Adam Fincik

Adam Fincik is a father, a coach, an entrepreneur, and the Cofounder, Owner and Production Manager of A & T Roofing and Construction based near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Though Fincik created the business just over five short years ago in 2015, he brings a wealth of experience in various sectors to the table, allowing him to adapt his own management style to fit the environment that he has created around him.

Having worked for years in the sales field, Adam has learned client acquisition and client relationship management – particularly the key component of business management: keeping clients happy. To ensure satisfaction on any and all jobs completed, Fincik established a trend of not taking payments until a client has expressed total satisfaction with the job – a policy that has resulted in not only fantastic reviews and feedback, but exponential growth of his business – something he hopes to continue doing sustainably for years to come.

While clocked in at A & T, Adam is responsible for a wide range of both management tasks and people, including overseeing the daily operations on the production side, running quality control and customer service, and taking up the marketing and advertising strategy for the business at large. With a host of responsibilities and a small team at his back, Fincik has come to rely on the team he has built throughout the years to produce quality work and liaise with customers to help the business grow and evolve.

Over time, Adam and his business partner have taken on another priority within A & T Roofing and Construction – giving back. Having come from modest beginnings, Adam Fincik has always preached the value of giving what you can to those in need. And while for many individuals and businesses philanthropy is a secondary facet of operation, it’s been hard coded into Adam’s DNA. Both a supporter of small local businesses (particularly as the owner of one himself) and individuals in the community, Adam and A & T have participated in Christmas drives for local families in recent years, another trend the team plans to continue in perpetuity.

In the future, Fincik hopes to expand the reaches of both A & T Roofing and Construction’s work partnerships and philanthropic efforts, as he seeks opportunities within his community to give back to those around him.

While many will not hesitate to tell you that the day of a business owner rarely ends at 5 pm, Adam Fincik both recognizes and priorities the importance of family in his life. Outside of work, you can often find Fincik on the ice; while years ago he may have been suited up to play, he currently finds himself on the other end of the experience, coaching youth hockey and enriching the next generation of players (and future business owners) with the skills he himself learned during his own upbringing and foray into business.

Where did the idea for Planet Roof come from?

The idea started years ago from a series of hardships honestly. My partner Travis and I were both employed as salesmen for a company that sold a suite of different communication services. Looking around, he and I realized that the company was in some trouble and that the ship was starting to sink, so to speak. He and I decided to get out before it was too late. Being that we now had a pretty strong sales background, partnered with the knowledge of the roofing and construction industry that both he and I already had, we felt like this was the natural next move. Truly, at the time we felt unstoppable as things began to gear up, and so far we’ve been right.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

Plotting, planning, and knowing what needs to be done is step one. Step two, at that point, is moving into actually getting it all done. When I get into the office in the morning I tend to feel like I’m going 100 miles per hour from start to finish. As anyone who owns a business or deals with a lot of high level problems can tell you, there are numerous – almost countless – moving parts to a successful business – construction and roofing or otherwise. Being aware of what needs to be done and when – and having a sense of a timeline for these projects and tasks (or, at the very least having someone who reports to you who has this timeline) is pivotal to ensuring that they all get done. People tend to ignore the smaller tasks or push them off until later, but if you know what needs to get done come the end of the day and you’re committed to getting it done, you’ll find success.

How do you bring ideas to life?

My approach to this is simple, and boils down to two words: execute daily.

Nothing is accomplished overnight – taking an idea and turning it into something tangible or concrete takes a lot of time and effort and energy, but the mentality of constant progress and executing daily will get you there a lot faster.

Some of it is mentality, too. You hear it a lot in walks of life outside of just business – how you think about something will shift how you act. If you make it a point to think positively and approach each task and each challenge with the belief that what you’re doing is the right move, you’ll find success. You’d be surprised what confidence and unrelenting hard work can do.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Broadly speaking, technology. During global catastrophes like the one we’re facing right now, leveraging technology to do physical-contact-free appointments, and remote document signing has been a saving grace for the business. Technologies like this have made businesses more efficient and cost-friendly, so seeing the next steps in the intersection of technology and big business is exciting.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Routine is huge for me. As I mentioned in the answer above, I like to start off each day knowing what tasks need to be accomplished that day. Starting from a list and crossing items off as I go keeps me both on-task and aware of how much I need to get done and my pacing.

Truthfully, this habit actually starts the night before most of the time; being able to wrap up a day’s work and let that dictate what needs to be done tomorrow lets you star of the next day on the right foot and without slowing down your morning with preparation and processing.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Don’t worry so much, It’ll literally kill you if you let it. I’ve always been pretty predisposed to worrying a lot, and it can not only absolutely destroy your productivity, but your overall mental health. Stay positive, stay focused, and attempt to always progress towards your goals to keep moving forward.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Hockey players are the toughest athletes on the planet. I don’t know why there isn’t more agreement here honestly. I grew up watching and playing hockey (and now I coach it), so I’m familiar with the rigors of both the practice and the game itself. They’re a tough crowd of people, and the sport tends to churn out hard workers, in my opinion and experience.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Read and educate yourself on what you are doing or aspire to be. True progress and the ability to take steps towards achieving your goals is accomplished via learning and educating yourself on where you’re headed and how to get there.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Striving for customer satisfaction and as close to perfection as I can get. Achieving perfection is obviously out of reach in a broader cultural context, but within my business I make sure every last component of every job we run is perfect. We don’t take a final payment until the customer is 100% satisfied. We have gained an impeccable reputation because of this and it has helped us grow exponentially.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

When I was starting out I certainly made some rookie mistakes – setting the wrong profit margins for some of our earlier jobs, for instance. We lost money early on, which put us in a difficult spot. But again, it comes back to education. As a team we educated ourselves by reading and networking with like minded business owners in our area to learn more about how they’ve approached these situations. Networking in this manner has been huge for me – and likely will be for anyone starting or running a fledgling business.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

It’s not a novel way to run a business, but buy real estate, rent and flip. Obviously there’s overhead and a lot of work that goes into it, but it’s an excellent way of making a means.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I recently bought the Natural Forms app for my business. All docs are digitized and can be utilized on the go, it makes things faster, easier, more streamlined and allows for all of our paperwork to be in one place.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Job Nimbus, it’s our CRM software. Every customer along with any photos of the property, and specific notes are in one place and everyone in the company can access it. It comes back to the technology boom I referenced earlier – these types of newer tech allow for so much cohesion across teams that just wouldn’t be possible without it.

The entire life of the job is organized through a flow system which, each is controlled and updated by a department head. We do a lot of insurance work and it’s a lengthy process, using job nimbus has eliminated any confusion, because when something now occurs like a payment, the customer gets moved into that status.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Mentored by a Millionaire. I literally feel like the writer (S.J. Scott) was a mentor to me personally. It’s a very in depth book about succeeding in life through relationships and leveraging your network.

What is your favorite quote?

Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.

Key Learnings:

• Focus on educating yourself and your team.
• Stay positive, focused, and always be progressing.
• Always strive for customer satisfaction.