"I never met a roofer who didn't do time."
This was a classic and actually very real saying by a gentleman, a real estate broker, who has since passed on but I know his daughters very well! They are family to us. Jack wanted me to come work for him as a new agent, but the group seemed a bit too clicky for my taste and rather old school, all those years ago. So off I went to a newer office, to establish myself as part of the new breed of agent in town. But Jack always had a very special place in my heart and he was very helpful to me.
He was very serious about roofers doing time. I mean really, how many times have you personally gone up on the top of your house and looked around and even knew what to look at? (My family did head up to the roof on the 4th of July when we wanted to watch fireworks being blown up at Disneyland when I was a little kid.)
Today I had the opportunity to sit and jaw with my good friend, Bill Wong, my best roofer and solar installer ever. What started at 3:30 lasted until 6pm. The man has so much wisdom in him and so much practicality about him and so much peace surrounding him. He is so systematic. He fully takes responsibility for what he does, how he trains his crew (doing one thing at a time, each day, the same way, just a single part of the job, for each man). No excuses. Excellent pay for his workers. He takes time to hire slowly, and fire quickly.
Gosh, this sounds like life! Actually it is life. Work does reflect life. One should not be separate from the other.
When I told him what Jack told me about roofers (and what Jack told everybody about roofers), he immediately started rattling off names of roofers who were in jail, or had been in jail, or needed to be in jail. I knew some of the names.
Our chat today was a about living a life, not selling a life style. I took several things to heart. When I meet with people, what do I learn about them, what makes each person tick. It's sitting down and jawin' with folks (as one of my fly boys used to say).
As he was leaving, I left him with one of the gems that Carl and I used to say to each other: "Everything would be fine, if it weren't for the people." Well, there are people, and we have choices. Now make it work.
Here's to you, Jack and Bill. I believe they would have really liked each other.
Life richly, marilyn
He was very serious about roofers doing time. I mean really, how many times have you personally gone up on the top of your house and looked around and even knew what to look at? (My family did head up to the roof on the 4th of July when we wanted to watch fireworks being blown up at Disneyland when I was a little kid.)
Today I had the opportunity to sit and jaw with my good friend, Bill Wong, my best roofer and solar installer ever. What started at 3:30 lasted until 6pm. The man has so much wisdom in him and so much practicality about him and so much peace surrounding him. He is so systematic. He fully takes responsibility for what he does, how he trains his crew (doing one thing at a time, each day, the same way, just a single part of the job, for each man). No excuses. Excellent pay for his workers. He takes time to hire slowly, and fire quickly.
Gosh, this sounds like life! Actually it is life. Work does reflect life. One should not be separate from the other.
When I told him what Jack told me about roofers (and what Jack told everybody about roofers), he immediately started rattling off names of roofers who were in jail, or had been in jail, or needed to be in jail. I knew some of the names.
Our chat today was a about living a life, not selling a life style. I took several things to heart. When I meet with people, what do I learn about them, what makes each person tick. It's sitting down and jawin' with folks (as one of my fly boys used to say).
As he was leaving, I left him with one of the gems that Carl and I used to say to each other: "Everything would be fine, if it weren't for the people." Well, there are people, and we have choices. Now make it work.
Here's to you, Jack and Bill. I believe they would have really liked each other.
Life richly, marilyn
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