We recently connected with Forest Dennis and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Forest, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

The Path to Success: Key Principles and Practices

Success is a multifaceted journey that requires hard work, discipline, commitment, and a team. To achieve success, you must have a clear vision of the end goal, a strategic plan to reach it, and execute on your plan daily, and never quit.

Clear Vision and Strategic Planning

The foundation of success lies in having a clear detailed vision of your end goal. Knowing where you want to go provides direction and purpose. Once you have this vision, it is crucial to break it down into actionable steps and work backwards from the end goal to your current position. This reverse engineering process helps identify the specific tasks and milestones needed to achieve your vision.

Daily Execution and Visualization

Executing these tasks on a daily basis is key to making consistent progress. It’s important to visualize your vision every day to keep it fresh in your mind and maintain your focus. I do ten minutes everyday before bed. Visualization reinforces your commitment and helps you stay on track, even when faced with obstacles and setbacks. It will also help bring things or people into your life that bring you closer to your goals. Visualization and the law of attraction is a real thing. You have to put in the work though too.

Adaptability & Teachability

Success also requires adaptability. While it’s important to have a plan, you must remain fluid and be able to adjust to changing circumstances or potential roadblocks that will occur without losing sight of your goal. This adaptability ensures that you can navigate challenges and continue moving forward. You must learn from your mistakes and not to repeat them.

The Power List: A Tool for Daily Wins

Winning is a numbers and a time game. The more wins you accumulate, the more likely you are to be successful. To track daily progress, I use a system called the Power List. I learned this from a guy named Andy Frisella. This involves completing five critical tasks each day that move you closer to your goal. If you complete these tasks, you “win” for the day; if not, you “lose.” The more daily wins you accumulate, the higher your chances of achieving your ultimate goal.

Exceptional Customer Service & Good Intent

Treat all people the way you would like to be treated and always do what you say you’re going to do. Have good intent and be a good person. People can sense others intentions. Focusing on each client as if they are your only client ensures that every customer service experience is exceptional. Act as if every interaction has the potential to make or break you based on what others say about you.
People always compare their current customer service experience to their last one. Regardless of how different the service is. You must offer such outstanding service that people feel compelled to talk about how amazing you, your team, and your organization is. Word-of-mouth referrals are the most organic and effective way to grow your business, bringing in the most loyal clients.

Hard Work, No Shortcuts, & Never Quit

Quit looking for shortcuts to success. Success requires putting in the work on a daily basis. Discipline and dedication are non-negotiable. Also, when you learn to expect the journey to be long and hard, it makes it easier. It’s hard being out of shape, broke, and a loser. It’s also hard being in shape and being a winner. You get to choose your hard. I would rather be successful and that be my hard any day of the week.

Core Values, & Company Culture

As a leader, it is essential to learn how to paint your vision and goals clearly to your team so they can see and share in it too. You must do this daily as a leader. Have weekly personal development meetings with your team. You must empower and educate your team, Make sure everyone operates by a set of core values. This will create an amazing company culture, one that emphasizes teaching and winning. Teach and reward your team by the core values. A culture of continuous learning and teaching promotes growth and innovation. If you aren’t constantly trying to get better you will be passed up by other people or organizations. If you’re not moving forward you’re moving backwards.You can’t build something great without a team of people working together. You must also take care of your team because they dedicate a significant portion of their lives to helping achieve your vision. You take care of them and they will take care of you.

Personal Development and Leadership

Taking care of your body and being in shape as a leader demonstrates discipline and mental fortitude, traits that bleed into your professional life. You must learn to develop these traits. This will inspire your team to do the same. Focus on personal development to become someone that people want to follow. Leading by example is the only effective way to inspire and motivate your team. A great leader is skilled at asking questions, self aware, promotes critical thinking, understanding the needs of their team, and not repeating mistakes. The culmination of having a clear vision, executing daily actions, being adaptable, delivering exceptional customer service, empowering your team, focusing on personal development, having core values, and leading by example will drive success both professionally and personally.
By embracing these principles and practices, you can set yourself on a path to success and inspire those around you to do the same. We were put on this earth for a reason. We all have obligation to strive for personal excellence and be the best possible version of yourself. This will inspire the people around us and help make the world a better place for our future generations.

Forest, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Forest Dennis, a native of Colorado, and raised in the rugged landscapes of Bozeman, Montana, is not just an entrepreneur; he’s a visionary on a mission to make a difference. As the founder and owner of Dennis General Contractor, one of Montana’s most esteemed roofing companies, Forest has not only built a successful business but also a platform for positive change.

Under his leadership, Dennis General Contractor has carved out a reputation of quality work and amazing customer experiences. Earning the coveted 2024 ARMA Gold Award for excellence in the roofing industry. A testament to Forest and his teams unwavering commitment to excellence. Yet, for Forest, success is not just measured in accolades. Rooted in a belief that we are all here on earth for a purpose, he sees his role not only as a provider but as a catalyst for meaningful change. It’s in the lives he touches, people he helps, and the communities he impacts. He sees Dennis General Contractor not just as a roofing company but as a vehicle for change, providing opportunities for others to find purpose and prosperity in the industry that changed his own life.

Guided by a set of core values that emphasize personal growth and excellence. Forest is dedicated to leading his team by example. He knows that by striving for excellence each day, he can inspire those around him to reach for their own greatness.

With ambitions as vast as the Montana sky, Forest envisions a future where Dennis General Contractor’s reach extends far beyond Montana, spreading its ethos of personal excellence and helping people across the nation. For Forest Dennis, the journey is not just about building a successful business, but a legacy of integrity, opportunities, empowerment, personal excellence, and service to his team and others. As he continues to chart the course towards a brighter future, one thing remains certain – wherever Forest goes, a better tomorrow will follow.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Forest finds his greatest joy in his family. Happily married to his wife Emily, blessed with a son, and another child on the way. Forest enjoys spending quality time with his loved ones, his dogs, indulging in his passion for cars, and savoring the rich flavors of a fine cigar.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I worked in the family junkyard business. starting from the lowest position picking up scrap debris to eventually managing one of the locations. Originally my plan was to take over the family business. However doubts began to surface. I heard whispers from people and personally wondered myself. “Am I only in this leadership position because of my relationship to the owners and because they are my parents?”. “Can I actually succeed in the “real world” without the influence of my family?”.

At this same time I had been getting into personal development and personal excellence. I was speaking with a friend about this and he told me he was working for a roofing company and they were hiring at the same wage I was getting paid to manage one of the family junkyard locations. So in 2018 I quit the family business and started roofing two days later. I feel I must add I did not ditch my family. They were aware of how I felt and that I was going to be moving on. I figured I could start roofing and then pivot to something else. I thought I would just be roofing for a couple months.

I started roofing in the winter in Bozeman, MT installing metal roofing systems up in the Yellowstone Club. I remember my first day I watched a guy slide off of a two story roof because it was so slick. I remember thinking, “oh no what have I done? “I made a mistake”. Fortunately, he was ok because there was 10’ of snow on the ground. From there I began to learn the roofing industry and the different aspects of it. Quickly becoming the right hand man of the owner. Roofing is straightforward, but physically demanding.

I realized I had a much larger vision than the person I was working for. My wife became pregnant the first week of March 2020. The second week of March I ended up parting ways with the company I was working for. I decided it was time to finally take the plunge and become my own boss and start a company. I started Dennis General Contractor that same week. We were going to specialize in roofing. The third week of March 2020 everything was shut down because of covid. Fortunately roofing was deemed an essential business. I had no contacts, no jobs, and a baby on the way. I needed to make some money to support my family. I applied for a credit card and maxed it out to buy the tools I needed, some company shirts, and registered my LLC.

I then started door knocking looking for roofs to replace. Let me tell you that was tough to do with covid going on. I got a lot of rejection. Eventually I got some roofs and replaced them all by myself. From there I was able to get referrals and hire a couple guys to help me. At this point I was doing everything from roofing, sales, bookkeeping, social media, estimating, education classes to be an expert in roofing. It was crazy but I learned a ton. I worked long hours everyday 7 days a week. We were working out of a stripped out camper trailer using it as an office and shop. Then we were blessed with a hail storm in my city. Usually hail isn’t a blessing for people but for us it was the best possible kind. From there we began booking jobs and actually assembling a team at Dennis General Contractor. Business was crazy! There was definitely a lot of growing pains and sleepless nights but we figured it out.

At this same time my wife and I lost our baby due to it being atopic pregnancy and it burst one of my wife’s fallopian tubes. My wife could have died. Unfortunately during surgery she had to have both of her fallopian tubes removed. As tough as that was we still had the option of IVF and began that process. IVF was successful. We were blessed with a baby boy June of 2022. We currently have another little one on the way.

Fast forward to 2024. We do 7 figures a year and are on track to gross 8 figures annually in sales for 2025. We have an amazing team here at DGC that makes this all possible! We have an awesome 5000 SF HQ. We have been blessed by God. Our plan is to be the best roofing company in Montana and begin expanding nationwide. Helping people building a legacy of integrity, opportunities, empowerment, personal excellence, and service to others. I can’t wait to see where the future takes Dennis General Contractor.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

My favorite sales story. When I only had a staff of five I was offered the opportunity to bid a development project. It was for a total of 358 roofs in the development. I don’t know if I actually had any business bidding a project like this with such a small team. I knew we would figure it out though and hire as needed. The company in charge of the project was originally looking to have 3-4 roofing companies do the project. They were asking for general by the square numbers. I received the plans and took the time to bid 23 individual building plans with exact prices and said we could handle the entire project start to finish with materials and everything. Sent out the bids and didn’t hear anything for months. I was bugging the company repeatedly and they were telling me nothing had been decided. Eventually they got tired of me and told me they would let me know and to stop bugging them. 6-8 months pass. Out of the blue I get an email saying we and won the entire bid package! We are currently doing the development now and everything is going great! That just shows you to dream big! You’ll never have it figured out before you start. You just have to go for it and figure it out as you go. No one has it figured it out. If they say they do they’re lying. Everyone in this world is figuring it out as they go no matter how put together they seem. We are all capable of great things. If you can envision it, speak it, you can create it into existence.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dennisgeneralcontractor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forest_dennis/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forest.dennis