The Best Damn Roofer (Fictional Character) with Josh Bigger

All right, everybody, welcome to Contractor Radio. This is your host, Jim Johnson, the contractor coach with Contractor Coach Pro, where we help contractors get control of their business so they can grow their business and find that personal and financial freedom that they've been chasing since they started their business. So today we've got this guest on and this is going to be one of those ones where you want to click the subscribe button to us because it's going to be either amazing or awful. I have no idea. I pick up, have an idea. It's going to be amazing. I got to talk to him for a few minutes. He has an immense following. 177,000 followers on Facebook, 50,000 on YouTube, another 50,000 on TikTok, making him probably the most followed roofer out there. He is the best damn roofer. A fictional character, YouTube superstar and sensation, Canadian freedom fighter, lyrical master. Please welcome Mr. Big Time Anti establishment, Josh Bigger. What's up Josh? Good to have you, man.

You too. Thanks Jim.

I'm super excited to have you on today. I made a post the other day and I think I was talking about, you know, the things you should look for in a coach and, and why you might want to get a coach. I had a video out there and you're like, I'll be your coach, let's see what this guy knows. And I found out that you know some things I don't know and you do teach and coach on some things that I don't do. So this is going to be a great conversation. Before we get there, why don't you tell us a little bit of a story like from roofer to one of the top influencers in our industry. What, what all started it? I would assume you started on a roof. What? How did it all go?

Been roofing ever since I was, you know, a kid almost. And I was always into music and Internet entertaining as like I said, I opened up for big bands like Offspring, Blink 182, some 41. Totally into music in my young teens and as I kind of grew out of that stage of my life and I was always maintained my roofing career, it's always my summer job. I just decided one day to start making funny videos just to I was like, there's nobody, there's no influencer, there's no entertainer in the industry and the Internet was there. So I just kind of started making funny videos for entertainment purposes for my community. And it just developed into know we started writing music, we started writing sitcom based videos, we started doing roofing university, we do commercials. Now for Prime Line Tools Canada, we do, you know, stuff for diamond shingles. We work with different manufacturers in the industry. And so it's kind of grown from just a career in roofing and just kind of gone now to a influencer marketer, you know, production guy. I'm still roofing, though.

Yeah, that's the wild part. Like, you've really made this into something, right? Like, you got a lot of followers. I don't know. We were messing with my lights and stuff while we're doing this. So my apologies to anybody watching this on YouTube. The technical stuff is technical stuff. But, you know, I. Whenever you said, hey, I'll coach you, I went, okay, let's go check this guy. Because I've seen you a few times. I've been at shows, you. You're up on a table singing. You got, like, a big, bright green outfit on, and cowboy has all kinds of crazy stuff. Have you always been, like, the guy that was. Would you maybe describe yourself back in school as, like, class clown, any of that kind of stuff? Because kind of was that when I was younger?

Yeah, like, when I was younger, like, I always, like, make people laugh, right? So if it was in a room full of my family, I'd be doing something to make everybody laugh. I was the youngest of four. Four boys, so I couldn't beat them up, so I had to beat him with laughter. I'd kill him with comedy, right? So it's kind of like I couldn't throw a punch, but I could throw some, you know, some. Some funny stuff at you. And it kind of got me out a little bit of trouble throughout my life, being more funny than. Than anything. And then as I became a musician, I really, you know, I'd be running around with, like, in a thong on stage, like, just doing just like, just to get attention, right? Because that's part of marketing. You want someone, you need their attention, right? You've caught their attention. You can. You can sell them, right? So that's kind of where that started with music, and then I just kind of adapted that into the roofing industry. And I'm like, well, roofers really are rough around the edges. So let's just kind of make fun of some of the things I've seen in the industry that, you know, it goes along with any construction trade or any. Anything. There's drinking, there's the guy that never shows up, that. The guy that throws his career down the drain, you know, and just kind of like, poke fun at it. Kind of like a trailer park boys type of feel. And that's where it kind of stemmed from. Making stupid videos, making people laugh. And then once people laugh and tell you how funny you are doesn't help. And you're gonna keep doing it. Right. And kind of pushes you to keep going. Yeah, I am. Ten years later. Yeah.

You started putting some of the videos out. They got some attention. They went kind of viral almost.

And first one went like, viral. It was like about nine years ago. And I made one called the best damn Roofer. And it was just about a guy smoking pot and drinking. And it was like the shittiest rap song ever. But I think it was the only one out. Right. And it got like 5,000 views in the first day. And I'm like, I just made this little funny song and a funny video on my iPhone. It wasn't well produced by any means.

And you went, I got something here. Right? Was it like always the plan to, like build up this big huge following and what was the hoped for result from that by building that following? If that was the plan, the idea.

Was to get into the industry and be a sales rep. So that was my end game when I did this. But I was like, the roof. What I always thought about the industry is that there's guys in suit and ties trying to sell the roofers. And the roofers, like this guy, if I can swear. Sorry, but they're like, just doesn't.

Hey, we got a double bird on here one time. So it was. It was. We're okay.

We're good. Okay. I swear I'll try to swear less. Right. But what was the topic? Sorry, I got off topic there.

No, the. Was there a plan? Like, hey, I got 5,000 views on this thing in a day. I can make some out of this. And. And what was the hope for result? You said you were going to be a sales guy.

Sales guy, yeah. So that was kind of the end result of it. Like, so you can get into sales. And my end of my career that I just. So once I quit roofing, I'm like, I'll have this. I'll have a different career already set up. It's already there now. So I'm a sales rep for several different companies. So that was the end result, is that you get these roofers to laugh at you. And you know that I'm one. I'm one with the roofers. I'm not just a sales guy. I'm still doing the roofing. Right. So they have respect for you, especially if you make them laugh. So that when it comes to sales. Everybody already knows who I am. So if I go to sell some, it's easy to talk to you because they come to you. So I go to a trade show and there's a hundred people standing around me. It's easy to sell. They're already listening to you, right? So I've broken that barrier of sales. That's why you see a lot of retired NFLers, retired NHL, they go into car sales because it's easy, because people come in to see you, they want to see the retired NHL player, right? So that was kind of my goal from day one. I mean, like, I think I spoke of this before, but my dad was like, I don't know if it's a good idea, like, doing all this shit. People are going to think it's really you and you're, you know, you're drinking and you're smoking dope and you're. You're ripping clients off. I'm like, well, if, you know, they might. But I mean, a lot of the people that are watching you aren't going to hire me either. They're roofers, right? So they're not your. Really. They're not that client base anyway. They're. My clients aren't watching roofer videos, I wouldn't think, right? They're probably watching, like, Young and the Restless or something. You know what I mean? So it never really crossed paths until now. So, like, people will hire me because of the videos. Like, oh, it's awesome. Like, can you make a video at my house? Can you yell at me and my wife? Like, can you go to my house and steal my beer? I'm like, yeah, sure, right? Like, let's do this, right? But they're paying me ten grand to do their roof, so I'm like, yeah, I'll do your fucking video for you.

That's super funny that it's become a thing that, like, your customers know and they want you to do a funny video at their place. Like. Because I think a lot of people that watch your content, whether it be on YouTube or TikTok or Facebook, wherever it is. I think you're right. I think a lot of them think that's who you are. I actually saw a review on. On Facebook. It was like, oh, my God, this guy charges more for this political belief versus that political belief. I wait till the DVD gets a hold of that, right? Like, people actually believe this.

And, well, I made a video about me ripping shingles off. Like, I was a liberal client and he didn't pay his. The rest of his bill. So I took his shingles off and I know made love to his wife, right? But it's my house. I'm ripping the shingles off. We were doing a. We were doing a door, putting dormers in. So I'm taking the old roof off, which I had planned to. And people calling the police on me, thinking I'm stealing from people. Like, they're so. And it says right in the description, like, it's a comedy show, it's fictional character. But I just would love to see the. The Dispatch for the 91 1. Like, oh, it's the best damn roofer again. They know me by name now, right? Not him again. Like, so I've had family Child services called on me. Osha, well, it's just the Ministry of Labor in Canada, the police, you name it. People have called whatever they can to think that because they think it's real.

So personally, I think that's the best humor. The humor that seems real. Like, oh my. It's. It's so close to being what the real story is that you're like, oh, I finally got one. I see one. Like, that's what they look like. I got to tell everybody.

People even share my content, thinking they're going to get me in trouble. Like, look what I. This guy's doing this and he's gonna share my video and tag the Ministry of Labor in it. Or like they're tagging, like government officials and like, he's destroying our community. Like, no, It's a funny YouTube video. So you literally have these people that are mad, but they're one of your best marketers. So it's like this huge platform for free marketing if you just piss people off, right.

Which one do you find the most value in? Like, because there's. There's multiple channels. You got Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, a billion different places to be. Which one. Which one's the one that works best for you for the result you're looking?

Well, I've been kicked off all of them. So all these platforms, you see, like, I had. I had over 500,000 just on tick Tock. They deleted that. This is my third Facebook page, my second YouTube and my second Instagram. So I'm almost at a million deleted followers. So I'm shadow banned. And so none of them are. They're all, they're all worthless, in my opinion, for making money off of. You have to. You have to get out there. So you have to let people know you. It's good for getting awareness. But like, I make profits off selling product, tools, selling diamond shingles, like, actually selling stuff in the industry. So, like, there's no value in YouTube for. For advertisements so minimal. You have to do 2 million views per episode to make a. To make anything substantial. So in my opinion, there's nothing. The only value I get is getting reach, and then I use that reach to then make money off sales, jobs, tools, shingles, you name it. Right. So I even do marketing now for people like you. You want to, you know, promote your show, we do a video. We can help, you know, push my episode to help further push your channel.

Right, yeah, like that. That's ingenious.

And really, they all come in handy, but they're all useless in the same sense, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, I looked into the whole YouTube thing about monetizing it a while back. I went, that's not even worth the amount.

Don't even waste your time having commercials on your page. Right.

Like, well, now I don't mind having, like, I will put no promotions allowed on my YouTube, which then they're not going to push it out quite as much. But I have my own promotions for sponsors of our show. And so, like, Atlas Reefing Shingles is our premier sponsor. They're amazing, awesome people, great culture. If you're not using them, go check them out. But they are the ones that make this possible, and it's much more beneficial to us than a few cents off of a YouTube video. Yeah, really. Truthfully, the whole purpose of this contractor radio thing is to give others some insight into how others are figuring it out, how others are solving the problems that we're all dealing with on a daily basis. And the coolest thing to me about all this, there's a thousand different ways to skin this cat and get it naked. You got you with your comedy channel and this approach that you have, and then you got the stuffiest guy in the world out there that looks very professional. And the whole bit, it can be completely opposite ends of the spectrum and still be uber successful. I think I like the ones that are a little bit more built around them, built around their uniqueness. Do you. Do you think that's a big part of it for you, just who you are? Naturally? Yeah.

That's the one thing. I don't ever try to be myself. You don't see me like, I don't try to be anything, but I'm a roofer. That's what I am. So, I mean, I'll go to trade shows and be the character that I've created, but in all honesty, I'm a roofer. So, I mean, I don't try to go out and say I'm, you know, I've built them. You know, these. A lot of people on YouTube lie. They want you to, you know, like. And subscribe. They tell you more than they're not. They're not. They're afraid to tell you about their mistakes. I mean, best part about being my character is that he's already made all the mistakes and he's shown everyone. So it literally can't fuck up now, right? About. You've already watched the videos where I've done all that, so anything else I've done, people are, like, surprised. And there's. It's intriguing to them now, like, because they. They've already had the worst impression of you possible. And they're like, man, this guy's making tools. He's, you know, he's this independent sales rep for, you know, a massive manufacturer. He's, you know, he's got his hands in everything. Okay, that's. It's more intriguing rather than someone telling you how intriguing they are. Right.

You know, you get to see the story play out without them telling you an embellished story. It's. To me, I was like. I started watching some of the videos. The one that caught my attention right away was the. Is it called a flatula or flatula? Like, I. Like this way. Yeah.

Yeah. I was cooking in my trailer with a spatula, but it was made of a piece of flashing, right?

Yeah. You're cutting it with tenseness guy. You're like, hey, give me your 10 snips. Guy drops his 10 snips on the ground. Had the first one. It was, like, dirty, like. No, that one's got oil all over. You can't cook on that. It cracked me. It was humorous. It was funny.

That was a real day, though. I actually made a spatula to flash into cook for the crew.

Yeah, that's the thing. Like, how much of it is real and how much of it is a little bit of a character? And I think that's the brilliance of it, is. You don't know is that.

Well, yeah, like, you can tell some of the ones where I might. Yeah, I'm going to extreme. Like, eating, caulking, or, like, you know, killing someone. Right. There's episodes where people die in it. Right. Like, you know what I mean?

I gotta watch.

There's some pretty crazy ones in there. Right. We've done some extreme videos, and you have to be very careful because when you do the extreme Videos, people think you're real. Like, then they'll. And I. That's one of the things I was faulted for on my pages is they take me off for like, you know, they thought it was real. So I'm doing these extreme things, but I'm not, I'm not poisoning myself. I'm not endangering anybody. So those ones I put warnings on in the front of the video just in case, right?

That brings up something for me. Is there any inspiration from like Jackass, the show, that type of thing? Like, do you get any.

My inspiration for the show came from a character called Crum Lord. He's an actual roofer, I believe, from Chicago. And he was like the first videos on YouTube of this like bald headed roofer is like drinking vodka, like squeezing in his company. He's a real roofer and he's like Crumb Lord. He's just like, he's got melanoma. He's just like greasy looking fella, right? I know the poor guy's still alive, but look up the Crumb Lord, he's like, that's. He was drinking and roofing. He's just like just smashing shingles on doing poor work. And I'm like, he's the Crumb Lord, right? And that's kind of where like that along with trailer park boys, right? The Canadian trailer park boys. So kind of combine those two ideas and then I put some music behind it and it was kind of like it's also a venting thing for me so I can act like something I'm not, so I can say things I'm not supposed to. But it wasn't me. It was this jackass roofer I've created, right?

So I was just putting all kinds of ideas in my mind because now you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a coach, right? Like there's all over the place. When we first started 10 years ago, we were like the only one. And now they're everywhere. And now I'm like, hey, how about I do best damn coach and go go say all the things I've wanted to say without really saying the things I feel a lot of fun to do. What's. What's the craziest real life story you've ever had as a roofer? Because I've had some crazy experiences out there with customers and with crews and stuff like that. What's the craziest one?

All the one time, like this big, big boy, like he was mad the homeowner was pulling to her driveway. He was Driving a transport truck and he was behind her and he just went like road rage. So we were trying to clean the driveway up for the nails just in case she was driving in. We're just doing that. Well, this gentleman drove his massive transport truck. Didn't. Wasn't having someone stop in front of me. Just pulled over. He's like ready to attack this woman and her son. And I'm right on the front lawn with these people and like he spit the sun spitting this guy's face. This guy must have been about 285 pounds, right? And he grabs this like 17 year old kid by the throat and he's gonna punch him right in the face. And I got my roof and I was. It was like, had a cedar shake rip, so I had a pitchfork and I just like looked like the gladiator. I just put her over my shoulder. Like, leave that kid alone. Like, I ran at him with all Mike because I was about 20 yards away and this big guy, he ran, he ran. He turned in front of me because I had a pitchfork. He started running, right? And he tripped and fell on his back and he got, you hit that kid, I'll fucking kill you. And he goes, I know jiu jitsu is he's laying on his back and he put his hands up. I said, I just got out of prison. And his name tag said, Mike. Right on it. I just got out of prison, Mike. I don't mind going back because my wife can't cook and the sex is better in there. And he looked at me like, get in your car, Mike. And I will. That was one of the craziest situations I've ever been in. I felt I had to stand up for the homeowner. So they were pretty happy with me. And Mike went on his way. The cops came there and that wasn't the first time the cops been calling a roof either, so. But that's the craziest thing I've ever had to do is like, to protect the homeowner. I'm like, oh, here we go, right?

Wow, that is. That's a wild story, right? Fortunately, out of pitchfork and you know, the kid would have been punched in the face.

Yeah, Like, I wanna get my down payment, right? So.

Yeah, they gotta be safe. I gotta get a good payment from.

Yeah, protect the homeowner at all costs until they pay. Then they're on their own. Right.

So what happens? Do you put people on blast if they don't pay you?

Oh, yeah, I'll put people on blast if they screw me Around. Oh, yeah, I'm a roofer still. I have roofer mentality. Right. So I had one company. I am not supposed to talk about it because I'm legally bound not to. I won't. Can I give up the name of the company? But they owed me over 180,000. And I had. And we had several contractors working. So, like. Like, I was like, that. That'll sink a guy, right? So I just. I was gonna put him on blast on my channel. And then we actually had to. We. They had a lawyer get involved. We had a. Basically a contract where I got paid out in full and I could never talk about that situation again. I can't mention their name. Right. So.

Gotcha. Gotcha.

Well, it's happened. I've used leverage like that before, right. I've all. I've used it before to get money out of people like, you know, pans. Fine. You're going to have so many. It's not going to work out well for you, put it that way. Right.

Another little hidden value of having some influence. What's.

Especially a bunch of roofers, right?

What's been the most surprising thing of, you know, now it's over a million followers over time. What's been the most surprising thing that's come out of it?

The most surprising thing that's come out of all of this. That's a neat question. Being a roofer, not surprised much of what I, you know, I see anymore, but just the love of. From the community. I didn't know there was gonna be that much, like, love. Like, so when I go to, like, these trade shows, like, people just, like, they. Just the respect and the thanks they give me. Like, I've had people, you know, I had cancer for six months and I went through chemo. And it's your videos that brought me joy in the darkest times. Like, I didn't think it was gonna bring people that much joy, right? Like, I've had. That's happened several times over the last decade where it's people, like, wholeheartedly, like in the darkest times, like my dad was the roofer. I lost my daddy, you know, and it just. Your videos have brought me so much joy. And I didn't think it would bring that much people joy. Like, I didn't think that was the. So that surprised me a lot, like, how much it's affected people in a good way. Right? So anyone that gives me hate on it, I'm like, I've had so much positive and love from it. You can hate me all you want. It's not bothering me. Right. I know what I've done for people, and that's what surprised me the most. The genuine good feelings I've brought to people. And it's. Some people say it's changed their life and made it for the better, which is, like, unreal. Right? Just from your phone, making funny videos. So that.

Cool, man. That. That's really cool.

So that's a blessing right there.

I love seeing that kind of stuff. So let's talk music for a second. So you opened up for offspring. Blink182. Like, those are no joke bands right there. I got a chance to watch one of your videos, Freedom. If you guys haven't seen it, go to YouTube. Look up best Damn Roofer. It's gonna be right there. You're not gonna be able to miss it. You're. You're. Where are you at in Canada? I know you're in Canada, but we're at. In Canada.

Niagara Falls is the closest location. That's a bit like. I live right between Niagara Falls in Toronto, so it's called the Niagara area. It's like the wine. You're where all the Canadians live.

Like.

Yeah. The densest population, right?

Yeah. What was this crazy stat that there's more Canadians south of the northernmost American border than there are Americans? Because you guys live in, like, Vancouver and. And Toronto. As warm as you can possibly get. Yeah.

Right there on the border.

So there obviously some political strife I'm not aware of. Didn't know anything about really. So I kind of was interested. Like, you hear all the political strife here in America, all over the places, everywhere. And I didn't know that that type of thing was going on. And there you are with two giant flags on you. The Canadian flag. I don't know what the other flag was. What was the other flag?

The other flag is the red ensign. I had three flags that I fly. The Canadian, the red ensign and the. And the loyalist flag. It looks like the Union Jack. Those are the three flags that were flown in Canada. The loyalist looks a lot like the Union Jack. So During World War II, they gave all the soldiers the red ensign, which my grandfather would have worn more. And then, of course, now the traditional Canadian flag that was established in the 60s. So I call that the liberal flag, though.

It's okay. It's okay. We're not going to get into that. That depth of it. But I thought it was great. Like, the quality of lyrics, your voice was amazing, and the production was awesome. Like, where does that all come from?

Well, we Own a production company. Big time productions. Like that's one thing that's evolved into me owning a production company. We do all the commercials for Primeline Tools Canada. We are starting a new endeavors for the new company that's releasing a tool store or a roofing store across Canada. We're going to be releasing there and doing all their marketing in their commercials. We've shot commercials for Diamond Steel. We've also shot stuff for, you know, behind the Tool Belt. Several different companies we've worked for. That's a, that's another business that I own. I'm CEO of that one. So one new. See some really, really well produced videos. That's me and my partner, Mark Charboneau. He plays Dick, the homeowner in the video the glasses.

If you guys haven't seen any of those videos, you got to go watch them. Yeah.

So when he got involved with me as about three years ago now, that's when the evolution of the videos and the music changed because I was just doing stuff myself. But Mark is a musical engineer and a videographer and a camera guy. He's all everything I needed to make my channel better. And then it made it so much better that we started our own production company. So when you see something that, well, we've put some time and effort into, it's not just your regular video that we hand bomb on the cell phone and you know, throw out there. We actually, we, you know, designed that one specifically for the freedom movement for everybody to. It's kind of like the anthem for the, the, you know, the freedom movement here in North America, which is pretty amazing. People play it all over. It's awesome, right?

Yeah, it was, it was really well done. It's like.

Thank you.

Like I, I was like MTV level done video. It was well done.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Do you still, do you still play?

Yeah, I just played. I played performed on Sunday. I played. I just did a couple songs there to my freedom song. And then I got a performance in the 21st, which is a undisclosed venue yet for charity because they try to close us down when we do charity events here for our government's really strict on people fighting for fundamental rights and freedoms of Canadians. Different subject entirely. But. And then I have two shows in Toronto on the fourth and fifth Roof tech. So people, in about half hour I have a whole other number one selling roofing artist in the world. Number one Roots by Don's come in second place Roost by Don's got a new track. It's pretty good.

There was Another guy that did rap stuff.

I, I, yeah, Roost by Don. He's great.

Yeah, he did rap, but I, I knew there was another guy because the guy wanted to do a rap for Contractor Coach Pro.

Okay.

Didn't quite fit our culture, but it was pretty good. Like, I have to say it was. He had some talent.

Well, we do jingles. If you guys want a jingle, you just come to Big time Productions. I'll have a jingle for you.

Maybe we should talk. I've been wanting to write anything, man, for a coaching service. Where's it all headed? What's, what's the end game?

Well, the end game is like, I see myself, I see myself doing marketing and doom production and tool development. So I'm also making tools with Prime Line Tools Canada. And that's kind of where I want to end my career in sales. Right? So still making music. I mean, I'm not trying to be, I don't want to be. I'm like, my goal isn't to be. I want to be a super famous Kardashian or whatever, right? Like, I want to still do roofing. I got, I'm a father of five kids. My next stage of my life and the next 10 years, I hope they have some grandkids. And I just, you know, just be. I'm just a roofer, man. I'm just one of the guys now he's gonna be that. I don't really strive to be anything other than a roofer. That's all I've ever done, so that's all I know.

It's cool when we know who we are, right? Like, yeah, you're pretty clear on your identity, even though you have like this pseudo identity out there. You know, you're a roofer and you're cool with it, which that's not something that most kids sitting in high school, we're going, man, I can't wait to be a roofer. Right. I didn't think about that that way. They all want to be astronauts and athletes, all that other good stuff. But there's a lot of good that comes from doing what we do. And, and you're proven it here. That's, that's pretty cool to me.

There's a lot of less people doing it too, right? So, I mean, the education system doesn't teach you to work with your hands. They want you to be, you know, going on the next step of education, which is university. That cost you money. I mean, if I was, if I was, I could do it over again. I would start my Business when I was 15 in high school. Learned to do framing and everything. Right. Instead I, you know, you're smoking pot, running around, getting bad grades. But I, you know, because I didn't, didn't, didn't suit me. I didn't want to do English, I didn't want to write essays. I didn't want to do that stuff. But I mean, if they would have got me into building and got me into trades in high school, a person like me, and there's a lot of other people like me that'd be better off if I came out of high school knowing what I knew five years after high school. Right? Teach kids trades, Teach. It's okay to do trades. I mean everyone, there's houses everywhere, we need to have people that want to do trades. And I think that the, the education systems should actually start in a younger, at a younger age to start to teach kids that maybe that's what they're going to be into. Right. Johnny, that, you know, that swings a hammer for me. He's never going to go to university. We weren't going to go to university. Just, you can just tell right away. We don't, that's not where we're going to end up. Right. So if we could, you know, if the education system could actually realize that those kids that aren't going to go to university don't stop pushing for that. Let's push them to the trades and have more of a trades based education system for people that are out there, you know, make it diverse rather than, you know, pushing kids for college and university.

Because yeah, somebody, somebody's got to do the work at some point. Right?

Right, exactly.

And fits certain people. Like here in the States we have a shop class, right? I don't know. Did you guys have shop class?

Yeah, we had shop class. Right.

You build a birdhouse or something like that. It's not like doing real trades work and that we do have like trade schools or like two year programs for very specific things, you know, diesel engines and project management and things like that. But I think there needs to be more of an effort towards our youth to let them know that this is something that we can do, we can do it well, we can get paid extremely well for it. Which I don't think a lot of people get that part just yet. I think once that clicks that a roofer can make great money because there's not very many of them and he has a skill that not many people have. People will pay for that. Do you see that shifting at any point or do you think it's going to keep going the way it's going? Less and less of them?

Well, I'm hoping it doesn't. I mean again we're working with a female crew right now. We've trying to get women into the trades as well. We've been working with the roofer girl and a couple other companies but I mean I'm trying to push people into educating are better than themselves because I taught myself how to do metal. I've taught all my, I was really just self taught on the metal. So like I'll do stuff with companies in local, in the local areas of southern Ontario or you want me to, I'll sell you the roof and if you want me to be there on the job, I'll split the job with you and be there for majority of the job and teach you and your crew to do that type of work. Right.

So right now aren't you.

Yeah, I'm on a job right now. I mean if you can see I'm doing a, there's a work there. So we're doing there edge roofing. Wanted to, to do seamless troughs, right. So there's you know you don't use the, you mitered corners, right. But it's a tough technique because you're down by the, you're measuring to the eighth of an inch, right. And one mess up means you got to put another 40 foot piece of trough on so cost you hundreds of dollars, right. So he's a friend of mine, I've been working with him for a while and whenever he has something he wants to learn he just brings me on as a partner on the job and, and we go from there. And I've done that for several companies throughout Ontario, right. Even traveled into the states to help people if they sell a diamond roof. I always tell people you sell it, you can, I'll come out for the day, right. Because I make percentage of sales. So I'm, I do that on a regular basis helping people out, learn a little bit more. But there's no infrastructure so I mean maybe that's something I might do, you know, try to have something you know, in the, in the industry which is more concrete than, than we have right now because there is no education. You just, you can just go out there and roof. There's no one, especially in Ontario there's no, no one comes out and checks your work, right. As long as it doesn't leak right. Done wrong, but doesn't leak right. So it would be nice if roofing could have more of, you know, an apprenticeship type of tiered education system where, you know, you, you know, you start off as a journeyman and make your way into a, you know, a craftsman, into a, you know, you know, a master of your trade. Right.

Actually, there's one state that does that pretty well. It's California. They force you and you got to actually work in the job for four years. It's like a journeyman before you can even go apply for a business license, which I think is great. I think that's a. Ensures that the quality is probably going to be much better for the consumer out there, which is really what we're all about too. The reason we coach contractors and do what we do is I want the consumer out there to have somebody they can trust, somebody that's going to do it right, live up to their promises, deliver on expectations, and hopefully exceed them. There's, there's something to be said for doing it right and that makes just as much money as doing it wrong. But you get to stay around for a while.

Yeah, well, in Canada here, like where we live, like, so you want to start a business and be a roofing company, go down to the, or you don't have to go down to the city hall. You just go print the thing and pay your $68 and you got a business license and then you go get these shoddy ass insurance that, you know, get the cheapest insurance you can, contractor insurance, and then literally have a truck with our minivan with a ladder on it. You're in business.

That's actually why I think so many contractors fail. I think it's such a low barrier of entry into a pretty high barrier to success. Like you got to have some craftsmanship, you got to understand some business, you better understand finance. There's more to it than just selling roofs and putting them on. And I think that's what takes most of us out, is there isn't some kind of way of ensuring that we're able to actually run a business versus sell a roof or put a roof on. So that's why we're here. That's why we exist. I'm kind of glad that it happens because we get, we have jobs now. I have a question for you. We'll finish it on this note. I am, I'm a young Josh Bigger. I aspire to be something of what you are and you're giving advice to me. So our listeners out there, they're listening to show, podcast, YouTube, wherever they're watching or listening to it, and they Want to create a following like what you have, Maybe not exactly the same, but they want to create a big following. Do you think that's still possible, number one? And number two, would you do it any different than the way you've done it to this point?

Yeah. Well, if you're going to make content, always do it. You got to keep doing it. You can't stop, right? So that's one thing. If you want to do it, just keep doing it. So dedicate yourself. It's a lot of time. And anything I do differently, because I probably would do a little bit differently if, if, if I, if I to think about it, because I've got so many times I've been deleted and kicked off social media because of my. The antics. But in the same breath, that also made me who I was because I just didn't care. That was also one of my slogans. I don't give a. You know, like, so that was the sell of the character. So, like, what I would say is find something you that you think will work. Believe in yourself. Don't be fake. Be who you are. And if you're gonna go online, make sure to not read every comment because everyone, you're gonna have so much bad flack. If you're doing something, just let it slide off your back. I mean, I get 10,000 things a day telling me how much people hate me, right?

You're gonna be edgy. Expect to get some edginess back for sure.

Even if you're doing a night, even if you're nice and peaceful and perfect, someone's gonna still call you and say, that guy's an idiot. I don't like the way you look. And they're, they like, it's. The Internet's so easy to throw out negative comments.

I actually love that. This is a topic I really love and I like to share. Whenever I have somebody like you on here, and really all of us are like you in the reality. We all have a voice. We've been imbued with some talent in a specific area, in a way about us that's attractive to other people. It's our measure. We got this group of people that likes what we do, but that thing is also repellent to others, right? Like, they're either gonna love you or they're gonna hate you. There isn't much in between. Be okay with that, because what you're doing is you're attracting the people like you that want to work with you, and they see things through a very similar lens to the lens you do. And your experience is going to be a lot better with them. Instead of trying to be everything to everybody. Because when you are, you're gonna bring some. Everybody's in there that don't fit with you. You're gonna have a back.

Don't waste your time arguing with them either. Like, if you're gonna. Like, so I seen those influences. They'll have all the people that don't like what they've done. Don't waste your time. It pisses someone off. If someone says a comment to you and says, oh, they don't like this and that and you respond to it, they know they got you. Right.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? They gotcha.

Right.

They wasted your time arguing with the guy. Right. So that, and that's one thing people have to learn is just let everything go. Like what? Online's online. Just put it out there and don't saturate yourself. And like people think I'm on the phone all day long making videos. I work all day. I put stuff out. I don't saturate myself on social media. I don't go look at too much other content, only specific to roofing, basically, or contractors. Like, you know, I watch shows like yours or other small stuff that pertaining to my industry. I don't go out there looking for trouble. Don't waste my time on it. Right. Because that's another thing too, you can get lost on, on social media. Next. You know you wasted six hours today doing something that didn't benefit you. Right. Argue with somebody doesn't like you.

I have to be careful on your TikTok. I noticed myself. I went one and then there was two and there. Well, hold on a second. I'm going down the road again. Like, don't do that. I'm going to get lost.

Rabbit hole.

Yeah. Which, you know, it's fun at some points, but not when it's time to be productive and valuable to the rest of the world out there by doing what it is you do.

Yeah.

I got another question for you. Yeah, man, I'm still that young guy. I'm trying to figure all this out. There's so many options. You got Twitter, Facebook. And in Facebook you get groups and pages and public figure pages and your own personal page and all that other good stuff. Got LinkedIn, you've got YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat. You're, you're, you're coaching me today. What's the one I should go after to start with?

I always tell people to start with TikTok. Only because you can things go viral quicker because it has the largest amount of followers per capita. Right? Like, so it's the biggest one. So if you're gonna go viral, that's the one you're gonna get the most followers. And what that'll do is if you can say you get 2,000 followers right off the gate, like you're, you know, within a month or two, it's gonna make you feel good. That's gonna make you want to, you know, go forward and keep doing it. Like, Twitter's harder to go viral on, you know, same with Instagram. So like Facebook and TikTok are the two ones you can get. You can gain followers quickly, I find. So that's gonna give you motivation to keep going. So pick. I always say pick three to start off. So you pick Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. And TikTok will be. And you can share on all three platforms, right? You can watch those grow. Instead of picking one, pick three. Right now I'm on like five or six and on Facebook I have four pages. You anyway, it makes you make you insane how much shit I got going on my phone. But start with three. You know, three is the magic number. So whether it be Twitter, LinkedIn, but make TikTok one of those three.

Just because once you see one like going off, do you like lean into that one and kind of set the others to the side or do you just say, I'm really going to focus there and just push everything out to.

The other ones I see? I share equally on every page, even if it's, you know, I put it out on here. But like, let's say for instance, my. You say Facebook is high. Yeah. You'd stick to one. Like Facebook's always the best, I find, for communication and business. I don't know why, it just seems like more people use it for their livelihood and their business. TikTok's more for fun and getting your content out there. But Facebook is for me and a lot of other people, it's more business structured. Right. So you see a lot more. That's why. That's why I watch you on Facebook. Right. You're on Facebook.

Facebook and YouTube are kind of our two bigger things. We're on everything, but those two are our bigger things. And that's just because of the type of content we share. Like, our stuff is, I wouldn't say comical. I would say our stuff is more educational, that type of thing.

And we need to have a YouTube if, you know. But if you're going to do Funny skits or whatever. It depends kind of what you're doing, your goal is and what your, what your content is going to be. If you want to do one minute videos and you stay away from YouTube and go on to the, the reels of TikTok. The reels, those are, those are hot. Now everything's a real, right or a short, right?

Our attention spans the size of a gnat. Right?

Unfortunately, yeah. So the next campaign I'm doing, I'm making all my videos under a minute so that you're going to see that I'm calling them Best Damn Roofer Bumps. Right. They're just going to be little short funny videos. Under a minute, under 30 seconds. Because that's.

Did you say bombs?

Like drugs? Little, little funny bumps. Right. Little emotional bumps. Right. So that's the hulk, it's the joke. Right. I don't do that kind of drugs. I just make fun of it is all.

Wow. Yeah. There was always this part of me that wanted to do kind of that alter ego type of situation and I just knew what the investment was going to be versus what I got to do over here on the other side of my business. I don't know, maybe it gave me a little encouragement. Maybe I'll go out there and do a little fun stuff.

You can always have fun. I mean, your comedy is going to be different than me or mine. So, like be funny people. Like, when someone makes you laugh, it makes you feel good. You know, the human smile. Laughter is like literally the best medicine. I've said it before, I said it several times. So like, if you're trying to sell something and you make me laugh, I'm going to remember that, that content. If you just do the same thing that everyone else is going to, you're going to fall into the back of my mind. But oh, that guy made me laugh. He did that funny thing. Oh yeah, that's this. It brands you better. Right. So comedy is necessary. I mean, it's used in marketing all the time. Right. So that's what I think people need to be. They have to be a little more funnier at times. You don't. All seriousness doesn't work in this kind of social media platforms because it just falls in the same category as everybody else. Bland. Right.

Well, we got some fun stuff coming out. We shot some. We shot some good stuff. I can't say anything about it yet because it's coming out, but we had a pretty good idea from one of our guys in house and we're gonna play around with it. We'll see how it goes.

Well, I wish you the best on that. I mean, if you need any tips from somebody that's always used to make people laugh.

Okay, so if that. I'm that guy, I'm like, hey, I would like to learn, like, what if. Is there like a recipe, Is there a. Some key things that you gotta do to make people laugh?

Well, it depends. Depends how you're. How you create, like how creative you are and. Right. I mean, for a lot of times I just find it, like for our comedy, I find a topic and then I just kind of shoot from the hip. I like. I'm more of an improv actor and like, I like the improv where, you know, I. That's spontaneous. Right. But I mean, we do write punchlines and jokes and then, you know, it's all the delivery too. Right. Much like if you're a watch comedian, they do the same thing. They. They draw this joke out, then there's that punch line after two minutes. Right. And they draw you back and they close it up. Right. I mean, you can watch anyone's stand up. It's all very similar. Right. So there's. There is, you know, like outlines you can follow. Right.

So. So if you're ever in one of those situations where, I don't know if you've ever been in a group setting like this before, where somebody asks you tell us something about yourself that nobody else would know. Have you ever had Terrible.

Naked. I see you. Something stupid. Right.

Exactly. And mine is always that, like, there's always been this little part of me that I want to get up on stage and I want to give it a whirl. I want to. I want to do an open mic night, that type of thing. It's been. I sat there, I went to a comedy show this past week. A good friend of mine, he's one of our clients, was in town. He had tickets to his comedy show. He had done the same thing a few months before with me, and I couldn't go. And I sent the rest of my staff and they had a blast. Joe Rogan was there. Ron White showed up. And there's no list of people. It's just people that show up and do a bit. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not missing that again. I'm in. So I go. And none of the people did I know at all. And two out of the 12 we saw were actually funny. It was. It was not very good. And I was. And that was. That's a little bit of the Encouragement, too. Like, oh, man, if I just put a little bit of effort into this, I think I could actually pull this off. And so what holds us back from taking that leap? I know it's fear, but fear of people.

It's. The fear of people are going to think you're not doing a good job, right? Like, that's what you're scared of. You're scared people are gonna think you're funny. Right?

But should you really care?

That's. You shouldn't care. Yeah. It's like, who gives a. As long as you're having fun, right? I mean. But I mean, live audience is a lot harder than talking to a phone. So, like, oh, yeah, you get. I can do anything on the phone. But it's so. I mean, nerves are real. When you start seeing people's faces looking at you like, you know, the heat goes up, the sweat comes.

You don't get that first smile or laugh in the first 30 seconds, you're like, I'm bombing.

Yeah, right. I mean, that's what you. That's what. That's what everyone's fearing, right? So it's just like jumping, you know, into cold water. It's going to be cold. The free L. You put your foot in, but just fucking jump right in over your head, right? What's the worst going to happen? People laugh at you or they don't laugh at you, Right?

Yeah.

What's the worst going to happen?

I mean, so what's the fastest movement by a human being?

The fastest movement by a human being is a roofer, when the homeowner leaves the beer fridge open. Yeah. As far as I've ever seen. Right.

Fastest thing I've ever seen is my daughter dead asleep in her bed and her dog starts that hacking noise like it's about to throw up. Deal.

Yeah.

I mean, from a dead sleep to a full sprint like that, just boom, out the door, doing everything he can to get this dog outside so it pukes outside, right? And so that's most of us, I think most of us are like that. Like, we can be dead asleep and that dog does that. But what about the cat? When the cat's doing the same thing underneath your bed?

A hairball. I'll get it later.

Exactly.

When the cat's puke's only this big, the dog is like the size of a pizza. Like, oh, man. Shovel. Right.

Oh, man, I gotta get out of bed. I'm just gonna sleep through it. We'll get it when it's dry later, right?

Yeah, exactly. Oh, hey, I Got so many cats and dogs that'll just get eaten by another one. Somebody will clean it up.

The dog will eat the cat. So that'll be perfect. Hey, Josh, this has been a blast. I've kept you over the time that we had set aside. I appreciate you being on today. I appreciate you being you. It's just cool and getting to know you a little bit better going, you know, all that fictional stuff isn't really like. Josh is playing off of the stereotype of what people perceive roofers to be. And I don't know, have you noticed that roofers have kind of upped their game in the last five, seven years or so, or do you think they're still kind of the same?

Well, I mean, roofers have the bad name, but roofing in the industry has changed over the last few years, and I guess because of the Internet, because of people take pride in their work. You can show your work off. So, like, 10 years ago. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, the Internet wasn't there 15 years ago, so it just, you know, roofer couldn't show off and stuff. Yellow Pages was the only type of advertisement we could have. Now roofer can take pride in his work, show it off online, take pictures of, you know, your beautiful diamonds or your beautiful metal work or your nice asphalt. So every roofer who owned a roofing company's not become a marketer as well, though. And although they know. They might not know it, they're doing small amount of marketing with their Facebook page or they. Even their cell phone. Right. I mean, it's kind of changed the game a lot for many different.

Yeah, I think we're. I think we're exposed, both the good and the bad. Like, we're exposed and able to show our work and do these things that we're proud of. We're also exposed. Like, if we don't do it, like, we're going to get called out by the homeowner. Josh got a phone call came through, so you can tell he got. There we go. And I'm going to lose him on audio here. As soon as he gets a call, I don't get his audio back. If he wants to hop out and come back in, I'll get you connected with him. We were right there at the end anyway, so it worked out perfectly. Josh, you got audio or no audio? Now he's got no audio. All right, Josh, you're good. We'll see you later. Peace out, brother. I see you. Thank you very much. You are awesome. We'll let you go. Go out there and be big time man. All right, everybody, that was our show today. We had Joshua bigger, Mr. Big Time himself. The best damn roofer from Bigger Roofing. You get a chance go listen to his freedom song. It's pretty dang good. It's got a lot of talent. He showed a roadmap of how to be successful doing what we do from an influencer standpoint. If you've been thinking about that, don't let the fear stop you. Go try and don't just stop. If it doesn't go exactly the way you want right away. Keep going. Keep being consistent. It'll get better and better and better over time. Our show is proof of it. It was terrible whenever I first started, but we've gotten better and better and better over time. We're able to navigate some pretty amazing conversations, share some amazing content with you, and help you become that contractor that you're aspiring to be. If you are a contractor that wants to get better to raise the bar to apply some of the practices you hear here on Contractor Radio, but you just don't know how yet and you'd like to get some insight, go to our website, contractorcoachpro.com, click on the assessment button. Take the assessment. It's a no joke assessment. It's going to take you 15 or 20 minutes, but it's going to tell us a lot about you so we can get through those aspects to actually get to some real coaching. And we'll give you two or three things that'll help you level up and propel your business forward. If you like coaching, want to work with us, great. If you don't, at least we served you well and helped you. If you've liked this show and you thought it was something that was valuable, you think it's something that could continue to help you. Make sure you click that subscribe button. Make sure you go and give us a thumbs up. Leave comments down below. Say whatever you want to say about Josh. He's probably not going to ever reply to you because if it's bad, he doesn't want to air it. But if it's good, he'll probably get back to you. We love you guys. We want to help you get better. Let's go out there and raise the bar of what the homeowner perceives a professional contractor to be. We'll catch you next time on the next episode of Contractor Radio.