In episode 44 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden interviews Rick Selby, aka Ricky the Roofer, an expert in the remodeling industry, for a conversation about sales and personal development. They discuss actionable strategies and share valuable insights that can be applied to any business or sales pursuit, as they highlight the group's unity, inclusiveness, and collective decision-making.
Tune in as they educate, inform, and entertain listeners, providing a well-rounded experience.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:03:23] Sales and Remodeling Industry.
[00:09:35] Combining Blue Collar and Sales.
[00:13:19] Cautious Approach to Coaching.
[00:17:21] United Front in Leadership Dynamics.
[00:25:07] Scaling and Managing Growth.
[00:33:55] Leadership and Company Growth.
[00:38:23] Being the Example.
[00:41:00] Are You Your Own Weakest Link?
[00:44:05] Building a Profitable Company.
[00:47:20] Blue Collar Baller community.
[00:53:30] Building Personal Brands Within the Community.
In this episode, Ken Baden and Rick Selby emphasize the involvement of team leads in decision-making processes. They mention that any necessary changes or issues are discussed collectively, with no separate communication or decision-making within specific teams or departments. This further reinforces the group's unity and inclusiveness.
In addition, Ken and Rick emphasize the importance of maintaining a high level of performance at all times. They mentioned that this concept was a key takeaway from a training session they attended. While individuals tend to perform their best when being observed by their boss, they question why this level of performance is not consistently maintained. Hence, they provided a mindset that can encourage consistent high performance, leading to positive changes in energy, performance, and overall well-being.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluecollarcloser/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKenBaden
Rick Selby/Ricky the Roofer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamrickytheroofer/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Ricky-the-Roofer-100054201923645/
Email: rickytheroofer@gmail.com
WEBSITE:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Intro/Outro00:03 - 00:12
Welcome to the Kitchen Table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
Ken Baden00:16 - 00:45
All right, welcome back to another episode of the Kitchen Table Podcast, where business is done. I've got one of my own in here today, man. We want to start something new that I think I'm really, that I think, I think I'm really excited about it. I know I'm really excited about it. I think they'll really like it. What I want to do is I want to bring in someone within our own organization, maybe once a month. We've done it before, but not really in this format. I've got Rick with me today. First and foremost, Rick, what's up, man? How are you doing?
Rick Selby00:46 - 00:55
I'm doing great. How's everything going? I'm happy to be here, man. This is my first ever podcast. So it's like a hello world moment for me, man. I'm super excited. So let's rock.
Ken Baden00:55 - 04:39
Well, that's awesome, man. I mean, fitting to have that be the kitchen table and get you on here and have it be with me and the company asking all the the tough questions, but in all seriousness, why I think this is good. is we're always trying to give back value to the listeners, right? Like that's the whole point of this show. Otherwise, what the hell are you listening to? Because there's a few different angles you can take when you have a podcast or any kind of show, right? You can either be there to educate or inform or a mixture of both. And in this case, hopefully, excuse me, educate, inform or entertain or a mixture of all three. In this case, I hope the show is entertaining, but we definitely want to inform and like, I like listening to podcasts where I get something out of it that I can apply. And so that's, you know, essentially was the the whole angle with mine was making sure that we put actionable strategies and folks on where essentially I'm learning from them. And they're getting to hear they're the they being the audience are getting to hear while I'm learning the same stuff that I'm learning. Now, in this case, There's always something we can learn from everybody, but in this case, we've got Rick in here and Rick has his own experience with the remodeling industry. He's been doing this for a while. Everybody knows that I've got my own company, right? It's not just the podcast, but I would say what probably makes me suitable to have a podcast called the kitchen tables. I've been doing door to door for 16 plus years. I've had a couple of companies and currently company is Potomac customer modeling, or as you can see here, PCR, PCR roofing is what we've got going on here. And really, that's what we're kind of focused on at the moment. Rick can tell you more about that. But Before I go any further in detail, I just want to say Rick has been a huge help. He's a newer, a newer teammate and that he's been here for a few months now, but I feel like I've known him for years. He worked underneath one of my mentors companies and I've got a few mentors, but shout out to Adam Champagne. He was on the show, which is why I thought it was fitting to have been Rick come on and Adam texted me personally. when we got Rick over here, and I was a little conflicted. And Rick, you know this. Absolutely. When we interviewed, I told you, look, you know, I, Adam, who inadvertently purchased the company you worked for, his company purchased the company you worked for. And I'm like, man, you know, it's not directly the company under Adam, but now technically it is, even though, you know, he doesn't have much to do with the day to day. It just wanted, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't like in poor taste. Adam hit me up, was like, dude, I'm so happy that he's with you. You got a great catch. And, uh, Yeah, I think it's great for him. And it's great for you. So that was a great reaffirming moment knowing like, okay, we've got the right folks, because we've been going through a whole lot. So that's what I want to talk about. First, I want to talk about, take us through your experience in this whole sales and remodeling industry. But you know, this is a business or door to door sales, personal, professional development podcast, right? Which is pretty broad, but I'd like to say that if you're in sales or you're in the pursuit of greatness in business or sales, all of those things subsequently apply. Because I think you've got to be spiritually fit, mentally fit, physically fit, and then professionally fit. And the pursuit of all of those things is going to ultimately help you in all areas. So anything that has to do with that, that's perfect for this show. So first of all, how'd you get started in salesman?
Rick Selby04:39 - 09:10
Yeah, absolutely. So it's actually, it's actually funny that I landed in the remodel space when it came to sales, because, you know, originally coming up, you know, through my high school and things like that, like, you know, to be honest, I wasn't the best student. And we kind of always knew that you know, college wasn't the lane for me. I was always going to do something with my hands. And I had a good buddy of mine, one of my childhood best friends, his dad owned a electric company, actually. So in the summertime, you know, we would go and work for his dad's electric company, you know, in our summer break and things like that. And I really, really enjoyed, you know, and that was always kind of going to be my path. I always worked in blue collar, uh, kind of space, you know, whether it was electric, you know, I laid carpet for a while, you know, um, fiber optics, things like that. So like, you know, blue collar was really it for me. So I had moved to Florida and, um, you know, my dad lives in Florida, so I had moved to Florida. And of course it was just hot as shit down there, man, like crawling through addicts, stuff like that, running electric. And I was like, man, like, you know, I love what I do, but. You know, this heat is blistering. You know, I was traveling all the time. And, you know, at that point I was in a relationship and, you know, just traveling for work and things like that. It just kind of got old on me as a young man. So I had, you know, been working out at a health club at that point and got in with the manager and he invited me to actually come into sales in the health club. And, you know, it's kind of funny as, oh, you know, come over, you'll make all this money, you'll be around all these healthy fit people. I'm like, awesome, you know. So I get in the sales at the health club and, you know, I come up with what I think is the greatest close ever, where, you know, people would come in and they would say, oh, my goal is to lose 30 pounds. I kept a 10 pound kettlebell underneath my desk. We did a gym tour that was about 30 minutes. I'd have them carry the kettlebell. When we got back, I told them to put it on my desk. They'd say it was heavy. I'd say, okay, now imagine if you lose three of those or four of those off of your everyday walk, everyday life, right? I was signing people up left and right. Like it was the most simple thing, but I was so proud of myself at that point. Like I came up with the best clothes, right? Then I get the check at the end of the month and it's like 3,200 bucks. And I'm like, no way, you know. So I ended up meeting another guy that was a GM at a car dealership down there, luxury car dealership, Lotus of Jacksonville. And he wants to interview me. You know, he's a personal friend of a friend and so on. So I go in and you know, I really wasn't looking for a sales position at all. Like, you know, from the health club, I had a really bad taste in my mouth about sales, as I was putting in all this work. You know, I wasn't knocking doors at that point, but I was going out marketing flyer, you know, stuff like that. And I was like, man, this sales thing really might not be for, you know, so I came in, I talked to him, and he's like, listen, I'm not the person you're going to interview with. I just linked you up. But this is going to be a sales position. I see it in you. I know you can do it. So I'm going to direct you over to talk to my sales manager. So I ended up talking to the sales manager, Don Angle, great guy. And we talked, and he was like, listen, come work under me. I'll help you out. You'll do it here. You'll do what you were supposed to do there here. So I ended up coming up, just had a lot of success in that in the car space. Of course, did that for a long time. Ended up going over to another dealership after several years with Lotus of Jacksonville. And it was one of those things where I had a buddy that went over. It was a startup kind of, but expansion was promised, management opportunities, and so on. So I went over there, and like three months later, it folded up. And so now I'm like, oh, man, what am I going to do? You know, and I had a buddy that was cars. Yeah, that was back. That was in the car business. So that was down in Florida. And, you know, at that point, I had been in Florida long enough, kind of lived the Florida life long enough. So ended up having a buddy that became a GM at a car dealership in Maryland, which, of course, is where my family is from. You know, really did the Florida thing kind of got played out. You know, everybody in Florida either has a boat, plays golf or rides motorcycles. You know what I mean? That's what you do down there. So it was kind of like party life down there. But now I'm getting into my later, you know, 20s, early 30s. And I'm like, you know, let's get serious. So come back home, you know, get into the car space again, ended up over at a Ford dealership, and then you know, COVID hits. So we have the big chip shortage and stuff like that. And, you know, believe it or not, the chip shortage and COVID was great for the car industry for a while.
Ken Baden09:10 - 09:16
Oh, I know it was originally you guys were selling shit two times above or maybe more above. Hell yeah.
Rick Selby09:17 - 10:33
We were selling the F250s for 15, 20 grand over MSRP and getting paid 25% gross. Inventory was short, but I was still selling five or six cars a month and making 22, 23 grand. It was amazing. But then that ran out. So now it's like, oh shit, what am I going to do? So again, that's how I actually ended up into the remodeling space was once that really dried up, I ended up over at Adams Company and was in retail there for a long time, had success there, ended up needing help on the insurance side, came over that way, kind of maxed out my opportunity there. But Um, you know, it was great for me because blue collar was always my love. Like coming up, I always knew I was going to do something blue collar, but I had ended up in the sales space. So really once I came in the home improvement, I got to combine the two where it was like, okay, I'm still in blue collar, but now I'm in sales in the blue collar world. And it just meshed, man. And I've loved it ever since. Like I'm truly blessed because like, I, I love what I do. Like, I love this space that we're in. I love what I do. So, It's been a blessing to be able to combine those two things into one and really have that be my career path at this point.
Ken Baden10:33 - 10:53
Yeah, man. I mean, I know Adam. Well, that's not necessarily relevant. So the owners, I think they're still gone, right? The ones. But you knew you knew the sister. So you were good friends with the original owner's sister, correct? She was like the VP or something like that.
Rick Selby10:54 - 11:16
Yeah, absolutely. Jessica Fingles, you know, she's one of my mentors as well. I still talk to Jessica weekly. Shout out, Jessica. I love you. So I probably wouldn't have had as much success, you know, in this space as I did if it wasn't for Jess. And, you know, Jess really helped me a ton with getting back into the remodel work, you know.
Ken Baden11:16 - 11:33
And what I wanted to say specifically, too, was that Adam made sure to point out, like, hey, you know, she for lack of a better word, kind of gave the blessing there of like, hey, you know, he's a good dude. We want to see him scale and grow. And I think you said that there just wasn't that opportunity there at the time.
Rick Selby11:33 - 12:20
Yeah, absolutely. And that, you know, that's one of the things I really appreciate Jess for because, you know, she talked to Adam and she, you know, she told Adam, she said, listen, Selby's ready to go. Let him spread his wings. You know, I just don't have the space for him to do so. So, you know, she was she gave the blessing, Adam, you know, called you for me to come over and, you know, help grow here, you know, not only the company, but within myself as well, because I've learned so much since I've been here already. And, you know, I can't wait to see how that keeps growing and growing and growing. We know it's going to. So but yeah, that was absolutely amazing to have the blessing from both Jess and Adam to say, you know what, he's ready to go much further. We just don't have the space for him. Kenny, I'm happy he's with you. So that's been a blessing also.
Ken Baden12:20 - 15:01
Would you say to somebody who is in a blue collar space or even just looking to get into sales, possibly remodeling, but I mean, right now, volatile market, You got young folks. And of course, you know, in the background, we forgot to switch the sign over from blue collar ballers to the kitchen table. But, you know, I've got a couple of things. We got our hands in a couple of things. And Rick has been helping me also with blue collar ballers, which is our Facebook group coaching group. You know, he sits in on a lot of the the calls and learns and gives his input. And, you know, that's a very special community to me, because for me, Potomac, the company, as we would call it, is priority one. And then my passion is certainly definitely growing, scaling and selling that company. But I love working with folks and I love coaching. And if I could do that, and I will eventually do that completely full time at one point in my life. But Right now, I think it's so imperative that we have that resume piece, man. I was just talking to our Taylor, right? Right. And he says, you know, I have some friends or folks that I know across, you know, in England that do life coaching. OK. And they do life coaching. Essentially because. They couldn't. They didn't have any other options. You know what I mean? Like they had failed elsewhere. They couldn't make it anywhere else. And they became life coaches. You know what I mean? Like that's insane to me. And I think this space is so full of instances just like that, that that's why people have this like cautiously, pessimistic, like approach to this coaching stuff, man, there are sites, there are Instagrams that are existing, just to solely like, debunk a bunch of these. And I look, man, I'm all for it. Like, if you couldn't cut it, and whatever it was you were doing, and now you're taking people's money to train them to do that, what fucking business do you have remotely doing any of that? And so for us, You know, this like our goals, we've already done some really awesome things. And I'm very, very happy and blessed. And we're blessed to have done that. But and that's why we're focusing on the year one through five business entrepreneur or prospective entrepreneur, the zero through 10 million, you know, maybe 15. But the point is, is our goal is this year to get us to that 35 mark. But if I was to ask you our goals, I mean, hell, what's what's our long term goal?
Rick Selby15:02 - 15:10
Our long-term goal is to scale and exit, baby. Scale, exit, blow this thing up. We're going to do it. It's not, I mean, it's a plan.
Ken Baden15:10 - 15:13
If there's- What are the number of goals though, I should say?
Rick Selby15:13 - 15:25
Our goal is to sell for a hundred million. And it doesn't stop there. When we sell for a hundred million, we reinvest 20, we fucking have a second exit. We blow up even more from there. A hundred million is just the start.
Intro/Outro15:25 - 15:26
That's the beginning.
Ken Baden15:27 - 17:50
the, uh, whatever it is that we get the opportunity to reinvest, I'm sure they'll, they'll negotiate that. But that's the point. My point with that was Rick knows everybody within the organization knows like, look, this is what we're doing. This is our goal. It's a unified front. We have everybody on board going towards one common goal. In fact, we're looking to attract, you know, we've been, reverse engineering this thing, so to speak, for the last few months and just focusing in winter when it's usually slower to just freak and grind and bring in the leadership pieces and maturity and emotionally mature and professional. We had a very young squad, which there was nothing wrong with that. Where we needed to be, that was great, but where we need to go, we need to instill leadership pieces. We need to, and it's not like, Hey, hopefully in five years, these guys can be groomed and we needed leadership pieces now. So we had to really diligently bring in, are they going to fit? Yes. No, they got to go. And that's been a very uncomfortable process. I mean, you've been here already and just kind of thrown in. And one of the things that you kind of said right off the bat was. I could tell it was jarring for not only yourself, but you handled it great, man. But a couple of the other guys that came over that got thrusted into leadership and you were already in leadership where you're at, but you were like running the sales team. But then you had the executives behind closed doors, taking the meetings, determining the future. And you didn't really have the idea of what was going on. You said something today that I really liked. which was we don't have that here at least intimately where we have this within our leadership group and like everyone that's here is on the same page. Can you elaborate on that and just kind of like where you come from, how that dynamic made you feel and then like here. Like what we're doing, because I think it's important. You know what I mean? There's a space in the, there's a, there's a line in the book for 13 fatal errors managers make and how to avoid them. And it says, you got to avoid that. We versus them, right? Like management versus sales or vice for whatever, right? Like there can never be the words like, Oh, they gave us, they gave us these goals. I don't know how they expect us. to do them. There is no they, there is no us. It's a united front. It's a we, right?
Rick Selby17:50 - 21:57
Right, right. Absolutely. And then that, like you said, that's absolutely the space that I come from where there's a lot of closed door meetings. You're not privy to much information at all, so to speak. Even when it comes to setting goals and KPIs, nobody knows where that comes from. You have a sales manager that throws a number out there. How did we get to this number? Is this what we did last year? Is this coming from the percentage that we're expecting to grow this year? Are we putting inflation and higher interest rates into these numbers? And you don't really know any of that information. So you're just kind of getting stuff thrown at you. And you're expected to hit that where you don't really know what it's coming from. You don't know what those conversations are. And you really don't have any input either, right? It's hey you hit it hey you fell short and so on so you know that's one of the things that I love about our group is you know from all the way from the top which of course you know you kidding is the owner and you know to the team leads like we are one unit you know like. We never have a situation here where, you know, yourself, me and Josh may be in a meeting and Mike, and then the other guys don't know what's going on. Like, even if we're in one of those meetings, they know why they know what's going on. They know exactly why the numbers are in place. They know exactly why the minimums are in place. And that's great, you know, because we move as one unit. Like, you know, obviously with the plan that we have, it has to be that way. You know, we can't have outsiders or insiders. We have to move as a unit. So just feeling like everyone is on the same page, like I really consider us, you know, one big family, like they're like you said, you know, there is no them and us. Like we are a big family. And of course, we protect that, you know, vehement, like, you know, we have to, when we bring somebody in, we have to make sure they're a good fit for us, we have to make sure we're a good fit for them, because they're coming into that inner circle, right. And it's like, listen, you know, you guys have a lot of information here. You're not going to get anywhere else. And that's something that we spoke about this morning. I think you said, you know, you don't get this many places. And I said, you don't get this anywhere else. Right. Like it's nowhere. So, you know, just moving as that unit, like it makes us more powerful. And you have to think about it, too, with like our team leads like they are involved. they have an input. They have say in what's going on. And if we need to change a process or if something's not working out there, they come to us, we implement it, we talk about it as a group. There is no guys talking within the sales team or anything like that. I'm on the phone with Brandon for an hour every single night. We're going over his jobs. He's telling me, Hey, I think that we can improve this process here. Hey, I think if the QAs did this instead of like going to the team and, you know, bitching like, you know, hey, they're not going to win. You know, they're not fix it. There is no them and us. We are a unit, right? Like. Everybody comes together to make the decisions and to improve our processes, get us where we need to go. It hasn't always been like that. That's something that I know that I appreciate, but more than anything, it's something that I know our guys appreciate. They are involved. You can be a team lead, you can be a sales manager at another, even a sales manager at another home improvement company, they're not in those meetings. They don't even know what's going on, right? They might not even know where the KPIs and the numbers are coming from. But it's not like that here. And I think everybody loves that. And it brings us together as one group, because it's all of us. Right? And I love that. We're a family. And that, Kenny, I truly believe is what's going to get us to where we're going. Moving as that unit. There's not two of us. There's not three. There's 10 of us. There's 10 of us with input. There's 10 of us that are coming up with these goals. Hey, did you think about this? When you do that goal for next month, did you think about this? It's a unit, man. And I love that.
Ken Baden21:57 - 27:23
And we're doing our vision boards next week. Monday, we'll go over, you know, we have the new office coming in. We have our sales meetings every Monday morning. And in those sales meetings, we try to institute some very real training. But, you know, we just, there's a lot going on. And anybody listening to this that's looking to expand, what we basically did was say, okay, you know, here's what's got us here. However, because I'm involved in different networks, and I just, you know, we just got back from Arizona, and we'll talk about that next. You know, and I brought you guys down to kind of absorb some of not only just the group, excuse me, the training, but absorb what I get from these groups, right? Like what it is I'm doing, what I'm learning when I go out there. So when I come back, I mean, I'm not only learning from. the actual training, but I'm going out to dinner with different peers, Tony Flattom, Brandon Jay, Ryan, all, you know, Kurt Lidington, and I'm learning and talking and having conversations with them on what's worked for them. You know, and then I have my mentors back here, like Adam, like John from MLM. And I have, you know, I'm constantly dissecting like what's working for them, what we can input, what we need to, you know, consider changing. and just being open to doing that. And honestly, I think the biggest thing is quick to take action. Like it might be jarring. It might be none of this. Brandon said something while we were up there. He said, first and foremost, you guys all think you see these guys, you see me or anybody else. And you think like me, Kurt, Tony, anybody, right? Like we've got our, we've got our shit completely dialed in and there's no, it was never, he said everybody's it's a shit show everywhere right until it isn't right and it's just fail fast fail forward and keep dialing in right and I don't know what else can be expected if your growth is great and you're diving in and you're just kicking ass, but you're scaling and scaling. If your systems and processes don't continue to keep up, it's going to inevitably be like, oh shit, we just went from this to this. And what was working at this size is not going to work here, right? Like we need to tweak some things. So I really think what we've done over this winter, like, hold on. We're attempting to open up in two new states. Let's reevaluate. Let's audit all of our procedures. Let's audit all of our records. Let's audit all of our processes and our KPI, everything. Let's make sure we thoroughly understand what's going on here and how here helps here and here and these offices. And I think that's going to ultimately be a big reason why everything works. But moreover, everyone having a thorough understanding of what this and when I say everyone, I'm talking to you, you know, audience, like if you think that this is like growing a $10 million business to a $20 million business or a $30 million business is going to be I'm going to see what you're not a shit show, however you define it. It's going to be inevitably like just anticipate, hey, it's we got to do as best as possibly as best as possible to get everything dialed in before. and then keep it compartmentalized. But man, it's going to be, you go from doing three jobs a day to 18 jobs a day. It's going to be a shit show as best you can possibly hope would be to contain and still meet your standards. And I say that like, I would say I reject that. What I think as a shit show as far, like it's not something failing, it's not, you know, we'll do very well, but it's going to be, craziness. You know what I mean? It's like, that's what I mean. When I say a shit show, I don't mean like some failing mess of a company by any means. Like, I mean, we're kicking ass taking names, but brother going from three jobs a day to 18 is going to be, you know, that's what I call a good shit show. But man, it's going to be, we want to make sure that we are completely prepared for that. And that's what we're doing right now. So I would suggest if you're listening to this, and you're looking to scale, even if that's just going from one to five, right, or five to 10, you really have to have all your, at least your procedures set up. And you can do one of two things. You can have the team prepped and ready for that, which is going to cost you typically a little bit in advance, or you can have the plans in place. So when you're ready for that, you can bring those people in. That's a little bit more of a conservative approach, or you can get the volume and then just figure it out. I would not recommend that, but, um, You know, I've seen that too. So, but talk a little bit about, you know, we went to Arizona and some people were like, man, you're taking your whole team leads down there. I mean, Christ, that's, how much is that? You know, and it wasn't cheap, but I think I just made a post today. I said, take the team leads down to Arizona, spend the week, 40, 50K. Learning what we learned, the camaraderie, the energy, meeting with Brandon, you guys getting to see what it is I do. and coming back and being ready to dial in specifically when we're looking to already do so over the winter is priceless. What did you get from that trip? I mean, from your perspective, right? I have the ownership perspective, but from the perspective of somebody who got the opportunity to go see Andy Elliott, meet Andy Elliott in person, you know, same with Ryan Stumann, man, you've been following Stumann since he was, you know, straight up hardcore closer days, right? And getting to spend time with these people. What did that mean to you? And what'd you take away from that?
Rick Selby27:23 - 33:26
Yeah, I mean, it meant a ton. And, you know, first and foremost, Kenny, before we dive into that, you know, on behalf of myself and the team, I want to say thank you, you know, for that opportunity. I know, you know, I speak for everyone when I say, you know, that that has been an amazing experience. We all came back with a lifetime full of knowledge. So first and foremost, thank you for that opportunity. But, you know, I have no doubt that that is going to come back tenfold to us as a company. It was absolutely amazing, man. And, you know, I, you know, to start off with Ryan, of course, I have been following Ryan, I would say, for eight to 10 years since the OG, you know, hardcore closer day. So I watched a ton of Ryan's trainings, you know, and just to have the opportunity to sit, you know, across from Ryan at dinner for three hours, you know, and just, just talk to the guy. And he, you know, he's just a wealth of knowledge. You know, the thing I really love about Ryan is he's he's just a real dude, you know, and it was funny because Roger and I were actually sitting across from Ryan and Amy and, you know, both of their their boys. And I had an open seat next to me and I was kind of messaging you. I was like, you're going to come sit down here, right? Like, I was fucking nervous, you know, and I actually text Deb and I was like, you know, I'm with Ryan. I'm nervous. Kenny, Kenny won't come sit with us like, but you you were like, you know, Hey, I don't want to disrupt it. Like, you know, I want you to soak it in and get all the knowledge you can. And she had texted me back and she was like, Ricky, I know you want to learn from him, but just talk to him. Like he's a normal dude. You know what I mean? And he really was. And then he ordered a cheeseburger and fries at a day where everybody else was ordering prime rib and shit. And I was like, you're right. He is just a normal dude. But No, that was awesome, man. And, you know, just to get to speak to Ryan and, you know, just his insight into certain things. And, you know, there were certain things that Ryan and I spoke about, which, you know, we'll keep off the podcast when it comes to our personal lives. And it was just super helpful, man. And, you know, Ryan is one of those guys that is as successful as he is in with all everything that he has going on. You can tell that, you know, Ryan is like, you know, he he believes in everyone. And I felt that, Ryan, where it's like, brother, you can have the same shit that I do. You know what I mean? Like, this is how I got here. I'll spit you guys the knowledge I pour into Kenny. Kenny's going to pour into you. And that was just that it was a phenomenal experience. And then, you know, getting to talk with Andy, For a couple of minutes, you know, and getting to talk to Danny Klein even more. Danny Klein is a wonderful guy. And, you know, every time I've talked to Danny, I actually had a conversation with Danny a month or two back where, you know, he helped me actually get into a better personal space. And, you know, I really appreciate Danny for that as well. You know, that's the thing about, you know, being around these guys and being around their energy is that they really make you believe and it is believed that this is obtainable. You see these guys online and they're living this lifestyle, but you also see them putting in the work and they exemplify that side of it as well. It's not like it's all fast money glitz and glam like, hey, we put in the work to get here, so we're going to show you both sides. But actually seeing it in person is just a whole different level. You know, like I said, it was amazing experience, you know, getting to speak with Ryan and Amy, you know, for three hours and hearing some of the stories that Ryan told me, you know, it's just just hilarious. But realistically, like just being out there for three days, you know, I made a post and, you know, you and I talked about it and it was really a lifetime of knowledge and. You know, I look forward to growing, you know, not only with the, the blue collar ballers group that you know we have going on but in apex now as well and you know underneath everybody and you know that's kind of my big thing right now is you know being. networking with the people that that we're connected with is really just playing that spot, being in that position to learn and learn and grow and grow. And, you know, seeing that firsthand was just it. Honestly, it just brought a new like it brought a new sense of self to me, you know, as to where I am right now. It also brought a new determination to me, knowing that, you know, hey, you can obtain this right. Like, And, you know, it's funny because, you know, with the people that we spoke with, you know, one thing they instill in something that's been instilled in me since I was a kid was just hard work. It's all about hard work. It's all about core values. You know, Kenny, when I first came on board, I said, you know, I've never claimed to be the best salesman. I'm good. I know I'm good. You don't stay in this business as long as I have if you're not good. But nobody is going to work harder than you. Right. Like and that's a fact. And, you know, I'm not toot my own horn. I'm not pat myself on the back. I don't care. Nobody's going to work harder than me. I'm not the best. But what do we always say? You know, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. And that's the main thing that these guys instill core values, culture and hard work. And that's it. But seeing it firsthand is an entirely different experience. And, you know, I'll forever be grateful for that trip. forgetting to know those guys and really speak with them in person, you know, especially writing. And I made sure I'd never forget it. When I got back, I got FYE tattooed on my hand. There's a specific reason that I got it tattooed here. This is the hand that I drive with. So now when my hand is on the steering wheel, whether I'm on my way to work in the morning, whether I'm on my way to an appointment on the afternoon, whether I'm on my way to my wife and kids at the end of the night, right? No matter what, it's fuck your excuses. It's go time. Like we you know, it's it's it's life changing. Like, let's fucking go. And you really get that momentum out there, you know, being in these groups and being around these guys. And I'll never forget that. Like I will. Oh, that trip will have oh, it will forever change. It will forever change.
Ken Baden33:27 - 36:37
And that's exactly why when people say, why would you? I guess they didn't really say that, but I took that as the implication. I mean, when they're like, man, you paid for all them, the guy said, yeah, that's why. Right. Like, even if that's you and a couple others, you know, their experience and you guys are leadership members and leadership pieces. And I have that opportunity to pour back into you all. It's worth you can't really put a price on that because. getting the right person, and the right spot within your company, especially in leadership, could ultimately make the company millions, especially if you do it over the term of two, three years or prior to exit or whatever, right? Like, so yeah, we'll make that investment for sure. And that's something that, you know, I did it once before, and a couple of those folks aren't aren't here anymore. One of them still here, but you know, that, uh, That's part of it, man. Right. Like and. For me, that's a big it's a it's a very important piece because I'm going once a month and I want guys to see like, look, man, I'm not just going out here to to dick around. I hate traveling. First of all, I hate it. I hate it. I hate being away from my family and I hate being away from the business. But I know that this stuff is important for me to grow the business. I know that it's important for me to grow. And that's really what I've been most invested in, you know, and that's what I took away was just leadership. And like, for me, I have, I've always thought that's been my strong suit. But I learned through this trip alone that it's I've got a lot to learn, right? Like I watched Andy's movements and Andy's team and I've seen Ryan and Ryan and how his team work and I'm learning from them. I just started to look at it more. like everything I do, you know, acting as if there's a camera on me 24 hours and making sure that I am the living embodiment. I mean, I already knew that. I read Ryan's book, the example, but I don't know what, sometimes you have to see it or hear it from somebody else to just like, Andy is kind of a, I'm walking billboard for that, right? Like he's super high energy. He's going all the time. He looks the way that his team wants to look. He runs the way that his team wants to run. And, uh, You know, his relationship with his wife is what the relationship that his team wants to have with their folks. The standards that he set, the standards that Ryan set are the standards by which everything is set through the company. And that's just it means so much to me. The fish stinks from the head down. And like, if I want this company to run a certain way and to be an organized machine, then I had better be an organized machine, period. And so For me, there's just so much that I took away, but the biggest thing was growth and leadership and internal growth and a reinvestment in myself, my health, sleep, diet, all of those things. It's not just grind, grind, grind. It's I need to be at the absolute peak if everything then subsequently underneath to me. You've lost how much?
Rick Selby36:37 - 36:39
17 pounds now as of this morning.
Ken Baden36:39 - 36:42
17 pounds. And you've been here for what, maybe a month or two now?
Rick Selby36:42 - 36:44
Yeah, just a little over two.
Ken Baden36:44 - 37:11
Yep, so in two months Ricks come in. And I don't want to attribute this to necessarily anything, but I would think. That if the environment around him like here, especially working with me directly, if it's like you know we gotta work out, we're going to do these things and then I'm being coached by Ryan and Andy and it's like, hey, you gotta take care of yourself. You gotta you gotta eat a certain way. You gotta really invest in yourself and treat yourself a certain way that I'm sure that had an impact. I mean, would you agree?
Rick Selby37:12 - 40:01
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I, you know, I attribute that to, you know, Potomac specifically. And, you know, it's funny, you said the thing about the camera, because there was three big takeaways that I got from the training. One of them absolutely was the camera 24 seven, you know, and everybody performs in front of the camera, right? Everybody performs when the boss walks into the office. Why do you only do it then? And one of the things I thought was great was they said, not only act as if there's a camera on you 24-7, act as if your boss is holding the camera 24-7. He's following you everywhere. And I thought that that was a great point. Another point was Andy saying that, realistically, only 5% of people that paid the money to go on this trip, that flew there, got hotels, attended, are actually going to change. Because a lot of people say that they want to change. And it sounds great, right? Like, you're in a shitty position. Oh, I want to change. Or, hey, I'm going to go to this class. Hey, I'm going to read this book. It's going to change me. No, it's not. You don't really want to change it. Sounds good, right? So, you know, that was a big thing for me. And Kenny, I can't tell you how many times before I came to Potomac, I was like, oh, I want to get in shape. Oh, I want to go work out. But I didn't do it. Right. Sounded great. Like I knew I was out of shape. It sounded amazing. So, you know, being in these rooms, like you said, being with you. It's like, I see this guy eating healthy. I see this guy working out. This guy got me a gym membership specifically so I could be the example. And then that was the other thing is being the example. You say that, of course, you attract what you are. And even from my point, you and I have had conversations where there were certain things that I had to change to be the example. I want to be the example for our guys as well. When it comes to the path that I'm on, my path to growth, I attribute it to you and the company as well as myself, of course, but it's really just wanting to take the most I can out of the opportunity that I've been given. The opportunity that I've been given, the people that I've been connected with, I am going to do absolutely anything and everything to make the most of that. Performing at your top level doesn't only have to do with your job and your career, it has to do with yourself. If I come in here and I don't have the energy because I ate five guys the night before and a whole plate of fries, I'm not my best version. Right. So, you know, I being around this, like wanting to take advantage of the opportunity, wanting to be at my peak performance is absolutely why I've made the changes I've had. And I'm super thankful.
Ken Baden40:01 - 49:20
And I would say, too, if you're listening to this as an entrepreneur or even an entrepreneur, that's another thing Andy brings up a lot. And I love that about Andy, because, you know, that was me. And I said this on his podcast. I went on his one percenter podcast. I said, had I not, you know, the opportunity I was given, I was ready and I was committed to building as an entrepreneur. You know, I had a somebody that I knew that was owned a company, but he was looking like, Hey, look, you know, I've got you and Sean. It was me and a good friend of mine that had both had success in the industry. Um, and we were going to, I was the sales VP. He was the GM and we were going to run this thing, man. And we did very successfully for a very short period of time. But when the, the fish stinks from the head down, we were, we were doing great. He was mismanaging funds. He was getting in the way, frankly, man. And like, What a shame because he had two absolute A players that were ready to just run this company and take this company to the absolute moon. And he just couldn't get out of his own way. And so one owners, are you that, is that you, are you in your own way? Are you your own weakest link, right? Do you have the opportunity right there, uh, for these guys to come in and run? Because I mean, frankly, If you're doing it the way that it should be at some point, I mean, you as the visionary or the owner, I mean, doing the day to day and working in the business shouldn't be you. And if you don't have guys that are better than you or smarter than you that are running the show, I mean, that's the goal, right? Like for me right now, where I'm at is like, I need an internal group of higher achievers and smarter people in the areas that I'm weak at. We're looking to hire and bring on a true integrator. What I mean is, if you're not familiar with EOS, there's visionary, there's integrator. I am very much just the true blue visionary. We need that integrator and we're going to be looking for that over the winter, which is a lot different than most of us sales folks, really. And so like that alone will change so much of the dynamic, but I would challenge you if you're listening to this and you're an owner of a company, are you in your own way? Are you allowing an opportunity for someone to come up and grow within your company? You know, we've had. Several guys, young guys, almost all of them were guys that just couldn't keep up with the momentum or meet the standards anyhow. So it was, you know, it was okay. And I mean, look, they were here first season and that's fine, right? I don't get caught up in that. I really don't. I think it's weird when people think they like own someone. I mean, we create an environment, an opportunity. If that opportunity works out, like we're looking for people to rock with us permanently. If that isn't you and you don't fit with the culture, then see ya, right? You want to go start a business? Now we've had a couple prop up underneath of us now that are basically just comprised of guys that were here before, right? And you can look at that as annoying, but what difference does it make? They're not here anymore, right? Like, so, okay, you know, well, I went out and did it the hard way and had to organically, whatever, man, right? Like I've got my goals, but really what I would say is, Are you making that opportunity for your folks? Or are you the guy that's going to basically be the guy that I left, right? Are you, are you sabotaging, self-sabotaging? Are you creating an environment where entrepreneurs can come in and make your company better? What is that going to hurt? That's only going to help you. Are you setting an opportunity for guys to come in and just fucking launch this thing? Or are you getting in the way? guys that are in the company. Are you looking for entrepreneurship opportunities? Are you looking, okay, I can do one of two things. I can go out and I can start this. I can take on all the liability. I can, you know, assume all the financial risk. I could go get all the loans. I could get all the capital, do all the backing. And they think that it's just going to be millions and millions and millions right off the bat, brother. you want to call yourself a multimillionaire and you want to be making that on a regular basis, you better be prepared, prepared to grow your company to that like 30 to 50 million mark where your net profit is so much so that you're able to then basically retain your company showing profit. And then you're, unless you just want to have a lifestyle company in which you're not showing any profit, you're living off of credit. But like, that's of no interest to me, right? That's not a real business to me. There's the lifestyle company that doesn't show profit that you're just kind of having. So you can afford the cool car or the house or whatever. But we are building a business to build, scale, grow. In fact, I think any real entrepreneur should be building to sell whether they plan to sell or not, because that means you're a profitable company that shows profit and could sell. And that's security. And that's something that entrepreneurs can come in and invest in. So it's twofold, man. Are you looking as an entrepreneur? If you're listening to this, you're a sales rep, you're a high achiever. You have those two options, man. You go find somebody. hopefully like myself, hopefully like Ryan, hopefully like Andy, that are rocking out, that are dying to find some great key component pieces and come grow with us. Take us to the moon. We're here. We're established. We've got the systems processes, KPIs, procedures. We've made the investments. We've taken the hits and we're ready to freaking go to the moon. You don't need to do any of that. There's a kid that I personally know that went out and started another company. I signed off on his stuff a couple of years ago, was complaining about having 100K in his account after doing a million and a half this year as a business. And that's the deal, brother. Had you done that same million and a half here, you would have made a whole lot more with a lot less risk. Guaranteed, right? Because we're financially solvent, we've done all this stuff. So like, and I don't mean to say that at any other reason is like, it's worth considering, it's worth thinking about, like, it's a very interesting, like, are you looking for an entrepreneur opportunity? And if you're an owner, are you making opportunities available for entrepreneurs? That's the deal, right? There are folks that are looking like myself, I was just looking, For somebody who had built something, I wanted to start up, I was purposely looking for a startup because I wanted to grow and grow quickly and get my foot in and be able to build. I wanted to like, I wanted to build somebody else, but I wanted something that was already set up and ready. There are lots of people like me that are looking for that, right? And the only reason I did what I did is because I could no longer trust in this owner, right? I could no longer trust my paycheck was coming. So is that you? And if that's you as on the other side of that, Are you keeping your eyes open for these opportunities? I can tell you right now, if you're local to the DMV and you're looking for that opportunity, PCR is hiring in Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and we're looking for you. If that's an opportunity, Ballers, Blue Collar Ballers, the group, right? Looking for a few folks to help us really dial in. I mean, that's a group of networking group, right? If you're listening to this and you are a Blue Collar Industry Pro, a Home Service Pro, And you want to come in and get in one of these networks, like we just talked about coming back from Arizona. We've got Andy Elliott, who's coaching with me. We've got Ryan Stumann, who's been coaching me. And Ryan Stumann is actually in Blue Collar Ballers. Like, he'll be in the trainings, as will Andy in the group, but like, We're taking as many as we possibly can. And we've been very, very strict over the last few months and only taken on one or two, but like over this winter and in 2024, we're going to take on and open up. Uh, let's see how many millionaires and how many successful blue collar, uh, businesses we can help build scale and prep to sell. Right? Like, and so if that's you, 2024 is your year. I'm on, right? Like stop making excuses. Stop telling yourself you do it next year. You'll do it next month. It's $2.99 a month or whatever the hell it is. It's not even about the funds, right? Like, and I hate, I never mentioned that this is the first time I've ever said this on this show, because I don't like, it's not why I do any of these things. Right. But I believe in this so much so that like, Come get in and make this thing happen because we're taking this 2024 is going to be our year. And I'm talking about not just with PCR, but the entire blue collar baller community. We are that right. First live event, I mean, we're just, we are the economy. We're not just the backbone. Like it's such a movement and the group has been really popping off. I mean, that's why I'm talking about it, right? The group, the Facebook group, the private group, it's been jumping, which means if you're listening to this and you're in home services or you're a blue collar professional and you want to learn the business side, the sales side, start off over there. It's free, man. Check it out, right? Come in there, come in the community. You could only ever do that. That's fine. Okay. But like, We want to attract the next wave and make sure that people understand like this is life-changing opportunity. And it's right here. Rick said he felt suited for blue collar for his whole life. Right. But like, that doesn't mean you're swinging a hammer forever. You can get in the business side, the sales side, and there are lots of opportunities and private equity. The folks with money are looking to invest in businesses just like that. And so. Rick, thank you so much, one, for coming on, and two, where can people find you if they were looking for you on Facebook, Insta, any of the places like that?
Rick Selby49:20 - 50:45
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm everywhere. I am Ricky the Roofer. Instagram, Facebook, everywhere else. Of course, I'm very active in Blue Collar Ballers. I've built a ton of connections through that group already. I probably have, I would say, 25 to 30 DMs that, you know, people I communicate with regularly. You know, I got a guy that's out in the Ohio area that's looking to get in the roofing and, you know, has invited me out for a weekend, you know, to come out, just kind of knock doors with them and really, you know, just just have some fun, show them what we do and so on. So, you know, there's great connections in there. And, you know, we're at, I think, three point six right now. So I think two months ago when I first joined, we were just over a thousand. We're growing at about 1,000 members a month right now. It's getting big, baby. We're taking it to the moon. Like Kenny says, we always got to protect the baby here at PCR Roofing, Potomac Custom Remodeling, but Blue Collar Ballers is definitely blowing up as well. But yeah, I am Ricky the roofer everywhere. I am Ricky the roofer at gmail.com. If you guys want to reach out to me directly, you know, again, this is my first first podcast. Kenny, I appreciate the opportunity, but I'm looking to to come up under Kenny and, you know, really learn the game and start to spread my wings in that space a little bit as well. So thank you, Kenny, for the opportunity.
Ken Baden50:46 - 52:16
Very welcome, man. And we'll, we'll do this. Like I said, I think this is good for the community. I think this is good. Not only good listening. I hope let us know what you guys think, man. Leave some reviews, like subscribe, share, leave comments. Tell us if you like it. What I'm thinking is we'll have one, uh, either baller. We will do that, man. Maybe we'll do one baller and one, one blue collar baller member, one blue collar baller community member. featured and definitely one direct PCR employee or sales rep featured that's really shining that month. You know, we have our core values, which is hits, honor, integrity, tenacity, teamwork, and service. And we give out an award once a month on who really just kind of shined and most most exuded those core values. Maybe we'll bring that person in, but either way, let us know what you guys think, man. I mean, I think it would be a great sense of community to bring my people in and showcase them more. Hope you guys like it. We'll get some better questions and stuff that could certainly be, that's the goal. The goal is not just to talk to you all, but to make sure that we're producing actionable, helpful content to entrepreneurs, salespeople, salespeople, salespeople, blue collar and home service professionals, and anybody seeking to level up, man. And so hopefully you got something out of this. I know I did, but I get to see Rick every day. And Rick, thank you again for coming on, man. Is there any other final thoughts or anything else you'd like to leave us with before we jump off?
Rick Selby52:16 - 52:50
I don't think so, man. You know, I had a bunch of thoughts before this and, you know, just I started to write stuff down and I was like certain shit to hit on, man. You know, no, I just, I just enjoyed our time. You know, again, I look forward to doing this more and, you know, honing in on that craft as well as we continue to grow within the business and, you know, grow, grow everywhere, man. It's, it's all about growth for me right now. You know, I'm, I'm being introduced to opportunities that I haven't had before, haven't had anywhere else. I'm really just looking to take the most advantage that I can and keep growing.
Ken Baden52:50 - 55:11
And that's one last final thought I will say. You see what we got going on here with Rick and think of this, the syndicate approach, right? The syndicate approach is bringing up everyone around you, right? And sharing your knowledge and sharing your experience and then building your brand. Social media is a powerful tool, building your brand, teaching Rick, helping Rick get exposure. And he starts building his brand. And then the next guy and the next guy and the next guy and the next guy. And now, you know, Elliot and Ryan do this very well, right? They've got stars and people that are doing really well. as far as their own personal brands within their community, what do you think that does for the brand? As long as it's positive, right? And it's good. I mean, you've heard there's no such thing as bad publicity. I would disagree if it's a business. However, if we have the entire team that's being shined on and really marketed, The syndicate, as I come up, right? Ryan mentioned this a while back, right? Crabs in a barrel, but in a good way, right? You ever seen the analogy where crabs in a bucket, you're pulling people back down? Well, this was the opposite of that. And he was like, you know what, man? And this was when I was brand new and Ryan and I were out in Utah, me, him and Brandon Brittingham. And Ryan says, you know, Ken, I will do everything I can to help put you up, put you on. Same with you, Brandon. And Brandon had already been doing speaking engagements and stuff. And he knew that was something that I was interested in. He said, just remember, you know, we come up together, right? So 10 hits for whatever reason. And now he's, he's the, the, the hot take for the month or the year. we're latching on to him man and we're all coming up we're all getting pulled out of the bucket together right like same with ryan we're all latching on to him currently andy we're all latching on to him currently if that becomes myself that becomes rick if that becomes rose like we're all locked in together right and so that's the power of a syndicate right and that's the power of being in this thing together and helping up the next one, but as a team, as a syndicate, as a unit, one brand hits the room, the brand overall brand is the focus. It all, it all works, right? It all helps. Absolutely. So look guys, we love you and we'll see you next time. And we hope to, uh, we hope to do this again. Let us know what you guys think. And we'll see you next time on the kitchen table.
Rick Selby55:11 - 55:11
Thanks guys.
Intro/Outro55:14 - 55:33
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