Ty Cobb Backer: 0:00

And here we are, and we are live. Welcome back everybody to episode 243 of Behind the Tool Belt. Thank you for joining us on this Wednesday edition. Today we have another special guest. Stay tuned and we will. Backer Roofing, siding windows, gutters, solar Roofing, siding windows, gutters, solar TC Backer, tc, backer. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back everybody to Behind the Tool Belt, episode 243. Today we have another fantastic guest the GOAT of Door to Door, mr Coach, mr Trainer, adam Bensman.

Adam Bensman: 1:03

My man, how are you, dude Ty, it's good to be here, man. Last we did this gosh. I don't remember, but it's been too long. And a lot has changed, I think, since then.

Ty Cobb Backer: 1:12

Yeah, for both of us. Yeah, for both of us. You've come out with a new book that I actually, when it came out, super excited. I don't know how many copies and I was just thinking this morning I need to re-up. It's giving me goosebumps because just to have the honor and the privilege to have this opportunity with you right now and it's thrilling for me it really is because you have done so many wonderful things for the industry that we both are so passionate and love industry, that we both are so passionate and love and and to to know that I know you and and have access to you not anytime that I want, but you know the privilege to have you on the show, man, it's just, it's an honor. I mean it really is. And thank you for coming on. I know our team here is super stoked. I sent out a group chat last night or one day this week and was like, hey, adam's going to come on the show. And I know Brian, one of our sales managers, actually reached out to you about coming on the show and he was kind of like man I hope you're not mad at me, but I reached out to him and asked him if he'd come on the show and he showed me your response, like I was. I actually have been on the show before and so I was like you know why? Not a great great time to have you come back on, because I feel like you're in a really good place.

Ty Cobb Backer: 2:26

You got the Roofing and Solar Reform Alliance going on right now. You recently launched your you know your book. That has become an award winning you know book and and now, at least for our team, has become a staple, a go to, you know basic text for our team to go back to and study and learn and listen, and anybody new that comes in gets one of it's. Part of our protocol now you know is is, you know, the survival guide. You know it's almost as important as the GAFs. We call it the Bible, the field guide. You know that. You know it's part of our curriculum of training our people.

Ty Cobb Backer: 3:02

You know, now you've you you've you got the, the roofing and solar reform alliance, which I want to definitely talk about. You're the, the roof strategist well, most known for being the roof strategist and you know I you know secretly, you know, not even secretly watch most of your videos. I'm on your email list so I click on the link. I watch all that stuff, the free content that you throw out there. Anyhow, we don't have to get too far down in the rabbit hole of like where and how, and you became the roofing strategist. But I think more importantly right now, like where are you at now, what part of your life, and what are you digging and what are you not digging?

Adam Bensman: 3:39

Yeah, first of all, thank you and, by the way, the comments on the book bring a lot of joy. It's so wild doing that, putting your life out there, and it's very rewarding to see it making an impact. But, yeah, what am I jiving on? What am I not? Man, I've had this big shift in both my all the things combined my passion, my energy, my time. So all the focus has been in to my community and making a transition from a transaction business model selling my training system to relationship business model working with people to help great roofing companies make a bigger impact together. It has been awesome. So that's what I'm jiving on, and it's been really fun to just put blinders on and say no to everything else.

Adam Bensman: 4:29

Like for most people may or may not have known this, but I took a sabbatical from speaking. I was on the road all the time and I said I'm not taking on anymore for the remainder of the year and it's been really amazing to invest in my community and developing the sales tools that are being released for our members and doing live training sessions and working with owners and working with leaders. So that's been so. What I haven't been jiving on is living on the road but I've been jiving on is pouring everything that I can into this and then building out uh, building our team to create amazing support and to free me up to do the work that brings me the most fulfillment and, as a by-product, bring has the biggest impact on the people I serve.

Ty Cobb Backer: 5:18

Amen to that and and you are, you are making a huge impact. So let's talk a little bit. You said you know the traveling. I mean that takes its toll on everybody. I mean I think we can all relate to that and I think from the outside, looking in, it doesn't seem to be that growing. But when you're jumping from, you know, uh, airport to airport would lay over to lay over to convention center, convention center, stage to stage, or whatever it takes. It takes a toll on human mind, um and body and and there's so many other things that suffer your family and and you personally, mentally, physically and in the toll that it just takes on a human being. So, uh, what was? What was me, I guess, um, but what like? So you decided to take a sabbatical. What was that pivoting point? What was that thing where, like, you just saw this huge gap, like, hey, we're going to create this roofing and solar reform you know I'm going to put the blinders on Like, what was that? What happened? Was there something on the road that changed your mind?

Adam Bensman: 6:18

or what you know. It was a lot. It was a combination of things that came to a head and they came to a head at one in the morning I was out east I don't remember what city I was in, it was before an Owens Corning event and all this stuff was stacking up for me. One I started to get messages from people that were using my sales system is often sales reps and I didn't hear good things. Sales reps weren't getting paid, homeowners weren't getting taken care of even one situation. Liens were getting placed. You know the same, the same drill. So I'm like man, I wish there was something I could do. You know, my old model is you bought my thing, you had my thing and and like it it, so that was weighing on me. Second thing that was weighing on me Second thing that was weighing on me is I felt like I just spent all my time selling my stuff, and I know I'm a sales trainer.

Adam Bensman: 7:10

But what's funny is, if you said, what would you do all day? That would bring you the most fulfillment. It would be creating content. I mean this book, rick Rubin's book, the Creative Act, is like my current. This changes, as I'm sure we all know who get into books, like if I could just stay in my creative lane where I produce amazing content for my people, that's what I would do all day teach.

Adam Bensman: 7:33

And I ended up having to spend all this time I'm like sell, sell, sell, sell and. And I didn't get to work with people. And so I wanted to make this transition of like man, I just I want to. I want to get in the trenches and do the work and really create community. And I know, as a business owner, I get lonely man Like who do you talk to about the stuff you're going through? And you know that there's other people that are going through the same thing and have solved the same problems. And I know that there hasn't been the type of community there's plenty of communities out there there hasn't been the type that's like we're all in this together with shared value, to come in and peel back the curtains of what's working and what's not.

Adam Bensman: 8:14

And then the final piece was my mission. I haven't shared this publicly, but I'm starting to now and, by the way, thanks to Eric Oberamt, who's like dude, you got to, just you got to do it. So anyway, there's lots of things I'm sharing, more of, one of which I remember I wrote down on my whiteboard in my office here's my new office, or newer office. I have this whiteboard next to me which I just cleared, but anyway, it's usually full of that but full of things and I wrote on there when we first started the channel I'll create we'll become the number one most followed sales training in the industry, which I thought was a moonshot. And then I had my tagline like to help you and your team smash your income goal and give every customer an amazing experience. And then I was like well, we, we did it. We became the number one most followed. And then, you know, helping people smash their income goal and give every customer's amazing experience is a big mission.

Adam Bensman: 9:02

But then I wanted to go bigger. So I was like how do I create a thing that allows us to make an impact on homeowners directly? And this name, the reform alliance popped in my head at one in the morning, by 8.00 AM. Before I was, it was 8.00 AM and for the team's time, um, the next morning, before I spoke, I called an emergency team meeting and I was like guys, I have this idea, we're going to completely reinvent how we do business. And they said let's do it Fast forward three months.

Adam Bensman: 9:34

From that point. We launched an entirely new brand, a consumer facing website, our private community app, and rebuilt everything. And then did our final sales push for our old program, um had the best month in the history of our business and then the next month closed it down because I went all I'm all in. We still appeal reach, can I get your program? Get your program. Like you can join and if it is application only, so not everyone's approved Um, but you can apply to join. And it's upset some folks, but I get it Can't make everybody happy. But yeah, that's what changed, man, and it was really. Some people tell me it was the dumbest thing that you could ever do is take the business that had the best month ever and then close it. And to me it was the proudest moment because I went all in on what I believe in and making a difference. And it's been wild.

Adam Bensman: 10:17

We're seeing homeowners that I have literally a video interview. I went to a contractor who's part of RSRA, who earned a customer and they chose them, largely in part because their affiliation with RSRA and why they chose them, even though they were more expensive all of the things that we deal with as a contractor as an objection, they ended up choosing them and I've had a couple of folks who are dealing with shady contractors that found us online or reaching out to us for help. We have written testimonials from homeowners like, hey, I got your direct letter in the mail and I chose you because you're a member of RSRA. We just referred a couple of our members because they reached out and said hey, do you have anyone in this area? And, by the way, we're not a Legion source.

Adam Bensman: 11:00

I just want that to be clear. That's not the purpose of it. The point is we're not a Legion source. I just want that to be clear. Like that's not the purpose of it. The point is is we're catching the attention of homeowners and this was born March 1st, you know. So with what we've done to date, like it's, it's exciting. So, yeah, all of that came, was it was the combination of things that came to a head and just resulted in a, a huge pivot to how I wish to continue serving our community.

Ty Cobb Backer: 11:25

Yeah, no, that's amazing, very bold, very bold move. But I think, as an entrepreneur, as a visionary, all those fancy words with us sometimes I think, once we get so fixated in our heart and our soul, we just feel like this is the know, this is the way, this is the direction this is, and if it, it sounds like to me like there's a core. Right, we have core values, we have personal, professional core values. It really sounds like you really just wanted to solidify and galvanize like that, that, that core Like let's get back to the basics here. Like the whole point of why I wanted to do this was to have an impact. Great, yup, we did the moonshot, we became the number one. But it, you know, and maybe somewhere you started to lose yourself in in the hubbub and all the, all the glitz and the glam and the camera and stuff like that, and it's like you know what I've kind of left the roots because I've done it to myself, where it's kind of like I almost forget what I was chasing.

Adam Bensman: 12:25

Yeah.

Ty Cobb Backer: 12:26

Kind of thing, you know, and then you kind of wake up one o'clock in the morning and you're like, what are we doing? It's like we're I got this idea. Let's, let's get back to our roots. This is our core. Let's have an impact on the community, even on a deeper level, not such a superficial how many followers, how many likes, how many viewers although you are impacting people. But I think, at least for me, I, I, you know like it's no different than the podcast, not that this is even at the level that you're at. You know, I got to keep in mind, like this has nothing to do with me, yeah, like I don't get paid to do this, you know, I just this, this is for you and our listeners and viewers, and what they are going to gain from this. And when that starts to happen, miracles start to happen, when you gain selfless interest in other things and other people. And it sounds to me like that you had that, that that moment of clarity and that epiphany like listen, our goal is now this very bold move, but it sounds like it is. It is Well, I see it doesn't even sound. I can see that you're making a difference and I can see the impact. I can see the light in your eye like, like the sparkle and the glow, like you have this glow like I'm on a mission, we're doing good, we're having impact on the industry and, quite frankly, you're changing, revolutionary, like revolutionizing the industry, and one of not so many trailblazers that are doing it the right way for the right reasons, and that's why you're so successful. The silver bullet is giving right, first and foremost, all the free that you, you have always put out there, like I don't even think this is. What's pathetic is is that nobody would probably have to sign up for for your programs, adam, because of the free content and the good stuff that you put out there. They just follow you long enough. They're going to improve their game now, granted, um, what you do and that, and that's where the rewards kind of come into play, like you've done such a good job and the impact that you're having and it's on, at some point in time things start to come to fruition financially success, you know, and that's kind of where you're at right now.

Ty Cobb Backer: 14:34

But what I love about it is it's like, you know, southwest airline, they're, they're core. Okay, I study Southwest airline. I just really dig the culture that they have over the fun that they're having and stuff like that. They've just recently they're they're getting ready to change some things on on how they board people. You're actually going to be able to select where you can sit. Okay, now, this will work if they don't remove, if it's not for their core purposes of like what it used to be affordable and fast, like onboarding, getting you there on time and and and they, they really believe that everybody should be able to afford to fly Right, and that's why it's kind of like a first come, first serve all seats, free bags, all the stuff Like. They changed the industry, especially by giving free, free, first two bags up to 50 pounds. Not any other um airplane companies do that, that. So they're getting ready to change, like the first few seats or whatever it is. You're going to get more space and and and as long as, I guess I guess as long as they don't know or change and deviate from their core of like why they got started and why they continue to do and and change their culture. Where it becomes confusing for those that work for them, like when someone comes up and says, hey, I want to change my seat because now they're offering that thing and where it takes the fun out of working there. As long as it doesn't change that.

Ty Cobb Backer: 15:59

And it sounds to me like you, if anything, you solidified the core of what it is that you did. But you just you really been able to level up what it was that you were doing to have an impact not just on the industry. But I love how you mentioned the homeowner. You know, by getting the certification from the reform alliance, like it, that means something. There's an application you have to fill out, you got to get vetted. It actually means something. It's not just like a play type of thing. So I, I love, I love what, what it is that you're doing. I can't express that enough. Um, so, like, what's your next move now? Where, where, where do you go from here?

Adam Bensman: 16:40

You know it's funny. Uh, it actually came next week, so we're adding another business service that I'll be announcing by probably mid-October that I'm very, very excited about. It's something I've been wanting to get involved in for a long time.

Ty Cobb Backer: 17:01

The reason I'm on my heels.

Adam Bensman: 17:02

I didn't expect this question and we're in the middle of logo design right now, uh, so I can't. I can't share too much, but what I will say is this to add to what you've said, which kind of ties into this new thing I'm doing? I doubled down on this. My values is really what it comes down to, and I've received some slack. I get people that are upset that I change and they say that it's too expensive, and the way that I respond is this I've put together an organization that, being membership only and application only, means that we're in the trenches together and I don't want someone who's a budget-minded person, who's looking for a transaction. You're not a good fit.

Adam Bensman: 17:49

I believe our rates are incredibly affordable, starting at $9.97 a month, and if people say it's too expensive, I know that this might be a unpopular opinion, but my opinion is you don't yet have a roofing company and that's okay. Use my free content. My goal is to help you make so much money that you want to grow into joining this thing, and people say you're an a-hole, blah, blah, blah. No, I'm not. If you don't have a thousand dollars a month, you don't have a roofing business, because if you don't have a thousand dollars a month. My next question how are you making payroll? My next question is how are you taking care of your customer when things go wrong? Because $1,000 doesn't even cover the four tires you got to buy for the BMW that caught one nail, and if you haven't had that happen, you don't have enough experience. So part of this is to keep the wrong people out. In fact, I've sadly had to let go a member who's a deep relationship of mine, because I discovered the financial situation they were in and I knew that if they were to go under, they would take down all the homeowners whose deposit checks they had and and don't get.

Adam Bensman: 18:48

I am not perfect and we are not perfect. I'm working to get better every day. You know we do our damnedest. You know we'll stuff slip between the cracks, yes, but through self policing and and um customer complaints or submissions. You know we. We do the very, very best we can. But at any rate, my goal in what we're doing is to be able to give even more, because I'm actually working and I haven't said this publicly yet.

Adam Bensman: 19:15

Although my sales training is available exclusively to members, it's getting evolved too, because I'm teaching people not only how to sell, but how to sell as a member of RSRA. And we're developing tools that our members can use, both daily sales tools, because people can say they're better and different. Every day and every I shouldn't say every, but probably every roofing company says we're better, we're different, we have a better service, better product, better warranty. But then the next guy saying we're better, we're different, we have a better service, better product, better warranty. But the minute that you just show up and say, hey, we're a member of RSRA, less than 1% of contractors are in there, and it's actually less than I think. It's like 0.05%. I have to double check our numbers against 100,000. But the point is it's a few hundred companies working together and that is a very small amount. And then you can say, hey, we've all taken this pledge. And, by the way, here's consumer resources. I have a guide. That's on the website. Anyone can see it. It's on rsraorg. That's called Sniff Out the Scum the Insider's Guide to Choosing the Right Roofing and Solar Contractor. So now our people have the ability to use all this with that endorsement. So now we're the ones saying we're better and we're different.

Adam Bensman: 20:23

So anyway, to tie back to what's coming next is my goal, if you look at what I do as a business, is to help people from all walks of life, from the salesperson who doesn't even know they want to get into roofing yet, to the new salesperson, to the, to the seasoned veteran, to the owner, to the guy that just left because his company screwed him and now he's doing his own thing is to be the resource that you can turn to that I can give away so much because the sales training is this much of what I do. I'm reinventing who we are, what we're known for and in our hedgehog concept, the thing that makes RSRA unique is the community that our members peel back the curtains and share everything. They're flying to each other's offices. You can ask any question from in confidentiality, in an open round table, just to leaders, just to owners. Join calls, get in small cohorts and develop deep relationships that you get to get coached through the decisions on the day-to-day and avoid those pitfalls. So my mission is just to.

Adam Bensman: 21:19

I'm going to start giving even more away because you can join me and you're right. Like, if you're just looking for just sales training, stick with the stuff you got on YouTube, you'll do great. Now there's a whole lot more and you get a full system. And no, they're not identical. I get that a lot. You know, the difference is having a start to finish turnkey model that you can plug people into and get them trained up in nine and a half hours and all the marketing material that you get.

Adam Bensman: 21:47

But besides the point, my goal is to make people so much money they say, hey, I want to grow alongside you and join us in the trenches and then work alongside not just me, not just the members, but Deshaun Bryant, jim uh, jim Aline, john Sienak, cody Landles, myself and then again the other folks that are that are contributing. So the next thing I'm going to be doing is helping people elevate their journey, and I'll I'll just share that for now, uh, and and doing something that, um, I think the industry is in great need of and I'm I'm very excited to announce it. So it'll come. It'll come soon. I was, I wasn't prepared. I wasn't prepared for it man.

Ty Cobb Backer: 22:19

That's the problem, or or the the good problem, I guess of of going live. You know we're not editing. This is love, this is raw live. Yeah, yeah, and I love it. I'm excited. I'm excited for you. I can see the enthusiasm you were talking a little bit about. You know people that are, you know, new to the industry. Yeah, what advice would you give somebody that is, you know, thinking or getting ready to start a career in the roofing industry? What advice would you give?

Adam Bensman: 22:50

So this is a good is a good question. I've done quite a few videos on my YouTube channel on advice for new sales reps the, the, the. Is it the good, the bad, the ugly? Uh, what I wish I knew when I got started. So I have so much advice that it's hard to pinpoint like this is the golden thing. But if I were to grab someone that's like considering, let's look at the people that are considering a job and the people that just got started.

Adam Bensman: 23:12

If you're considering a job, the answer is this industry is stupid, simple, but it is not easy and there's a reason that most people quit and it's because they don't have the mental fortitude to stick through the unpleasantries that you are required to face from the outside, from the lack of validation because you'll be working for days and getting nothing, so many people quit and from having to face yourself. And that's the scariest demon for most people is the requirement in this career which I've not found in any other industry or any other career path is you, your baggage that you bring from home comes to work. Your childhood issues, trauma, blockages, come to work. And if you're not willing to lean into those because you have to show up when things suck, you have to show up. When you got in a huge fight with your spouse or significant other, you have to show up when you got in a huge fight with your spouse or significant other, you have to show up when you just found out that your family member has cancer or your kid's going through some things. And you got to be there when the homeowner says how are you? And you're like, hey, everything's great when you're dying inside, and that level of discomfort is far more uncomfortable than than bad working conditions physically.

Adam Bensman: 24:28

And one of my favorite. I heard this old fable years ago. I don't know who to give credit to for this and I don't know if it's true, but the fable tells a great story and it's a roofing company ran an ad saying earn $200,000 a year shoveling chicken poop. So they get all these applicants that come in. They sit at the table and say, hey, great Thanks for coming in to learn about all the money you can make in our company. I just want to start some things off. I have good news for you. You don't need to shovel chicken poop. All you need to do is go knock doors and everyone gets up and runs off, and the analogy there is that so many people would be more willing to deal with physically disgusting conditions like shoveling chicken poop than dealing with rejection themselves, their own inner demons, showing up at a stranger's house, knocking on a door, even if you're in retail and you have set appointments and you're showing up there's still the level of rejection and a level of grit that you need to survive in this field.

Adam Bensman: 25:27

And for those of you that are thinking of it or that are new in it, like if you want uncommon results which in this case let's call it an income, because no one comes into roofing sales for the prestige, no one comes in there, so they can go sit at the bar what do you do, um, and roofing sales, like?

Adam Bensman: 25:41

That's not why we do it right, we do it because the lifestyle it creates. So if you want uncommon results, you got to do uncommon things, and it's uncommon because people aren't willing to do it. But if you can learn to turn that into a game because it's personal development in disguise you're going to, you have the ability to change your life. And it doesn't matter where you came from, whether you just got out of prison, whether you just got sober, whether you finished high school or not, whether you have any sales experience or whether you know what a shingle is, you can do this. You can learn this business and you can do it in under a year, and the learning curve is short and the earning potential is stupid. And if you believe in yourself and you have people around you that believe in you, there's no reason you can't make it happen.

Ty Cobb Backer: 26:22

Man, so good, so good on many different levels, your entire spiel there. I mean I love how you said you always have to suit up and show up right. And that goes into the old you know fable is that you know there's never usually any work-related issues, it's a personal issue brought to work with you. And it's so true. I mean on any level, at any level, wherever you're at, whether you're the boss, the manager, the sales rep, you know you mentally have to suit up and show up. Which leads me to a question from Kevin, who's on our team. He's asking me right. Me right now is like do you have a pregame routine when you're in a car, before you go knock a door?

Adam Bensman: 27:09

Yeah, man, mindset's important. So the the answer is I have experimented with a lot and I don't think it's appropriate for me to say this is the way. So there are times that what I need is motivation and I'm going to listen to pump up music, and that'll change. By the way, I go through phases where it's like I'm listening to rap. By the way, it's so funny when I'm like at my events I'll play rap. He's like I didn't expect you to listen to this. I'm like, oh, I frigging love gangster rap and I'll listen to metal. And then I'll listen to electronica.

Adam Bensman: 27:49

No-transcript Breathing techniques are important to just center yourself. I mean, it's a form of meditation and sometimes you just need to like zen out, you know, and just be present, ready to go. So that's a powerful technique that you can play with. And the other one is reciting your goals and your why. And I to this day, like there's times I wake up and I'm you know, man, if I'm not doing my creative work, I get grumpy, I am. My wife teases me because she says I'm like a Goldilocks, I want everything to be perfect. I'm like, yeah, and what's so bad about that? So so it's like, man, if I can't do my creative work and like build things and create new content and enhance our, our program for our members. I get grumpy because, like I'm not moving in my head, moving forward, and I when there's days like that, there's weeks like that, but what I do is I look through my goals and why. I'm doing this as a reminder that it's not all glory and it's not all fun. So, remembering that, why and I'll give you one last example it was Kevin, right, yeah, so Kevin.

Adam Bensman: 28:55

There was a sales rep. I don't remember his name. I share a story in my book. He came up to me after a training event in Minneapolis and he said his voice was shaky, almost in tears. He's like how do you get the courage to go knock doors?

Adam Bensman: 29:10

And I said man, why are you doing this? He says, well, I want to be able to help my mom out. So he's a young kid. And I said what were you doing before? He was a gas station clerk. No dad in the picture living with mom. Both of them are contributing to the household. And he says it's really to help. I want to be able to support my mom and I want to make a difference. I said here's what I want you to do Next time you pull up in a neighborhood. I want you to visualize your mom outside the window saying come on, honey, you can do this, do it for me.

Adam Bensman: 29:38

And even saying that now makes me want to tear up and I'm like imagine showing up. No one gives a shit. If you made money today, man, what are you doing it for? What's the reason? And if it's because your mom and you're supporting her, imagine her. Now you're knocking doors for her, not yourself. And it's much easier to do selfless things when you don't want to. It's a practice that I have when I'm feeling absorbed in my own pity party. I try to get out of my head and do something nice for somebody. Yeah, same thing with knocking doors. So anyway, kevin, I hope that answers it and if it doesn't, fire away with more.

Ty Cobb Backer: 30:12

No, I love that. That was. That was a great response. And you know and you were talking earlier to you know this isn't uh, you know, glamorous and not a lot of people want to brag. I'm a door-to-door salesman or I'm in the roofing industry. I'm proud of it. I'm proud of the fact that I'm in the roofing industry. I'm grateful that the roofing industry has found me. It has been our vehicle and, honestly, at this point in time, it wouldn't matter if we were selling tires. Our vehicle and, honestly, at this point in time, it wouldn't matter if we were selling tires. Getting back to the, the kind of, the core thing here is that it has allowed us to to be the vehicle to impact other people's lives.

Adam Bensman: 30:50

Yeah.

Ty Cobb Backer: 30:51

But and but. What's cool about it? It's not easy, right it? And the metaphor here is is that you know, nothing is easy if it's worthwhile and and is going to create a positive impact on your life, right, like whether it's dieting, whether it's working out, all of this is very uncomfortable. So what it has done for me and and anyone else that has been successful in in the roofing industry door-to-door um sales aspect of things is that it's very uncomfortable and can be very uncomfortable, but it is pushed. It will push you outside your comfort zone, which is what we all need. Is that nudge outside of our comfort zone and nothing good comes out of sitting on the couch, right? But you just and it's so simple just go knock a hundred doors to get 10 leads. You know what I mean, or whatever the numbers are, the numbers change and it really depends on if there was a recent storm or if you're doing it for retail. The figures and the numbers change.

Ty Cobb Backer: 31:52

But what I love about this industry anybody can do it, anyone can do it. You just got to have the motivation, the courage and surrounding yourself around the right people. That will help motivate you to do it If you have a team of like-minded salespeople that are out doing it and you see that they're successful and they're having fun with it. That's the thing I think we can't forget, even though we'll get rejection after rejection after rejection. But we have some sales guys that are pretty new at this and pretty young, but I see them having fun with this. It's almost like a game.

Adam Bensman: 32:27

It has to be.

Ty Cobb Backer: 32:28

Yeah, so so let's talk about the, the, the game of you know and and how, how you get over, you know, the rejection aspect of it, like, especially like if you're, if you're on fire and it seems like you're doing good, you're doing good, you're getting those dopamine hits, but then when you crash from that and you haven't closed the deal, like how do you, how do you get through that portion of it?

Adam Bensman: 32:52

Yeah, this is. This is a good conversation. It's timely. I'm checking my phone because there's a. I'm part of this mastermind group and I was in the portal. Here there's a gentleman named Ned Hollowell. He is a psychiatrist, new York Times bestselling author and one of the leading experts in ADHD. By the way, he was a graduate of Harvard and he teaches entrepreneurs how to cope with ADD, because most of us have it. By the way, salespeople are an entrepreneur. Salespeople also frequently have ADD.

Adam Bensman: 33:26

Now, I'm not a doctor, I'm not diagnosing anybody, but I think that anyone who's tuning into this is probably like yeah, that's me and the epiphany I had in our internal team chat at RSRA. We have a Slack channel and it's called Daily Motivation, so we have a culture where we're investing in ourselves and, as Evan Carmichael, who's also a member of the mastermind I'm part of, I like what he says in his videos. He says you need to feed your brain a daily diet of positivity. I was like man. I never thought of it like feeding your brain, the language that Evan Carmichael used feeding your brain a daily diet of positivity. I go to his his YouTube channel for for my, a lot of positivity as well, and I recommend other people do too. And with this daily positivity, it's it's as Brian Tracy calls it, it's the rudder of the day, it's how you start your day that makes a huge difference. So that's number one.

Adam Bensman: 34:23

Number two, tying back into the Ned Holloway piece with or Hollow I screwed up pronouncing his name Holloway. No, yeah, I was right. The epiphany that I had when I was watching this presentation he gave was that folks with ADD look for a challenge because it's not boring. But we have to find the right kind of challenge. So you get a choice and I share this in my book to do what you're passionate about, which likely won't work and lead you to a dead end, which it did for me. Or you can choose to be passionate about what you do, and that's what I've done is made the choice to be passionate about what I do. So I think it's a combination of a lot of things, of one feeding your brain a daily diet of positivity, okay. Number two, having a deep why, because a why will carry you through things. If you want a book recommendation on that, read, um uh, Viktor Frankl's book, man's search for meaning. That is, in my opinion, like. If you want meaning in your life, read that one book, you don't need anything else. Uh, number.

Adam Bensman: 35:18

And then number three is latching on to this challenge, as you just put it tight as a game. Because with folks that start with add games, you're never going to win. All the time you're going to have setbacks. So when I screw up I just think to myself oh well, shit, I just learned a way that that doesn't work, you know. And then you go on to the next one and you can't win it all.

Adam Bensman: 35:43

But when you start to make it a game, we need to track things. So if you can make it a game to say, hey, for every X number of doors I knock, I get X number of inspections, what's your next win? Make that number better, right? Hey, today I knocked 60 doors, do better, tomorrow, knock a hundred. So when you can start measuring things, that allows you, just like man, I nerd out, when I get into stuff, I go. My whole family makes fun of me because I don't get, I don't dip the toe in the water in anything that I do. Maybe that's because I, maybe that's the addict in me, right, like it's like. I don't, I don't, I don't dabble, I'm in right, it's why I'm sober. But anyway, the when you, when you can just go all in and turn the daily chores into daily games, every then you're creating a dopamine hit without requiring external validation from someone else to give it to you.

Ty Cobb Backer: 36:44

Wow, I love that, and you're right. I was just having a conversation with my daughter. I think it was on Sunday. Actually, monday, monday was my birthday, so happy birthday.

Adam Bensman: 36:56

Oh, happy birthday yeah.

Ty Cobb Backer: 36:57

Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. I'm 38. I actually just celebrated my 10th 38th birthday, but I was telling her about the content that I absorb on a regular basis of I get to choose what that content is and I choose to listen to positive podcasts.

Ty Cobb Backer: 37:18

I listen to books nonstop, not that I don't listen to music. Music is a big part of uh, you know of of me finding centerman getting pumped up, you know. Whatever it, it's definitely a mood elevator for me. Today I use music a lot for that. But I, but I get the choice to educate myself on very specific things and the things that I want to listen to. I, I, I listened to, you know, micro media outlets. I don't listen to to big, you know news media outlets and stuff like that. I have to stay out of that, you know, and, and I think a lot of people don't understand that they actually have a choice, like you, can shut the TV off and pull a podcast up, you know, and and take in the content and after a while I don't notice. I don't notice it right away, but the behaviors.

Ty Cobb Backer: 38:03

I read a book every morning and it's called the daily dad is by Ryan holiday, and I caught myself after a year of reading this book and I and I'll continuously read it. There's two books I read every single morning before I start my day. One's called daily reflections, um, and the other one is the daily dad by Ryan holiday, and I caught myself. I took my son fishing last week and I caught myself stopping myself before I spoke and and there was a lesson to be learned here. It was one either me act very poorly or act in a way where we both could learn from something, and it just after a while of me filling myself with this positive, affirmational content that I'm paying it finally is like starting to work me, you know, and I called myself and it was. It was a moment where it was like I actually was proud of him, watching him figure out how to do something, opposed to me scolding him and grabbing it. Let me do it, I'll do it for you kind of thing. It was just more like just let him go through the process of it, right, but because of listening to positive you know content and reading things and listening to things, it it, it eventually or let's think about the opposite If I'm continuously listening to things that just aren't very conducive or very unhealthy for my spirit, for my soul, for my mentality. If I'm eating poorly continuously, it's going to start reflecting, I'm going to start gaining weight, I'm going to start feeling laxadaisy. My motivation won't be there. So I think we've all got to have experienced that over the years.

Ty Cobb Backer: 39:41

But I've chosen to read books like the survival guide. Right, I want to get better at this. I want to learn how to, you know, sell in a professional manner. I want my team to learn how. So I'm sharing those things with my daughter today. She just got a real estate license. She just got both of her tests and I shared with her rich dad, poor dad several months ago, because I know she's starting to take interest in real estate and so we've been in the real estate industry since 2005. I think I bought my first rental property. So I've been in the real estate game for several years here and I see her taking interest in it. So I wanted to share with her some of the things that I've picked up and I told her about, like, just be cautious of, like, what you're listening, the content that you're taking in, what you're absorbing, what atmosphere those people that you're surrounding yourself with. Are they leveling you up? Are they pulling you down? I hope I'm not boring you.

Adam Bensman: 40:36

No, you're not. This is the coffee crash happening. It's not you.

Ty Cobb Backer: 40:41

I apologize, I'm just kidding, yawning neck, but you know it's just funny because I don't think we actually realize that our, our, our outside environments can affect us internally. And not to go down that rabbit hole I knew anyhow I I love what, what you were saying, those positive, positive affirmations to try to get those little dopamine hits. Because, as a recovering addict myself, I need affirmation, I need those dopamine hits, I need that encouragement, I need that motivation. So this leads me to my other question After I'm in the industry for a while and I've knocked thousands upon thousands of doors, how do I keep myself or present for prevent myself from getting burnout?

Adam Bensman: 41:27

Yeah, man, this is something we could probably talk about for hours. Um, I, I. There is part of me that feels like a hypocrite sharing this, because I have burned out probably five times, and burnout was the main reason I left the industry the first time, and that was for me. I was the chief operating officer of a company with offices in five states, six different cities, and I literally purchased a home my home next to where I moved our office. So our office in the Madison metro area was in Wanakee, if anyone knows the area, and I was like man, I got to drive all around the lakes 45 minutes. I'm running the office. Is it cool? I moved it, I got set up, I purchased a house a mile, a mile and a half, two miles, something like that, from the office. And then I realized I'm like, wait a minute, we could, we could run all of our.

Adam Bensman: 42:19

I realized that all of our offices were run fragmented, they weren't consistent. I was like we got to corporatize our process. We don't need a separate office manager, we can run through one location. We can do all routing of phones, all dispatch, everything. And this was early, when CRMs were just starting to enter the market, which I know this was common knowledge now, but it wasn't then. And our corporate office was an hour and 45 minutes for me, which meant I had an hour and 45 minute commute to work every morning and then hour and 45 minute back floating the whole state and then also working in Illinois in our office there, also working in Indiana, also commuting to Montana for our office, and I was just on it all the time.

Adam Bensman: 43:02

And that's when my drinking was at its worst. By the way, that is not a victim thing. That's not saying roofing did that. I made every single one of those choices, but I made a series of crappy choices and those choices were I chose work over everything else. I let all of my relationships go because I was either working or too tired to go do anything. I shouldn't say all it might be a little dramatic, but you probably get the idea. Like I didn't see people because I was working. I drank every single night and I would justify drinking to fall asleep. I didn't work out because I was too tired from work or too drunk in the evenings and then felt like shit in the mornings. So all of the things that I was seeking to to create uh, escapism destroyed any semblance of a possibility of having balance.

Adam Bensman: 43:52

So first I just want to share that, that story, um, that I'm like, not a saint, and I can't sit here being like look man, I got it all figured out, come, do like I do. No, I'm not that guy, I can't. There's other things I can, but not this thing. What I can say is I think I think it was Dan Sullivan, um, in one of his books it might've been, I could be misquoting that he said that there's no such thing in life as balance. Nope, gary, uh, gary Keller from the book the One Thing. Wrong attribution. So there's no such thing in life as balance, because when you're at work, you're not with your family. When you're with your family, you're not at work and you should be present with where you are. So life is a series of counterbalances and in this business we have seasonality where it can be a little lower in busyness, to then, like you're working the minute your eyes open to the minute you go to bed, and we need to create systems for us to stay sane through the difficult times. I'll share a few that have worked for me. Again, I'm not a saint.

Adam Bensman: 44:50

Number one you have to pre-schedule your trips, because otherwise you end up filling every single minute with work and then there's no time for anything else and I would always like be afraid of commitment or a trip, or even a weekend off, with my wife going to see a buddy that it just wouldn't happen. And I'd push it, and I'd push it, and I'd push it. So now and I do practice this to this day I pre-schedule all of my personal things. You got to have a life. I know that we live in hustle culture and there's some truth to it, but you have to have some sanity. So, pre-scheduling out your trips so they actually happen, and then you build work around that, and that's been a big mindset shift. So the things that you need to do to take care of yourself need to be scheduled first and then fit work around it, which is going to be the opposite advice of a lot of other people that tell you you should be working or you're a giant pussy, right, work every minute of every day, or you're worth nothing and you're a piece of shit. Like that's just not my, that's not my, my style, like I think that we need to refuel.

Adam Bensman: 45:51

The other thing is being cognizant of the fact that drugs and alcohol are prevalent more than normal in our industry and I think I've never seen it go well for people.

Adam Bensman: 46:02

I've only seen it progressively get worse and you just have to be prepared to ride the wave of it's crazy busy to it's not busy and if you can find the things that help you recharge your batteries and make those a commitment to yourself or others, like I'm going to be with my kids when I put them to sleep, I'm going to work out first thing in the morning, or I have an appointment with myself at the gym at four o'clock or whatever the time is for you with your schedule, four o'clock, if you're going to be a horrible time to go to the gym, but you get the idea Like you have to set those as a priority to take care of yourself. Because this industry maybe that's one reason addicts fall into it because this is the most addicting business ever Like the more you put into it, the more you get out, and you just got to be careful of not getting it over your head.

Ty Cobb Backer: 46:50

Yeah for sure. No great answer. Great answer Because I was going to actually ask you how you blend your, your, your, your work-life blend. I don't necessarily call it balance, because I've learned over the years, I just kind of have learned to blend it and fortunately my family has allowed me to blend them in the business, uh, along with us. But, um, so I'll, um.

Ty Cobb Backer: 47:15

So, since you all but answered that question before we get off here cause I know, know, we have a hard stop I usually like to ask this question. It's usually selfish, like so in the morning I, I talk briefly a little bit like I read a couple books before I go outside, and and you already touched on like the work-life balance, stuff like that, so you can actually throw this in there a little bit. Um, you know, because you were talking about how, how you recharge your batteries and and stuff like that, so you don't get burned out. And I think that plays a huge role in not getting burned out too, of having that intentional time with your family. I think for me that's how I relax. I'm with my family and I'm very intentional about that time when I'm with my family, whether it's fishing or we're, we're wherever we are doing. Whatever it is that we're doing, I try to be super duper intentional. We're we're wherever we are doing. Whatever it is that we're doing, I try to be super duper intentional. Um and, and this past weekend I got to spend some time with my family and I feel very rejuvenated to come.

Ty Cobb Backer: 48:08

Monday was my birthday. I came back to work on Monday. I was. I got what I needed. I'm back, I'm ready. I know it's just another day, and I too, of of that hustle culture. I grew up in that. But what do you do in the morning? Is there a certain ritual? You get up before everybody and you have your cup before the noise. But what do you do to put that armor on so you can go out and and and be amongst the human beings out in the world? Is there something that you've done over the years, something you currently started to implement into your routine? What? What is that?

Adam Bensman: 48:38

Man I am a. What I love doing is getting obsessed with something and trying that, and then I change it and I see what I like. So over the years I've done everything from waking up and meditating first thing uh, I don't like that, so I don't do it anymore. I did it for many years and then I got in a routine of journaling first thing in the morning and that was fun, but I felt like it was forced. I don't like doing things that I feel like I should do. I do them because I like, I want to do them and they feel me. Then I did a routine for for many years which I did videos about. I woke up first thing, I did go for a run and now I got into calisthenics. I'm nerding out on that, but anyway. So my current routine is more about fueling my my.

Adam Bensman: 49:20

My biggest shift lately has been focused on my morning for my mental health. So the way that I spend my morning. I wake up, I don't set an alarm. I used to do the wake up super early and crush the day out, and then what I ended up finding is that I just I get obsessed and I'll work for God knows how long, and it, it, it's, it wasn't good for me in many ways. So I wake up, naturally, and that's generally between 530 and 6.

Adam Bensman: 49:46

I do some deep breathing, work and then I make a cup of coffee, which I stopped caffeine for a while to help get a lot of the reasons I got sober and anxiety under control. Now that I do, I'm like, oh gosh, I love coffee, so one cup a day, but anyway. So I, I, I go out on my back deck and I get some sun and I bring my journal out there and I put something in my brain. So I drink my coffee and then I nourish my brain with either some daily motivation or, like the, the mastermind, I'm part of genius network. I log into their portal and I, I consume things that fuel my excitement for the day, and then I just sit, like this morning, for example. It's funny, I normally never take pictures, I'm terrible at this, but like I'm sitting out on my deck and like I see I came out there cause this was a sunrise. I know it was probably going to show up terribly, but like, how amazing I'm sitting out there having a cup of coffee looking at the sunrise over the mountains.

Adam Bensman: 50:40

but, like how amazing, I'm sitting out there having a cup of coffee looking at sunrise over the mountains and and and read it, learning about ADD and understanding myself and journaling, and then I make breakfast and start my day. So it's not really like magic sauce, but it works.

Ty Cobb Backer: 50:55

No, no, and it really isn't. You know what I mean, I? And I think I heard the first time I ever heard you know stacking. You know what I mean and I think I heard the first time I ever heard you know stack and wins and stuff like that was oh, I can't remember. It was either a book I read, or Mike Claudio talks about win fast win often, and I kind of just started running with this. You know stack and wins. As soon as I wake up and as simple as it might sound is I feel like the first one in the day or morning is me just opening my eyes.

Adam Bensman: 51:21

Yeah, yeah, it is.

Ty Cobb Backer: 51:23

Yep, I'm able to open my eyes, I can put my feet on the floor and I'm taking a sober breath. Right, so, right there, I've just stacked three wins right out. You know what I mean? Yep, and, and I try to be super intentional and grateful like, just keep it simple, stupid, right. Like just be grateful for the things that I take for granted. And by me being able to just open my eyes today and know where I'm at and be aware of what happened the night before, dude, that in itself is a victory. Okay, I think about that as soon as I wake up, like, wow, this is great, Thank you for another opportunity to go out here and have an impact on people's lives. So I do that. I let the dogs out, I come back in, I read my daily affirmation books.

Ty Cobb Backer: 52:05

Last school year I started to spend 15, 20, 30 minutes of intentional time with Rocket before he's our youngest and I kind of missed out on our first two children's football games, basketball games, first days of school, because I'm of that hustle culture that we're in right now and I thought I was doing the right thing by killing myself at work and providing school shoes and clothes and school lunches and shit like that for them. But this time, this, this past school year again, and I too stopped using the alarm clock and I wake up naturally too. Um, thank goodness it's early enough. But I started to spend about 15 minutes in the morning with Rocket, and we're not talking about anything very specific, it's just that 15 minute of that and Rocket time to just chill. You know what did you guys work on school? Because he started in Votek last year. So of course I'm very interested in like, what are you guys working on? What are you doing, what are they teaching you? And in hopes that maybe he's learning something that I didn't or have learned over the years and that I can give him some, some pointers on, or anything like that.

Ty Cobb Backer: 53:07

But today was his first day of school and of course we both got up like probably 45 minutes earlier, because I was just as excited as he was, I'm sure. So I got up, but 45 minutes too early. So we got to spend probably 45 minutes to an hour with each other this morning. And then you know, jana was there and her dad's up from Florida, and we're all four out there and we're taking pictures and stuff like that.

Ty Cobb Backer: 53:30

But like that in itself, right there, there, there would have to be something totally devastating that would happen. That would have to happen today to bring me down off of that, like I am, the wealthiest man in this building, in this County, in this state, in this country right now. Because of that time I got to spend with my son this morning. That is when I feel my most successful, that I was able to wake up, be present with him, and now I can take on the day of whatever challenges may be thrown at me. So, anyhow, I know you got to get off here. Is there any last little nugget that you want to leave with those sales men and women out there today? Or it can be something personal too.

Adam Bensman: 54:12

Yeah, you know, first is thank you for spending the time. If you want more, go to AdamsFreeStuffcom. Adamsfreestuffcom and I got a whole bunch of goodies in there. I actually just decided to give away my book for free. So it's not perversion, but digital version. I'm removing the financial barrier for anybody. So that's in there. And every day you get out to go to work, just remember why you're doing it.

Ty Cobb Backer: 54:35

Amen to that, amen, yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for spreading the spreading that, the wealth of knowledge with, with all our guests, our viewers, our listeners. If you haven't yet, please like, love, subscribe to our YouTube channel, facebook, spotify, google, all that good stuff, check us out. Check us out next week. It'll be at the same bad time, same bat channel. Until then, you guys, stay safe and take care of each other. We will see you next Wednesday at 12 pm Eastern Standard Time. Thank you for joining us.