Where did the whole element of “I want to start knocking on doors” come from? Why did your life shift? What happened?
Honestly, it happened last summer with all the riots and everything. A lot of stuff happened with how I was treated, and how my family was treated by anybody who associated with me, those events sent me in the direction of knocking on doors. I basically called my best friend Richard Nye, who’s the brother of the owner of Skymark. He was a deputy with me. David was a deputy and the owner called him just asking for financial advice. Like, how do you get out of being a cop? How did you give it up? I’m having to work 60 hours a week just to put food on the table. So, to provide a nice life for my wife, how do I get out? They said, just come out and check it out and work for us. I told them, you know, I was in the infantry, in the military, I was a cop, and I’m not exactly what society deems as a “people person” I don’t think I’m going to be very good at sales. But, I promised him I’d give it a shot. It took one day I decided I could do this.
Commit
My first couple weeks I was working part-time, still a cop. I just felt like I was wasting time. I said I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to make doctor money and not have my wife worry about whether I’m coming home or not. I said let’s do it and I went for it. Two weeks in my wife walked into the living room, and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was writing my resignation letter. I said I’m done being a cop. I’m going to knock doors. She was like sounds good to me, it’s not like you’re making great money now, so at least you’ll be safe. I immediately knew there was more for my family. I could make more money and stay safe. It was truly a better way and the change my family needed.
Take Action
I grew up with our shingle supplier, small world, just blessed. He introduced me to David, the owner. David knows law enforcement. Obviously, he comes from that background, the same as his brother. I sat down with David in the late spring of 2020 and just kind of flirted with the idea of selling door to door. I wasn’t all in just yet and he kind of told me the opportunities that are here and I was like well, you know that sounds a lot better than I’ve got now. Long story short, an incident happened at work where I felt like I wasn’t being taken care of. That changed my whole perception. That day I called David on the phone and said hey man, I’m ready to go. I’m all in. And I just took the dive. Man, I put bricks on my ankles and jumped in the ocean. I figured, I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain from taking this opportunity and running with it.
Find Motivation
I can always be a cop somewhere else, you know? But, really, the big turning point for me was when I left my job, I had a couple of people tell me they would see me back in a few months. I put a chip on my shoulder and it really helped me lock in, because now I‘m not doing it for me. My why is that chip on my shoulder. Now, my why has changed, but for a long time, I worked hard to prove them wrong, That’s kind of what drove me at first was to just prove to them that I can do it. Then, I really wanted to show the other guys that I like that I know who are good dudes that there is a different way. There are other ways to make income besides work here. That was kind of my why and how I fell into the industry.
Find The Right Company For You
I’m blessed. Really, I don’t think I would have succeeded in other companies. I would have done okay, but not to the level I am now. I’m pretty blessed to work where I work. I spent some meaningful time out there in Florida with Billy and David the owners. I went and out and knocked during the tour. It was fun. I was able to spend some time knocking with Alec knocking on the trip and knocking with some of their guys. I just got to know the systems, the trucks, the look, the branding, and the culture. It was cool. They were sending me out to our sales boot camps and then investing in me and it shows a lot about the owners. A lot of times you do feel like you leave a stable job into the unknown of commissions. It’s kind of a sink or swim and you jump with these weights on your ankles and you’re like well, that hurt. Nobody told me it was a hard landing. It’s reassuring because when you know they have your back at your old job, not to say that I didn’t have good supervisors or good people around me, but society and the law really don’t have your back anymore. So, regardless of what your boss thinks, you’re on the wrong end of the deal in that job.
