Camille Austin, President, Elite Roofing Services, Inc., Tampa How did you get started in the roofing industry? Around 1985, I was doing temporary work with a roofing company making $10 an hour. I was trying to get into real estate, but they needed a fill-in and ended up hiring me full-time as a Gatekeeper and Estimating Secretary. I maintained the Service Department while everyone was away in Homestead during Hurricane Andrew and started really understanding the business side of things. However, once the Service Department came back and saw I was making money, they took the department back from me (I was informed during the delivery of my first child). I then realized that I could, and should, do roofing on my own and so I did and brought in $1 million in sales my first year.
six of my kids and a few of my nieces and nephews. Getting the entire family together is almost impossible, so when we do, it makes for a great vacation. What is your dream job? My dream job would be working as a commercial real estate agent and helping those in the roofing industry buy or sell their space. The community that the roofing industry provides is very supportive and being able to give back to each other makes all the difference. How do you define success? Success to me means knowing my purpose and doing the meaningful work that comes with it.
If you could spend time with three people, who would they be and why? What’s your favorite part of the job? The industry. I love that most of my competition is with Talking with Jesus, lunch with “Happy” (a roofing friend) and shopping with Ivanka Trump. people I’ve developed long friendships with and that Most rewarding about being involved in FRSA? if I ever needed help, they would have my back and The most rewarding thing about being involved in support me. FRSA is the community that it comes with. No matter What’s the most unusual project you’ve been a part of? Our most unusual project was working on the monorail your level of involvement, the FRSA community is metal roof of the Tampa International Airport. It was a always welcoming, full of opportunities and provides a place for roofers to share insights. great project to get, but the unusual part was that we
What advice would you give to someone interested in joining the roofing industry? What do you consider a waste of time? Know your target, focus on the niche and surround The biggest waste of time is people sharing their problems without attempting to have a solution. I say if yourself with people who are smarter than you are. Put you have a problem, bring it to my attention along with on your roller skates and enjoy the ride! What would others be surprised to learn about you? a proposed solution. I’m currently writing a book called, “Why I Fired You” What’s your favorite vacation? and make Christian t-shirts (Love of Christ) every Any vacation is my favorite vacation! One of my most Christmas to give away. memorable would be staying in a lake house with all FRM worked while the monorail was still operating!