Podcast episode
Dashaun Bryant – From College Dropout to Roofing Sales Powerhouse | Mindset & Building Roof Hustlers
August 18, 2026
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Duration: 1:32:22
About this conversation
Success leaves clues—and Deshaun Bryant's journey is proof that where you start doesn't determine where you finish.In this episode of From The Ground Up Show, host Erick Loden sits down with entrepreneur, sales leader, and Roof Hustlers founder Deshaun Bryant to discuss the mindset, discipline, and relentless work ethic required to build success from the ground up.Deshaun shares his story of overcoming setbacks, flunking out of college, facing adversity, and…
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Success leaves clues—and Deshaun Bryant's journey is proof that where you start doesn't determine where you finish.
In this episode of From The Ground Up Show, host Erick Loden sits down with entrepreneur, sales leader, and Roof Hustlers founder Deshaun Bryant to discuss the mindset, discipline, and relentless work ethic required to build success from the ground up.
Deshaun shares his story of overcoming setbacks, flunking out of college, facing adversity, and ultimately finding his path through door-to-door sales, leadership, personal development, and entrepreneurship. Together, they dive deep into the lessons learned from rejection, the importance of communication, building a personal brand, and what it really takes to become a top performer in today's competitive business environment.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, business owner, salesperson, contractor, leader, or someone striving to reach the next level in life, this conversation is packed with practical insights and hard-earned wisdom that can help you accelerate your growth.
In this episode, you'll learn:
How failure can become the foundation for future success
• The mindset required to excel in sales and business
• Why communication skills are critical for leadership
• How to build confidence through action and repetition
• The role personal branding plays in creating opportunities
• Lessons from the world of door-to-door sales and entrepreneurship
• What separates high achievers from everyone else
If you're looking for motivation, business advice, sales strategies, leadership lessons, and real-world entrepreneurial insights, this episode delivers.
Subscribe to From The Ground Up Show for weekly conversations with entrepreneurs, business leaders, creators, and innovators who are building success one step at a time.
#FromTheGroundUpShow #DeshaunBryant #Entrepreneurship #SalesLeadership #BusinessPodcast #PersonalDevelopment #SuccessMindset #Leadership #SalesTraining #RoofingIndustry #BusinessGrowth #Motivation #SmallBusiness #EntrepreneurLife #GrowthMindset
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Episode transcript
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I was able to teach them to do what I did and they would start,
they started making money and I started getting addicted to
watching other people win. So I come out of the garage, I
look at that my, my girl at the time, I'm like, I got an idea.
She was like, what I'm like, I'm going to start a YouTube
channel. I'm gonna name the roof hustlers
and we're going to take over the roofing industry.
And she looked at me like I was crazy.
You don't got to be good to win at it.
Like you can suck and still make money in the roofing industry,
but are you a good dad? Are you a better?
Like are you a better man? Do you grow?
Hey there and welcome to From the Ground Up Show, the show
where we encourage and inspire the next generation of free
thinking leaders by telling the stories of those that have been
there, done that, and are still getting it done.
Building a life that they love with their hearts, their hands
and their hustle. I am your host Eric Loden.
If you guys could do me a favor, pause the show right now.
Send this episode to a friend that might enjoy it.
Leave us a five star review on whatever platform you're on.
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If you haven't checked it out yet, head over to
shop.fromthegroundupshow.com. We've got a cool little merch
store, all the regular things and a few unique items that are
kind of fun. So make sure you check that out
today. I am pretty excited.
I am joined by Deshawn Bryant. Deshawn is one of the most
recognizable personalities in roofing sales training.
He is the founder of Roof Hustlers, a sales coaching and
consulting company focused heavily on door to door roofing,
sales mindset, communication, objection handling, and
insurance restoration sales. He built his reputation first as
a high producing roofing salesman and later as a trainer
traveling around the country coping coaching roofing
companies. And Deshawn brings an incredible
amount of experience. I think it's going to be a great
conversation even if you're not in sales or not in the roofing
industry. He's got some wonderful Nuggets
of wisdom to share with us today and I'm excited for the
conversations. Deshawn, thanks for joining us.
Thank you for having me, having me.
I'm excited. I think it's always an honor and
a privilege and a pleasure to be on somebodies podcast across
pollinate networks because you know, it's a big responsibility
somebody putting you in front of the, you know, their community.
So I'm always honored to be here.
Like I said, all business is show business, man, so I'm
excited to show up and bring some value.
Awesome. Well, we'll dive right in.
We like to start every show going clear back to the
beginning and just learning a little bit about you and your
foundation and somebody that has been as successful as you.
Where do you come from? What was childhood like for you?
Ah man, so born and raised in Manatee County, Florida, which
is pretty much Brandon, FL 941 grew up in a single parent home.
My mom raised 4 kids, my mom's, my uncles, my grandma.
Like I grew up around that close knit family used to see my dad
every now and then, every other weekend.
But I grew up in grew up in the hood.
I wouldn't call it the projects. I wouldn't call it the ghetto,
but it was the hood, right? And just like everybody, my
generation, I'm 35 who grew up outside, grew up playing sports,
You know, my whole ideal, my whole mindset growing up was a,
I was going to be a football player, you know, gonna make it
in football. I used to play football my
entire life up until freshman year college where I ended up
flunking out. But you know, growing up, that's
what it was all about. It was about being outside,
being in the neighborhood playing throw them up, bust them
up. We used to play marbles, used to
play a manhunt. And that was the whole goal
growing up in becoming a football player.
And I used and I love music. I've always been, I love music
my entire life. I actually rapped for a vast
majority of my life from 8 years old up until about 2526.
Actually, we made a mixtape last year.
So I still make music. Roof hustlers, our brand, we
created our own intro. We did we we've done music
videos to showcase our talent within door to door sales and
just letting people know you can bring all aspects of like who
you are to your profession. So hold the whole ordeal was the
go up, pray football and make it to the NFL.
That was the dream. And then like around 10 or 11
years old, I went to a performing arts school and
actually that's when I kind of fell in love with performing.
I used to do acting. I used to do ballroom dancing,
monologues, all of that type of stuff.
So that's like my first taste of performing.
And that's when I kind of fell in love with the stage and the
sense of like, yeah, I want to play sports, but I love being up
in front of people. I've always been an extrovert my
entire life, so I've always loved getting in front of crowds
and performing. When I was like 1011 years old,
I used to do battle raps and in the in the lunchroom where we
used to do beats on the on the trash can.
And I was the guy that used to freestyle and was making
mixtapes at like 1314 years old, 15 years old.
So yeah, football was the dream football and music.
And if if you told me as a kid, I would be selling roofs as an
adult, I would have told you he was lying, right?
And yeah, got got made it through, made it out of high
school, went to college up in Massachusetts.
And I actually flunked out because I wasn't prepared to be
self governed. I wasn't really ready to be my
own boss, to be my own disciplinary.
And I went to college for one reason, just to get away from my
Mama. I just wanted to get away from
authority. I want nobody telling me what to
do, no MO. And I actually flunked out of
college and came back home and I just got to work, just started
working, working, working. And ended up in this roof and
stuff like around the age of 25. But from 18 to 25, I was just
all retail as far as like working in grocery stores,
working at the mall, you know, just my mom was very closed.
I didn't even think about salesman.
I never even crossed my mind growing up.
Are you tired of the customer service provided by big box
stores and national brands? When I need materials or if I
have questions about an order, I pick up the phone and call Josh.
No waiting in line, no customer service hotline.
No wondering who I'm going to talk to that day.
I call Josh anytime, day or night.
He answers my questions and takes care of me.
That's the kind of service you get from MacArthur Company.
A dedicated salesman, a local office, small town service from
a company big enough to take care of even the largest
customer. MacArthur Co.
And you mentioned that you started out in college mostly to
get away from your mom, but that you flunked out, dropped out of
college, now a little bit older. Looking back, what are your
views about education? Is it college education?
Necessary, helpful, a waste of time?
What are your thoughts there? I think it depends on what
you're going to college for as far as like, if you're going to
be a doctor, you're going to be a lawyer, you're going to be,
you know, just those very intricate careers where you need
a college education because I don't want my doctor to learn
from YouTube, right? Like I want him to go to medical
school, get a MD. But do I think college is
necessary for you to succeed in this new world that we live in?
No. Do I think college is valuable?
Yes. Why?
Because you ain't going to meet up Mark Zuckerberg on the
corner, man. Like you got to go to college to
meet people like that, to meet the Mark Zuckerbergs and you
know, those people that actually go to college and you build
networks. And it's still, I still got some
friends that I know from college that we still got really strong
networks that I met through college.
So I think one of the biggest valuable things of going to
college is the relationships and the people that you meet.
But do I think you needed to succeed in today's world?
No, but I'm not that guy. That's like college is a scam.
I think long as you're intentional with why you're
going to school is very valuable.
But if you just going to learn the basics like math, English,
history stuff, Nah I don't think you need college for those
things. I appreciate that.
That's not far off of my viewpoint as well.
So, but you said you were about 25 when you got started in
roofing, that that was not what you imagined when you were
younger. So what?
What did that look like? How did you get into the roofing
industry? So I've always been a people
person. I've always had the ability to
talk to anybody and I've always wanted to be the best at what I
did. So I used to be a bagger at
Publix and I was the best bag in the company.
Like I was the best bag of point blank period.
Like if you came through my my Line with $300 worth of
groceries, it was all going in the same car, right?
You need 2 carts. I was gonna bag the shit out of
them groceries, right? So like 25 years old, my best
friend and his really good friend, we just was going out to
a bar, just like just hanging out.
And I'm just talking to everybody because I'm a social
butterfly. Like I'm not that guy that go
out and stand in the corner. I'm that guy.
Like if we go to a club, I'll be like, I'll be back and I'm just
going to go like neat, meander through the entire club, like
just end up frolic somewhere. So I'm just talking to random
people. And the dude named Brian, he saw
me just, you know, bouncing from group to group, talking,
talking, talking, talking. And at the end of the night, you
know, we wrapping up the night and he come up to me.
He's like, hey, listen, man, I know I don't know you like that.
He's like, but I got a job I think you'd be great at because
he was building the sales team and he's like, I got a job I
think you'd be great at. And I said, I'm down.
I didn't even ask him what it was.
I just knew where I was working at.
It wasn't giving me what I wanted financially.
And I was like, I'm down. We had a kid on the way.
We didn't want to do daycare and we didn't know how we could
create a schedule that allowed our kids not to go to daycare
but still, you know, be present with them.
So he told me it was door to door sales.
That was like in November. I didn't get a car until like, I
think February of the next year going into 2025.
So this is 2024. I met him.
So going into February 2025, I ended up getting the vehicle and
I called him back. I'm like, hey, man, I know you
said you had a job. I think I'd be great at.
I'm like, I'm down. Like I got a vehicle now and
they called me in for the makeshift interview because it's
roofing and pretty much it's like, do you breathe?
Do you got legs? Yeah.
Can you learn the script? Yeah, we got a job I think we'll
you'll be great at. So they brought me in, gave me
the script, told me to learn it. And that first week I got in the
roof and sales. I ended up closing 4 deals my
first week and I realized I was either home but this was too
easy and I realized I was home. Oh man, wow, that's quite the
beginning. And so I'm guessing there was a
few steps between that first sales job and starting roof
Hustler. Can you help connect the dots?
What What were some major points in your career there?
So one, one of the major points was the guy that hired me, which
is Brian, he told me the first day he brought me in for the
interview, he's like, you going to be my trainer?
And I'm like, no, not me man. I'm like, no, I'm just trying to
sell them on my business bro. Like I like this is my first day
trainer. Like no.
And probably about 8 months into the game, he started forcing me
to train people. He didn't, he didn't give me an
option. He would hire new people, he'd
like take them in the field, go teach them what you know.
And I'm like, I don't know nothing.
Like, I don't know what you want me to teach them, but I would
take him in the field and I was able to coach him.
I was able to teach him to do what I did.
And they would start, they started making money and I
started getting addicted to watching other people win.
So like without a title, he just made me the trainer.
So every time we would hire new people, he would put them under
my wing. He would send me out in the
field and I would train them. And then next thing you know, he
built the canvassing team and he like, you're responsible for the
canvassing team. So everybody we hire, I'm
coaching them, I'm training them, I'm training the other
reps, I'm training the canvassers.
So this about two years into the game and I'm just training,
coaching and we winning. But this off just pure talent.
Like this is pure talent. This is no coaching, no
training. This is just me reverse
engineering the things that I would do in the field and teach
it to other people. Like I, I wrote out my, you
know, just a quick little expectations and standards, just
what I live by. And probably like 2 years into
the game, I'm knocking doors and I knock on this dude door and I
sell him. And he like, man, you really
good. He like, who are your coaches?
Who are your mentors? I'm like nobody, man.
This guy giving talent. He's like, do me a huge favor
man, go look up this guy named Grant Cardone.
And I'm like, all right. And this Grant like 8 years ago,
nine years ago. So I'll go home, look him up and
I'm watching his videos and where I come from, I've never
seen nobody speaking like that. You know, you don't got a money
problem, you got an income problem.
Like if you ever care about the price of a book, you'll never
get wealthy. Like every industry got a gap in
it. Look for the gap stuff.
So he says something. Every industry got a gap in it.
If you can close the gap, you'll make a lot of money.
And then I just got the biggest aha moment of my life.
I was like, I can't be the only guy that got took out for two
days and they say, all right, man, you got it.
Go on your own. I'm like, that got to be an
industry standard. So clear as day.
I'm a firm believer that visions come vertical, right?
I thank God, give everybody a vision and he needs you to
manifest that vision. And if you don't manifest it, he
got to give it to somebody else. Why?
Because he need that creation in the world.
Like he's telling you, I need that in this world.
So clear as day. I heard the words like somebody
literally was speaking in my ear and said, start a YouTube
channel, name it roof hustlers. You'll take over the roofing
industry. Like I heard it clear as day.
So I come out the garage, I look at that.
My, my girl at the time, I'm like, I got an idea.
She's like what? I'm like, I'm gonna start a
YouTube channel. I'm gonna name the roof hustlers
and we going to take over the roofing industry.
And she looked at me like I was crazy.
And I remember going into the office, my sales manager, Brian,
the guy that brought me in, I'm like, bro, I got this idea.
He's like, what's the idea? I'm like, I'm a start a YouTube
channel. I'm a name in roof hustles and
we go take over the roofing industry.
And he even looked at me like, all right, if you say so I just
went back to doing his work. So I just went home that night
and I'm like, I'm going to do this thing.
And I got I thought of the idea on a Tuesday.
I recorded my first video on Thursday and we created the
Instagram. We created the YouTube channel.
We just got to work. I was actually one of the first
people on Instagram. I was talking about roofing
because I couldn't find it when I was getting started.
So we would just be out there knocking doors.
I just picked my phone up and I would just have little
epiphanies. I'd just be like, man, were you
in the neighborhood, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And after that Grant Cardone video, I started reading books,
I started going to seminars, I started going to conferences.
And that was the momentum swing that created all of this stuff.
And I remember I called that homeowner and I said, hey man, I
just want to call and say thank you.
It was like for what I'm like cuz if it wasn't for you I
wouldn't like pursue this information.
Cuz after I found Grant, that's when I made my first 10 grand in
a month. And after that is it.
It was on fire ever since. Oh man, so how has roof Hustlers
developed from just a a YouTube channel and Instagram post to
the the business that you have today?
Yeah, so. We started putting out videos in
2017 and I remember when I was just praying for 100 people to
watch my video, I'm just like, man, I can't wait till we get to
100 people. Like Oh my gosh.
And then we grew to 100 and we grew to two, grew to 3.
So 2017 we just putting out content, just consistent,
consistent because I made a commitment the day I started
roof hustles. Like it don't matter how long it
take for us to like get momentum.
I'm willing to just work on it every single day and we would
put out content every single week, 2 to 3 posts a week.
And then we kept building momentum.
First roofing company paid me to come talk today sales guys in
2018. So company in Orlando hit me up
just like hey man, one of our sales guys keep raving about
your videos. We was wondering could you come
up and just, you know, speak to the team at that time?
Eric, I ain't have nothing. I'm like of course I love to
come speak to the team and I have nothing.
All I had was like my 11 door to door roof commandments and
that's it. And I went up there, spoke to
them, they paid me like $300 in gift cards and I was excited.
I'm like, Oh my gosh, like it's starting to work.
And we just kept putting out content, content, consistent,
consistent. Next thing you know, I started
getting DMS, people started hitting me up.
So we started building momentum. Certain roofing companies would
reach out. And then first company that had
to hit me up called American Roofing, based out of Tennessee.
They hit me up in 2020. That's like, hey man, our guys
love your videos. We just wondering, do you come
out and do in person training? I'm like, yeah, I can do it.
And I charged them three grand, which is laughable now, but umm,
I charged them three grand. I came out there for a full
weekend and that was my first train in February of 2020.
So I started in 2017. I ain't really get booked for a
full weekend training until 2020.
After that one training, it just caught crazy momentum.
I ended up training 10 companies in 2020.
I came back in 2021. We trained 30 companies.
We came back in 2022. We trained about 3540 companies.
In 2022, I landed a deal with GAF, which is one of our big
shingle manufacturers. They paid me to fly around the
country. I did all of the big EVs events,
which stands by expert value speaker.
So I was one of the first speakers that did every regional
event his first year because that's how highly requested I
was. And ever since 2022, man has
just been on a trajectory just out the roof.
I spoke at my first Roof con at 2020.
I did every major speaking event.
I've been asked to speak at one since then.
I did my first keynote at Roof Con 2024.
I opened up the entire event. I did the first keynote and I
spoke at every major event. Roof Con, Dotodo Con, SRC
Summit. I do trainings for supply
companies, manufacturers. I've trained Atlas, the entire
Atlas shingle manufacturing and sales team and from from that
first year in 2020 has been on fire ever since.
Just putting out consistent content and growing and learning
from some of the best in the industry, and they're coming
back and teaching that to all of the sales reps.
That's awesome. I love the entrepreneurial
spirit in that story that somebody calls and asks for
something you've never done before, and the answer is yes.
Yeah. I don't know how we're going to
do it or I don't know what it's going to look like, but if
you're going to pay me, the answer is yes.
Let's do it. I had nothing prepared for the
first training I ever did. I had nothing prepared.
Just went out there, talk to him for an hour and we knocked doors
every day for like 7 hours. And now we got a way better
structure training program when we come out and train people.
We got an online Academy now like we got so much more
structure and like we, we, we built something that allows
people to come here to facilitate the growth.
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Again, that was Athlete Fresh dot shop slash from the ground
up show. Well, I know you know, you
didn't do much for a formal college education.
You mentioned that you're an extrovert.
You have a lot of just kind of natural people skill and talent
in that arena. But moving into speaking
professionally at gigs that size, did you do anything to
develop your speaking skills and your presentation skills, or is
that something that just came pretty natural to you?
It came pretty natural. But also, like I said, I went to
a performing arts school as a kid, so about I've been speaking
in front of crowd since I've been 10 years old.
Yeah. So, you know, I did monologues
in front of a crowd of like 300 people when I was 11 years old.
Like I said, I used to rap battle.
When I was in college. We was making music.
The last dance of the year. I got to get up and perform in
front of the whole college. Like we did a whole performance
in front of the whole college. So speaking in front of people
was easy. The part that I had to learn to
develop was structures and systems and processes.
I'm just a natural perform, like I just know how to get up on
stage and do my thing. Like I can improvise at the
highest levels, but I'm way more structure now.
We know how to put together talking engagements and things
like that. But no, I never did.
No preparation, Now I did. I have attended a lot of events.
I paid for a lot of training. I read at least two books a
month for the last nine years. So since we started creating
Roof Hustlers, I read at least two books a month, 22 books a
month. I go to at least three to four
conferences a year. I've paid for numerous coaching
and training programs from Coach Michael Burt to Eric Thomas to
Myron Golden to I've learned from some of the best in the
industry. So I've been in, I've been
around a lot of great people where I've learned how to speak
and I've been coached on speaking.
But naturally, yeah, just came to me.
But I also paid the policy skills up.
And so are you still doing any sales kind of yourself or an
income driver or are you 100% on roof hustler now?
We're 100% on roof hustlers. So we do about 40 trainers a
year where we fly around the country, coach and train sales
teams. I'm also a national sales
coaching trainer for a company that I came on board for this
year. We have our own online Academy.
I'm also a mentor in another coaching Academy.
My boy Adam Benzeman. I'm I'm a mentor in his Academy
and I'm just always coaching, training, mentoring people.
But the reason I stopped selling was because about 2022 I closed
the deal and I'm in the house selling the homeowner.
And they like we're so excited to work with you.
And I'm like, I'm excited to work with you too.
Like I feel you. And there's like, no, no, no, we
know who you are. And I'm like what you're talking
about. And then the homeowners flip off
on around and she's showing me all my YouTube videos and like
all of my clips on Instagram. And that probably was the last
time I sold somebody because it's very difficult to sell, you
know, 500,000 to plus $1,000,000 worth of roof while you on the
road coaching and training and then you got installations and
you can't be there. So I just wanted to protect my
reputation. So I stopped selling
intentionally in 2022 and we've been full time Roof Hustlers
coaching and training mentoring since 2022 and beyond.
OK. Was that a scary jump to make?
Was it tough to kind of give up the income from a successful
sales career or was that an easy transition?
I was terrified actually. I had a lot of internal
conflict. The thing I battled was I built
my brand around selling, right? So the reason why people
followed me is because I was I was giving out insight, I was
giving out perspective, giving out strategies, tactics,
principles. But I was also still closing
deals. So the sales reps love that.
Like I was in the game. They was like, man, we love
that. Yeah, you, you get put out
videos, but you closing deals like us.
And I had an internal conflict of how do I still keep the
integrity of the brand when I don't sell roofs anymore?
And one of my coaches said, how do you show other people how to
elevate if you don't elevate yourself?
Like how do you show people like, yeah, you can go be a
coach and trainer, but you still got to sell roofs to to make it
work. And I was like, man, you right.
And I'm a just a firm believer that a double minded man is
unstable in all his ways, right? If you chase 2 chickens, you
catch none, right? Chase 2 rabbits, you catch none.
So I realized it's this book called Essentialism and the non
essentialist, he put 25% of his effort in every single direction
and he think he's moving the needle.
But the essentialist just focus on one thing.
He get that one thing 100% and he can really move that needle
in a direction that he wanted to go.
So I was like, you know what, worst case scenario, if it don't
work, I know how to sell. Like I can always go back and
just sell roof. Yeah.
And we went all in on it. And by the graces of God, my
caller had My calendar has been filled up every year from 2021
and beyond. That's awesome.
Good for you. What was the most difficult step
in building roof hustler? I think the most difficult step
in building roof hustlers for myself was learning to quote UN
quote run a business. And when I say run a business, I
don't like like everybody say they run a business.
I don't necessarily technically have a business.
I got a high paying job. Why?
Because my business don't run without me.
Like I am the business. People want Deshawn to come out
coaching, training sales team. But the part that I had to
develop was business acumen, business principles, meaning as
developing contracts asking people for $20,000, it's not
easy. Everybody think it's easy to
just tell somebody it's $20,000 to come and train you for the
weekend and everybody gonna be excited.
So it took me a while to develop business acumen half upfront,
half when I'm done developing the contracts, the
questionnaires, the follow up strategies, doing coaching calls
after you do the trainings. Because I'm just such an
energetic person. I just want to come in and get
your people geeked up, right? And then I leave and then one of
my coaches was like, what's your follow up?
I'm like, follow. There's like, yeah, what you do
once you come in and train them, how do you keep them producing?
I'm like, I didn't even think about that.
So so we had to create all of these systems and processes.
So that was the most difficult part because I'm not a very
detail oriented person. So when you're not detail
oriented, it's very difficult to come up with those systems and
processes. So that's probably the most
difficult part for me. The actual business acumen,
right? Like those system driven and
process driven things that allow you to thrive because what's
that? Once you get me in the building,
it's game time. But it was just developing all
of those things. But other than, everything else
is pretty easy. Well, that maybe runs right into
my next question. What is your favorite aspect of
your job and what is your least favorite aspect?
My favorite aspect of my job has to be coming into an environment
humbling a group of egotistical salesman, because these guys be
making 152 hundred 300 grand a year, 600 grand a year, and they
use money as a scoreboard. So how do you get a guy that
makes over $300,000 a year to look at you and be like, yeah,
show me, coach me, right? So my favorite part is coming in
and breaking them down and building them back up and
showing them that his levels to the game, right?
Money isn't the ultimate deciding factor that shows if
you actually killing the game because in the roofing industry
you don't got to be good to win at it.
Like you can suck and still make money in the roofing industry,
but are you a good dad? Are you a better?
Like are you a better man? Do you grow?
Have you been in the roofing industry for 20 years or have
you been growing for 20 years? And a lot of people aren't
growing. They're just existing.
So coming in and showing people that is a new level to it.
That's probably the most exciting part because when I
leave, you know, a lot of these grown men on day one that's kind
of hesitant, reluctant on day three, they like, do you got to
leave, man, we love you being here.
Like we, we everything you've brought out of us, like we,
we're excited about that. So helping people tap into that
next level. Probably my favorite part, The
part that I enjoy the least would probably be all of the
e-mail that come after me doing doing the training.
I know it sounds silly, but it's like I got to send all of the
documents, I got to send all of the PDFs, I got to set up new,
like all the detailed stuff. I just despise it, man.
It's not an excuse not to be good at it, but that's probably
the part I enjoy the least. Yeah, I can get that.
It sounds like you provide a lot more than just sales training,
kind of a comprehensive training to to level up to become that
better man. I mean, what when someone hires
you for a training, what can they expect to get?
What kind of change can they expect out of their salespeople?
And and where does the inspiration come for those
things that you add outside of just tactical sales?
Well, I just learned early in the game that in order to help
somebody get better at sales, you don't actually help them get
better at sales, which sounds counterintuitive.
It's like what? You mean you don't help them get
better at sales, Get better at sales.
You help them become a better person.
You help them become a better man, right?
You help them develop better habits, better thought process,
more discipline, more integrity. Show them what it's like to have
principles in their life. Show them what it's like to
develop yourself. Talk like all these internal
drivers that once you spend more time working on demand, your
sales will naturally improve. You don't work on sales and then
improve. No, So I learned that early in
the game because a lot of my mentors, they're not necessarily
salespeople, they're personal development people.
And I learned that my sales went through the roof when I started
working on the inside, like taking care of the inside, that
the inner work, right? Developing better habits,
developing a better thought process.
Like I'm a certified mental performance coach because I
learned that the better you can control your mind, the better
you can control yourself success, the better you can
control your life. So yeah, we teach sales tactics,
strategies and principles, but the ultimate goal is we want to
help you become the best version of yourself because in our
industry and life in general, God, God gave us three simple
instructions when he first created this universe.
He said be fruitful, have dominion and then multiply.
So to be, to do and to have the problem with most industries,
they just do do do so they can have half, half, but nobody
becomes right. So we are human beings, not
human doings. And everybody focus so much on
doing things so they can have the things that they want.
But if you don't become the better version of you, you will
do these things, you will have these things, and then you will
destroy these things because you haven't become the person that
you need to become to sustain the success that you are after.
So I learned that once I started getting coaching from my
principles, I'm like, from my coaches, I'm like, wow, OK, The
ultimate goal in life is about becoming the best version of
you, right? And everybody say that, right?
Becoming the best version of you, but nobody does it.
Yeah. So we we get people out that
comfort zone to start becoming the best version of you.
So what does it look like when I come out and train?
They won't. We come through and we dismantle
the mindset. We challenge people.
We, we, we tell people the reason why you don't go to that
next level is because you're immature.
Most sales people are very immature.
So now I got grown men in a room like, Dang, am I immature?
Yes, you are right. So we challenge their maturity.
And then the first thing we do is we do, we develop the
mindset. We give them 8 to 8 to 10 key
principles, what we call the epitome of a hustler, which is
once you change the way you think, you'll change the way you
live, right? So we develop the mindset on day
one, I also come out, I do one on ones with every single sales
Rep. So I sit down with every sales
Rep individually, like what we're doing.
I make them fill out an evaluation sheet.
What are my strengths, what are my weaknesses, areas I need to
improve, new skills I want to develop.
And we sit down and we unpack everything.
We give them strategies, tactics to overcome weaknesses and the
things that they want to improve.
We do office training where we actually teach the skill sets
and then after we done with office training, we actually go
in the field. I go in the field and knock
doors with the sales team. You can show them how to
implement the skill sets that we just taught them.
And then after a full weekend of training, I sit down with the
leadership team and I, I show them all the gaps in the game,
what they can do to start leading the sales team better.
What this sales guy need individually, What this sales
guy need who got the potential to be a leader, who need to be
fired? Like all of these little
insightful thing. I know it's not crazy, but I'm
like, why you got this guy here? Like what's the purpose of this
man? So we we do a very holistic
training to when I'm done. It's not about motivation.
We create a transformation. We don't motivate, we activate
people. Good stuff.
Well, a lot of what you said there reminded me of one of my
favorite quotes that's hanging above my desk.
It says. Is your charisma taking you
places that your character can't keep you?
So you, you talked a lot about kind of the comprehensive
training, becoming a better salesman by becoming a better
man. I know you dove into this
industry relatively young, 25. I know you mentioned a lot of
mentors, but how did you develop this process?
Where did that incredible wisdom come from about developing a a
better man? Is that something that you kind
of intuitively learned or is that did that come from
somewhere? Well, I grew up without my pops,
right? So my dad wasn't really in my
life like that. And then he died when I was 14.
So my entire life I've been trying to figure out what it is
to be a man. Like I was raised by women.
So I don't care what nobody say. No woman can teach you how to
become a man, right? She can teach you how to treat a
woman, but she can't teach you how to become a man.
So I always wanted, I always had like a natural pool of like,
what does it look like to be a better dad?
A better, you know, boyfriend, all of those good things.
So I just started seeking men who already embodied those
things that I wanted to become right.
So Eric Thomas, one of my favorite mentors, he's been
married for 35 plus years, no adultery was homeless, got a
PhD. You know, he's very he's a
pastor. He's very like God driven.
So he was one of my coaches, coach Michael Burke, which was
phenomenal coach. He believes in the seven highly
effective habits of you know, by Stephen Covey, which is you work
on the mind, the body and the spirit.
Another one of my coaches, Myron Gold and everything he teaches
biblical principles. So I started learning I'm like
man, the most successful people that I look up to, they all
principle driven and they principles is what guides their
behavior. They're becoming better men.
They're not very emotional. So I always say people ask me
all the time, how do you find mentors?
How do you find? I say the mentors you're looking
for should be based off the season of the life that you're
in. So if you're trying to develop
sales, you want to go find a good sales coach.
If you're trying to become a better man, go, go, go follow
somebody that got good principles, good standards, good
morals, right? If you're trying to get your
finances in order, maybe you should find somebody that's good
with money. So just the men that I looked up
to, one thing I never noticed about them, what the biggest
thing I noticed about them was they wasn't talking about money
in the sense of like I make $1,000,000 a year and this and
that. They was like, I'm present with
my kids. I've never cheated on my wife.
You know, I'm, I'm governed by biblical principles.
Everything is about being a better person, showing up in
life. So that's what really inspired
me to want to become this better man.
And I just noticed as we started coaching and training more
people, it was already making money.
Like that was the issue. They was already making money.
It's just they wasn't investing into themselves.
They wasn't doing any any inner work to have a better life.
Good stuff. A lot of wisdom there.
I know a lot of people are pretty intimidated by sales.
That's a scary thing for them. Why is that?
Why are most people afraid of sales?
And it's just my opinion first and foremost.
I think the biggest reason people are afraid of sales, I
think the number one thing is rejection.
I think a lot of people minimize rejection, but it don't feel
good talking to 30 people a day and they all telling you no.
But like, I don't care who you are.
You need a certain level of like internal confidence to know that
they're not telling you no. They're just saying they just
saying no, like it has nothing to do with you.
And most of us work professions where you don't you don't deal
with that much rejection. Bro, when you work at a grocery
store, you know, people excited to come to the grocery store and
buy groceries. You work at a restaurant.
They came there to eat foods. Serve me at a high level, right.
If you're if you're a fitness instructor, people coming to you
to, you know, get in shape. But us we going to complete
strangers knocking on your door and trying to persuade you about
a product that you might know you need but you don't want to
spend that type of money on. Yeah.
And it takes a lot for people to get told no all the time.
So I think rejection is one of them.
I think the second reason why people are afraid of sales is I
don't think people enjoy routine that much.
I don't think people enjoy systematic ways of thinking.
I think most people enjoy doing what they want to do.
Oh man, I don't need nobody telling me what to do.
I want to do what I want to do. And in order for you to be good
at sales, phenomenal at sales, you need a systematic way of
thinking. You got to be OK with being put
in a box to outgrow the box. To do phenomenal things, AKA you
need a script, you need a system, you need processes, you
need, you know, certain things that you do with every single
person and you got to become obsessed with mundane, tedious
like task. And I don't think people enjoy
that, man. People like doing whatever they
want to do. And I think then the two things
I think that really hold people back from sales rejection and
then systematic ways of thinking like doing a routine every day
to get the same results. That's really interesting.
I've heard a lot of salesman that I've talked to is that the
thing they love about sales is that it's not necessarily
routine. You know, they get a lot of
diversity, they get to be out in the field and kind of do what
they want. But you're saying that the most
successful ones you still get. You get a diversity of clients,
of environment. You're out in the feel doing
your thing, but you need to have routine systems in place to be
as successful as possible. 1000% like I tell, like I like to use
everybody loves sports, but you think of any good song, any good
athlete, like it don't matter what it is Steph Curry shoot the
ball the same way every time. Like he never changed up his
shot. Like the diversity is you get to
play different people every game, so you get to use
different skills on people, but to make that 3 pointer shot,
it's the same mechanics. And when in sales, it's the same
mechanics to get to the the same results.
You might be dealing with different personalities.
The day might be diverse. Like you never know what you're
going to get, right? You can go out there one day,
it's a phenomenal day, the next day you're dealing with like
crazy people every day. But that systematic ways of
thinking, that routine, that beginning, middle, end, those
acts and those buying questions, those walking people through the
process all the time, that thing never changes.
And I tell people, if you say something different in every
single sale scenario, you probably not winning at a high
level. Man, there's a lot of wisdom
there. If you guys are listening on 2X
speed, you need to slow this down and listen to that again.
So I know you just talked a lot about, you know, rejection
hearing. No.
I know one of the talks you give, something you talk about a
lot is the art of no. Why is learning to be
comfortable hearing know so valuable and how do people do
that? Well, first and foremost, we as
salespeople, we will avoid difficult conversations so we
don't got to hear the things that we really need to heal.
Want to heal and know is one of them.
Like who wants to meet a girl right?
And three days talking hood, you ask her the most difficult
questions possible and they don't align with where you see
your life going. And you say, you know what you
gorgeous love this just don't make sense though for us to keep
talking. Let's just let's just end this
right now. Nobody wants to do that.
They will play that game for six to eight months knowing there's
no alignment, knowing that they're not going in the same
direction, but they're like, maybe I can change their mind.
So they will they will waste 8 months of their life trying to
date somebody or trying to become with some like get
together with somebody and eventually everybody just say I
just don't think we. We going in the same direction.
So it took them a year to get to the know that they could have
got to the know in three weeks, right?
It's the same thing with sales. If we are to kill the deal,
let's get to the know early. So let's just talk about those
uncomfortable things. What is your budget?
Our minimal, our minimal level of engagement is our average
homeowner spends anywhere between 2500 to 5 grand.
If we just talking about people going through the insurance,
right? If you sell the retail rules,
our average clients spend anywhere between 12 to $20,000.
Is that within your price range? If they like, Nah, you know what
we might not be a good fit. Hey, you stay blessed.
Let's move on. Like let's let's get to the know
as soon as possible before we expend any unnecessary resources
and sales reps would rather lie to themselves and be like, no, I
got this one. He he thinking about it.
No, this guy, he like in the process, this dude told me like,
yeah, he want to buy, but like we like because it feels better
to lie to yourself and make you feel like you got something
that's keeping you busy, right? When in reality, you just say,
you know what? They're not a good fit.
I'm gonna go find 5 new clients. I'm a go pursue 10 new clients.
So let's get to the know early. I don't like to waste my time
And I used to be extremely nice. My first year in sales were the
nice guy finished last. That is like a universal
principle. I always tell people, Eric, you
know why the friend zone exists like with men and women?
Because it's men stupid enough to live in it.
That's why the friend zone exists, bro, you know what I'm
saying? So it's the same thing with
sales. You would rather live in limbo
than to just get a definite answer.
So we teach ourselves rest man. Let's get to the know early,
bro. Ask them as many uncomfortable
questions as you can on the front end and if it makes sense,
cool. If not cool, let's that's not
waste that time. I would imagine that probably
actually increases your success and sales because a lot of
customers probably appreciate that they nobody likes the long
winded sales pitch, nobody likes the person that keeps bugging
them after they've tried to say no nicely a few times.
So somebody that can just get out front and say, hey, is this
a fit or not? And if it's not, I'm going to
leave you alone. You you probably close more
deals with that approach than the the long way around.
Is that accurate? Then yeah, they're trying to be
the nice guy. You definitely save yourself
some time. Now, is there some homeowners
that need time to think about it?
Yeah, that's a real thing. But even with them, let's give
them the opportunity to tell us no.
Hey, so Mr. Eric, we already talked about the good, the
benefits, how I can serve you if the numbers make sense.
And we've talked about worst case scenario, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. Do you just set up a definite
day? Hey, I'm going to follow up with
you on Wednesday. Mr. Eric, may you just let me
know yes or no, whether this makes sense for us to move
forward. And you give them the freedom to
say no. Because I've learned through
studying and falling in love with human nature and just sales
and everything, 88% of humans are non confrontational.
The word no falls under the level of confrontation.
Like people don't like that word no because they feel like it's
going to come with pushback, but it's going to come with, you
know, that's like, if you like that Sean, man, you should come
to my party on Saturday instead of saying thank you so much for
inviting me, Eric. But no, I can't make it.
Already got prior obligations. People would rather say this.
Oh, man, yeah, let me see, Let me see if I can make it.
No, let me let me see what I can do.
And then the day of the party, they want to be like, oh man,
something came up. Sorry I couldn't make it.
You knew you couldn't make it today.
He asked you to come. Yeah.
But instead of just being direct and having these, you know, very
uncandid conversations, people would rather beat around the
Bush. And that's why people struggle
with sales. Well, as much as you can have
those uncomfortable conversations and get to that
know early. I know.
I mean, part of sales is helping people overcome barriers and
being a little bit persuasive. What are the most common
mistakes that people make when trying to persuade someone?
Oh, they're bad listeners. That's that's the best first
mistake. They're bad listeners.
And what do I mean by that? Most sales reps think the more
you know, right, and then the more you share, they'll buy.
But I believe in the opposite. I need my homeowner to talk more
than I talk. How do I do that?
By asking them great questions. And then after I ask them a
great question, I should just listen.
Just shut up and listen because information changes situations.
So if I can't get the information out of my
homeowners, how can I close them?
And at the end of the day, it's my responsibility to get my
homeowners to feel good about buying.
It's not my job to necessarily convince them.
And I'm glad you used the word persuade.
Not convinced, right? So it is my responsibility to
persuade my homeowners to want to buy.
But first thing, I got to get them feeling good about buying.
How do you get people to feel good about buying?
You get them to talk about themselves or you get them to
talk about what it is that they're after, right?
What it is that they want. So I think most sales reps
struggle because they spend more time talking than they do
listening. And the second thing that I feel
like a lot of sales reps struggle with is it's a like,
it's simple. Obviously it's sales, but most
people don't want to ask for the sale.
Like they hope if they spend enough time for that person,
they'll be like, let's do this. And it don't work like that way.
You got to listen, ask really good questions and then ask
those buying questions. What would stop us from doing
Business Today? If I'm able to get the price?
What you needed to be like? Do you believe we, the company
that can execute on the things that we said we'll do?
Yes. Do you like me?
Yes. Is there any reason why we
couldn't do Business Today? Now I like everything that I'm
hearing right now. Awesome.
Like just those buying questions and just being a good listener
and then asking them do they want to buy my first year?
Eric, man, I sit in the house with somebody for an hour and a
half hoping they say yes, you know what I mean?
Because I'm like, if they like me, I like them, they want to do
this. And if I ask them for the
business, they won't like me no more.
So I'm just going to wait till they want to do it.
And I just learned that a lot of people are bad listeners because
they figure they got more information.
The more they share, the more people who want to buy.
But actually, the more information you give people, the
more they got to think about it, the more they got to think about
it. It delays the the buying
process. And then just asking them for
the sale, baby. But I learned this years ago.
One of my coaches taught me the main reason why people do
anything in their life and life in general is just because they
feel like it. Yeah.
So. So it's my responsibility to get
my homeowner feel like buying. Yeah, I know.
I always looked at it as rather than selling something, we're
here to solve someone's problems.
And so you have, you have to listen to hear what their
problems are and then decide whether that's in your capacity
or not to solve. Because I made a personal rule a
few years ago that I don't buy any products that solve a
problem I didn't know I had before the salesman called.
Like, if I have a problem, I will go find the solution and I
don't mind spending money to solve it.
But if I didn't have a problem before you told me about it,
that's not a problem I need to spend money to solve.
So if you're not listening, you're not hearing what their
problem is and and you can't solve it.
And ignorance is truly bliss, right?
So what we do on roofing cells, that's what we do.
We do exactly what you said. We'll give you a free
inspection. And now we don't found a problem
you didn't even know you had. You had a hole in the roof, you
got damage on the roof, you got leaks coming in because it's a
this off a fresh door knock, right?
So it's my responsibility to provide the information to make
my homeowners want to solve their own problem.
It's not my responsibility to try to solve that problem,
right? I look at it like this.
I've never met somebody with a flat tire air that I had to
convince them to change it. Yeah, good stuff.
You know, somebody with a flat tire, they say, help me, man.
I need you to help me change this tire.
So once we identify the problems, it's my responsibility
to educate my homeowners about that issue that I found to the
point they look at me and say, well, what I need to do next.
Yeah. And then they want to solve
their own problem, which means they feel like doing this.
And it makes sales 10 times easier when people want to solve
their own problem. Oh man.
Well I know you've trained now thousands of salesman.
You are kind of the name in sales training, at least in the
roofing industry. In your experience, what
separates successful salesman from unsuccessful?
Can can you tell when you started training which ones are
going to really do well and which ones aren't?
Oh yeah, it's it's pretty evident and it's basic stuff,
but I've learned, man, it's the basics that's hard to do.
Like everybody want to do the fancy stuff.
The basics is the most difficult thing to master.
So the few signs that show me somebody going to be a
successful salesperson, first and foremost, they're extremely
humble, which means they're good.
But they looking for inches. Like they looking for inches.
I'll go train a sales company and it'd be the top guy that's
like, I'm so excited to sit down with you, Deshawn.
I'm so excited you here, man. I'm just, I'm trying to get
better. And it'd be a guy in the middle
of the pack. That's like, man, why they
brought him out here, man. What what we need training for?
So the ability to be coached because the best in the world,
they all got coaches. Chris Brown got a dance coach,
Beyoncé got a vocal coach. Tom Brady, he won 6 Super Bowls.
He still had a coach. So the guys that's eager to get
coached, they usually outperform everybody else.
So that's one thing I noticed. They're coachable, humble,
right? The second thing I've learned is
typically the best reps that I run into, they have a, they have
a hunger for learning, which means they don't live on their
heel of wisdom, right? They don't be like, well, I know
this, I know that I know this. I know that they actually more
excited to figure out the things that they don't know.
And most sales reps, I meet a lot of guys now, I've been doing
this 10 years, man. I've been doing this 12 years,
13 years. And I'm like, yeah, but you're
in the same spot, dawg. Like you still sail why you
ain't elevated to the GM or you know, it's not like, why haven't
you expanded yet? And it's because of some things
that you don't know. So another thing I see is the
reps that's eager to learn, they always learn and they always
chasing knowledge, reading books, going to events, going to
conference, going to seminars, because our industry, the
roofing industry, unfortunately, it's one of the most so weird
man, because our industry is the only industry where people talk
bad about conferences and getting training and getting
coached. But I've never met an athlete
who performs at the highest levels on his own.
Yeah, you know, but sales reps in our industry, they they just
so arrogant about it. So the people that enjoyed like
continuously learning, the people that are coachable and
3rd, when I just say the people who possess a lot of aqueous and
what is aqueous to reluctantly accept the thing without
protest, Which means anytime you get some high coaching in your
life, most people going to ask you to do things that's
counterintuitive to how you would do it.
And some of the best sales reps I've met, they'll be like, I
wouldn't do it that way, but I'm gonna trust you and they'll do
it. And then they'll get results and
they'll be like, Dang, I never thought about doing it that way.
And they stuck. That's how you add new tools to
your tool belt, right? To do something that you
normally wouldn't do, but I'm gonna try it anyways.
And boom, now you now you're getting results that you haven't
experienced before. So to break it all back down,
they coachable, right? They, they humble, they possess
a certain level of humility. They're always eager, eager to
learn like they, they, they never sitting on.
They know everything they like. OK?
It's always another level to go to.
And they're willing to do things that they normally wouldn't do.
That's uncomfortable, but they know how to help them grow.
Well, Deshawn, I know you said that you kind of came naturally
to sales. You have quite a bit of natural
charisma. You're a people person.
You like to talk for someone that isn't that.
Do you think that work ethic can overcome a lack of natural
charisma in sales or or do you need that raw talent?
No, I think, I think you could put in the work to get better at
this. I've seen guys doing numerous
times. I've seen some of the most
introverted people learn how to put on the show.
They've learned how to like they're almost going to the
field and become a completely different person just for 3-4
hours. And then when the day over, they
go right back in the shell, like they just right back to being
quiet. But it's, it's a constant
pursuit of improvement. So me, I was naturally a people
person, right? So it was easy to talk to
people. The difficult thing I had to
learn how to do, Eric, was close people.
I couldn't close in the beginning, like people either
went did business with me because they really liked me.
But I had no, no, no closing techniques.
I wasn't bold. I wasn't firm, man.
I used to run from uncomfortable conversations, all of those
things. So I was a natural people
person. I wasn't a natural firm person.
So I developed those skill sets over the years, being more firm,
being more direct, like improving my grammar and
improving my vocabulary. Those things I had to work on.
So I do think an introverted person could be phenomenal as
sales because it just, it's about having the awareness to be
like, OK, this is what I'm naturally good at.
What comes difficult to me, OK, these things come difficult.
OK, how do I dedicate time to work on these skills instead of
relying on my strengths too much?
How do I, you know, improve some of my quote UN quote undeveloped
skills? I want to call them weaknesses,
but maybe those skills are undeveloped yet.
So how do you develop those skills?
So I've seen a lot of guys that aren't people, people that
outsell the people, people, okay.
So you mentioned that you learned some some new
vocabulary, some new language techniques to increase your
closing ability. What were some of those things
you discovered? What What are the differences in
language between people that close and people that don't?
I believe people who close are more assertive.
I think people that don't close a lot are very passive.
OK, so for example, when I was first like my first few years, I
would never ask people if they actually wanted to move forward.
It was just like, hey, it's just a free inspection, man.
If we find damage, you know, we can show you how to help.
But in reality, you don't got to do nothing, man.
We just, it's just a free inspection.
So we would do a lot of free inspections.
Then I'll come back and they'd be like, well, you know, we, we
decided we don't want to do anything, but we appreciate the
inspection. And I was like, I'm tired of
wasting my time. So what we did was something I
developed when I learned was so before we do inspection, we
would say, hey, if there is damage, you would want to take
that next step to move forward, right?
If we did find any issues, you would want to take care of them
before they got worse, correct. Just asking those firm direct
questions. Boom, sales number started going
up. Following up with people that
say they want to think about it instead of saying, OK, just let
me know when you're ready because that's that's me.
I'm I'm not forceful at my core. I'm not a forceful person.
All right, just let me know when you're ready, man.
No big deal. I realized I had a pipeline full
of people that want to think about it.
So I'm like, OK, how do we start getting them to the finish line?
Hey, you already got all the information.
What's really stopping you from moving forward?
Because there's really nothing else left to think about.
We just need to make a decision. So what do we do?
What do we need to do to make you feel comfortable moving
forward? And those were things that I
couldn't do because in my mind, that was being too pushy, that
was being overly aggressive. And nobody like pushy
salespeople, blah, blah, blah. And I just realized like, no,
you're not being pushy, man. You're the facilitator, and as a
respectful facilitator, it's your responsibility to help
people make decisions. Man, Well, I know there's a lot
of people. Kind of freaking out right now.
There's a lot of changes coming with AI and automation of a lot
of sales processes. Do you think sales is becoming
easier or harder in this new industrial revolution, the tech
revolution here? I love it honestly.
Like it's it's almost like I don't know if you ever play, you
play Halo growing up, you probably not for. 25 years but.
Yeah, I know, right. But you remember the first Halo
that came out, right? Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Like I look at it now, it's like
you, Master Chief. And then you got the little, the
little computer that be telling you everything you need to know.
Like she do all the extensive detailed work.
She she map out the map, she tell you what type of enemies in
there. She tell you how to best pursue
the, the, the, the best plan of action, the best way to go in
there and kill everybody. And you like, thank you.
Boom. Now they don't eliminate 80% of
your thinking. Now you can just spend your 20%
on the thing that you phenomenal at, which is stepping in the
house, closing the deal, making money.
So I love the way AI is showing up.
If I can get an automatic response so I don't got to text
people back. Love it, right?
If I can have it set up to do follow-ups for me, I love it
right? If you can call my office and I
can't answer the phone, but I got an AI agent that can answer
that phone and set up an appointment for the next two
days while I was asleep. I love it now.
I think it's an enhancement. I don't think it's a replacement
now people that's like relying strictly on AI your business.
I don't think it's going to thrive at the level that it
should because I don't I don't believe high tech will ever
replace high touch. Like I don't think, I don't
think that'll ever happen. It's like what we going to do in
the future. You going to interview AAI on
your podcast bro like. There are people doing that
right now, but it's not something I want to listen to.
Exactly right. It's like, so I do think it's so
many benefits of AII think it's AI, think it's a beautiful
learning curve. I think it can close people gaps
faster. I see a lot of value in it.
I mean, the way we use ChatGPT to like help us in roofing
salesman, we could be like, hey, give us a list of 10 areas they
got hit with inch and a half storm within the last six
months. They'll cook it all up.
They'll be like, do you want to know the income medium?
Yes, Which area got the most homeowners in it?
But like, they give you all of these details now you're just
that much more efficient. But you can't go make it knock a
doe for you. You can't make it go.
You know, I just think in the future, I think humans will get
tired of AI. Yeah.
And they'll just want to go back to talking to people.
It's just like a group of people out here that don't.
They're tired of iPhones and they're like, you know, I'm
going back to a flip phone, bro. Like, I don't want to, like, see
it because it's too distracting. So they're like, I want to go
back to just using my phone and what it's for.
Yeah. So I, I, I think it's a really
good enhancement for what we doing.
I, I, I think it's beautiful. I support it.
I used to be against it. I mean, I got no time for
ChatGPT. I, I, I like studying and now
I'm like, I like studying a little bit more efficient.
Good stuff. Is there a lesson that you wish
you would have learned earlier? Yeah.
I probably would say the lesson that I wish I learned earlier
when I first got started in sales was the better you are at
having uncomfortable conversations, the more money
you're making, the less tension you'll have in your life.
All right? Because I've just learned all of
the stress that comes from salespeople or just humans in
general, right, is usually for things, is usually coming from
things out of your control. So you stressed about things
that's not of your control or it's things that in your control
that you avoid. And when I was young in the
game, I avoided any uncomfortable conversation, man.
Like I didn't want to. I didn't want to do that stuff
that made my stomach hurt. And you know what I'm talking
about? Like it's just certain things
you step into the conversation, you're like, Oh, I know this
don't suck, man. And you go in there and then it
don't be as bad as you thought it was.
So I wish at a younger age at, you know, 25, even younger than
that, learn how to have uncomfortable conversations
because. Every uncomfortable conversation
doesn't have to be conflict. It don't have to be an argument.
It's just like, hey, let's just talk about this very
uncomfortable thing. Let's get it out the way because
I've learned the more you like run from it, the bigger it gets.
So now I just like to have uncomfortable conversations on
the front end. Let's just get it out the way,
whatever it may be, no matter who it is.
I don't, I don't text people. I don't have uncomfortable
conversations through text. You either call me or to me it
ain't real. Yeah, I listen to another
podcaster that like to say conflict deferred is conflict
magnified. Yeah.
Is bigger than it need to be, so let's just deal with it early.
Yeah. Is there an opinion you once
held a strongly that you've changed your mind about based on
your experiences? So many, I guess, say one of the
biggest things I've changed my mind about was money, right?
And I learned a few years ago, those who can't talk about it
don't make it. And I grew up in a household
where we didn't talk about money.
I never knew how much money my Mama made.
You ask somebody how much money they make, they say that's none
of your business. And that was normal for me.
So once I started getting around people that made money, I've
noticed how comfortable they was talking about money, how
comfortable they are asking for money.
So I was always taught money don't grow on trees.
All these like silly things. And then I'm like, ain't money
made out of paper? You know, it's made out of
paper. Last time I checked, we need
trees to make paper. So clearly it must grow on
trees, right? So it's just a lot of little
simple beliefs that I'd never thought about.
I tell people the worst way you can go through life is not
questioning your beliefs. So I used to be that person that
didn't like to talk about money. I avoided asking homeowners like
their budgets, any of those things because it was
uncomfortable for me. And now I've learned this poor
business acumen to be in any business environment and you
don't talk about money, you know.
So that was one that I about grew.
So I talked to my kids about money.
My kids know when I leave in the house, I'm making thousands of
dollars. Like I give them money.
We talk about money and I want them to always be comfortable.
I tell my kids, ask me for money if you want to.
I might tell you no, but keep asking.
I might change my mind. Oh man.
Good stuff, good stuff. If you could go back to 25 and
had the opportunity to do it again, is there anything you
would do differently? Yeah, for sure.
The first thing I would do differently, I would start
reading way earlier. I wouldn't have waited two years
to start reading books and going to conferences and going to
events. I would have become more
disciplined earlier. I wasn't used to freedom.
I came from a regular job, man. Like when somebody tell you all
you got to do is knock doors 4 hours a day and they're not
breathing down your back and they like just go do what you
want to do and just, you know, report back your results.
I used to go chill with my homies for two hours, then go
knock doors for two hours and say I work for four hours.
So like I wasn't really disciplined in the beginning.
So I will go back, read books, educate myself earlier.
I will get more discipline, create a very strict schedule,
stick to it, put in the work. And I guess say the last thing I
would do differently from the beginning is I would have
started studying success sooner. I didn't really study success.
I treated it like a job. I was just like an employee when
I first started. I didn't really take ownership
of what I was doing. I was just doing my job.
So I would go back and take ownership early and understand
that, OK, you're a 1099 sales Rep, this is your business.
Start treating it like it's yours and not the company's
business. And I pretty.
Don't get me wrong, I still turned out good from the way
that I started, but I would have did that earlier.
OK. What mistake did you make that
cost you the most money? That's a good question.
What mistake did I make that didn't call that cost me the
most money? It'd probably be something that
we already kind of talked about, which was I didn't have enough
uncomfortable conversations in the beginning when I was dealing
with homeowners. I've had a few people in the
beginning when I first got started, I would help people get
approved. They'll take their checks and
they will go do like something completely different than what
we discussed, you know, like they would take their money and
go on vacation. They would take their money and,
you know, pay for something they deem more important.
And I would be sitting there like, I thought you was a good
person. So like I thought so I would say
I would, I, I would go back and I wouldn't have trust people so
ignorantly. I just trust everybody.
I know they said they gonna do it.
I would just take before they work.
Now, like 11 years into the game, every everybody who knows
me know I love all my homeowners.
I don't trust none of them. I don't trust now when I treat
them all like criminals. I appreciate that attitude.
And yeah, I think anybody that's been in probably any business
for a length of time feels similarly you.
Yeah. Yeah, and they'd be trying to
make us seem like we, the crooks, like, you know, like
they make it like they reluctant of us, like, well, I don't feel
comfortable paying you, blah, blah, blah.
It's like I don't feel comfortable with you getting the
check. That's what I don't feel
comfortable with, you know, but nobody don't want to talk about
that stuff because homeowners just as shady as contractors.
Oh yeah, yeah, you know, and contractors just take the hit.
But homeowners, man, they so sheisty.
So I'll try. I wouldn't.
I wouldn't trust people as much as I did.
OK, well, I know you talk about reading a lot of books.
You've read two books a month for nine years.
You go to a lot of conferences. You've had some personal
mentors, maybe some more virtual mentors, people that you follow
and watch. What has been your best resource
to grow and develop? Oh, my best resource for to grow
and develop, period. Reading books.
Yeah, I think reading Trump's everything.
Don't get me wrong, conferences is nice, mentorship is
phenomenal. You know, programs, academies,
like little, you know, if you could pay for like somebody's
Patreon and get around those people that have done high level
stuff. But the two I would say reading
books, because reading books do a lot of things.
First of all, it improves your comprehension, your ability to
understand, understand things. It also gives you 20 years of
somebody life in like 150 pages. So you can come out here and try
to figure out things on your own or you can go learn from
somebody that's already did it, implement it, give results.
So reading book changed my life in ways I didn't even know it
was possible. Man, like after I read the 10X
rule, I made my first 10 grand. It's taught me how to study
better. It taught me how to, it improved
my memory, my retention, just. But I read a little bit
different than most people. I'll read a book and when I read
a book, let's say if I read 2 chapters, I'll, I'll close the
book and I'll just find a blank page like in my notebook and
I'll recollect everything I remember, just write it all down
just to keep the retention good. Then once I write down
everything that I remember, I'll go teach it to somebody, even if
I haven't fully mastered it yet. I'll go teach it even
immaturely. And that helps me retain the
information better. But reading is my, my, my #1 go
to. Warren Buffett spent the first
six hours of his day reading books Because it's so many gaps
in this world. In this.
They say if you want to hide something from somebody, put it
in the book. I think that's becoming more and
more true with the modern generations.
And now people like to fight me on this one, Eric.
They'd be like, but I listen to audio books.
Is it the same thing? No, no, not at all.
And they say, well, why not? I say, OK, well, what's the last
audio book you listen to? They'll tell me I'll be like,
well, tell me what you learn. And they'll be like, well, you
know, exactly like you're not even, you're not even dialed
into the audio book because let's just be honest, right?
If we had to be very practical, if you listen to an audio book,
what you're most likely doing something else driving, right?
Most people driving right now, if you're driving, most of the
humans I know don't just drive. So you probably, you know what
I'm saying, You probably on your phone, you're probably you doing
something. So, yeah, the book is playing,
but you're not really paying attention to the book.
Then you got to go Rwanda. You got to go Rwanda.
When I read a book, I can't do nothing but read.
I can't read. I can't like, I can't talk to
you right now. Read a book and listen to you.
It like it don't work like that. So reading has changed the game
for me in ways that I can't even describe.
It's it's improved my focus. It's improved my my mental
stamina. Like it's just so many benefits
that come from reading books. And then the second thing I
would say is mentorship. Yeah, paying somebody.
You got to pay to play, man. You can't learn, excuse my
language, but you can't learn nothing off YouTube.
Like you can, but that's the free stuff.
You grow by paying to get around somebody and they sit down and
have conversations with you, like you doing podcasts, bro.
You learn things from people that you can't get off YouTube.
Yeah. All the time because we all the
time. It's so many benefits to the
podcast. First benefit is, yeah, you
building the community, you, you, you influencing people, you
helping other people grow. The number one benefit of the
podcast is you get to get around people that did amazing stuff.
They get to teach you things and you like, oh, that's good.
I keep that for myself too. Well, I keep that for myself
too. So you get around people who
typically got to pay thousands of dollars to get an hour of
this person time. You get it for free and you get
extremely valuable information. Yeah.
And nobody don't want to pay for that.
Everybody want to be like man you, you should think, man, you
don't need these guys to teach you that.
OK, well tell that to the guys that done paid to get around
other high level millionaires, learn one thing, come home and
change the entire business. Man, good stuff.
You're just full of wisdom today.
What advice would you have for someone that wants to do what
you've done? And we say do what I've done.
You mean roofing cells? Or do you mean like?
Yes. Starting your own endeavor.
Let's go starting your own endeavor.
Yeah, I feel like that's kind of your niche.
Is it? It's in roofing.
But the the information, the tactics, the the risk that
you've taken is common to a lot of industries.
It wouldn't have to be roofing, I don't think, for you to be.
Successful So it's just roofing is like you said, it's just I
niche. That's just the vehicle that we
we've chose to impact. I always tell people roofing
just my congregation, you know what I mean?
Like I'm not like that. Yeah, that's just my
congregation limited people I preach to.
But if I was to give somebody advice on starting what I want
to start, first and foremost, trust your gut.
So whatever it is you want to do, go do it.
Don't go run it by a bunch of people.
Don't go, go run it by 5 people and be like, hey man, I got this
idea what you think. Hey, I got this idea what you
think. No, just go do it.
Come. When I started Roof Hustlers, my
kids, the mom was like, I don't like that name.
And if I had to listen to her, I would have changed the name.
But Roof Hustlers is like it's if you ask me, it's one of the
best names in the roofing industry.
Why they don't got nothing to do with Deshawn.
Yeah. You know, I mean, everybody else
brand got their name in it. This, this and that.
Roof Hustlers it it speaks to the community.
What do we do? We'd be hustling what we sell
roofs. What are we roof hustling, you
know? So whatever your idea is, trust
it. Second thing is give out value,
Value, value, value value value free value.
Give out free stuff. Why?
Because the way God created this universe, you reap what you sow
There's no such thing as putting out something and get nothing in
return. Now you might not get it when
you want it, but it's going to come in due time.
So don't run your idea by nobody just you got an idea, trust the
process go boom. Second thing I would say find a
way to bring value to the marketplace.
You got to give before you get, right?
Give out free information, education, some form of fashion
that people can take, practical stuff that they can take, go,
implement, get results. Third thing I would say is build
a brand. Yeah, build a business, but
build a brand. People buy brands before they
buy products. People buy brands before they
do, like before they buy your business, right?
So people buy brands. So Roof Hustlers is a brand.
Deshawn is the brand, right? People love me, but they love
the brand of Roof Hustlers and what it represent and who he is.
And I think most people try to start a business or start an
endeavor, but they don't build a brand.
And what is your brand? Your brand is what people is,
what people say about you when you're not present.
That's your brand, right? Marketing is what you want to
tell people about yourself. So marketing is what you tell
people about you. Branding is what people say
about you to other people. So what is your brand?
It matters. Do you got a brand that's not on
time? Do you got a brand that's
inconsistent? You got a brand of cursing.
You got a brand of being aggressive.
Like be mindful that everything you do when you're creating a
bread. And then one thing I would say
is start where you at. If if, if you at ground one,
kick it with ground one people level 1 people, don't try to
start something and go to somebody that been doing
something for 20 years and be like, hey man, can I can you
promote my stuff? Can you do no, go go to a ground
level guy, other people and then work your way up.
I feel like a lot of people don't respect the next level
because they so focus on the top level.
Yeah. And sometimes all you need is
that next level, right? Like my camera guy.
I didn't go find the most expensive camera guy when I got
started. I met my camera guy because we
was working out together. I'm like, what you do is like, I
shoot videos. I'm like, that's crazy.
I do videos. I'm like, man, I need somebody
to film me. He's like, really?
I love to film. Boom.
That's How I Met my cameraman. Now we've been doing business
together for 6 1/2 years. Yeah, I think there's a lot of a
lot of value to those relationships where it when
you're both hungry and you can both help each other and that
relationship is mutually beneficial.
Sometimes those relationships, those the business that comes
out of that relationship grows a lot better when you're both
hungry and you're both at the same level than when one of you
is hungry and the other one's already successful.
They don't. I feel like they don't.
I feel like you. Just a number then.
Yeah, you're just another client.
You're the next guy and a lot of the times you're the the little
guy, you know, they've they got big clients, they've got really
successful people they work with, they've got their personal
relationships already dialed in and you're just the the extra
that they threw in because you were willing to pay.
You look at LeBron, he picked his best friend to be his
manager. He picked Rich Paul to be his
manager. Not Rich Paul, one of the most
well known sports ages ever. He ain't never managed a person
in his life. LeBron was the first person he
ever did it for. So LeBron even LeBron being at
the level that he was, he didn't go find a level 10 manage.
He found a person that was right there with him.
But we both get into the NBA women are we getting into let's
go kill the game together, right?
So those are just something also.
And then the last thing. So first and foremost, don't run
your idea by too many people, right?
Trust your gut. So I build that brand, right?
And then most importantly, the last thing I would say, get a
customer before you get an LL. That's good.
Yeah, I see stuff. Everybody's all online.
I had this great idea. I registered an LLC.
What do I do next? Like man, you don't need to
worry about the LLC till you have some movement like you can
operate trainings, you can operate as a sole proprietor for
a long time. You can get the business going
before you start worrying about everything else.
So you could be an independent contract.
Yep, like just a 1099. You go in and sell companies,
they just write you a 1099. You was just a you was just temp
work or whatever you want to call it.
But like you said, I know people that like I got an idea.
I got the name, I got the logo here, go to LLC.
I'm not how many customers you got?
They like none. I'm like mate, so we, we, we, we
trained 10 companies before we even create a roof hustle's LLC.
Only reason I created the LLC because I sat down with some tax
people that was like, you need to create an LLC like you're
making money. You need to figure that out.
So I was the opposite man. I made money 1st and then we
went back and did all the business stuff.
Yeah, good stuff. So if you had to go back and
start from scratch, no roof hustlers, you're just a sales
guy, what would you do? Would you stick with roofing?
Would you do something different?
Oh, no, if I can go back, start from scratch.
No roof houses. No nothing.
Like at 20 years old, I'd have got in the sales and I
definitely would have sold roofs hands down.
Yeah, because it's a hot, it's a high ticket Commission.
You can make anywhere between 2:00 to 5:00 grand, 2 to 6 grand
per roof. It's a it's a business that's a
need. Everybody need a roof.
Every year a new market is opening up.
So what do I mean by that? It's 2026 now.
We can go back and knock doors that's built in 2008 because
they're getting 15 years old, 17 years old now.
So it's a constant opening of new markets every year.
Everybody needs a roof. And it's the, it's, it's the one
thing that I tell everybody, if you're going to sell anything,
don't sell commodities. Sell needs, sell things.
People need. People don't need solar.
Solar is a commodity. People don't need pest control.
It's a commodity. People don't need alarms.
They should get them, but they don't need them because it's a
commodity. If you live in a really nice
neighborhood where you can leave your garage up, why would you
buy a security system? You know?
But everybody need a roof, point blank bed.
Good stuff. They might run from it, but they
don't need one eventually. Like you said earlier, it's that
thing that nobody wants to buy though.
I always said for my second career I'm going to sell a
commodity commodity. I want to sell speed boats or 4
Wheelers because nobody has ever written me a check and been
excited about it. No, you know what I'm saying?
Because I like you, right? Nobody ain't bought that jet
ski. And they're like, they they
write you that check for that jet ski.
They're like, whoa, I can't wait to take this on the water.
Yeah, they write you that check for that roof.
They'd be like. Yup, they're never having a good
day. It's a drag every time, you
know, But hey, I just, I just improved your property value and
I just gave you peace for 20 years.
Yeah, yeah. There's real value in it.
There's dignity in it, but nobody's ever excited to do it.
So you mentioned that the best resource you had to grow and
develop was a book. When can we expect a book
authored by Deshawn Bryant? That's actually something we get
into the finish line this year. It's called the virtues of the
Hustler, which is the 10 virtues you need to embody just to be
able to do anything at a high level or just sales just life in
general. I'm a very spiritual person.
I don't got no church home, but I believe in a lot of biblical
principles and I love virtues and I love, you know, I like
Greek philosophy. I just love, I love Easter and
philosophy period, right. Yeah, because we Western
philosophy. So I love Eastern philosophy
period. So I try to operate out of, umm,
principles the vast majority of my life.
So I try to teach the men that I train like man, try to eliminate
your emotions from certain scenarios like systems,
formulas, principles, and feelings.
I believe those are four things that run out of universe.
Systems, formulas, principles, and feelings.
And I try to teach men to operate out of their systems,
they formulas and their principles.
Be aware of your feelings, but don't let them make decisions
for you. So we're creating the virtues of
the hustler, which is if you embody these virtues, it'll lead
you to success. So that's why we're working on
this year, man. I got to get it finished.
I got a literally no lie, Eric, it is 90% done.
It's just I got to finish one more chapter, then I got to send
it out to get edited and all that good stuff, so.
OK. And if someone wants to engage
your services or engage with some of the free resources that
you have available, what's the best way to find you and get
ahold of you? Are we easy to find?
Anywhere you see the bow tie, you'll see this guy.
For y'all who don't know, I wear a bow tie every day.
I go out and knock doors. I've been doing this since my
second day of sales. I've been wearing a bow tie
every day. And why is that I?
I feel like there's got to be a story behind that.
Why? Why is?
Believe it or not, it ain't no deep story.
So what happened was we used to make music.
We did a music video where we all dressed formal, and I wore a
bow tie to the music video. And my baby Mama, she was like,
you look good in a bow tie. I'm like, you think so?
Shit. Like, yeah, so then I get in the
sales like two months after that first day, we go out and
knocking doors and no bow tie. And the dude that was training
me, like we ended the day and I was like, I got this bow tie at
home, man. I think I'm going to wear it
tomorrow. And he was like, you should.
I was like, yeah, I'm a try. So that next day I come out, I
wore a bow tie and the reactions was priceless.
Like, I mean, everybody loved it.
Everybody's like, Oh my gosh, I love your bow tie.
Like you look so good in the bow tie.
And I was like, this my differentiator.
How do I help myself stand out from other door to door sales
reps just look good while you're doing it, right?
And it's hard for people to forget me because if I knock on
somebody door and they'll be like, you already been here and
I'll be like, you remember the bow tie.
They'll be like, no, I'll be like, well, we've never met.
Pleasure to meet you, Deshawn. And like, I go to my pitch and
it's just it's almost like an alter ego once I put the bow tie
on this game time, you know? But yeah, that's how I came
about, just taking risks, man. I've always been the guy that's
I'm a very rebellious soul. I don't, I, I hate doing what
everybody else do. You know, like I said on social
media with people doing trends, I refuse to do them.
Oh yeah, I think that's probably true for a lot of entrepreneurs.
We like to be creative. We like to do our own thing, our
own way. We don't like to fit the mold
and do what everybody else is doing.
So yeah. But then as you talked about
earlier, there's the the value to being, you know, disciplined
with your system, your process and being in that box.
So I think there's a balance there.
It is. It's like Lil Wayne.
And then I tell everybody where they can find me out.
A lot of people get mad at Lil Wayne because you don't listen
to other rappers. And he'll meet a new rapper and
they'd be like, you don't know who I am.
And he'd be like, no. And they'll get offended and
he'd be like, I don't listen to rap music.
Like I don't listen to new up and coming rappers because I
don't want to be influenced by them.
Always want my sound to sound original.
So I was the same way. I never watched nobody in
roofing. I've never watched the roofing
sales trainer. All of my training came from
outside of the roofing industry. And then I would bring it back
to the roofing industry and teach them the principles that I
learned. So that's why I train and coach
so different than everybody else in the roofing industry, because
I've never learned from nobody in the roofing industry.
Yeah. But so I mean, for the people
you're training, how do you avoid that same pitfall for the
people that you're training? And what way?
Well, I mean, now you're the guy giving the training in the
roofing industry. How do you keep them from just
kind of parroting what you're doing and having that influence?
How do they make it their own and be original and kind of own
it? Well, one thing we don't teach
is we don't teach charisma, we don't teach personality.
We tell everybody, be yourself like you.
Learn these tactics, learn these strategies, learn these
principles, but learn them within the wheelhouse of you.
So if you're a very detailed introverted person, I'm never
going to tell you to like, get out of that box and be more
extroverted. I say, how do you just become
the best introverted version of you?
Like, how do you step into your authenticity?
Because that's all I did. I was just being myself every
day. I wasn't trying to be nobody
else but the best version of Deshawn.
So I teach sales reps when we go out and knock doors.
So one thing I say, Eric, I'd be like, what's up, lovely lady?
How you doing today, boss man? What's cracking, baby?
Right. And then I watch a sales Rep be
like, hey, lovely lady, I'd be like, don't say that again.
Don't don't ever say that again, bro.
Like he'd be like, why you say it?
I say because I say it in my everyday life.
Like that's my everyday language.
That's not something I say because I'm selling people,
right? That's how I like when sales
reps would be like, man, how you get away with calling women's
girls Because I'd be like, oh girl, I don't even worry about
it. Like I talked, but I'm like,
because that's how I normally talk to people.
So I don't want you to focus on trying to be me, be you.
How do you talk to people in your regular life?
Bring that to sales, right? Be your most authentic self, but
then just add strategies, the tactics and the principles to
who you are. And then it didn't.
It didn't enhance it. But don't.
Don't try to be nobody else because you only know how to be
one person, which is you. The worst thing you can do is
try to be somebody else's. Too much work.
Well, back to the back to the question there before we got
sidelined. Yeah, I'll, I'll put the link to
Roof Hustlers in the show notes. Are there other places that
people can get a hold of you or engage with you?
Yep, like we said, anyway, you see the bow tie, you'll see this
guy. You can find us on Instagram at
roof hustlers TikTok at roof hustlers.
I don't use it that much, but we there YouTube roof hustlers
Facebook is Deshaun Bryant and that's DASHAUN because for some
reason everybody want to spell it with a EI.
Don't know why, but anyways, Deshaun Bryant and anyway, you
see roof hustlers, you'll see me.
You see the bow tie, you see this guy shoot us Adm say what's
up? I saw you on the From the Ground
Up podcast and I respond to 95% of my DMS unless you're one of
those marketing people. But everybody else, I respond to
95% of my DMS because I love the people.
Without y'all, this wouldn't be possible and the brand wouldn't
be growing the way that is growing.
So we love and appreciate y'all immensely.
Good stuff. And I know you focus primarily
in roofing, but it sounds like, I mean you just teach solid
sales principles, solid sales tactics.
Are you open to expanding the brand outside of roofing?
If someone in another industry wants to engage your services,
is that available? Yeah, I've actually trained
marketing companies. I've trained a marketing company
before. I've trained the HVAC company
they call and services. I taught them how to go door to
door and generate business HVAC. I got a a realtor lady that I
she saw me, my friend runs a networking group and I trained
in the networking group and she's like, can you come speak
to all of my Realtors? I got a homie who who runs a
football team and I came in, spoke to his football team as
well. So we we, we trying to, let me
phrases, we're going to expand outside of the roofing industry.
That is the ultimate goal. But like I said, this is my
congregation. I'll never leave them.
But yeah, I'm open to any industry.
Maybe I'll come in and bring that heat, period.
Good stuff. Yeah, it sounds like the wisdom,
the principles that you bring are a pretty universal.
It's not specific to roofing. And just going back to what you
just said, you're not teaching someone how to sell a roof.
You're teaching them how to sell, how to engage their own
personality, their own character in a unique way to get people to
make that decision they need to make.
Yeah, good stuff. Well, this is my favorite
question that you've kind of touched up against it.
A few different directions here, but are you a person of a
particular faith tradition? And if so, how has that affected
your career? So I grew up in the church, not
heavy, but my mom knew used to make me go to church.
My dad was a Deacon in the church.
So I've always grew up in the church and I'm a heavy, heavy,
heavy, heavy believer of God. I always say I do the sowing, he
do the growing. I'm not that good.
I'm the vessel. It's just my responsibility to
deliver the message. But I have no specific religion
that I believe in, like no Catholic, no, nothing like that.
But I do believe in the word of God.
I do do a lot of Bible study and I I believe in any majority of
spiritual practices. So I'm heavily, heavily anchored
in my faith. I'm a firm believer that like, I
don't live in doubt. I don't doubt me.
And it ain't because I'm arrogant.
It's just because if you read the Bible, the word doubt don't
exist in it. Like you can't even find the
word doubt in the Bible. So I don't doubt myself.
And they said you only need the faith of a mustard seed, right?
But I got the faith of, you know, like a, like a, like a
Peach seed, like a big one, you know what I'm saying?
Like I got a lot of faith that the man upstairs always going to
make things happen. I trained over 175, almost 200
companies over the last six years.
My first four years I had no website.
I've never paid for one marketing ad.
Like I've, I've never done nothing and I've sold.
I've booked my calendar every single year.
So people ask me like, how you doing this stuff, Deshawn?
I said, man, all I can do is I give all the glory to God.
I give all the graces to God and like I said, I do the sewing, He
do the growing. And every day I pray every day
before I knock doors. Like it's non negotiable for me.
Like when we pull up in the neighborhood, I get the whole
team together, we do a quick little prayer and then we go
knock doors every single day. So I'm just very heavily
faith-based, man. Humans too imperfect for me to
experience the things I've experienced in my life.
OK, what? Is there anybody that you'd like
to see on this show? Somebody that has a cool
business, a cool career, a cool story that you'd like to learn
more about. Adam Benjamin, like, I know him,
but it'd be dope to hear some of the questions that you asked me.
It'd be dope to hear him answer some of those.
Kenny Brooks, the funny salesman.
It'd be nice to see him on here as well.
I'm a big fan of him as well, a big supporter.
I try not to be fans of people. I like to support people.
I know it sounds silly, but it's like there's a distinction.
Yeah, it's a distinction. Like I ain't no fan of no man
really like, but I'm big supporters of people because we
all human man, but Adam Benz, man, my boy Kenny Brooks, the
funny salesman and let me think who else I follow?
Is this girl named low something I don't know she did.
I don't know her name but she do high ticket sales and I found on
accident on on Instagram but she a license girl got really curly
hair and she does high ticket sales and she make millions of
dollars and she just be at the crib like she don't even travel
she don't do nothing just high ticket sales.
I think it would be dope to learn a little bit more about
us. Well, I might ask you to make a
connection offline here to a few of those guys that you know and
see if we can't get them to come on and learn a little bit more
about what they do so. Yeah, I'm down.
Awesome. Well, Deshawn, thank you so much
for giving up the time to spend with us.
You are just full of wisdom as we discussed, I think that the
principles that you teach, the wisdom that you have is
applicable far outside of roofing.
Anybody that's in sales, anybody that interacts with humans can
probably benefit from the the principles, the wisdom that you
have to share. So thank you so much for taking
the time and sharing that with us.
Thank you for having me, man. It's an honor, a privilege, and
a pleasure. Like I said, it's it's it's so
much responsibility when somebody allows you to interact
with their communities and their people.
And like I said, I don't take it lightly in the beginning.
So thank you so much for having me on here.
Thank you for allowing me to be myself on here as well.
And man, you keep doing, you keep doing what you're doing.
Man, you actually really good questions.
You're a great podcaster, man. It's rare you meet a dude that
runs a podcast and he don't spend a vast majority of his
time talking about himself. Well, thank you.
I appreciate that and thank you guys for joining us here on from
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