I sat down with Justin Waller for a long, honest conversation. We covered religion, masculinity, his construction business, how he grew on social media and what he would tell young men right now.
A lot of it was personal. But underneath it are lessons any founder can use, especially on how to think, how to win work and how to build an audience without a big following.
Here are the parts I think are most useful.
How Justin thinks about belief
Justin was raised LDS. As he became an adult, he started asking a simple question: are these beliefs mine, or did I inherit them from my parents?
Today he calls himself an agnostic who is openly looking for a way to believe. He is a literalist, so faith based answers are hard for him. He told me that asking a lot of pastors gave him more confusion, not more clarity.
He thinks religion has helped society. What he doesn’t like is teaching kids they’ll burn in hell over normal, natural experiences, and people who profit from religion without believing it. Sincere believers, he said, show their faith through their character.
His framework for checking your own bias
This was my favorite part, because it applies far beyond religion. Before Justin forms a strong opinion on anything, he runs four steps:
- Acknowledge your own bias.
- Seriously listen to the other side and look for any truth in it.
- Look at your real world experience as objectively as you can.
- Only then form a conviction, and only say it if you can say it with conviction.
Use that the next time you’re sure your offer, your ads or your hire is right. Most bad business decisions come from skipping step two.
Where his drive came from
In 8th grade, Justin’s house caught fire. Later the same property burned a second time, and his family moved. Around then he saw the neighborhood where his stepdad’s wealthy boss lived, and it gave him an early picture of what wealth looked like.
He played football, baseball and basketball, and chose college football as his ticket out of his hometown. As a kid he wanted to be a country singer, then a businessman. Now he is into space and exploration.
What construction taught him about winning work
Justin’s construction business is a masterclass in B2B sales. Here is how he gets and keeps work:
- Lead generation: use bid tracking services and pre job walks to see which contractors are bidding, then reach out early to build rapport.
- Follow up after every bid, win or lose, and ask why. That feedback is how you get better.
- Earn trust. Subs have to prove they can hold the schedule, the quality and the safety, because the roof and building envelope are often on the critical path.
- Sweat the details. Small errors in drawings can void manufacturer warranties.
He deals with weather, labor, supply chain, fabrication timelines, retainage, payment terms and cash flow. Any one of those can sink a job.
His day is simple. Mornings are for his own outreach. Afternoons are for meetings. Managers run the construction company, and he plans to teach others how to run it.
How he grew on social media
Justin held off on social media until he had multimillion dollar success in construction. He was frustrated he had reached 30 without building a presence.
His advice:
- Let go of what people you know think. Your real audience is somewhere else.
- Collaborate. Get on other people’s podcasts, ideally in person, and keep doing collabs to reach new audiences.
- Start small. Do smaller podcasts first and work your way up.
- Understand controversy. Polarizing content drives engagement. He admits he plays that game to a degree.
He respects creators who gave value for a long time before they monetized. That is the right order.
I agree with him on collabs. If you don’t have a following yet, the fastest way to get in front of buyers is to show up where they already pay attention, on someone else’s show, and earn the right to be followed.
Networking that actually works
In person beats remote for building real relationships. And the move is simple: ask genuine questions and listen closely. People respond to real interest.
It’s the same thing that works on a sales call. Curiosity builds trust faster than talking about yourself.
His advice for young men
Justin thinks a lot of young men feel left out. Housing costs and wages have made it harder to follow the path their parents took.
- Build the life you want, not the one you were handed.
- Pick role models across every area you care about, money, fitness and relationships, not just income.
- Work on yourself first, so you’re ready when a real opportunity shows up.
- Go to the gym. It builds discipline and results you carry everywhere.
- Choose consistency over perfection, and design routines around your own strengths and energy.
His confidence, he said, comes from trusting himself over and over after surviving hard setbacks in business.
The takeaway
Check your bias before you form a conviction. Follow up on every deal, win or lose. Grow by borrowing other people’s audiences through collabs. And build yourself first, because confidence comes from keeping promises to yourself through hard seasons.
That applies whether you are bidding roofs, selling coaching or running ads.
Want to know what’s capping your business right now? Take my free 90 Day Ceiling Plan. Answer 18 questions and get a written plan, built on your own numbers, that names the one thing holding you back and what to fix first.
