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What is up, everybody? This is Patrick with local roots landscaping and forward coaching. And I cannot tell you how excited I am for Lal 2026 this year. I get to be on stage to talk to y' all and that just excites the heck out of me. But more so just the conversations in between sessions, the mastermind, the dinners. I cannot tell you guys how excited y' all should be. If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, now's the time. Don't miss out on this year's lal. Brian, you're the man. Cannot wait to see you again here. This thing is making a lasting impact. Y' all. Don't want to miss it. See y' all there. 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, first things first, I just want to say Happy Monday to all of you guys. Welcome to August. Brand new month of the the year. And we're rapidly gonna be rented it in for summer here, folks. We got another like six or so weeks on the docket, usually about mid September or so. We're gonna kind of start winding down and then you got the four or five weeks to finish up the season through Halloween, it's going to be fall cleanups and then before you know it, hopefully, right, raking in that white gold. Beautiful time of year. Unfortunately, not as much rain as we would like to have up here in Michigan. But we're doing our best to keep everybody moving and grooving, getting hours, producing revenue, trying to make some profit around here. Amen. And all things being said, we're having a pretty good year, pretty good season. Fresh off the heels of the Providence, Rhode Island Break Records tour, which is just something I wanted to talk about for a couple of quick minutes today. What a fantastic time. What a fantastic turnout. Hanging out with about 35 business owners up there in again, Rhode Island. Absolutely beautiful area, by the way. Greater Newport. So, so nice. In fact, we got back, I texted one of the group chats. I said for together the trades, hey, my suggestion for next year would be in Newport because it is absolutely beautiful up there. They had like the red carpet rolled out for, no, not necessarily break record Store, but it was the jazz, I think festival. And then there's another big event the week before. But Newport had, I mean, all the flowers out, all the, is it button bite the Bunton or something like that, the red, you know, American flag drapery all over everybody's homes and the boats and gosh, folks, I'm telling you what, it was absolutely, absolutely one of the most beautiful, peaceful places on earth. Like, I, for whatever reason, just absolutely love Newport. It was, it was a fantastic area of town and you guys showed up like big time. It was really, really great. The Break Records tour is going to be going to, I think Minnesota next, and then shortly thereafter we're back to Boston. And then I know we got one or two other tourist spots along the way. And then before, I know, it's going to be over here in Michigan as we host in our hometown and we get to do Troy Clog. So that's going to be the next about four, so months, three or four months on the docket. Really, really looking forward to that. I wanted to really done today's podcast episode just talk to you guys for a couple of quick minutes about what I'm noticing out there so far. Just some of the education, some of the gaps that are out there in the marketplace about, you know, growing a successful business. It's been really cool that Sam and I have been able to do three of these so far. And although the content is, you know, in theory the same, what we've actually been doing is refining it, you know, every tour spot. I just literally did a debrief early, early this morning for about four hours on the slide deck, patching some holes, removing a couple things, adding a couple things, keeping the, keeping the education in the, you know, what we're trying to present to you guys alive and really dial it in and make it even that much more accurate for all the feedback. Here's the big thing. All the feedback that we continue to get from you guys, part of these discussions and folks, I just have to, I don't know what else to really say. I don't have the vocabulary to really try to communicate what I'm trying to say other than you just don't know what you don't know. And that's the, that's the truth of it. That's the reality of it. Three years ago, I was invited to one of these sessions that, you know, Mark Bradley was hosting way back in the day, and Caleb Allman actually invited me out to check one out. And I, you know, personally, I've never really been to any of the events that market held previously. And for whatever reason, it probably Just took me having a friend inviting me out. Go figure. Funny how that works. And I'll tell you what, I sat in that environment and the rest they say is history. And here's the cool story, here's the funny just way the things work out in life, right? Three years later, guess who's at the front of the room teaching and Sharon everything he did not know walking into that environment. Now I'll tell you what, as you can imagine, one of my biggest concerns is making sure over the last two or three years that I've went hard in the paint with growing a successful business and having a break records type of year or two. And I'll tell you guys what, you know, some folks would say like what, what's the credibility that you have or what's the qualifications that you have? And like those are fair, fair statements, fair questions. Although nobody's really asking those around here. But that's something that I would say or what I would think. And I'll tell you what, just three years ago we went from barely making, you know, more than single digit profit and single digit growth, maybe a little bit of add backs because we were building our shop and our barn and all that mess at the time. But it sort of been single digit profit and you know, barely double digit growth. And that's a hard transition when you're getting out of the field and relying on field staff to produce revenue and not the owner anymore from owner operator. It's a huge leap. It's a big step of faith. It's a, it's a big gap to fast forward year two, you know, having some good growth and really starting to know our numbers in year three. We are now experiencing double digit growth with double digit profit margins. And for real, I'm telling you folks, we're talking about 10% growth, single digit net, we're talking about double digit growth, double digit net. In this year we're going to grow by 40 or 50% again with about a solid 18 to 20% net on the business. And our EBITDA is like north of 18 or 20% which is really, really, really healthy. The best culture we've had to date, the best pricing we've had to date, the best ideal customers and customers that we've ever wanted. Today folks, I'm just telling you like it's working, it's working. And here's what I would just propose, here's the opposite, right? Has your way worked and that's not like a get in your face kind of conversation today. It's Just how's your way worked? And that's what I wanted to talk about. When we go to these environments and we go to this and we host these kind of sessions and Sam Gamble's absolutely crushing it, folks. I'm telling you, the guy, it. I again, I just don't have enough time of day or the words to say how much this dude cares about you guys. And it's not because we're like getting paid to. To help you guys out, you know, Like. Exactly. Right? It's not like we're coaching. It's not like we have any super big vested financial inside or contract with element to come out here and do the road tour with you guys and the shop tours with you guys. But I'll just tell you, like, it's. There's no. It doesn't even matter. By the way, let me just be super blunt. Sam just sold his company like six months ago, seven months ago. Look at. I'm still for hire. I'm still for profit, if you know what I'm saying. So is Sam. But Sam's exited. And I will tell you sincerely, like, Sam and I are not catching red eye. Flights there and back getting delays and delays and delays. I don't think we've had a real flight yet that hasn't had a. A cancellation, a layover on the way back. We've had canceled flights. Okay. It's been. It's been brutal, dude. Brutal travel. I don't know what, like, it's like every day, you know, you're always like, it's God versus Satan. I'm like, well, Satan does not want this message to get out or whatever, whatever the case is. But I'll tell you what, like, this guy does not. Does not have to do what he's doing to be on the road. I'm. I'm here because, look, folks, I want to make an impact. I want to grow the brand. I want to make more friends. I want to network. I want to do more shop tours. I want to grow the content. Yes. I want to make more money. Right? Like, listen, I'm going to tip you in my hand. Like, I'm. I'm engaged. I'm going to kick ass with you guys. So is Sam. And it just goes to show you that some of these guys that have the great biggest early businesses out there, their mission is so much more than just dollars and cents. And I, I humbly, like, look up to these dudes. I'm telling you what, like, not only the Sam Gambles and all the other great Big dog leaders that are out there in the industry. But for everybody who's ever passed the torch of every education from somebody to the next guy, right? Like, I don't think leadership is this, like, keep people down. I think it's this, you know, look, you climb up two steps and you turn around, you offer a hand to the next guy to come on up with you. And that's what I'm definitely getting the vibe, not only from Sam, but hopefully, guys, I'm pouring it out there. I'm sweating bullets trying to share this stuff with you guys and do the best that I can with my ability to communicate, relate, and to make it practical with what's going on currently today, like right now at Brian's Law Maintenance to share with you guys this education that we're rolling out with Granum and this Break Records Tour. I want to talk a little bit more about this as we continue to go through it. I just want to say, like, we've done three tour spots so far. I absolutely would love to love to see you guys participate in one in the near future. It's like an 8 or $900 ticket code. Brian's 100, I think saves you 100 bucks, whatever it is, you know, make the investment. There hasn't been a single person so far. We had 30 people. 30, maybe five people, maybe 40 people in Calgary and then another 35 plus people in Providence. Every single person. It was little like standing ovation. This is amazing. Like, you know, you start off with, I don't know these people, I don't know this environment. What am I even going to go check out? And every single person leaves with, I'm crushing this thing. We're kicking butt. We're gonna break records. We're gonna double, triple this. We're gonna, you know, 2x this. We're gonna, you know, hire this person, that. And folks, like, it's a good. It's a good checkup from the neck up. It's a good shot in the arm of some belief this time of year. All right, and that's what I want to talk to you guys for just a couple of more minutes here today. Simply put, it's been a humbling road trip so far with three tour spots and again, we have five or so more to go. You can check all the info out the Break Records Tour, but again, I just want to talk about for a couple more minutes here as we listen to today's show, sponsors announcements, and we'll come right on back. About the what you don't Know you don't know. All right, so let's do this really quick. Let's hear from today's show sponsored announcements and we'll come right on back.
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Are you making decisions based on your gut feeling or are you utilizing your financial data to make the right moves in your business? Whether you are planning to add additional employees, increase pricing or purchase equipment, it's crucial to have up to date accounting to reference the accounting firm cycle. CPA will not only provide accurate accounting data through their bookkeeping and accounting services, but will also meet and deliver green industry tailored reports to help answer the key questions you are facing in your business. Visit their website cyclecpa.com and mention Brian's podcast to receive $200 off on bookkeeping, tax and CFO services.
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All right folks, as we jump on back into it, I just want to say quick announcement here. Launchmere Academy Live 2026 tickets are on sale. Don't forget to get your tickets@launchpinner academy.com can't wait to see you guys in November in Novi, Michigan at the Vibe Showplace show center. It is going to be an incredible time. 300 plus lawn and landscape professionals out there, guys. Make sure you get your ticket and we can't wait to see you there. You know, I just want to go back to the conversation here at the Break Records tour and just maybe give you guys a couple of observations that I've seen so far. The big takeaway here, and I just got to be completely honest with you guys, is I'm amazed, amazed at how many contractors simply don't know what they don't know. And listen, I don't mean that like in a derogatory way or an insulting kind of way because there was a time that I didn't know how to price work. There was times when I didn't know how to read a P. L. There was a time when I didn't know what revenue per hour was. There's time that I didn't know what culture and accountability and standards and values looked like. And that's what's been so humbling about this entire tour. Whether we saw it in Arlington, whether we saw it in Calgary, whether we saw in Providence, Rhode Island. The conversations are literally so identical. Most, most of the owners that I get to meet, folks like they're working 40, 50, 60, 70 hour weeks, they're doing millions in revenue, they're, they're hiring great people, they're buying equipment. But nobody has ever, literally nobody's ever taught these guys how to run a better System, myself included. When I came to see, you know, an element mastermind three years ago, Mark Bradley laid out the roadmap for what we're basically sharing today. And that's of course, you know, had that conversation continue on more like a, like a tangible like massive operating system and AI with Lana and leanscape and all that fun stuff. But the, the foundations of how to run a successful business, which is everything that we're sharing today and carrying that torch is all about building a better financial clarity, all about building better pricing systems, all about growing and scaling operations and everything about finding, building and releasing great people into your organization. Right? Like this is, this is the conversation that everybody out there that's trying to grow and scale. Not a green industry business, a blue coloring business, a business in general. Right? And again, think about it, we all hit a ceiling based on what we know or what we don't know. And education itself raises that ceiling. And that's the one thing that I wanted to talk about here today because as I go through this entire conversation with the classroom with Sam and Sam's leading it and he's kicking butt and doing the deal, you just see folks, you just see the light bulbs going off real time. You see folks like how, how humbling by the way. You see folks writing down things that you actually say. That's a humble, I mean you, you've never lived life until you see people writing down a note or a nugget about something that somebody says and they, and they think highly enough about that thought or connected a dot. But then to write that down, you want to talk about humbling like you know, make the hairs in your arm stand up. Crazy, you know, feeling when Sam is talking and people are taking notes. It's so crazy, it's so rewarding, it's so exciting because you see missing puzzle pieces getting put together to give the roadmap about how to grow and scale a business. And I will tell you my promise, my art commitment to you as you leave that room to have a 90 day game plan about what you can do over the next 30 days. 60 days. 90 days to help scale your business. And look at it. Doesn't mean you have to get it done in 90 days. Take 90 days, work on your people system. Take 90 days, work on YOUR operations, by the way, take 90 days, take and work on YOUR financials. Take 90 days and understand the basics of how to price. Now as you can imagine, these are going to be forever ongoing conversations, no doubt about it. But if you don't know what you don't know, then how can you ever act upon it? And I'm telling you, I used to just the antithesis folks. I used to come into this environment. I did not know how to work with people. Not, I don't mean like people skills, high fives, acknowledge people, remember people's names. No, no, I mean like set people free with a quality onboarding hiring system, how to actually engage them in an organization, how to find and replace people if needed operationally. Like what did that actually look like? With setting up routes and understanding the impacts of revenue per hour and job costing against time that's actually been producing work in the field and looking for an under. Over and under. Going back to pricing, I did not know out of like blanket statement, I did not know how to accurately price. We made profit by accident in Brian's Law Maintenance up until maybe 24, 30 months ago. It was literally $125 an hour for mulch per yard installed. It was $60 this per man hour, $8 per that man. I had some general ideas, general ideas of what we need to do and oh by the way, hopefully we make some profit along the way. None of it was accurate. And this isn't a pitch to get you going to, to sign up with Element. This isn't a pitch to get you to commit to doing any, any XYZ PDQ type deal. This is just, dude, if you're in the industry and you're in the business of being in business, then you have to know how to run a real freaking business. And you don't know what you don't know. And there's so much. I've actually had like one or two people trolling like hate and leave stupid comments on YouTube videos or on Instagram, post about the tour, like, oh, chat can do all this and Claude can do all this or anybody who goes to something like that is just, you know, wasting their money. I'm like, dude, you have no earthly idea A what's even being presented there and B, you're telling me so far that out of a hundred people that have been through this deal, all of them are, I mean I've had 18 year old kids, 30 year old people, 55 year olds, 60 year olds, some of the sweetest, kindest people come up and say, dude, this is like ridiculous. This is incredible. This has been so transformational. And hopefully you can hear the passion, the excitement I have in my voice. Like I can't give you the farm, I can't give you the nuggets. I Can't give you all the, what we're exactly teaching here on a podcast. That's not the goal. But you come out of that room and you tell me that it wasn't worth 800 bucks and I'll give you your money back. I don't need Grantham. I don't need LMN to honor a commitment like that. I'll give you 900 bucks out of my pocket if you don't think that the stuff that we're putting on is good, because here's a quick little inside baseball. It's Brian and Sam presenting to you guys the Break Records Tour, sponsored by Granum, Milwaukee Tool, and John Deere. This is education about how Sam grew Atlas, how Brian is growing Brian's Law Maintenance. Not just, hey, you know, anything from lmn, Granum specifically. And I'll tell you guys sincerely, like, there's no live demo of lmn. There's no pitch to get you to sign up with LMN necessarily. But if you come out of that environment, go, damn, I don't know anything with my financial clarity about building a budget. I don't know anything. Or, you know, foundations, damn. I don't know anything about pricing or not accurately pricing. And, well, okay, the best way to do it from our experience has been through lmn. Okay, that just like, happens to be a dunk. But operations and people has nothing to do necessarily with lmn. Nothing. I promise you. I don't even know. We haven't even opened up the laptop the last two demos. We did it the first time and I actually nixed it. We brought it back for 30 minutes because a couple people had a couple questions, listened to some direct feedback at the event, and then we put the laptop away. But I'm telling you what, this is not an element pitch. This is a pitch to help you guys run a better business with more clarity. And as they always say, clarity is kindness. I just want to say, folks, it would be my prayer. It is my heart's wish to get as many folks as you guys, as you guys listening in to this type of an environment. You don't know what you don't know. And I didn't know what I didn't know this same time three years ago. What if I said no? What if I did not go? What if I told a friend in peer of mine, Caleb Allman, hey, dude, I'm good. I got it figured out. I have a podcast, I have a business, I have multiple businesses. I already make 100 grand a year. Caleb, you not know that I'm God's gift to the green industry. Did you not see how many this is, do not see how many that folks like, what if, what if I didn't go? What if I didn't humble myself instead of the feet of somebody like Mark and an element event just like this and that torch wasn't passed, that education wasn't passed on from him to me and me three years later to carry that torch to you guys. I hope somebody else would stand in the gap, somebody else would stand in the void. I'm the best that we got right now with this for me, for me, for my business, for my life. I'm not saying for Ella, man, I'm not saying for, for Grant. I'm saying Sam's the best that Sam's gotten, Brian's the best that I got. We're doing our best to pour it out onto you guys the best that we know how. And I'll tell you what, it's real, it's working, it's practical, it's the light bulbs are going off, there's actionable items. This isn't theory, folks. And what a humbling experience when you go through a eight or nine hour working session day on the, you know, day one Thursday in the seminar classroom in a day to half day shop tour and you see the educational class in practice on a working business that Friday and you see Friday at, you know, noon, we're on the semicircle, we're all sharing our wins and what everybody's enjoying, what everybody's getting is takeaways and what are we gonna go, go do on Monday? And you see that kind of breakthrough, folks. It doesn't matter if I get two hours of sleep, it doesn't matter if I ate nothing but deep fried restaurants, you know, airport food. It doesn't matter the ticket cost. It doesn't matter if anybody signs up or shows up. I don't care if it's 220 or 200, I will absolutely hit the road to help you guys grow a bigger and better business. Because somebody did that for me. Somebody invited me to an event and somebody was up there with a whiteboard and a blue marker pouring their freaking heart out, talking about the mission, about changing people's lives, changing people's stars and helping people, not necessarily just them, but helping them so they can help their kids have a better life. And I caught that. And that's what we're doing on this road tour. I'm telling you what that is. My mission is to change a million people's lives and inspire a million people that they can change their lives. And I don't think there's anybody else out there in any other industry other than the blue collar industry that can help people do it like what we're all doing here today. That's why we get over it. You think I'm a public speaker? You think I enjoy being in front of a 30, 50, 100 people? You're out of your damn mind. But when you're charged with the mission like that, it's so easy to get up over yourself because it's not about you. It's about the people sitting in the audience. And thank you Jesus that I was sitting in an audience like this just three years ago to be able to learn this stuff. Thank you Jesus. I put in the work over the last two to three years to understand and to master this conversation. There's not a single financial glossary term or part of LMN or the way the business operates or the way this thing works that I could not not tell you or explain to you to this day. And I did not know all that just 24 to 36 months ago. So if I can do it, I know you can do it. Three years is going to go by like this. Snap your fingers and it's already over. Snap your fingers. I had a two year old just two minutes ago and now she's turning five. Just three years ago my son was born. Just not even three years ago. I was building my house, living in a camper. Time flies, folks. You don't know what you don't know. Thank God somebody invited me to this. And thank God somebody was up there carrying the torch at the time to pass that education along to me. Does this fire you up? I hope it fires you up. I hope you make a decision. I hope you don't just hear this. I hope my voice doesn't just return void. I hope that you decide for 8, 900 bucks you can't make it. I will sponsor you into it. You can't make it. I'll get you a free ticket. I don't care the cost. Neither does lmd. We want to see you guys there because there's a whole host of folks out there that are the hardest working people I know that are just. You just don't know what you don't know. You weren't taught business necessarily. I'd say one in a hundred, probably more like one in a thousand that were business people first and decided to do it with the green Industry, most of us. We picked up a lawnmower, we picked up a truck, we picked up a couple yards on the side and we loved what we do and we do what we love. But I'll tell you what, it's bigger than you now. And you got to make sure that you're putting in the education and you're investing into yourself to make sure that this business continues to grow and scale so you can help other people and those people on your team. I'm going to charge you with that. I'll tell you what, the conversation has been amazing. Three tour spots so far, three great trips, three great audiences, unforgettable experiences, unforgettable memories, an incredible amount of laughter, an incredible amount of tears, an incredible amount of breakthrough, an incredible amount of joy, folks. It's the real deal. It's incredible. And I just pray, I just pray to see at the next tour spot. It is that awesome. It has been that great. It has been that impactful on me. And what, what an incredibly humbling experience has been so far to be able to go on the road and pour it out there and share it with all of you. I'll tell you what, folks, you don't know what you don't know. And thank God somebody invited me. And if nobody's personally inviting you, I'm going to personally invite you because if you're hearing the sound of my voice, I'm personally inviting you to come sit in the seats and come learn and experience what you might not know that you don't know that's going to leave you guys today, man. Break Records tour. It's incredible. It's not grand. It's not element, Brian and Sam pouring it out there helping you guys grow. And that's, folks, what it's all about. All right, So I want to leave you guys today, man. I love you. I appreciate you. Thank you so much to everybody who's came before me. And shout out to everybody who's coming after me. Let's go. All right, you guys have a great day. Look forward to catching up with you here on the next one.
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Thanks for taking the time to listen to the Fullerton Unfiltered podcast with Brian Fullerton. We hope you enjoyed this production. If so, please consider leaving us a five star review for the show. While the techniques and ideas presented here are designed to help you grow a more successful and profitable business, no one can guarantee these results for you. We want to emphasize that entrepreneurship is not easy and the ideas presented here are just the opinions of Brian Fullerton. And his respective guests, no one can guarantee success for you. That being said, we hope the ideas presented here help you and motivate you to go on out there and crush it with your own business.
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Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast thanks for listening and
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we hope to see you on the next episode.
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This has been a Brian Fullerton and Mr. Producer Production.