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- [00:01]
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Have you ever had one of those weeks where absolutely nothing went according to plan? The weather didn't cooperate, an employee called off, machine broke down, maybe you got sick. But whatever the reason, you look at your schedule and you realize there is simply no way you're getting everything done. And that's when every business owner asks the same question. Do I try to catch up or do I move on? At first that sounds like a scheduling question, but it really isn't. It's a leadership question because how you respond to one bad week can determine whether the next month runs smoothly or becomes complete chaos. So today we're going to be talking about when it's time to stop chasing yesterday and start protecting tomorrow.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Yardbook, the all in one CRM for your lawn care business. And as an exclusive partner of this podcast, you can get started today and begin simplifying your business and maximizing your profits. Sign up now@yardbook.com the link is in. The show notes time now for profits with PayJack, an essential podcast for you in the green industry who are looking to unlock the full potential of your business. Hosted by John Pajac, your certified financial coach, the show features in depth discussions with successful entrepreneurs, thought leaders and industry experts. Providing practical advice and proven strategies on financial planning, operations, marketing and sales. Profits with Paycheck has valuable insights and action steps that you can implement today for creating long term success. Now here's John Pajak.
- [01:47]
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Welcome to Profits with Paycheck. The podcast we dive into business strategies and financial insights for the green industry. And whether you're driving between jobs or loading your truck or relaxing after a long day, I appreciate you spending part of your day with me. So let's get started. I don't know a single business owner that enjoys falling behind. You know, we like checking things off the list. You know, we like clean schedules. We like finishing what we started. So when something throws us off, every instinct inside says, I gotta make this up. I gotta catch up. I can't leave work unfinished. But here's the problem. That emotional response often leads to poor business decisions. We become so focused on recovering what we lost that we stop protecting what we've already built. And let me ask you something. If you lose five days of production, can you magically create five extra days next week? Of course not. You can't. The sun doesn't stay up any longer. Your trucks don't multiply, your. Your crews don't suddenly become superhuman. You know, like the old saying goes, you know, you can't fit ten pounds of work into a five pound bag. And yet that's exactly what so many of us try to do. You know, we stack our jobs, we extend our hours, we come out, you know, we start earlier and work even later. You know, we rush, we skip breaks, we try to squeeze in one more stop into the day, and then another and another. And pretty soon, you know, the entire system starts falling apart. And I used to have a name for this. It was hell week. You know, back when our business had a mowing division, this would happen a lot if we got rained out or maybe, you know, for whatever reason, we were put way behind. You know, Hell week was when we decided that, you know, we're going to try to recover everything. So our typical Monday, you know, might have started with 18 stops, but now it goes to 30. And then Tuesday, you know, someone gets a flat tire, and then Wednesday, the mower breaks down. And Thursday, everybody's exhausted because not only are we trying to do double time, but like, all these other things are coming into play and just knocking us down. So everybody's exhausted. Friday, it rains. And basically what started is one missed week has now become three weeks of chaos. Not because of the weather, but because of the decisions after the weather. Now, you have to remember that your systems were built to create consistency. You know, don't abandon them just because one week didn't go according to plan. You know, there's actually a business principle behind all of this. It's called sunk in cost. Now, don't let the fancy term or the name fool you. It's incredibly simple. A sunk cost is something you've already spent that you can never get back. This includes things like money and time, fuel and labor and opportunity. You know, once it's gone, it's gone. And here's where business owners get into trouble. You know, we make today's decisions trying to recover yesterday's losses, but yesterday is already over. You cannot go back and mow last Tuesday's lawns on next Thursday. You cannot recreate the week that you lost. You can only decide what you're going to do today. And that's a completely different mindset. So, you know, instead of asking, you know, how do I recover last week, ask, what's the smartest decision I can make today? Because one question is emotional and the other strategic. Back when I was getting my lawn care business off the ground, I was juggling routes, invoices and customer notes with paper and prayers. It was chaos. Until I found Yardbook. Yardbook gave me the structure. It helped me track chemicals, route efficiently, invoice faster, and most importantly, it helped me grow a profitable business. If you're tired of duct taping your systems Together, go to yardbook.com and sign up for free. And if you're ready to go premium, use Promo code Pajak to get your first 30 days on me hey guys, John Pajak here. If you're a lawn care operator, landscaper, hardscaper dealer, or anyone working in the green industry, I want to highly encourage you to take a serious look at Equip Expo this October in Louisville, Kentucky. Because Equip Expo is the largest trade show and educational event in our industry. For three days, you're going to have the opportunity to see the latest equipment, test drive machines, attend educational sessions taught by industry leaders, and network with thousands of contractors from across the country. I've been attending for years, and every time I go, I come home with new ideas that make me money, save me time, or help me run a better business. So let's talk numbers. Registration is currently $30, but if you use promo code Paycheck, you're going to save 50% and get your ticket for just $15. And if you wait any longer, prices are going to keep going up. So the question isn't whether Equip Expo is worth the money. The question is whether you can afford to miss the opportunities waiting for you there. So head over to equip expo.com use promo code paycheck and I'll see you in Louisville this October. Link is in the show notes.
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- [08:06]
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I want you to do something that, even though it's easier said than done, I want you to trust your systems. Think about everything you've done to build your business. You know you've planned routes, you've figured out production rates. You've estimated your labor, you've trained your employees, you've organized all the equipment, You've created recurring schedules, and you build systems because they work. So why would one bad week convince you to throw all that away? You know, one difficult week doesn't mean that your system failed. It means life happened. And professionals don't. They don't panic every time reality interrupts their schedule. They adapt, they communicate, and then they go right back to the system that has been working all along. Now, of course, you have to make sure that your systems are working, but don't let all these things disrupt you. Don't let it throw you off track. And again, one thing that I've learned over the years is that customers are usually much more understanding than what we give them credit for. But, you know, you have to communicate. You know, you don't disappear. You don't leave them wondering. You know, just step up and tell them what's happening. You know, explain why you're making this decision. Like, if it's like, hey, we got to skip this week, for whatever reason, whether it's due to rain or extreme heat or equipment failure, whatever it might be, it's not comfortable. But at the same time, if you let them know what's going on and explain why you're making this decision, this is gonna. They're gonna appreciate that. People appreciate honesty. And when you are professional and you're communicating that, that builds trust with them as well. Anytime you're silent, that's gonna create some frustration. Don't just hope that they forget or that, you know, you don't. You just don't talk to them and probably, oh, yeah, you know, everything's fine. You know, a lot of times people really do need to a check in because if you're not there physically, at least you could check in remotely and let them know what's going on, because that will definitely. It still may frustrate them because they're not getting what they signed up for, but at least they could get an understanding of why. And, you know, if they're human, which most of them are, you know, they. They should be pretty understanding, and hopefully you have a good relationship to where they could just say, okay, I understand why you're making this decision. And, you know, I. I really do feel that there is a cost to catching up, because here's something we don't calculate very often. It's like, what is the actual cost of trying to catch up? And I'll tell you from experience, it means fatigued employees it means lower quality of work. You know, of course, it's Murphy's Law, okay? If something can happen at the worst possible time, it will happen. This is like when we are under the gun. This is a lot of times, for some reason, Murphy's Law kicks in and we need our equipment to be working at top, top level. And all of a sudden something breaks, something works, you know, because of the low quality, maybe, you know, let's just say you skip, you know, to get caught up with things you're making. You're cutting corners and making shortcuts. You say, you know what, we're just going to mow this lawn today. We're not going to do any trimming, we're not doing any edging. We're just going to mow, blow and go. Right? That might help make you think that you're getting ahead. But a lot of times this is the main reason you get callbacks. You didn't explain to your clientele that, hey, we're going to be zipping through, just keep the lawn maintained, but we're not going to be trimming this week. You don't let them know that you're going to get calls from somebody, they're going to be like, hey, I'm paying for this service. You guys didn't trim. And then it just frustrates them, right? So, you know, when that happens, you know, callbacks are one of the biggest drains of time because then you got to go back and fix what you didn't do. You know, it might be, you know, those customer complaints that, that's, that's like a bruise. You know, you get that things, you know, it might be the path of losing that client. And all of these things start to contribute to the stress. You know, you got longer hours, you know, lower morale. And maybe, you know, if you think about this, the most expensive decision isn't losing one week, maybe it's destroying the next three, you know, by trying to recover that one. So again, I know that it, you know, for most of us, and there are some exceptions, you know, like, I'm just saying, like, most of us that are in the green industry, we definitely have our seasons where we make our money. There's few places in the continental USA where you can work year round, and it's. It may or may not impact your bottom line as much. Okay. But, you know, for, let's just say the area that I'm in, I understand, you know, when we had our mowing division, we only had from say, like mid April to, you know, October of actual true mowing with. And I'm not talking about cleanups and you know, having the mowers on site. I'm saying like actual, you know, mowing season was pretty consistent between like, like again, mid April through, let's say me, the first week of, of November. Okay. Those were the times when we could truly count on like, okay, the grass is still growing. The grass is growing and it will maintain. We kind of slowed down in the middle of summer, which is kind of a hard thing to do when, you know, you're, you're counting on X amount of mows per season. But the thing is, it's like we have to account for those things. It's not an easy decision. You know, it puts a lot of stress on us. But the thing is, it's like when you are trying to catch up, how much is this actually going to cost you? And I know it's, you know, sometimes you got to look at it outside the box. It's like we lost X amount of revenue because we had to skip everybody. Why? Extreme heat. You know, I know a lot of the guys down south that if you guys are listening to this, you're like, what are you talking about? In the middle of summer, that's our busiest time. We are mowing constantly because our grasses grow best in the heat. Cool season grass. It's like once we get over 85, the grass wants to slow down, it wants to go to sleep. If it's in the 90s and like 1/ hundreds, it's like it's going night night, it's going dormant, it doesn't want to pop up. And if we get on the lawn when it's that hot, it could actually mess things up for like weeks on end because we could heat track the lawn. We could, you know, if ask a sheet of blight is a problem. Where if we track that through a drought stressed lawn or a lawn that's going into stress, it's really ugly. And ask a sheet of white loves it. But your clients are not going to like it because those lawns are going to be completely stressed out, yellowed out, have made me even have footprints, you know, left in the grass because it was, it was, you shouldn't have been on it in the first place. But again, this is the difference between cool season grass and warm season turf. But whatever reason it might be, you know, heat, rain, drought, whatever it might be, sometimes it's better just to cut the losses from that one week than it is to try to make it up. And I'd like to leave you with one thought. You know, business owners often ask, how do I catch up? Maybe that's the wrong question. Maybe the better question is how do I keep one bad week from becoming one bad month? Because sometimes the answer isn't working harder. Sometimes it isn't adding hours or cramming more work into fewer days. Sometimes the answer is just accepting reality. You know, protect your team and protect your customers. Protect the quality of your work and the systems that you have. Because yesterday is a sunk cost. Tomorrow is still an investment. So should you catch up or should you move on? Well, here's my answer. Catch up if you could do it without sacrificing your systems, your quality, or your people. But if catching up means more creating like a ton of chaos, just. Just move on. Because protecting tomorrow is almost always more profitable than trying to recover yesterday. So I want to thank you for listening today. You know, if this episode has encouraged you or made you think differently about running how to run your business, I'd appreciate it if you'd share with another business owner. Because chances are they're facing the the exact same decision. So until next time, God bless. Keep pushing through and we'll catch you on the next one. Thank you once again for listening. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with fellow business owners. Your support means the world to me and helps keep the show going strong. I want to give a special shout out to our friends at Yardbook. Their continued support has been instrumental in bringing this podcast to you with week after week. If you haven't checked them out yet, visit yardbook.com and see how they can give you the tools to streamline and manage your lawn care business. Also, don't forget to explore the resources and upcoming events that I've collected just for you in the show Notes. These are curated to help you stay ahead in your business with the latest tips, tools and networking opportunities. Whether it's a new tool, an insightful article, or an event you don't want to miss, I've got you covered. Until next time, keep pushing through and God bless. Sam.