Owen Atherton almost became a doctor. Five years into a pre-med degree and college baseball career, back-to-back injuries and a new marriage forced a hard pivot.

A teammate got him into roofing sales. Three years later, at 23 years old, he launched Rocket Roofing out of Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Owen breaks down why he walked away from storm and insurance work entirely to go all-in on retail roofing, and the cash-flow math that made the decision easy.

He gets specific on his marketing stack — direct mail, Facebook ads, yard signs — and the "snowball" mentality of showing up in front of homeowners every 30 days without fail, no matter how busy the crews get.

Owen also talks candidly about the financial risk of investing in marketing before the business could really afford it, why networking and referral partners qui ...