How to Avoid the "Yes Trap" in Your Lawn Care Business

Summary

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Green Industry Podcast

Episode: How to Avoid the "Yes Trap" in Your Lawn Care Business
Host: Paul Jamison
Date: July 29, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Paul Jamison dives deep into the "yes trap"—the all-too-common tendency for new (and some experienced) lawn care business owners to accept any job, anywhere, for any customer. Drawing from his own hard-learned lessons and practical advice from industry mentors, Paul explores why this approach leads to trouble, and how clarity on your ideal customer, geographic service area, and core services is essential to building a sustainable, profitable business. The episode is rich with personal anecdotes, hard truths, and actionable strategies to help listeners transform from overwhelmed "Chuck in a Truck" operators to professionals running efficient, high-profit businesses.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Paul’s Humble Beginnings: Saying Yes to Everything

• [00:40 – 07:52]
  • Paul recounts starting his business in a tough neighborhood of Lawrenceville, GA, using borrowed mowers and barely scraping together rent.
  • Early strategy: distribute homemade business cards anywhere he could—driven by a need to pay the bills.
  • "I had ambition and motivation because I didn’t want to live with the consequence of having to text them or call them, be like, hey, I don’t have the money to pay your mortgage." (Paul Jamison, 04:35)
  • Typical clients: customers with little money, unreliable payments, and challenging yards (snakes, bees, dogs, dangerous terrain).

2. The "Yes Trap": What It Looks Like

• [07:52 – 14:59]
  • Paul describes how he would say yes to every request—gutter cleaning, rocks, mowing, fertilization—without assessing profitability or suitability.
  • Took jobs far outside his main neighborhood, including low-reward, high-effort projects for real estate agents with scattered listings: "The yes trap. Because I didn't realize that driving all around town was actually destroying my business." (Paul Jamison, 10:38)
  • Trigger for change: a sit-down with his more experienced friend and mentor, Kenny, at Panera.

3. Life-Changing Advice: Route Density & Billable Hours

• [14:59 – 18:08]
  • Kenny, a seasoned pro, bluntly critiques Paul’s skills and business model: "I've seen your work and it ain't that good ... you need to learn the names of your bushes, you need to learn how to prune them, how to trim them." (Kenny via Paul, 16:57)
  • Introduction to the concepts of:
    • Route Density: Focusing work in one targeted neighborhood/subdivision.
    • Billable Hours vs. Windshield Time: Limiting time wasted on the road to maximize earnable hours.
  • Kenny’s business model: single upscale neighborhood (Country Club of the South in Alpharetta, GA), serving an ideal customer base with premium pricing and services.

4. Defining Your Target Neighborhood & Ideal Customer

• [18:08 – 26:28]
  • Paul emphasizes the need to define not just a general area but a specific, highly profitable neighborhood.
  • "You have to provide them [your website team] pictures, fresh new pictures of your business. The copy that explains what you do, who you do it for, what service, and all of this stuff. But onboarding with them, I realize, is they're in complete alignment with how important it is to define what is your target neighborhood..." (Paul Jamison, 18:57)
  • Rejects the common advice to not "put all your eggs in one basket." For service businesses, route density with integrity is superior—if you consistently deliver quality, word-of-mouth in one area is powerful.

5. Clarity on Core Services: Learning to Say No

• [26:28 – 37:29]
  • Once you know your target area, get laser-focused on which services you offer—and confidently decline those you don’t.
  • "Once I got clarity on that, then I learned a new word. It's two letters, N O ... you can say it politely but with confidence." (Paul Jamison, 24:48)
  • Real talk about refusing:
    • Calls outside the service area
    • Services outside your skill set or business model (“Sorry, we don’t offer gutter cleaning”)
  • Example: Friends and pros like Jason Krill and Naylor Taliaferro have great route density but different lists of core services—be intentional and strategic.

6. Real-World Examples: Digital Presence & Service Clarity

• [37:29 – 41:19]
  • Breaks down the website for City Turf (Dallas area) as a model for area and service clarity—clear service maps, tightly defined offerings, and social proof (e.g., “Trusted by 11,000+ of your neighbors”).
  • "This is absolutely fantastic because they're telling you, here's where we serve. And then they're telling you, here's our services." (Paul Jamison, 38:53)
  • Suggests starting with one geographic area and expanding only with mastery and integrity.

7. Pro Tips for Building a Profitable, Focused Lawn Care Business

• Define your exact target neighborhood; pin it on a map.
• Get hyper-local with marketing (door hangers, yard signs, referral requests)—intensify efforts in one area.
• Identify your core services and be prepared to politely say “no” to anything outside that list.
• Use tools (like MyServiceArea.com for website filtering) to screen out leads from non-profit areas.
• Build a reputation for reliability, quality, and professionalism—integrity wins the long game.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------| | 04:35 | "I had ambition and motivation because I didn’t want to live with the consequence of having to text them or call them, be like, hey, I don’t have the money to pay your mortgage." | Paul Jamison | | 10:38 | "The yes trap. Because I didn't realize that driving all around town was actually destroying my business." | Paul Jamison | | 16:57 | "I've seen your work and it ain't that good ... you need to learn the names of your bushes, you need to learn how to prune them, how to trim them." | Kenny (via Paul) | | 24:48 | "Once I got clarity on that, then I learned a new word. It's two letters, N O ... you can say it politely but with confidence." | Paul Jamison | | 38:53 | "This is absolutely fantastic because they're telling you, here's where we serve. And then they're telling you, here's our services." | Paul Jamison |

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Key Timestamps & Segments

• 00:40 – 07:52: Paul's early days—stories of struggling clients and the hustle to land any job.
• 07:52 – 14:59: The real cost of saying yes to everything; being stretched thin across distant locations and random services.
• 14:59 – 18:08: Wisdom from Kenny—route density, target market, and measuring billable versus windshield hours.
• 18:08 – 26:28: How to pick one neighborhood and why integrity trumps “diversifying” your service area.
• 26:28 – 37:29: Dialing in your service offerings, stories of saying no, and emulating proven pros.
• 37:29 – 41:19: Case studies—looking at City Turf’s website approach and actionable advice for building a focused business model.

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Actionable Takeaways

• Stop Saying Yes to Everyone: Be clear on who you serve and what you do—and stick to it.
• Route Density is King: Focus your operations tightly to minimize travel and maximize profits.
• Develop Expertise: Know your turf, your tools, and your services inside-out. Don’t offer what you can’t ace.
• Embrace “No”: Say it with confidence to inquiries outside your target area or service list.
• Invest in Marketing—Wisely: Smart, hyper-local marketing and a clear, targeted website are critical for sustainable growth.
• Build Reputation Through Integrity: Do what you say, show up on time, and deliver quality every time. Word-of-mouth will multiply in your chosen neighborhood.

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting to move beyond the grind of aimless hustling and into building a focused, professional, and ultimately thriving lawn care or landscaping business.

Transcript

[Paul Jamison]

Hello and welcome to the Green industry podcast, your go to guide for building a more profitable and thriving lawn care and landscaping business. Your host, Paul Jamison is the author of five best selling books including Cut that grass and make that Cash and his latest, level up your money, all available on Amazon and Audible. Now get ready for more expert insights and practical strategies to boost your business and level up your life. Here's Paul Jameson.

Welcome back to the show. I am Paul Jameson down here in beautiful, sunny Florida. Today we're going to talk about the yes trap and I have some stories to share with you about how I used to say yes to everything and why it's a trap and how it got me into big trouble in my lawn care business. And we're going to talk about the math behind windshield time versus billable hours. Define your target neighborhood. Maybe you already have your target neighborhood. Well, then we'll go to that next level and talk about hyper local marketing tactics so that we can really dominate in the exact area we want to be. Now, if you're new to the program, quick introduction. My name is Paul. I started my first lawn care business in 2011 up in. I lived in Atlanta, Georgia area at the time, and I was living in this neighborhood in Lawrenceville, Georgia. And Lawrenceville, I think it's kind of gone downhill since I, you know, originally moved there in 2009 actually. And I lived on what you would call more of the rough, rough end of town. All right, so I'm using my words carefully here, but it was not the nicest part of town, all right, not the nicest part of Lawrenceville. And I was in this neighborhood because I was just living there at the time. My friend, he was actually a really good musician and singer. And it's kind of a crazy story, but there used to be a show, I think it's called American Idol or something like that. And there was a guy on the show called Randy Jackson. Well, long story short, Randy Jackson heard my friend singing and doing music and he's like, bro, you are, you're like crazy good. Uh, so anyway, my friend got invited to go out west for a year and pursue his music career. Just natural talent was singing and music and all that. So anyway, he had his house in the hood and his mortgage was $928 a month. So he's like, hey, do you mind living in my house for a year? My, my wife and I, they, they had a couple, I think, right. It's irrelevant. They had children. So they had like a five bedroom house in the Hood and they went out west and for a year. So he's like, you'll just. All you gotta DO is pay $928. Their bank was Wells Fargo Bank. So he's like, just go to the bank on the first of the month and just deposit money into our account and then we'll, we'll pay the mortgage and then you live in the house. And I was like, you know, deal. So I moved into his house, started my lawn care business in that neighborhood. I started using his mowers. Non self propelled, I think it was called a Murray. I think he got it at Walmart maybe. But about the worst mower ever and was borrowing my buddy's string trimmer. He had a steel string trimmer blade edger, little handheld battery powered blower or no, no, Gas power blower. Pardon me? This was gas Power Blower 2011. And I was loaded up in this 1997 Honda Accord I had and just go around that neighborhood. And so my marketing, I was broke. I mean at the time I was. To say I was broke would be the understatement of the century. I mean I was. It took me everything I could do to scrape together the $928 to go to Wells Fargo. And there were some months when I wouldn't have it on the 1st and you know, they'd be texting me, hey, we didn't see the money come through yet. And I'm think that's because I didn't go there yet. You know, I'm thinking I was like, oh yeah, you know, I'm gonna go tomorrow, you know, whatever. I had more excuses and you know, cousin pookie in jail and it was stressful time. So long story short, I didn't have money to spend on marketing. So they had this thing called Vista Print, which I think they still have it actually. But 2011 they had this free, you go get free business cards. Like literally I just filled out the thing and then I think they were free. And I think I ended up spending like 20 bucks to get like even more. I think you got like 100 for free and I think I ordered like 500 more. So I had these little raggedy business cards that said Paul Jameson Lawn Care. It had a little, you know, we didn't have AI back then and all this fancy graphic stuff. So I had a little like stick figure pushing a lawnmower. I mean, look, it looked pitiful. And I would just walk around the neighborhood and you know, I didn't know you're not allowed to like Hey, I just put in these business cards or wherever. Get in where you fit it. I'm putting them wherever I can, all right? You know, in everywhere. And people are driving by. I'm waving them down. Hey, you know, I cut grass. Let me know. And I mean, I'm being bold because I'm broke and I need. I feared my friend. Like, I. I valued putting that $928 in their bank account on the 1st. So I had ambition and motivation because I didn't want to live with the consequence of having to text them or call them, be like, hey, I don't have the money to pay your mortgage. And I didn't. I didn't want to have to deal with that. It's like, I'm gonna do whatever I can legally to make this money. So I started going around the neighborhood and getting a lot of yards in a neighborhood where everyone's broke, where. I mean, that was everyone. But we had this one customer less, and he was on fixed income, and he had snakes in his backyard and bees and holes and his big dogs. And he. We charge him 30 bucks. And he would cut. It would be. I mean, to get a check from him. It was a whole. His wife would answer, hold on, Les, come here. And Les would come, hey, write the check for 30 bucks. And then be like, hey, but don't cash it until Friday. Like, and then sometimes you want to give us a check? I ain't gonna give it to you because I'm afraid you're gonna check it. But, you know, cash it before Friday, and then my account's gonna go. And so, like, come back now, you know, come back next week and I'll pay. I mean, these are my customers. All right? And then a lot of them, you know, I'll text them the night before. Hey, Mr. Stewart, you know, we're coming to your yard tomorrow. Okay, Paul, don't forget to mow. You know, don't forget to do the hill in the back. I'll leave you a check under the mat. Okay, good. So get there, lift up the mat. No check. Mrs. Stewart, there. There's no check under the mat. Oh, I'm so sorry.

[Marty (Producer)]

I forgot.

[Paul Jamison]

I was. I was headed out to the. Headed. I was up late last night watching the NBA game, and I. Yeah, she liked the Detroit Pistons. And she was always like. I think Mrs. Stuart was flirting with me. Now, I look at hindsight, but anyway, she's always. She's like, just swing. You know what?

[Marty (Producer)]

Now, like that.

[Paul Jamison]

I really think about it.

[Marty (Producer)]

She.

[Paul Jamison]

She knew what she was doing because she's like, oh, you know, I'll be home from work at 5:30, just swing by and pick up. And then, you know, I'd swing by and she'd like, you know, want to walk in the backyard. And I. At the time, I was oblivious, you know, to.

[Marty (Producer)]

To.

[Paul Jamison]

To these. These ladies and their schemes. You know, the.

The.

The old yard guy. Some of y' all know exactly what I'm talking about. Oh, man, you. You got stories too. But she was a single woman and, and, and whatever. She. She wasn't my type. But anyway, some customers wouldn't pay me intentionally because they would want me to come back and then hand me the check so they could see me.

[Marty (Producer)]

All right? So.

[Paul Jamison]

And back then I had. I mean, I still have big muscles, but hey, I was. I was in good shape, all right? I was young and handsome and strong and buff and tan and, you know. All right, so anyway, here's where I got in the. Here's where I got in the problem. All right? Problem number one with the S trap is I said yes to everybody. I didn't even check, you know, Reggie, I didn't even check his backyard before. I told him he had drove by and pulls down his window. He's like, hey, you know, I live over on this street. You think you can. You can come by and. And, you know, give me a mo. And I was like, sure, man. And. And I was like, oh, you know, I'll be there in a couple hours. Let me finish up this one. And I'll be. I'll head. I'll head your way next. And I. I didn't even check his backyard or anything he had. He's like, yeah, let me know, because I got to put my dogs in. Not knowing he has these two gigantic dogs and his backyard. Just like, these dogs just. They. I don't know how they dig these, like, holes and craters and like, it's crazy back there. And so it's dangerous to even walk back there because you. You could roll your ankle and there's poop everywhere. And like, so these are the customers I'm getting because I'm saying yes to everything but here. I didn't even share the problem. I made the big problem. Mistake I made. Probably got into. Is the real estate agent who is one of my original customers. She. It's like, hey, we have another property out in Winder that needs done. And. And if you know anything about real estate agents, they have what's called listings. So they're trying to sell a house here. They're trying to sell a house there and they don't necessarily have route density. You know, they might have a house in this neighborhood in Lawrenceville and then another house over here in Winder and then they got houses all over Atlanta. This lady was number two real estate agent in Atlanta at the time. So she had them all, all around town. So she's like, why don't you take over our listings? Because the guy who is doing all of our listings is in the hospital and we don't know when he's going to be cleared to get back to work. And we basically made an agreement. She's like, when he comes back, you know, he's been working for us for 20 years. You know, we're going to give him the work. But we, you know, in the meantime we need, you know, the listings, you know, the houses that are, you know, on the market for sale. We need you to take care of them until they sell. And then of course, when they sell, you're more than welcome to pitch your services to whoever moves in and we'll put in a good word for you or whatever. So I'm thinking, oh yeah, you should all this work the yes trap. Because I didn't realize that driving all around town was actually destroying my business. So my buddy Kenny invites me to Panera. We, Well, I invited myself actually. I reached out to Kenny and he had been at the time, he had been in the industry for 18 years. And I was in, you know, rookie making all these mistakes and he had helped me. He actually was the teacher of Financial Peace University, which is Dave Ramsey's class. So Kenny and I already had a, you know, I would say a good relationship before I ever even started my lawn care business. He actually was, he was, he was passionate about helping people get out of debt and you know, follow Dave Ramsey's principles of living debt free and building wealth and investing money and all that stuff. So anyway, we had already kind of had had a friendship at the. With the core of it being, you know, get out of debt and build wealth. And not that, I mean I was, my butt was buried in debt and I, you know, wealth. I didn't know how to spell wealth. But Kenny knew who I was. So I reached out to him and he's like, hey, I'll be in the area. It was actually really short notice, but he's like, hey, I'm in the area if you want to swing by Panera. I got, you know, I got, got a few minutes, whatever. So we go over there and I got I got a tea. I. I didn't start drinking coffee until years later, so I actually have a cup of coffee right here. Mr. Producer. Mr. Producer stopped drinking coffee, which is beyond impressive to me because I. I feel like it's. Anyway, that's. I don't want to get on a side tangent about coffee consumption and caffeine, but I got tea. Kenny got coffee. I think we got some bagels or whatnot. We're just sitting there, and I'm asking him about business because he's working in the time. He. He had an ideal customer, and he had a target neighborhood with route density, and his target neighborhood was and is a neighborhood in Alpharetta, Georgia, called Country Club of the South. Now, at the time, Whitney Houston was still alive, she was living in there. I think Justin Bieber was living in there. What's the guy's name? Usher. Usher's living in there. And. And Kenny and I, actually, we had mutual friends that lived in there. We had.

We.

We had a mutual friend who was very wealthy, and I got to go to their house multiple times, actually. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful home. Stunning home. Really nice neighborhood. When I say really nice neighborhood, I mean, you can imagine if you're going to name your neighborhood the Country Club of the south, it's got to be the nicest neighborhood in Atlanta. In the South. You know, this is arguably. It's very, very nice. There's a lot of nice neighbors in Atlanta. But anyway, Kenny's explaining to me, paul, you know, we just. We just. You know, we mainly work in this single subdivision. And, you know, it.

It's.

It's where all the money is. So he says to me, he explains to me windshield time versus billable hours. And I'm telling him about how I got all these yards in Lawrenceville, and I got these yards in Winder, and I got yards in John's Creek, and I got yards in Duluth, and I got yards, you know, in Suwannee. I got yards here, I got yards there. And Kenny, I'm just so busy. I. I'm just. And he. Like, I'm thinking I'm wearing my busyness as this badge of honor. And he's disgusted, and he explains to me the math of windshield time versus billable hours and why I needed to define my target neighborhood and then how I needed to market to that ideal customer to get a really tight radius in my business. So I'm gonna get a quick sip of this coffee, hear a quick word from today's show sponsors, and then coming up, I'm gonna share with you. The life changing advice that Kenny gave me at Panera that took my business from chucking the truck to baller status to what. What do they call it when you're crushing it, Mr. Producer? I can't say that on the. This is a clean microphones. This shows rated G PG now we don't even need parental guidance. We keep it. You can't say that on here. Well, the point was I. My business went to the next level when I figured what out? Pardon me. This is why I need to get a sip of my coffee. Because I in my brain I was like that's gonna sound so good. Let me try again. Everything changed. Oh man, how we've been doing this since 2018, Mr. Producer. Excellence in broadcasting.

[Marty (Producer)]

How about this?

[Paul Jamison]

I don't even know if I can string a sentence again. This sounded so good in my head I was going to say something along the lines of Coming up. I'm going to share with you, you know, what changed my life. But it really did transform my business. I'm going to share with you what transformed my business. What Kenny told me at Panera. Coming right up.

[Marty (Producer)]

Stop wasting time responding to website inquiries that are not in profitable service areas. Let my service area filter those inquiries for for you. So you know every inquiry will be in one or more of your profitable areas. My service area is a secretary for your website that will only allow good leads and inquiries through your website. This means no more looking up addresses and responding to people that you cannot service. Using my service area will allow you to focus on certain areas which help build dense routes daily miles traveled matter more than ever today. So knowing your numbers and how far you can travel mean everything to your success. Start saving time and become more efficient today with my service area. You can learn more at my service area.com Paul Again, that's myservicearea.com Paul Are

[Paul Jamison]

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[Marty (Producer)]

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[Paul Jamison]

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[Marty (Producer)]

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[Paul Jamison]

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[Marty (Producer)]

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[Paul Jamison]

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[Marty (Producer)]

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[Paul Jamison]

And I hope to see you soon in good old Louisville, Kentucky. All right, continuing this conversation about the yes trap. Now I'm at Panera with my friend Kenny. And just to give you a little bit of a deeper understanding of my friend Kenny's personality, he's kind of a straight to the point kind of guy. So as I'm talking with him, I can tell he's hesitant and he's a little bit uncomfortable, and I can tell he wants to say something, but he's not saying it. So I was like, what? You know, what's on your mind? And he's like, hey, I'm just like, I gotta know. And he basically is like, I've seen your work and it ain't that good. So I was like, oh, man. Hey, give me examples. Like, you didn't trim that bush the way. Like, I don't know what I'm doing. It's my. I'm a brand. I'm brand new at this. So he's explaining to me like, you prune this bush this way, you trim this bush this way. You don't even know the names of the. I mean, he's just letting me have it. And it was good for me because he's basically like, I'm a professional. I'm in the nicest neighborhood in Atlanta. I know what I'm doing.

And.

And again, our personality wise, could he have been a little bit more nicer to me or whatnot? Sure. But he made his points and that is. He taught me about route density. And of course, Naylor Taliaferro and Chris Gentry. Shout outs to my service area with Chris Gentry. He's got a plug into your website where you can place your customer, can just put their address, and then it will instantly identify if they're in your service area or not. And if they're not, it ain't gonna waste their time and ain't gonna waste your time. And if they are, hey, it's time to lick your chops. You know, go, go get you a new customer. So win, win for the customer and for you. And by the way, if you guys need a website, Footbridge Media. Footbridge is one word. Footprint. I don't know why it says two, but Footbridge Media, they are world class.

[Marty (Producer)]

They're.

[Paul Jamison]

I'm currently working with them on a new website and their onboarding process with Sam, it's so. I mean, you have to put in the work. Like, you have to provide them pictures, fresh new pictures or your business. The copy that explains what you do, who you do it for, what service, and all of this stuff. But onboarding with them, I realize, is they're in complete alignment with how important it is to define what is your target neighborhood, and within that neighborhood, who are you trying to market to, what core services are. Are you offering. And so when I, at the beginning of program, said this phrase, the yes trap, the reason I was saying yes to every job, whether it was sod, mulch, a rock, mowing, fertilizer, literally, I said yes to everything. Gutter cleaning. I was up there on the roof cleaning out the gutter, right? I'm like, well, I got this handheld blower borrow ladder. Let's go. I had done roofing for one week and realized I never wanted to be a roofer. But we were on this super. Oh, man, it's scary. Just thinking about it now, it's scary. We were on this crazy, crazy, crazy tall building, and we climbed up a ladder to get to the top of this building. It was a school in Savannah, Georgia. And, I mean, I'm just so thankful to God that I'm here to tell you that I'm alive, that I'm telling this story, because I'm on the top of this gigantic building. And you have to get on the ladder. And then what? You then go down the ladder. And I'm so nervous, and I'm thinking, well, what if I. When I'm getting on the ladder, like, what if I don't get on perfectly and, like, I slip? And they're like, well, that's it. Because if you fall off, you're gone. I mean, and I was so scared getting going up the ladder. I'm talking. This building was super tall, like, the top of a gigantic school building. And then when we would. And sometimes they would be like, hey, Paul, we need you to go over to the other building and pick up this. And so now I got to go down the ladder by myself. No one's even watching me. And I'm thinking, what if I saw it was. It was something. Oh, I don't know. So anyway, I don't like ladders. I don't. Like. This building was so tall. So anyway, when my customers, like, hey, we go up on the roof and gutter cleaning. I'm like, well, this roof's simple, because if I fall off, I land in the bush. You know, I'll probably get hurt, but I'll probably still be alive. But if I were to fall off that school building, oh, man, I. I mean, I was. I don't Know if I've ever been. And it didn't help that I was nervous because now I'm like going to get on the ladder and I'm just like. Like there's. We didn't have no safety nothing. It's like you. It was. It was scary, scary, scary. Like there's so many things that could have went wrong that could have fell off and I had no experience. I never been on ladders like that before. It was just. It was so terrifying. So anyway, roofing was not for me, but back to. Back to your target neighborhood and your. Your ideal customer. So I shouldn't have been up on my customer's roof cleaning up their gutter and they tricked me because, like, yeah, you got that little blower. Can you just go up real quick and. And just blow out the leaves? We.

We.

Because they got trees all around their house. Just blow out the leaves real quick. Well, I get up there and the leaves are like.

[Marty (Producer)]

It's like.

[Paul Jamison]

Have you ever seen wet grass caked on a lawnmower, like underneath the deck? It's like caked up in the corner and it's just like the only way to get it off. You have to like, take your hands with the glove on and just scoop that, scoop that out. Well, that's what it is in. In this customer's gutter. So now I'm up on the roof. He's making it sound like, yeah, just real quick, just blow it out. Like it like the leaves are just gonna blow out of gutter real quick. Like they're all going to be dry and it's going to be, you know, just push the button on the blower real quick. No, I'm up there, cake. And of course a customer can't see this, but I got integrity. I was like, I'm gonna, you know, actually clean the gutters while. Anyway, the yes trap is I was in the wrong parts of town doing the wrong services. So what Kenny explained to me, he's like, first of all, Paul, you don't know what the bleepity bleep bleep bleep you're doing. So you need to learn the names of your bushes, you need to learn how to prune them, how to trim them. You need to learn the name of your turfs, right? Zoysia Bermuda. You need to understand the differences, right? Like, for example, Zoysia probably needs, you know, five, six hours of sunlight. It'll do decent under some shady areas, but Bermuda doesn't have a chance. Like, Bermuda needs to be out in the sun all day long. It can't be around shade like Bermuda is. Need full sun. And he's like, you explain. Basically, you need to know the difference between your turfs. You need to know the difference between your weeds. Because I was doing fertilization, weed control, which I had absolutely no business doing. And eventually I wised up and I was like, okay, I'm gonna stop doing fertilization and weed control. And I. And I have a friend, Russell. Skipper shouts Russell, if you're listening, he's got a really good business that he's an expert.

They.

They got. They use the best. I don't know if ingredients are the right word, but, you know, they use the best stuff to. To treat the. The turf. And so what I eventually found out is when I got my targeted neighborhood dialed in. This is the neighborhood I want my yards in. I want my yards in this neighborhood. Maybe I'll take a few on the. The adjacent neighborhoods like that are right outside the gates of this neighborhood. But this is my target neighborhood, and these are my target services. Once I got clarity on that, then I learned a new word. It's two letters, N O.

No.

So once I'm in my new city doing my neighborhood, that's my target neighborhood. When somebody calls me from 20 miles away, like, hey, do you. Can you give us a quote? No, not be my whole board. We're nice to that. But hey, I'm sorry, you're. That's outside of our service area. Unfortunately, we only service. Bam. Name my target neighborhood or my target, you know, area. So I would recommend for route density. Pick your single subdivision. And somebody was like, well, pal, you don't want all your eggs in one basket, right? And that.

[Marty (Producer)]

That.

[Paul Jamison]

Now, you know, in the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, it actually talks about spreading your investments to seven or eight different ways. Like you want, right? You don't want. If you're investing in the stock market, you don't want to take all your money and be like, this Enron stock. This one looks pretty good. Let me put all my money in Enron. Well, guess what? Enron you were. Some of you are like, what's Enron? I ain't never heard of Enron.

[Marty (Producer)]

Exactly.

[Paul Jamison]

It went out of business, right? So if you had all your money in Enron, your money's all gone. So. But if you had your money in the S P500, which is the 500 largest, you know, stocks in America, well, enron was only one of the 500, so the other 499 are going to carry you through, and you're gonna. You're gonna weather the storm. You're gonna be all right. Well, so. So that. But that doesn't carry over in a lawn business because. Because they're like, well, you don't want all your eggs in one basketball. And I was thinking, I got to be very careful.

All right?

I'm going to be very careful. I say this. If you have integrity, right? You have a good reputation.

[Marty (Producer)]

If you.

[Paul Jamison]

A good name, a good reputation that is so powerful because that's going to spread around the neighborhood that you're reliable, that you do good work, that you're trustworthy. So the person that was mocking me and kind of asking that question, they were revealing. I already knew this about them, but they were revealing. It was just in plain sight, okay, that they weren't an integral person. They couldn't go all in on one neighborhood because eventually people would find out this person and this person's business is flaws. So I had not again, I was being kind to this guy. I was like, well, I was thinking for you, yeah, you probably don't want to target one neighborhood because you're a loser. I mean, I'm not selling it to this guy, but like you, that's why you got to. He's got to skate all around town because anyway, I got to get back on track here. So don't be like that guy, all right? Name names. I'm saying is if you are a person who has integrity, if you say, we're going to be there Thursday at 8am you're actually there Thursday, right? At 7:45am 7:50am Your butt better be there by 8am if you. That's called integrity. You do what you say you're going to do. You're actually good at mowing grass. Your lawnmower blades are not dull, right? Your lawnmower blades are sharp. You. You take the time to learn how do I sharpen my lawnmower blades? And you actually develop that skill. You get the. You get the grinder, you get the right tools, and you learn how to take your lawnmower blades off the right way, which the very first few times, you probably might screw it up because kind of tricky. And you figure out, okay, well, this is the right way that put them on. Long story short, one time I didn't know and I put them on the wrong way. Like, this ain't right, that ain't right. But you learn the right way to sharpen your lawnmower blades. So now your, Your, your, your Your yards are a quality cut. You're using good equipment, you show up on time, you do good work. You're using a CRM like jobber. So you're making it easy for them to pay you. You just get their card on file. So now they're not, they're not. It's not a hassle to have to pay you. Everything's organized and you know your stuff. Well, now it's okay to target one neighborhood because that word of mouth referrals is going to spread like wildfire throughout the neighborhood. That your business, you're the true professional. You're the best of the best. See, there's shoppers that they want, they're buying something, they're like, well, which one's the best one though? Literally? Let's say, let's say you're shopping for a mattress, okay? And you're on the mattress company's website. There's mattresses over here for a thousand six hundred, three hundred. You're. I ain't sleeping on that. It's like three hundred. That one's a thousand, that one's two thousand, three thousand, four thousand. There's a $5,000 one. What was 5,000? What's this one? And there's actually customers are out there that don't go straight to the 5001 and be like, yeah, I want that one. I want, are literally going to look, what's the most expensive one? What's the best one, Right? Why do people buy Rolls Royces and Bentley's and Aston Martins and I don't even know all the names of the fancy cars, Bugattis and all this stuff, right? Because they want the best of the best. They don't want to be driving. And I, you know, listen, ain't no shame, actually. Honda, Toyota, Ford, those are the cars that most millionaires buy because most millionaires understand vehicles are a depreciating asset. And they'll get a reliable car like a Ford F150 or Toyota Camry or Honda Accord and they'll drive that and then they'll invest their money in appreciating assets. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. My, my point is people buy on the best. And so if you brand your lawn care business as the best and you prove it by serving customer after customer after customer at the highest level, where you have happy customers that are happily paying you and happily telling their neighbors that you are the man, your business is the best. You guys show up and do a good job and don't bother them. Your card's on file and they're paying you with everything's seamless. And all I gotta do is look out their window and their yard looks pristine. Well, that's good. So my point in saying all of that is the knucklehead, there's like, you don't want all your eggs in one basket. He doesn't win all his eggs in one basket because he's not, he's not running a business that's professional and top of the line. But if you show up to work with your work boots on, ready to serve your customer at the highest level every day, then route density is the way to go. Because you want to pick your initial neighborhood. It's like you're dropping a pin. If you have a map, and I, and I encourage you to find a map of your county, find a map of your city, put it up on the wall. I've seen this many, many times that people will literally take a permanent marker and draw the area. This is my service area on like a physical map on the wall. Anything outside of here, we say no to. Anything within this will consider. Now that's the geography. That's. That's not how you say that. Geography, geography, Something like that. Like a map geography. Right, that, that. So you need to define that. And then once you define that, then you need to do hyper localized marketing. Door hangers, yard signs, you know, asking your neighbors for customer reviews and word of mouth referrals. And you're targeting that area. And I'm running out of time here, so I don't have time to go super into the core services. I'm working on Cut that grass and make that Cache the second edition. And I'm actually working on chapter three today, which is about route density. So that's why it's fresh on my mind. And I'm talking about the importance of route density. But you want to, from a geographical perspective, you want to identify, here's the area we're going to serve. And then the next level of your business is having complete clarity on what your core services are. Because in lawn care, there's so many things, right? Customers need their lawn mowed, then they need their lawn treated for weeds, and then they need mulch, and then they need tree trimming, and then they need new landscaping and, you know, new, new boulder rocks and new plants and a new tree. And some of them are going to want pressure washing and some of them are going to want gutter cleaning. And the list goes on and on and on and on and on. And you can't be reactive when they're like, hey, can you go up there real quick and clean our gutter? Well, if I'm not a gutter, if that's not part of my core services, I can simply say, hey, Randy, unfortunately, we're currently not offering gutter cleaning services. I apologize, I'm not going to be

able to do that.

And you can say it politely but with confidence. No, no, no, no. It feels good to say it. No, no, no, no, no, no. Because you know what you're saying yes to. So back to my original yes trap statement. At the beginning, I was saying yes to the wrong geographical areas and the wrong services because I wasn't clear on who I wanted to serve, where they're located, and what services I'm going to offer to them. So in your business, you need to get clarity on who your ideal customer is, what street do they live on, what neighborhood do they live in and how are you going to serve them. And there's not a right or wrong way of how you're going to serve them. But you need to be very strategic with, in, in, in coming up with what services you're going to offer. For example, my friend Jason Krill, fantastic route density. He does not do any mowing. He only does fertilizer and weed control. And he's very educated on, I mean, he could, he could point out any weed and tell you exactly what weed it is, why it's there, how to get rid of it. He is an expert on fertilization and weed control for warm season turf. One of the best in the country. I've been to his home, I've been to his shop, I've been to some of his customers properties. He's in a very route dense area. So Jason is crushing it. He knows what his area is. So if a customer calls him on the other side of Birmingham, he's like, nope, we don't go out there. We're in this area. And if a customer calls him and says, hey, Jason, I wanted to see if you give us a quote for mowing our grass. He would say no in his southern hospitable way. No, we only do fertilization and weed control. Now on the other end, we'll use Naylor Taliaferro's example. He's got great route density. I've been in his neighborhoods before. I mean, he'll park his car or his truck, he's got the ramp rack thing on it, unload the equipment and boom. We'll do one yard here, one yard across the street, one yard over there. I mean, just. He'll do four yards at a time, load back up the cart, zip it around a couple streets over, unload it again, and then do three. And that called a sec. I mean, just route dense. But his core services are different. He does offer mulch installations, he does offer lawn mowing and he does a fertilization and weed control as well. But you need to know what your, what services you offer and why. So for some people, like, I don't, I don't want to touch fertilization and we control. I burnt my customer's yard before. I don't want to deal with that stuff. I don't like the, I don't like the smell of chemicals. I don't like chemicals touching me. I don't like, I don't want anything to do with that. But I do like mowing. So I'm going to do mowing and then I'm going to offer upsells of, of core aerations and mulch installs and pine straw and I'm going to learn my bushes and learn how to trim them and whatnot. So you need to know what your, what you want your core services to be. And you can't, you can't have, you can't say yes to everything because that's not going to, that's not that, that's. That's dangerous. Like my friend Jonathan Patosnik from City Turf, right. You can go on their website, City Turf in North Dallas, right. And see what services they offer. Very clear. Actually, let me pull it up really quick, just, just to, just to show you City Turf Dallas. All right, Pulling up his website in real time here. And I gotta go. This is a wonderful website. City Turf, front page, lawn care and pest control made.

Easy.

Fantastic. It shows you right on the front page. They got 4.8 stars on Google. They got 4.8 stars On Facebook. Check this out. Trusted by 11,000 plus of your neighbors. So they are building credibility right out of the gate that they already have 11,000 customers in the area on their website. Very easy to get in touch with them. Put your name, your phone number, your email, your, your address, service details there. What their phone numbers, really easy to see in the corner. But here's what I want to point out. It literally says on the, on the website areas we serve. Plano, Texas, Allen, Texas, Frisco, Texas, Texas, McKinney, Texas. So now when a customer sees us, they know, okay? And then you can actually click on if you're in Plano, if you're in Allen, if you're in Frisco, if you're in McKinney. So that's fantastic because they're, they're, they're telling you, here's where we serve. And then they're telling you, here's our services. Lawn, tree, pest sprinklers. So they, they do fertilization and weed control. They, it shows you on their website, that's what they offer. They do sprinkler and irrigation,

they do

pest control, they do lawn mowing, flowers, mulch trimming and pruning. They do tree and shrubs. There's a button there for Christmas lights. I didn't know they did Christmas lights. Oh, this is, this is, this is absolutely fantastic. And then it literally has a map of the area where it shows you what their service area. This is, this is absolutely fantastic. City turf. Unbelievable website. City Turf in. Is this a good example to look at? So here's my point. And if you guys need a website, world class website, Footbridge Media, Footbridge Media, they are the best of the best. And just looking at City Turf's website here, they're just, it's, it's, it's world class. It's absolutely fantastic because it tells you exactly what they offer. Pest control, lawn maintenance, fertilization, weed control, aeration, tree and shrub care. It's got their service areas, it's got credibility that they service 11,000 customers. This is, this is, this is absolutely fantastic. So anyway, I'm not saying copy them. You don't have to move to Allen, Texas, Frisco, Texas, McKinney, Texas, Murphy, Texas, Plano, Texas, Wiley, Texas, like they do. But you need to identify your service area. And I wouldn't recommend six out of the gate. They obviously have a gigantic team, but you just pick one, right? We serve Duluth, Georgia, service area, Duluth, Georgia. Maybe your Swanee's right next door. Maybe Suwannee, Georgia, Johns Creek, Georgia. And that's it. Anything outside of there is out of your service area and you pick your, your services. Maybe you don't do lawn care like they do with the fertilization we control, but you just, on your website you say, hey, we do lawn mowing, we do core aeration, we do mulch installs, we do trimming and pruning, whatever your skill set and you're comfortable with. And like, Kenny called me out, he's like, you don't know what you're doing. That he, because he knew kind of how to push me to where it was like, okay, well, I am gonna, I'm gonna figure this out so I can know what I'm doing. And I did. And then I expanded my services. I got more confident and everything. All right, I gotta go to the. I gotta go. Thanks for listening to today's program. Hope to catch you on the next one.

Bye. Hey, it's Marty, producer of the Green Industry podcast. This episode is over, but check the episode notes for links to products and services that you heard about during the episode. And thanks for listening.