Ty Cobb Backer: 0:00

And we are live. Welcome back everybody to Behind the Tool Belt, episode 290. I am your host, ty Cobb-Backer, and thank you for joining us on this Wednesday edition. We will be back right after our short intro from our sponsors.

Speaker 2: 0:31

Welcome to Behind the Tool Belt, where the stories are bold, the conversations are real and the insights come to you live, raw and uncut. Every week, host Ty Cobb-Backer sits down to bring you the stories, the struggles, the lessons learned and the wins. No filters, no scripts, just the truth. Please welcome your host of Behind the Tool Belt, ty Cobb-Backer.

Ty Cobb Backer: 0:57

Hey, welcome back everybody to our Wednesday edition. Hopefully you're not getting rained out like we have been for the past couple of weeks. So, speaking of the last couple of weeks, man, we've had some really good, I think, episodes, good good content creation and some educational stuff. We talked a lot about amplifying your brand, developing a company culture through leadership, creating lasting authority while expanding your market presence, and the seven part framework that helps you connect with homeowners, build trust and serve more homeowners. And then last week, we talked about how AI is changing the way that we operate. And then today I'm super excited about this we have two powerhouses Jenna Lawson and Dylan McCabe, the owner and driving force behind the Limitless Roofing Group and Summit, and here they are our guest. What's happening, guys? How are you?

Jenna Lawson: 1:55

Hello Good, how are you?

Ty Cobb Backer: 1:56

Fantastic, fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us.

Jenna Lawson: 2:00

Thank you so much, excited to be back.

Ty Cobb Backer: 2:02

Thanks for having me, man, and thank you for being our guinea pig. We tried something a little different today, just to see how it would work out. Little subtle things that nobody would notice, but if we would have screwed it up they would have noticed it. But anyhow, you know, this isn't just like you know. You guys are here Limitless Group and the Summit but this isn't just like another roofing event. It's for owners only, designed to help roofing company owners, ceos, general managers tackle real world challenges, share strategies and walk away with practical solutions. And I know today we're going to dive into why, behind the scene behind the event, what makes it different and how they're helping transform the roofing industry from the inside out. So let's dig into this.

Dylan McCabe: 2:59

Yeah, I think the big thing with events and conferences is everybody's kind of tired of seeing the same speakers hearing the same stuff, and I totally get that. But I think a conference is kind of like. It's like if you ask somebody what their experience in high school was, if you ask a football player, you're going to get one answer. If you ask the star of the football team, you're going to get a different answer. If you ask somebody who's valedictorian, you're going to get a different answer. If you ask somebody that got bullied and dropped out, you're going to get a different. It's like it's what you make of it, you know and so. But what we, what we've tried to do, is create an event that's a one day event, so it's it's. It's not a conference, it's not multiple days, but we try to create a situation where you're learning from other roofing owners, not fake gurus or people who happen to be friends with people running the event, which is so tempting. I mean, it's our event and I'm tempted to invite people I know really well to speak and stuff like that. But we've just got a few speakers and then we've got more than half of the time at the event dedicated to roundtable discussions, hot seats, networking, where you can open up as the company owner and say, hey, here's my biggest challenge and we're going to facilitate that. And then, as you share your biggest challenge, other people at your table of 10 people are going to weigh in, ask questions, give feedback, almost like a mini mastermind.

Dylan McCabe: 4:23

It's not going to be that the mastermind. It's not going to be that the whole day. There's definitely going to be speakers and time with vendors and stuff, but that's the goal. I mean our hope is that people show up to the event, connect with at least one or two other roofing owners and walk away with lasting friendship, because running a business is really freaking hard, but it's way easier when you can talk to friends who can be real with you. And if you're, you know, if you're like man, I don't know how we're even going to make payroll this month, but they can talk to you, ty Backer, and you can be like man. I went through that too. Here's how we got out of it. It's, it's life-changing. I mean, that's worth a thousand conferences right there, just that one friendship connection.

Ty Cobb Backer: 5:08

Yeah, I can't agree more. I know the last one that I attended out in Kansas City Vic and I, and I believe Hofstra was with us I mean the atmosphere was pretty amazing and for us to be able to connect, I mean you guys made enough time. I think it was perfect. The mixer the night before we got to connect with people we haven't seen in a long time, and but what was really cool about it was is that, like you had mentioned, we were able to network with people that I've never met before John, john, what's his last name? Abernathy?

Dylan McCabe: 5:42

Abernathy yeah.

Ty Cobb Backer: 5:43

Yeah. So I never met him before personally and and to hear now I knew of him, I knew what he was about, I knew he was a good dude, but I never got it's. It's actually giving me goosebumps right now. But to have time, one-on-one time, with him and listen to his experiences because he's traveled a lot of same same trails and roads that that I have and to listen to him talk about business and then talk about the Tamco shingle journey that he's on now and and all of that stuff and how much just from that conversation, right, was worth his weight in gold. And then the next day, you know, we had plenty of time to network with people. The lunch was amazing, the speakers were were just phenomenal, and I think you guys even asked me to go up and sit in a uh like a, like a group, whatever um panel panel speaking, uh engagement up there, and it was just the questions that were being asked and how, how I felt personally, right, because I'm I'm still trying to figure this shit out too.

Ty Cobb Backer: 6:41

I think some people are like, oh my God, 17 years. Well, how I made payroll, that one time is I maxed my fucking credit cards out. That's if you want to know how I did it. In those months where I can make, I maxed my credit cards out. So so we, we you know business isn't easy, right?

Ty Cobb Backer: 6:55

It takes a lot of tenacity, a lot of grit and resiliency, like you have to bounce back. You can't not, you can't hide, you gotta suit up, show up all those things. But it gives you that time to corner somebody, whether it was, I know randy brothers was there. Um, oh shit, um, uh, the other, randy, her, her, how do you say his last name? Yeah, yeah, he was there. I'm, I'm horrible with names, by the way, I'll remember your face, but it was such a great atmosphere. So let me ask you this what inspired the launch? Like, what gap, what void did you see outside of what you've already mentioned? Like, what made you obsessed? Because I know you got Jenna and obviously you know you've surrounded yourself around amazing people but what? What was the true driving force of wanting to start the Limitless Summit?

Dylan McCabe: 7:46

I mean, well, initially we wanted to really bring our members together because we have a group with over 500 roofing companies in it. But if they're, if they're not, a part of our mastermind, they don't ever meet each other. So that's really the. The big goal is to get our members together. And it's like oh man, you know you're, you're an hour away from me, let's talk, let's have lunch, and and our, the guys that join our group, are growth minded and they don't really see other roofers as a threat. It's like there's plenty of fish in the sea, especially in Dallas. People talk about how many roofing companies there are in Dallas. Well, who cares? I mean, look at how many homeowners there are in Dallas. There's just millions of opportunities and so. But we wanted to create an experience where life change happens, and that's not speaking in hyperbole. I mean, if I going back to the conversation, if I'm struggling, I don't know how the heck I'm going to make payroll.

Dylan McCabe: 8:41

It's been stressing me out for months. I'm starting to go from one glass of whiskey on a Friday night to two glasses a night for weeks in a row. I'm losing my temper with my wife and my kids. I don't really know how to dig out of it. Now I'm feeling shame and discouragement on top of the stress. So now you got some depression coming in.

Dylan McCabe: 9:04

Then I go to this event I don't want to go because it's just another stupid event. But I pull myself. Somebody said I should go and then I meet Ty Backer. We just happen to sit at the same table and you're like, look man, you know I didn't want to, I didn't want to share, but like here's the table, here's the topic, and I'm just going to go ahead and share it. I don't know what the heck to do. I've been stressing, I've been drinking too much, and we make a connection. And then you say you know what, man, let's sit next to each other at dinner tonight. I'd like to hear more. I'm going to the VIP dinner too, and you make a connection and then over the next couple of weeks I'm that guy and I can talk to you and you help me dig out of that mentally.

Dylan McCabe: 9:45

I mean, it's going to happen eventually, but it's how you get through. It is the thing. To me it's like I'm watching the band of brothers series again, I think for like the fifth time, and you see these guys go through these awful battle scenes like Bastogne or whatever, and some of the guys pull through and some of the guys just fall apart and they're all going through the same battle, but some of them mentally and emotionally. It's just too much, and so that's the goal is to create an environment to where that's possible. Life change is possible because if you get a grip on your business, then your marriage can get better, your home life can get better. You can focus on other things, but when you don't know whether you're going to survive or not, it's really hard to focus on anything else.

Ty Cobb Backer: 10:27

Yeah, yeah, no, and you're so right. Most of it's mindset. And if you can attend an intimate, you know not saying that this is a small event whatsoever, but the times that you guys carve out for that intimacy is so important, especially early on in business, and to be able to listen to somebody and really get their ear and ask them vulnerable questions, like you were just mentioning. Obviously it's much more than maxing your credit cards out. You know what I mean. There's so many other variables that play into how you got in that situation and how you can pull yourself out of that hole. And it's business, right. There's ebbs and flows, there's weather, there's insurance companies, there's homeowners. There's a lot of variables that take place that you need to put a lot of safety nets in and to be able to sit down and get somebody's ear. Who has actually been through all of those things and you're going to find out too At least for me I've. I've shared some pretty vulnerable stories with some, some younger business owners and they're like, really, he went through that same stuff too. It was like listen, it was a hell of a lot worse man, but we just got to keep suiting up and showing up every day, because a lot of people rely on us and just to hear that, just get somebody like hype Right, and when they leave there, it's like you know they they realize there's another gear there that I didn't realize existed, like if he can do this, I can do this Right, and and to be able to surround yourself around that energy. Because that's what it is. It's energy. We, we we tend to clam up, keep to ourselves, we think we can figure it out on our own and we freeze right. We're not even fighting at this point in time. We're, we're flighting, we're we're running and freezing. And I can't I can't express how many times I've put myself in that situation. But now I have a network of people because of events like this, people all over the country that I can actually speak to. You call up I know, who have been down this before and lean on. And not that I'm looking for money from them, I'm just I'm looking for someone to listen to me and give me some sound advice.

Ty Cobb Backer: 12:24

And with this type of summit that you guys are setting up, it's not a five day, like you said, it's not a whole long, it's not. It's not a $1,200 hotel room and a $25,000 booth that you got to pay for and all these, all this stuff. Next thing you know you're dropping 50 grand, it's, it's, it's, it's a couple hundred bucks. Right, it's a one day thing. It's kind of like a smash and grab, get what you need, take it home and apply it and really, at that point in time, it's up to that person what they take from it and start to apply those, those principles or lessons that they had learned.

Ty Cobb Backer: 12:56

To listen to real people who have been through this stuff and I think that's the one thing about social media today is like everybody's just posting the highlight reels, you know, and that's what I enjoy about doing. We're doing a fearless 44 right now and it's like the things that I've been sharing is kind of like my journey, my day-to-day journey, and me being super intentional about like man. That is something that's really good that I can talk about today. That, because I'm experiencing, I'm going through it, um, right now, and and kind of also maybe sharing like a solution to it, like this, how I got through it.

Ty Cobb Backer: 13:29

Like the kids were fighting, but I thought, instead of me getting involved with the kids and I I call my coworkers kids sometimes I thought, you know what, I'll just let the kids work this one out, because I've stuck my nose in places where it didn't belong before and made the situation a lot worse. You know, and through those types of little experiences and and I'm sure once you're in business long enough, you're going to realize there's a time and a place for for the leader or the owner to get involved in and where they need to back off. But that's just through experiences where I know that I've made situations a lot worse than they needed to be, or I've made them a lot better than because I elected to either stay out of it or just come up with a solution for everybody to compromise on, or whatever the case might be. But I love, I love, love, love, love what you do. And so this question, my next question, is for Jenna here. Jenna, so what's your role in shaping this event and what's been the most rewarding part?

Jenna Lawson: 14:25

Yes, I've been with Limitless for a little over a year now. I was, you know, previously for RoofCon, so I know that the you know all the planning that goes into an event. And you know, with this summit, you know, last year it was at the Chiefs Stadium and I never, you know, got to plan anything like that anywhere. And that was my first event being back in the industry and it was just like a, it was a game changer for me and I realized that the summit, just the one day event where there's actual strategies, it's really exclusive. You know we limit the number of sponsors, all of that good stuff, but it plays a big role and I've seen, you know, the impact that not this event but Limitless has in general of just the members coming together and then, you know, making the sponsors are Limitless partners because everyone that's going to be there they're a Limitless partner Just feel special because we want to be, you know, different than all the other events out there and we want to provide these actual strategies because that's, you know, a huge thing. With you know, you can get the motivational topics, you can get the skills, you can listen to people's stories, but what can you walk away with immediately. And I was talking to Dylan a couple of weeks ago of who should we have as a speaker, and we decided on Jason Eustace, owner of Eustace, roofing out in Florida, and I mean he's done it. So it's like who can we put on that stage that has done it, that can talk about some strategies and they can walk away and implement it immediately.

Jenna Lawson: 15:44

My role is planning the event itself and then with Limitless I'm kind of planning the day-to-day operations and then kind of do some marketing. So I'm kind of in all departments of Limitless. But when it comes to this event, this is my passion and I can really put my heart and soul into it and it's really good just to see all of the members there. I mean, we've grown, dylan. How many members have we added on this year so far?

Dylan McCabe: 16:07

I think we've added about 250 companies this year so far.

Jenna Lawson: 16:11

Yeah, and that's insane because when I first started I was doing the member check-ins, I was calling, but it was not this much, and right now we're pushing 530 companies and we, you know, want to see everyone there at this event. So it's just very, very rewarding to see just the progress that we've made in the last year. And this event is just kind of like a it's a, it's a spank. I mean, we're bringing everybody together and we're showing everyone what Limitless is. And it's not just Limitless members. We're opening up to roofing company owners in general with the goal of, you know, teaching them about Limitless and how we can help you. And with the sponsors. You know we have the three hours of dedicated sponsor time, which is a huge deal because we're limiting it to 300 owners. So there's going to be so much face-to-face time. So I just can't wait to see the impact that we continue to have, not just with the event but Limitless in general.

Ty Cobb Backer: 17:10

No, I love that.

Jenna Lawson: 17:11

I love that. How are you helping attendees maximize their experience, especially with the sponsors and the networking time? Yeah, so I mean, you know, with with events, you normally have speakers going on at the same time as the sponsor hour. Everything's going to be in one room, so it's going to be. You know, we'll have breaks, the hot seats, round table discussions, but really maximizing the time, you know, three hours with 300 attendees is, I think, amazing, because you know, if you're at a large scale conference, you have, you know, big name speakers going on the same time. The expo floor is open. There's just not much impact with that and that's why, you know, conferences are so many days.

Jenna Lawson: 17:43

But with this summit, I mean it's all right there and I mean you're destined to have at least one good conversation, but it's going to be way more. But yeah, I mean I think that that's why we're different, because we're really trying to think of it from all the sides, not just with the attendee experience, sponsor experience, it's just everybody coming together as a whole and when they're not having the sponsor time, they're learning from the other owners. That's really our main goal. So SRS they're our main stage sponsor and great speaker, john DeRosa. He's the director of contractor training. He's going to be talking about sales accountability, and Dylan's going to be talking about leadership, and then Jason's going to be talking about how he built his roofing company. So I think you know all areas of that. They can walk away with something and we'll be finalizing our fourth speaker, but I think that you know we're different in that way because we're thinking about it from all sides of the angle, and then you know, with that time that we're dedicating to specifically networking.

Ty Cobb Backer: 18:43

Now, I love that. I love that because that was my next question I was going to ask you is one how did you, how did you elect or select your, your sponsors, and why did you specifically choose those sponsors to attend or sponsor the event?

Jenna Lawson: 19:02

Yeah. So last year we had a little over 20, I believe, and you know just the timing. Last year we had to sign some contracts with the Chiefs and that took a little while, so we couldn't actually promote the event until a lot later than we planned on. So the attendance you know we had the whole stadium. You know we could have added on as many people, but with the number of sponsors being a little over 20 this year, we were like let's limit it to 15. We're going to only invite limitless partners there to show our appreciation for them being a limitless partner. So we really hand selected. You know we have the Platinum Partners SRS, qxo, atlas, tamco, van Voxel. We really were like, hey, let's tell them first and then we went from there. But we were very, very selective on um, you know wanting this only for limitless partners. Just because 15 sponsors, 300 attendees, I feel like that's the perfect balance. I feel like anything more would be, you know, less face-to-face time.

Ty Cobb Backer: 19:55

Yeah, no, no I.

Ty Cobb Backer: 19:57

And the reason why I asked you that question, jenna, especially because I know you've been doing this a long time and your experience for hosting events and things like that. So I've watched you hone your craft over the years of becoming like this amazing event organizer, and I've actually reached out to you before, with Dylan's Grace, of course, to help us facilitate, which I had to put on the back burner because it is such a heavy lift to do something like this and to have the bandwidth to do it. So kudos to you. But I asked you that question about the sponsors and the speakers because I knew you're going to be very specific about who's there and the message that you want to relay to the contractors that are there, and I really dig that it's for CEOs and owners only, because there's not enough of that stuff. And I think I mentioned that the last time you guys were on the podcast and we were talking about the Kansas City trip. And this question's to Dylan what kind of mindset shift do you think owners need to make in 2025 to thrive?

Dylan McCabe: 20:58

Well, and I think, something to point out too, just before we move on, is you asked about Jenna's role? In the event. I mean no, Jenna, no event. Let me put it that way.

Dylan McCabe: 21:11

No Jenna, no event. So this event is happening because of the work of Jenna. I mean, we have ideas. Miller and I are not event planners. Jenna's a rock star. But the other thing is it's for owners only. So every other conference out there is full of, you know, salespeople and different people, so the vendors. When people come by the booth to get swag, it's like am I talking to the owner or not? At our event, yes, a hundred percent of the time. But also I want owners sitting next to owners at the tables and talking to one another.

Dylan McCabe: 21:41

I think, for me personally, what does a roofing owner need to do to thrive? Was that the question? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think they need to get their priorities straight, and so that's what I plan on talking about, you know and I can speak to the men in the in the crowd specifically is you know, men are prone to giving their their hearts and their efforts and their energy and their focus to others, and men have affairs with their spouses. But I think business can become an affair.

Dylan McCabe: 22:13

So I'm going to be talking about when business becomes an affair, protecting the ones you love and setting priorities in your life, like when you go home. When you get home, take this thing that's a tool, a phone, and put it face down on your counter, take your smartwatch off and go all in on your family, invest in your family. So anyway, I don't want to give the whole thing away, but I think you got to get your priorities straight and that that's not just family time, like that's physical health. If you're not physically healthy, how can you be 100% as a leader at your job? So physical health, your faith, your relationship with God, your finances, all of that you got to have those four F's family, fitness and finances. You got to have those priorities straight. It can't be work. You know, if you're working 80 hours a week, you're on the road to burnout man.

Ty Cobb Backer: 23:03

Yeah, no, it works for short periods and there's a time and a place where you got to kick it in high gear. But I, I a hundred percent agree with you on working just as hard on your family as you do your business right as your finances right. You have to put the time and energy and I've you know, I've stumbled. Personally, man, I've failed miserably in that department, I mean going back decades Okay. And so I a hundred percent agree with you, because I think I think for a lot of us, men, and I'm sure, women business owners too, I know for a fact. So, men and women entrepreneurs, okay, in general, I think we think we're doing the right thing by working 80 hours a week to provide for our family, okay. But, like you said, if I'm not there, if I'm not supporting my, my children, it's, it's much more than brand new Nike shoes. The first day of school, it's actually being there and putting them on the bus. Right, that that first day of school is about being there when they get home from school. It's about being at the student teacher conference, it's about being in football games, because you know you were talking about, you know, wealth and income, right? Wealth means an abundance not necessarily monetarily right. Wealth means lots of friends, a great network, a healthy family, a lot of spirituality, an abundance of right, not just one thing. It means an abundance of a lot of things. Right, not just fixated on work and income, like a lot of people associate the word income to monetarily getting receiving a paycheck every week. Income has a lot to do with your network, your family, like the income again rolls into the wealth of you know it could be knowledge, but I have to put the work in to make sure I have an abundance of all these things right. I have to put the work in. I have to carve enough time out where I can put the phone down, spend some quality time with the family. A couple of weeks ago I decided to take the family on vacation, just the last minute thing. Like you know what F this. It's time for them and I actually did a really good job of being where my feet were and not stressing over because there wasn't anything stress over, and I'm guilty of that. I'll stress when there's nothing to stress over, because there's nothing to stress over, like down to the stupidest things. Right, but I was in. It's a skill, which is cool. It's great that it's a skill because it's something I actually can work on and get better at right Spending more quality time with my kids individually not just collect, not collective, but individually spending time.

Ty Cobb Backer: 25:35

If you have multiple kids, certain kids need certain things. Not all kids are made created equally right, and finding that out and all these things like that's all a part of being an entrepreneur. Right, just like your co-workers that you work with. Not each co-worker is built differently, but all of the time and energy that I've came in I've put in to study the people that I work with. I need to put in the same amount of time and study my family too, and spend enough time with my family.

Ty Cobb Backer: 26:01

But not just that. You know I read this book. It's called just the one, I can't remember the name of it. But when you're at work, work. When you're at home, be at home. Right, and and eat more. The one thing that you're fixating more on. The other thing is going to suffer. So when you're at home, be at home. When you're at work, be at work. But I love that. What is one thing, dylan, that you wish you would have learned earlier? You know getting into this. Like I know, you came from a different industry, but it was all kind of sort of you know, you've kind of spun it into the roofing industry. What is one thing that you wished? And on this topic right of what I'm saying like I'm a piss poor father at times, but what I'm saying like I'm a piss poor father at times OK, and I'm working on that what is one thing that you wished you would have learned outside of spending more time with your family and spirituality and all those things.

Dylan McCabe: 26:54

Yeah, I think, just boundaries in general. I mean, there's a book called Boundaries written on this subject. But I, you know, before getting into roofing I was in health care. Before that, I was an apartment manager when I I moved to Dallas to get a master's degree in theology and I managed the single students building on campus at Dallas Seminary and so there were about 400 residents who all knew me by name, had my phone number, had my email, so it's almost like having 400 employees and I didn't have any office hours posted in my office. I didn't have any rules or structure. It was like, hey, I'm here if you need me. So from 6am till 12 at night, I was getting people would stop me in the hallway, people would stop me on campus, people would text me while I'm at the grocery store, and it was. You know, hey, dylan, you got a minute and I called it death by God of minutes and I just started cruising toward burnout man because there's zero downtime. I mean zero when 400 people know you by name and they want to ask you a question about where to get books for a certain class, or their toilets clogged or what it's. Just it was crazy.

Dylan McCabe: 27:59

And so I'm like at my wits end and I talked to the apartment manager of the married couples building across the street and I'm like, andrew, how do you do this? Man? You've got twice the amount of residents I do. And like you're taking a full workload and you got a full time job and you got a family, you have three kids. And like what do you? How is this possible? And he's like, well, do you have office hours? And I'm like, well, yeah, I'm in my office all the time. And he's like no, no, no, no. Do you have office hours posted on your window? And have you communicated those hours to the building? And I'm like, well, no, this time, like Monday, wednesday, friday or whatever, I'm here for you. You can drop in, you can text me, you can call me or whatever outside of this time, shoot me an email and I'll get to it the next day.

Dylan McCabe: 28:55

And if it's an emergency, like a true emergency, like your apartment's on fire, you can call me and call 911 right after that. And then he said, said, and then you're going to take the next 90 days and you're going to train every single resident in the building on this structure you just set and I did, man, I had to over and over and over, like hundreds of times, people stop me. Hey, dylan, real quick, you got a minute and I'll be like hey, is this about the building I'm? This is outside of my office hours. Yeah, I just have a. Have a quick question? All right, cool, is it an emergency? No, all right, shoot me an email, I'll get to it tomorrow morning. I'll be back in my office tomorrow at 8 AM and it puzzled people.

Dylan McCabe: 29:33

People were like, oh, okay, but what they don't realize is a hundred of those 10 minute conversations. It just completely derails your life. So I wish I'd learned those boundaries your life. So I wish I'd learned those boundaries and then I was able to do my job better, enjoy my job more, have downtime and that applies to any business. Just boundaries, man, you got to have boundaries and that's that goes with your time, it goes with relationships, you know, yeah, boundaries.

Ty Cobb Backer: 30:01

Yeah, no, I love that. And what I've noticed, too, is that it's our fault. We condition people, you know, to be easily accessible to them and wonder why we don't have enough time on our our, our hands to even perform our jobs, let alone because we're dying from got a minute disease. I love how. I love that I'm going to steal. How did you call it? What did you call that? Got a minute.

Dylan McCabe: 30:23

Death by God a minutes.

Ty Cobb Backer: 30:24

Yeah, death by God, a minutes. I love that, I'm going to steal that. But I've noticed where I've made myself too readily available for people and have conditioned them because I don't want to let them down. I want to be the man on, you know, just Johnny, on the spot for everybody, and you possibly can't do that. And I love how you said and framed it as a boundary, like there's there's boundaries, and boundaries isn't necessarily a negative thing, it's just your condition.

Ty Cobb Backer: 30:53

You're going to have to go through reconditioning people of like yeah, you normally respond within an hour if I email him, right, and once you start conditioning people because we have a service department that you know I've I've, like, love servicing the crap out of people and that's why we've we've created an in-house service department and I've seen our service managers go through the same exact thing that you're mentioning. I've seen the guys that cause. I see the emails and I see the phone calls, I see the text messages and you'll see where Brandon okay, brandon is one of our service managers for Pennsylvania and he, right from the get-go, he's conditioned people that if it's an emergency they'll call him, if it's not an emergency, they'll email them and they all know that they may not hear from him for that day, but at 530 in the morning he replies back to every single one of them with a solution and what time he'll be there to service them. And then I've seen other service managers that are just getting the shit kicked out of them because now they've conditioned people so if they don't answer the phone in 2.3 seconds that client is upset because he's conditioned them to answer the phone every time he's called there.

Ty Cobb Backer: 32:03

But if you start out right or try to recondition them, just be consistent with it would be my only suggestion. Like, just be consistent of like replying back to the emails, don't ghost people, not saying that you've done that, but I've, I've. I'm guilty of trying to recondition people but then go from one extreme, from Johnny on the spot to like just completely ghosting people and trying to find that happy medium and being consistent, so that way people know when they can rely on me and when I'll be there and when I'll respond to them.

Dylan McCabe: 32:34

But I mean we all have boundaries. I mean there's certain things you're willing to do and certain things you're not willing to do in certain times or circumstances. But I think people need to write a few boundaries down on paper, and I mean it goes with kids too. If I'm in the middle, if I come home from work, it's one of my boundaries as well. One of the things I protect is I'm home at five 30.

Dylan McCabe: 32:53

Every night we have dinner together as a family. We go one by one and we ask our daughters was there any challenges you faced today? And then, what were the highlights of your day? And that fills up our dinner time. And I've got a 10 year old, an eight year old and five year old. And it's so funny the different answers. You know the five year old will talk about some funny thing. It's just hilarious.

Dylan McCabe: 33:14

But I protect that, that boundary. But if I'm home and I'm talking to my wife, I haven't seen her all day. If I ask her how she's doing, is there anything she wants to tell me before we get into dinner? And one of the girls comes up and is like dad, dad, it's like, hold on, don't interrupt your mom. Your mom's sharing something. Just just wait a minute. That's a boundary, like everything's not immediate, it's not an emergency, we're not in the Navy seals, you can wait Right. So I mean we all boundaries with ourselves. It's okay to say no to yourself. You know, there's times where I want a big giant bowl of ice cream on a Tuesday night and a bag of popcorn as I'm watching band of brothers. But I've got some fitness goals. I'd really like to get down to 12% body fat. So which one am I going to say yes to and which one I want to say yes to the 12% body fat? No to the giant bowl of ice cream. Most of the time I get that right.

Ty Cobb Backer: 34:08

And that's that's such a good segue into taking care of yourself so you can take care of everything else too. You know, trying to find that balance and and and the importance of you know Vic Vic had mentioned in in a comment here where it's just as equally important for those of us that aren't owners. Okay, and where I'm going with that is is like, okay, so us owners and CEOs can can attend these events, so then we can bring back this energy Right, and it only, it only improves the quality of our businesses from the quality of content that we're going to receive at an event like this, like it ripples down. But also, most importantly too, is us taking care of us as business owners, as fathers, as parents, as coworkers, whatever. It all starts with the personal development. Like watching my weight, I need to be down to 12%.

Ty Cobb Backer: 34:56

Well, it might sound selfish that I need to take care of myself before I can take care of you, but the bottom line is it's no different from that analogy of like when you're on an airplane care of you, but the bottom line is it's no different from that analogy of like when you're on an airplane, airplanes crash and put your air mask on first, then put your, put your you know your partner's mask on.

Ty Cobb Backer: 35:10

Second. It's because that way I can still function, protect, take care of. And if I'm not taking care of myself, that is probably the most selfish thing that we could potentially do to the ones that we love. If we're not taking care of ourselves and we are not here today because we're not taking care of ourselves and we die, our health fails we won't be here to take care of our children, our children's children. Right now I'm experiencing some of that, not due to health issues, but I have grandchildren today. I have three children, three grandchildren, three dogs, three cats that rely on me and a beautiful wife at home. And if I'm not taking care of myself mentally, physically and spiritually, bro, I'm no good to nobody. So that's where it all starts.

Dylan McCabe: 35:53

So, true man, my grandfather had his first heart attack at 35 years old. So you know, I mean you got to take care of yourself. You don't know how long it's going to last man. And that goes back to the work an 80 hour a week thing and neglecting your wife and your family, your loved ones. It's like, well you know what if you do that and then in five years you pass away. If you could rewind and do it again, I think you would work less. Nobody's ever going to go and get to heaven and go, man. I wish I would have worked more. Nobody's ever going to go and get to heaven and go, man. I wish I would have worked more. They're going to say I wish I would have had, you know, more time with my loved ones. I wish I would have grabbed that bowl of ice cream with my child or gone on a little one-on-one walk or stop to smell the roses or whatever.

Dylan McCabe: 36:35

But yeah, health is a big thing, especially to Miller and I, man. I mean we're talking about it every day and I get blood work done every six months about it every day and I get blood work done every six months. I'm looking at my cholesterol, blood pressure, all the markers, testosterone, estrogen, everything in between, because it needs to be in balance. I mean you, you should feel great. There's no reason why you shouldn't feel great, I mean, unless you're dealing with a chronic disease which sucks. You should. Dealing with a chronic disease which sucks, you should be able to feel your best at whatever level you're at.

Ty Cobb Backer: 37:09

I 100% agree. Now, jenna, I know you've been in the personal development space for a long time. What are some areas that you've slacked on and what you're working on currently, right now? That's a very good question.

Jenna Lawson: 37:20

I want to put you on the spot. Sorry, I know that's a very good question.

Jenna Lawson: 37:23

I want to put you on the spot, sorry, I know right, like I should have journaled about this before, I feel like just doing what you don't want to do, that's going to sound so cliche, but there's a lot of things that I don't want to be doing. That's not with work in general, but just sometimes. I just don't want to do it and I I, you know push it off. I push it off and then it just makes it even worse when I finally get doing it. And you know, with work kind of. You know, I started out as one thing and I kind of slowly transitioned to doing a little bit of this, a little bit of this, and thank God I'm good at time management.

Jenna Lawson: 38:07

But I think, by doing that and really just doing what I need to do on the spot, knowing that maybe I don't want to do it, I have to do it right then and there, because my energy is going to keep going into things that are easy to me and it's just a routine. But it's that thing that I don't want to do, that I need to do most, because once I do that thing, it's going to be worked into that routine and that's how a routine is built is by doing something you're not necessarily want to be doing, but, um, you know it's going to have a lasting effect. So I think that that I've just owning owning your stuff and just building something out of that, if that makes sense. Um, yeah, I think that's what I'm. I'm still struggling with it, but I finally realized the importance of just doing it, just doing what you don't want to do.

Ty Cobb Backer: 38:49

Yeah, yeah. No, procrastination is a killer of a lot of things. So now I get that I'm a horrible procrastinator and I'm the same as you. If I don't do it right now, it'll probably get put on the back burner, like when you asked me for a logo yesterday, I was like, oh shit, I was in the middle of something when I should have did it, like there. And then knowing myself that if I don't do this now, I probably won't because I'll forget not because I don't want to, but then laying in bed reviewing that list of things that I should have did, and now I got to do it tomorrow and that's.

Ty Cobb Backer: 39:18

That's just one of those lessons that I think there's ebbs and flows with that too. You're just more they are to somebody else, and I found that to be my inbox and my email thing. That seems to be everybody else's problem. That's why I filter a lot of shit out and I got finally an assistant, probably about a year ago, to help me filter and make me a better, you know, human being in general. It's like I submitted like, okay, I need a, I need an assistant, you know which where I thought I could handle everything and and it was just too much and I think one of the biggest things I've all, I've always bit off more than I could chew, it doesn't matter with the amount of work or over promising and under delivering, like, and I just I think for me, I just got sick and tired of letting you know people down, situations down and not being readily available when I need to be, especially for my family, and things like that.

Ty Cobb Backer: 40:10

But I really wanted to hear your take on it because you've I know you're kind of in, you know, a different scenario and your mindset might be a little different right now. And I know your focuses are different right now because you don't have, like you have a mom, amazing mother, but it's not like you have children at home and all those things. And right now I know, and I think we've had this conversation where you're focused on your career right now and have had, you know, that opportunity to do that when and you know, I'm kind of envious of that because, like I had a kid at a very young age, like my priorities, like were made for me a lot of well due to some of my poor decision-making, but not having children I wasn't a poor thing cause, because I love my children today, um, and I did that, but I feel like I'm sticking my foot in my mouth right now, um, but you like surround yourself around really awesome people. I've watched your journey, I've known you for a couple years now and and I am envious of the position that you've put yourself and you've been very strategic and and your your tactics on learning and working yourself up I guess the corporate ladder type of thing and your experiences and stuff.

Ty Cobb Backer: 41:19

So, as someone in your position, give us some knowledge of somebody who is in your position, like, what would you have done differently? Okay, knowing what you know now, going back five years ago, like would you have wanted to go to school? Like, spend more time and like, like, give us, give us some good stuff here.

Jenna Lawson: 41:48

I know I'm trying to rewind my life in the last five years because it's been a. It's been a journey. Um, trying to rewind my life in the last five years because it's been a it's been a journey. Um, I'll focus on what I did do and what after that go to what I should have done. So you know, I went to college, got a degree in communications. I did internships. I kind of I chose I need no, I need needed to pave the way, um, in college, and that's what I did. I made sure I had an internship every semester. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew, you know, it's going to be something in communications and that's such a broad, broad topic. But I kind of did an internship, got my way in corporate communications, marketing, social media, and then I graduated and then I was like, ok, what now? I mean, I have all of this under my belt, but what now? So I started doing social media for an insurance brokerage and then I started working for roofingcom after that. So kind of everything started, you know, everything kind of lined out the way that I wanted it to or the way I envisioned and I had. You know, I got a job doing something relevant to my degree. So that way you know I had it.

Jenna Lawson: 42:53

But I definitely, you know, that career mindset. You know I try to. You know with many life challenges I've gone through in the last five years but I definitely wanted to focus on my career more than anything and I think that that has been a positive. You know it's gotten me here. But you know I took the risk of branching out of the roofing industry and I started working for a company for six months and that was work, work, work. I mean no time for anything. We couldn't even take a break during the nine hour workday, 930 to 630. If you left at 630, you were looked down, looked down upon and it's like if you took a lunch break. No, it was pretty much like you're here to work, we don't care about your personal life. And so that was definitely. It shaped my perspective of what I do want in a position, and you know, with Limitless I work remote. I have everything that is going to better me in the long run.

Jenna Lawson: 43:51

But going back to what I should have done I know that went off topic, but going back to what I should have done I should have thought more about the. You know where I was right then and there I was too focused on the long-term of things, but I was not where my feet were. I was like, what is the next big thing? What should I work towards? I was always thinking about tomorrow. I was always thinking about next week. How can I? I don't know, how can I be better? And that's a good thing.

Jenna Lawson: 44:20

I was just so focused on that that I really started to neglect people in my life. That, you know, in that moment, or what I wanted to be doing. You know, acting has always been a passion of mine, but I kind of put that off to the side because I was so focused on this one thing. But I think that focusing on the many things that life has to offer and not just focusing on that one thing, that and I know that that was a long, long spiel, but if you know me, I love to tell stories no, no, no.

Ty Cobb Backer: 44:47

I loved it and I really wanted to hear that because, like I said, I'm kind of envious of the your, your journey thus far because of the lack of baggage. Now, I'm sure I know you have baggage, but you know the, the freedom I guess, the little more freedom that I felt, I feel like that you may have had. But, man, I wish, I really wish I would have been as smart as you are. I mean you, you are just, you know, you are an amazing person. I'll just leave it at that, Um, but, but kudos to you and and, uh, I I'd say if I got anything out of that would be, if anyone's listening, that might be around the age that Jenna's in and can have.

Ty Cobb Backer: 45:24

The trajectory that that she's been on is to keep keep an open mind and don't be so fixated on a long-term goal, but create and galvanize relationships, which I know you have, but be where your feet are, like you said, and enjoy the moment and learn as much as you can and apply it to something later on in life, whether it be another career or at the current career that you're at now. So I love that. So thank you, Thank you for sharing that with us. And dylan, what? Where do you see the future of limitless group and and then the summit? So give us, give us. Where do you see the future of the of the group going?

Dylan McCabe: 46:02

and then, if you have any other future, bigger picture plans for the summit I think the big vision for the limitless roofing group, a GPO as a group purchasing organization, is to become the most influential buying group in roofing in the industry. So I mean we essentially we save roofers money, we come together as one big group and we save on everything from shingles to general liability insurance, you name it. But if we get big enough, like right now I think Jenna mentioned we're about 530 companies If we get big enough like thousands of companies in our group, we will have serious leverage on things like manufacturer relationships, supplier relationships, things like healthcare insurance where you can get captive plans if you have thousands of companies in a group, stuff like that. So that's it. We want to become the most influential buying group in roofing, to where our companies have benefits because the group is stronger together. You know we come together. We're way stronger together. And with the summit I mean going back to the way we've designed it.

Dylan McCabe: 47:07

It's meant to be a life-changing event for owners. Only it's a one-day event in the Dallas area. To be a life-changing event for owners. Only it's a one-day event in the Dallas area. It's specifically in Flower Mound, texas, at Circle R Ranch. There's a welcome mixture the night before, all-day event the next day and then a VIP dinner that night. It's weighted heavily toward interaction with other owners. There are a few speakers, but it's weighted heavily toward downtime and interaction with vendors and with other owners and that vision will never change with our event. It'll always be a small, impactful, you know environment where you connect with other owners.

Ty Cobb Backer: 47:43

No, I love that. I love that Is there. Is there anything that either one of you want to? We're getting close to our one hour mark here. Is there anything that you guys want to add that we may not have covered about the event, or something personally that you want to share a nugget with anybody and with any of our viewers or listeners?

Dylan McCabe: 48:04

Jen, I'll let you share any details on the event that I missed.

Jenna Lawson: 48:08

Yeah, yeah. So I mean the schedule. We kind of went over all of that Speakers, hot seats, hot seats discussing challenges. You know you're vulnerable on stage, you're vulnerable around the room, but that's just. You know. What did you do to get out of that topic? I feel like that was very, very effective last year. You know this year we're wanting to do the same thing, but you know we're every year we're going to level up and so super excited to just introduce that again the round tables and the hot seats and really just you know the exclusive giveaways that we're having.

Jenna Lawson: 48:48

You know, with Limitless there's exclusive deals offered to members. So the members are coming together and talking to our partners and these are exclusive deals that they would be able to get on their own. So the hope is to have the non-members become members to essentially get those deals. So the impact is there and if you're an owner in Texas especially, definitely this is not a pricey event we would love to have you there. I think we're going to offer a 20% code on this. So we would love to have owners, decision makers, there, just to learn from each other. And even if you don't want to become a member of Limitless, totally fine, You're going to have impact regardless.

Ty Cobb Backer: 49:26

Right on. I love that. I love that.

Jenna Lawson: 49:34

If somebody wanted to sign up for the group, what's the easiest way or who should they call or contact? I would visit our website to LimitlessRoofingGroupcom to become a member. So it's a free group, it's a no-cost membership. You fill out the first form and then it takes literally around five minutes and then, of course, if you don't finish it, we can give you a call. We can walk through it on the phone, but it's really just getting some business information from you, telling you about our rebate programs and then getting you set up and ready to save money, and then you can learn more about the event and see the schedule in detail and all of that on the summit part of our website.

Ty Cobb Backer: 50:04

I love it. I love it. Dylan. You want to add anything to that?

Dylan McCabe: 50:14

No, just we hope to see you there. It's limited to 300 owners. So, um, I would encourage people, roofers, all of us we put it off till the last minute with stuff like this, but I would encourage you to buy it too. What is it? 200 for general admission no, it's.

Dylan McCabe: 50:21

It's 99 for general admission and we can get 20 off yeah, so it's 99 bucks of a 24-hour event, I think it's. Uh. The roi is going to be phenomenal as long as you show up and as long as you're intentional to connect with one or two other owners, but we've got it limited to 300 seats, so look forward to seeing you guys there.

Ty Cobb Backer: 50:41

Wow, wow, great man, I love what you guys are doing. Thank you so much for you know, coming on the show, making the industry a better place than where it was when you guys found it, and thank you for everybody for joining us. And if you got anything out of this, please, like love, share it to somebody that you may think might get something out of it. With that, big thanks to Jenna Lawson and Dylan McCabe for joining us today. If you're an owner or a GM in a roofing world, don't miss the Limitless Roofing Summit October 15th at the Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound, texas, with a welcome mixer the night before. Grab your tickets at limitlessroofinggroupcom. Slash limitless summit roofing summit and use code limitless20 to get a 20% off. This is your chance to connect, learn and walk away with real strategies to grow your business. Thanks for tuning in to Beyond the Tool Belt. We will see you next time.

Dylan McCabe: 51:36

Thanks, Ty You're welcome.