What Mountain Biking Taught Me About Building a Business

The Mohican State Park trail in Ohio is nearly 25 miles long. As the only trail in the entire state to hold an Epic designation from the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), it offers a true backcountry riding experience, with steep single-track trails that abruptly plunge into sweeping river valleys and densely wooded patches alike.

This is not a trail for casual riders. Completing such a trek requires more than enthusiasm; it requires strategy and instinct. You need to anticipate challenges before they appear in your path, conserve your energy for the most challenging stretches and allow yourself to rest and recover when you’ve earned it.

I grew up in Ohio, and I’ve ridden the Mohican State Park trail more times than I can count. I find myself thinking of it often, even when I’m nowhere near my mountain bike. In fact, some of the lessons it’s taught me about patience, stamina and willpower have been most valuable when I’ve faced challenges scaling my business.

My brother Todd and I started Roof Maxx in 2017 to give homeowners a cost-effective alternative to premature roof replacement. Since then, we’ve grown it into an eight-figure business with dealers in every state. But just like any worthwhile mountain biking route, the pathway to getting there has been anything but linear. Here’s what my time on the trail has taught me about how to navigate it.

Recognizing the difference between persistence and stubbornness

Persistence is a valuable quality to have whenever you’re doing something challenging. Whether you’re navigating through rocks and roots on a steep descent through dense pines with no convenient place to pull off the trail or trying to hit a critical revenue target before the end of the quarter, there’s often no room in sport or business to simply stop trying.

But persistence doesn’t mean exhausting yourself prematurely, and continuing to throw yourself headlong at a problem isn’t always the most effective way to solve it. That’s usually the point at which persistence becomes stubbornness, and stubbornness at the wrong moment often has consequences.

Persistence is a commitment to dealing with a challenge. Stubbornness is an insistence on trying the same tactic over and over again until it finally works. The other common name for that, of course, is insanity.

It’s also a waste of resources. Pedaling as hard as you can, even when the terrain will allow you to coast, uses up your energy and leaves you without the stamina you’ll need for the next hill climb. Maintaining aggressive goals for your dealers, even when profits are up, could push some of them to oversell your product and damage their relationships with customers. That’s why Roof Maxx has always worked with our dealers to agree on mutually acceptable minimum targets and give them the autonomy to set their own pace as long as they’re able to meet them.

Going too fast is a recipe for disaster

I’ve seen friends go to the hospital when they tried to simply “send it” on a difficult section of trail instead of planning their approach. I’ve also met my fair share of roofing contractors who overextended themselves by selling more services than they could reasonably perform in a timely manner.

In one case, the result might be a broken collarbone or torn ligament. In the other case, it’s usually a damaged brand. Both can take years to heal, and both could easily have been avoided with a little more foresight and caution.

It’s not always easy to recognize when you’re going too fast, because speed is exhilarating. All you notice is the breeze whipping by your face and the blur of the leaves as you cut through trees; you don’t see the sudden curve until it’s already too late to hit the brakes. Then suddenly, you’re going over the handlebars.

This is why so much of the training Roof Maxx provides to our dealers is focused on effective territory and lead management. We do everything in our power to ensure that dealers know how to effectively plan and schedule the treatments they sell to avoid bottlenecks or service delays. While other contractors in the roofing industry have historically tried to sell as many high-margin services as possible, my philosophy has always been that long-term success means working at a sustainable pace. Anyone selling the Roof Maxx product learns the same lesson when they onboard so they can avoid learning it the hard way later.

Growing your business means learning to read the path ahead

Anytime you do something worthwhile, you’re going to face risks and challenges. That’s not a reason to quit; it’s a warning to prepare yourself for them.

You don’t go mountain biking without checking the pressure in your tires beforehand, packing a first-aid kit and sharing your itinerary with a friend so they can call for help if something unexpected occurs.

You don’t go into business selling a product like Roof Maxx without rigorously testing it first, training your dealers to sell and apply it properly and working with them to create mutually beneficial agreements. All of those steps help you proactively prevent problems down the road.

The Mohican State Park trail in Ohio is nearly 25 miles long. As the only trail in the entire state to hold an Epic designation from the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), it offers a true backcountry riding experience, with steep single-track trails that abruptly plunge into sweeping river valleys and densely wooded patches alike.

This is not a trail for casual riders. Completing such a trek requires more than enthusiasm; it requires strategy and instinct. You need to anticipate challenges before they appear in your path, conserve your energy for the most challenging stretches and allow yourself to rest and recover when you’ve earned it.

I grew up in Ohio, and I’ve ridden the Mohican State Park trail more times than I can count. I find myself thinking of it often, even when I’m nowhere near my mountain bike. In fact, some of the lessons it’s taught me about patience, stamina and willpower have been most valuable when I’ve faced challenges scaling my business.