Work and Life Balance with Rapid Roofing
Do you work too much?
It’s a common question, conflated by the equally confounding query of people asking themselves if they’re achieving work life balance.
The answers are inherently subjective, some people finding solace in 60-hour work weeks, and some people finding a 30-hour workweek to be too taxing on their mental health.
One man who doesn’t mind a work-laden schedule is Paul Kirkwood, the sales manager of Rapid Roofing in Canton, Michigan.
He works 12-hour days that usually extend even longer after you take into account the nightly phone call he has with one of the company owners.
“Once I’m home, the phone still rings,”
Kirkwood tells Dmitry.
Kirkwood also works Saturdays, and sometimes even Sundays. It all depends on what needs to be done for the betterment of the company.
“We’re a small company… but we communicate well, we’re a family,”
he says.
“I’m not willing to settle for less than that.”
Still, Kirkwood insists that he’s not a workaholic.
“I have incredible work ethic, and I’m a hard worker.”
For Kirkwood, money is not what drives him to work long hours. Instead, he has adopted a lifestyle that he knows will bring about the success he has always craved.
While his wife may want him to be home more often, or more engaged in family matters, Kirkwood knows that if he devotes more time to family, his work will suffer.
Cue the work/life dilemma that so many people struggle to achieve.
Adding to that, Kirkwood knows how hard the owners of Rapid Roofing have worked to build their company. For Kirkwood to do anything other than matching their drive and determination would be unacceptable.
“Who am I to not deliver at that same level?”
he says.
“That would be pathetic on my part.”
Kirkwood’s mentality is not unique. Many of his contemporaries grew up with the same mindset as him, but as time has passed, so too has society’s outlook on the effects of over-working.
Dmitry once had a videographer at Roofing Insights who was part of the new wave of millennials who didn’t want to work five days a week, much less six.
The employee only wanted to work four days a week, and since Dmitry needed him for a fifth day, he went as far as to double his salary on the fifth day.
That still wasn’t enough to persuade the former videographer into working a full week.
To that Kirkwood says,
“you can’t be part-time awesome.”
WAIT!
What do you think? Should people work less these days? Comment below with your thoughts.
“This country wasn’t built on part-time,”
Kirkwood tells Dmitry.
“What you’re basically saying at that point is there’s going to take two of you to do the job.”
This discussion segued over to the growing number of Americans who are protesting and calling for an increase in minimum wage. Both Dmitry and Kirkwood scoff at this notion.
“You are paid by your skill,”
Kirkwood says.
“If you are a good installer, I’m going to pay you more. If you are a good salesman, you’re going to make more. If you are a great social media manager, I’m going to give you a bigger cut.”
Kirkwood believes that you can’t teach work ethic, that you can only set an example of what working hard looks like and hope that others will follow.
“I think hard work fixes everything,”
Dmitry says, the irony being that Dmitry is a guy who feels he never works hard enough, even though he runs a $5 million company and is constantly lauded for his persistency and dedication.
Since the roofing industry is so competitive, it’s likely men such as Dmitry and Kirkwood will forever be committed to pouring crazy hours into their work. By doing so, they will instill values that everyone in the roofing industry should seek to adopt.
“We don’t wear suits and ties, but we can act and conduct ourselves like we are that professional. And that is what should be happening in the roofing business,”
Kirkwood says.
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