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- [00:00]
A
12 years ago when I started my lawn care business I had no idea what I was doing. But I quickly learned route efficiency with all of my mowing accounts along with the money management system so that I had money in all the accounts so I needed it to pay the bills and run my business as well as my personal life. But eventually over the years I learned time management system to help me not be working all day every day and build a business that serves me instead of me serving it and not taking all of my time away from me just to the business. Over the years I've been sharing all of this with my peers and some mentors as well as teaching my inner circle members this but this June 26th and 27th in Richmond, Virginia, I'm going to be teaching you as well as John Pajak from the Profits with Pajak podcast who's going to be breaking down all the numbers in your business. How to be more profitable, how to price properly. Air trip with the Pond Digger who is an expert at closing high ticket sales, attracting those premium customers and closing those sales for for those customers. The Landscaping keeper and Joey Koberly from the Lawn Care Launch team will be joining us as well and we're all dedicating those two days to teaching you how to increase the profits in your business fast. You leave with a plan in hand so that you finish the second half of the year stronger than you started and your spouse gets to come for free. When you get two tickets to buy one, get one. So come join us for the weekend in Richmond, Virginia. Network learn and take your business to the next level. Click the link and I'll see you there.
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Here we go. Lawn care isn't for everyone. Let's talk about the messy middle or what some call purgatory or what I have often called the crashing zone. You know, like when you look at an ocean or you've been in the ocean and just after you go into the ocean itself, into the water from the shore, there's a point not too far in where the the waves crash continuously at a specific point. And depending on how big the waves are and you know how rough the water is and everything, it could be harder or easier to stand up straight, right? You try to stand there and and withstand the force of the wave hitting hitting you lower or higher again depending on the type of ocean, how deep it is. But regardless, there's a force there of the wave just pounding on you and over time of you standing there and trying to stand up straight, it kind of wears you down. Can get you can get a little exhausted if you're not paying attention or if you're just too tired. It could actually knock you off your feet and you could actually hurt yourself. You could potentially drown. If you get caught off guard, get the wind knocked out of you, suck up some water, and if there's not someone there to help you, you could actually drown, and that would be bad. But what. So what you should do is not just stand in the crashing zone, right? Like, you got especially little kids, you know, beginners, if you will, in this case, for business beginners. You know, you got little kids, they're smaller, not as strong, they can't stand as tall and withstand the force of the waves. And they're the ones that definitely tumble and. And cry and you get hurt and you have to scoop them up real quick and bring them back to shore or have them make sure that they stay beyond the crashing zone. Like before the crashing zone. Like, don't go in that far. Or if you're old enough or a good enough swimmer or both big enough, right? Strong enough. You just time the waves, right. You know, like after the first wave crashes, hurry up and get past the next wave before it crashes so that you can get to deeper, less rough water. So, yes, the water is deeper, it's darker, It's a little bit scarier sometimes because you don't know what's there. You don't know what's underneath. You don't know what to expect. But the water isn't as rough. It's a different type of. It's a different type of fear, if you will, even though fear is real and present danger, where anxiety is perceived future danger. And I submit to you that most of the time, we're not fearful, we're anxious because we're thinking about an undesirable future, right? Like, fear would be if. If you're in that deeper water and you see a shark fin go by and you're like, oh, my gosh. Or you feel something rub up against you and that's re. That's real present danger, right? Like, you're like, oh, my gosh. Well, what the heck was that? Now you're freaking out, right? Or oh, my gosh, is that a shark fin? Oh, my God. You know, like, not. Not to give you any. Any fears of going in the water, but, you know, until you actually see something like that or have that experience, it's actually just anxiety because you're thinking about the possibility. Like, well, I don't know. I can't see what's under there? What if there's a shark there? What if it, you know, bites me or attacks me or what if something crazy unknown tucks me under and whatever. Like, I hope I'm like, you know, scaring you away from going into the oceans. But that, that's a common fear of most of a lot of people that are fearful of going to the ocean, whether they're swimmers or not, because they can't see anything. And the deeper you go, the harder it is to see. Unless you're in the Caribbean and it's really nice, clear water, but most of the time you can't see. But again, that's not a fear, that's an anxiety. You know, they're anxious about the unknown. And a lot of times that's how, that's how business is, right? We're not fearful of our business. We are anxious about our business. We don't know what to expect with the different phases and levels in our business. And a lot of us end up stuck in the middle, the messy middle. And that's, you know, from essentially from zero to a million. That's, that's the, the messy middle. That's the crashing zone in my, in my description of, of the ocean. Everything. And so many of us, myself included, get stuck in that spot and it is exhausting. And sooner or later, something's got a break, right? A wave that's too big is going to come by and finally knock you off your feet. You're going to be tired, so you're not going to, you know, you're just tired, exhausted from dealing with the waves crashing on you constantly over time, then a bigger one's going to come and it's just going to knock you off your feet and you're just going to be done with it. You're going to be done with going in the water, right? Like, you know, I'm just getting at the game, I'm getting out the water. I'm done with my business, right? Or worse. Or, you know, you get injured. You know, I know plenty of guys that have had heart attacks, strokes, had hardships in their family and their personal life, and that made them, you know, change gears, that made them get out of the water, right? Get out of the game. And I totally get it, right? I mean, you hurt yourself, you're injured or you're exhausted, you don't know how to get past, or you're too anxious, you have too much anxiety to get past that crashing zone because you don't know what to expect. And you've heard all the stories, right? You heard me on this podcast talking about the, the unknown and, oh, my gosh, there could be sharks and, and other mysterious sea creatures. And, you know, you hear all that stuff and that just adds to your anxiety. Again, I didn't intend. That wasn't my, My intention specifically, but the analogy, the comparison is, is very true and specific to what we're talking about. Because just like business, we are. We think we're fearful, but we're anxious. We have anxiety about growing our business. We have anxiety about, you know, yeah, we have anxiety about growing our business. I don't know if we have anxiety about staying too small. We might be stressed out about staying too small. We might be struggling staying too small, staying just before the crashing zone, just in the real shallow part of the water, just dipping our toes in, essentially. And we feel the pull as the ocean, as the wave, as the ocean pulls back to prepare for the next wave to crash. You have that pull, right? You feel the pull going of being pulled, the current into the water. So you feel drawn for growth, but you're anxious about it. You don't know. And you don't know what to expect out there in the deeper water, so you stay in the shallow. But you can only do so much there, right? Like, maybe you can't pay your bills properly or you can't live the life that you want to live. You can't build the business that creates that environment for the employees that work for it and insert all the reasons of why you have a business in the first place. And maybe being in the shallow part of the, of the, of the water, of the ocean and keeping your business small, maybe that is keeping you from achieving some of those goals. And what you really need to do is grow big enough so that. Or go into the deeper water so that you can achieve those things. You can make the money that you need to pay your bills to live the life that you want to support others that are a part of your business and dependent on your business for their own personal reasons, but you're anxious about it. So you kind of ease your way in and you get stuck in the crashing zone because you're like, okay, this is as far as I want to go. Because at least I know there's nothing here. Like, there's right here. I can see clearly the waves are pounding on me. I get it, okay? I know. I know what to expect. I can prepare for each wave as it hits. I can see it. But you don't know what the wave is going to be until it actually starts to form. Sometimes a really big wave starts to come and everyone freaks out and the little kids start screaming and they run back to shore real quick. And sometimes it's a fun game for them, and sometimes it's actually terrifying. And the people that aren't prepared for that, the kids that aren't prepared, I mean, I've seen grown adults, right? I mean, this is where you see all kinds of bathing suit malfunctions, right at the ocean where people are unprepared. Maybe their back was turned and they. And they were talking to someone or they just. For whatever reason, you know, their back was turned or they had just gotten knocked off their feet by a wave and. And they get up, like, all discombobulated, trying to put their sunglasses back on or trying to fix their bathing suit, their swimsuit, and, you know, get spitting out salt water and wiping, fixing their hair out of their face, and then bang, right, Another wave right behind them that they weren't prepared for catches them off guard because they were already discombob. They were already, you know, messed up and out of sorts from the. They were trying to recover from the first wave, and then they really tumble and get all messed up and they could hurt themselves. Like I said, little kids, but even adults, right, rolling around, they get up and they got scratches, bruises, maybe they even broke something. Who knows? It could be bad right? Now. Picture all this with your business. This is why I use this analogy, because it's. I keep saying analogy. This is why I use this story as a comparison. It's not an analogy. An analogy is like, you know, you're. You're just kind of like, sharing hypotheticals. I'm talking about real life experiences with going into an ocean and comparing that to the real life experiences of growing your business.
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So.
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And so that.
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So.
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So you stay in that area of the crashing zone because at least it's familiar. You know, what to expect for the most part, but you really don't, because like I just said, sometimes the waves can get bigger unexpectedly and you have minimal time to run away, to back up, you know, to get out of that. To get out of the way of that wave to, in this case, from a business standpoint, you know, downsize your business fast enough to not get hit by that huge wave that you didn't. That you didn't anticipate. But again, the ultimate solution that I tell so many people and I don't, and I know this from personal experience from the ocean, but not from my business, because I have not grown my business to and passed a million dollars to get past that crashing zone. But I have a lot of, you know, I'm being pretty very transparent and honest. Like, I've never tried to make it seem like I'm anything more than I am. I just, I definitely have learned a thing or two about a thing or two over the last 12 years of my business personally, as well as all of the peers and mentors that I have interviewed on this podcast and on YouTube and have interacted with in person at all the different networking events that I've been to and that I have created for that opportunity and have been educated by everyone at those opportunities. So as well as all my own research and reading and trial and error on my own. Right? So definitely I don't know the same, I don't know the same as someone that has personal experience with, you know, from a million dollars and beyond of revenue in their business. But I definitely have, like I said, learned a lot from them and I know for a fact from all of them saying this and experiencing this that you have to get past a crashing zone as fast as possible so that you can get into the deeper, quote, unquote, unknown water that is a little bit calmer. And now you just have different problems. They're not the same problems. You're not dealing with waves crashing on you anymore. You're dealing with how deep, you know, how well can I swim? How strong is the current? How nervous and anxious am I about the unknown and what I can't see. Right? Like, well, learn how to swim a little bit better before you get there, you know, hopefully. Or make sure you bring some help with you, Right? Bring a life vest or whatever those, you know, like, whatever the little life flotation devices that, like, lifeguards and everybody have to throw out to you to hold on to to float. Right. Bring a flotation device of some sort. A lot of people bring, like, pool noodles and things of that sort of out into the ocean when it's allowed, or in pools in the deep end. So they have that as kind of like a safety net while they are navigating the deeper water, getting stronger at swimming and navigating the current and getting adjusted to the new challenges of the deeper water versus now, versus, you know, being sucked, sucked out further into sea by the current and you're not a strong swimmer and now you can't keep up and, you know, you start to sink, right?
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So.
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And you call for help and then hopefully help comes. Lifeguard comes fast enough if there even is a lifeguard or someone that you're with comes a peer mentor, comes running in there and swims out there. They're a stronger swimmer. They know how the currents go, and they can grab you and bring you back or navigating through the currents and everything else. So this is, in my opinion, one of the best comparisons to your business. I keep going back and forth with the. Because it's almost like we're talking about the same thing, the ocean or your business. So hopefully you're understanding that and connecting that, and I'm not losing you with that. But the whole point to this episode is that I'm continuously reminded of this and meeting other business owners that are struggling with this. And like, I literally had a conversation with someone locally and they're trying to grow their business and they can't find the help. Right? One of the usual pillars or one of the usual challenges. That's a huge pillar for your business. In order to grow, you need people to grow it. You can't grow your business any further than you can do by yourself. There's only so many hours in the day and so much energy that you have. And even if you're superhuman, there's only so many hours in the day and you could put lights on your mowers, but it's only going to get you so far as well. So again, you're going to run out of time. Even if you have a bunch of commercial properties that you can do at night or in the dark, whether it's early morning, late at night, eventually you have to sleep, right? You have to sleep. If you don't sleep, if you just go day after day after day to keep growing your business by yourself and adding more work and more work. You figured out all the hacks, lights, commercial properties, so you don't get in trouble past dark. You do all the residential stuff during the day. You do all these things and you don't sleep, but you hopefully at least eating and you know, you got to go to the bathroom, you got to stop for that, right? You're taking your little breaks, but you're never sleeping. Eventually, that's. You're going to hurt yourself. You're going to get. That's. That's unhealthy. You're going to physically start falling apart. Your body is going to start to break down. So you can't kid yourself. I mean, there is definitely, and I don't think anyone's doing that, but I'm just using that as a extreme analogy, an actual analogy, because that's like a hypothetical, like it. No one can do that and make that sustainable. So in because my point is that's proof that in order to grow your business further and further beyond yourself, you need more people. You need people to help you with that. And that is the challenge. Finding and keeping the right people. I wouldn't even say good people because there's a lot of good people. Like that's kind of a general statement. But they might not be good for you people are good for your business people. So I'd rather say the right people for your business. So finding the right people is challenging and we've all dealt with that at all different levels and different times, if not all the time. And don't kid yourself or psych yourself out into or psych yourself into a bad mindset of thinking that you just can't do it. Maybe you're just not meant to have employees. Trust me, I've been there, done that. You're just not meant to have employees or grow your business or you just can't find good help. Don't psych yourself into those excuses and propaganda and all that fake news because there are businesses, plenty of businesses. Maybe plenty is not the word. There are multiple businesses here, locally, where I am and all across the country that I've that I know personally. Through all the networking over the years, through social media and events that are struggling with the same thing, but they are still growing their business. They're still growing their business and they're still struggling finding people. It's just the difference between the two. Is the focus ready for serious savings on pro grade durability? LCR Media podcast sponsor Toro has you covered. Upgrade your lineup with $750 off or special financing on a Z Master 4000 mower. The Z Master has insane power and the precision to tackle any job with ease all day, every day. Click the link in the episode description or get to your local Toro dealer before July 31st to save the Lawn
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and Landscape Technology Conference is going to be this July 22nd through the 24th in Scottsdale, Arizona. I for one have never been to Arizona at all and I've heard a lot about Scottsdale, Arizona specifically. So I'm really excited to go check out another part of the country. One of the reasons why I enjoy traveling for different industry and community events, whether they're ones that I host or trade shows that I'm a part of or speak at. Like I was at Vegas recently for the Con Expo. Had a great time networking there and checking out that show as well as that part of the country, you know, there's different parts of Vegas, you know, for better or for worse. And you know, where Con Expo was, was, was a different perspective and it was, it was pretty nice. So I'm, I'm excited to check out Scottsdale, Arizona. Last year I was at the Lawn Landscape Conference Technology conference and it was amazing. It was, it was focused on the technology in your business. Of course there's the, the automations like robotic mowers and battery operated equipment, but they also have a lot of training as well to help you grow your business through those automations and technology. But also just being on the forefront of the ideas and the future of the industry and what are some things that you can potentially adopt into your own business, regardless of what size it is and how you feel about the future and technology and automations, ultimately that's going to help you streamline your business and work less and make more. So I'm going to be there. John Pajak from the Profits with Pajak podcast is going to be there. Air trip with the Pond digger from the Deep End podcast is going to be there. You got Cornell Mac on the attack with Mac podcast going to be there.
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And you have Mike and Larry with
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the side Hots side Hustle Squad side Hustle Squad podcast. There you go. Also going to be there. And we're going to have a great time at Pod Row yet again at the Long Landscape Technology Conference. So if you're going to be there, definitely stop by, say, say what's up? Get on a podcast, share your story or just meet up with whoever we have on podcast. We're gonna be interviewing all kinds of leaders. Like last year we interviewed Mark Bradley from Element and leanscaper and so many other high level entrepreneurs and business owners that stop by Pod Row. So you could even just, you know, stop by and listen, listen to their story first perspective and then shake their hand and talk to them after the fact. As well as, you know, getting on a podcast and sharing your story.
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So a lot of bonuses, a lot
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of great things to come out to the Law and Landscape Technology conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, July 22nd to 24th. Check out the link in the episode description if you want to register.
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Hope to see you there. It's just the difference between the two is the focus. You know, knowing your numbers is part of it. Like how much money do I have and how much money do I want to spend on recruiting, hiring, training the right people so that I can keep growing. Like an example that I gave Someone locally that I talked to the other day, you know, they're telling me about how they're struggling to find people and keep people. And I totally get it because I've been there, done that for sure. And it's a never ending challenge is what I was getting at for the last few minutes. But what I point out to him was essentially what I just said to you all on this podcast is that there are people in this area specifically that are still growing their business by leaps and bounds and they're still struggling with the same thing. They're still losing people and they still have a hard time finding people, but they're just shortening that process, making it as fast as possible and putting more time and resources into shortening that time frame. Right? To find the best, to find the right people faster and more of them, they're out there. It's just definitely challenging to find them for sure. But, you know, another conversation for another day and we'll be talking about this at Profit Accelerator Live, coming up June 26th and 27th here in Richmond is how to attract. Not only how to attract your ideal customers so that you can charge more, but your ideal customers that appreciate your value and want to pay for value. You can charge more so you can make more, but also how to attract the right people to your business that want to work for your business. Because there's a big difference between and this one of the local businesses that has been continually growing, even though it's a challenge to find people. I know because I just know all about their journey as much as they've told me anyway over the years. He had said that when he was in that growth phase,
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one of the
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biggest benefits or things that he was excited and looking forward to when he got his new shop. When he went from storage units to a shop, was the professionalism upgrade, was the being able to attract, from a team member standpoint, from being able to attract higher quality employees. Because just from going from storage units to a shop changed the perception and elevates the perception to the potential employees that now look at that as a legitimate, whatever that means, legitimate professional landscape lawn care landscape company versus Chuck in the truck, which, you know, none of us listening to this are probably Chucks in the trucks. But we might feel a little less professional when we're having interviews at Star, at a Starbucks or a Panera or at our truck, you know, or at our storage area, standing in the parking lot like, I get it, we're in lawn care and landscaping and whatever it is, what it Is right. But there is something to be said about if you want to attract the right people. Having the best perception possible with professionalism, just for one of many examples, is a way to attract the right people. And that's not to say that we all start somewhere. We don't all have shops. And he didn't have a shop for a long time either. So he made it work. He did the Paneras and the Starbucks and the storage unit interviews. He did what he had to do, but he felt until he grew fast enough to the point where he could get a shop, and then he was like, wow, we've just leveled up now. I feel like I can attract a higher caliber employee that look at this as a legitimate career path, not just a job, not just something you show up to whenever and get some cash, whatever. Like, I don't even remember what some of those stigmas are, but you attract people essentially that want a career path instead of it just being, you know, some guy in a truck mowing lawns or whatever that those different expressions are. So that's one thing right there is attracting the right people. But I digress, or I shouldn't say I digress.
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I
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pull myself out of that rabbit hole because that's a different conversation for a different day. But that is, I know, one of the large or major reasons why so many of us stay in the crashing zone. Because we know in order to get into deeper water, we're going to need some help. We're going to need to navigate that it's deeper, we can't walk anymore, we can't see the bottom, we have to swim. It's going to use more energy and time. We can't cover as much ground as fast by ourselves. So we need more people to help divide and conquer, to help, you know, strong who are stronger swimmers and this and that. And, you know, that's how we grow our business. That's how we go further into the ocean and further into deeper water. Having more confident people, more strengths, stronger swimmers helps build overall stronger confidence in you as a business owner as well as the whole team and the company as a whole. And we're all on a united mission and we all have the. We all understand the company's vision and we're moving forward together. But that is a big challenge, I get it, to find the right people. But my point is there are many businesses finding the right people, but they're also losing a lot of people. So it's always a moving target. It's never like a one and done people move on in their life, or people have tragedy in their life and they stumble, and now your best employee becomes your worst employee. They have relationship issues, maybe, like all kinds of stuff. It just happens. It's life. We're dealing with human beings. You're the same way, but because you're the business owner, you don't have the luxury, if you will, of having those kind of issues or letting those issues affect your work. But maybe it still does. Maybe that's part of the reasons why you stay in the crashing zone or why you haven't gotten past the crashing zone, or why you haven't even approached the crashing zone because you're just struggling with your personal life right now, and you're like, I don't have time to deal with any more stress in my business than I already am because I got to deal with my personal stress. And I get that as well.
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So.
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But the ultimate point to this episode is that if you stay in the crashing zone, if you stay in the messy middle or what some call purgatory, you will never achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve in business and life. And you're going to get burned out, and you're going to crash and burn. You're going to struggle to the point of complete exhaustion. And I've known many people that have gone out of business because they just never figured it out for them. Right? There are certain principles that are the same. Like I said, you need people to grow your business. That is a given. That's a fact. That's not my opinion. Those are facts. Because we can only do so much by ourselves. And I went all into that.
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There are. There are other.
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Other aspects of everyone's business that just. If you don't solve it, you don't figure it out. You don't get around people that know. You just stick to yourself in your own little bubble. You never go to an event. You never really listen to enough content or watch enough content that's meaningful, that's going to help you learn and move the needle. You don't get any peers or mentor getting any peer mentor groups to help you. Then, you know, you're.
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You're gonna.
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You're gonna struggle a lot more than you have to. I mean, like, I have. I practice what I preach. Not only have I go to all these different events and am a part of all kinds of peer groups and have mentors and have paid for coaching as well as the different events that I go to, unless I was invited to speak or something like that, in the very Beginning years, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor kind of take me under their wing. Someone that was in the business for over 20 years and quote, unquote, retired, but then just started working at my local equipment dealer. I mean, some of you that have been listening for a long time might remember me telling a version of this story before. More details. But ultimately, you know, this, this person that, like I said, retired, stopped working after 20 some odd years in their lawn care business and then started working for the equipment dealer, you know, at the front desk and sales guy. And one day I just happened to go in when I first started my business, looking at equipment and mowers and asking some questions. And he happened to be a not super busy time of the day at that particular moment. And he was able because usually it's crazy and you know that, yeah, they're obviously going to help you try and sell stuff, but a lot of times they just, they're really overwhelmed if you know, you know, and they don't always have a lot of time. But fortunately, he had as long as he needed to share a lot of information with me and answer all my questions very thoroughly, ask me about my business and what I'm doing, and just kind of got to know a little bit about me. So then every time I went in after that, he was more personal with me, right? And like, you know, one time I came in and he's like, are you getting ready for aeration season? And I'm like, should I be? I don't even really know anything about that because I came from northern, I came from the north, I came from the state of New York. So we didn't really. Aeration and seeding wasn't really a big thing for me. I wasn't even a professional lawn care provider. I was the homeowner at that point. But I remember doing a lot of my own research and trial and error, and that just wasn't a thing, nor was it really like a thing to have a lawn care and landscape business. Back then it was more of like a luxury, not a commodity. Like, it's becoming. Everyone's got someone mowing their lawn now, which is great for opportunities for businesses, right? But there wasn't a lot of experience for me back then. I definitely didn't know anything about aerating. The soil up there is a lot better than down here in Richmond, Virginia. It's clay soil, if you want to even call it that. It's just hard as a rock when it gets hot and dry, like over the summer. And it's hard for anything to grow, for you to plant anything. So literally like you're digging in a concrete almost if you're trying to dig holes and whatnot. And it takes a tremendous amount of water to soften that up so that nutrients can even get in there for whatever plants and grass you have going on there, whatever type of turf. So aerating and seeding is pretty much mandatory in the state of Virginia. They recommend at least aerating every year in the fall to at least break up the compaction and allow the turf to breathe nutrient, natural nutrients from rain, sun, air, all that, to just get in there into the root system of the turf and just help it spread naturally and grow naturally. But of course if you put seed down at that same time now you're going to thicken up your lawn as well. You put any other nutrients, fertilizer, whatever, that's obviously going to help as well. But what's recommended is at least the aerate the core aerations where you're removing soil plugs out so that there's literally space for everything to kind of spread out and grow. But I didn't know anything about that because I came from New York. So when I moved down here, some of my customers were asking if I aerated and see and I was like no, because I didn't intend to do that. I didn't know anything. I was still learning, right? It was my first year or two in business, I had no idea. So when he asked me that, are you aerating, are you getting ready for aeration and seeding season? I'm like, are you getting ready to aerate and seed? I'm like no, should I be? And he just really schooled me like well yeah, you should be sending your emails out now. And we, you know, we have an aerator if you want to rent it. Good old fashioned walk behind, it's going to drag you all over the place. But hey, get your, get your feet wet, right? Cut your teeth, you know, I mean these guys, they don't, they don't mess around. You gotta, you gotta earn your, you gotta earn your stripes the hard way, right there. Wasn't even really stand on air raiders 12 years ago anyway, I don't think or they were just coming out. So walk behind was all you got. Now walk behinds are so much better and the stand ons are the game changer. But at the time it was just good old walk behinds and so he was just giving me all the, all the tips and tricks and then I started aerating and seating now it's a regular. One of the most profitable services that I offer because I've got to stand on aerator and ride on spreader sprayers and I got all the automated stuff, all the machines to help me not be exhausted. Doing it so I can get more done faster without killing myself. Whether I have employees or not, it's just super easy. But that's just one of many examples of how I got mentored along the way by an actual mentor, by someone that had been in the game for two decades. So whether you have that experience or not, whether you can find someone like that or not in your area or find a coaching group or like a community, I mean, whatever, wherever that is, whatever that is. I mean, there's so many examples out there. Just. Just going to these different events in the industry, like all of you listening, probably have already. If not, that's going to help you for sure connect with people. You might even meet people that aren't that far from you. You guys can meet up every now and again. That'd be fun. And just have that collaboration and communication and sense of community so that you can grow together and help each other and just have someone else to talk to. Because it's tough when things are tough. It's hard when you're by yourself, but when you have someone to talk, I mean, I just talked to someone the other day, another local person, not the same one that I talked about that's struggling with employees, but another one that's also struggling with employees recently because they lost a crew leader, I believe, and he was just. I could tell he was just having a rough day. But he said after talking to me, he felt a little bit better just talking to me about it. And it's like, who else does he have to talk about it, too? He can talk to his wife, but it's not going to be the same as talking to another lawn guy. And there's only so many lawn guys that he even knows or wants to talk to, because some of them he knows and he's not too fond of. And, you know, it is what it is. And so. And also some of those lawn guys are going through the same things and they don't want to. You know, misery doesn't always enjoy company. Sometimes they're like, ah, you ever see that scene and Die Hard where Bruce Willis, you know, throws the thing out the window and smashes it on the, you know, cop car or whatever, and he says, welcome to the party. Like, you know, there you go, welcome to the party. You know, Join the club. You know, you got a lot of wise guys out there that instead of giving you words of wisdom or motivation or inspiration or whatever, positive words of encouragement, there you go. They're just stuck in their own situation, and they're just like, yeah, welcome to the club. And that's kind of it. They don't have any advice. They're just upset and struggling, and they're not at that place where they can. But when you do talk to someone that is able to have just to listen and not kind of throw more negativity your way, but, like, keep your head up, you know, here's. Maybe try this, or here's some resources. You know, anything. Just talking and having someone listen to you without throwing shade or more negativity is helpful. So that's what I recommend. If you're stuck in the middle, if you are afraid to even get to the middle, that's all these things, right? You got to get past the middle, through the middle, as fast as you can. That's what I said to one of the local people about the local person that has grown fast and furious. Like, the goal is to get there as fast as you can. You know, get past that messy middle, that crashing zone, as fast as you can, so things can start to ease up and you have new challenges, but they're different challenges. And now you can start having the business growing, the business that you hopefully wanted or need or both. And if you're afraid to get to the crashing zone, you don't want to get to the messy middle. Well, you have to get there and then get through there as fast as possible in order to grow. You can't avoid. You can't avoid going past the crashing zone. You cannot get anywhere else in the ocean without going through the crashing zone. Like, that's just the way it is. Unless you fly. You fly over there and drop in past there. But that's not practical. That's a whole nother conversation for another day. But the point is, we all have to go through that crashing zone. So learn what you can now before you get stuck in there, or if you're stuck in there, learn as much as you can as well, so that you can get through it fast, and then you can get to deeper water that is calmer and full of opportunities for you to grow and explore. And you don't do that alone is the ultimate part there. So whatever that looks like to you, peers, mentors, groups, events, you listen to this podcast, hopefully that will help. But this is just one step. This is like beginning steps. You need to do a lot more than just listen to a podcast or watch a YouTube video to, to get further in life, in business.
- [41:05]
C
That's how growth happens.
- [41:06]
B
So, like, you know, anyway, I was about to go go with a whole another comparison with the gym and everything, but that'll just have to be another time. I've used, I've used that comparison many times anyway, so I'm sure you guys have heard enough of that. So, with all that being said, thanks for listening to this episode. Thank you to Toro Company for sponsoring the LCR Media podcast. And until the next episode, this is Nail Artaghero signing off. This has been an lcr media and Mr. Producer production.