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Is your team ready for spring? Every year, crews scramble, deadlines slip and business owners end up stressed before the season even starts. But it doesn't have to be that way. From March 3rd through March 6th, join Team that Wins Spring, a free four day webinar presented by Granum with Bryan Fullerton and Sam Gimble and Get yout Crew Ready the Right Way. Across four live sessions, you'll discover how to hire the right people, train them efficiently, and streamline workflows so that your team performs at it. You'll also learn how to turn foremen into strong leaders and strengthen your company culture. This is practical, real world advice that you can implement immediately so your team hits the ground running when spring arrives. You can't miss it. Register now@granum.com events or use the special link in the podcast description and start your season strong.

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You're now listening to the Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast. Straightforward, no nonsense business advice. Completely unfiltered. Grow your business, grow your life. Now here's your host, Brian Fullerton. Hey, what's going on guys? Welcome to another episode of the Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast. It is your host Brian Fullerton here hanging with you guys and good morning. Well for all of you guys that are also watching on YouTube, welcome back. Excited to have you guys here. Do a little bit more with the video podcast if you guys can't tell. So trying to create some of these reels and clips for you guys and spend a little bit more time on YouTube talking, maybe some more X's and O's and showing you guys what you're missing out on the Fullerton Unfiltered podcast. Something like 850 plus episodes. So if you don't know, make sure you guys go check out the rest of the library from content and podcasts like this. Now what I wanted to do is spend just a couple of minutes with you guys on today's video talking about something that I don't think is talked about about enough and that is the topic of working on you and working on yourself. Now the reason I wanted to talk about this topic today is had some interesting events happen today while being on an Element Granum webinar. Had some interesting events that happened this morning at the MJA lawn and landscaping trade show that I went to today and about a week ago when I was at the Grow Conference down in Dallas, Texas with Marty Grunder and his whole camp. And yes, yesterday or maybe a couple days ago I was scrolling on Instagram. I'm on Instagram. Unfortunately probably more than I should be. Just like probably a lot of you guys or pick your social media app. And there was actually a really good reel. It was a thought provoking reel. And the reel talked about the evolution of your 20s, your 30s and 40s, and kind of in a way like what you're trying to do with each decade of your life. Now, this is crazy to even say. And here's a wild development. Your boy here is going to be 40, the big four zero in June. Now, I swear to gosh, I was 22 minutes ago and I was 3010 seconds ago. And this last decade has been nothing short of miraculous, I'll tell you that. In fact, I had a, my midlife crisis in my 30s. Trust me, I don't have one coming up in June, in my 40s that I know of, or that I'm planning for my 30s. Unfortunately, we're not the most illustrious from 20 to 30. And I'm going to get into this in a little bit. I had no further progression in my life in my at 30 years old than I did at 20. And I'm going to kind of break this all down for you guys here in a couple of minutes. But the reel that I happen to stumble upon was very thought provoking, and at least it was for me at that time. Sometimes you get a good humdinger and a good thought provoker and you're like, yeah, like, that's a good one. I'm going to share that with the wife or I'm actually going to like mull those thoughts over for a couple of quick minutes. Well, this reel talked about in your 20s, how you're basically sowing seeds into yourself. Your 30s, you're cultivating those seeds and really you're going to start seeing the results and the fruit of a lot of that in your 40s. And again, to go full circle, I have the privilege of looking at the big 4o here in June. And I'm thinking to myself, like, yeah, that that absolutely plays out. That actually rings true to my life and my story. And I don't think we talk about that enough in the career, in the journey of business ownership or entrepreneurship, or just young men, young women out there trying to make something more of themselves. You know, on the podcast all day long, we're talking business strategy and X's and O's and how to grow a bigger business. And like, that's all fine and fun and cool and it does have a point. And on YouTube it's how to review, review videos and vlogs and, you know, drama and equipment and like, that's awesome. That's fine too. Like, that's a great platform and medium for that, you know, content to go out on YouTube. But I don't think anybody really spends enough time talking about the journey that we all have as young entrepreneurs and business owners and how you have to change as a human being and as a business owner over that 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50 year career, right? And there's multiple iterations and evolutions of ourselves and it's always just kind of glossed over that one day you were at zero revenue and then you had 10 million and you're just like this finished product. And naturally, like, I would almost be inclined to say that the only thing that grew more and let's say in that decade or two decade timeframe, besides the revenue growth for that company, is the person who built it and who they had to become along the way. And it's hard to make a video or a topic or podcast on that topic without trying to draw some pretty strong parallels with how it relates to evolving as a human being. And so what I wanted to do is just spend a couple of quick minutes with you guys here on this topic and talk to you about, you know, in my 20s, man, I'll tell you what, like, I knew that I had heard or read or I just knew whatever it was along the way that my success in life was going to be based on not what I know, but who I know. And I will caveat that to say, like, you do need to know some things as well. There's different hard skills and soft skills that you got to learn along the way and. But I realized at 18, 19, 20 years old now, remember I was a kid that was working at Little Caesars, he was a kid that was working at Circuit City and then eventually worked at TruGreen and a couple other little odd and small jobs along the way. Like, nothing really to stand out. To tip my hat on that that guy is going to be successful. In fact, if I was in the yearbook, I was probably on the opposite end of that spectrum. Least likely to be successful, most likely to fail, most likely to still be living at his parents. Right? Like, that was probably where my career path at that time was headed. And that's okay. But I had realized at my 20s, like, dude, I need to start learning some things. I don't know anything about money, spiritual walk, relationships, marriage. I don't know anything about physical fitness. Like, I had to start learning and reading and devouring a lot now, back then, we didn't have podcasts in YouTube. We had, you know, self help books. And for some of you guys that don't want to know what a self help book is, it's like a portion of the Internet that you print out and somebody, you know, hard binds it together with some glue and you can put it in your hands and read parts of the Internet, like in your hands. It's crazy. Not on a device, by the way, like on paper. Just being funny. And that's all I had in my 20s. At the time, I bumped into a friend who was a trainer and he was in sales and he was going through a self development kick. And when you get on him, you get on him. It's like, when you first find Jesus, you're on fire for Jesus. When you first find a new church, you're on fire for the church. When you first find business and finance, you're like, man, like the rule of 72 and fractional reserve banking, like, for sure. When you get on your politics kick, you're like, did you really know about X, Y and Z? Like, for sure. Well, in my 20s, like, I was just on fire for all of it. I had started reading books like the Magic of Thinking Big and Thinking Grow Rich. I started to read books like Wired that Way and the Five Love Languages. I started to read books like Rich Dad, Poor dad and Cash Flow Quadra. I had started to read books like the Paleo Method, in effect. And you know, CrossFit was huge in the early 2000s when I was a 20 year old. Right. Like, all these different things, like, really caught my attention, really caught my eye. But here's the deal and I'll talk more about this as we go, but in my 30s, I had nothing to show yet for what I put into my brain and my body in my 20s. And the real basically said, in your 20s you're going to sow, and in your 30s you're going to cultivate. In the 40s and beyond, you'll start to see some progression, some results and some harvest. And that's really like the premise and the preface of today's video and podcast. Well, having the privilege of now, like, staring at, you know, the 40 and being live for a couple different decades now, I can literally, absolutely tell you honestly, like, that is the most true thing I've ever heard, ever thought and ever really seen, like, articulated. In my 20s, all I did was read books. Today we call it podcasts or audiobooks or maybe watch YouTube videos. But again, all I had was paperback books and training programs from, you know, Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn. Right. Les Brown. Right. All these great speakers and trainers from way back in the day. Like this is what these people did in the 80s, 90s and 2000s. Today it's podcast, YouTube videos and you can, you know, watch and read a book on your Amazon Kindle or whatnot. Right. Well, all I did in my 20s was pour into me. Pour, pour, pour as much as I could into me to fix me. And again, there's something to be said about it's not what you know, it's who you know. But again, I did say you should know some things too. What I realized in my 30s and 40s is I wanted to be a person of value and I wanted to know how to solve problems for people. And I wanted to know personally how to gird myself up to be able to help people with their relationship challenges, their finances challenge, their spiritual questions. Relational questions, right. And so what I did in my twenties is spend humbly as much time as I could trying to build me up as a human being. And there's times in, in your career and your business where you might see like some great revenue growth, but then things plateau or flatline or maybe things even fall back. And I heard a guy say once, sometimes your hustle or your talent will get you to a position in life that your character can't sustain. And I never wanted to get to the next ring up and the next level up without having the character, the skill set or whatnot to be able to stay, sustain and grow not only to that level, maintain at that level and grow through that level. And so I've always looked at self development as this like requirement and necessity, not as this option. You know, people are like, hey, you should read some self help books and I can promote titles to you guys. Think and grow rich. The one thing, buy back your time. And some people say, yeah, like I'll get to that when I can. And when I heard people say stuff like that, especially coaches or people that were close to me, say, or make suggestions or recommendations, I took him at face value. I was like, okay, I'm going to read that book because I need to fix clearly something in that book that that person knows. Something obviously glaring about me that loves me to death but doesn't want to ruin a friendship or relationship. So they'll promote me a book instead and they'll let me know what's in there, tease me a little bit maybe, that, you know, maybe check out chapter two. I'LL read it and fix that on my own, right? Like that was this whole self development process in my 20s and going into my 30s. Well, to piggyback on something that I alluded to earlier, my 30s have basically been nothing but again, working on myself and now networking, networking, networking, networking. That's all I've really done from age 29 to like 39 and change. Let's take a glaring, obvious example, the green industry. And especially like my landscaping business around town. When I was bidding on sites, I had no idea who people were. I had no idea who owned the buildings. I had no idea what other contractors in town already, you know, were managing those sites, residential or commercial. What I had realized is that, man, there's people around town that are somebody. It's like this guy built those buildings and this guy owned this company that built these buildings. And this guy owns all the strip malls here. And this guy was a family person that their family bought everything in the 20s, 30s, 50s and 60s. And you know, they own a billion dollars worth of real estate, you know, in this market or they're a billion dollar company, they do all the XYZ whatevers. Like, I didn't know that. I didn't like my family came from nothing. No means nothing. No one. We didn't know anything. We didn't have nothing ever once in our life. And you know, one of one of my favorite examples was I was at breakfast once with a friend of mine, his name is Troy. And I was like, hey, like we should go to this one restaurant, they have some great sushi and, and it's an awesome place. And he goes, oh yeah, yeah. He goes, you guys like it there? I go, oh, I've recently discovered that like sushi and my wife and I can go there and we should all like do like a double date. It'd be cool. He opens up his padfolio and not only does he goes, oh, we take care of the lawn and snow there, he pulls out a gift certificate book and writes me a $200 gift card out of his notebook, you know, certificate book for that restaurant. And he goes, oh, hey, like you and Liz gone out, this one's on us. You guys enjoy yourself on a good date night. Not only do the lawn and snow there, but I know the owners for, you know, 30 years and you know, yeah, it's a great restaurant. And I come home and I tell Liz, I go like, we're not even in the game. Like, I can't even get sites just yet. This guy's writing checks out of that restaurant's book of business or whatever you call it, out of their till for us to have a date night. And I just realized, like, man, this guy knows everybody in town. Like, how can I compete with that? Well, yeah, okay, another podcast and another video for another time. And how do you compete with that? But I just realized, like, dang, I need to start knowing people. Well, there's two oars of that water. One is knowing people, and the other one is being known in town. And that's another way that I'd phrase it. So what I did as my mission in my 30s was I need to start being known, right? Like, I need to know how to sell. I need to know how to talk to people. I need people to know who I am. And by them knowing me, I will be able to add value in their life. I can, of course, cut their grass, take care of their snow, or I can be a friend, be a great listener, be a great leader, guide them, mentor them, whatever the case is, almost anything that they need. I wanted to be a better version of myself for them in case they ever needed a hand, had a question, or were in a tough position of their life. So again, your 20s, you gird yourself up, you learn as much as you can in your 30s, make friends and network with as many human beings as you can, right? And again, it's not the just what you know, uh, it's the who you know. Well, in my 30s, I still arguably knew no one. Now, an interesting social and economic development. My 20s, I was porn broke. My 30s, I was porn broke. In my 40s. We're just starting to get, like, our financial life a little bit under our feet, our feet underneath us, right? We're. We're not rich, we're not poor. We're somewhere in the middle, but we're just now starting to have some economic breathing room. And that's only because more people know me today than ever before, right? Like, more people for my Lana landscape company, our social media company, our website company. Like, all of that is because I'm more known and I can do more business and more transactions with more people who know me. So if you guys can, like, follow me on this, this timeline, this chronological timeline, your 20s, for some of you guys, you're like, well, I don't know anybody, and I don't know anything. And all these guys know everybody for sure, dude, it feels like that way, and you're. And that's the truth. But that's okay. Just keep working on you and go like this Real said, go put yourself in environments that you don't belong. Go sit at tables where you really don't have anything of value to offer. Go to places that you know are a pay grade or two or five ahead of where you're at today. Because by doing that, you'll be in the room of the people who are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s that do have value, that can teach you some things, that can help accelerate your life, that can open doors for you, that want to open doors for you, that want to love on you, that want to pay it forward, that want to network with you, that see something in you, maybe more than you see in yourself, right? So that was my 20s, in my 30s, I just lucked out. I got started on YouTube, made an Instagram along the way, made a podcast along the way, and all of a sudden now we're having some success, budding success in our 30s. And as I continue to be more known, I have more opportunities to do more things as I've now become a more of a person of value because I can teach people the things I've done right, the things I've done wrong, and also learn from afar about what that guy's doing right and what that guy's doing wrong, and borrowing experiences from other people, right? Like, wisdom is when you experience is when you, you know, make a mistake and you pay for it. Wisdom is when somebody else makes a mistake and they learn from it, but then I don't have to pay that same tuition, right? And so what I did is surround myself the last five, six, seven years with all these great people, all of you guys, the world of the green industry space, the snow space, and have just been a sponge. And everywhere along the way that I go, YouTube, podcast, Instagram, whatever, I try to add value, shake hands. If I can't give you a nugget or a tip or a strategy, at least I can love on you, cry with you, high five, chest bump, fist bump, encourage you, and just say thank you to you and hey, man, I'm proud of you. And by the way, like, that's still currency in its own right, okay? And that's all I've done in my 30s. Now let's take it full circle and I'll land the plane here. The 20s you're working on you. The 30s, you're just learning the network. And the 40, you're going to start realizing some results and some fruit in your life. The budding starts in fruits of what you've been doing in your 20s and 30s. And by the way, good, bad or ugly, if you haven't been doing these 20s things in your 20s and 30s, your 40s are probably going to be no different than your 20s and 30s. Shocker, right? Like, there's only one way to coast that's downhill. So either you're doing this by intention or you're not doing it by default. And you're going to reap the rewards of whatever you were doing in those 20s and 30s, right? It's the whole pain of discipline or pain of regret, right? Like, you can work out or not, but you're not going to pay for it in your 20s necessarily, or even in your 30s. But you will pay for it with good health or bad health in your 40s, 50s and beyond. Does that make sense? And that goes full circle to where I was at in the last 24 to 48 hours. In the last, like two weeks ago. I go to Grow Conference. And a lot of folks, I mean, probably a tenth of the conference knew who I was. And I was on a panel and I was doing snow training and it was awesome. I was hanging out with Jason, I'm sorry, Jordan Smith, big bro, you know, with vsi. Dude's awesome. An incredible leader in snow and more in the industry. And I'm on a panel with, you know, Marty Grunner's event. I'm like, man, this is, this is surreal. And I'm on this panel saying stuff and I'm like, this is brilliant stuff. Not because of anything of my own tutelage, if you will, but because of everything I've absorbed from the whole industry and you guys, and best practices from the top 20, you know, people in top 100 people in snow, garbage in, garbage out. Good stuff in. Good, good stuff out. What's working for us personally? What's working for the industry? And I'm like, man, this is like, this is a value add session. Like, if you were at that panel, like, you were blessed with good stuff from myself and Jordan. And I say that humbly but accurately, like, garbage in, garbage out. Good stuff in, good stuff out. And then more recently, like, I was honored to be able to ask to host the webinar series where 1200 people are pre registered with an element granum webinar talking about a spring kickoff, you know, spring rush conversation. And it's myself and Sam Gamble. And we've got, I mean, just industry leaders and industry titans and thought leaders. Like never before on this thing. If you didn't check out those videos or the replays, look for them Somewhere with LMN granum. But I'm thinking to myself, like, what an incredible opportunity to host this event. And it's only because I got to make friends and meet people. And a guy like Mark Bradley, who opened the doors to me, to LMN and their whole ecosystem and family, right? Like, if I didn't build myself up to have good things to say, to add value and build a YouTube channel and. And then to be able to go pour that into Mark. And Mark say, hey, like, you're helping a lot of people. I'll help you. And then LMN say, hey, we got this opportunity. We're going to tap you on the shoulder. It's a big responsibility. What do you think? And I'm like, my gosh, like, holy cow. Yes. Anything I can do to pour into the 1200 registrations. There's like 375 people on this webinar. Like, I don't treat that or take that lightly, right? That is because I sowed it important to me in my 20s. I networked in my 30s, and that stuff is just now starting to happen to me in my late 30s and going into my 40s again. Last thing I'll say is I went to the mgia and as I'm walking around, I wasn't in there but for three minutes, and I was able to meet 20, 30, 40 different people. Hey, man, love the podcast. Hey, man, love the YouTube channel. Hey, man, love what you're doing, dude. It's great to see your growth. And I'm like, yeah, thanks, man. Like, that's awesome. And getting to meet all these people who. I don't know who they are, right? Like, their followers and fans, whatever you want to call that. And I'm like, dude, it's so humbling for me to have that kind of reception and know that, and hopefully some way, shape or form, I've been able to pour into your life and to help you out. Like, think about that. Like, what an incredible, incredible opportunity. And some folks want to be famous. They want to make money, they want to make YouTube videos, they want to have sponsorships and all this crap. And I get it. Like, there's an ecosystem there of, like, sustaining the message and the mission. But I'm just looking at this going, you. You want to, like, shake my hand? Like you want to be my friend? Like, holy cow, dude, I'm like, beyond humble, beyond honored. Like, what a dream come true. And it just kind of hit me as I was walking up and down, you know, Centipede, you know, through those couple different lanes, I know this brand and I know that dealer and I know that regional rep and I know that sales guy, and I know that sales guy. And then I go to the next booth and I'm like, I know that company and the owner of that company and the family of that company, and they like me and I like them. And hey, man, next time you're on our side of town, let me know, you'll come over see the new house. And I'm like, dude, you, you wouldn't have want me to come over to your house 10, 20 years ago. Like, I'm just another guy. I'm just another dude, right? But I've made that person hopefully feel a certain way about themselves or open doors or make connections, right? That has allowed that person to have some type of benefit in their life. And wow, like, how it's starting to benefit me. And the real, again, just to reiterate, is that in your 20s, you're working on you in your 30s, you're networking, in the 40s, you're going to start having some of that fruit. And as I had this beautiful blessing of being part of grow and had this beautiful blessing of being able to host this Element Granum webinar series and the one we did last summer, and I've had the opportunity to now walk up and down trade shows and equip expo in sima and people know who I am. I'm thinking to myself, man, like, what an incredible, what an incredible responsibility. What an incredible, beautiful blessing it's been in my life to be able to have these opportunities. And oh, by the way, it's not like they happened today. It was because of the things that I did in my early teens, twenties, and in my thirties. Does that make sense? And it's one of those things where my first time going to MGIA back in probably 2006, 2007, you want to talk about an intimidating environment where I knew nothing and no one and I couldn't even spell lawn care. I probably didn't talk to a single person there. And I was probably at that show for a half an hour because it was just so intimidating. And some of you guys struggle with that, some of you guys don't. But I'm telling you what, it is not my personality type to like, go put myself in a new environment and quote, unquote, go make new friends. Like, that's the last thing your boy wants to do by default. Now, I've overcame that and understood the importance of putting myself out there. So that's why I still do it. That's why I still go. That's why you should go, but that's why. That's why you do it. Right? Same thing. I would go to some of these conferences and events and, you know, Mark Bradley and leanscaper and LMN previously and all these great industry events and grow. And I go there and I just feel intimidated. And everybody's got it all figured out but me, right? The. The reality is, like, it's far from that. Everybody's struggling with the same stuff that you're struggling with. Some less than you. Because they took advantage of their 20s and 30s and built a better foundation. Not business, them. They sewed into them. Does that make sense? And so here's an encouraging word for you guys today. Yes. In the next YouTube video, we'll go review some amazing lawnmower trimmer blower edger. Yes. On the podcast, we'll talk strategies and systems and scaling and hiring and what good looks like and all these different scorecards and metrics and benchmarks, for sure. But in the meantime, don't forget just the macro. Who you are, where you're at, what are you trying to do, who are you trying to become? Keep that in the forefront of your mind. And I promise you that if you become a better person, then everything else will take care of itself along the way. I know that to be true not only for you guys, but I know that to be true for myself because I see it all happening real time with all of my friends, all of my peers, and all of you guys that I get to see week after week, month after month, year after year at different conferences, trade shows and events. And a rising tide raises all ships. So I'm really proud of you guys. I'm really excited about seeing all of your guys growth. I just want to share a candid moment, a little bit of a. Aha. Maybe a little bit of a revelation about where I'm at in life again, knocking at the big four zero here is absolutely crazy. But you know what? I've chased success. I've chased significance. I've had a little bit of both lately. And that's why I know that there's not the fear as across that four zero mark here in June. All right, for me personally, guys, it has been the biggest honor of my life to be able to get to meet and network with so many of you guys, hopefully to make a video like this and to just lay my heart out there for all of you that are watching in again. I know we get lost in the pomp and circumstance of mowers and trimmers and tractors and snow and this guy. You following this guy. I love this guy. But remember, at the end of the day, it is still about you. It is still about you that are listening in. And I hope that you become the best version of you so that other people can lean on you when they need it most. And if that means you growing an organization of you plus one guy, or you plus 100 or you plus a thousand, I know that you're putting in the work to be able to get yourself there, to be able to help those people out so they can have the best life as well. Right? Remember, it's not always about you. It's about the people around you. And that, my friends, is what it's all about. I love you guys. That's what I'm gonna leave you on today's video. That's what we'll leave you guys on today's podcast. I hope you found some value in this. Of course. Shoot me a comment down below. Maybe shoot me an email or even a private dm. Love to hear your guys thoughts about your journey on this whole topic. I know it's been a humdinger for myself and I hope you guys feel the same way and have that same sentiment as you guys are on this journey of success as well. That's what I'll leave you guys on today's video. I love you. I appreciate you. Overnight. We'll catch up with all of you guys here on the next one.