I called it episode one. The working title on the tape is Days with Roanin. I sat down with Dennis Yu in Broomfield on 28 August 2026 and we picked up a conversation we had already started: how you choose people, how perceived influence becomes real, and how an SDR at Avoca uses that loop without turning into a tools pitch.
The recording is on the Local Service Spotlight Descript drive as an unlisted share until a YouTube handle exists. This page is the written hub. Quotes are from the Studio Sound cut (54 minutes 11 seconds). I said my own name wrong once on tape. The spelling is Roanin.
Why we hit record
I asked him, as somebody who has a lot of freedom, what he looks for when he chooses people to work with. His first filter was not a spreadsheet. Find someone who has already done the thing you want. Then, simpler than that: who do you like spending time with. Friendship first. The technical calculation comes after, if it comes at all.
He used the heart-surgeon test. You cannot audit the surgery. You use reviews, friends, patients. For a contractor, the reviews are perceived influence. The job on your HVAC system is the real thing. They are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other.
Jason put the conference together
He pulled me out of the esoteric version. We were in that room because Jason Amato put the conference together. That is perceived influence. A couple of days later it is actual influence, because I ate the food. Potential versus kinetic. Most people leave it as potential.
If money did not matter
He asked what I would do if I were not paying rent. I said I would hang out with interesting people and go down the list of things I have not done yet — Kilimanjaro, a 14er. We were already climbing Mt Bierstadt the next morning. Avoca brought me to meet specific people. I also wanted to be there. That is not a trade-off. That is still doing the SDR job and the life I want in the same week.
Is the mission visible?
I do not post much on LinkedIn. Person to person, I think the mission is obvious. He asked if it is visible publicly. This recording is the start of multiplying that. He asked if I had a personal brand site. I said no. The site is the byproduct, not the goal.
Close
I closed it as podcast number one. He said we will see each other on the mountain. We did.
Leave a Reply