breaking down in your company, in your team, versus like, do you really need someone else to manage them? Do you need to add another layer of management to this to babysit these people, or is it that? No, it's just these people over here aren't owning their role the way that they should.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, so I would. I'm so glad that you said that, because that just sparked something. Is this is something. Looking back, the reason why people came and asked me a million questions, or asked Jay, a million questions on every time they ran into something, is because I didn't empower them. So, you know, back then I would walk up and if they were handling something or doing something, like, why are you doing it that way? Right, and that's not how you approach that. You know, oh, that looks like a great, that's a great idea how you're doing that. That's I'm glad that you handled it that way.

Speaker 2:

Next time, you should probably maybe think, maybe do it this way or that way. And I'm like, oh, ok, like encouraging that and like we're like applauding them fixing the problem and at least jumping in trying to do it. But I think back then, like a leadership era that we used to do is we used to be so critical, like, why are you doing this way? You should do it this way, you shouldn't do that, we should do it this way. So then it trained them right to now, every time they run into a problem, they're like let me just go ask them, they probably have a better idea. And it's like no, like you have you. So that's something else.

Speaker 2:

Is like getting letting relinquishing control Right. Like if you want growth, you got to relinquish control. As long as they're doing it 80 percent the way that you would want them to do it, it's good, just let them do it. It's never going to be the way you want to do it. Everyone's different. Everyone's brain works different. What I think is great, someone else might think is not. You know what I think is great, someone else might think is not. You know what I think is what they think is great I might not completely agree with, but that's one thing that I've taken away. Is this 80 percent the way that I would have done it?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So where is the, where's the balance there in your like SOPs then? Like because, and how, I guess, how rigid do you develop your SOPs? Because, if you're the, what I'm hearing, if you allow them some autonomy in their role, but you still want to confine to a specific process, you want that communication handoff the correct way and you want things like that. So how do you balance that the? How do you? How do you? Or how do you think about that? Like when you balancing the, their autonomy in getting the job done but also doing the process the way that you would like them to do it I have two really good examples I'll share with you.

Speaker 2:

so one of them is, like we know, we knew that every time we showed to a customer's house, we wanted them to leave them with a photo report or some type of report saying, hey, we were there and this is what we found, um, with photo documents so they can see what's going on.

Speaker 2:

Because, you know, here in Texas, and probably roofing companies across the nation uh, some of them, or a lot of them here that I saw they weren't leaving photo reports, they weren't leaving any type of documentation documentation They'd be on the roof oh, you're good season, like storm season, and the homeowner never got anything. And that's how we were actually able to steal a lot of businesses by, you know, offering those photo reports. Well, anyway, I had one of our sales, one of our inside sales guys look at the photo reports that we're sending. He goes man, like I love the idea, I think they could be better. So instead of coming and saying hey, I think they could be better. So, instead of coming and saying hey, I think they could be better, he went and did, made the presentation better and then brought to me. I was like, absolutely love it.

Speaker 3:

Same thing with commission reports.

Speaker 2:

Aaliyah was awesome. She was like, hey, like, instead of doing each individual commission report, we should just do one mass Excel sheet. Made it look awesome, brought it to me Absolutely, absolutely loved it. So they're still sticking to the sops. But it's like, how can I make this process better? They're more efficient, uh, more beautified, I would say right like on the eyes, on the photo reports, like he made them look way, way more creative. So they're still sticking into the sops, just like making things better. Like you know, when they go through and those sops, right like they're not, they're good.

Speaker 2:

Sops are kind of like a living document. They should always be they're. They're a living document. You should always be updating them, figuring out better ways, like you know now. Like you know, my sops a year ago are completely different now because I found out all these cool automations where it literally, you know, task them like this is where this is, so they don't have to look for it. Like my project managers, sops are different. My back office SOPs are different because now they're getting tasked and reminded like automatically, as soon as a job hits a certain milestone, so they don't have to go like daily, look through there. So I mean, I think with time, as you feel like you always find a better way to do something.

Speaker 1:

Your sops are kind of like just a guiding, like a compass I, I agree, like the living document statement is one that I use too. Like all of the're living documents, they're not, it's not a. You don't build an sop one time. It's, it's. It constantly evolves in that evolution. How do you determine what to fix next? I know you're enjoying the episode, but let's give a shout out to another one of our sponsors. As a roofing marketing agency owner and coach, I've seen it all Great marketing wasted because no one follows up fast enough. That's why I built Power Up Agents, not just a receptionist. Our AI handles the entire customer journey, from answering the first call to booking the job, to post job surveys and reviews 24-7, inbound, outbound, even multilingual. If you want leads followed up instantly and customers nurtured automatically, visit the link in the description or visit the sponsors page on the Roofing Success Podcast website. Your full AI team is ready. How do you determine what to fix next?

Speaker 2:

Is this going to save our company time? That's my biggest thing time. Time is the most expensive resource, so time and communication like those are my two biggest things. Like is this going to improve the communication inside the organization? Is this going to improve the communication to our homeowners? Is this going to improve the communication to the insurance companies, to the warranty? You know, with Atlas, you know. And then time. How quick is this? How much time are we going to save by doing this new process?

Speaker 3:

So that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what are some? What are some examples of ones that you've implemented recently? I know you said I mean automation, saved time, so that's a that's always a big one. What are some of the communication processes that you've put in place that have that you've seen real impact around?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I would. I would have to praise on the community on the automations.

Speaker 2:

That literally they go together because it literally it, they go together. Yeah, communication because, like, because there's communications that are happening inside the automation, so like it looks like the message is coming from alia, but it's actually an automation like hey, production, please look at this job, make sure the invoice is red. Yeah, so, um, that's the biggest thing. It's it's keeping the guys organized. Putting everything in in this in the crm, putting the task on auto, like the automated task, the automated emails that go out to the homeowner, is the bit. Actually that is the answer. The automations that are getting sent to the client on hey, your roof is in, is scheduled for this day of install, and then the reminder automation on hey, your roof's getting installed tomorrow. Those are the biggest ones. Communication to the customer, because then they can never say I didn't know, I couldn't plan for this, I wasn't aware that they're going to get here at 630 in the morning. I think communication to the homeowner is always. You're always going to win on that front that on that front?

Speaker 1:

yeah, and and automating it is is the best way. Have you found that? Is it emails text? Is it like an automated task for your team to call? What have you found as being some of the the better ways of communicating with your homeowners?

Speaker 2:

um, I say email, but I haven't turned on the text automation and acculance. I'm a little bit nervous because I'm like it's super. I mean it's super expensive and I just don't want that to get abused.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, really. So, the emails have been effective enough, where people are opening their emails and they're seeing you don't get a call like hey, why, why are these guys here at six, 30? They the email was sent, the email was opened, it's, it's get, the message is getting, is getting across yeah, I, I love the emails.

Speaker 2:

I mean, the one thing that we have implemented is our even our quickbooks are getting. Those invoices are getting texted to the homeowner now, um, so I know that that's working better. I know that more people are paying on text message, so I would probably if I turned on text message, it would probably be a way better outcome. Yeah, I don't know if I want that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's like people do open text messages more than emails a lot of times, because we have our phones in our hands way too often. Right, like, it's just right there, so you had the watch on the Apple watch or whatever. Right, like, you're always getting your notifications, new text, new, you know, but it's expensive, so it's a cost thing, right, especially as you guys are growing. How many? What's the goal this year? How many sales reps? How many like, how many jobs are you guys trying to do? What's the? What are you trying to accomplish? Because you guys have, you've decided to go big.

Speaker 2:

Yep, so last year so last year we had, you know, the Round Rock office in the Fort Worth office, between both branches we did 505 roofs. This year our goal is to do a thousand roofs. Our goal is to do 20 million. We did 10 million, 10 or 12, 11, somewhere between there. Last year I'm in revenue, and we were wanting to get to 20. Uh, I think that's super achievable, especially since we opened up our commercial department. Uh, we have some really big, heavy headers that came from a 300 million dollar commercial roofing company that's helping us do our commercial here, which is a great, um exciting thing because we've always had so many commercial jobs come across our desk. But just, you know, you heard the horror stories about residential roofing companies, you know, going out of business Cause they did one bad commercial roof, cause they're not, you know, stepped out of the wheelhouse, and so I'm really excited about that. But that's our goal. We do want to eventually open a branch in San Antonio, houston. Yeah, that's our goal. We definitely do want to go big, though.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, how have been? What have been the operational challenges in implement in adding the commercial division?

Speaker 2:

challenges in implement. In adding the commercial division, commercial division we haven't really had that many hiccups yet. I mean, that's what happens. It goes back to attracting a players because if you have eight players. It's it. It's not as much work as as you need to like. You're hiring people for them to. That's their problem. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2:

yes, it's my problem too, but when they are, you know an A player and they come without expectations and communication upfront on the initial agreement and conversation saves you time again, right Like attracting A players and not you know when people try to cut corners and go cheap. And you know, if I would have found someone with no experience I would have been way more involved in that. But he's hiring all this guys, he has all the crews, he has all the connections, so it's really a plug and play. I don't see any issues right now. We have a lot of stuff cooking up. I mean, it's only been two months since we started the commercial division. You have to ask me again in like six months.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there'll be things that come up, I'm sure, but but the the the lesson there is ownership, right, like is that the person that you hired owns the role. They're taking ownership of all of that and and taking it off your plate. Um, you know, talk about some of those first hires and and the difference in your hiring process now.

Speaker 2:

Sell the dream and don't get sold on the candidate, and what I mean by that. There's been a lot of candidates that come in here and talk a big game. A big game, and I realize the talkers are not the showers. For the most part, the good ones are the most humble guys. They're the guys that are going to come here and talk about how hard they're going to work and they're not going to talk about how much they did in sales and how much money they made and how they're so awesome and they're, uh, it's normally the humble ones that are the best candidates.

Speaker 2:

But, um, hiring, I think that's one of those things. It's kind of like dating. It's hard to tell, to tell you the secrets. It's just like go through it and you'll understand what I'm talking about. But, um, I don't know, hiring is so weird to me because sometimes there's guys that come in here and it's I, I don't know. Recruiting and hiring is still a little bit tricky for us. Yeah, I don't think you really know if someone's a good candidate or not until they come in. I honestly, that's how I, that's what I do.

Speaker 1:

That's one of my favorite quotes and I've said it on the podcast a million times, so people are probably getting sick of it, but it's a quote from Gary Vaynerchuk and it's hiring is guessing, firing is knowing.

Speaker 2:

I love that. There is no secret.

Speaker 1:

It's like you're just making your best guess possible.

Speaker 1:

But, on the other end, the things that I've learned over time is if you have the right metrics that you're tracking and you have the right you know measurement of a cultural fit.

Speaker 1:

Also, if it's definitive not like you're making you know, like a judgment call on people on it, but if you have a definitive and I think you guys might be running EOS now, like we run EOS, so you have the people analyzer and it's do they fit with your cult, with your core values, values and do they get it wanted and have the capacity to do it Like and so it gives you a little bit of a more clear knowing right, like you get to know in a much more clear way, because a lot of times we get emotional with you know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

Like someone has a story and it's like, oh well, you didn't do that because. Yeah, okay, I guess I guess you didn't do that because, yeah, okay, I guess you didn't do that because and you know we get wrapped up in that or we like them and you know I like taking the feelings out is probably the best thing that you could do, because then you know you get to the knowing faster right. You make your best guess. Let's get to know as fast as possible, and if it's not it I know you're enjoying the episode, but let's give a shout out to another one of our sponsors.

Speaker 3:

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Speaker 1:

Make your best guess. Let's get to know as fast as possible, and if it's not it, you gotta go.

Speaker 2:

I love that you said that. I absolutely love that you say that, because anytime that me, jay Naaman, anyone in management, anytime we're feeling some type of way about someone, we're like, all right, take the person out of it For this role. What metrics, what expectations would we have out of this person? Okay, so I know that we're filling this way towards this person, but let's go look at the numbers and let's be like you know, start this conversation with the numbers. Like take the feelings out of it. Like numbers don't lie. What's that saying? Women line, men line? Numbers don't. So it's like let's look at the numbers before let's make data driven decisions.

Speaker 1:

Yes, making data driven decisions. Speaking of data driven decisions, you know, going from a startup to, you know, 10, 12, 20 million, that's a. There's a lot of differences in cash flow management. How has? How have you like? How is that? How have you implemented good cash flow management, financial management, in the company as you've grown?

Speaker 2:

spending less than you have coming in. I'm going to be honest with you. I feel like I guessed the first five years of business. I felt like I just guessed. I was like I don't know. Make sure we collect deposits and make sure we're making smart financial decisions and we're not going and paying for a Lamborghini and going to Paris and buying Rolexes. I mean, jay just bought his first Rolex last year. You know, a lot of guys start a roofing company.

Speaker 2:

It's like car Rolex vacation you know, and that's probably why they don't last past a year here in Texas most of the time.

Speaker 2:

But, um, you know, just I don't know stack it. We grew a lot very organically and so and I was always pretty good with money management and so I don't, I don't know that's. I mean, the biggest thing is knowing where your financials are. I think a lot of roofing companies get in trouble because they don't know where their financials are. Like, like you know, I have a team here that's calling on depreciation. They're we're sending off the mortgage check for the homeowner so we can track it. So we know it got sent to the homeowner, doesn't you know? Because homeowners are busy.

Speaker 2:

I'm a homeowner, I'm so busy, like when I get home I don't want to talk about my personal stuff, I don't want to open my mail half the time. So I'm like you know, I think, um, just knowing where your financials are making it, the more convenient you make it for the homeowner, the quicker you're going to get paid. So so you know, I figured you know opening up credit card processing, zelle, ach, you know the slice financing that we offer so they can just keep the insurance money and finance the whole roof so we get paid quicker. Um, you know, your your cycle time on picking up. Picking up the money is like the biggest thing that we focus on here.

Speaker 1:

Nice, getting the cash in back to the business as fast as possible, cause it's all insurance, mostly insurance claims. I would assume that you guys are working down there in the dfw, austin things like that. So, um, what about? Like? It sounds like you've developed more, you know, consistency with customers, customer communication, customer experience. What other things are you guys doing from the sales perspective, from the operations perspective, to impress the customer, to maybe have them potentially refer you or, when the next storm comes in there, they know who to call?

Speaker 2:

I would just say over communication. Every time we send a supplement out, they get CC'd on it. Every time we send a final invoice, they get CC'd on it. Every time we file their warranty, they're getting a CC on it. If your homeowner is reaching out to you for an update, that's the number one red flag.

Speaker 2:

Your homeowner should never be asking you for an update. You should be telling them every week. Your homeowner should never be asking you for an update. You should be telling them every week. They should never have a question on where they stand. What this means, I think setting expectations from the get-go and then communicating with them every step of the way. So that's my biggest thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what do you think?

Speaker 2:

How do you think culture and communication go hand in hand in Miller Storms? Your guys need to know. Well, you know, you have to know their love language and you have to know what they're, what they're expecting of you and what you're expecting of them. You know, you know. So here it's like with our core values. It's like do what you say, right. Like if you tell a homeowner you're going to be there at a certain time, be there. If you're going to be at the meeting, be there. You know our meetings aren't mandatory. But if you tell us like, hey, you're going to be here, then let us know, cause we're waiting around on you. You know, and this is you know, this is not one of our core values, even though we should probably make it.

Speaker 2:

One of our core values is speed. Like speed is one of our core values and it's not like a formally documented anywhere, but we're always like on speed, like moving the job along fast, like communicating with the homeowner fast, communicating with back office fast, giving our guys quick feedback and then them also giving us quick feedback on what's going out on the field, you know if people are struggling with something or if they're like hey, we need like a team outing. You know, just over. Communicating like this is you spend more time at work than you do with your family do you know.

Speaker 2:

And so when you start feeling like things are a little bit too professional, too much about work, too transactional, I think you have to really rely on your leadership team to be like, hey, we need to take the guys on a team outing. Or, yeah, let's do something fun.

Speaker 1:

This, you know, next month, or you know so what are some of the things that you guys do?

Speaker 2:

oh well, we're to. We do an annual boat party. So we're going to do our annual boat party here in about two weeks. We've gone paintballing, we've done the little drive, the exotic cars we took. Take our guys to the conference once a year. We just, we actually took our guys to Mexico, our million dollar producers, we took them to Mexico in January, which was a really cool experience. So, you, our million dollar producers, we took them to mexico in january, um, which was a really cool experience. So, you know, take them out to dinner, doing their doing the team dinners, which we need to actually do one of those here. So it's been a while, but you know we can pull parties so you guys have fun too yeah, you have, you have to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You have to Like everyone knows like roofing is a lifestyle I mean sales are really in general is a lifestyle. There's no off time, especially when you're a 10 am sales guy. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, You're always selling or prospecting. So I think having that healthy work-life balance I know balance is like a word that people don't like, Right, but what my version of balance is like not every day is going to be like this.

Speaker 2:

Some days are going to be all work and then some days are gonna be all family, but when you average every day out in the year, it's 50, 50. You know what I?

Speaker 1:

mean Okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So people think that when I, when people say balance, it's like oh, every day is balanced. No, some days I'm working 12, 14 hour shifts, and then maybe I take off on Friday.

Speaker 1:

You know that's right. I don't believe in balance at all. I'm way off of balance.

Speaker 2:

I honestly don't believe in balance, but when we look on a 365 rolling schedule, there's balance. You have to there is, there is even if you don't like to admit it, there is balance what do you think?

Speaker 1:

uh, what do you? What do you think people should know more, like because you guys have gone through the journey, right, like you said, you went through this like the opening of a company yourselves. What do you? What's? What's one thing more people should understand about running a roofing company man, there's cash flow, I mean.

Speaker 2:

I mean it's probably like any business, right, you have to make sure you have the right people in the right seats. Don't try to wear all the hats because you don't want to spend the money on overhead to get people. I think a lot of people here in Texas I mean like the truck checking, a truck type of guys they think that they're going to go start their own so they can keep all the money and it's like, yeah, but then you know how long are you going to do that for?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's pretty lonely.

Speaker 2:

That's pretty lonely, I don't I? I, that's not what the lifestyle I like. I like to work with people, I like having a team. I like you know, I think to open a true legit business in texas, that you're gonna have to put people in the right seats, have to manage cash flow if you're gonna do it organically, like me and jay did, like we flipped five grand and now here we are. You know that's right. That's another company, but we're really disciplined on delayed gratification, sacrificing yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, delayed gratification is a big one that people struggle with. For sure it's a tough one. It's tough when you look in the bank account and you're like, oh, there's money there.

Speaker 3:

No, it's not yours yet.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Do you want to look rich now or do you really want to be rich in 20 years? You know like that's right. It's don't, don't exchange that, that money, for short, short term, you know gratification. Yeah, it's a long-term vision.

Speaker 1:

What are you most proud?

Speaker 2:

of when you reflect on what you guys have built, how much personal growth. I mean it's not it's like you know the vanity of like the revenue and all that's cool, Like that's not really like it. To me it's like how much I've developed as a leader, helped other people grow, like we're really like a personal development slash life coach company. I, you know like people have come in here, made money, got their credit card. Like when my sister came up here I'm gonna use to use her as an example she was a completely different person. You know she didn't believe herself, self doubt, didn't have a reliable vehicle, didn't have, didn't know what a credit score was, didn't know what a credit card was.

Speaker 2:

And to literally see her transform her life Like many others here have many people here have. You know she got her dream truck, she got her. You know her dream house she got. You know for people to write those you know achieve their goals is the most gratifying thing. That's better than making money and putting it in my bank account is seeing other people happy and their kids happy and then making the most amount of money that they've ever made and being the best shape of your life and being positive, and you know that's that's the biggest thing that I am happy for is how many people's lives we've changed and are going to change.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. Appreciate your time today, Taylor. This has been another episode of the Roofing Success Podcast.

Speaker 4:

Thank you for tuning into the Roofing Success Podcast For more valuable content. Visit roofingsuccesspodcastcom While there. Check out our sponsors for exclusive offers, shop for merchandise and sign up for our newsletter for industry updates and tips. Also join the Roofing Success Facebook group to connect with other professionals and stay updated on the latest trends. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, like, share and leave a comment. Your support helps us continue to bring you top industry insights. The website link is in the description. Thanks for listening.

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