Overcome Obstacles with a Passion for Impact

So there's something about you that really stuck out to me that first time we met. And it is this passion. Like you have this absolute passion for this business. You have a passion for growing your own business, but you also have a passion for the other guys out there. Where does that come from? Why that.

You know, I think that after.

You.

Know, this near death experience of this new lease on life, it's. It's all about helping people. And I just want to have an impact on everybody I touch going forward because I don't know how long I'm going to be here. I know everyone can say that we all get in a wreck on the way home, and that's true. But when you, when you think about it for three years and deathbed and you kind of live a little different. And I don't really even consider these other roofers my competition. The regular good guys that are just trying to put an honest living together and, and make a difference. And if I have had some success, I just want to share that so to make their lives, you know, so they can do something.

You're on a bit of a mission now, like, hey, man, right? I could have been gone. Now that I'm not gone, there's something bigger and, and more important for me to be doing. And I noticed that about you and one of your initiatives. And I want. I know I'm going to get this wrong, but it has something to do with cars. Am I correct?

So for 20 years, I'm the vice president of Cars for Heroes and we give 300 cars away a year to.

That's like one a week. That's one a day, almost.

Yeah, that's, that's a lot. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot. And it's. And it's so veterans and first responders and then we do a Cars for Christmas where we give cars to just everybody in the community that needs cars. Not everybody. About 15 to 20 cars on Christmas. And they're full of food for the end, full of toys for the kids. Because these stories are a mother who can't get her child to the chemo treatments. And so you're being able to give a car like that. They're just. These stories are tearjerkers. And to be able to impact that, it just gives you goosebumps. And I've been hosting it at Shamrock lately. And so that my, my other project managers, people that work for Shamrock, can be the ones to give. And when they're able to pass the keys and help, it just it changes them and you can see it. And they want to keep giving and helping. And so we did the cars. We did the cars thing@carsforheroes.org and then I'm the chairman for the American Heart association and this is the 100 year. So it's the Centennial Heart Ball. And so what we're doing is something really cool for the hundred year. And let me explain this. So when I about my building Dimensional innovations is the art, art place in town and they're the ones that just did the Raider Stadium. They're really nice. Well, they try to tell me. Well, they, they told me about this project, this Evil Knievel, this timeline where they. You can, you can see him where he jumped the Grand Canyon this time and you can push a button and you can see his broken bones. And so it's super interactive. Right. So I come up with this idea.

I remember watching that live, by the way.

So they want, they wanted to do this for my office from 1977 since the time to a timeline around the office. I was like, no, not right now. And I, and, and I said later. But now we got the 100 years centennial for American Heart Association. So we're going to do from 1923 what kind of medicine and heart. You know, they had then to. You know what it was like in the 1920s, the roaring 20s had. How did. In the 30s. How did. Aha. Like in the 30s, 40s and so on to the 100 years. And then. So this idea is now going to 130 markets nationwide. And then. So they. And you're walking through the ball. You can actually go through this entire experience of the 100 years of research and technology that created and helped science along the way.

That's pretty cool. Is that, is that a fundraiser? Is that what that's going to be our association?

Yes, is the fundraiser. And that's the Heart Ball that basically celebrates the end of the year for the amount of money they've raised. And then each 130 city has their own ball based on this. And so that program. Well, the timeline to the entryway to the ball, something that I came up with, Tucker Trotter came up with together. So pretty cool.

Yeah, that's pretty neat. I don't know if I can make it to the ball, but if there's any way to donate or help or do any of that kind of stuff, let me know. Give me a link. We'll put the link in the show notes here, if there is such a thing. And we will do what we can to, like, heart disease is one of the biggest killers in America, and it has so many different reasons. I mean, yours is obviously an anomaly. That's not something that you hear very often. Like, yeah, I breathed some stuff in and kind of killed my heart. Yeah, that's not when you hear all the time. But there is, you know, heart disease, there's chronic, there's acute, there's cholesterol. There's all these things that lead to it because of the lifestyles we lead, the things we eat, the things we drink, this all that kind of stuff.

Right, right.

And the lack of exercise of the. The world that we live in almost forces it. Like, sometimes we have to be behind a desk a lot to get our job done. And so when do we fit that stuff in? So if there's a way to help, send me a link and we'll step up a little bit, and we'll see if we can get others to do so.

I will, definitely.

So is it chairman of, like, the Kansas City City or, like, chairman of the whole thing?

It's chairman of the Kansas City.

That's cool, man. Like, you need another thing to do.

I tell you that the philanthropy part of it and given is I, I, I enjoy it, but it's. It can be. It can be an addictive thing, too. Right. Like, you know, next thing, the Boy Scouts are coming over. I'm helping them. The next thing, you know, you know, someone else is coming over. I'm helping them, and I'm like, whoa. I've only got so much time, and I got to focus. And those are all nonprofits, and what I focus on is that's what I get. So I'm like, look, I've got to focus on the business, and I can help financially, you know, instead of so much time, because that's one thing that I'm working, you know, the balance.

Well, it's an incredible story. It really is, because of what you went through, and you're still, like, doing it. And even in a more impactful way, like, there's more to it now. There's more weight, I guess, or gravitas. Like, it feels different for you. I would assume it does.

And it just keeps. It gets better. The message becomes more on point. As I've been talking to folks, and I'm getting to speak at the best of success. And talking with Jill, and they're like, well, I tell my story. She's like, oh, my gosh. Which part of that do you want to talk about? I'll be happy because she's like, well, you only got 30 minutes. So, you know, fine tuning that is one thing and sharing the message, but what it also does is it gravitates more people with the same mission and together it's even becoming more powerful. And it's. You're really meeting some like minded folks that can really make change.

Well, excuse, excuse the pun, but you've really got a heart for it. You do. Thank you. Thank you. It's pretty awesome. And the reason I wanted to have you on is I wanted other contractors to see that. They've got obstacles too, right? We all do. We all got whatever crap going on in our world, but that was a pretty big obstacle and you were able to overcome it, come out on top. I'm sure there's still things you gotta do and deal with, but it's turned out okay. A lot of it is just because of that passion, this drive. There's a lot of experience that went into. You had to do these other things to get to this thing, but to stick with it. Right? That's kind of the idea. No matter what the obstacles are.

It is. You know, you only fail when you quit. And it was that perseverance that kept through this because, you know, there's a lot of times I did. You know, you really do feel like quitting, but it's just not an option. And you know, my kids needed me, they still need me. And I'm the patriarch of the family now.

And.

Not only my family, but employing, you know, 450 people, when you're talking about all the crews you're dealing with, all your project managers and every, all the support staff, and then you take it even further and you think about from the supplier level, all the people that you, that are employed because you're buying so much material from them, and then you start thinking about how many people you're impacting and that's a lot of people. And you want to. I want to continue to.

That's what it is. You understand the responsibility now, right? You understand the responsibility where maybe before it wasn't quite as clear. You knew it was there, but it wasn't like there. Right. Man, that's. That's such a cool story, Garen. It is. I, I have not forgotten that day. I will never forget that day. Like you were pale. I was like, oh my God, this guy. I feel like you're gonna pass out any second. And you were like sweating and it was like, it was not like, why are you here? Go home. I got this. We can take Care of it. And then the hailstorm hits and it was craziness.

I was wanting to meet you so bad. That's what had you in there and everything.

We still got that picture? We still got that picture? Yeah.

That's a great one. I need to get another one when you come back out.

Well, hey, anytime, man. You get me out and we'll, we'll go do it. I was just through there a week and a half ago, came through Kansas City, but I was, I was trucking. I was like, I gotta make it home in two days. But next time through, I'll stop, we'll check in and if we want to do some stuff together, it'd be an honor to help out however I can. Any words of advice? I don't usually do this, but what I would like you to do is say, hey, this is the one most important thing that you need to remember if you are planning to go from little and small to something big. What's the one thing?

The one thing?

I got 20 going through your head right now?

Yeah, the, you know, from, from going to small to big. Prioritization of time. Focusing. The highest, most profitable and maybe not even profitable at that time. That's beneficial. Beneficial. Yes, beneficial. And that means focusing all your time on that. And that means as you get, grow and you need to delegate, how can you then either be more efficient with your time or increase your productivity by maybe hiring an assistant or, or, you know, technology, you know, and that way. And then that person, maybe it's one assistant. The next thing you know, you got two project managers, three. And then, and then you make, always make sure you're in a CRM and tracking everything, all your data, because you can mix.

That's the other thing about growing. Yeah, you're a numbers guy. You're, you're really data driven, data oriented. Why do you think that's so important? Because I, I, I've coached for a long time now. I've seen a lot of companies make pretty good money without being like, data focused. Now qualify that, they blow a lot of money too. But why, why, why is that such an important part?

Well, cause then you can get stats and you can start understanding what is actually your, your most profitable thing. And then you can also understand stats if you start to slip. Why, why aren't I doing, you know, you know, well anymore? Well, you need to make some adjustments. You need to be able to pivot. And if you don't know, you're not tracking your data, your matrixes, then you're not going to know how to improve or how to better improve. You're really just guessing. Throwing darts at a board.

Yeah. You start sliding back and you can't identify where you're like, what of the 20th, eight things that we have to do is the one that went, hey, haywire. Right. Like, okay, so maybe it's our sales are down, but is it sales? Could it be our culture that's affecting it? Like, there's a million other things that could actually cause problems. Are we not getting the right amount of leads? Leads change, change. Do the algorithms change on our technology? Like, there's a million different things. If you don't have that data, you're just shooting for the hill. I hope I got it right.

Yeah.

And most of the time, we're off on that. So that is some good sage advice. Karen, it's been a pleasure having you on.

Thank you.

Are one of those guys in the industry, and I don't say this lightly out of respect for you. This is a hard industry to find that in sometimes, and you definitely fit that mold, and I appreciate what you're doing.

Well, thank you, Jim. I really. I appreciate that more than you know, and I carry that with high esteem, and I try to every day put my next foot forward to lead that way for all the people, for all the people on the team and lead an industry. Because I think there needs to be more leaders in this industry for sure.

Yeah. More leaders that do it right. There's lots of leaders, but there needs to be more that just. Okay. The consumer is really what this is all about. In the end, it's not necessarily how much money can I put in my bank account? And then the people that work for me are more important than that, too. So the money is. The money is a byproduct of doing it right. I just am a firm believer in that and sustaining it over time. You can do it wrong and make money for a little while, but it's going to catch up with you at some point.

It's not. You can't sustain it. You go and ring the bell, and then it's gone. The only way to stay at the top and ring the bell is to have everybody else up there with you.

Yeah. That's awesome. All right. Hey, Garen, I'm going to. I'm going to put you back in the green room for a minute and close out. Can you hold on for a second afterwards? All right. Awesome. I really appreciate you being here. Thank you. If guys wanted to reach out to you. Is that okay?

Absolutely. Sure. They can reach out to me at garenrock roofer.com or text me at 913-991-8858. Wow.

He came out with a phone number. Okay, guys didn't stay for the end. They barely messed up right there. And I have one suggestion for you. You need to change your logo to four leaves.

Yes.

You are one lucky man. There is no doubt about it. Is it four? Is it four?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, you know, it's the double E.

It does look like three. Yeah.

You gotta, like, rub that thing. Yeah, I gotta rub that thing all the time.

Yeah.

No. Very cool, man. Very cool. Thanks for being here. And we'll, in the future, find out how things are going.

Yes, I'd love to.

All right. Awesome.

All right, thank you.

All right, everybody. That was Garen Armstrong with Shamrock Roofing. What a story. I mean, seriously, I think a lot of people in the same situation would probably have given in, given up. But there is also this side of us that when it really gets bad, we fight harder. And that's nothing that we can't say about Garen. A guy fought and fought really hard, not just for recovering from a new heart, but fought for his business, fought for his people, and he's out there fighting for lots of folks and having a huge impact. So I'm super happy to have him on the show. If you're looking to grow your business, you're trying to get out of the rut that you're in. You're trying to break through a ceiling. You're tired of chasing your tail and making the same mistakes over and over and never getting any anywhere. And you really do want to get some control of your business so you can grow it and get to that lifestyle that you want and impact people the way you want. Reach out to us. There'll be a link in the show notes on this for our contractor assessment. Just click that link, take that assessment, and we'll do a free coaching call with you. A real coaching call, not a sales pitch. We're going to coach you based off of that assessment on the two or three things that you could do right away that would improve your business. If you like coaching and want to work with us, great. That's awesome. We'd love to have you, but if you don't, at least we served you well that day and we made the industry a little bit better that day, and hopefully we've had an impact on you in a positive way. Thanks for being here on contractor radio. We'll see you on our next episode.