104: How this Roofer from Canada Successfully Sold his Business (via Eric Gilbert-Williams)

Background on Eric Gilbert-Williams:

Eric Gilbert-Williams is the founder and CEO of The Roof Hospital, a residential roofing and exteriors organization. His entrepreneurial path began as an early troubled teenager and has led him down an adventurous path of professional event production, B2B sales, exterior construction and now into the realms of Blockchain tech, software development and Bitcoin, all of which he feels very grateful for.

He founded his roofing and construction company solo in 2006 as a sole proprietor, grew it to nearly 20 quality employees who became his personal friends, plus another approximately 20 hard working contractors. The time came to let go and he is currently in the process of handing over ownership to a new team. In the early days, Eric would knock on people’s doors himself, close deals, then whip on the tool belt and get the work done well. As time went on, he grew the team and then the team started growing itself. His company started by working exclusively on single family home shingle roofs and ended up on some fairly complicated commercial high rise projects. The company remained focused more on roofing and in the residential townhouse sector of the market throughout his time there.

Two of the accomplishments he feels most proud of and grateful for within it are 1) so many of the team members became his personal friends throughout their time together and 2) he achieved the #1 place for fastest growing companies in Calgary, Alberta in 2014. Eric also travels across North America performing with an amateur salsa dance team.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[0:40] Eric Williams has just left and exited his roofing and construction company. He said that this is the right time for him to make an exit.
[2:19] Eric talks about how he started and built his own roofing business from the ground up.
[4:09] At 18, Eric worked at a Loyalty Card Company, which gave him a lot of experience in sales.
[9:34] Eric gave some important tips on how you can organize a successful event for businesses. Doing an event needs a complete and total dedication from the organizers.
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[12:20] When Eric was still focused on organizing and selling events, he tried going to the roofing and construction as a sideline job. It turned out that he earned more in roofing than the events.
[15:12] When he was just starting the roofing company, he made sure that the accounting aspect is fully established and organized. He wanted an efficient bookkeeping system before starting the company.
[17:34] Eric didn’t have any savings when he moved to Alberta and started his roofing company.
[23:48] Eric was inspired by the book entitled The Millionaire Next Door. It was encouraging for him to learn that a regular and frugal person can become a millionaire.
[27:05] During the early years, Eric made physical door-to-door marketing to promote his roofing business. He gave some good tips about marketing your business.
[30:23] Eric gets easily bored, which is why he welcomes diversity in his work. He focuses in one business aspect for several months and shifts to another one.
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[33:45] Eric talks about hiring the right people for his business. He made some mistake when hiring people because he based his decision on his emotion.
[38:37] Eric emphasizes the importance of specialization and having several roles that one employee can have. This becomes essential when the company is growing and having more employees.
[43:27] In 2014, his company was at the verge of bankruptcy. Eric got burned out and there was also a downturn in the economy.
[49:39] Eric built the company with a live-or-die mindset. However, he became complacent and started taking things for granted.
[55:10] There were several factors that made him decide to leave the business. He says he got bored, the margins were tight, and there were too many risks, which prompted him to leave.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Peaceful Warrior by Daniel Banner, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Power Supply unit for my L3+ Scrypt Litecoin Cryptocurrency Miner
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? “Mindview” mindmapping software by Matchware, also a custom CRM we designed and built in house.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Just sold it so no current business challenges. That being said, I can see in hindsight that my own limiting belief systems and fears kept the company from growing perhaps more than any other thing.

Key Point from the Interview:

“Whenever there’s a question or a challenge, just trust in yourself, trust that you got what it takes to get through. And just don’t let anyone stand in your way. Just do it. A hundred percent commitment, don’t do it half-assed. If you do it half-assed, you will regret it for the rest of your life”