Loading summary
Transcript8 lines
- [00:01]
Mike Garvey
Are you ready to kick back and get inspired? Grab your favorite drink, pop the top and join the side Hustle Squad with Mike Garvey. This podcast is the perfect resource for anyone who's already started their side Hustle or is just considering taking the lead. With in depth interviews featuring guests from the green industry and beyond, you'll gain valuable insights and learn what it takes to succeed in running a business while juggling a full time career. From personal stories to practical tips, the Soc side Hustle Squad podcast has everything you need to turn your passion into a thriving business. Now, here's your Side Hustle Squad host, Mike Garvey.
- [00:52]
Hey, what's going on guys? It's your host, Mike Garvey with the Side Hustle Squad podcast coming at you from the Branded Bull Studio here back in New Jersey. We are back from Las Veg Vegas, from Connex, from Pod House Las Vegas. The pilot episode that was a lot of fun with Naylor, John, Larry, Eric Triplett really was a lot of fun. Hopefully doing it again. Headed to San Antonio to sponsor games. Looking forward to that. And I just got back from Charlotte so for, for training with Cress as we are now a dealer in New Jersey for the Jersey Shore Crest authorized dealer. Got to do some training, about three days of training with their team and of course you know, DJ Johnson was there, the CEO, all the people, Todd Zimmerman and then all the other people that we got to meet down there. And it was dealer training. As you know, we are launching robotic outdoor power equipment distributors. It wasn't just demos, it was really a deep dive into being a dealer. Things that, that we need to know, things that are coming down the line and to be trained on the new Voyager. So I got some hands on time with that. I got to get on it and really check out other things too with the new IPILOT technology and some other backend systems and really what how manufacturers support their partners, their dealers and then you know, so I want to share what that was like, really what excited me, what surprised me and what it really means for the future of lawn care. And if you haven't checked out the new Crest equipment yet or heard about it, I'm sure you have heard about it based off you go into equip and everything online. It's the, it's, you know, really the future of lawn care. And we're seeing again now gas prices spike with what's going on and now is a good time to at least dabble or test out this new technology with the battery powered handheld Equipment, you know, and robotic mowers. So it's something that you could start offering to your customer base. And that's what we're going to start doing. Hopefully going to pilot some robots on my own property, on Larry's property, on my neighbor's property, and hopefully set up at least 10 of these. Going, going to start looking at that stuff. You know, with the different line, they have the KR172,173,174, then they have the 233. We wanted to fill a void in the New Jersey market that we didn't have a Crest dealer. So we tried to get other dealers to be a Crest dealer and no one's really interested. So you know what? We're gonna do it and we're going to bring this technology to the Jersey shore because robotics are the future. And there's an opportunity for us to see it and to see these quiet little robots cut the lawn in a and lay down some nice little stripes. It looks professional, it looks awesome and it's quiet. So I want to say hats off to the Kress team on the training. It was super professional. The food was outstanding. Other dealers were there people that have been in business for, for a long time, over 30, 40, 50 years with their dealerships or their, their family's dealerships. And they're not just Crest dealers, they're also Exmark dealers and, you know, Husqvarna and Segway and steel and all this stuff. So there. So I really got to talk with some different people and I actually met a really awesome guy, Mike Baum, and he owns his own robotics, deploying his own robotics dealership, and then also has another dealership. So shout out to him. Agreed. I said thank you for becoming my mentor and can't wait to talk with him more and more. But just again with the live events, like, yes, it was awesome to listen to the speakers. Yes. But then to get around other dealers who I've never really been around to talk to them about what my plan is and having a mobile showroom. And we're not really a brick and mortar with 12 different brands. And they gave us some great advice and it was awesome to talk with these guys and break bread with them. Food is outstanding. We got breakfast, lunch, dinner all three days. And just to get around some different people, I brought down my good friend Eric Lidner, who I work with in the police world, but also wanted to bring him on, is helping me with the robotics stuff. So can't wait to build my team. Around me can't make a lot of promises right now because we need to make sales. But I think I can paint the picture for some people in the future as to where this is going to go. So let's take a quick break and I'll come back on the other end, talk about the Voyager Ipilot and some other things and we'll wrap it up.
- [06:32]
Relay Representative
Let's talk about banking for your business. Mike uses Relay and it's completely changed the way he manages his money. With Relay, you can set up over 20 different accounts. Think of them as buckets for your cash. One for payroll, one for taxes, one for profit. Whatever your business needs, it's built around the profit first model. So instead of your money getting mixed together, it's automatically organized and working for you. No more guessing, no more messy spreadsheets, just total clarity and control. Relay makes it simple, powerful and stress free to know exactly where your money is going so you can focus on growing your business and taking care of your customers. Check out Relay today. Relay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and FDIC insurance are provided through Thread bank members fdic.
- [07:17]
Mike Garvey
Hey guys.
- [07:17]
Adam Fullerton
Adam Fullerton here with branded bull. As a proud sponsor of the side Hustle Squad podcast, we're all about helping lawn care and landscaping businesses make their mark and stand out from the competition. Visit us@brandable.com to learn more about our professional branding website and graphic design services and how we can help your business look awesome and grow.
- [07:38]
Mike Garvey
All right, and we're back talking about Crest Kress dealer training. Some things I took away from down there. I mean the Voyager, let's talk about that. It, it's very cool. Is a Tesla pretty much technology. Cameras, sensors, all this stuff. You map it. Very easy to map. There's a control, you can sit on it, you can pull up the control, map the area and, and then let it go. We start seeing it. You know, the, the idea is, you know, you're going to be able to take it from house to house and let it cut. I think it's going to be way better for big properties also in applications with, you know, lots of, lots of mowing involved and you know, it also will go a long way with turning, you know, two or three man crews into one man crews. So I think that it really, it's wild. The I pilot you. So with that new technology you start seeing these smaller robots. These like I said, the KR 172, 3, 4, those are the original ones and really now you're able to Map the machine. The robot is able to map itself. So you just drop it on your front lawn and it maps itself. There's no mapping wheel required. So that technology is total game changer. On par with some other brands. Really got to see and I'm learning the back end systems of being a dealer. You know what they want to see. The process, the customer onboarding, getting new customers, looking at deals to provide the best possible pricing to our customers, looking at service responsibilities and providing support to the customers. I can't imagine having 12 different brands in my dealership and providing support for all those. But hey, I get, you know, people do do it, you know, but that also comes with different software platforms and apps and there's different apps in Crest just for if you're running a fleet or running it yourself at your house or being a dealer, you know, it's all stuff that we're learning. But what I did take away from it and how I walked out of there was looking at my reoccurring revenue opportunities to sell robots to direct to my customers from Coastal and, and provide robotic mowing service and probably if they want to buy it and weed, whack and edge themselves, that's great. Or if they want to have a subscription service where you know, we can provide that service. So there's reoccurring revenue. There's also opportunity to help set it up for them. Winter storage and other maintenance things to think about about if you're adopting this stuff early, you could offer it to your customers. And if anyone needs help with that, if anyone wants to learn more about providing that I could certainly help you with getting providing robots to your customers. So it certainly I can't wait to see what three years from now is going to look like with this stuff. You know, are we going to see, we're going to see tons of customers with robots? I think so. And I don't think there's just one target customer. I think yes, there's customers residential. There's other landscapers that want to see the handheld tools and the gas saving opportunity with that and the other robots again, municipalities, college campuses, commercial properties, cemeteries, it's endless. There's not one ideal customer where coastal you have residential and commercial and we have 99% residential or 95% residential. So it's not about replacing people in the field. I think it is looking at how the industry is evolving and how we're going to be early adapters to this. So I hope I provided a little bit of insight as to what I dealt with learning behind the scenes, dealing with a big company. It's really interesting. I'm really excited about it and I came back super charged up about, you know, reaching out to people that are possibly interested. I hope I can help you guys if you want to be into that world and adapt into the Crest family and all that that comes with it. Love to help you with that. So we'll leave it there and it's a short and sweet one. Wanted to talk about my trip to Charlotte to the Crest training, some new things that I'm seeing and yeah, we'll catch you guys on the next one.
- [13:00]
Thanks for tuning in to the side Hustle Squad Podcast with Mike Garvey. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained valuable insights to help you succeed in your Side Hustle journey. Connect with Mike using the links in the podcast description. If you love the show, please leave us a well worded five star review on Apple Podcasts. Your feedback and support help us grow and continue to provide you with the best content. And don't forget to follow the show to be notified when the next edition of the side Hustle Squad Podcast is available. We have many exciting guests and topics lined up so you won't want to miss a single episode. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch you next time on the side Hustle Squad podcast.
- [13:42]
Hey, what's going on guys? With Jobber, you can easily manage jobs, track your team, get paid faster, all from one simple app. Join thousands of satisfied lawn care professionals who trust Jobber to keep their business growing strong. Visit the link in the bio today and start your free trial.