LCR Nail (Host) (3:51)

Nice. Yeah. Steve, I didn't know you set up a demo. I was going to say, you know, you were like, not, not a lot of stuff I can use. I'm like the Vermeer booth, you know, that is a sizable booth and you guys really enjoyed learning about the mini loader. So I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, that's awesome. You're going to love that thing, trust me. And I mean, I love that, just playing around with it. And I don't use mini loaders on a regular basis. I have in the past rented, you know, like dingoes and things like that. But Vermeer is like changing the game. They like, they literally like are changing the whole category of the mini skid steer, you know, equipment. So I think it's amazing. So I'll be excited to hear what, what you, what your feedback is on that, actually using it. So, so that's good. Triplet. What do you think about Conexpo?

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (4:40)

I want to speak to the organizational part of it, actually, because, you know, it, it's an understatement to say that it's overwhelming. It's so big, however, with my busy schedule and my calendar planning and like, if I have a coaching call to get on, whether I'm being coached or I'm coaching someone, like, I'll literally get on the call with two minutes to spare. Because I, I, I'm just trying to maximize my time. Everywhere I go, I'm like, hey, I got two minutes. I, I literally set my alarms. Like if I gotta be somewhere at the hour, I'll set an alarm at 10 minutes to the hour and I have a nine minute window to get ready and then I have another nine minute click and I know I got a minute to be where I'm supposed To be. And so that's how I'm managing my life right now. And so when I drove in, I drove in with, I had an hour to spare. And I was actually a little stressed about getting parked, getting ready, you know, getting to the registration, getting my lanyard, getting to the, in the mix booth so we could jump on that stage together and do the podcast. I, I was really pressing the envelope, but wow, man. When the parking was clean, I got registered so fast. Like to have 100,000 people running through this place and not have lines like this. The pizza line was longer than anything and you know, the, yeah, yeah. And the taco line was kind of long. I mean, it took me longer to get three tacos before we went on stage. I almost, I almost got late. I was almost late because I was trying to get some tacos. It was not because parking, it was not because registration, getting tickets, you know, like it would, they were very, very seamless.

LCR Nail (Host) (6:17)

And that way shuttled, you know, waiting to get shuttled over. That was seem seamless as well.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (6:22)

Yeah, I mean, yeah, everything was like the, the directional, the people were telling you what to do, lots of staff. So I just want to speak to that. It was very, very well done. I mean, planning three years and you know, at a time you can tell that they really done, they put in the work to make it really clean and seamless.

LCR Nail (Host) (6:39)

Yeah, I, I, I agree. I, we, I was getting a little nervous when I'm like, I asked the lady like, where is this? And she's like, you, you should probably want a shuttle. I'm like, we can't just walk. It looks like it's right there. She's like, you're going to want to take a shot.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (6:51)

It's two miles away. It's two miles from where we're at. You should get into shuttle.

LCR Nail (Host) (6:56)

Yeah. Like, all right. But then there's this huge line, but then three buses, like full on, like Greyhound type buses just roll in and we just all load up one bus at a time and we get over there and we had time for tacos

Naylor Tyler Farrow (7:09)

and all of that.

LCR Nail (Host) (7:09)

But it was a little stressful like you said. But they have it all organized. Everybody's, I mean, one takeaway. They had a question lady, right? They had a couple, a couple of people just walking around with science questions. You have questions. She's yelling. You have questions, questions. Help. Help. Like, that's crazy. Just because it's so big and there's so, it's so overwhelming and probably so many people's first time there that you're like, you don't. You don't even know. I mean, there's maps everywhere, which is helpful. But it's like those of you listening, you've been to Equip Expo, or you hear us talk about Equip Expo and the lawn and landscape industry, and that's like a one, one building essentially of the. I mean, I know Equip is pretty big and does span throughout the entire Kentucky Exposition center, but it is almost essentially the whole Kentucky Exposition center is essentially like the south, you know, building or the west building. Yeah, it's like. And that's just one floor. And these are multiple floors. You know, one floor is all engines. The bottom floor is equipment, you know, that uses these engines. And it's just. It was very bizarre, but also eye opening. And the fact that they're organized, like you said, like, wow, lots of seating, lots of places to eat, just. And it like spans over blocks and blocks and blocks of that whole area. The whole Las Vegas Convention center area. It's quite remarkable, for sure. So I would definitely recommend, because landscaping is construction to a certain degree, so I mean, if you're only doing lawn maintenance, I get it. But it was still worth checking out. And we spoke about. Let's talk about that. We spoke about branding, you know, like how to brand your business for contractors. And I think we did a pretty good job. Triplet. What do you have to say about that, Marvin?

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (8:52)

Marvin put on a good. A good interview. And you know Peter from Con Expo, who organized the whole thing, he was front row, like, and that's cool. It wasn't like, hey, yeah, get on stage and do your thing. Like, they, they were there testing you to make sure you were not screwing up. I mean, so, um, yeah, I think, I think the crowd was good. And when you see so much going on, they have an entire wing and a whole, like the. I think the whole west wing is all education. Like, I think that's what it is. I could be wrong, but massive section just for all these different classes. And so that was pretty impressive. And then for us then to set up this podcast booth. So there's. There's really something for everyone. You said, oh, I don't know if it should be a lawn care or landscaping or whatever. But like, this. I think this expo has something for everyone. We haven't even. We've been here two days and we haven't even touched it all yet, you know, so that's. That's pretty impressive. So I feel like our talk went really well. The People that showed up for it were really engaged. They were laughing, they were leaning in. They were, they were, they were there to learn.

LCR Nail (Host) (9:55)

What were some of the things that you, that we talked about at the panel that could potentially, you know, add value to, to our audience this year for, for branding? Some of the takeaways from yourself, maybe from any of us that you remember?

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (10:09)

Well, it was very interesting that, you know, there's, when you have a panel, I think it's really interesting because you're really getting perspective from different ages. You know, I'm almost 60, you guys, you're 50. Caleb's younger, like, so, I mean, you're getting this whole span. What I found was really fascinating is because everything we talked about was pre social media and social media now, and what would it be like post social media if social media disappears? So we kind of touched on all that stuff, and soon as we were done. This guy has been in business for 50 years, was like, clamoring to get to us, to talk to us. I want to learn more. What podcasts are you on? How do I get more? And then he shared his story about his son, you know, was probably, you know, my, probably my age. Right. His son was, wanted to get him into a website, and he was resistant. And then he, he leaned in and it elevated his business. And he's sharing like, hey, I'm doing 50 million a year now. So, you know, it's, I, I think it definitely resonated with the crowd to get that guy that's been doing it for, for 50 years, he's in his 70s, to come up and talk to us with that much excitement and vigor. It was really inspiring. I, I loved that.

LCR Nail (Host) (11:22)

Yeah. And I can definitely see the, like I, I said to you afterwards, I, I, I'm, I'm really keen on observing the crowd and seeing, like, the connection levels and things that I say or other people say and see if they're dialed in or not, if they're nodding, if they're looking at me, if they're, you know, I can see certain people that were really engaged. Some of the people followed me after the fact. I was like, wow, they really were engaged. But, yeah, so 100% like, like what you were saying, triplet. I agree. And I could see it in their faces because only a few people talked to us after the fact, but I saw a lot of people really engaged and nodding along with whether it was something Caleb said or you said or I said or Marvin said. It was really good, and hopefully that can build and we can Keep having more like. Like we do at Equip.

Mike Garvey (12:09)

Right.

LCR Nail (Host) (12:10)

Like, hopefully Con Expo will continue to build on that, because there's a lot of contractors that need to learn more about branding and how important that is and just certain things like that so that they can grow their business, you know, and just be. Be more than. One of the things I said was how to separate yourself from the saturated competition, you know, out there. Branding is key. Right. I don't know how you guys feel about that, but branding is a huge, important, a huge priority for you to separate yourself from all the chuck in the trucks and all the companies out there with no name. This any other thing. It's like, how do you separate yourself? Well, brand and. And it's more than just a logo. There's so much. It's the story. It's the conversation. It's the story that your customers are saying about you. It's the story that you're telling about yourself. The work that you do is part of that story. Right? Your setup, your professionalism, all that's part of your brand. It's all part of your story. It's not just the flashy colors and the logos. That's all part of it. It's all one big part of telling your story, which is what a brand is. And that's how you separate yourself from all of the competition, if you want to even call it that, but making sure that you're the one that people think of first when they want to call for a quote.

Mike Garvey (13:25)

Yeah, And I think it's a combination of things. You know, is your truck wrapped? Is your. Are your trucks clean? Right. Is it your logo recognizable? Is your yard sign straight? And, you know, when our guys put it in and is your website professional? And does it tell a story? It's like so many different things. Like, in combination of. Instead of just slapping on a magnet on the side of your truck and none of your trucks match and everything's mishmashed, I think it's like. That drives me nuts. I think a lot goes into all of that.

LCR Nail (Host) (14:09)

Yeah, I agree 100%. So let's. Let's get on to. On Pot House here. So what. What are you thinking, Mike? How's everything going so far with. With Pothouse, where we're at the compound? It's pretty epic.

Mike Garvey (14:21)

Yeah. No, what do you want to say? I think this is. This is pretty much how I envisioned it. I don't. You know, I think it's. It's. It's a great setup. Super secure, super remote. We have the different studios, Multiple different studios. I. This is what I thought of when, when we came up with this idea. And Eric told the story on his podcast about how it came to be, how we had him at equip. He. He did want us, you know, it was $500 to sleep four hours. We're like, no, do you just come stay with us, crash on our couch and I'll let you take it.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (15:02)

Dude, pot. Pothouse is partly your fault, dude. It's Naylor's fault, right? Because. Because he's like, I spoke at lcr. Somebody's like, I got you covered. I'll got all your meals, your hotel, everything. And he thought I was leaving early, so shortage. He shorted me a day, dude. And he was, he felt really bad. He was like, oh my God, you're leaving tomorrow. And I'm like, don't trip. I'm gonna, I'm gonna stay with, you know, I'm gonna stay at the, at the Airbnb with Garvey and his boys. And don't even worry about it. It's not a big deal. But it's totally your fault. A pothouse. Pothouse wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for you, bro.

LCR Nail (Host) (15:33)

You mean because you coincidentally. Because the Side Hustle Squad podcast let you in?

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (15:40)

Because you failed to get me an extra room. And I begged these guys like, please, no, I was gonna rent the room. And I'm like, I would rather give them 500 bucks. You put me up at this beautiful hotel. It's the best hotel. I love that hotel you put me up in as a speaker. Top notch service right there. But it was just a coincidence. I was staying an extra day and I called these guys up and I'm like, let me just come and hang out with you guys. We're going to the airport at literally 4 in the morning. We're waking up at 3:30. You know, we just were going out to dinner till 10:30 or 11. Like I'll just, I'll sleep on your floor, dude, I don't care. I live on a ranch. I'm not, I'm not too proud. It's cool. You know, he's like, yeah, come on over. And so that, that. And then Pot House was born. That night, in that five hour window, Pothouse was born.

Mike Garvey (16:24)

Yeah, like we, we. I came out of the room and I was like, need to just do this. Like we need to, right? Like, I don't remember what I said. I was delirious by the end of that, that week. But I'm like, we need to just get podcasters in a house and call it Pod house. That was it.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (16:46)

So simple.

Mike Garvey (16:47)

So simple. It's not a lot. Not a lot happens up here. You know, when it does, it's pretty good, but, you know, it's few and far between.

LCR Nail (Host) (16:57)

Wow. So you guys really concocted it in. In that one night you just were talking about, hey, and then, and then it just kind of evolved from there. Like, oh, how do we. So what does this look like? How do we figure this out? I feel like this just quickly. This right here in Las Vegas, this compound should be like the pothouse headquarters for sure. Like, I think you should, like, come back here as often as necessary because this is pretty.

Mike Garvey (17:21)

Should be the reoccurring one.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (17:22)

Yeah, he just likes his own wing, right?

LCR Nail (Host) (17:25)

He's just like, yeah, he has like,

Naylor Tyler Farrow (17:26)

his own house, you know, too. But I mean, by accident, we could have had this last night. He had his own house by accident.

Mike Garvey (17:32)

I think this is going to be the standard for Naylor, though, where everywhere we go, he's got to have his own.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (17:37)

I don't have my own room.

Mike Garvey (17:38)

Well, well, now we know Louisville. There's a. There's the, you know, there's that super secret office, you know, in the building. But, you know. Yeah, absolutely. So nail her.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (17:52)

Naylor just hated this morning. I was up at 4. Then he's up at like 5:30 on the phone, speakerphone blaring. It's like, it's like, no, no. Yeah, do the waterfall over here.

LCR Nail (Host) (18:03)

And then you're going to go over

Naylor Tyler Farrow (18:04)

to this house and like, he's walking back and forth, you know what I mean? And Naylor's flying his room. Like, geez, man, like, I'm trying to sleep for like, like a half hour here, you know what I mean? And. And then, you know, we're sitting on a podcast and he walks outside with coffee and he just like, it winds up in his own house. He starts rolling his luggage out. We're like, we thought he was leaving.

Mike Garvey (18:25)

Yeah, but that's the thing. When we booked up, like, all right, there's seven bedrooms. And then we came in here and like, there's only five. I'm like, that's different. That's weird. And then we started walking around the cop like, there's a whole other two bedroom suite back here. So.

LCR Nail (Host) (18:38)

Yeah, you're not wrong. Larry's not wrong. But like, I'm like, well, I'm definitely coming to sleep over here now. I'm going to get a good night's Sleep.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (18:47)

Yeah, no, that's.

LCR Nail (Host) (18:49)

This, this is a really, like quite the discovery. Right? Like, we had no idea that there was like a whole nother little house here. But, but aside from all of that, I mean, whether I'm here or not, I think this is, this is an amazing spot for sure. And it's just all like, secured location and it's just, it's a really good maiden voyage here for, for Pot House, so.

Mike Garvey (19:11)

And I think it's gonna build, you know, I think it's gonna. Going to be a snowball like everything else, right? Like it's just going to get steam and different people come through and people want to come be on the podcast and have different studios and. I don't know. The sky's the limit, I think.

LCR Nail (Host) (19:30)

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Mike Garvey (20:42)

What?

LCR Nail (Host) (20:42)

What? Why do you want to be a part of Pot House? Why did you think this was a good idea when Garvey brought it up?

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (20:49)

I. I didn't say it was a good idea. No, actually I did. It's because, you know, if you think about it the way these events go, a lot of times we're coming out to a big event like this and, you know, there's a little bit of buildup and then you go to the event for three, five days, seven days, whatever size event you're at, and then it kind of evaporates. And a lot of times you're taking classes and taking notes and collecting business cards. And you don't really document the journey as much as you should. And, you know, at a quip expo last year, when this all developed, you know, we sat in a lot of different things, and I was inspired by a lot of stuff. You know, Padro is always amazing. That was definitely an inspiration behind this. And then we're like, how can we, like, kind of get together and make sure we document this stuff, you know, in real time? And that's kind of how it evolved from there. So I.

Mike Garvey (21:38)

That.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (21:38)

That's why I think it's such a great idea. But, you know, after hours, you go out and spend a lot of money at a restaurant. Sometimes it's too loud. You get to a restaurant, you, you know, you wait a long time, so you lose that downtime. Now you're making connections with people and shaking hands and, you know, learning stuff from each other. But it's. Music's kind of loud, and then you're waiting for service. And we're like, let's just do the. Let's just do the Airbnb, and let's, like, really lock it in. Let's bring in a chef. Let's bring in, you know, plenty of food and the. And then we can collapse time and. And put all that networking time, and we can record it like we're doing right now. Like, your remote studio is so perfect for Pot House. Like, you're an inspiration for that. But. So that was the real. The real brains, the brainchild behind it, is to lock in all that information, because, you know, when you go to a conference, you take notes, you put them in a folder, and then they go on a shelf, and then you don't activate them. Right. So when we. When we listen to Jesse Cole last year, I got. It was really powerful. Besides from paycheck, dancing on stage, which was unbelievable. That was powerful. Like, so. But. But I learned so much from Jesse, and I was sitting, like, third row back or something like that, and I wasn't taking notes, but I was all going through my brain, and I made a podcast about it immediately, and I just brain dumped. And then I can listen to it again. I could be in the shower, I could put it on. I could be going to bed at night and kind of, like, still awake, listen to the podcast again and go, oh, I got to do that. I forgot that. You know, so that was the power of that. And that's where, um, you know, chaos, content, creation, all that kind of came from in that pothouse. So the pothouse came together pretty interesting. Like, we created Logo, like, immediately we created the. The chaos part of it is kind of fun because that's. We don't always capture that chaos in. In. At each of these events. The chaos is part of the fun of it. You know, you get uncomfortable, you learn stuff. And that documentation of it, what we're doing right now, and the podcasting and the content and reels and all that, that's. That's the power of it. So that's why I think it's such a good idea.

LCR Nail (Host) (23:52)

I like the documentation part that you're talking about. It's almost like podcasting is like a time capsule in a sense, because you're. You're. You're encapsulating a memory, a moment, you know, connection from an event, you know, takeaways, all that. And you can always refer to it. People will find it later on down the road. People that just discover the podcast, discover you, and could be two, three years ago, and they're learning now. Obviously, videos are the same, like YouTube videos and all that, but this is just kind of another evolution of that because it's. So many weird things can happen with video. Things can be outdated. You know, the format's different now, or this platform's not working. And something about podcasts and just having an audio file out there, it's kind of like a universal way to get your message out there. And it's just talking. You're not focusing on the video quality or this and that. You're just. I mean, I know we're doing video now, but it's also the audio portion. So I think that's an underrated strength of podcasting and the power of audio.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (24:59)

One of the things that was really powerful at equip when this whole thing came together is, you know, the side Hustle's working with Jobber, right? And so they were gonna do some, like, they were doing man on the Streets interviewing people, and I was helping record it and kind of watching these guys and helping be a director of photography, right? Then they're doing, like, they're selling from the booth and, you know, in. In a service orientation thing. Like. Like, we. We love Jobber about what it does for our business. And, like, we're just trying to tell contractors how to do it. And they're one of the brand partners for the side Hustle squad. And so at that time, I had all this video on my phone. They didn't even. They were just like, hey, let's try this out. And I'm like, I'll video everything. Don't worry. It literally happened then. And it was really powerful the way Garvey was doing one thing on one side. And I'd go film Larry and Larry's like showing these people and to see the twinkle in these contractors eyes, like, I didn't know that this was even possible. And so part of Pod House is to support the brands at the highest level. And so, you know, you have amazing brand partners for Padro and all that stuff. And, you know, I was filming there, I'm filming Garvey. And so that was part of it. It's like, how can we take this chaos, create content, share it out in all the different possible formats? And I think that was really the catalyst behind that because we've been to a lot of booths, we've been to a lot of shows, but us trying to capture this new content creation. And it happened that night because I was sharing the different videos and like, I was laying in bed that night because it was content War room. You know, we're in Kentucky. I wasn't alone. I was like talking to these guys. We're podcasting and I was hyped and I laid in bed and I couldn't sleep. So, like, it's midnight and I'm editing content for side Hustle Squad and Jobber and I'm like, wow, this is powerful. And then I wake up and he comes staggering out in his boxers, in his big juicy butt, and he's like, oh, my God, I got this idea. We're gonna do Pot House 3.

LCR Nail (Host) (27:12)

Oh, man.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (27:13)

You had to squeeze that one in there.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (27:16)

Yeah, I squeezed it in. Literally squeeze it in.

LCR Nail (Host) (27:20)

Oh, man. Oh, man. So. So, Mike, so what was. Right, so where can you. Can you add anything to what Triple is saying about Pot House and the future of Pot House and partnering with brands or wanting to and establish those relationships?

Mike Garvey (27:46)

Yeah, I think, you know, working. Working with Eric, documenting that sales process with brands, I think brands are starting to realize, and it's not just Jobber, it's all these brands that they can talk about their product to contractors. And contractors will say, okay, yeah, yeah, it sounds good. You're, you know, but bridging the gap with people that actually use a product and that can. Can show real. In real time. This is what the product looks like. This is real numbers, this is real jobs or real bank accounts or whatever it is. They're like, oh, wow. I think that makes a lot. That. That's really something that we could use. So we're looking at that model of, you know, putting contractors into booths and then also To. To. To get to the contractors who trust them. I think it's hard to, you know, we went to something for sales, and they're like, well, when's the best time to call you? When's the best time to call you to talk about banking for your business? And I'm like, don't call me about when you. When do you want. When am I going to talk to you in between lawns that I'm doing? Like, I don't want to talk to you. I'm like, so, like, don't do it that way then. I think them listening to these brands, listening to contractors, or using the product to get to other contractors is the key. And I think that's a part of what we're doing here with. With. With Pothouse, too.

LCR Nail (Host) (29:28)

Yeah, I like that. And something else I think is underrated about Pothouse and about, like, creators, content creators getting together in general, whether it be Pod row, pod house, just in an event, whatever is. Is what just happened a little while ago where we were just laughing, cracking up, having a good time. And then, because we're all. We're all very similar, right? Everyone listening, watching, and everyone here in this room, we're all very similar. We're contractors, we're. We're laughing, we're joking it up, we're busting on each other, we're having a good time. And then when we get together like this, it makes the content even higher energy and a higher level when we get around each other like this and we can laugh and goof off and. And still create some good value. And then everyone listening and watching is like, oh, man, they feel more connected. It's one more level of connection. And like, oh, man, I want to be at the next pot house, or I want to go to this. This show or this event so I can be a part of that. And. And just hang out with these guys. Like, oh, man, they sound like a good time. You know, like, that's a whole. Another level of connection through a podcast and through a video to. To. To make everyone not feel so disconnected, right? And. And it can be very lonely when you're the only one out there in your town and everybody else is looking at you, throwing shade because you're the competition. You're like, we. There's plenty of lawns out there, bro. There's plenty of dirt to dig holes and plenty of stuff out there for all of us. If we just work together and not low ball or be mean or just, you know, we could actually help each other in some Ways, So, and, and, and, you know, not everyone has that experience. I'm fortunate that I have a bunch of friendly folks around. And so it all depends. So a lot of people depend on these conversations to feel connected because they feel so disconnected in their hometowns.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (31:11)

Yeah. What I think is good, too, with like, the podcasts and like, all the videos and stuff, is like, we're. We're in the field using this stuff. You know, it's easy to walk up to a brand and like, ask them a question. They say how great their product is. You know, of course they're going to say it's great. It's their product. When we're in the field and we're working with it and we're using it, we know what's the best thing about it. We give a couple of things that aren't always the most perfect thing with it, but we can say it's still better than the competition. You know, I try everything. Like when I use equipment or if I see someone, new equipment, my friends that have landscaping equipment, I'll ask them, how does that work? Because he knows how it works. He's like, it works greater. You know, I don't like the safety on this or this, you know, this aspect of the machine or, you know, but when you're using and you're telling people about the product, they trust you in it. And like me, I would never lie. Like, if someone tells me something like, I don't know, like, I was steer away from that, you know, I'm honest with it. I'm going back to you saying, like, like, everybody helps each other. I think, like, the landscape industry is, like, one of the only industries, like, really, that really help each other. I mean, everybody helps each other. I never met a person that I talked to that did not give me information about how to make my business better or even learning something from someone to make my business better in a conversation, they ask me for information. Someone might ask me, oh, like, about information. I asked them a question, they gave me information. They don't even know it, you know, but that's what it's about, man, talking to everybody and just getting. Picking everybody's brain. And like, you, like, nail or like, you would talk to anybody and like, give information and help them. Pondiger would. Mike would. I would. And there's not a lot of fields like that that are so tight. I don't know if you agree or disagree, but that's how I feel.

LCR Nail (Host) (32:52)

No, I agree. 100 and because I've worked with brands for so Many years. Like brands that overlap our industry, like, like a jobber. Like a lot of the CRMs, you know, they, they focus on the service industry are the ones that we know. But it's not just us. It's like, you know, pressure washing, it's, you know, pond construction. It's, you know, it's a whole diverse service, you know, all the trades and, and they all have said, including jobber, that we are the most collaborative and nice to work with. Service industry. Right. You know, landscaping, lawn care, landscaping. We just very collaborative where so many other service industries out there. It's like a dog eat dog world and so much competition and none of you were there. But we experienced this at a different event that's outside of our industry that we went to with Pod Row a couple years back. And, and we were literally had different people on our podcast and like I was interviewing one person, someone else interviewing somebody else right next to us and they're bashing each other on the podcast like, oh, I'm better than them and they don't know what they're talking about. And my YouTube channel's better and I know more about this and you know, don't listen to them and my book's better. It was crazy. And that was the first time we actually experienced that. And it was, it kind of like, it kind of like made us a little disenchanted. Like we didn't want, didn't really want to interview too many more people. We were getting like really skeptical. Like we were like vetting people a lot more. Like we don't know what these people are going to say. We're like, what did we step into? You know, like we're trying to bring good content for everyone and all of a sudden it turns into this, this hate fest. So, so we actually witnessed it. So I used to hear it from brands and then I witnessed it. I always just thought that everybody was like this. But you know, I took it for granted that were in such a collaborative space as contractors. I didn't know it was, it wasn't, that wasn't the norm. So. But to your point, I agree 100%. I just thought that was the thing like for everyone, but it's not. It's really just for landscape contractors which you're included in that triple. You're a landscape contractor. So we're all very similar. I mean, do you find that in the, in the aquatic, in that like aquatics, aquascapes, like that whole field that,

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (35:03)

that industry does connect pretty well. It's, it's much Smaller industry. It's a much, much smaller industry. And I, I talked to John. Oh, Jo it from Olsen, right. Because we, we were doing some math together. He was on my podcast and he said there's like 40,000 pest control businesses across America. And then we started doing the math and we were like, there's probably 10,000 aquatic contractors across the US which is drastically more. And then we did the math on lawn and landscape and it's like 100,000. Like it's, it's so, it's such a big industry. So there's some very good collaborating going on in the water garden industry. So I would speak to that.

LCR Nail (Host) (35:44)

Well, that's very good insight because that means it's even more mind blowing or whatever the right words are, that the landscaping industry is so big, bigger than some of these smaller industries. And we are still so collaborative and like minded and connected. But I feel like we just, a lot of us come from similar, similar backgrounds, right? Like we, we, we want to, we just want to build a better life for our families, right? I think that's what it to, you know, whether we came from a job or career that we couldn't stand, or we, we lost that a job or something. And you know, there's very, or we grew up in it. You know, there's various similar stories that I keep hearing constantly that get people into the lawn and landscaping industry or just becoming a landscape contractor in general, and then they, they fall in love with it. Like they want to get dirty. They want to get their hands where they feel like they're bringing value and providing value to their customers, to the community and obviously to their family when home, you know, the, the income to support their family.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (36:44)

It's also like very rewarding, right? You like, you know, you cut along, you have these nice stripes in it. It looks clean, it looks good when you're done. Or you do this like paver job and like you step back and like, you know, you and your guys created that, right? You know, they're around the fire pit hanging out and the next day you get a text message, man, that was such a great night. Like, we out there with the kids, we did s', mores, it was awesome, you know, and you get that and it feels good to like hear that, you know, because a lot of times customers are quick to give you like negative stuff, you know, but then you get like those positives and it does feel good. And like going back to the other thing, like, I think you should never look at anybody as competition. That's when you're going to fail. As soon as you look at someone's competition, God's not on your side. He's just like, like you have to look at someone and say, how can I make you better to make me better? And like, everybody just gets better together and. But a lot of people, there is a few people by us that look at you as competition, which is fine, but you don't have to really mess with them that much. You find the ones that'll help you and you could help them. Don't always want help. You give and take and work together. Like you said before, like, you go work together, make way more money working together with somebody, you know.

LCR Nail (Host) (37:57)

Yeah, 100%. And of course there's going to be bad apples, right? I would say it's more like an 80, 20 where it's 80% more collaborative and 20%, you know, bad apples out there that are just, they just haven't got with the program. Program. And they usually don't last anyway. Or if they do, they're just miserable. Like, it is what it is. And if they don't want to connect, they don't want to connect. That's on them.

Eric Triplett (Pond Digger) (38:17)

Dude, I like getting pissed at some competition sometimes, bro. It's fuel, dude. When you have, when you have someone that's been with you a while and they leave and they're gonna go start their own business, bro, I fucking love that sometimes. Sorry I said the F word there, dude. I get pumped. I'm like, oh, you wanna try and take my customers? Good, good, let's go. You know? And like, it fires me up. Cause it's moments like that where you're like, sometimes you get kind of like, oh, well, I'm friends with everybody and they, we like each other. But like, when, when you really, you feel like your business is being challenged and on the line by your competition, I think that's fiery and that's good to get. Like, okay, I gotta get better. I want to be a better version of myself, but I'm going to be 10 times better version than this fool. You know what I mean? So it's like, it's moments like that that have kind of defined me in my career. So I'm up for some good fuck you competition.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (39:05)

But that's not, but that's not hating your competition though. That's like you want to do better than your. Which there's nothing wrong with, I don'. You know, But I, I, I had two employees leave my company back in the day. But they're honest Upfront with me, they said, hey, man, we're gonna go start our own thing. We'll never touch one of your customers. It's been four years. They haven't touched one of my customers in four years. They said, that's one thing we'll never do. We'll never touch one of your customers. And they used to give me a very hard time. These guys, like, going through working with me, show up late, call out, all that kind of stuff. And they actually, they saw me at a Wawa, and the one brother came up to me and he goes, you know something, man? Now I know why you're always so pissed off when we called out. He's.

LCR Nail (Host) (39:46)

I know why.

Naylor Tyler Farrow (39:47)

He goes, it sucks. You can't even do your day. Yeah, they learned like you. Some of those guys learn from that, though. But you're right. I mean, competition like you, you can look at it like that, but I'm talking about people like, hating you for being the competition, you know?

LCR Nail (Host) (40:01)

Well, I wanted to thank you guys for. For inviting me to the pot. The inaugural pot house. And this is. This is epic. So I, I really want to thank you and thank you, Larry, for, for cooking breakfast and, and dinner and, you know, coming soon dinner and just your hospitality. You guys are always helping out with Pod Row, of course, triplet you are as well. It's, again, it's just another testament to community and how we all want to help each other out. It's like a brotherhood and a sisterhood, right? Like we all just. It's family, family. So thank you guys for being here. Thanks for inviting. Thank you for being here in the pot on the podcast and thank you for inviting me to Pod House. Again, like I said. So with that being said, if you watching or listening, you want more connection and community, go ahead and check out the link. LCR Media Network. Join that. Join the conversation. Be a part of growth for yourself, your business and your personal growth for your family, for your community. So I would love to see you there. Check out the link in the episode description and until the next episode. And thank you to Toro company for sponsoring LCR Media podcast. Can't forget that. But until the next episode, this is Nail, Artali Farrow, Eric Chiplet, Larry and Mike. See you later.

Mike Garvey (41:22)

This has been an lcr media and Mr. Producer production.