Live in the industry, not off of the industry

RCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says when it comes to leveraging industry associations, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing; get involved in one thing.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing. You can Read the interview below, Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording.

Jenny Yu: Hello everyone. My name is Jenny Yu and I'm here today for a RoofersCoffeeShop® Influencer response for the month of May. And I'm here with Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing. Hi Randy.

Randy Chaffee: Hey Jenny, how are you? Good to see again.

Jenny Yu: Good to see you. Thank you for being here with us to discuss this month leveraging associations and chapters. So we are wondering if you could share your thoughts on the value of local, state and national involvement for things like roofing days, advocacy and lobbying. Why is this so important?

Randy Chaffee: Well, I think it's so important, Jenny, because associations in general, you got to start with the premise that I'm going to live in the industry, not off the industry. I know I say that a lot and I believe it, and I'll say it to anybody to listen. Too many people just want to earn a living from the industry, but they don't want to be involved in the industry. And that's a slow death, right? I mean, the industry's going to grow only if everybody at every level gets involved. We want to make this industry bigger and better, broaden the pie, so we all have more pie to eat from, right? If that makes sense.

So I think associations get missed sometimes. I'm blessed to be involved with several associations. And I can tell you from the inside, they do a massive amount of work behind the scenes. That doesn't always get seen, different scene. And so, one thing I would say real quick is, if you don't know what your association does, find out, get involved, ask.

And we as associations, probably to anybody that's listening that's involved with associations, we probably need to do a better job of telling the populace out there in our industry what we really do for the industry. But I know a lot of people end up in, they're in Washington, D.C., at the national level. They're advocating and working with the House and the Senate on a national level. And that's something that none of us as an individual can just accomplish.

I mean, can you imagine walking into the Senate and saying, "Hey, I'd like to chat for a minute?" That's not going to happen. So I think that's really important, but the real place to get involved is to support and be involved and attend all the association, the national association meetings, but get involved in the local state chapters, the local chapters, whatever the case may be, because that's where the boots on the ground really hit, right?

That's where you as an individual roofer can have influence, both with your board members or the local chapters. You can have influence by getting involved. And that's how we really go work with the local county authorities, the local state authorities and make sure that we're looking out for our own interests, because it's a big surprise to everybody probably, Jenny, but most authorities and state at whatever government level aren't really looking to make our life easier and better. So we better advocate for ourselves. And the only way to do that is get involved.

And I can tell you from being involved on some boards, some associations, knowing that we have the support of the members, when a committee goes and talks to somebody, whether it's in engineering, whether it's at the legislative level, it goes a long ways to know that supports there. There's power in numbers. And you get back to the local level real quick, because again, I think that's where it's really important. Get involved in those local roofing days, get involved with county fairs, get involved with schools and bring the message of the roofing industry is a great place to be, but we got to get that message out to people.

And if we hide it amongst ourselves, because we can all get together in an association meeting next week someplace or at a trade show, and we all love this industry because that's what we do, but everybody else is on the outside looking in. So let's bring that to the masses. And the best way to do that is support the associations, because they are doing a lot of work. 99.5% of it is all volunteer work. The committees and the boards and all the people that I'm involved with on a pretty regular basis, it's not like we get a stipend check or anything. We do it because we love the industry, we care about the industry. So the support is important to everybody.

Jenny Yu: I love it. I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much. And hopefully if you're listening to this, go out, get involved and check out your local national and state associations.

Randy Chaffee: Exactly. And my parting words, because you knew I wasn't done, is that if you're a smaller contractor, smaller installer, and you're going, "I can't do this big national stuff. I can't afford to go to Las Vegas or to Dallas. It costs too much money. It's a lot of stuff." Well, then get involved locally first. Get involved with that local chapter. Be really in where you can be. And over time, you'll start seeing the benefits and let that grow organically, right? "You know what? Man, we're doing a lot of stuff here in our local state chapter, regional chapter, whatever that looks like. Maybe I should go once in a while to the national. Maybe I should get more involved." It doesn't have to be an all or nothing. Get involved in one thing. If you're not doing anything, just one, just get involved. That's it. Now I'm done.

Jenny Yu: Yeah. Small baby steps first. I love it.

Randy Chaffee: Exactly. Exactly.

Jenny Yu: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Randy.

Randy Chaffee: Always. My pleasure.

Jenny Yu: Yeah, we appreciate it. We'll see you next month.

Randy Chaffee: Stay amazing.

Jenny Yu: You too.