{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Growth Without Referrals","title":"Episode 54 - From College Football Coach to Roofing Entrepreneur: Leadership, Growth & Learning with Mark Elder","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1417,"description":"What happens when a longtime college football coach leaves the sidelines and jumps into an industry he knows almost nothing about?\nIn this episode of Growth Without Referrals, Mark Ferguson sits down with Mark Elder, owner of All Side Roofing & Restoration, to talk about his unconventional transition from college football coaching to entrepreneurship.\nAfter more than 20 years in coaching—including stops at Michigan, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Tennessee, and four years as a head coach at Eastern Kentucky—Mark found himself at a crossroads. Rather than uproot his family again and continue the coaching cycle, he chose a completely different path: buying a roofing and exterior-services company.\nMark shares what leadership lessons transferred from football into business, what didn't, and what he has learned by entering an established industry as an outsider.\nThe conversation also explores the realities of business ownership that often don't make it onto social media—the mistakes, sleepless nights, emotional highs and lows, and constant learning that come with building something new.\nMark also explains why he believes great leaders should strive to surround themselves with people who know more than they do, why referrals alone aren't enough to create predictable growth, and how the way customers find businesses is rapidly changing.\nIf you're a business owner, entrepreneur, or leader navigating a new chapter, this conversation offers a refreshingly candid look at what it really takes to learn, adapt, and lead through uncertainty.\nIn This Episode, You'll Learn\nWhy Mark Elder left a 20+ year college football coaching career for entrepreneurship\nHow coaching and business leadership overlap\nWhy recruiting the right people matters as much in business as it does in sports\nThe advantages—and disadvantages—of entering an industry as an outsider\nWhy learning hard lessons can ultimately make you a stronger leader\nWhy referrals are valuable but difficult to build a predictable...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/NYwb67S6-1TluJIm7IWT5DNldCEIlXpN2yNDR9nHiiE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zODM2/ZWZlYjNmZjljYjZk/MTZhNzE0ZWFjY2Ri/MDkxOC5qcGVn.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}