In episode 40 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden welcomes Adam Bensman, a renowned expert in the door-to-door industry. They discuss Adam's role as a roof strategist and they also express how they used to have a "full throttle" approach to work, pushing themselves to the point of breaking down and then taking a vacation to recover. Thus, they now recognize their intention to learn from others who have found this balance and are committed to adopting a healthier approach to work.
Tune in to learn more about Adam and his contributions to the business world.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:02:45] CEO to Roof Strategist Journey.
[00:06:11] Selling Roofs Door to Door.
[00:10:30] Door-to-Door Stigma.
[00:13:26] Running a Business Efficiently.
[00:21:11] The Future of the Storm.
[00:26:30] Crisis as an Opportunity.
[00:32:13] Crazy Increase in Prices.
[00:42:47] Door-to-Door Sales
[00:48:48] Instant Gratification and Social Media.
[00:52:43] Finding Work-Life Balance.
In this episode, Ken Baden and Adam Bensman's goal is to maintain a consistent pace and stay focused without burning out. They are searching for ways to keep their mind and body fresh for optimal productivity while avoiding the extreme highs and lows of their previous work style. They also refer to finding their "marathon pace" and asks for advice on how to achieve this without exhausting themselves.
In addition, Ken and Adam discuss the distracting nature of social media and its contribution to feelings of insecurity and instant gratification. They highlight how social media is designed to divert individuals from society and can be used by corporate entities and potentially the government to exert control. They also emphasize the instant gratification aspect of social media, where individuals seek validation and recognition through likes and followers. This constant need for validation can lead to feelings of insecurity and a focus on superficial measures of success.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKenBaden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluecollarcloser/
Adam Bensman
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roofstrategist/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adam.bensman/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roofstrategist/
WEBSITE:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Intro/Outro: Welcome to the Kitchen Table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
Ken Baden: All right, welcome back to another episode of the kitchen table podcast where business is done. And we have got, honestly, one of my industry heroes. And probably if you listen to this podcast, and you know a little bit about door to door, you've got Adam freaking Benson in the house, dude, the roof strategist with the mustache in the house.
Adam Bensman: What is up, my brother? It's good to be here, man. And it's good seeing you. Was it two weeks ago? Almost two, three weeks ago, something like that. Anyway, two, three weeks ago.
Ken Baden: So appreciate you having me on. We saw each other in passing. It was just like glimpse stares of you on the stage and, you know, you couldn't miss me in my purple suit.
Adam Bensman: I was just going to say if you beat me to it, because I know you'd message me on Instagram like, I'll be there. And then you weren't there. And we were starting and I see a guy with a purple suit come in. I'm like, there he is. There's Kenny.
Ken Baden: I actually came in and I made a story because I had a podcast, two podcasts that day, both of which, well, that's neither here nor there. But anyhow, I had to come in early to do one podcast with a guest, similar to yourself, right? Very strict time requirements. I'm like, man, I'm not, there's no way I'm making both of these, but I can't leave my man hanging. So I'm going to stroll in with the purple suit late, dude. And that's exactly what, and I strolled right back out. an hour later, because I had another podcast at lunchtime. But yeah, man, I'm so happy to have you on, man. I love your work, and I love what you're doing for the industry. I appreciate it. And speaking of everything that you're doing, I mean, you're a huge brand in all things roofing, definitely that I've noticed. The insurance roofers, man, they all love your stuff. The irony is how I found out about you, and I've been in this industry about 16 years now, All my guys are like, Oh yeah, you just, we just watched the roof strategist stuff. Like who the hell is the roof strategist, dude? Like, what do you mean? I've got stuff. What about my stuff, dude? And you're like, Oh yeah, we just watch his stuff. And then I have a mutual friend of ours that appears who did get your trainings and he swears by it. I just run that. I don't do anything. I don't teach anything. I just bought the roof strategist training and that's all we do. So kudos to you, my friend. I consider myself something of a sales training aficionado, but you have definitely got your stuff together, man. I love it. I encourage everyone to check it out if they haven't. Having said that, how the hell did you get the bright idea to go from, I'm assuming you were in the industry before this. You told me you were CEO of a big company. Can you take us into that? Like, how did you go from that to what you are now? I mean, tell us that story.
Adam Bensman: Yeah. Uh, it was COO, chief operating officer, but I'll give you, thank you for clearing that up. Yeah, no sweat, man. You know, I just think that people hear things and just want to make sure everyone's got the right story. Oh yeah. Look, he's a liar. Yeah. Right. Uh, I grew up wanting to be a roof for my whole life. No, I didn't. No one does.
Ken Baden: I was getting ready to say, no kidding, dude.
Adam Bensman: Okay. Every speaking event, I'm like, raise your hand if you grew up wanting to be a roofer. And the only people that raised their hand that grew up wanting to be a roofer, it's because their dad was a roofer. Yeah. That's it. No one comes into this business on purpose. And I wasn't one of those people. So I did what everyone, I shouldn't say everybody, I do what many people tell you to do, which is do what you're passionate about. You'll make money in life and be happy. Right, like what a crock of garbage. But so many, it's so funny, again, I've asked thousands of people this live on stage. Who's heard this advice? Everyone raises their hand. Who thinks it's true? No one's hand stays up. And at that point, so I'm getting my undergrad in psychology. I didn't even want to go to college. I was encouraged to do it because that was like the thing that you do, right? So I chose this school that was like the furthest thing from school that school can get. Decided to get my undergrad because I thought it was really neat to like, I'm like, I'll just go study myself. Like, I'll just learn a personal, like, I just want to study psychology to learn personal development. And then I learned through doing that, the more I learned myself, I learned how to connect more deeply with others through self-reflection. And getting my undergrad, I went through this natural medicine modality that helped me through some personal stuff, both physical and emotional. And I said, you know, I'm gonna give this gift to the world. I'm gonna learn how to do this. I'm gonna learn how to do this modality. So I went all in on it. I ended up out at the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics. I got certified in that modality, which was core synchronism. I studied a whole bunch of quackery stuff from radionics, polarity therapy, reflexology, massage therapy, and then colon hydrotherapy. For those that don't know what that means, that is butt flushing.
SPEAKER_02: I heard the word colon and water.
Adam Bensman: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Colon hydrotherapy. I was a butt flusher and add insult to injury. I was a broke butt flusher, which is a really crappy way to make a living. And, uh, I ended up, um, starting my own private practice and which is easy to give the government some money, get an LLC. Um, rent an office space, get a cool brand, but I was missing the one thing, which was clients. So to make ends meet, now that I had overhead in this business with no one to pay the bills, I got a job at a local massage therapy franchise, which by the way, massage wasn't really my thing, like it's my least favorite, but I needed to do it to pay the bills. And it did not pay the bills. I was at a massage therapy franchise earning They were collecting near $100 per massage, and I was paid $15, and not everyone tipped. And I was required to be on site for six hours, but I only got paid when I was booked. So I could drive my gas guzzling truck 45 minutes to the office, sit there, have two massages, no one tips, drive 45 minutes home after six hours, work seven and a half hours total, and walk away with $30. And that was in 2011. So I was living below the poverty line. I was on a very strict $4.20 a day grocery budget. And when I couldn't afford to get gas to go visit family, which was a two-hour drive from home, my stepdad was on the phone and I didn't know what my parents did, or my stepdad did, because my parents, they divorced later in life. So I wasn't living with Ron, knowing what he did. And he's like, hey man, you can make a hundred grand a year selling roof door to door. And he came from the business. And I was like, that sounds miserable, dude. I don't know anything about roofs. I don't know anything about sales and going door to door sounds like the world's worst job. Oh yeah. So I brushed it off. I had four hours drive time to think about it, get home, jump on Craigslist, start looking around. I'm like, it's real fast forward. I ended up falling into the business through this recommendation from Ron, um, which by the way, I tell him about this. I wrote about it in my book, which I don't have any copies. I just gave him out this week. But, um, my book, the roofing sales survival guide, how to beat the odds, overcome yourself and win big. And, uh, I got into it. I didn't know anything. Finally started figuring this out. Falling, failing hard, failing fast, failing forward. Worked my way up through the ranks. My first eight months I smashed my income goal. Filled every single position in this business except for two, accounting and installation. I never did installs because why would I go backwards? And I never did accounting because I was in the same math class four years in a row. And, uh, I kept doing what I was doing. I worked my way up, become chief operating officer of a company operating in five States and six cities. And man, frankly, I just burned out. Um, I stopped doing the things I loved, which was helping people use this industry to change their lives. And I started doing all the things I don't love. I like sitting in dealing with our legal affairs and putting out all the fires and have my phone ring a hundred times and having 35 sales people, excuse me, 30 sales people calling on me all the time. And, and it just, it felt like, Every day I was getting pulled in one direction or the other. And I was like, man, my passion is really helping people use this industry to change their lives. So that's when I made the shift to this side. And quite a few series of events had me accidentally stumble upon this thing that I didn't even intend to be doing as I'm doing it. And I'm, uh, in love with what I do now. And I'm able to help people use this industry to change their lives and run the Roof Strategist YouTube channel and podcast, which is the most followed in the industry with millions of views. And I've got trained tens of thousands of roofing sales reps. And my system is being used in every single state in the US, Canada, Australia, even Sweden from companies that are just getting going to quite a few is some of the largest private equity portfolio groups in the industry.
Ken Baden: That's the condensed version. I would imagine. But that's I've heard that beginning story. Well, you know what, not entirely because the massage therapist and butt flusher, uh, parts definitely unique. So I will give you that, but you know, the whole, like, and I've heard the very similar, uh, beginning sound, uh, like very, very similar for solar guys, but some of the most successful guys that I know in door to door had no, you know, college guys, whatever. Right. Um, but just kind of stumble into this, but what you said was, usually what it is. Someone somewhere was like, Hey, either I'm making this money or I heard you can make a lot of money. Then there's that healthy dose of skepticism. Then there's the due diligence period, find out it's real. And you're like, Oh, and then if you're like me, you do a little scope of the land, like, well, if that guy's doing it.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
Adam Bensman: Like, yeah, you're like, if he can do it, this thing is totally in the bag.
Ken Baden: You go scope the land. You're like, Hmm, well, the average sum of these guys collectively, they probably have like a ninth, maybe 10th grade reading level. So I'm going to go ahead and assume, no, I'm just kidding. But there is a, there is definitely the door-to-door stigma, at the very least. People assume like, oh, no way, but it's just, dude, it can be absolutely life-changing. And what you said, I mean, it's life-changing.
Adam Bensman: If you want uncommon results, you got to do uncommon things. And the least common thing you can do is jump into door-to-door sales, because most people aren't willing to do it. And that's why there's a saying that we have exchanged as consultants. This was way back. And I remember, I don't know if there's any truth to this, but it's a good fable that someone ran an ad saying, earn $200,000 a year shoveling chicken crap. And people are like, hell yeah. So they all apply and they're sitting in and they say, hey, guys, listen, group interview. I got good news. You don't need a shovel, chicken crap. All you got to do is go knock doors and everybody gets up and leaves.
Ken Baden: Oh, that is I'm stealing that one. But I totally believe that how many guys right, you know, they're like, Oh, man, this guy's making a killing back when you were doing that. You're like, yeah, you can do it too, man. And then they come in. And that's why I don't do the bait and switch stuff, man. You know what I mean? Like, it just tell them what it is. Because the second that you get in, and you're like, well, it's field marketing, or it's whatever, dude, you know what I mean?
Adam Bensman: You're gonna hate your job, you're gonna want to quit. And you're not gonna like going to work every day. But you're going to become a very good version of you, the best version of you, you're going to lean into your discomfort, face your inner demons, and get paid a bunch of money for growing personally. So if you want to jump in on that journey, you're going to kill it. And if you're not, go take a desk job somewhere.
Ken Baden: Yeah, 100%. It's really, you know, I think the biggest disservice some of these guys do guys and gals do is come in, kill it, and then take their foot off the gas, because they made a good, you know, a good, they made more money than they've ever made, probably, in that last month, and now like, you know, I'm just gonna rest this month, and then they play that game that it's just, that's the most unfortunate, because you could keep that up and you could change the course of yours and your family's lives and everybody else's around you for the, you know what I mean, foreseeable future, if you just had that in you, like yourself. How long was it from, I don't know what the hell I'm doing to knocking doors to COO. That was a couple of years, right?
Adam Bensman: Yeah, about three, I think, total. And I filled many positions before. I mean, I was in sales and still running an office. And then I was in sales and running production. And then I was in sales and general manager. And then I was just general manager and then regional manager and then worked my way up. But from knocking doors to not knowing what I was doing, that was pretty quick. That was like the same day. Like, I just didn't know what I was doing. But yeah, I learned a lot and I earned that position. I actually have never shared this story before. It's never come up, but I earned that position because we had five offices and my office that I was then managing, we were having guys come in from other offices because we had an influx of work and we needed help. I'm sitting in there getting all of our production stuff done and all this and I'm like, the hell is this document? Like that's what we use for our production and our job work orders. And I'm like, well, what the heck is this document? And this guy's like, well, that's what we use for our contingency. I'm like, but ours is different. Like, aren't we the same company? And we had fragmented leadership. And by the way, this was back before CRMs were a thing in the roofing space. Oh, wow. I'd get a phone call, and I would have to be like, hey, can I get your name as a customer? I'd have to drive 45 minutes to the office, rifle through the job files, hope they were put together in the right way, look for their name by last name, pull it out, be like, OK, the job was done here. Warranty's still valid. OK, Javier did this job. Give Javier a call. See if we can get him out. This was the old school way of doing things. So I sat down and I was like, all right, we can do this better. And I cracked the code to running everything out of a corporate office. We had just started getting this shortly thereafter getting into a CRM, but it wasn't until after I did this, compiled the best of the best, met with leadership from everywhere. And I was like, you're using this document. It's better than ours. What's your system for this? Okay. So then I compiled literally a three ring binder of what we call the company Bible. And it was like, this is what we're going to run by. And I went up to Jesse, the owner, and I'm like, Hey man, we're going to run this out of one office. We don't need five. We can trim the fat. And, uh, and I think we can, we can do this from, from one location. And we ended up doing it. And, um, I just, I just kind of took, I ran the business like it was mine. You know, I just, I, I, I kept taking that initiative to solve bigger problems and put us in a position for, for growth.
Ken Baden: Which is if you're listening to this and you're an entrepreneur, take notes, right? Like any owner, I can speak for myself. My God, please, if you're listening to this and you're on my team, please, by all means, show said initiative. That would be lovely. Like, hey man, I see this, this, and this, especially as ownership. I don't know if you're definitely familiar with the EOS model, but I'm your quintessential visionary and as such, that is where I sit. But you need when you find out what that really means. And subsequently the other end of that, which is like, well, Hey, these are all great things. These things not so great and that's okay. But like, we want some compliments there. I'm sure let's say that guy was a visionary. And then if some, someone like yourself instantly strikes me as like possibly one of the few that, that would test visionary, uh, and, and also, um, integrator. Right. So like, And that's very rare, right? Because you've got the discipline, you've got the organizational strengths and you're smart. I mean, I heard you most of the words you listed off in the first 30 seconds of this conversation. I was like, ah, OK, the big brain on Adam over here that that's there we go. There we go. Right. Like I'm trying to keep up and just nodding my head like, yeah, I heard whatever the word was for butt and water. And that was about it. But in all seriousness, man, that's just perfect model. Take the initiative, go in, work your butt off. And I would imagine you were probably pretty well compensated as a COO and maybe came with some options. Back then, I would guess that probably wasn't something that was really thought of, but like- It's a different landscape then.
Adam Bensman: Private equity wasn't gobbling up roofing. You know, a roofing owner's voice mailbox, physical mailbox, and email inbox wasn't bombarded with five to 10 PE firms a day.
Ken Baden: Yeah. Which if, again, if you're listening to this, that's a hundred percent where the landscape is, which brings me by the way, to my next question. So senior trainings, they're phenomenal. And I could go on and on about that. My biggest thing would be currently, what do you think? So here's the thing, right? So I, you know, I'm insurance restoration, but I, I started in 08 at a company called Power Home Remodeling Group, which is full of retail, retail, retail, retail, traditional, retail in the traditional sense. And it's a one call closed business model, still set or closer and great RAND company, right? Learned everything I could possibly ever hope to learn, definitely more hammer and nail, Great. Because that was back in the days of like, you stay till the police get called. You know what I mean? Like, we're going to get real uncomfortable. Now, I'm sure they don't do that, by the way, anymore. And they're a wonderful company. And I was being facetious in that exact terminology. But we wanted to, it was a lot more aggressive, right? And maybe things aren't just like that anymore, or just aren't like that anymore. To that point, what would you say if you were starting a roofing company or just the state of retail versus insurance? Because it seems like this mass exodus of like, unless you're one of the big, big retail powerhouses, everyone just goes, and I could assume why, right? Like, but what do you think about that? The retail versus insurance restoration model? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on just
Adam Bensman: You need both. There's only one true market in the United States, which is the West Coast, Washington, Oregon, California, that they seldom see claims. There are some folks in Southern California catching on to this, working wind claims. I was speaking up in Oregon. There's a guy working very tiny hailstorm that hit on the eastern part of the state. But that market, that is diehard retail. Then you've got some parts of the Northeast that are still, to this day, I go out and speak and they're like, we're retail companies, we're retail companies, we're retail companies. I'm going to speak in Knoxville next week. And again, very, very heavy retail market. Meanwhile, The entire Midwest, and I'll classify the Midwest from Colorado through dipping down into New Mexico, sometimes Arizona, not as much. All the way across to Ohio, Pennsylvania, those companies, for the most part, the lion's share of them, are heavily driven on storm environments. Now, there are companies in there, by the way, in those states that are solely retail. But when I'm out speaking at events, people are, what percentage of your business is storm? What percentage is retail? I very seldom see people that raise their hand and say, we only do retail. We only do retail, which is interesting because in Florida, I do see a lot of companies that are only doing retail. And then at the other time, I see people that are only doing storm. And then of course, there's your hybrids. But I think that a healthy company, you would be silly to not know both because I know that we had our very best year in business. My Christmas bonus was a 1991 Corvette ZR1, my dream car as a kid, fastest production car made. And then the very next year, we had our worst year in business. And that's because the storms that we counted on didn't happen. It was nothing. And the same thing, a lot of Denver companies, there's only a few Denver companies up until this year, because we got like five massive storms, there's a three year dry spell. And this is a market that was counted on Dallas, Texas size hail year over year for a long time. and then dry, dry, dry. And a lot of companies closed their doors. A lot of companies, actually, I shouldn't say closed their doors. I'm sure some did, but I know a lot of companies that I've talked to dropped their revenue in about half. A few grew because they were smart and knew how to do it. And there was a massive demand to learn retail. But then what happens is a storm company that's learning retail, they jump ship and forget everything they were taught. And then they jump into the storm environment when that comes, because you got to make hay when the sun shines. But at the end of the day, the intimidation factor from both is, It's what we don't know that's scary. So the Storm guys say, I don't know how to sell retail. It's different. It's a daunting process. How do I close the business? I don't know how to do financing. The retail guy says, Storm is daunting. It's more work. I have to meet with the insurance company. I don't understand insurance paperwork. What's a supplement? And it's what we don't know that keeps them from it. Which is why when I developed my sales system, it is the exact same sales process for both, whether you're selling storm or seat retail. The only thing that changes is some of the language we use, but it's the same exact process, which allows you to build a hybrid team, which is why so many, especially the larger companies will use my system because they're like, well, we want our team to be able to sell both. because they struggle a bit too hard with one model versus the other. I see with changing times, we're going to be seeing a lot more retail need as carriers in certain states are limiting coverage. You get companies, multiple states now starting in Florida. Your roof is over 10 years old, Mr. Homeowner, we're dropping your insurance unless you get a new roof. you know, it cracks me up because all these roofers are so mad at the insurance companies, which believe me, I wish they played nicer and did what was right. But at the same time, they just created an entire market for us. They literally just created a market to say, roofs now last 10 years because we're going to make people buy them. So now there's an entire new opportunity that exists in that landscape. So we're going to see a requirement, I believe in the next five to 10 years, we're going from, companies that could grow being order takers in the storm damage environments to strong sales organizations are going to be the ones that actually survive and the other people are going to slowly drown out.
Ken Baden: That was actually my next question, was, you know, the future of the storm in, and I say this with a vested interest, but I can tell you candidly that I myself, given my background, I've always jokingly said like, you know, if that does happen, you know, cause I'm confident because of where I come from. Like I can look around the landscape here and know what they say. When I say they being anyone else that I've spoken to that does insurance, like what we do retail, but to them, what retail would be is very different than what I know it to be. But, and there's a combination between the two. I get that where perhaps you're not able to get, um, you're not able to get it bought entirely and you use some of the proceeds to get, and then finance the other half. I get that. But when I say retail, I mean an entirely different play, right? Like that's upfront costs, lead acquisition, unless you do door, either way, you know, it's just a different, where are you spending the money? How quickly is the process? But to your point, I do the very same thing. I set up building value, creating urgency, all of those same things that I'm going to do. It's just, when's the close, right? In my opinion, in the insurance side, there's multiple closes. You're closing at the door, you're closing when you file a claim, you're continuing to close, and you're closing when you get that contract, the ACV, and all the way up until you close and get the final check, right? So it's certainly, what was my point in all of this? I'm concerned about the longevity of the storms. Right. And what I mean by that is the what you said in Florida, the you know, it's going to be legislature and things like that. But what do you think the future is in storms? And you said five years.
Adam Bensman: Yeah. Oh, I think it's going to be changing. I mean, I think the threats we face are purely economic. Uh, and I can break that down into two categories. One, um, our economy at large interest rates are skyrocketing. There are, uh, massive shifts going on. Uh, I don't know if I'm in a position, if there's, if there's the news is out, but there's a few, uh, Well, let's just put it this way. The FinTech space just got a grenade thrown into it. And if you haven't caught wind of it yet by the time this episode airs, you will. So we are facing really turbulent times, as they say. Interest rates are going up. The price of roofing is doubling every five years in today's economy. The quarterly rate increases at 7% to 12%, which is nuts because a decade ago, if you got one, you get one rate increase for 4% to 6%. And if it was 6%, you thought hell froze over. And now it's not quarterly, sometimes it's even more than quarterly. Storms aren't going to change, the weather patterns aren't going anywhere. I'm not concerned about it. So anyway, I'll tell you why I'm not concerned after I tell you the threats. The economy is changing. Price of roofing is going up. Next threat, insurance carriers, coverage concerns, percentage of home value, deductibles, high deductibles, special deductibles, exclusions. Next concern, insurance carriers wanting to double dip. Let's be real, it wouldn't be hard for them to start a roofing company and now they can profit from the losses and provide their own network and say, hey, if you use our network, you'll get $3,000 off and they run those companies and now they're double dipping and paying themselves. That's the smart thing to do it and consumers don't know the wiser and they can pull their little influence lever saying, hey, we're the big insurance company, you should just listen to us, believe us. You know, we have a great organization that can take care of your roof repairs. So I see that as a threat. But at the end of the day, storm damage creates a need that is sudden and that is urgent. people are going to need roofs. And I'm not concerned about it because so far as I've seen, you know, at scale, I know that there's new technology coming out and class four shingles and all that. But I also know that not everyone's going down that road. And I also know that not all class four shingles are going to resist every single hailstorm. So they'll be there. The need for roofing will always be there, whether it's too expensive or not. And the smart companies and the savvy companies are going to learn how to provide valuable solutions to homeowners and commercial property owners that need help. And if you're willing to ride the wave, I always look at a crisis as an opportunity, like great. this is like, this is fantastic. All these people are freaking out and they're going to go under. How do I, how do I scrape this up? I actually don't like when things are going well, that freaks me out. When things go well, I'm freaked out when things aren't going well, I'm excited.
Ken Baden: That's a, I had a meeting with my team Monday and I won't go too into it cause we want to hear from you. But basically I had gone to Texas and one of my business associations without getting in too much detail, there's a gentleman that owns one of the, largest private armies in the world. And he's over there right now dealing with some of the things that would affect our economy and well, a global economy economy. Yeah.
Adam Bensman: It doesn't look great either way. There's. Yeah. And I've seen him speak. He's a very, very smart guy.
Ken Baden: And he is brilliant, dude. He's the most interesting. He's literally the most interesting guy in the world. Very unassuming in that regard. And I never knew until I knew. And then I'm like, he was always so nice to me. Will message, text me. A lot of people will big time, you know, he doesn't ever do that. Coming on here. Anyhow, message me personally. He also has a way of delivering things, uh, very matter of fact. And it's like coming from him, like, man, that's scary. You know, but, but the point is a, it's a re being a realist and B what could that mean? And to you, your point, look, man, what does that really change? Right? Like we've got to deal with the cards that were dealt. And are we, do we just pack up, go home and go hide somewhere? Or do we try to make the best of this? I know that might, may sound, what other way is there to play it?
Adam Bensman: Yeah, it's an infinite game, man. The rule, that's the beauty of business. It's an infinite game. So I have to attribute that to Simon Sinek. His book, Infinite Game, really, it inspired me quite a lot because a finite game has fixed rules. You want to play football, there's rules. Number of players, how the ball moves, what the flags are. It's fixed. Business is an infinite game. There's no rules. There's no winner. You can be on top and go to the bottom. One of the largest roofing companies right now looks like they're knocking at the door bankruptcy. I'm not saying names because I don't know the whole facts yet, and I don't want to spill the beans on if those facts are true or not true. But the writing doesn't look so good on the wall. And the reason I said it's an infinite game is the games of business change daily. You know, you look at the being imagine being a cab driver and then Uber shows up. How many cab companies do you know? You know, they they they fought that tooth and nail. And roofing is no different. You know, we see technology coming in instant estimates, AI, we've got a new aerial imagery, and forensic imagery to identify hail damage and roof damage. And all this technology is there and the rules change. And we just got to change with it. And you got to figure out how do you how do you stay one step ahead. And what most people overlook, I think, is that they keep thinking, how can I make money? And it's the dumbest way to approach business in the history of humanity. If you're thinking, how can I make money? You're a moron, and you're going to be a failure. And most importantly, you're a selfish, greedy, greedy person. A smart business owner thinks one question, what problem can I solve? And when you look at the problems you can solve, you come up with solutions. You solve expensive problems, you make good money. You solve cheap problems, you don't make good money. So as the roofing business gets more competitive, as the financial pressure looms, the problems become more expensive. Learn how to solve those problems really well and deliver a boatload of value, and the riches will drown you with thank you notes. The customers that say, hey, thanks for doing my roof, man. I really appreciate it. You guys did a great job. That's the thank you note that I'm looking to collect. So what I look at now is I'm not chasing money. I'm not chasing growth by a dollar amount. I'm looking to collect as many thank you notes as I can of people that say, hey, dude, thanks for changing my life. Thanks for helping me go from $25,000 a year to 200. I can't believe that I just saved up enough money to pay off all my debt. I'm debt-free for the first time in my life. Just bought my first house. Getting married. My wife doesn't need to work. We're raising a family. So that's the big win. And in roofing, it's It's no different. It's the homeowner that thanks you because they were horrified facing the most expensive problem on their home, on the single most expensive maintenance item on their home. And you're the one that came in like a hero and made it easy. You took care of them, you know? So I don't know. I think chasing money is greedy and it's a poor way to start business and just ask yourself, what problems can I solve?
Ken Baden: That's very, very good advice. I think the overall demographic here with the exception of a few is probably year one through five and sales guys and aspiring entrepreneurs. Right. And what he's saying is just so smart. Basically, you know, I hear all these guys and I just had to tell one of my, and he's a mentee of mine and I love him to death, but he's like, I want, you know, I'm going to go make millions. I want to make millions. And I'm like, I want you, I want me to buddy. I would also like to make millions. That would be amazing. Uh, but that is, and look, a million is not what it used to be. But my point is, I don't even think to your point, like, Hey, all right, here's the overall plan. What things need to happen in between. But to your point, that's exactly what I was talking about, because that's what actually he said was like, how can you provide more value than the next guy? You know, what is it about you? And this is, by the way, he was referring to how do you separate yourself, right? Like in an economy, if we do incur hyperinflation or any of these things, and you're right, I mean, in many ways in roofing, kind of already there. I mean, it could get worse, but my God, like, first few years, we averaged like what, two price increases, maybe a year. And even then that was like, this is crazy, you know, and now it's like two prices and increases a month, right? Like it's literally doubled. It's just insane. So, uh, this is great advice. I can see why, by the way, Adam, uh, you're probably one of the smartest roofers I've talked to in a long time, just intellectually. I met some very good businessmen, and I'm sure you are as well, but just purely, I could talk to you all day, man. You said you wrote a book, by the way, and that's something that I embarrass him. I think I did actually see that, but could you say that again?
Adam Bensman: Yeah, it's called the Roofing Sales Survival Guide, Beat the Odds, Overcome Yourself, and Win Big. Okay, I have read it. Made it to the number one bestseller list in the sales and selling category, in under 24 hours on purely organic sales. I didn't plan that. And it was funny, some guy asked me on LinkedIn, some marketer, of course, because but let's be real, you anyone can be a best selling author, because you can buy this crap, like it's a it's a meaningless badge. And and For many it is. To me, it meant a lot because I didn't pay for it and I didn't market it. And so this guy posted, he's like, what was your marketing strategy? So I was like, you know, it was really simple, man. I just spent eight years or so making really great content and developing a really great relationship with the people that I serve. And then I wrote a book and I announced it. It's the cheat code, go start today. It only takes eight years. It cracks me up. And it was so funny because everyone's looking for the trick or the hack. And like the first person I told, cause I remember we were coming up, it was on Alex Formosy's book. We were right behind it. I was in the number two position for a hundred million dollar offers. Yeah. And I'm like, when I saw this, cause I'm like, Hell yeah, I'm checking Amazon. We're on number one release. I'm like, we made it. What the hell? All I did was send one email out and I posted up a story on my personal Facebook being like, it's out there. I didn't even have a launch plan. Actually, I did, but I didn't follow it because John, who's on my team, was flying to the United States. He lives in the UK. And I got the notice that we got approved finally. And I was like, I can't wait. I'm just going to tell the world. I didn't care what this thing did. That's not why I wrote it. I didn't write it for me. I wrote it for people. And then we're chasing on Hormozy's heels. And I'm like, we're right behind Hormozy. I'm like, that's a win. Like to me, that's a win. And then Jim Alene of Roofer Marketers, who's a fellow mentor and my mastermind, he commented on my LinkedIn. He goes, no, you're not. You're number one. And I looked, I rechecked. I'm like, holy crap. How did this happen? The support was overwhelming. We've been selling copies to people who aren't even in roofing, and I've been getting great feedback from folks like that. You don't have to be in roofing to find this value. The gold nuggets there are there for whatever it is you're selling. Actually, I just shared on my Instagram story, someone had posted a picture reading it. Uh, just today. Um, but yeah, man, my, my heart and soul went into that book and I, I gave the roofing industry something that no one else has done to date, which is sharing what it's like to battle the mental and emotional landscape that is a career in roofing sales, because that's what people don't prepare you for. And that's why two out of three roofing sales reps, quit or get fired the roller coaster. Yeah. Yeah. So quite a lot of companies have purchased it for their entire company. They're doing book clubs and now it's become required reading for their new hires.
Ken Baden: Yeah. I think that we'll do the same, man. I mean, honestly, I've been just so impressed with what you have out there and all. I didn't even, I heard you say the word mastermind and I'd seen a lot of your different content. So which would, what one is it that you have? I've seen many different courses you have. Is that the same thing?
Adam Bensman: Uh, no, it's not. And you haven't seen it cause I suck at marketing it. Uh, and the other reason I don't, I go back and forth, I wanna start putting it out there more, but I really only want the right people in it. So it's called the Pitch Pro. Okay, wait a second, go ahead. Yeah, it's called the Pitch, I'll tell you all about it. It's called the Pitch Pro Movement. It's a community and mastermind. So think, I've got my flagship training, and that's like the playbook, right? So you get the playbook, you wanna know what the top team in the NFL, the plays they run, get the playbook. If you have the playbook, you're going to be set up on game day one day with the perfect offensive play. The defense has called a different play and you're like, crap, we need to call an audible. What do we do? So when you have those moments, you need on the fly coaching, you know, on the fly support, you need those game day decisions and those game day decisions. You need help through those and you need them now. That's what my community and mastermind is for. So there's, I'm in there, I've five coaches total, myself, Dashaun Bryant of Roof Hustlers, Jim Alleyne of Roofer Marketers, John Cenac, most folks know John Cenac, and then Cody Landles, who's my partner on the Roof with Solar side. And we run 140 interactive sessions a year. There's two to four a week. We have a private app and discussion board, amazing companies in there that people are sharing their contracts, their SOPs, their hiring protocols, pay plans. Like we have sections for owners only, leadership only, sales reps only. When you have a question, you post in it and you get those like, the cool thing, I was so humbled. One day a member posts and he goes, man, how do you pay your crews? And I gotta admit a character flaw right now, okay? I thought to myself, What a stupid question. And I thought to myself that, out of complete arrogance, because I always paid our crews the same way, a flat price per square with adders. And then I realized I had a big old slice of humble pie because five companies immediately posted five different ways to pay their crew. And this was early in the group. And I'm sitting there being like, I'm an idiot in an a-hole. And like, there's so many different ways to do things. And we have retail only companies. We have storm only companies. We have hybrid companies. We have companies using the inside out sales model. companies running things cradle to grave, companies that are successful in all different models. And it's so cool having great people come together with the one interest, the one interest of, I'm going to get by giving and they're going to support each other through it. And they're going to share what's working for them. So that's why I say it's not for everyone. I've had people come be like, do you have anyone from this market? I'm like, if you're asking me that question, you're not a good fit for the group. If you're coming into me saying, Hey, would you have anyone else in, in Dallas? Yeah. We have a lot of roofers from Dallas. And none of them shy away from sharing absolutely everything. Yeah. So anyway, that's the mastermind. Oh, that's awesome. And I love it. We had a private members only in person event. We just did it this year was our first one. And it was, it was a huge success. I'm like overjoyed. uh, with how it went and I can't wait for next year.
Ken Baden: You're doing another one next year. I was going to say, Oh, I tell you what, man. Um, and I would love to be there. I mean, I'm admittedly several years behind you and what I hope to be something similar. I mean, I don't know. I mean, dude, you've really made your mark here, but you know, for me, my passion was always, and I have a consulting company where it's like, Oh, I want to just train salespeople. Like that was it. I had a very vague idea behind like how I was going to, but Ultimately, it went back into, well, here I am, I'm a GC, and I've done this now four times, but this is the first time where it's just myself exclusively as a sole owner, right? Having said that, it's awesome to see you, literally, the playbook of like, oh, wow, this guy's quite literally doing The things that you're speaking on the stages and your relationship with Owens Corning, congratulations there, man. That's huge. I thought that was a big get for them. You know, I jokingly, I said, well, I tell you what, you know, when Adam. If he big times you, I'll give you a good deal on me, me coming in and Genesis thought that was hilarious, but no seriousness. No, you know, I, my speaking of engagements are sincerely, uh, here and there, whereas I can imagine between your masterminds, you're speaking with OC and who knows what else? I mean, how often are you even home? Not that much.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Bensman: Yeah. You like that? Six months of the year, I'm home a lot more in the, you know, my off season is the opposite of Roofers. I'm busiest in Q4, tail end of Q3, Q4, Q1, or just are nonstop and trickling into Q2. So I get Q2, some of Q2 and some of Q3. And I just don't travel. I don't take, like, if you try to hire me, then I'm not coming because I'm recovering from being just constantly on the road. And obviously, it's a lot, man. I tell people I have three full-time jobs. I'm a full-time speaker, trainer. I'm a full-time content creator, and I'm a full-time business owner. I got to run my team and run our business. And and update my programs and still innovate and develop. I've got sitting on my journal right next to me a massive monumental project and about to kick start of new things that, again, you need time to do. And like yesterday coming home, I had an 11-hour travel day after two back-to-back seven-hour speaking experiences that I traveled between. You know getting getting in late and there are long days and you gotta keep your mind and as you know your mind and body fresh for a big output and i used to be someone that would just be like full throttle on the gas and i i would i would go to the point that i would break down and be like i'm done like i'm going on vacation for a week i'm turning my phone off. And that's not a healthy way to live. So I'm trying to find that position where I can stay on the gas until I don't, stay on the gas consistently, finding my marathon pace. How can I do this and keep doing it? And yeah, keep telling the line, man.
Ken Baden: Hey brother, I'm just going to keep following and watching gentlemen like yourself. I mean, I have a microcosm probably of what you have, but I have the three verticals. I have my own mastermind coaching group, but I don't mean to say that minimizing. It's much more of a free group currently than it is, you know, the paid side of things, but I'm okay with that right now, man. You know my time. I'm big, making sure that the value is there. And not to say that it wouldn't be, but my time commitments, you know, we kind of just focus on the level one right now because I know that I can give that couple hours a week until, right? The focus is the baby and the baby's success therefore adds a legitimacy to the things I want to pursue in the future, right? So it is what it is. And I'm, I am not complaining. I am more than happy to, to be where I'm at and be able to learn from gentlemen like yourself, man. And, uh, And really, I have one that I want to know, by the way. Door-to-door, is it dead? Do you think, I mean, because I'm a staunch, like, door-to-door is my, by the way, to me, that's the only way to go. However, I'm just curious.
Adam Bensman: Yeah, I wouldn't say, so even though I trained in some ways, I definitely don't think it's the only way to go. But here's the deal. For anyone who wants more, by the way, I just put up a video on YouTube called, Is Door-to-Door Dying?
Ken Baden: By the way, that's exactly where I got this question. So I thought you would click that. I thought that would click at first.
Adam Bensman: What a stupid question. No, I mean, man, I put out so much content.
Ken Baden: Yeah, brother, I got it from you. However, it was a great one.
Adam Bensman: So yeah, door to door is not dead and it cracks me up. I made that video for those that didn't see it because some dude responded to the email announcement and he was He was so snarky. He's like, I have to unsubscribe because Discord is the dumbest way to ever get business. And people are in a digital world, period. No one wants to have their door knocked. And I put that up on my personal Facebook. I'm like, thanks. I'll tell the company I train that's doing $60 million a year and spends virtually no money on marketing. I'll let them know that they should stop. Their business is a complete failure. Listen, in sales, when we're selling a product, there's, we have to understand our audience and they have a level of awareness of their problem. And when we look into the digital landscape, we have people, if I jump online and my roof leaks, like right now, the fireplace next to me, my wood fireplace is leaking. Okay. For the third time, it's driving me nuts. And I just, it's a long story, but you're going somewhere with this. So I have this leak, right? What do I do? I jump on Google and I search and I find the person to come fix it. So I have a high level of awareness of my problem. But in door-to-door sales, it is direct sales. And in the storm environment, up to 90% of customers had no idea that they even had a problem when we reach out, which means the entire market, like an entire business and i just surveyed some folks so this last week i spoke in raleigh i spoke in richmond virginia i was in cedar rapids the week before i was in baltimore um heading out to to knoxville cheered in just a minute Everyone, I've been in Knoxville, so I can't speak about that, but everyone in those markets that's working storms, I said, what percentage of homes do you serve where the person had no idea they had a problem before you showed up? And the average numbers, no one, by the way, no one mentioned below 50%. Most said 65 to 90%. So that entire market, when you think that you're in the digital world, dude, they won't click an ad because you're selling a solution to a problem they're not even aware of. Like, people are billboard blind. So no, door-to-door is not dead. And if you think it is, great, because you're going to make it easier for me and everyone else that's doing this to go get that business. And I don't think door-to-door is going to die at any point in our near future. Do I think it could get less competitive because people are trying other stuff? Absolutely, because people don't want to do it. Do I think legislation, like you're just going to get younger kids, excuse me, I'm going to be a total butthead here, our up and coming generation, that their main goal is to be Insta-famous. All they want to do is get acknowledgement and recognition online, and they want the easiest, fastest way to do it. And they want fame and people like, how do I get to what you do? How do I speak as smooth as you do tomorrow? Yeah, just go make a thousand videos. It'll happen overnight. Don't worry about it. Those people won't do it. The people who are willing to do this work are a dying breed. And they're leaving so much money out there for the folks like us who are willing to go do that work and serve the people that don't know they have a problem. So, excuse me, forgetting my high horse, you cranked the passion up on that question. Hell no, door-to-door is not dying. And anyone who tells you otherwise is telling you this for one of two reasons. They don't know how to knock doors at all and or they're horrified of it and they won't be willing to tell you that they're afraid to go knock a door.
Ken Baden: And I love the guys that come in to your own business. And I love, and I know what they, but they're always like, not always, but you get the car salesman or whomever, right. That sees the money and they come in and they try to like, as if they're the first, it's this novel concept. Like, have you ever thought of not knocking doors, perhaps SEO, Facebook?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Yeah, well, you know, I'm like, man, you're, you know what?
Adam Bensman: I haven't had this all wrong. Right. Yeah. I never real getting leads, you know. No, I didn't actually.
Ken Baden: Never thought of that, man. Nope. You know what? You're probably right. That's probably way easier and way more successful. In fact, I'm sure the cost per acquisition is even better, even though this is zero, but you know. Yeah. I love it, man. And I love, I could talk to you all day, brother. I really could. But I have one parting because I know your time is precious and this is typically 45, give or take. However, if it's rolling, we're rolling. I just know your time is a lot more condensed than my own. But a lot of young, you mentioned it, man, let's just be candid here, right? The up and coming generation, and I say this with love, but I have family members and I have people that I mentor. I don't know where and what, and it's probably our fault. It's probably our generation's fault, or maybe the generation just before us, but somewhere, somehow this false sense of like, I don't know, you're owed something or it's just, if you don't, if you just took the time. Let me get off my high horse because I'm getting ready to go on a rant. My point is, what advice, Adam, would you give to this next generation of roofers or somebody that just doesn't see the opportunity? Perhaps they do. Perhaps they're the rarity and they're going to go out and just blow past, by the way, everybody because he's absolutely right. Everyone else, they're the ones pitching me on, have you ever thought about this? Right? If you're willing to go and you're willing to hit those doors, what's the advice you'd give to the up and coming roofer right now, today, today's market, knowing the issues and so on in the next 12 to 24 months?
Adam Bensman: Yeah, the secret to success is simple. Get really good at what you do, practice all the time, and don't let yourself get in your own way. And I think that the generation, it's instant gratification on your phone. And I know I'm guilty of it. You put something up on social, what do you do in five minutes? Who liked it? who validated me. And now we're in this world of insecurity where everyone thinks you're famous. And by the way, most of the social media analytics are absolute garbage. Like I know countless people, even in the roofing space that I've checked in their Instagram. I've had conversations with, they're good people too. And I'm like, dude, how did you end up? You got like 20,000 subscribers bought. How do you have all those YouTube videos bought? or those YouTube views bought, I'm like, Oh, that makes sense. Because you had 8000 views on that video. I know no one who knows your brand. And there's not one comment on that video from 8000 views. I'm like, you're buying this stuff. And anyway, so then we start doing this comparison. Well, he's got 40,000 followers, and I have six. Well, guess what? I can't, I will promise you, because I just saw someone the other day, that my business is making more money with a 10th of the followers, because they're real. And they're customers, they're not, they're not bots, or young kids in some foreign country who are scrolling through TikTok, being entertained. And this instant gratification piece, the self comparison piece, becomes a massive distraction, which, which, in my opinion, is the sole purpose of social media is to distract humans from society, to be able to be controlled by corporate entities and potentially our government by the way i probably shouldn't have gone up there i just opened up a can of worms that oh no but anyway the the secret is really simple you want to get paid well become a master at your at what you do get really good at it and when people say you can be you can you can do whatever you want and make money No, you can do whatever you want if you're good at it and it provides value to someone else. And what I also don't like is when people say the word value, they don't understand what value really is. And value is solving problems. So get really good at being a problem solver for people, you'll make a boatload of money. It's that simple.
Ken Baden: Yeah. Very Hormozy-esque and that's all. Did you by the way, you did outpace him, you did outsell him on that book.
Adam Bensman: We did, we reached the number one bestseller. That's awesome. And yeah, it was great.
Ken Baden: I can only imagine, brother. I'm a huge Hormozy fan, and I just can only imagine. Good for you, man, that's awesome. Man, you're living the dream, brother. What's next? I mean, what else is there left? A lot, I'm just getting started. I saw One Hand, by the way. How do you make that work? I mean, my God, I can't imagine. I see a ring on your left hand finger. Oh yeah, I'm married. I was just curious how that, I mean, cause I catch, well, actually, you know what? She's very supportive and I'm just, you said you have three full-time jobs. I expected you to say four because it's somewhere in there. You got to find the time to, or unless you just travel together.
Adam Bensman: I mean, how's that? My wife's my, my business partner. My wife is, is my, my business partner. She's our VP and COO. Um, she, she runs everything. I finally get to be in a, in a visionary in, in leadership. true role where I've got a team and my wife runs the operations. My wife edited my book. She actually came from a technical editing background, which was great. She helped polish the turd that I initially wrote. And she printed it back and she's like, I know you want to send this to print, but you got to rewrite the entire introduction. And I was like, damn it. Although she was really way more, uh, she's like, I hate to bring this to you. I know you don't want to hear this news, but you got to do the rewrite because it sucks. So, you know, we are attached at the hip, basically, except for when I'm traveling. But you're dead right. I need to make, we were just talking about it, I need to make more time to live life and live life together because it's some, and this is one thing I don't see eye to eye with Hormozy. I am a huge fan of his. And I think that I don't see the eye to eye just because I'm not wired the same. It's not that I don't think he's a good person, but I don't want to work six days a week, six and a half days a week like he does. Like he takes great joy in every all the work that he does. And I do too. But for me, I want more time to do free time stuff. I want to go run in the mountains. I want to go rip around on ATVs. I want to go sit on a beach and do nothing. I want to sit and read a book. I want to hang out and have coffee with my wife. I want to spend three hours in the kitchen, because I can, cooking a meal, because I love it. And I want to make more time in my life for that. So when you said, do you have time for your wife? The answer is, I do not have enough, and I need to make more. And that's one thing I'm working on here is making that.
Ken Baden: I love your transparency, man. It's important because you hear all those things like, oh, this is a job. It's a job and it's a commitment, it's a partnership. Personally, I appreciate that, man, because even for myself, so I understand. can only imagine. However, it is nice having her be there in the partnership side of things. And I'm trying to get mine. We tried it when we were dating. And then I was like, I don't think we're gonna get married if we keep going down this. Maybe we'll revisit this business, including you in the business. But respect, brother, I really do. I'm looking forward to talking to you more in the future. What's your next upcoming event or anything that we can plug that we can get people out to?
Adam Bensman: Oh, man, if you want to see where I'm speaking, you can go if you're an OC contractor. Unfortunately, all the events are invite only. So if you're an OC contractor, just search, Google OC contractor events, that's the publication list. That's public. Q1 will be listed here pretty soon. We just got those dates finalized internally. If you wanna follow along on YouTube, go to The Roof Strategist. You'll find me on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook are under my name, Adam Bensman. And if you wanna join me at our event, it's members only, Pitch Pro Movement event will be in October, coming up next year here in Colorado. Venues still, when I say TBD, it'll likely be where we left off last time. But that'd be the place to do it. And then if you want to work with me more intimately and you're a good fit for our mastermind, which you'll know after I shared what it's about, you can join me in there on live interactive calls, excuse me, live interactive sessions. Jump into our private app, ask questions. I put in a little voice notes, coach people through stuff. But that'd be the best way to hang out. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy all the free stuff I give to the world to help you guys make, make a bunch of money and make your customers really happy.
Ken Baden: Yeah, man. And I love that. And that, that's another hormose ism that I really love about you, man. And I'm trying to replicate because I admittedly guilty of not probably giving enough for free. I mean, I'm just being honest, you know, but I'm trying to do a lot more of that. Like the secrets, right? Oh, I can't give that away. That's, that's the, that's, that's worth something. Right. I'm like, come on, man. Who are you kidding? Like, is it really yet? I don't know. So I appreciate you doing that because it helps me brother. It sincerely does. And, uh, And again, by the way, that Instagram stuff, totally true. Hired someone to help me exclusively was like, Hey, look, I am not interested in like fake, you know, that does nothing for me. And guess what happened? Right? Like several thousand followers later, it's like one looking at the person following me and they have like two followers. I'm like, come on, man. You know what I mean? It's total scam. I still love you, man. But like, I was very clear, like, right.
Adam Bensman: And it cracks me up too, because it's so it's a, All it is, is a, I shouldn't say all, that's not fair. It's not all. A lot of what it is, is other people who are hired agencies, they all have the same strategy. Find other pages that have your core audience, throw comments on there. So as people scroll through the comments, they see your page and click over and they throw the same things. Great video, the hand raised emoji. Brilliant insight, loved what you had to share. Love your content, bro. And it's just like, It's just some dude who knows where, who's paid to engage. And it's not organic. And when you know what you're looking for, you're going to see it on so many pages. And everyone just wants, again, it's in it. We're in an attention economy, and people are placing their value based on their social media following numbers. And dude, it drives me nuts. People are like, how many followers do you have? I'm like, I don't know. I don't care. I don't check every day. If it's important to you, go look. And how many real followers, right? Because what I have is that they're real people that I'm actually helping.
Ken Baden: I'll take 6,000 real people versus 90,000 nobody people.
Adam Bensman: Yeah. I'd take a hundred real people. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Your first hundred is the hardest.
Ken Baden: Yes. Oh, yeah. Mine's overinflated right now by several thousand of just nobody's. And I'm candidly telling you that. I mean, I got God, but, you know, I'm just now kind of making it out of that, man. It was like, what? What is that? I just can't understand. Cause you're right. It's an ego, I guess, but just from a purely business, like I just can't see, you know what I mean? Like, what does it do for you? It literally gets you. I don't know. I don't know. But other than ego optics,
Adam Bensman: Yeah, you know, it's like being the guy that that just rolls up in the nice car. I like nice cars, by the way, but you know what I mean? Like, yes, I know the guy that pulls up at the conference and wants to valet his car for one purpose. Yeah, I want everyone to see the car I drove up in. We all know that guy. Oh, yeah. We know a couple of that guy.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we all know a couple of those guys.
Ken Baden: So, Adam, brother, I thank you so much for coming on and hopefully this again soon. This is awesome. Check out Adam's content. Check out his courses. Check him out. You said you're in Denver still, right?
Adam Bensman: Yeah. Yes. I mean, close enough. I'm in Colorado. I'm not a city guy. I live in Colorado.
Ken Baden: Got one of the two year storm recently. Any truth to that?
Adam Bensman: Colorado got like six storms this year.
Ken Baden: Like they got frosted. A guy of mine that's like, we gotta get to Denver. And I'm like, well, you know, I've heard, but we'll have to chat more about that, man.
Adam Bensman: Yeah, there was about four or five.
Ken Baden: So man, yeah, there's been a major storms all over the world this year, the world, the country this year. And of course, though, the second I go to move there, it's gonna be like, ah, sorry, man, no more storms. Not this year, but a couple of years.
Adam Bensman: You know how it is. Yeah, it's like jumping on a hot stop. Got in too late when it's going up, my friend.
Ken Baden: But that's the beauty of being able to do retail. But Adam, thank you again, my brother. And we will catch you on the next one, man.
Adam Bensman: Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, man.
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