Oz Taysun is a roofing expert that owns a Westchase Roofing company in Tampa, Florida, which is a service that provides roofers Tampa. He started his career in this field in 2008. Prior to that change, he was working as an engineer where the lack of hands-on projects led him to the aforementioned change in career path. After creating his business, he slowly established himself as a reliable employer who ensures that his workers are satisfied. This is why a lot of his employees have a decade-long track record with Westchase Roofing.
After being an engineer and working in a client-oriented industry for a while, Oz Taysun obtained a lot of transferable skills that help him build a profitable roofing company. His ideas about prioritizing customers and their needs allowed him to build a successful venture that has been growing fast. In fact, courtesy of word-to-mouth referrals, Westchase Roofing is amongst the top roofing companies in the Tampa area. Presently, Mr. Taysun is focused on innovating his organization even further.
He plans to accomplish this by integrating more modern resources into his practice. For instance, one of his goals is to develop innovative marketing campaigns and maybe even design a phone app that will allow clients to see live updates of their projects. Additionally, he continues to be a worker-driven firm where all employees are asked for input. That makes it easy to see what may not be going well and things that he can improve upon to make his company’s environment even more welcoming.
How did you get started in this business? What inspired you to start this business?
Before coming to the roofing industry, I was working as an engineer for a large company. After a while, I realized that I do not get to do a lot of the projects that really intrigue me. For instance, I was the person who sat behind a computer and did the heavy-duty planning to make sure that everything goes smoothly. In reality, however, I wanted to be the one who would go out and do the work. So, I slowly transitioned into the roofing industry as it allowed me to work on things that I enjoyed. Moreover, making my own venture meant that I was in charge of how things went.
How do you make money?
By providing high-quality roofing services to our clients. We accumulate revenues upon completing our projects. After that, all of the employees and overhead costs are paid. Once everything has been covered, I look for ways to either invest the remainder or take a salary myself.
How long did it take for you to become profitable?
About a year or so. When I first started, there were a lot of expenses that had to be paid on the front-end. This included things like building a solid inventory, marketing our business, and so on. So, it took some time to gain a little momentum and begin getting a constant stream of clients.
When you were starting out, was there ever a time you doubted it would work? If so, how did you handle that?
Definitely. I think that every business owner has doubt about their venture in the beginning. Nevertheless, I never panicked as I did not want to allow myself to think that way. Instead, I used my focus to come up with ways to get customers and build a solid reputation.
How did you get your first customer?
Through word-of-mouth referrals. Although it may sound a little counterintuitive, some of our first clients came from my friends and family promoting the brand everywhere. After that, a lot of individuals saw us from one of our local advertisements or additional word-of-mouth.
What is one marketing strategy (other than referrals) that you’re using that works really well to generate new business?
Right now, I am slowly transitioning into the spheres of online marketing where I plan to have all of my campaigns in the future. I believe that the days of cold traffic are long gone. For those unfamiliar, these would be things like mailing campaigns. Although they worked well in the past, they are no longer attractive to most people. So, I am outsourcing a lot of our marketing to companies that know how to drive traffic to our website with people who are most likely to convert.
What is the toughest decision you’ve had to make in the last few months?
We had an enormous spike in the number of clients that wanted quotes from us. So, we actually had to prioritize and decide which ones we had to delay. Of course, whenever you delay someone who is in need of a roofing company, you are most likely losing that customer. So, figuring out who to delay was very difficult as we wanted to work with everyone who came our way. Luckily, the very few people that we did delay understood our position and some of them even came back later on.=
What do you think it is that makes you successful?
Maintaining a high standard of operations. When I first started the business, I wanted to establish myself as an extremely reliable entrepreneur. This meant being a resource for my employees as well as a trustworthy provider for my clients. In my opinion, if people were able to see me this way, it would make it much easier to build a reputation that perpetuates success.
What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Reaching a point where I realized that some of my employees are perfectly comfortable spending the rest of their career with me. From my experience as an engineer, it takes a lot to be so satisfied with one’s position to decide to spend the majority of their professional career in one company.
What does the future hold for your business? What are you most excited about?
I think that we are slowly transitioning into some very exciting trends that are characterized by new technology and innovative ideas. I plan to find a company that can build an app for my business and helps me connect with some younger homeowners. Also, I am very excited about some of the projects that we have coming up.
What business books have inspired you?
“Heart of a Leader” by Kenneth H. Blanchard and “Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World” by Rand Fishkin.
What is a recent purchase you have made that’s helped with your business?
I recently upgraded some of the company vehicles here. They were in need of repairs and I wanted to make them safer and more reliable for everyone. Doing so was definitely a great use of our resources as many of our employees mentioned that they would like to see this happen. So, it helped me show my employees that I care about their feedback as well as offer them better vehicles.
What would you advise start-up roofing companies in Florida?
I would tell the business owners to avoid focusing on ideas that they think will lead them to sensational success fast. This is the perfect time to start building a brand. Doing so, however, will take quite some time and you may have to dedicate a lot of your capital to it. Nevertheless, I am a strong proponent of the old saying “slow and steady wins the race” and think that people should not try too much too fast.