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Here we go. One of the biggest takeaways from this weekend's event, the Profit Accelerator Live event which by the way, if you missed that, you can, there's going to be a link in the episode description for you to join the LCR Media Network free community and the replay is going to be on there when it's available. There's lots of other training on there. Every time there's new training to be updated, we put that in there as well as the, the most beneficial part is the fact that you can have conversations with other like minded lawn and landscape professionals so that you can just, you know, talk about different ideas and challenges and just have a community that's judgment free and positive and can, can help us all grow together. But that's the LCR Media Network so you can check that out to, to get the replays. But one of the biggest takeaways that I, that I have from that weekend is I have to be more careful what I say. I, I, I feel like I preface everything that I say. I try to be not I try to, I am as transparent as I can possibly be about anything and everything that I talk about as well as saying that whatever works for me doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work for you. There are certain business principles that apply to any business. But, but when it comes to different aspects of my business and experiences and others experiences that I've interviewed on my podcast or shared their strategies and different tips that I've learned along the way or just from talking to them as well or seeing seeing it firsthand, all of that is kind of like the whole comes with a grain of salt type phrase or analogy that it's all of this is meant to inspire and educate you, but not to say that this is the only way it has to be done exactly like this or whatever versions of that. It's about you applying whatever you think is applicable to your business. You know, maybe you have to customize it to your business. Maybe it's not like well we can't really do it like that or we can't do that at all. But that, that gave me an idea for something else. Like that's what it's all about because we were having conversations, we were having a Q and a panel at the event and somebody, one of the attendees was saying that they were talking about route density and how they're trying to tighten up their route density and they know that that's important and they have an area that's kind of further away from the rest of their properties. So they're trying to figure out what to do with that. Like should they sell it, should they just let it go? You know, I forgot what some of the other options were, but they were just trying to figure out what to, what to do with it. So we were getting, we were getting some clarifying questions, we were asking some clarifying questions to get some more context and you know, like, because there's a multiple, there's multiple answers to that question based on the answers to our questions, right? Like if it's a non profitable route, then get rid of it, you know, like if it's a non profitable route. So what, what my, well, my answers were were if it's a non profitable route for one reason or another, right? Like you can't price it high enough. You know, maybe they're cheap people, you know, they only want one, one like one service. They just want you to moblo and go. So you're really not able to make much profit to begin with. So they're not really profitable. Then you should probably just let them go. You know, tell them that, that you're not able to service their area anymore. I mean, I've done that plenty of times. I mean usually we wait till the end of the season for that. Unless it's that, unless it's bleeding your business with cash that badly to go out there all the time. But you know, if he's also. They had this route for forever I guess too. I believe like a long time wasn't like a new route. Like they've built this up over years and they're really good customers. So you know, so, so it's just, I'm saying the different scenarios for, for you listening in case it applies to you that you know, if, if it's not profitable, it's not sellable and if it's not profitable, you don't really want to give them, give them to anybody else either because that's kind of not nice, right? You're, you're giving somebody non profitable work but if they are profitable and you, you could try and sell it and if you can't sell it then you can give it away to someone. Like if you do know someone in the area that's, that's better off, like closer to them, then, then you can give it to them or refer the people to them, say hey, I can't, you know, I'm not able to service your lawn anymore. But here's, here's a recommendation or here's a couple of recommendations and go from there. So, but if it is profitable, then you probably want to try and see if it's sellable first. See if anyone's interested in increasing their revenue and their accounts immediately, you know, essentially overnight or grow in a new neighborhood, maybe if they're not even in that neighborhood. I mean, that's what I did. I sold it. Many of you might have, you know, heard me say this before. If not, you know, I sold one of my routes. I could have sold my whole business. Not necessarily to the same person, but I could have sold my whole business ultimately because it's such a profitable business and, you know, the way I have it all set up and structured and everything, but for one reason, I didn't want to sell my whole business because transparently, I do enjoy lawn care. I really do enjoy it. It's. It's a lot of different aspects about it. I enjoy the work. I enjoy the. The ability for me to kind of think and get creative while I'm mowing the lawns. Like, it's not, it doesn't, it doesn't take a whole lot of thought for me to mow the same lawns over and over again every week, every day, every week. So I can really kind of zone out. And like, when you're driving a long distance and you just, Your mind starts to wander, you listen to an audio book or a podcast. Like, that's what I do when I'm mowing lawns, like many of you probably doing right now. So that's a good opportunity for me to grow and, you know, learn and grow my mindset and think of new creative ideas for one thing or the other, for my business, for. For you all, you know, content, events and so on. So I, I do truly enjoy mowing lawns for that reason, as well as it keeps me current in. In business. Like, I know what I'm talking. Like, I know what. How to help have conversations with other lawn care business owners that are. That's relevant, accurate, because I'm in the thick of it, you know, I'm in the business. It's not like years has gone by and maybe some things have changed and I'm a little outdated, you know, for, For. For lack of another different phrase. Like, it just keeps me relevant and keeps me current and relevant in. In business because I'm in business. So I, you know, know what I'm talking about, essentially. And then. And that makes my content better as well as my educational events better and so on. And it just keeps. Keeps everything flowing. But I did sell one of my routes and because it was the most profitable route. And, you know, that company, local company, was able to. They wanted to grow. They wanted to be in that neighborhood. So they were able to instantly get in that neighborhood. And I think they've more than doubled the amount of accounts in the last two years that they've had that. That they had that route, that they bought that route for me. So it's definitely paid off. And then some, I believe they lost some of the original people that I had that they took over. But, you know, it is what it is. But they gain so many more because of their presence in their. In the neighborhood. Just from buying all of my accounts and just taking over immediately are, you know, like the beginning of the season. So that's really beneficial for some people to want to buy a route and have immediate presence in the neighborhood, and then they can grow faster because now they're already in there. It's not like they have a couple of yards in there and they're trying really hard to market and grow. It's like no boom. They already have 26 accounts, which is what I had to. To immediately be all over the place, all over the neighborhood, Trucks and trailers everywhere. And like, who is this company? You know, if it's a new company or if it's an existing. This. In this case, it was a new company, but it could have been an existing company that just all of a sudden has become the dominant company in that neighborhood. Like, oh, wow. So that. That's. That's a lot of reasons to want to buy someone's route. So you could do that if you're trying to get rid of a route, just like I did for. For many reasons. But when, upon asking more questions, you know, this attendees said that it was a profitable route, they've had the customers for. Meant for a long time. I think maybe 11 years or something like that. 10, 11 years. Like, they've just had them for a long time. They're profitable. They're great customers. They want multiple services. So I couldn't help but think to myself, well, I think then one of us asked, well, well, why. Why are you trying to get rid of that neighborhood? You know, And. And, you know, he was just saying, because it's. It's. There's nothing else close to it, you know, it's. It's pretty far away. So it takes time to get out there and mow the lawns, but they work their way back to the main area that they service. So they make the best of it. But, you know, they. They hear he, he's heard so much about route density and how important it is that he thought that's what he needed to do was to get rid of that account. So, or that, that, that route. So I, and, and while he was saying that, I kept thinking to myself and another presenter that I was talking to after the fact as well acknowledged he was thinking the same thing that that man. Like, is he saying that he needs to have better route density and get rid of that neighborhood because of us, like, because of things that we've said in the past because we talk about route density so much and we kind of like felt like a renewed sense of responsibility. We kind of felt bad. Like, man, we don't want to, we don't, we don't want to confuse people. We don't want to give the wrong information. Because while route density is critical for your business, he essentially did have route density. It was just obviously different. It looked different than what, what we usually talk about. But you know, we talk about the, the, the HOA neighborhoods, the cookie cutter homeowner associations, you know, that have all these little cul de sacs and houses stacked all over the place and these nice little, these nice little easy yards, you know that you can get a nice 52 inch, you know, ride on mower on there and, and bang them out nice and easy to not have to worry about travel time as much, right? When you build, you build up that route density in there. So, and I, I have said many times that if there's properties that are, you know, if you, if you're somewhere where you don't have those kind of neighborhoods close to you or anywhere at all, and you're all out more R areas, then do what you got to do, you know, like, like you have no choice but to drive. But just try to be as smart about it as possible. Try to find, you know, as many of them close together, you still have to drive in between each one because they're all spread out, you know, make sure you price it properly because of course the yards are going to be bigger, you know, more like acreage than 10,000 square feet or whatever. Like, so you just have to really be smart about it, strategic about it. So Ralph density looks different in that scenario. No one deserves more than our military vets, firefighters, EMTs and police officers. Toro is a proud sponsor of the LCR Media podcast and with their American Hero program, they offer 18% off landscape contractor equipment and specialty construction equipment. To get yours or, or to find out more information, click the, the link in the Episode description or go to your local Toro dealer. The whole point of what me and some of my colleagues, if you will, my, my, my peers, when we talk about route density, we're talking about not driving all over town for a couple of yards here, a couple of yards there, where you're driving like 34, 30 to 30 minutes to an hour round trip back and forth for a couple of yards here and there just to mow their lawn at probably not the most profitable rate. And it just doesn't really make sense. That's not very profitable. It's not going to be sustainable. You're paying employees potentially, or you at least should be paying yourself to sit in the truck for however many hours a day it takes to drive all over town. So that's what we talk about for route density is if you're repeatedly going back and forth to these, to these properties every year, I mean, sorry, every day and every week, then it's just not. It's not profitable that way because you're wasting so much drive time and gas and all that. So that's why we really talk about route density when you have that ability. And even, like, where I live here, there are people that live out in the rural. There are companies that, like business owners that live out in the rural area. And they have the benefits of not having to have storage like I have to, or a shop where they can keep all their stuff because they can keep all their stuff on their property. So they might have their own shop that they built. They might have just like some carports and things that cover. Cover up their equipment in their trailers that are all locked up, but they've got cameras on them and whatnot. And they just have them on their property because they're. There's no HOA rules. There's no association rules where you can't have trail and boats and RVs and things of that nature parked in your driveway or on the street for any length of time more than like, you know, transporting or, you know, overnight type deal, like getting ready for a trip or you're moving stuff or whatever. Like, it's not. You can't store commercial stuff anywhere in hoas. Like, that stuff's got to be in your garage or at a shop or a storage area. So that's what I have to do because I, because I live in Hoas and around Hoas. But these, these other folks that live far out there in the rural areas, they. They don't have to. They save money on that and just keep their stuff on their Own property. But then they just have, they have to drive out here like 30 minutes out to these neighborhoods, but then they spend the day in all these neighborhoods. So I'm sure they, you know, they had to build that up. And they started by driving out here. And it was a little bit more wasteful in the beginning, right? You're out here for a couple of yards and then you have to drive all the way back or whatever. You're kind of driving around finding out what neighborhoods you can grow in the fastest in the most profitable way. And those are the ones that you really market heavy and kind of get rid of the other ones so that you can really focus your efforts and time on in the more profitable neighborhoods. So that's what a lot of these companies around here do. Around by me is they, they drive out to these neighborhoods if they're not already living in these. In this general area like I do. So there's different ways to do that. So you. But you don't necessarily have to get rid of a super profitable route just because we say it's all about route density or because you've heard route density is huge. Yes, it is huge. But if you have a cluster of yards that's making you. I forgot how much, I mean, he was telling us some epic facts like how much, how many thousands of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars I think that that neighborhood has generated over a period of time and we're just like shell shocked. Like don't get rid of it. Like, I mean if. And I forgot there was a really good answer that another presenter said. Unfortunately I don't remember off top of my head. But it was like another scenario. Like I, if I were you, I would keep that neighborhood. Unless. And I forgot exactly what, what that was. I guess you'll just, you'll have to listen to the replay, watch the replay when it comes out. But again, you gotta join the LCR Media Network link is in the episode description for that. I did not intend for that. I wasn't trying to leave you with a cliffhanger. Honestly. I just, I forgot exactly what he said. It was at the end of two days. It's a long two days. So I, I just forgot specifically what he said. But there was kind of like a little if this, then that scenario. But it's very like you should just hang on to that very profitable route, you know, like try to market more, try to get more in that area. You know, maybe if you haven't already, like keep marketing in there to grow it up even More, but it doesn't really make sense to, to, to sell it off or get rid of it, you know, unless whatever it was, I forgot the, the scenario. I forgot. The other possibility that was mentioned, I think it was, might have been something along the lines of what's the direction of your company? Like, if you're going to focus more on this versus that type of services, this area versus that area, then maybe this, maybe do this instead. Again, I forgot. I'll have to watch the replay myself so I can refresh my memory, but you guys can do that too. But the bottom line is, the point to all of this is that I didn't realize how much we are influencing those listening to us to improve your route density when maybe it's not even necessary. But again, that's. Fortunately he was at this event and he was able to ask that question, which is really the ultimate, ultimate point to all of this. Like the reason why I do these in person events, sometimes virtual events throughout the year, like, you know, on Zoom Online. And I try to do as best as I can to cover this stuff on a podcast and through social media. But the best way for you to learn the right way and get questions answered is to be able to ask questions, right? Is to be able to be at a live event or a part of a community like the LCR Media Network or my inner circle circle coaching group, like any number of those where you have access to ask questions and get answers beyond just like a dm, a direct message on Instagram or leaving a comment on YouTube or something like that's all great too. But that's not as responsive and as immediate and as helpful as just being at an event in person and being right there, asking a live panel questions, people on a panel questions and getting your answers, getting your questions answered and your problem solved, right? Or being in a, in a, in a group where you can have a chat about stuff, you know, or being on a, on a coaching call, you know, a zoom coaching call in my inner circle, you know, and being able to ask any questions and get any answers you need and, and, and really figure things out so you're not kind of misinterpreting or being misinformed or just getting stuck thinking one thing is supposed to be one way and really that's not the case or that doesn't necessarily, it doesn't really apply to you. But you didn't know that because you didn't have any follow up. So fortunately, this gentleman had the opportunity to ask us this question which has probably Saved him so much, at least mental bandwidth because he was clearly thinking about it and now he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. He doesn't have to think about it in the same way he can think about whatever it was that we ultimately said and how. Wow, congratulations, that's a great. Sounds that you've got a great route there. So either keep getting after it, you know, keep seeing how you can increase revenue and profit margins and see if you can get some more customers in there or whatever. The other thing was that I can't remember was said in like a very minor, you know, very slim possibility of do this instead, you know, if, if this, then that type deal. So I'm glad we were able to help him out, but I just wanted to. It just made me think, I really wanted to. That's my biggest takeaway from the event. I mean, of course the event was amazing and there was so much great information, not just from me, but from everybody else that was in the front of the room sharing. Plus people in the room, you know, as attendees had information to share as well. And lots of great questions being asked and lots of great answers being provided. Lots of great networking in between breaks and lunch and dinners and all of that. Just a great time to network and have fun. People brought their sons and their spouse, spouses and just having a great time, really making it more than just being by yourself out there, grinding it out in the heat, mowing lawns, wondering if you're doing the right thing and why you're not making as much money as you thought you could or should. And well, now you know, being at an event like Profit Accelerator Live, it helps you put that into perspective and get answers you need. Feel like you're not alone, have that sense of community and connection. So all that was amazing, of course, but I was just trying to think of like one, not even trying. This was the top of my mind, this takeaway. Like, wow. Not that I have to be careful what I say, but just you guys have to be careful how you interpret what I say and what, what anyone else says. Like what you hear, what you read. Like, take it with your own, your own lens, your own perspective, your own mindset. Like, how can I interpret this? How can I change this, all that, so that you can, so you can be the most success, successful. Because doing exactly what I say or what I do or what. Whoever else you see around your, your area or whoever you see on social media is not necessarily going to be the exact same, going to give you the exact Same outcome, you might have to tweak some things. You might not even have to apply that at all. So hopefully this all made sense and was helpful. Route density is of course king and is essential for your lawn maintenance business. But it's not always the way that you think. It's not always exactly how we're saying it like it, you know, you don't always just have to have all of your yards in one neighborhood. Of course that's great. But if you have another neighborhood on the outskirts that's super profitable, then hey, that's great. You know, you could sell it or you could keep it. If you're, you know, if you enjoy it and you're making a lot of money, you don't have to get rid of it just because we say route density is important. That's still a type of route density. So you know, you're driving out there once and driving back once, that's it. So you know, you got a round trip, whatever that is, an hour, hour and a half, whatever. But while you're there, you're making a lot of money, hopefully, right, if, if it's profitable. So remember what you listen to and how you interpret it. And we're giving you business principles and advice from experiences, but it doesn't mean that it always directly applies exactly the same way to your business. And so you have to be able to discern that on your own and figure out how that that will work for you. And again, this is why, last time I'll say this, this is why going to an in person event or having a way that you can have the back and forth conversation with somebody to help you refine something that you've learned or that we've talked about for your business so that you're actually make making the right choices the right decision and you're applying it in the right way for your business to be the most successful. So anyway, for the second time, hopefully that all made sense and was helpful. Great event. Replay will be available LCR Media Network Go ahead and check out the link in the episode description. Also, the LCR Summit is coming up soon. It's coming up in October, which is sooner than later for sure. So if you haven't registered for that, that's always a big exciting event. And I don't mean it's big. It's always a. It's not big by design. It's a small room with big results so that we can have more engagement. So you want to make sure you get your tickets before the room fills up. But what I was trying to say is it's something that people look forward to every year. Now it's at Equip Expo, the Monday and Tuesday, the week of Equip. So Equip starts on Wednesday. The LCR summit's Monday, Tuesday, downtown Louisville, Kentucky. That link is also in the episode description. It's lcr summit.com it's been the same link for many years now. So go ahead, check that out. Get your tickets now before they before the room fills up. And hopefully we'll see you there as well. And this will be that'll be another opportunity for you to get questions answered and kind of see where you're at at the end of the year and see where you want to be in the new year. And we can help you figure that out at the LCR Summit. So so thank you all for listening and thank you to Toro Company for sponsoring the LCR Media podcast. And until next episode, this is Nail Artalifer signing off. This has been at lcr media and Mr. Producer production.