He Was Homeless at 17… Now He’s a 7-Figure Roofing CEO ft. Kason Roberts

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Welcome to the Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex.

Speaker 1 I went from being a comp to an eight-figure entrepreneur that helps average people like you and and me make money every single day.

Speaker 1 I created this podcast to help you get motivated and to crush your goals. Let's win together.

Speaker 2 Remember, I have your six.

Speaker 1 Get ready to level up right now.

Speaker 1 Hey guys, it's Paul Alex with the Level Up Podcast. Guys, we have another

Speaker 1 great interview for you. Check this out.
This is the backstory, okay?

Speaker 1 My friend, right here on the right-hand side, his name is Kason Roberts. Okay.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 this serial entrepreneur entrepreneur at the age of eight, got picked up by CPS, guys.

Speaker 1 Got picked up by CPS along with his siblings. Didn't know what was going to happen to them.
Was able to face adversity. Was able to go ahead and figure it out.

Speaker 1 And at the age of 17, left for himself to go ahead and work in the oil fields.

Speaker 1 And while he was working in the oil fields, he went ahead and figured it out was able to get into roofing which then he went ahead and built up a multi-million dollar roofing company guys became a serial entrepreneur and now travels the world even to dubai i love that dude casin welcome to the show brother appreciate it man thanks for having me on here absolutely man dude amazing story now guys as you guys know

Speaker 1 I love talking to like-minded individuals, just like Casey. I mean, we were talking for probably like an hour and a half before the podcast.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, man.

Speaker 1 Dude, you have such a good vibration of you, dude.

Speaker 2 You have a big heart.

Speaker 1 You do, too. Yeah, I appreciate you, man.
And I know this is going to be a kick-ass podcast. Hell yeah.
So to start us off, man, I mean, you already know the get-down.

Speaker 1 Let us know a little bit about you, your humble beginnings, and

Speaker 1 how you got to where you're at.

Speaker 2 Man, it all started in January 16 on Thursday. Me and my seven-sevens got taken away from my parents.
You know, they came to the school. They're like, hey, y'all are going to go to the pizza hut.

Speaker 2 It's like 3 p.m. We're in the bus line.
You're ready to get on the bus. I'm like, man, something ain't right.
Yeah. You think about taking some black kids to get pizza?

Speaker 2 No?

Speaker 2 I'm like,

Speaker 2 this don't sound right. I was like, I don't even want the pizza because

Speaker 2 this doesn't feel right.

Speaker 1 Casey, where were you guys living at at the time?

Speaker 2 We're living in Tyler, Texas.

Speaker 1 Okay, Tyler, Texas. Yeah.
Okay, born and raised. Born and raised, man.
Love that. Love that.
Okay, so what happens next?

Speaker 2 So we get taken away. We're on the way.
And I'm like,

Speaker 2 we just passed pizza hut. Well, we ain't stopping.
Right. And they take us to the CPS office.
They put us in a room. My parents show up.

Speaker 2 My parents start telling us we got to go somewhere for a little bit. It's going to be okay.
Everybody starts crying because we're like, what the heck's going on? So we go to Texas County, Texas.

Speaker 2 All seven of us, well, actually six. My brother was older.
We get there. Everything's going good.
I mean, they're older people, but they're cool. We're eating pizza.

Speaker 2 Like, I never knew what Chick-fil-A was to then. So we're eating good.
But the people were just too old. You know, they couldn't take care of that many kids.
So we get transferred back to Tyler.

Speaker 2 We get separated. We all go our separate ways.

Speaker 2 My little baby brother, my little baby brother and sister, youngest of the three, they end up going to Ohio with my aunt. And I end up going to an orphanage.

Speaker 2 My brothers end up going to another school. And we just, you know, we get separated.
So I go to this orphanage. It's freaking wild, bro.
Like, you got kids fighting other kids.

Speaker 2 You got the parents paying like kids with whole Copenhagen cigarettes to fight you if they didn't like you so they can raise your level and get more money off of you.

Speaker 2 Man, it was just a whole bunch of bullcrap going up, man. It's crazy.

Speaker 1 It sounds like a straight movie, bro.

Speaker 2 It was a movie. Yeah.
It was a movie.

Speaker 1 The fact that they were doing that. And, you know, was that a common thing with orphanage where

Speaker 1 that people would experience that?

Speaker 2 It's very common, man. It's like been thrown on the rug for many, many years.
Wow. But I push the story out there, man.

Speaker 2 I tell everybody I know, and that the way they were doing it is they almost got caught. You know, there's a guy, I can't really say his name, you know,

Speaker 2 but he was on to them. Right.
You know, and what they did is they invited this guy to the Four Willow Park, and he was married. So

Speaker 2 they got him fucked up. And guess what he does? They sleep in a camper with him, but he ends up sleeping with another woman.
But that was the whole plan the whole time. So they brobbed him.

Speaker 2 So now they got him by the boss. So everything he's about to go take to the system,

Speaker 2 he can't no more. Wow.
Because now he's going to jeopardize his marriage. So now they got him like right where they want him.

Speaker 2 And man, they just, yeah.

Speaker 1 So since that time, brother, were you able to actually reconnect with your siblings?

Speaker 2 Yes. Okay.
Yes, I still, I still, no, not all of them, man. I still have a little baby sister that I haven't seen since 2007, man.
Wow. We talked on the phone January, last January, you know? Okay.

Speaker 2 And it was, I mean, it was cool. You know, she wanted some money or whatever.
I'm fine with that, you know. It was cool to get to talk to her.
She's older now. I think she's like 18, 19 years old.

Speaker 2 She was like a little, this was like my little baby sister at the time. She probably was like three at the time, you know? Yeah.
And man, it was just crazy, bro. Like how everything happened.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 1 that's a wild story, man. And what was the reason why CPS took you away from their parents?

Speaker 2 My mom and dad were on drugs, man. Wow.
They were on meth.

Speaker 2 Looking back now, I've done a lot of research. And when I was born, I was actually born with methamphetamines in my system.
Wow. So that's the first time the CPS got involved.
Yes. Right.

Speaker 2 So I remember CPS coming to the house as a kid. And like,

Speaker 2 we didn't have any running water. We had bottle of water that we fill a sink up to wash dishes with, you know? We had roaches, rats, all this stuff.

Speaker 2 So when the CPS worker came over, she saw my little brother washing his hands in the sink. She didn't see him turning the water on.
She just thought, oh, well, they got water because.

Speaker 2 You know, she didn't see it was all of perception. Right.
So they ended up leaving. Well, what ended up happening, my stepdad or whatever, ends up cheating on my mom.
Yep.

Speaker 2 And a woman by the name of Barbara, Barbara, I say her name. She's a nobody or whatever.
And she's

Speaker 2 telling, like, trying to start a fight because she wanted to be with my stepdad. Right.
Well, he didn't want to be with her. So she comes to the house one day and try to fight my mom.

Speaker 2 And my mom ended up pulling a gun on a woman. Wow.
So the woman exposes everything. She calls CPS.
CPS comes in, investigates. There's a lot of stuff happening in the school.

Speaker 2 You know, as many times I wore the same clothes at school. I remember I had these orange starter shorts that were orange on one side.
You remember the ones that flipped? Yeah.

Speaker 2 And baby blue on the other side. Yep.

Speaker 2 I had three sets of clothes. I mean, three shirts.
And I would wear those shorts just like about every day. People at school were catching on.

Speaker 2 They're like, man, why is this dude wearing the same clothes? Yeah. He wouldn't even get the shower every day.

Speaker 2 That's how poor we were. Wow.
You know, there's seven of us staying in a one-bedroom apartment, bro. Wow.
Imagine that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It was crazy. Looking back, I'm like, bro, how? Yeah.
How did people not know long before?

Speaker 1 So you were living in poverty as a child.

Speaker 2 You go to an orphanage where they're abusing you guys they're abusing us feeding us lop yeah they're feeding us processed food and they're throwing a bunch of seasoning in there like it's old so a lot of it's spoiled just it's like you you literally get put into foster care yeah it's not your fault you're an innocent child of course you go there and they're running this whole fraud this whole scam yeah this abuse Yeah, it's almost like human trafficking, man.

Speaker 2 It's human trafficking, bro. Yeah, it is human trafficking.
That's what it is. And I remember when I first got in, I heard about these twins.
I have twins now, so I think about it a certain way now.

Speaker 2 I'm like, these two twins, you can look it up. It's all on, it's like all on the internet.

Speaker 2 They literally run away from the orphanage, Azaway's boys ranch. They get killed.
They find these boys literally land on the railroad tracks. These twin boys

Speaker 2 thrown under the rug. Wow.
A lot of stuff is thrown on the rug.

Speaker 2 They get all these donations. You know, this company's doing like, you know, 10 to 20 million a year just off kids.
Yeah. Just off kids and revenue.

Speaker 1 That makes, that makes a lot of sense, man. I mean, I know there's big money into that, into

Speaker 1 convalescence. Yeah.
I I know, and that in itself, you know, I always worried, like, you know, I would never do that to my parents

Speaker 1 because, you know, I've seen what happens over there. I've seen, you know,

Speaker 1 how sometimes these convalescents, they take care of people's family, dude. And I'm like, no, not my mom.
You know, she's going to stay with me. My dad's going to stay with me.
Exactly. But,

Speaker 1 all right, man. So you end up leaving.

Speaker 2 I ended up believing at 17 with a black trash bag. Okay.

Speaker 1 17,

Speaker 1 black trash bag. What happens next?

Speaker 2 Well, Well, I'm going to tell you this, or I go to college for a little bit, didn't work out, you know, whatever. And like, maybe two months of college.

Speaker 1 So you end up dropping off after two months?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm like, man, I can't do that. I couldn't afford anything.
I don't have no car. Okay.
You know, I can't play football anymore because, you know, injuries, concussions. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, man, I'm already struggling. So I'll go get a job in the oil field with one of my buddies, one of my old friends named Zach.

Speaker 2 He gets me on because his dad owns the company, the oil and gas company. So you're not supposed to be able to get hired on unless you're 21 because you got to have a CBO.

Speaker 2 Me and Zach, Zach's already working now, he's 18. He's making like, you know, three grand a week.
And I'm like, bro, like, that's big money, bro. Especially at that age.
That's 2013. Of course.

Speaker 1 You know, that's big money that age.

Speaker 2 Bro, we're partying. We're going to raise.
We got all these girls. I'm like, I was like, bro, I can play that out in my mind.
I'm like, I'm like, bro, give me a job. So he's like, hey, man.

Speaker 2 All right, let me talk to dad. So he talked to dad.
Dad was like, yeah, a hard case. I know he's a hard worker.
He's a go-getter.

Speaker 2 You know, because I grew up Bill and Hay and Reagan in the orphans in the summer and putting on roost.

Speaker 2 So I get get on, I failed my first drug test because I'm doing molly on the weekend.

Speaker 2 And his dad goes, Zach,

Speaker 2 what is MDA? What is that? And he's like, Zach's like, he's like, I don't, I don't, like, I don't know. Like, we're on planet off because nobody knows what we're doing, you know?

Speaker 2 So I was like, man, I'm fed up. Yeah.
So they give me another chance. Like, probably two months later, I get hired on.

Speaker 2 I go to South Texas, down to like Carriezo, Carrizo Springs, Laredo area, where it's real cartel. Like, I'm not really partying in, making money, making like three grand a week.

Speaker 2 We're coming home, and um, my birthday's coming up, December 22nd. So, Zach was like, bro, we should throw a big party for your birthday.

Speaker 2 We've already been throwing parties, but we said we're going to make sure the girl to guy ratio is like very, like, there's going to be more girls than guys. Yeah.
And it worked. We manifested it.

Speaker 2 But what we did not know is it got out of hand, bro. It got out of hand really fast.
You know, we had a girl, like, literally.

Speaker 2 Damn near die. Wow.
I knew CPR because you got to get CPR training in oil and gas. Yeah.
So I'm doing CPR on this girl, white girl, and she starts spitting up blood out of her mouth. Oh, no.

Speaker 2 So I'm freaked out. I was like, bro, we're about to go to jail.

Speaker 2 Oh, man.

Speaker 2 I mean, it's not funny, guys. You're like, Paul, why are you laughing?

Speaker 1 No, I'm laughing out of nervousness of the story.

Speaker 2 I'm just like, wow. Yeah, I'm like, bro, we're about to go to jail.
He's like, nah, bro, don't, don't even call the cops. He's telling me this.
I'm like, bro, we got to call the cops and report this.

Speaker 2 So we call the cops. Amos gets there.
They said, hey, I saved her life. They're like, somebody gave her Coke.
Wasn't it? Wasn't any of us. Everything we had there was weed and like vodka and stuff.

Speaker 1 but at the same time, it's about the perception, dude. Like, you know, you got to think about it from the cop's point of view.

Speaker 2 From a black guy, I mean,

Speaker 2 and the cop already had it. One of the cops already had it out for me because I was dating.
I was listening, I was dating his daughter. I was dating his daughter.

Speaker 2 Okay, see, we're getting deeper to the story now. You were dating the daughter, man.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 yeah.

Speaker 1 I mean, it happens, right?

Speaker 1 So, so, so, from that, man, you're living life. I mean,

Speaker 1 in your, in your early 20s.

Speaker 1 Um, okay, so oil fields, when was it that day that you got to think to yourself, man, that day, it was just like an epiphany where you were just like, I got to work for myself.

Speaker 1 I got to make it happen.

Speaker 2 Yeah, because

Speaker 2 after I got in trouble with the whole incident, you know, we go to jail, you know, they're freaking like, and they got us in the back telling us, oh, you're going to go to prison.

Speaker 2 We didn't go to prison. Like, it was a misdemeanor.
We got out. Of course.
So I'm like, bro, what am I doing with my life?

Speaker 1 What year was that?

Speaker 2 This is 2014. Okay, 2014.
I'm like, what am I doing with my life? So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to keep my head down. I'm going to go.
I'm going to go to work.

Speaker 2 I'm not going to party no more.

Speaker 2 So I keep praying. I'm like, I started losing it.
I lost a job in the oil field. It was the old field one now.
I'm getting another job.

Speaker 2 And then these guys are attacking me because I'm moving up to a higher level. And I'm like, man, I'm tired of all this politics stuff.
I'm like, God, why? I'm crying to God in my company truck.

Speaker 2 I'm like, man, this makes no sense. Like, I'm trying to do great.
I come from nothing.

Speaker 2 And it was 2019. I'm talking to my boy Nathan.
He lives out here in Miami. Like, we worked in the oil field together.
He gets out, starts his cabinet company. I'm like, bro, how'd you start a company?

Speaker 2 You're working out here with me. We're working three months straight.

Speaker 2 He's like, bro, we're going to form form your oc right now so i create a or global ink 2019 from my company truck we're on three-way talking to the secretary of state setting it up he's like you're gonna get this thing in the mail just like keep it when you get it so i get in the mail i go home i'm like i got like 50 grand saved at a time yep i just went through a divorce so like i had to work three months to get that money back because like i got drained you know whatever during a divorce of course so I started the company.

Speaker 2 My first job I get was like a $30,000 job. My first year, we do 800,000.
Well, it wouldn't have been a whole year. It was like six or seven months.

Speaker 2 I'm just out like beating the pavement, knocking doors. Yeah, you know? Yeah.
Because I work at this company for a little bit, this roofing company. I was there three months.

Speaker 2 I did my first week there. I did 10 deals.
All the people in the office are going crazy over me. But little do I know, I wasn't going to get paid nothing.
I didn't get paid anything.

Speaker 2 My twins are on the way. I'm freaking out.

Speaker 2 And I just go out and start selling them on home. So I already got the company formed.
So I go out and start selling them my own. My first year, we do 800,000.

Speaker 2 I'm like, okay, I think we know what we're doing.

Speaker 2 You know, second year, we're at 1.5.

Speaker 2 And I was like, I think I know what we're doing.

Speaker 2 yeah the third year we're like two million 2.5 million and this is me by myself yeah this ain't no sales team or anything beast mode me just hitting the door beast mode my third year we're at the three million dollar mark yeah so i'm like we know what we're doing now basically like you're increasing dude yeah it's i wasn't sure but i wasn't sure i was like man maybe this is like a fluke yeah you know and when i start making all this money i'm going to the bank they know me at the bank they're treating me well i thought i was doing something legal because I wasn't, you know, we're not taught to go start a business in school.

Speaker 2 So I see this money coming. I was like, bro, I got to be doing something legal.
You know, I did 300 grand in one week, not profit, but gross. I'm like, bro, I got to be doing something legal.

Speaker 2 I started feeling like I was doing something wrong because I didn't realize you can make that kind of money.

Speaker 2 Only thing I wanted to do when I started the company, I wanted to take care of my family. And I was happy with making 80 to 100 grand a year.

Speaker 2 I mean, I always wanted to be a multi-millionaire, don't get me wrong, but I didn't think it was a multi-million dollar business at the time.

Speaker 2 So I started researching and started seeing the case studies and stuff of other companies. I was like, bro, this is crazy.
I hit the jackpot.

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Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 1 something very similar that I went through in the very beginning, man, where, you know,

Speaker 1 sort of you reached a certain level of success that you are not used to. No.
Okay. You were the go-to guy for the rest of these companies and corporations.

Speaker 1 But then once you start doing it on your own and you you start reaching a better result

Speaker 1 a completely different environment now where you're just relying on your own self-will dude a lot of people actually get imposter syndrome yes they do imposter syndrome they're like do i really deserve this yes do i really

Speaker 2 dude i used to wake up in the middle of night with cold sweats and be like oh my god is this going to be the day i get taken down but i'm not doing anything i'm not doing anything i'm just like when are they gonna knock on my door exactly when are are they gonna knock on my door yeah you know and then we moved to a bigger neighborhood yep and i live i moved to a neighborhood with like you know 50 55 year old people like nice 500 000 600 000 houses people that moved into my house their entire lives bro they see me being in that neighborhood and you're they're like what is this kid doing i'm the only black person in the neighborhood bro yeah like for real only black guy in the neighborhood took it so it was good it was cool but i'm young bro i'm 24 25 at the time yeah and they're like they're they come up and start they start you know you know they're they're suspicious of me and come up and start bringing me cookies like

Speaker 2 Bro, I'm not lying, bro. I'm not lying.
I'm like, okay, cool. I eat the cookies.

Speaker 1 I was like, are the cookies good?

Speaker 2 The cookies are good. Oh, they're fire.
Okay, cool. You know, and they were trying to figure me out, like, what does this do for a living? So I felt what they were doing.
So I was like, you know what?

Speaker 2 It's time for me to market myself. Yeah.
So you know what I do? Yeah. I'm going to put my sign out in the middle of my yard.
Smart.

Speaker 1 My roofing sign. Smart.

Speaker 2 Bro, I do like 10 roofs in a neighborhood. Me and a guy across the street named Daniel.
He's a retired plumber. He's always talking shit to me.
He's like,

Speaker 2 your brother's with Joe Biden and all this shit. We used to talk shit like, he's 60 years old.
We love each other. He talked.
That man taught me a lot, you know, along the way.

Speaker 2 And he was like, man, you're making too much money. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, man, that's $100,000 truck you got.
Cause like, I kept trying to get a new truck.

Speaker 2 So I couldn't find the one I wanted. I wanted F-250 Platinum.
So I was trying to buy a local, but I was like, bro, why am I going to pay 80 grand for a truck with 50,000 miles on it?

Speaker 2 And the guy at the door show was like, you're never going to find a truck cheaper.

Speaker 2 Sure enough, I bought a truck in San Antonio. 2020 Platinum with like 12,000 miles on it for like 75 Gs.
I was like, that's a better deal. Yeah.
Fully loaded.

Speaker 2 Bought it from, it was, it was an ex-FBI agent. Nice.
So I had to like swipe the little, like, it had a whole bunch of numbers and shit in there.

Speaker 2 I was kind of scared to be riding around in it, but San Antonio from Tyler is like three hours. So I was good.
Yeah. So I pull up that in the neighborhood.

Speaker 2 They're like, yeah, this guy's, this guy making some money. He's moving.
He's moving. He's moving.
He's moving and shaking.

Speaker 1 Okay. So you ended up moving to that neighborhood.
Your life has an abundance

Speaker 1 of just opportunities, dude. Yes.
So what's the next move? How do you scale the company?

Speaker 2 Man, I just thought one of my guys, one one of my mentors, Rick, he's like, hey, long as you go out and get literally three deals a week, your job's done. And I was like, I want more.

Speaker 2 He said, so here's what you do. Each of your customers, you tell them you're going to give them $250 per referral if they refer you to another customer.
So I started doing that.

Speaker 2 So when I went to, you know, every city has a gatekeeper. So we had this storm back in 2022.
It was crazy, like big hell. I did like 30 jobs in one week.
I sold 30 jobs in one week by myself.

Speaker 2 You're probably wondering how I did that by myself. I ran into the gatekeeper.
Yeah. And he was like, hey, my mom and dad had 20 houses they own.
I know this person, I know this person.

Speaker 2 When I started telling him I can like put $250 in your pocket, bro, he jumped on it.

Speaker 2 And I had a lady from a church tell me, she was retired, you know, she's doing really well on a fixed income, you know, making good money.

Speaker 2 I gave her a 250. She went to a church and got like five people.
Then I ended up getting a church. They ended up getting like six churches that same year.
Like big, big, big churches. Yeah.

Speaker 2 So the way I'm

Speaker 2 starting making more money is because

Speaker 2 insurance company, let's say insurance company pay out 15 grand on a job, right?

Speaker 2 I know in my mind that I'm able to go get like an additional 10 to 15,000 from the insurance company that they're holding back. The homeowner don't know that.

Speaker 2 They tell the homeowner get bids because they don't want like contractors like me that knows how to go off the policy to what the customers owed. Wow.
So I'll market everything up on every job.

Speaker 2 It's not illegal. It's ethical.
But the insurance companies don't want you to know that. The insurance companies owe that money per policy.
Wow. So, dude,

Speaker 2 I'm making money. Wow.

Speaker 1 And that's a gem. That's a gem for anybody who's starting in the roofing industry right now now is make sure to check the policy to see what's the maximum that you could get for the job.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I love that.

Speaker 2 You got to know the insurance companies, man.

Speaker 2 It ain't so much selling the customer. Yeah.
It's selling the insurance company. Yeah.
End of the day. Right.
It's got to tell a story in order for them to buy that roof. Right.

Speaker 2 So what started happening is it was a ripple effect. I started running into all these adjusters.
I'm cool like you were as a cop. I'm chill.

Speaker 2 I'm not yelling at them like a lot of all these other contractors. I'm not getting a bad name.
So a lot of times, let's just be real, maybe bursting on a roof.

Speaker 2 There ain't even no hell damage on the roof. Just because I'm cool with the adjuster, I don't give him no shit.
He buys the roof.

Speaker 2 So I started learning, like, man, like, it ain't so much of the hell damage. It's just you find our whole roof.
Boom. The right adjuster, he likes you,

Speaker 2 boom. Takes it easy.
Takes it easy on you. Yeah.
Because the adjuster, it's up to the adjuster. If you're a dick to the adjuster, he ain't going to buy the roof.
You got like a $30,000 roof there.

Speaker 2 with a 40% profit margin on it.

Speaker 2 You want that roof. Yeah.
So

Speaker 2 that's why I try to teach all my guys now. It's like, be cool with the the adjuster.
Don't batmouth the adjuster because you're going to be working with these guys a lot. Yeah.

Speaker 2 When they get to know you, you build a relationship with them. They know you by name when they pull up.
So they know you're not giving them shit.

Speaker 2 Especially when they just deal with like three other inspections with assholes. They're like, oh man, Casey, how's it going? A lot of times they want to get on the roof.
They say, here's my camera.

Speaker 2 You go get up there and mark it up for me.

Speaker 2 That's what you want. Yeah.
You want that relationship, man.

Speaker 1 Well, you want that trust.

Speaker 2 You want that trust.

Speaker 1 Which it's very similar to doing sales. Yes.
And the best salesmen are the best master communicators. Absolutely.
So you became a master communicator.

Speaker 1 And what do you think is the best characteristic that you have seen in your industry? What makes a really good leader in the roofing industry?

Speaker 1 Whether you've seen other CEOs, you can't even do a go-off of your best characteristic, man, because you're killing it in the roofing industry.

Speaker 2 You got to train your guys.

Speaker 1 You got to train your guys.

Speaker 2 Not only train your guys, train yourself.

Speaker 1 Train yourself.

Speaker 2 I don't care if you hire a guy on with 30 years of experience. Yeah.
That guy still needs to be trained. The reason why that guy needs to be trained is because he's coming into your organization.

Speaker 2 He needs to know how you do things. Because a lot of times that dude's got like, he's got problems that he needs to fix.
He may know how to sell, but he can be a lot better if he does training.

Speaker 2 So I say train him at least 15 minutes every day. And for an hour, one hour a week, you do 45 minutes to an hour or the sales training.
Wow.

Speaker 1 Okay. Okay.
And is it on the sales training portion?

Speaker 1 Because we get quite a few people here that, you know, they want to get into a sales gig or they want to go ahead and start their own business, but they've never done sales. Okay.

Speaker 1 So what type of advice would you give us being a veteran serial entrepreneur like yourself successful in the roofing industry? What would you give the average person that wants to learn sales, man?

Speaker 1 What would you do if you were trying to learn sales in 2025?

Speaker 2 What would I do? I would find somebody like you. Yeah.
And I will follow your, I would ask you to mentor me or follow your business model and learn everything from me and listen.

Speaker 2 Don't think that I know all. Listen.
Yeah. You know, that's the problem with a lot of people.
They don't want to listen. They think they know it all.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Like, why am I not going to listen to you when you're doing, you know, 18, 25 million? You must know something. I don't know.
Yeah. I'm broke.
You rich. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Speaker 2 So that's what, that's the problem with a lot of people. They don't want to listen.
So you got to, you got to be able to be coachable. Yeah.

Speaker 2 If you're able to be coachable, I can train anybody to sell. Just got to be coachable.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 No, absolutely, man. There's a saying I always say, man, is you could be prideful or you could be rich.
Absolutely. Especially in business.
True to be rich any day. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 All day, every day, brother. So, so

Speaker 1 with that being said, man, what would you recommend? Self-education to me is key, especially in the game of entrepreneurship. It's a game.
It's how well you play it, right?

Speaker 1 You need more information every day, dude. That's why I stay a student of the game, even now.

Speaker 1 So with me, what would you recommend?

Speaker 1 your top three favorite books, brother, if you were to go ahead, any books that you've read that have led you to this level of success.

Speaker 2 Man, one of my first ones that really, like, really, really hit me. Yeah.
It was a book created in 1911, 1912. It's called The Science of Getting Rich.

Speaker 1 And what was the background on that one?

Speaker 2 Man, just telling you, like, the source of getting, like, becoming, like, you know, prospering and having abundance is God. Yeah.
The God in you. Yeah.
So that was a good book.

Speaker 2 Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich.

Speaker 1 Oh, dude. Napoleon Hill.

Speaker 2 That's the gym. That one really opened my eyes.
I read that for like 30 days straight. Yeah.
You know, another book, I would say, The Art of the Deal. Yeah.
By Trump. Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know, a lot of people don't like Trump. Trump's cool, man.
I mean, that book really opened my eyes to like everything.

Speaker 2 No deal is the same. Yeah.
Every deal is different.

Speaker 2 I think he did a good job writing that book. I think everybody should read that book.
Okay.

Speaker 1 I like that, man. I like that.

Speaker 2 And I also have my book. It's called Surviving a System by Kaysen Roberts.
I'll talk about my journey until I got to where I'm gotten to.

Speaker 1 So is it just based on your journey? And then do you give insights?

Speaker 2 I give gems out on everything, man. I give the whole, like, literally recipe.

Speaker 1 I love that.

Speaker 2 I love that. Like a mastermind.
Okay, okay.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 let's dive dive into real quick. What do you see now for yourself in the future, brother? Like right now, you're dominating the roofing industry.

Speaker 1 What else are you looking to do and let's say in the next three years?

Speaker 2 We're doing development too. I should have brought that up earlier.
We do development. We're going to do about five houses this year.

Speaker 2 We want to get to 20 because a lot of times in roofing in the wintertime, we lose revenue because when the roofs, when it gets too cold below 45, you're not supposed to put a roof on.

Speaker 2 A lot of companies do, but I don't. So I'm like, I want to have constant cash flow.
In order to have constant cash flow, it's the development. It makes sense because it's already construction.

Speaker 2 So we're building custom homes right now. I say

Speaker 2 my biggest goal is to get to the B level, the billionaire level. Because I'll be able to give more.

Speaker 2 Absolutely. I want to get there three to five years.
And I believe it's going to happen.

Speaker 1 No, absolutely. And

Speaker 1 that makes perfect sense. So what vehicle do you plan on using? Is it just solely development? Is it also roofing? Are you doing multiple businesses?

Speaker 2 It's going to have to be multiple streams, man. I'm getting ready to lunch, Roberts University.
Okay, I'm gonna have my courses.

Speaker 2 I'm gonna have my mentorship where I'm gonna be showing people how to, you know, start a roofing company, how to do construction, how to get money from the lenders, how to get loans, and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 I think it's gonna be good of add value for people so they know exactly what to do to get there.

Speaker 2 Because a lot of people don't believe they can do it because they don't have somebody to go get the information from.

Speaker 2 I don't believe in being a gatekeeper. A lot of people do, but I believe in giving.
The more you give, the more you're gonna receive.

Speaker 1 Absolutely. And what made you? I understand giving, but basically what opened your eyes to the power of digital marketing?

Speaker 1 The info space, man, because it's growing, brother.

Speaker 2 Man, I see guys like yourself, like you, Paul. I mean, you're killing it, dude.
I see guys like Grant Cardone that I've had a pleasure to talk to and, you know, go on stage with and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 Real good dude, man. You know, like we're actually a part of the same organization in Search of Scientology.
So I learned a lot from him. I see all these big guys that are doing it, man.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And like success leaves clues. So when I started seeing it, I was like, I got to start pushing more content.
I got to get my course out there because I actually have a proven system that works.

Speaker 2 You do. But I need to be able to give that system out to multiple people.
A lot of roofing companies don't want to give that system out.

Speaker 2 They're scared that their competitors are going to kick their ass. I don't worry about that.
Yeah. You know, because there's abundance everywhere.
Right. Never ending abundance.
No.

Speaker 2 People just got to change their mindset and realize, like, whatever you think up here, it has an effect on you out in reality. Yeah.

Speaker 1 No, absolutely, man. Absolutely.
And

Speaker 1 what would you say to the person who right now in 2025 is trying to get into roofing, man? How could they start? Okay.

Speaker 1 Let's do like a mini masterclass right now where you as the presenter, you as the authority figure, man, in roofing,

Speaker 1 you would give that person, let's say that is trying to transition or you're talking to, you know, Casey back when he was in the oil fields and you're like, yo, this is exactly what you have to do to get into the roofing industry and then eventually start a roofing company.

Speaker 2 I would say they had definitely have to be mentored.

Speaker 2 I don't say anybody should have to go through what I went through. I mean, I'm pretty much got thrown to the wolves, wolves, which is fine.
I mean, I had to figure it out.

Speaker 2 I grew up like not having a mom or dad, so I knew I had to figure it out on my own.

Speaker 2 But for me, I think it'd be a very positive impact on somebody's life if somebody like me or anybody else in the roofing space, they were willing to give out gems and mentor them.

Speaker 2 You know, do a six-month mentorship with them. Show them how to structure the company.
Show them how to put a trust around the company. Show them how to protect their assets.

Speaker 2 Show them how to do everything the right way so they can go farther. Yeah.
At the end of the day, so they don't have to hit the hiccups that I've had to hit along the way. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then how many employees do you currently currently have right now?

Speaker 2 I have five right now.

Speaker 1 Okay, you have five employees,

Speaker 2 I have four crew, I have four crews, subs.

Speaker 2 Um, yeah,

Speaker 2 like three different subs on the development side, yeah, and that's pretty much what we got going, man.

Speaker 2 So, your employees, so I don't have, I don't really have any employees, they're all sub, they're all 999.

Speaker 1 So, you're 1099 contractors, you still have to lead them, you got to lead them, you still have to lead them, right? And I'm a big believer in being a leader and leading by example, okay?

Speaker 2 100%.

Speaker 2 So, what uh characteristics do you think it takes for someone to become a great leader in business I would never ask my guys to do something I wouldn't do I love that you know a lot of guys sit there and I see like a lot of these roofer companies like they don't get out there anymore yeah with the guys

Speaker 2 Much as I hate it sometimes, I still get out there and hit the payment. I still hit doors.

Speaker 2 Because it keeps, it sharpens your sword for moments like this, situations like this, for opportunities like this.

Speaker 2 So the more you get out there and the more you deal with different personalities, the better you master what you do.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 be out there there in the green out with your guys. Showing them the way.

Speaker 2 Makes them trust you more. If your guys can't trust you,

Speaker 2 they ain't going to like you. You can't just be a cocky asshole with like a bunch of money.
It's like, oh man, I already did it. A lot of guys, that's how they are.
They're like, I already did that.

Speaker 2 I ain't going out there.

Speaker 1 Money changes you, man.

Speaker 2 Get out there with your team. Get out there with your team.
And that's what I like to do. I still get out there when I can, when I have the time.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, man, I kind of miss this sometimes because it just feels good, especially when you've been fasting, you've been praying, and you go out there.

Speaker 2 You never know who you're going to run into, man. You run into a lot of good people.
A lot lot of good homeowners, man, are good people.

Speaker 2 Most of my homeowners,

Speaker 2 we're friends.

Speaker 2 We talk, they call me up. Hey, how are you doing? Like, you know, we're cooking over here.
You want to come over here? Because I take care of my customers, man. You know, I treat them with respect.

Speaker 2 I'm not just trying to get a sell from them. I'm trying to educate.

Speaker 2 I educate my customers, letting them know, like, hey, listen, another roofing company is going to come up and just try to sell you, and they're just going to do the work for what the insurance company paid.

Speaker 2 And they're going to do shitty work because there's not enough money to even do the job. And it's not enough money for them to put money in their pocket.

Speaker 2 So they're going to do it so cheap so they can make a profit. No, I'm going to come in.

Speaker 2 I tell the homeowners all about the experience level. I'm going to find out how your policy is.
Me and my team are going to go in.

Speaker 2 We're going to get everything paid for. We're going to get your roof paid for.
We're going to get your gutters paid for, your downspouts, everything.

Speaker 2 But we're also going to inflate the claims per your policy where you get everything you need and you get to pay your deductible.

Speaker 2 Everybody, I'm going to eat and you're going to eat. You're going to get value.
And I think that's how it should be.

Speaker 2 A lot of these companies, that's why roofing companies have a bad name because a lot of these companies are just ripping off the homeowner. Yeah.
They're leaving them high and dry.

Speaker 2 They're actually, it's like they're working for the FBI. They're working for the insurance company.

Speaker 2 They're letting the insurance company manipulate them because they don't have the right guy coming up, bringing enough value. A lot of guys are just out here selling.

Speaker 2 Their bosses are like, yo, just go sell, just go sell. I think everybody needs to be taught the whole insurance process in order to get to the next level.

Speaker 1 No, and I think that comes with experience, man. And you have a lot of experience because you have done the footwork.
You've been in the trenches. Been in the trenches.

Speaker 1 You know, knocking on doors, talking to people, engaging with people getting their feedback getting market research right and without going ahead and still continue to be in the trenches hey you may not be up to date with the information like the rest of these businesses right so that's a good that's a good trait man and i like that as a leader and then also you communicating with your network because i'm a big believer network is your net worth bro one person can change your life right 100 so so that being said let's say for example if somebody like let's say one of these sales guys that are in the roofing industry they're listening to your podcast and they're like they're like dude we love this guy this guy is remarkable right what would you tell them what they need to focus on to actually get more client acquisition

Speaker 1 training training training training training in what specifically you got to train in sales man yeah yeah yeah and then um any techniques any strategies and i know i'm not trying to give your guys a sauce no you're good i i'm i'm here i'm here to give it out yeah but like you know all uncut man yeah but like any anybody that's really looking for that help dude like if they're like hey man you know i'm willing to invest I'm willing to go ahead and like learn and buy something.

Speaker 1 Any recommendations that you would give?

Speaker 2 Well, I have a mentorship, you know? I have a mentorship where, you know, it's very limited or whatever, but because I got the Roberts University, it's going to be lunch. Yes.

Speaker 2 So what I do is I charge 10 grand a year. Okay.
And I'll

Speaker 2 mentor you. You get a couple calls with me a week.
Okay. And I'm going to show you how to scale.
Okay. You know, because I'm taking time out of my day.
My time is valuable. Of course.

Speaker 2 Until I get the school, the big school lunch, where I have the whole team behind the whole school,

Speaker 2 I can only take unlimited people.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 So, so you do one-on-one mentorship.

Speaker 2 One-on-one mentorship.

Speaker 1 That's remarkable, dude. I didn't even know that when we were talking.
So that's good. There you guys go.
You guys learned it exactly. Exactly.

Speaker 2 We just pretty much started that this year. So it's still fresh.
Yeah. So

Speaker 2 it's working, man.

Speaker 1 Dude, and 10,000 is extremely rich.

Speaker 2 It's a really good deal. I mean, I told my boy Chris about it.
He's like, bro, what? You need to be charging 25, 30 grand a year. I'm like, no, it's okay.
Yeah. It's okay.

Speaker 2 What if I train one of those guys? Right. They need to come in and work for me later.
Yeah. I know if I train them, they're going to make me way more money.

Speaker 2 That's true you have the training for me That's true the best that's true I'm in the best.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no dude and and your level of confidence the the the conviction you have you can tell dude you got to have courage.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you do people don't have courage. Yeah, that's why I don't have money in your bank account.
They have no courage. That's why I don't get any sales because they have no courage.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you got to have courage. You got to have good ethics.
You have good good morals. You can't be doing something to suppress somebody to keep somebody down.
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 You got to always flow abundantly with an abundantly and prosperous mindset.

Speaker 1 That's what I'm talking about. Hey, man, man, you should have got into law enforcement, bro.

Speaker 2 Oh, man.

Speaker 2 I had an opportunity during COVID, man, and they said I had to have some kind of degree or something. And I was like, man, whatever.

Speaker 2 I should have came to Oakland, California, man. We would have been good teammates.
It would have been good teammates. We would have been kicking indoors.
That's it.

Speaker 1 That's it. Kicking indoors together, brother.
Making doing good work. 100%.
But with that being said, man, okay, so to wrap this up on the last question for the podcast, brother.

Speaker 1 So as you guys know, this is the Level Up Podcast. We have ranked number one.
Thank to you guys, okay?

Speaker 1 Everybody that's been listening on spotify youtube on um apple podcast thank you guys we've had this podcast for uh emilio uh what has it been now 15 months uh 13 months february 28th 2024.

Speaker 1 so what is that 15 months

Speaker 1 yeah about 15 months guys okay so so at the end of the day you know emilio as you know is a producer a sound engineer he's the guy that's making it happen right here guys i'm just you know the face but uh emilio is the one that you know made this happen so thanks to emilio you kick ass brother 100%, man.

Speaker 1 You killed it. That's it.
You're killing it, bro.

Speaker 1 So with that being said, okay, what we want from you, Kason, is we want you to tell the hundreds of thousands of people that are going to listen to this podcast, dude, when it comes out. Yeah.

Speaker 1 A few words from you, dude, from the heart. To help them, dude, because it's all about self-help.
It's about giving back. 100% going ahead and making them better, dude.

Speaker 2 100%. I would say always bet on yourself.
You know,

Speaker 2 always bet on yourself.

Speaker 2 Keep people from around you that have negative things to say about you. You know, if they have something negative to say about you starting your business, running from them people really fast.

Speaker 2 I had a lot of people tell me along the way, don't start that business. Don't do that.
You don't know anything about business. Do it.
Believe in yourself. Get out of your mind.

Speaker 2 Get out of your reactive mind. Don't let your reactive mind control you.
Get good, good leaders around you.

Speaker 2 Get good successful people around you. I'm so passionate about this, man, because this means a lot to me because more people need to know about that they can win.

Speaker 2 You look at Bill Gates, look at at all these billionaires there's nothing different from them than you it's just a lack of knowledge lack of something you don't know up here so man you just got to get out there man and just win you know just flourish and prosper just win guys that's it by casin roberts guys so if he could do it you could do it too if i could do it you could do it too guys this is why it's the podcast and then casino where can they find you you find me on uh facebook at kason roberts on instagram at kason roberts and we're on youtube at kason roberts and then what's the title of your book and where can they find your book?

Speaker 2 My book's on Amazon. It's called Surviving the System.

Speaker 1 Surviving the System by Kason Roberts. By Kason Roberts.
I love that. I love that.
There you guys go. Surviving the System by Kason Roberts.
Make sure to get your copy today, guys.

Speaker 1 Is it also on audio?

Speaker 2 It's also on audio.

Speaker 1 Guys, get that audio. You know, listen to it while you're in the car, while you're at the gym.
Let's level up now. All right, guys.
So that wraps up our interview with Casey Roberts.

Speaker 1 This is Paul Alex. This is the Level Up Podcast.
Make sure to leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts. We are currently ranked number one because of you guys.

Speaker 1 Once again, thank you for me and Emilio. And with that being said, we will catch you on the next one.
Thanks for listening up to the Level Up Podcast.

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