Sep 29, 2022
On today's episode Mike has on Austin Fricker of A. Fricker roofing. Austin built his business from the ground up with a $5,000 line of credit and hard work!
Today A. Fricker Roofing is a $6 million company, and he shares in this episode his methods on how he got there.
He attributes his growth to buildng a QUALITY team up, knowing how to be a true leader, having work/life balance, having structure & trusting the process.
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[00:00:00] Austin: It actually worked out a little bit backwards for us because we didn't start at the top and go down. We started at the bottom and went up.
Mike: You can't teach experience, right?
Austin: Marketing in, in a saturated market. You have to have, and you have to be good at it, and you have to have somebody that is good at it and consistent.
[00:00:25] Mike: And we live episode three of the Mission Control Podcast, brought to you by yours truly, Mike Stearns with Ascend Digital Agency. Say we've got a very special guest, Mr. Austin Fricker, with a Fricker Roofing Austin, welcome.
[00:00:40] Austin: Thanks man. I appreciate you having me on today, brother.
[00:00:43] Mike: Did. I appreciate you being here.
Anyone that's willing to spend more than five minutes in a room with me, I give 'em a lot of credit, so we appreciate you. So take. There you go. Every day is an opportunity to grow. So you are in the Tulsa, Oklahoma market. What got you into
[00:00:58] Austin: roofing man? Uh, kind of a crazy story to be honest. Um, I got in some trouble in my past.
They sent me to a center where I got to be a roofer, um, for a small local roofing company in the area. And that was just kind of the start. It was kind of, you know, it was a blessing for sure. It was one of those things where I absolutely hated it at the beginning. I wasn't selling roofs, I wasn't managing projects.
I was literally hand nailing shingles all day, every day. So that was my start.
[00:01:32] Mike: Okay, perfect. So how long ago was that?
[00:01:38] Austin: Oh, seven years. Eight years. Seven. Eight
[00:01:42] Mike: years. Okay. That's, that's quite some time ago. So what did the road from coming from that point to where you're at now, what does that road look like for Austin?
[00:01:53] Austin: Okay. So unlike most people in a lot, in, in the ownership of a roofing company, I feel like these days is, uh, somebody starts off in sales, maybe a project manager. Then they, you know, have a lot of clients that go out on their own. Maybe they have a background in marketing and then they want to try owner.
Mama's just a little bit different and I mean, it is normal this way. Maybe it's a little bit more old school though. So like I said before, I was just out there hand nailing shingles all day, every day for a local roofing company out of eight Oklahoma. Then, you know, I got a girlfriend, kid, things like that.
They were in Tulsa. Toss is a much bigger market. Eight is like 10,000 people, greater Tulsa's like a million. Okay. Um, I decided to move into, uh, back to Tulsa. Got into the commercial roofing industry. Um, also, still as a, a laborer applicator. Worked my way up at that company to a foreman, superintendent, things like that.
And then, uh, from that point I started getting some side works, some repairs, things like that. And the company I worked for only did commercial, no exceptions for any reason. So a lot of what we did was somebody. That we did commercial work for, had a residential property, right? And the company couldn't fit those needs.
So I would get leads like that. And then, uh, and then one day I was just like, you know, I can't take this on anymore. It's just too much working 10, 12 hours a day there, getting off work, picking my son up from, from daycare, rolling around with my son doing repairs in the truck, things like that. It just got to be too much.
And then, uh, and then Covid. And I was like, Okay, yep, it's time going out on my own. And then from there it's just been counting blessings, just blowing up
[00:03:41] Mike: left and yeah. That's amazing. So just for context, you are in what year of your company?
[00:03:48] Austin: We are. We've been in business for two and a half full years.
[00:03:53] Mike: Okay, perfect. And what do you, what did you finish at last year? What are you projected to finish at this?
[00:03:59] Austin: Uh, we did a 2.4 year, one, 3.9, year two, and this year we're, we're definitely gonna do over five. Our, our push goal is 6.05. It's a very exact number, but that's what we're pushing for. But I know for sure we're doing, we're doing five minutes.
[00:04:18] Mike: I mean, that's, that's really good year over year growth. Have you been able to, to keep your margins where they need to be?
[00:04:27] Austin: You know, it's kind of funny because, uh, at the beginning, whenever I was actually on the roofs installing the roofs with my guys, I was charging. I mean, I, I had never, I'd never had any experience in, uh, estimating sales, finances, marketing, any, none of that.
So what I would do is, okay, I got my materials. It's gonna take me a day and a half with these three guys, plus, That's gonna cost me, you know, this much money and I wanna make $800 in a day and a half. And to me that was like insane. I was stoked about that. So that's what, that's what it was like at the beginning.
You know, if I made $4,000 on a roof, that was just insane. I was static. So then year two, I brought on sales reps, project manager, things like that. Got an office, got multiple trucks. So at that point I realized, okay, whatever I'm doing before I can't do roofs and make a thousand dollars anymore, I'm not gonna keep my head above water.
So then we started getting into insurance work, supplementing things like that, growing our maintenance and repair division. Um, and so then our profit margins really went from like 10 to 20% to 20 to 30%. And now they're more like 30 to 40%, which, you know, it's kind of hard. Think about. Cause you're like, okay, the bigger you get, the lesser the, uh, especially whenever you're earning that growth phase, the bigger you get, the less you're gonna make.
Cause you're spending all this money on marketing dollars, hiring guys where, or girls where there's a high turnover, investing in sales reps, training, things like that. And then it doesn't work out. That's just money down the drain. Um, so it actually worked out a little bit backwards for us because we didn't start at the bottom or at the top and go down.
We started at the, uh, bottom and
[00:06:20] Mike: went down interest. Yeah, that's a, an atypical path I'd say. Um, for sure. . So look, you mentioned something that grabbed my interest and I've heard a lot of debates on both sides of this, and you mentioned like a repair service division, right? So Yes. When did it get to the point where you found the value enough to dedicate roles for this within your company?
[00:06:47] Austin: So, you know, like I said earlier, I. I used to do repairs myself for the company and on the side and things like that. The first company I worked for, they'd do a little bit of repairs, but I was never the one doing 'em. The second huge commercial company I worked for, they had a huge maintenance and repair division.
I mean, their repair division was the same size as their production division, like man for man, truck for truck. So I knew that there was money in it. I knew that there was a way to make that. a vehicle for growth, especially in the commercial world. Um, I didn't realize that it, there was such a high demand in residential because like I said, I didn't really know anything about the, uh, roofing industry other than putting them on, right?
So I didn't realize that most companies don't have a repair division. That was something I didn't really understand that a lot of companies didn't do that. I always thought, you know, you do, somebody needs a repair. You sell 'em a repair, or you just do the repair so you can get the roof later, which is what I.
Um, and then the more and more I started noticing, people were like, Well, I called five people. Three of 'em showed up, one of 'em gave me an estimate for a new roof, but all I really need is I got four missing shingles. You know, it was things like that. And I was like, Okay, I'll charge you 800 bucks to swap out a few shingles, and it was just quick, easy money.
Then whenever I got so busy that I just couldn't get to all that, plus estimating, plus managing my guys and trying to grow the. I brought on an old employee or an old coworker of mine from that big roofing company. He started doing it. He brought on his, uh, son-in-law. He started doing it. And then now we've grown the, the department to where we run two, sometimes three trucks, depending how we wanna split up the guys.
But we have 'em in two man crews for safety reasons. Um, and I mean, I don't know where I would be without our repairs.
[00:08:44] Mike: Yeah, no kidding. It is like there's such a high demand and like from my, I bring a different perspective. I've never been in roofing per se. Right. I've been in the industry via marketing, and I always tell people like the surge volume, a lot of consumers just, you know, naturally they look for the cheapest option.
Right. It's just how it goes. Yeah. So they might be looking for a roof repair and maybe it is a replacement, but they don't want to come to grips with the fact that they gotta replace their 30 year old. Right. Because they know how much, we know how much money it costs. It's not cheap. Oh, yeah. Um, oh yeah.
What I, what I've found is that a lot of people struggle with getting people in place to actually do it and, and doing it in a way that's profitable because, you know, there's higher margins, but finding somebody who's consistently okay with doing repair work. Right. Um, it seems to be challenging for a lot of people.
So you have how many, how many people within your repair division. five right now and one came from a someone you used to work with, so that's a great relationship to have. You got some trust there. Reliability. Right? And that person you said, brought in two more people. Okay? Yes. That's awesome. So where did the other two come from?
Where did you have luck finding them?
[00:09:59] Austin: A lot of trial error, to be honest. . Um, that's the truth. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie, man. The repair tech position is probably the one position that has the highest turnover of helpers, not a foreman. Okay? We've had the same foremans, but helpers, man, they just rotate whenever the season's due, okay?
Um, I mean, we're in Oklahoma. It's 104 degrees out. You get on a roof, it's just insanely hot. If you're not used to being a roofer, good luck, . It's gonna be hard for you, man. You're not gonna make it long. Or if you do, we know you're a. Seriously, cuz anybody that can do that is worth keeping, worth paying more just for the fact that they're that dedicated to push through stuff like that.
Push through the sun burns, you know, I mean everything. Um, and so another thing that we've done is, uh, we really just try to, if somebody has a friend or family member that they can bring on after 90 days, they get a check for bringing somebody off. because what we found is, you know, uh, employees from referrals seem to work out a little bit better for whatever reason.
That just kind of seems to be what's worked out for us. Cuz whenever we hire somebody that filled out, you know, uh, something on Google or sent us a Facebook message, they just saw something coming across their news feed they clicked on to see what it was about. But they're really not all that interested.
But if I'm like, Hey Mike, you got any friends or family that wants to be a repair tech or, you know, get into roofing or whatever the case. Like, you know what? My buddy used to do roofing. He's at a job right now. He was complaining about how he is only making, you know, $11 an hour. Man, let me hit him up.
Okay, well now we're talking about something. We got him in the office to talk to his face to face. And that's somebody that, you know, just like a, uh, just like any, like a customer lead. If you just give 'em a price over the phone, what are the odds that they're gonna, they're actually gonna follow through.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Or if it's somebody, Knows somebody you know, says, Hey, I'm coming out to look at this, and then you give 'em a price face to face. Your odds of closing are so much higher, right?
[00:12:10] Mike: Yeah. It's like, uh, it's, it's almost like the bird of the feather bird of a feather thing, right? Like they flock together.
Right? So if you have somebody who's a good employee Yeah. In whatever capacity or role that you have within your company, and you want more of those people, Same thing with a lead, right? If you get a referral from somebody who you did a roof for, you know, it's likely gonna close and they're likely gonna be, uh, comparable as far as the quality of that, that lead, right?
Yes. So for sure. Yeah. That's really interesting. So you started out hand banging shingles, right? Kind of doing it, you know, as you go. I think a lot of people, through my experience and what people have told me, and this is like in all business, was. , everybody wants to be the boss until they're the boss.
Right? And then they, they really see what comes with, you know, being able to go on that four day vacation. They don't look at the fact that it's been three years since you've left your zip code , or the 15 hour days that you've been putting in for the last three years. So, has it, has it been everything that you wish for?
Um, looking back in hindsight, .
[00:13:20] Austin: Oh man. Um, you know, I, I had a completely different perspective of what it was gonna be like. What? I mean, I was not signing up for what I got, just to be honest. It was a completely different situation. So my, in my mind, what I was envisioning was I would go to work, I would put on roofs in the afternoons or evenings, I would go do estimates or.
And then I'd go to sleep, get up and do it all over again. I have a few guys that I would roof with, you know, and things, and my wife would help me maybe with the books or marketing or something like that. Well, I didn't realize that it wasn't just that simple, especially in a big market like Tulsa. You know, I didn't think about finances.
I didn't think about, um, really what marketing takes. I mean, market. a completely different industry, just like finances is, but like marketing in, in a saturated market, you have to have, and you have to be good at it, and you have to have somebody that is good at it and consistent. Right. Um, and uh, another thing was, is, you know, I didn't realize how much money it was gonna take to, to work at the, at the level that I thought I was gonna be able to at the beginning.
Cause it takes an insane amount of capital to be able to get up to there. I started my company with $12,000 to our family's name, $12,000. That was it. Yeah. So I would do a roof and I had a credit line of $5,000 because I did not have a, I had never had a loan, never had a car payment, credit card, so I had no credit.
That was the issue too, so I had to build up credit. I was lucky enough to get a $5,000 credit line, have to do a roof, get paid super. Buy materials for the next one. Go do it. Get paid sewer fast. And it was like that for the first few months. Luckily we had a good hailstorm right after I, I started my own business, but you know, for the first two years I was working.
Literally, you remember, man, like 16 hours a day. You call me at nine, I answer. You call me at five, I answer and I'm probably in the truck doing something. Yeah. You know, I mean that, that's where I lived. now that I'm at year two and a half going again, you know, inching up on the three year mark, I think that I'm starting to actually get to the point where I want to be, where I can let go of my guys.
You know, I empower 'em to be able to do things on their own without me being, I, and I always say this word from one of my coaches, Nathan Toto. He, the first time I ever met him, he said, Yeah, man, you're, you're the choke point of your company. and that's what it is, you know? Yeah. I was the choke point, I was the Google of the company and, uh, I still am to a degree.
It's, we're, we're going through a lot of restructuring, coaching, training processes to change that so that I can do more of the portion that I want to do is, which is ironically out with my God. Right. How,
[00:16:22] Mike: how tough is that for you? Well, letting. I gotta tell you, man, I am a complete control freak, right? So, me too.
I am, I know the struggle that I've had and, and still have. It's an everyday struggle to like, be cognizant of that, be self-aware and like, you gotta let this go. You gotta let that go. And it's, um, it's, it's like a internal tug of war that takes place, right? ?
[00:16:47] Austin: Yes, Dude, it is so hard. So I always try to go off of, you know, if they can do it, 80% as good as I can do.
Then they can do it. You know, that's good enough, which you're never gonna find anybody that does it as good as you do, but over time they may do it better than you.
[00:17:08] Mike: That's,
[00:17:08] Austin: that's a really good point. You know, and that's the truth, you know, is they've got, you know, somebody, there's been a few people that gave me the opportunity and empowered me along my path.
Um, and if they would never have done that, I don't know how I would've been able to achieve what I have. So, . So that's one thing that, you know, I, I really do try to work on is letting go, empowering 'em, letting 'em do their thing. But man, whenever it comes down to like estimating, that's a scary thing, man.
you don't want 'em bidding, you know, $150,000 roof at 110,000 and really it costs 115 to do the job, right? You. Because then you're locked into that roof and you're married to that roof for two, three to five, maybe 10 years, whatever kind of warranty you put on that. Yeah. Um, not at stake. And man, that's a, Yeah, that's a scary thought.
But on the flip side, man, The way that I look at it is I never went to college. So I'm looking at is the first year, four years of business are the four first four years of college for me? I'm gonna have to pay some lose. Yeah. I'm gonna have to get ready degree, you know,
[00:18:17] Mike: Hey man, you can't teach experience, right.
So you, you get out there, get after it, and I mean, it served you well thus far. So keep up the good work. I've been pretty, pretty, Yeah. So you, you mentioned a coach, you said Nathan Tobi. .
[00:18:34] Austin: Yeah, he's one of 'em. Okay. Um, and then I also have, uh, John Townson.
[00:18:39] Mike: What, uh, what is the name of the
[00:18:41] Austin: outfit they work with?
Contractor Coach Pro. Uh, it's Jim Johnson's outfit. Okay. I mean, man, they're great.
[00:18:50] Mike: So when did you realize that you would benefit from what a coach would bring to the table?
[00:18:59] Austin: Okay, so after year, Whenever I started bringing sales reps, I knew I wasn't a good sales rep. I just sold my roofs based on being a roofer.
I was really knowledgeable, so I hired a company to do sales training. You know, we did that for a year. Then my guys learned how to sell. That's great. That's awesome. But then I started thinking about, I really don't know how to grow a business. Like people go to college, people. Spend their whole life in business to figure out how to grow a
[00:19:30] Mike: business.
And, and a lot of 'em still don't know .
[00:19:34] Austin: Yeah, exactly. I don't know if I do, honestly. Um, but then I was like, you know, I think I, and then I ran into John Townsend at, uh, Roof Con, and we just started talking, you know, talking more about the ins and outs of the business, not just specifically sales. And whenever you started pointing things out, it really made sense.
And really whenever he asked me like, Hey, do you wanna keep, you know, working 12 to 15 hours a day every day? Cuz you're not gonna make it doing that. That's whenever I was like, You're right man. I need somebody that's done this before that can give me some shortcuts to achieve what I'm trying to achieve, which is not working 120 hours a week, not working seven days a week, having time with my family, having time with.
And also just knowing how to manage my, my business, keep an eye on all the aspects that I need to keep an eye on and create structure and processes so that all of my guys can do the best that they can do. Yeah. You know,
[00:20:37] Mike: I mean, it's your obligation to do that as their leader, right? Yeah. Nice. So what are, what are some of the, the key takeaways, like the biggest.
Pivots that you've made from your pre-coaching days to now that you've kind of had some outside help from people that have done it before. What? What have been the biggest, I guess, impacts that it's made?
[00:20:59] Austin: Well, impacts, I mean, obviously it's hard in my, I mean, in my opinion, growing a company past the, the $4 million mark is really hard. Like you can have one to four, you know, relatively easy. Going past that for, I mean, that's a lot of volume that requires a lot of moving parts that I didn't realize were required.
They brought a lot of that to light that I didn't even realize that we were doing, but we weren't necessarily doing it. Right. Um, and then also just how granular you have to be with things in order to teach somebody else how to do that. That's a huge thing that I didn't realize How. Granular, I had to break down every single thing on every single process to figure that out.
Now on the flip side, that's more of the business stuff, but more of the like me stuff, um, is I didn't have a mission statement. Um, I didn't, we, you know, we had our core values, but we didn't have 'em wrote on the wall. Not everybody that walked in the door and knew 'em. Um, we'd have new guys come in that weren't, you know, upholding 'em, and we didn't really.
We knew, we know the value of our each individual person's core values, but there's a, there's something else about having a team that has the same core values. It operates differently. You know, they, they think about situations differently. You know, it's a whole nother culture and that, and building up our culture, them helping me to become a better leader.
that's a whole nother deal. You know, leadership obviously is something that you have to work on day after day after day after day. And you, you have a journey. It's, it's, uh, it's a long term thing. Yeah. And whenever you figure out, Okay, I've gotten to this phase of being a leader, but maybe there's a reason why I'm not getting the buy-in that I should be.
And it's not because they are not buying in, it's. I'm not doing what I need to so they can buy in. And that was kind of like an epiphany moment. Like, I need to grow more as a person, as a leader, as an owner, um, as a husband, as a, uh, a father, so that I can be a better leader for my
[00:23:23] Mike: guys. It's not always the easiest thing to do, right?
[00:23:28] Austin: Yeah. Oh, that's the hardest
[00:23:29] Mike: part. There's no doubt about it. What are, what would you say has been the most challenging aspect, you know, as you've progressed from the very beginning to where you're at now through the journey? Say that again. What would you say is the most, has been the most challenging aspect?
Whether it's a thing, a group of things that, that you've experienced from going to, you know, just hand banging shingles at eight o'clock at night to running a five to $6 million.
[00:23:58] Austin: Man, that's pretty hard cuz you know, there's a lot of hard things. . I mean really, it's like every aspect is pretty difficult out for me.
It was outside of just the roofing and sales came naturally to me cuz I was a roofer, so I had to end with knowledge. So that was pretty simple for me to figure out. Um,
Man, that's a tough one,
[00:24:25] Mike: bro. That's all good. That's not easy. I'm glad I can stump you a little bit. .
[00:24:29] Austin: Yeah. I would say the most, the most challenging thing is, well, for sure in roofing, most roofers can relate to this. You know, insurance saves 30, 45, 60 days to pay. You have all these different bills you gotta pay.
You got all these different commissions you gotta pay you. All these, just a whole bunch of things. You gotta, where money's going out and your, your goal is to keep jobs coming in, which equals money going out. Well in, in the process of that, it's like, well, it's kind of difficult to do like a month's end or a year's end because your money can be so strung out.
So figuring out the numbers of where we need to be, where we should be, um, and where, yeah, where we're. And how much money can go into marketing, how much money can go into, uh, truck allowances? How much money can go into, you know, a new office, Can we start stalking shingles in bulk? You know, things like that.
That's kind of just something that's been hard for me to wrap my mind around, but something for me to, that's the hardest thing for me to actually get up and do is creating that damn process. Mm-hmm. , that is the, Mind numbing, bearish thing. , it's like, it's like looking at a spreadsheet with nothing but numbers all day, every day.
Except for it's only been 10 minutes, right? Huh? It's so difficult and it's cuz what you're trying to do is you're trying to put what you do in the real world onto paper, but without actually doing it and sitting behind a desk, you know, and make it, make it relatable to every situation. Like
[00:26:17] Mike: writing book.
Yeah. It's not, it's, it's challenging, right? Because, you know, we have all this stuff in our head, right? And there's an assumed level of knowledge of the next person that they're gonna have. You know, maybe they're gonna be here, here, here in the learning curve. And it's like, you kind of have to assume everyone's starting from zero.
Create your process from there. And then, like you said, once you have the process, I think of it kind of like a teacher, right? You can have a teacher of any subject. And it could be the most interesting thing in the world, but if that teacher doesn't know how to teach in a way that's gonna engage their audience and people respond differently to different things, so if she can't get that audience engaged, it doesn't, That shit doesn't matter because nobody's gonna pay attention to retain the information.
Not nobody, but there's gonna be a much smaller percentage of people that will actually be focused on what he or she is actually trying to teach them. Right?
[00:27:08] Austin: Yeah, for sure. I would, I would definitely agree with that 100%. Like, you know, honestly, when, like, here's a good example. Whenever you give me advice on things, which is crazy, I don't know why I would take advice from you, but, um, I listen, you know, I really do.
But whenever I've talked to the marketing people that we've hired in the past, man, I just, I'm not with it, you know, It, it just kind of doesn't seem like they're as bought in. And I think that that does come down. Is this person truly invested in this situation or this company or this person? Cause I feel like you can really tell if somebody's truly invest in something versus somebody's just going through the motions and things like that.
Like you said, a teacher, if they're truly invested in their class, the class can tell. Yeah, no doubt about it. If they're trying to make moves to prove
[00:28:00] Mike: it. Yeah, that's a, that's a really good point. That's smart. So, , you're doing residential, you're doing commercial, you've got your, your repairs, you've got your replacements, You're doing a ton of marketing.
Like what's the end game for a Fricker Roofing ?
[00:28:22] Austin: Well, it used to be up until, you know, probably five or six months ago, we wanted to grow a lot more. Um, but again, backing up to the leadership and backing up to being a better husband, father. . I just don't think I can have my fingers on the pulse like I should this early in our career and in our business's life to grow too much more than we are right now.
Mm-hmm. , you know, we wanted to be a 20, 30, 40 million company and now that I've realized what that takes really, if you have a big enough banker bankroll and some good saw people, I feel that just about anybody can do that. Dump money into marketing, have plenty of crews, things like. But what I'm really wanting is a well oiled machine where everybody within the company is financially free, has their, you know, freedom from just being able to get, walk out the door and be able to think about other things.
Um, being able to take off work, able to go home and be a husband and be a father, and things like that. Um, and so we really wanna stick around the five to $8 million range. We don't wanna get any bigger. Maybe even seven, just so that we can really get what we're doing down really, really well. Make sure that all of our guys are happy, we're all constantly growing, and that we're just being as efficient as possible and not just throwing money into something so we can keep growing and growing and growing, growing.
I'd rather make sure that we're very profitable at this number before we try to be profitable at this bigger. So I, I wanting to say around the, you know, like I said, five to $8 million range, Make sure everybody is where they want to be personally and professionally and just create a very efficient machine.
[00:30:15] Mike: Yeah, I think. Um, so let me ask you this. What was your, when you wanted to be 20, 30, $40 million company, what was the thought behind that?
[00:30:26] Austin: You know, I don't really know. , like, you know, it was one of those things, I just always thought more is better. You know, bigger is better. And the more I've learned, and the more people I've talked to that are at that level, or bigger than that level, um, it comes down to really, they're like, you know, I'm making just as much as I was whenever I was at 8 million or 9 million I, and now we're at 23 and I make the same amount of money except for I'm a whole way more headache.
And that's,
[00:30:58] Mike: yeah. , I said way more headaches.
[00:31:01] Austin: Yeah. Yeah. That just doesn't sound appealing. Like who wants to make the same amount of money but do way more work?
[00:31:07] Mike: Well, I, I think, I think part of it has to do with like ego, right? Like, you know, I think about when I, like I was in high school or shortly thereafter and I'm like, ah, you know, I want to be able to bench 315 pounds.
why that shit doesn't matter. Right. It's like the least functional strength I think that, you know, I could acquire is bench pressing. Right? I'm not an offensive lineman. Um, yeah, I'm not, I'm not doing anything where like this motion is really gonna help me. But like, it's really cool to say that I could bench 315 pounds, right?
And then like, you know, then I started getting older and as I would bench, you know, and try to lift heavy. Good Lord, my shoulder is killing me, right? Like my body's breaking down and now it makes even less sense to like lift happy. So, you know, now I live with like 135 pounds and you know, I do high wraps and maybe I'll do 2 25, but like I'm not pushing for any huge max just because there's not value in that to me.
And I realize that it's really just an ego thing is for me in that instance, is the only thing that's pushing that want to, to get to that level that I initially thought that I wanted to be at. So what I'm saying is I'm, I'm old and weak now is what?
[00:32:20] Austin: Yeah. Well I gathered that. I saw, I've seen you play
[00:32:24] Mike: basketball.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Still got a jump shot though. Um, Yeah, you
[00:32:29] Austin: do, man. Hey, you drank three corners. Um, you know, man, it was one of those things, like, like I said, we were doing some coaching and they had me write out my dream and I wrote out this dream. I put all this thought into it and stuff like that.
You know, did it how I was supposed to, and then I brought it back to 'em and we started going over like all the different things on my dream that I wanted to, that was my dream. And they're looking at it and they're like, Well, it kind of looks to me like this is kind of your life now. Like you've got all these things.
Mm-hmm. and some of 'em were quite, a bit of 'em were materialistic, you know? And I mean, to me, I thought they were well thought out, but they realistically were. And so whenever I'm looking at what I thought wanted to be my dream, okay, that's my dream and I can do all that right now. But what about the other side of it?
Am I going to have all that and just kill myself working all day every day, exhausted, not there mentally for anything else other than work. And I was like, okay. That was kinda like the aha moment. Like, okay, this is supposed to be about more than just achieving this. It's about achieving. And having a peace of mind and enjoying life.
And just having fun. Man, that was a huge thing. I didn't have as much fun that that second year, now that I'm past that second year, I'm starting to be able to loosen up, you know, relax, go home, turn the phone off, things like that. Now I just get to enjoy things more. Cuz you know how it is, man. Especially the beginning.
You're all uptight, tense, anxious, you know. If you can shake that but still have all the perks of owning your own business. I think that's what most people are really after is, you know, that's what they need. Actually. They may not know that that's what they're after, cuz they really wanna get that new truck, that big old house, things like that.
But that's what they really need is a big truck, big house. And
[00:34:27] Mike: he's a Yeah. Exa, Well, you know, time's the one resource we can't replenish, we can't buy more of. Right. So it's. , and you know, me, me personally, as I've gotten older, I become more and more aware of that each day. And I've, I've for a long time had valued my time, but again, it gets increasingly more valuable to me as I know that day after day I, it sounds morbid, but I have less of it.
Right. Um, to look forward to. Yeah. So I think that's a really interesting point and I, I couldn't agree more with it, man. If only we could buy more time. Right. Make the days 28 hours. You're kidding. Mom. .
[00:35:04] Austin: Yeah, I think there's a movie about that
[00:35:06] Mike: though. It might be, it might be one or two. Uh, so yeah, I think that's just
What is like, let's talk adversity, right? So you, you in running your business, like I've been here for a good part of it and have, have seen you weather storms, both literal storms and Tulsa, Right. And the proverbial storms. Let's talk, you know, where did you. , where did you de de develop your strength, your mental strength from to endure what it's taken you to get your business to this point?
[00:35:40] Austin: Man, I'll tell you, it's crazy to say, I was actually like we were talking about health. I actually went to the doctor for the first time in like 10 years today. Dr. Drew, Blood, all that stuff. But, um, man, I, I was telling the doctor about this cuz you know, I gotta tell him my whole medical history and. And so I was, I was a drug addict.
And if for anybody that's ever been a drug drug addict, they know like, Hey, that's hard. That's a hard life to live. Yeah. You know, I was a, a hustler and things like that and I mean, I went through things that I hoped that God, nobody else I know has to go through. And a lot of that ironically developed a lot of my mental strength and then going to jail, spending a long time in jail.
And then getting shipped off to being away from my family. And all I did was roofing while I was gone for $0. Didn't get to keep a single dollar of it. Um, in that two and a half year span where I was, you know, caught up in drugs, living a crazy hard lifestyle, being really hard on myself to going to jail, spending a long time in jail to going to a work center, doing nothing but roofing and then.
and then wearing that kind of on my back is like, Oh, he is an addict. He worked, you know, he is 20 whatever years old. All he is is a roof, or things like that. You know, I learned how to shake a lot of things off and how to really pay attention to how to who I was supposed to be and not what I became. And once I started realizing that you know who I'm supposed to be is this really showing person that's capable of accomplishing whatever they want to accomplish, all they have to do is continue taking the next.
And no matter what kind of distractions are around or what kind of hurdles there are, as long as you keep taking that next step like you're supposed to, that's your training. You, you've been trained to get to where you are now so that you can overcome whatever's in front of you. And so it's, like I said, it's ironic that drug addiction gave me the strength to help me get to where I am now.
But it really, that's where it all started and, and then also obviously, My family. Yeah, of course. You know, that's a huge part is having them as a huge confidence booster, you know?
[00:37:59] Mike: Yeah, for sure. So how long have you been drug free?
[00:38:09] Austin: About
[00:38:10] Mike: seven years. That's amazing. Congratulations brother. I talked about it recently with another guest, and you know, I was in. , I was an addict at one point and, you know, I guess you would say I'm in recovery. And it's, uh, it is, it is tough. And, you know, you're, I feel very fortunate to, to be sitting here with you today and having this conversation for both of us.
Right. Um, because it's, it's not easy and it's, it's a, what has, my question to you is what has helped sustain that? Do you ever have. Do you ever feel like it, it, it's more challenging and sometimes than others? Are there certain things you do to cope when things get tough? For those out there that might be dealing with a similar issue?
[00:38:53] Austin: Man, you know, it's one of those things where we, we get so caught up in our life, you know, being so busy and things like that, that sometimes I, at least I am, I'm a little bit guilty of neglecting what I, what's really on my mind sometimes, and. Only whenever I relax do I actually feel what's on my mind. Um, and so a big part of what got me through it at the beginning was just work, work, work, work, work.
Try I do more, more, more, more, more. And so I think that may honestly be a another factor of why I wanted to have that 20, 30, 40 million company, because slowing down wasn't in me because then it would give me the ability to, to think about things I didn't want to think about or whatever. And then, you know, another portion of it was whenever you are responsible of other people's, like wellbeing or finances or things like that, like if I screw up today and relapse, what happens to all the people in our company that we've built up to this point?
You know, what happens to all of our customers that have warranties through us? What happens to all the people that refer us on? When we have 10 referrals on one Facebook post, you know, how do, how am I gonna make those people look, if somebody find finds out, Oh yeah, he, he's back onto this, or he is back onto that.
And so just that is what helped me hold myself accountable to my actions, to my thoughts and just knowing that, hey, that's something, it's almost. That was a completely different person. Almost like, obviously once an addict, always an addict. But it's like that was a completely different person who I was.
Yeah. Now I'm, I'm back to being Austin Freaker, who I'm supposed to be, who I want to be, who my friends and family want me to be. Um, but yeah, I mean,
[00:40:51] Mike: I hope that answers dude. That's question. I mean, it's an amazing answer, dude. It's like I said, I know how challenging it is. You know, people cope with things in different ways and people have different, you know, methods to, to dealing with things.
And I think that it's important for, you know, people that are, that might be watching this or may watch this in the future to know like, this isn't something that you should not try to deal with. You're not alone like other people have been here. And just to shed some perspective on what's worked for you, I think, you know, if it can make a difference for one person, I think that's a huge
[00:41:21] Austin: win.
Yeah. Oh yeah. That, and I mean really, ultimately that's the goal, man, is if you can change one life, I mean, what is better than that? Yeah. Honestly, I mean, what is better than changing somebody's life, Changing the direction of their life? That's why we, we try our best to hire people and recovery, and as you as one person would probably assume that creates issues because especially when they're early in recovery.
A lot of people relapse. I mean, the success rate of getting off certain drugs is like insanely low. So that's a hurdle we've had to overcome. Be as you know me, man, I always want to help people go outta my way for people, things like that. And so it sucks whenever you do that for somebody and then boom, they relapse and then kind of make you look stupid in the process.
And then now you're stuck with your pants down because you're like, Well now I got one repair tech. He can't go out by him. So you put me in a bond whenever I was trying to help you. Sure. But all that to say, the people that we have helped that are on the right path, especially now, I mean the credit doesn't go to us.
They do all that on their own, but those people are what make it worth it. Yeah. You know what I mean? And the fact that we, we still tried. We did our best. Yeah.
[00:42:42] Mike: And I, I think that's, that's pretty incredible, man. It's, you know, having empathy for, for people and, and taking a chance on people like we, at some point or another, we've all needed a second.
Or in my instance, the third or fourth chance. Right. Like ,
[00:42:58] Austin: I know
[00:42:59] Mike: that was, Yeah. You know, and, and so, you know, some of us are stubborn and some are less stubborn and, you know, it take, it takes all types. So I think it's amazing to, to be able to bring to the community that mindset and that open mindedness and be willing to embrace those that need help and give them an opportunity.
Because like you said, the, the, if, if you're talking specifically about addiction, Even, you know, more specifically d certain types of drugs, they have a higher relapse rate, but if nobody ever gives them a shot, what is the likelihood that they break through? Right? So you're doing, you're doing an incredible service to those people and the, the community around you by doing that.
So, um, I applaud that and Oh yeah. I mean, I'm not in Tulsa, but I'm grateful for it because, you know, I think that, uh, I think we need some more of that positive energy in this world quite.
[00:43:49] Austin: for sure. And you know, as well as I do, man, it's hard to stay positive sometimes whenever you're in a business, whenever there's 10 fires going on, like you just wanna pull your hair out and then somebody that just asks like a simple question, you're like, Oh my God, you are so annoyed me right now.
But it's really not even them. You know what I mean? And so it, it can be difficult sometimes to keep trying to do good whenever you're so busy. . But what we've come to find out is if we keep trying to just donate our value and donate what we're capable of doing, that will help people. Then the money comes on the back end.
Yeah. Every time it just comes back. So that's why, I mean, we do a lot of free repairs on, you know, if I go see a customer and they just need some basic, I'll just do it right then if, if that's somebody that's in need, you know, or. . A cheerleading team needs uniforms. Yeah, we'll do it. Or a baseball team or a shelter or, you know, the whole town freeze is like it did.
We're not built for the cold here in Oklahoma. If there's, if there's an inch of ice, we are shut down.
[00:44:57] Mike: Yeah. Us here in Buffalo too.
[00:45:02] Austin: Well, you know what happens is a lot of the homeless people, man, um, they. They're stuck out in that. You know what I mean? They really are. The shelters are full. So, you know, noticing that, trying to help those people, trying to go outta the way for those people, I mean, even though that's giving away money, it's not bringing in money, it still will help you get to your end result at the end of the day somehow, in some way.
It just,
[00:45:30] Mike: you just have to have faith. Well, and it's like I, You can't always. The value is something you can't always quantify in putting into a spreadsheet, right? So, you know, if you could wake up in the morning and feel good about the person that you're seeing, right? And, and the, the skin that you're living in, there's, there's, it's an unbelievable amount of value in what that does for your mind and how that helps you continue to do right, make good choices, do the right.
And just feeling as if you, You're making a difference right. On yourself. For your family. Yeah, for the community. Like that stuff is super powerful, man.
[00:46:10] Austin: Oh yeah. And it feels good, man. You know, I'd like to say sometimes that I, you know, we do it for them, but you know, man, you do it because it makes you feel good.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, that's why I do it, is because it makes me be at peace with myself and it makes me feel good, gives me fulfillment and. . That's something that, you know, it's like actually helping some, helping a customer versus just selling a customer something, right? I mean, I'm guilty of just selling a customer something that they probably didn't need.
But also whenever you are able to truly help somebody at the end of it, and they'll just have all this gratitude, they'll tell your name to every person that walks by their. . That's the good feeling that I'm
[00:46:53] Mike: always searching. Yeah. And then, you know, the, the byproduct of that is in, you know, you do that and do good work and next thing you know, you're getting recommended 10 times on a Facebook thread.
Right? And like, people know that you're a company that can be trusted because you uphold values, you practice business in, in your life with integrity. Um, and dude, there's, I mean, that's a, I would say you're in the vast minority of companies, uh, you know, I'm a, I guess I'm like naturally a negative person.
Like I have a very, uh, cynical view on the world, right? And, you know, people arrive at their conclusions based off their experiences and different things. But, uh, in my experience, if you've got a hundred people in the room, there's more people that are inclined to not be good than to be good. And goods an arbitrary statement, which we could have a whole debate for hours on that, but we're not gonna do that.
No kidding, dude. not. I appreciate what you're doing for the roof and community, man. It's been a great pleasure of mine to be a part of your journey. Um, I look forward to the, the next few years to come and much longer. Thanks for coming in and, and shedding some, some light on these situations and value for the audience.
Man, I really appreciate having you. .
[00:48:05] Austin: Yeah, for sure, man. Well, thanks for having me on. And you're too humble, man. You know, a lot of our success is owed to you, brother. You made a huge impact in our business early on. Thanks brother. And you continue to, and you know, literally every single day. So don't ever downplay what all you do you did and do for us, even outside of marketing, man.
I mean, I mean, I, I really, brother, I appreciate
[00:48:30] Mike: that. Let's keep this party rocking. Episode three. We out.