Fear Is a Mile Wide and an Inch Deep: Cam Roberts on Growth & Building Better Contractors

If you've spent much time in the pavement industry, chances are you've come across Cam Roberts. Whether it's through Laser Pavement Solutions, Stripe It Like It's Hot, or Stripe It Academy, he's become one of the industry's most recognizable voices. Not because he claims to have all the answers, but because he's willing to ask better questions.

What makes Cam's story interesting is that he didn't grow up in construction.

His dad worked for the government. His mom stayed home. The trades weren't part of family history or some lifelong dream. Instead, they were a problem waiting to be solved.

In his early twenties, Cam worked in facility maintenance, managing vendors for a forty-tenant retail property. He quickly noticed something that frustrated nearly everyone who hired contractors.

"The work itself was usually fine," he said. "But getting a quote, getting scheduled, or even just having a decent conversation was a real challenge."

One contractor stood out for all the wrong reasons.

"My boss and I eventually refused to deal with the only line painting contractor in town. He was that difficult to work with."

Most people would have complained. Cam saw opportunity.

"That was the gap I saw, and pavement marking was where I planted my flag."

Laser Pavement Solutions wasn't born during a season of confidence. It was born during recovery.

In February 2018, Cam suffered a workplace accident that severed two fingers and badly injured his thumb. Sitting at home while recovering, he remembered the market gap he'd noticed years before.

The contractor was still the only option in town.

So, he ordered business cards, built a simple website, designed a logo, and started leaving flyers on his way home from work. There was just one problem. He had never striped a parking lot.

"My entire training was a book written by a guy from Michigan on how to stripe parking lots."

When the equipment arrived a few months later, he admits he was terrified. The first year tested far more than his ability to paint straight lines.

Cam was recovering from his injury while working a full-time job, running a commercial janitorial company, building Laser Pavement Solutions on nights and weekends, and raising two young children.

By the end of the year, everything caught up to him.

"I completely collapsed."

His wife watched him push himself to the breaking point. Naturally, quitting came up. But Cam couldn't shake the feeling that the business itself wasn't the problem. The way he was trying to build it was.

"I knew in my bones that I could let go of the day job, stop running myself into the ground, and make a real go of line painting."

Today, he still credits his wife as his biggest supporter.

"There have been moments where I've questioned whether it's worth it to keep going. That support has mattered more than I can say."

Over the years, building the business changed more than Cam's career. It changed how he thinks about leadership. Ask him what contractors need to improve, and he doesn't hesitate.

"They need to get better at working with people."

In fact, one belief surprises many business owners.

"I get nervous when companies say the customer comes first."

His philosophy is different.

"If you build a team that feels valued, supported, and genuinely led, they'll naturally take care of your customers. You can't serve the business first. You can't serve the customer first. You have to serve your own people first."

That's become one of the guiding principles behind Laser Pavement Solutions.

"Our goal is to make our employees feel like they found their home."

Hosting more than 160 episodes of Stripe It Like It's Hot has only strengthened those beliefs.

Originally created to help other contractors learn, the podcast ended up becoming one of Cam's greatest teachers.

"I cannot believe the quality of intelligent people who have shared their knowledge completely for free."

But the biggest surprise wasn't the information. It was the people.

"I assumed most contractors were just in it for the money. I was wrong."

According to Cam, some of the most genuine, generous people he's ever met work in pavement.

"These are people who genuinely want the industry to get better. They want to see each other succeed."

If there's one lesson Cam returns to again and again, it's this, 

"Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep."

Whether it's running your first striper, hiring your first employee, or leaving the security of a paycheck, fear has a way of making every next step feel impossible. But that's rarely reality.

"In the moment, it looks like an ocean you have to cross. Then you take the step and realize starting was the hardest part."

It's advice he still follows himself.

"As an owner, I'm constantly stepping into new and uncharted territory. It puts me in a perpetual state of discomfort. But I refuse to let fear stop me from moving the company, and the people in it, forward."

When people question whether the trades are still worth pursuing, Cam doesn't see a problem. He sees opportunity.

"The shortage of high-performing people in the trades isn't a warning sign. It's the opportunity."

While thousands compete for careers in technology, finance, and corporate America, Cam believes ambitious young people can build extraordinary careers in the trades far faster than they realize.

"If you're committed and willing to work, you can become genuinely valuable inside a trades company in under thirty days. Try doing that at a tech company."

At Vintage Blacktop, we believe stories like Cam's deserve to be heard because they remind us that the future of the trades is being built by leaders who care about people, who challenge old ways of thinking, and who aren't afraid to step into the unknown.

Sometimes all it takes is one decision.

After all,...

Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep.