Building a culture can be a challenge! How do you get to a point where culture is natural?

How are you defined? What is your cause? Do you have a sense of contentment? Are you fulfilled?

Charles Antis, CEO of Antis Roofing & Waterproofing, sits down in the bunker to talk about where he came from, how he grew in business, and what drives him today.

Our episode highlights:

• Get involved with your community! Give and DON’T expect!
• Find something positive to do EVERY DAY
• 5 Min journal
• Get involved with the cause that drives you! And do they align with you?

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-antis-a3b6637/
• Website: https://www.antisroofing.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AntisroofingInc
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/antis_roofing
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/antisroofing

---------- In The Bunker Podcast Links ----------

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/in-the-bunker-podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inthebunkerpodcast/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/InTheBunkerPodcast/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvc50KjJZCqDM37mug6W1Q

Website: https://www.inthebunkerpodcast.com

Listen Links: https://www.inthebunkerpodcast.com/listen

Become a Guest: https://www.inthebunkerpodcast.com/guest

today.

We have Charles Antis on the show.

Charles was faced with a challenge of just getting new work and also

focusing on self care as a new business or a small business.

Self care is a huge thing.

However, despite the odds that every business faces his built a company.

With an impact based mindset.

And Charles has over 32 years of experience in providing people.

One of the biggest things we all take for granted the roof over our head as the

owner of antis, roofing and waterproofing,

Charles has helped so many So Cal families stay safe and dry by literally

putting a roof over their head.

There's so much to unpack here and learn from him today.

And I'm super excited to just jump in and have this conversation.

Thanks Josh.

You were having me on.

Good to have you.

Let's dive in and

Give that 90 second background.

Who are you?

How'd you get here?

I am a roofing contractor, but really I'm

a, I'm an awakener of people.

I didn't know that would happen, but gosh, you go back in time.

I came to California originally on a sales job.

I was selling insulation door to door.

I sold a family.

I was so excited.

I went back the next day to pick up the check.

You know,

how excited you love your customers?

This family, I thought I was going to save them money and

they wouldn't answer the door.

I saw them until finally the neighbor comes and she's, I hear her footsteps

on the Porsche's you get out of here.

And I say, why you were trying to take advantage of this family.

They were not going to get the savings you promised.

And I looked at her and I wanted to be angry with her, but I read

what she said in the contract.

And I thought, oh my gosh, And so I'm a guy that ended up in Southern California.

Who's a laborer who grew up in the mountains of Oregon, who looked for a job.

And that's how I got into roofing.

32 years ago in Southern California.

I quit a job because I wasn't providing value.

I wasn't doing the right thing.

Like my dad taught me how to do, and I looked for a job and the

only job I saw was in roofing.

And that's how I got here in Southern California, 32 years ago.

That's the best way I can start in 90 seconds.

That right there, I think, speaks so much

to the values of your company.

And the values of you

as a person, the aspect of not only did you not care about at the end of the day,

you know,

getting the money from that customer,

You quit the job because it was not the right place to be.

That was the last job I quit.

So

What is one of the biggest business challenges that you faced?

And before we hit record, we sorta touched on this briefly.

But I want to dive into that and that sort of big business challenge.

I would love to talk about today and I know we will, but I

got to go back to what it felt like 32 years ago, because it's got to feel like

this to people that start a business.

That desperation that I wake up at 3:00 AM, whether I want to,

or not in my head is moving.

I start sweating and what do we do?

And so what I did was I was desperate.

To solve leaks.

I just got a roofing job.

And I, in fact, I got to tell you, I went out and did a repair and my

first few months there, and I was so proud that I went up there and

with my skill, I saw the leak that

Was getting into this family's home.

And then the owner of the company went out there and looked at the

leak the next day that I repaired it.

I was said, I was so proud of him.

I look what I did.

And he goes, that's going to leak again.

And I said,

Why?

And he goes, because he showed me where I had pieces of coping

going up and they should overlap.

I had backwards lap, these pieces of coping.

So water was going to go right in and under the flashing and I was

humiliated and I decided right then I will never make that mistake again.

I'm going to become the very best at solving leaks.

And so when there wasn't enough work at this company, and when I started my

own business four years after I entered the roofing market, this is in 1989.

I was so desperate for work that I actually, one day my job was.

Weatherstripping on that home bedroom door converted to an office so that when

somebody called two or three calls a week, they wouldn't hear my daughter.

And so under that condition, I got a call and I need to tell this story

for what happened that first year

I go out to this place because the ladies got home or leaks

in every room of her home.

And I'm super excited.

So I'm driving, but I noticed that I'm getting to the place where this

lady's, home's going to be the next.

The homes are getting smaller.

I see a little graffiti.

I swallow wondering, oh, where am I going until finally I turn on the

street where the home's going to be.

I just see dead grass and the small home set back.

And.

I'm desperate.

I don't want to knock, but my father's voice is ringing my head son do the

right thing and I knocked on the door and these three things changed my life.

These three things happened really fast.

I see a woman's face when the door opens.

She's about 50 something, but she's had

A really tired month.

So I don't know what to say, but I'm starting to say something and before I can

open my mouth, I'm hit with the smell of.

The smell of mildew is so strong that I've suddenly changed to

A fight or flight brain said I'm about ready to leave.

Try to say goodbye.

But before again, any words come out.

The third thing happens.

I feel a tug at my finger and I looked down and in contrast to the

mom and my face, there's this little six year old girl with blonde hair.

And she has the biggest smile because she's got a visitor in

her home and she probably didn't have very many, and she pulls me.

Crowded living room into

An undersized hallway.

And then she goes right into this room and I know it was her room because

she points with her arm to this, my little pony poster on the wall.

But at that exact time, I looked down at her feet and I saw a

mattress with moldy, Bedding.

And I was stopped and I was like, oh my gosh, what do I do?

I have to get out of here.

I have a mortgage payment to make.

I didn't have much work.

I, And I, but I couldn't say anything.

I didn't say no, I didn't say yes.

I just sit there uncomfortable for what seemed like five minutes.

It was probably 30 seconds and then till, finally, the mother with the tired

look comes back in and I look at her face in contrast to the daughter's face.

And then something happened that never happened that I can

remember before I looked at her.

And I said, in so many words, I said, I'm going to keep your family safe and dry.

I'm going to take care of your roof.

And then when I said it, I thought, oh my gosh, what did I say?

I don't know if I can, I, I have a mortgage payment to

make literally in two weeks.

I don't know.

And so I went up on the roof hoping of just a hole and now

they needed a whole new roof.

And so I, I didn't have any employees yet.

I got on the phone and I got volunteers.

And that weekend we went out there and we gave that family a safe, dry roof.

It wasn't my best roof I've ever put on, but it was dry and they stayed in

the home and something happened that I didn't plan on happening something.

That shows itself in our culture here today.

But this thing feels like this.

Whenever I ran into that little family or one of those

siblings that were six siblings.

It was like, whoa, a high five a hot bit before I hugged.

I don't know what it was, but there was this enthusiasm.

There was this goodness.

There was this.

We knew we came together to do something good.

Somehow I trust you more.

And that's today, looking back what we have, what feels like

culture here, back before I had any employees, that was a powerful moment.

And I like to say Joshua,

That was what we all can have.

That was my doctor on an airplane moment.

What is that thing that you do that in that moment, you are the most prescribed

person in the world that should complete.

And that like that doctor on an airplane.

He hears that call from a pilot at 30,000 feet.

Excuse me.

There's a medical emergency.

And that doctor, we all know, we all believe that he or she's going to

raise his or her hand in that moment.

is is going to offer that life saving service to assist that passenger.

And why are we different?

Because in that plane, that doctor affects that passenger and everyone around them.

But in that home, there were six siblings.

There were six volunteers.

Saying yes.

Take that back.

Us.

Me not saying no, I didn't say no somehow, by not saying no, we found a way to yes.

And by us doing that, it changed everything.

And that's who we became, who we were.

But

I got to talk about one other part of it.

That's the giving part, which felt like it was important.

And I'll tell you why it is later, but it was also so desperate.

I'd like to tell you what it was like trying to sell work.

Do you mind if I go into that a little bit?

So when I was trying to sell work,

I don't know how to tell this because I've not, I've never

told this part before, but I was.

I didn't get very many calls.

And I remember I would get calls from an HOA cause we sell to hos today

And I'd get a call from HOA

And they would have leaks like 30 leaks and they think they need

a new roof, but I knew it was going to cost a million dollars.

And I went out there and I was desperate to sell them, but I was also desperate to

save them money because I was thinking,

Why are they getting a new.

When they're roofing material, isn't a good shape, but just

looking at all chimneys.

And so I was struggling.

And how do I solve this?

And this is what I did.

I would go up on her.

Into a quiet place on that roof where no one was looking, I didn't want to

be seen and I would sit down and then I would lay down and I would close my eyes.

And I don't know why I did this, but I remember on my way to jobs,

looking forward to doing this, like thinking it was going to help me.

And it looking back now I was meditating on that roof.

I didn't know what meditation was back then, but it was as if the roof was

talking to me, it was as if I was, had a dividing rod looking for one.

Over a desert.

Instead I was on a roof.

I was laying down and then I go through this ritual and the ritual was this.

I imagined that I am water.

I am water.

And that's, I don't know why this making you emotional,

but it's, this is what I did.

I am water.

And I'm traveling down in leaking around this chimney.

How do I get there?

Where do I go?

And I would lay down and I would imagine the paths of water.

And I learned through this process of meditating on a roof, that water.

Water and its beautiful ability to fall and gravity pulling it down to

capillary action can travel 30, 40 feet.

And I did become the very best at solving leaks

And in that solving leaks and we found that there was capacity.

To do it and save the client's money in this way that we would dissect roofs.

At the same time, we found that same capacity that we could donate

roofs when somebody had a leaky roof and I didn't want to do it.

We never talked about it for the first 20 years, but this is what would happen.

We would walk into a situation.

We run into a family and suddenly we would see they didn't have money.

And we discovered that we couldn't let a family have a leaky roof just because

they didn't have the money to pay.

Over and over again, we found ourselves quietly.

Sometimes I ever told my employees cause sometimes that they're stressed them out,

but like time and time again, we couldn't let the family have a leaky roof just

because they didn't have the money to pay.

And

you know,

what's funny is now looking back because

you know,

we do blood drives here.

We do so many other things.

We can't let.

Have a leaky roof just because they don't have the money to pay.

We can't let a family go Howery just because they don't have the money to pay.

We can't let a family or a patient go without blood, just

because we don't have money.

We have to do all that we can now in doing so we are defined.

We have culture.

We have cause, and also we have a sense of contentment, a sense of

fulfillment, knowing that what we do in our basic service is actually

having great impact in the world.

I think that's

so key because there's a few elements there that you touched

on that I want to unpack.

One is the power of water.

You know,

as we're sitting here, I have a cup of water sitting on my desk.

You're drinking from a water bottle.

If you stopped drinking water, We both end up in the hospital.

And so water has this life-giving ability, but it also has this ability

to wreak havoc, like you're talking about in one of those three projects and

it's so interesting too.

Put yourself in that position of whatever, you're trying to better understand whether

it's the water that's causing the leak or the client who doesn't have the money.

And you're putting yourself in their shoes, trying to figure out.

That mom, that may be working two jobs already, that doesn't

have the physical ability to make any more money to pay for that.

And in reality, there's some times where I hear people like, oh yeah,

you can totally buy a house, just, put away four or $500 a month.

And it's

okay, that person putting away $2 a month may be a stretch.

And so these are the basic sort of needs.

That so many humans have a roof over their head food on their table.

And those are the things, seeing companies that understand that

and understand that not taking advantage of people is a good thing.

Which just sounds when you say it that way sounds so dumb, but not taking

advantage of people is a good thing.

Yeah.

I think that we grew up.

If you look at generationally, might my generation grew up

kind of

taking advantage of the last generation doubling down.

There was a sense of win, lose, and it was okay.

It's not what works in the world.

Our generation is now awakening to there is the capacity to give that

needs to be at the heart of business.

One story.

I didn't tell

that is part of my legacy growing up in Oregon, growing up in a timber town,

wherever he, man, I knew when I was a kid, every man I knew worked in the

lumber mills, the plywood mills, or if he was the most respected, really?

No, no disrespect to my dad who worked in 11 mill, but he would

work as a logger cutting down.

But there was great risk and it was just what we did.

And,

you know,

that was a big, important thing.

Now, my grandfather was a logger and he came west looking for work after

the great depression and he didn't find any work that would keep him busy.

He picked beats in Idaho.

He originally left Arkansas in the thirties, but when he landed in Northern

California, Southern Oregon, He found the McLeod lumber company and this

industry back then held business the way that I want to hold it today,

they said we're building community.

So they built hospitals, they built roads, they built schools.

They brought in 40 of the best teachers in the state and they gave them top salary.

They even built a baseball field and built a minor league baseball team

where my grandfather played for.

I heard that story almost every time I saw him where he'd say, God, Charlie,

I've got a trap for 1939 for the St.

Louis Cardinals.

And I went up there and my God, I swung that bat and he tells the story

of getting that tryout and how you would've made the team, but he got drunk

that last night and didn't do well.

But,

you know,

that is giving back to community and that's something that we can do today.

And that's something that we believe in today because we believe if we do it will

attract and we'll retain the top talent.

And if you look around at this roping, I believe there's

proof of that concept here.

And in the future, we're moving into men.

You have to truly have cause in what, why you exist.

And it answers.

It's clear why we exist.

If you were behind one of our logos here, it would say ancestry.

Keeping families safe and dry.

We know when someone's in customer care, answers the

phone and someone's got a leak.

We're not trying to collect.

We're trying to keep them safe and dry, and we do it better than anybody

in the HOA market up and down the coast because of this philosophy.

But I love you talking about water.

Water find seeks its own level waters in all of us waters everywhere

in us, between us it's in life.

It's beautiful.

It's in our air.

We breathe and the scary it, but it also carries our viruses too much of it

can flood our homes and even consider.

Water is a

Fun, fun metaphor that I'm having a lot of fun with right now because we're

writing a book about cause and business.

It's about that moment when you're in that house and somebody needs something

that doctor on an airplane moment, it's about not saying no, it's about

saying maybe it's the power of maybe and what it does for culture brand and

for how you feel and how you sleep in.

I love that doctor on an airplane moment.

I love that sort of analogy of,

you know,

we've all had that where there's some life-changing situation that happens and

someone goes, I'm a doctor, I'm an EMT.

I'm a whatever.

And instantly everybody is so happy to see that person.

For you, that person that you.

Hey, I know you don't have the money to replace this roof.

Don't worry about it.

We're going to take care of it like that for that person.

It was totally that moment.

And I think that is,

you know,

we touched briefly on culture before this, before we hit record.

And I think the element of what you guys do and not just,

you know,

roofing at the end of the day, we're in Southern California, it can get warm.

Being up on a roof at the end of the day, when it's a hundred plus degrees

outside, isn't necessarily the most fun and glamorous thing in the world.

There can be tar paper, it can be stinky, it can be whatever,

but that's just the tool.

That you guys used to keep those people, like you said, safe and dry.

It is really.

And I, I can pity my people until I remember because of the way we hold it.

The leader in the field Narcisso Alicon, he leads all the boots on the ground.

He had an, he won the best of the best and national award for

the MVP of the roofing industry.

And on the cover of the magazine has said leading with.

So there's this element of really focusing on people that is really powerful.

And if I would've known earlier and

you know,

I gotta be honest, I was more generous outside my company before I

was more gymnast inside my company.

It felt like I could get that anecdotal roof.

Good.

Cause I had to, but

if an employee wanted something, it was harder.

Cause it felt

oh, then they'll expect it.

And I did, I went through a lot of years of feeling like there's not enough

and I'm going to tell you something.

When you feel like there's not enough, you're always right.

Think about that.

When I used to say no, there's not enough.

I always ended the conversation.

It done, it was done.

It was over, it was finished, but I've learned a new habit and it's just, it's

not saying no it's in, in not knowing it's in a, not knowing anything in every moment

where I used to have to know everything.

Instead, if I show up.

Not knowing so much more capacity can happen.

So today I have an automatic, maybe an any ask comes here.

And as a result, we're able to help people, even when we don't

have capacity, we're able to help people by drawing attention.

So other people can donate.

We're able to do that in so many ways.

And what we find that everybody that participates, lifted

up the brands lifted up.

The cultures lifted up, that shows up in a myriad of ways.

It should show up in better safety.

It should show up in.

Ha,

you know,

both fulfillment at work, it should show up in a better performance.

And that's where it doesn't ANSYS without question.

I imagine that speaks to, the improvement of your guys's company

culture, the improvement of, your team's excited to show up in the morning because

they're able to help people with this,

with the challenges.

Having a leaky roof for not having a roots or whatever that might be.

That also probably speaks to employee retention.

We have twice the national average,

measured, we haven't measured the last couple of years since COVID and no

doubt it's dropped a little bit, but

when the national average of retention, the ripping industry was 46%.

We track 92 and 93% of those years.

And it's still, it's probably a higher attrition that even now.

And

yeah, we have a very, it makes a tremendous difference.

You know,

the thing though, that in starting where we started in with the history

where we started the dilemma today, isn't getting work well, it is it's

in getting work, but it's for a reason up today, our brand is strong today.

Our culture is strong.

Today, our challenges were in drought, in Southern California.

We have extremely light weather patterns and we've been working on all

sorts of drought the last dozen years.

And right now in the last couple of years, we're in a drought again.

And that really affects us and the may not where our phone's going to ring.

It really affects us.

And this is, and so our challenge right now, Joshua

Is how do you thrive?

Through drought.

And I got to tell you some of our challenges.

We've had some monies where we post, we posted,

in a row three digit losses and we're not a huge company.

One of the reasons that happened is when we saw our big work workload missing,

we wanted to keep our employees busy.

So we did two things.

We ramped up training.

And we ramped up pro certification, but the national roofing

contractors association, we're supporting that great institution.

We're also giving our guys, a training a, And a designation

that will matter wherever they go, that they can take with them.

And it's not cheap and time our money spent.

We've also invested.

And the community, not only have we donated eight habitat for humanity ropes

this last year, and we've donated 1.3 million of them in the last 10 years.

But we upped our donations and we called over 20 nonprofits

during, when we were slow.

And we said, you guys house people that need homes.

They said.

Yeah.

So we said, let's go to American family housing, other Ronald McDonald

houses, a bunch of homemade projects.

And we said, let us go take care of you.

And we are installing new roofs.

We have other contractors, like best contracting services.

Join us.

We have beacon supply that are supplying us.

We have a GAF and IB and all of these great companies are sipping.

Yes.

Eagle tile.

And we have literally donated hundreds of thousands of extra and roofing.

It's worth paying for it's costing us money, but because we have been giving and

building for so long, we have a tremendous resource that we have invested in the

company this so we can continue to give.

And what this gives us is it gives us happiness.

We're happy today.

We're not worried, but everybody in the company sees how hard the company is.

We're not stressed over finances because we're prepared for drought

and we're not stressed and we're not stressed in any other way.

Other than to, we're just saying you are most important to our people.

And as a result, we're thriving, our brand has never been stronger and what's going

to happen when it rains again, that's when the job starts come, we are going to

grow and it's, and we're going to continue to grow and we're going to be happy.

And the way we do it today, it's like just that first roof.

Remember I told you that uncomfortable feeling.

When the pandemic hit, it was new stuff, it was blood.

It was food because I didn't know what to do in the community.

And our habitat builds were stopped initially.

And all of a sudden our VPs here, Susan Degrassi, who's on the board

for American red cross locally.

She said, Charles.

Food insecurity.

I know you've heard this before.

We've talked about it, but now it's time to listen.

22% of the people in your area don't have enough food.

They're hungry.

And so I remember I went out 18 months ago and I delivered a box of food to a woman.

And the second story of a condo I wasn't supposed to go in, but she asked me

to, and I carried this box in and as I carried it, I looked at her and she was

really old and an old thin nightgown.

And she was saying, bless you.

And at first it hit me like, oh no, it's just like uncomfortable.

And then as I put the box of food down and turned.

I turned to her and I just had this feeling that I don't want to ever forget.

I had this feeling like, oh my gosh, I feel alive.

Wow, this woman just reminded me what I'm supposed to do.

I'm supposed to say yes to help others in need.

And then she said, wait a minute.

And I thought, oh, she's in a beautiful present.

And she wandered down the hall and waited.

So she came back thinking she had a gift for something.

Instead, she comes out with a completely squeezed flat tube of Colgate

toothpaste, asking if she can have more.

And in that moment, I got to experience that in a powerful way, this rush of how

it feels to know you're engaged awakened in the moment, doing the right thing.

And yet there's so much more to be done.

And it was long after that.

Susan deGrasse says, Hey, we can donate 70.

Where it put a space every week and we can do blood drives and we've had over

50 blood drives in the last 18 months.

We've raised almost like 3,800 life-saving units of blood.

And so something about this, what does that do for us?

Look at our culture.

Walk in here, man.

It's like a high five on that.

It's like we saw a doctor on an airplane, save a patient we're high

five and all around the office.

And when you go out to our stakeholders, when we go to events,

people show appreciation people.

Don't when I walk into a board meeting, think of me as a contractor,

taking advantage of when I go into a board meeting, they look at me

and they often say, thank you.

And we have an immediate trust.

And they sometimes look at me, it'll touch their hair.

Like they're flirting.

And I go, what are we doing?

Why are you acting like this?

And they'll say, we just like you, why?

And they'll say,

we doing good on your job.

And sometimes they'll say things like.

We just feel good when we think about you.

And at first I didn't like that answer.

Now.

I love that answer.

Our job is to do right by everybody and to err on the side of generosity

with all of our stakeholders.

And if we do our brand will thrive.

Yeah.

We may not.

We may not grow in drought years.

We grow our stature roles, our capacity grows, our love grows and

this huge network of good people trying to do the right thing grows.

And I don't know what the power that is.

I don't have an algorithm that measured it, but it feels like

the impact's a thousand times more than way it hits our bank accounts.

That's amazing.

And that's, that really speaks to, in a time where no one would have

blamed a business owner for laying off half the staff that weren't

busy because you didn't have jobs.

Not only was it, Hey, let's keep them on board, but it was, let's spend

more money training them so we can come back stronger in the future,

which means when the drought does hit.

And competition who let the staff go,

you know,

who's ready.

Who's able, who's willing.

And you've made incredible relationships with the local community.

Decision-makers with those people and they know who you are.

I was talking with a while ago with a guy who was starting a car detailing

company up north, and he's I don't know what to do for marketing.

I don't have any money.

And I was like, find three schools and do a.

You're like, Hey, we'll help you guys run car washing.

I'll help organize it, whatever.

And I was like, do that type as a give back to the community first.

And you will see customers come in.

It may take a little bit, but it's a sweat equity investment and you will

build a relationship with your community and the community will support you.

And six months later, I have so many customers, I don't know what to do.

I'm hiring people, I'm growing and that's great.

It's a great thing, to see businesses, continue to grow and

continue to thrive even in economic, uncertainty and everything.

You nailed, there's a way to get there and, you know,

you're giving somebody a tool.

And sometimes we do things because of opportunity.

One of the things that you see hugely us, cause we talk about it on Klon

radio, Heidi and Frank show on LA and it's the California love drop

it's where wing lamb of wa who's fish taco is a big local restaurant.

Hooked up with this roofer and this Kalos right.

And we just started bringing food and drinks to frontline heroes,

hospitals, police, and fire, and it just created a huge lift in the industry.

That's a great lift for our culture and brand too, but sometimes I want to tell

you that it's whatever your story is, and I'm going to tell you the area I've had

the biggest impact where our company's had the biggest impact and I'm, this is

the hint, it's the socks that I'm wearing.

And so those are Ronald McDonald socks, and you'll see, they're a little bit worn.

I have 40 pair of these in my drawer.

I've been wearing.

For four years on two campaigns, I'm going to tell you the campaigns quickly first,

because they're both somewhat completed.

The first was to adopt all of the Ronald McDonald house roofs across the country.

And we have to over 200 roofing companies that adopted them.

So Ronald McDonald houses now have, will be safe, dry,

and close at no cost to them.

When at all possible.

Not that is my real story.

Now, the other thing that just happened officially that Katie wrecker and I

have raised $13.7 million to double the size of the orange county house.

This is the second campaign of where these socks for now.

I'm going to tell you why that campaign works for me and for my stakeholders.

It works because seven years ago, my twins who are a hundred percent healthy.

Charlie and Gracie were born seven years ago, but they were born unexpectedly

premature, and they were in shock NICU in orange county in mission Viejo hospital.

And so every day they went, we went from a healthy pregnancy to a happy pregnancy.

My wife, Dawn, and I, to going to the hospital every day to check on

them, to see if they're okay to see if there's any bells or whistles

going off in their incubators.

And this one thing, the doctors, the chop doctors told us if you come in twice a

day for two hours each time and pull off.

And lay your naked baby skin on skin, on your chest.

It will give them the best chance to heal.

And so when you hear that, when you're a father and a mother, man, you go there.

And so we went there every day and when we would go there every day to the hospital,

there was a Ronald McDonald station.

That's the first time I got what they did, there was beds.

There was computers, there was snacks.

There was coffee.

There was nice attendant.

Name, Susan, that would say, come here, Hey, have some coffee.

And you know what?

Looking back.

I hate to admit it, but I was rude to Susan.

I ignored her.

I wasn't ready

to be part of that club, the club of families that had sick kids.

So I pretended it wasn't happening and I ignored them every day until this

one day, I'm going to the hospital.

Purdue skin on skin with Charlie, my son and I had the worst chronic

heartburn I'd ever remembered having it was so bad that there's no way

I was in a bit of lamb on my chest.

And so I walked in and I was frustrated and I was worried about

what my wife was going to say.

And I looked down and there was no attendant at the

Ronald McDonald house station.

I looked down and I saw a little green nature valley granola bar.

And so I took it.

I took it, not intending to pay anything back.

I took the screen.

And I ate it and I don't remember anything, except I remember

sitting on that reclining chair.

An hour and a half later.

And Charlie, my infant son asleep on my chest and I was a hundred percent healthy.

And I wasn't in any pain.

And suddenly that started to hit me what that means to keeping families close.

And that was the, that was a profound moment.

When I told that story to the national roofing partners and all

those people, it's like a family of represent that were like me.

They can't let anybody have a leaky roof just because they

don't have the money to pay.

They said.

Sure.

And when I tell that story locally and Katie Rucker, my pain manager

told her story and we would rock the socks in with my Powell wing lamb.

He just walked in and point, come in this shop, come here.

Where's the socks with me.

He's like the most popular orange county.

He just walks into my office when I'm in a podcast, that's how

close we are because we're bound together doing good in community.

And that makes us really accessible to all of our clients, to all of our

stakeholders, to all of our employees.

And it makes our work together.

Like the love drop, like one old McDonald house.

Like the blood drives like the.

We're going to show up in two weeks, Wing's going to be cooking tacos there,

and we're going to drive the 500,000 nail on the 177,000 tile on the 86 home.

We've donated a roof for habitat for humanity.

So $1.3 million in roofing, and we're going to do that.

And we're going to tell that story of how we got there.

And I'm going to dedicate that gold nail that I drive in to the guy.

For two years, 13 years ago begged me to donate a habitat, promising me it would

change our brand and change my life.

And he was right.

And that's Greg wise who passed.

And so thank you, Greg, for sending us on the right path there.

Wow.

There's been so much to unpack in this conversation and just so much here.

Within regards to, company culture, adding value to the community,

community support and training.

we could probably spend an hour chatting.

We got to go do a love problem.

What is your advice to someone who's facing.

Some of these business challenges and bringing it back to the beginning

of this, we were talking about.

That, element of just getting out there and getting business

and focusing on self care.

And so what is your advice to someone who's in that scenario?

Who's starting a business maybe are facing some of these challenges.

You were right when you're talking about getting

involved with those schools, it's it?

You're right.

But

you're, you got to do it in the best way to find yourself.

I can't really tell my story about the socks.

I'm finding a way to be okay with myself.

And I remember I'm a guy that can wake up at 3:00 AM with a head that doesn't talk.

And so I believe you need something that feels like meditation.

Now, I don't know what you call that, what you do, but you've got to

find a little bit of spirituality.

Maybe you need to find some really positive, uplifting, thing in the

morning to read every day to get you spun in the right direction.

I think that's really critically important that you find that.

And I think it's critically important that you.

Every day.

I have this thing called the five minute journal.

I got one right here.

That's really used.

I have notes on it.

And every day I write three things.

I'm grateful for three things that will make the day great.

And two items, you don't need the five minute journal to do that, but do that.

You will forecast your day.

Whatever you write down will come to pass.

And then it's tell your story, get involved with the cause that fulfills you.

If you want to have purpose and you want to sell your

product, you need to be heard.

If you want to be heard.

You need brand strategy.

You need to go up against like Wing always says it always, it

matters who you stand next to.

So what you do is you build that bridge.

And so if it's a cause, look at the non-profit

if you love habitat for humanity, if you're a roofer like me,

it makes sense to donate that.

But before you do it, you gotta look at who's the CEO of that it's

scrutinizing, but you've got to do it.

If it's not a strong leader, you're going to get yourself into a quagmire.

Really critically important.

You look, who's serving on the board.

I know you want it.

You have a big cause, but go to the brand that has board

members who have what you want.

You will acquire the traits of the board members that you serve next to

on boards matter, make that matter and look at the staff and then get involved.

Join a committee.

And tell them when you join the committee, tell them what you have time to do.

You don't have to do 40 hours a month.

Like I didn't been very first and habitat cause now I do a

few hours a month for habitat.

It's a very good arrangement, but tell them what you'll do then

show up and you'll be fulfilled.

You'll lift community.

Your people will believe you inside and outside the company.

And that is the best advice I can give anyone moving into the world, we're moving

into where we're going to see exponential change about an exponential change.

It's how you are in the world.

How people know you by what you do.

They will know you by how you perform.

And if you have a brand like habitat for humanity, standing next to you, what

that does, they don't make decisions.

Their cognitive brain.

They make decisions in their animal brain.

And it's if I'm at habitat for many, it's I have a tattoo on my forehead that

everybody can see that says, I think.

Everybody deserves a decent place to live, and that makes people in the

community, trust me with their children.

I'm speaking a little bit lofty there, but I'm just telling you how it feels

to the brain that makes decision.

Because people know we rep Ronald McDonald house.

They know that wing, and I think it is unimaginable to ignore sick children.

That's not words.

Feeling and the right we're going to do what we can to

feed them, to lift their smile.

And people know that.

And that's how you need to be known in the world, known for the solution.

And that part of the solution by the way, should be a broad solution

that within that category builds the bridge all the way to everywhere.

That's awesome.

There's been so much in this conversation so much to unpack,

appreciate the time today.

For people who do want to reach out who do want to find you, we'll have

your guys's website, a YouTube channel, your LinkedIn, all in the show notes,

but what's the sort of number one way people can find out more about you about

some of the causes that you guys are.

Ronald McDonald house is a huge name.

And the fact that you guys at.

Other roofers that you guys are partnering with are just

helping cover those roof costs.

That's that alone is just incredible.

There's just so much negative.

It's incredible.

I would just say, keep it simple.

Just follow me on LinkedIn.

That's the only channel that I personally.

I do myself.

My own LinkedIn are antiseptic is involved on a lot of channels.

You can follow us, but if you follow me on LinkedIn, I'll plug you into

the different things that we're doing.

Cause I personally get involved and buy personally get involved.

I don't over metal in those VPs that I worked so hard to attract.

Awesome.

I appreciate the time today.

Great having you.

Thanks for listening to this episode of, in the bunker.

As always we can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

at, in the bunker podcast.

Be sure to share this episode and what you're going to apply from it.

And how that can affect your business, make sure to tag us in that post so

we can highlight your journey as well.