First Year In Roofing Part 1

Sometimes we become what we least expect, sometimes it's for the best:

Instagram can prove to be one hell of a motivator if it’s used correctly. Scrolling through reels of

supercars, mansions, and lifestyle content can make anyone want to get up and get to work.

There’s also pages of successful entrepreneurs who not only post lifestyle content but also

about their story. The way they became successful and tips on how to replicate it. That’s what

piqued my interest. The fancy houses and cars are nice, but those are simply a product of the

hard work. I was more interested in what type of work produced those results and how to

develop the skill sets to produce those results. That’s how I landed on Ryan Serhant, one of the

largest real estate brokers in New York City. His story fascinated me. From selling apartments

from the streets of Time Square to doing over a billion dollars a year in revenue in a little over a

decade.

It was exactly the kind of success I was looking for.

That was the first thing I thought of when the couple in Barrio approached me with the offer.

When the woman asked me to come work for her I was elated at the prospect. The prospect of

starting my journey towards becoming the next Ryan Serhant. A valuable lesson in this is the

first step towards achieving something big, like really big. The first step is to believe that what

you’re aiming for is realistic, but the amazing thing is we can choose to define what realistic

means based on our self belief.

Self belief is the most powerful tool we can carry.

That tool is used to craft our goals. Even in active addiction I believed I could achieve abnormal things. It’s a

trait I’ve always had, but a trait that can be developed. When I looked at Ryan's instagram I didn’t think

“that lifestyle isn’t for me”,

or

“he must have had rich parents”,

or

“gosh I wish I could do something like that”.

Absolutely not. When I saw his instagram page I thought “How can I do

the exact same thing?!”, and “If he can do it, I most definitely can too”, and “I’m so excited to be

at that level”. There’s a big physiological difference between those who believe they can’t and

those who believe they can. The ones that achieve the millions and billions in their journey are

the latter of the two.

I enrolled in real estate school shortly after.

I know, I sold roofs. How does real estate play into

that? We’ll get there. There’s another massive lesson in that too. I paid $2,000 for real estate

school and felt really good about it. College wasn’t in the cards for me even though I had a full

ride. I got a full ride at Normandale Community College for a 2 year degree and bombed it in 3

weeks. The only condition of the full ride scholarship was that I maintain a B- or better in all my

classes and I wouldn’t have to pay. I went to class the first 3 days before I started another binge

on ice. I was up for over a week and by the end was hallucinating hard in class and ended up

leaving. Then a few weeks later during withdrawals I decided not to go back since I had missed

so much it was already nearly impossible to pass the semester. So this real estate school gave

me incredible purpose and watching Ryan's vlog’s got me so fired up I could barely sleep. Real

estate school was 3 weeks Monday-Friday, and I passed the test with flying colors after

completing the course. The feeling of accomplishment was unexplainable.

During this time I was building a relationship with the couple I met at Barrio, and Covid hit.

The restaurant shut down and I was on unemployment with all the free time in the world. The couple

didn’t work together, she was a real estate broker and he owned a roofing company. I had been

watching Ryan so much I didn’t even have to think about my decision. I asked her to be my

broker and after getting my license she gave me a spot in her office. I had my own desk,

cubicle, and for the first time in my life was my own boss. It was incredible. I quit barrio officially

and off to the races I went. I quickly ran into my first major problem, I had never sold houses

before. I had no idea what to do! I was sitting in my office thinking

“Ok! Now what?!”.

I needed help.

I was googling how to sell houses and ended up going to some for-sale-by-owner properties to

convert them into clients, and gave up after the first one. I walked in his house and was so

nervous I pretended to be an actual buyer and toured the house almost sweating bullets too

afraid to even give my real name. Shit. The woman I was working for was a bad ass, high level,

classy business woman. No questions asked. But the one thing she wasn’t was what I needed

most. I needed a teacher, a mentor, a coach. I needed someone to develop me into an elite

salesperson. I was hungry as hell, ready and willing to work sunrise to sunset, eager to create

my dream life, with no interest in anything else. But I was green as hell with no skills to produce

results. That’s when I texted her man. I texted him and asked for help. Luckily, he said yes.

Coaching is typically a weekly call with someone who is in the position you want to get to and

willing to help you. This usually costs $2-$5k a month depending on what level. This was

entirely different. This man took on the role of a dad and we spent time together like best

friends, we really had a splendid time. I would go to his house in the morning around 8am and

stay there for 12-14 hours. We would literally spend the entire day together working on our

laptops talking about business, life, and getting to know each other.

He developed me into having incredible confidence, persistence, discipline, and leadership.

The first few months were the hardest time of my life. It was genuinely more difficult than choosing sobriety. It was more

difficult because he was not only coaching me on how to run a business, but how to run myself.

We were diving deep into my flaws as a person, my philosophical viewpoints, victimhood, and

accountability. He audited my friends for me one by one, asking me questions I had never

thought of in my life.

“Ok, how does he or she benefit you? What do you learn from them? How much have you grown in the past 3 months because of them? How much have they grown because of you?”

I was stunned.

He tore apart my daily schedule, who I associate with,

everything. Down to what I eat for breakfast. It felt like bootcamp, and I was fighting every step

of the way. But at the end of the day I knew what I wanted, and if completing this bootcamp was

the way to achieve Ryan Serhant success, I was down.

I am forever grateful to have found a mentor like him. Going through my life made me want to

quit on a daily basis, and I cried several times in his house. But it was needed, and resulted in

me making over 2 million dollars in the next 4 years. There's a few huge lessons in this.

First, we become most like those we surround ourselves with. If we surround ourselves with

average people who complain about doing the bare minimum, have no ambition to level up, and

don’t take care of themselves, we are destined to become just like them. On the contrary if we

surround ourselves with people who strive to do more than what they’re expected to do, have

ambitions to grow to the moon, and take care of themselves like they’re a temple, we will

inevitably become like them as well.

This mindset shift was lifechanging for me.

He taught me one of the most valuable lessons. If you truly have a burning desire to achieve success your

circle should only talk about the 4 F’s.

Finances,

Fitness,

Faith, or

Family.

If you’re in the beginning of your journey the focus should heavily be on finances and fitness. When you see

your friends the discussion shouldn’t be about the newest movie, celebrity, or drama amongst

friends. It should be about growth in your business, strategies to crush your competition,

brainstorming operations tactics together, or reviewing a plan to expand to see where you’re

missing key points. When he saw the confusion on my face he asked why I looked puzzled. I

told him this all makes perfect sense to me. It's like selling dope and talking with other dealers

about how to increase sales. I was just confused because I didn’t have any friends that talk

solely about these 4 things. I definitely have none that talk about growing their businesses,

nobody had a business.

“Correct, there's a simple solution. You need to drop your friends. At least for now. None of them are going to get you to where you want to go. You will meet new people along the way,”

He replied.

Second was fitness. I was already in the gym on a daily basis but he sprayed lighter fluid on an

already burning fire. We talked about how to maximize the time in the gym, how to get the most

out of our workouts, and the different levels of going to the gym. Some people go to the gym just

to feel good about walking in the building.

They’re wasting their time lying to themselves.

They go in and lightly work on 4 machines, go to the sauna, and leave. They barely break a sweat

before they’re on their way home. Then there’s those that go and diligently workout for 90

minutes keeping track of how much weight they lift so they can continue to increase their

personal records. They come in with a purpose, a schedule, and are focused. Those are the

ones that end up ripped as hell with 6 packs.

I was changing and it was surreal. Everyday felt like a fight against myself because I was

becoming aware of terrible habits, learning the hard truth, and battling my own previous

conditioning to become an elite machine. I desired to become a machine, a disciplined warrior

who would achieve his Ryan Serhant dream. I would shortly find out that wasn’t going to

happen, at least not the way I anticipated.

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Read Part 2