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Side Hustle Squad
Ep 335. Surviving the Spring Rush w/ Naylor Taliaferro + Profit Accelerator Live!
00:57:32
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- [00:01]
A
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]
B
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 with my friend, the man, the myth, the legend, Nailer Talia Farah. How are you, sir? The law legend. That's it. That is true. That is the truth.
- [01:10]
C
You, you are one according to Toro.
- [01:14]
B
According to. Yeah, man. And, and they like, they beef you guys up a little bit or maybe not. Maybe just whatever they do, you know, maybe that's just all legit.
- [01:22]
C
Well, that, the funny, the, the joke anyway that I've made. Everyone on that poster is like, totally like, is all like jacked up and looks different. Except for Mitchell Gordy. Yeah, he name.
- [01:32]
B
They didn't do anything different for him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [01:35]
C
I just looked at his picture was like, nah, he's good.
- [01:37]
B
No, it's good. No enhancement. We need to actually double him down a little bit. Right?
- [01:42]
C
Dial him back a little bit so
- [01:44]
B
he can like match everybody, match everybody else. Yeah, yeah. So it's not like as crazy, but man, thank you.
- [01:51]
C
I'm glad to be back.
- [01:53]
B
Yes, yes. Thank you for coming back. We had a slight hiccup on our first go around. We'll. We don't have to, you know, jump in on that any further than we already have, but you know, excellence in broadcasting for this is just what, this is what happens. But it's actually a lot better now that I could see, see you in person face to face. And we had a good discussion, but I'd love to rehash it again. You know, more about. You've been in this industry for a really long time and you've been through it, right? I mean, you've recognized the time that you need to take for yourself and, you know, not burn your yourself out. And I think a lot of people are crazy right now. I see it in myself. I see it In Larry, I see it, you know, we're just. Phone is off the hook. We're building a couple businesses and this spring rush is. It's incredible.
- [02:51]
C
Yeah, I, I agree. I. I've said a lot recently. The spring rush can either make you or break you. Because, you know, you get a. You go from zero to 60, right? Unless you're plowing snow and you have a lot of snow, you' not doing much over the winter in the lawn care and landscaping world anyway. I mean, you might be doing a little bit, but not, not a whole lot. Not, not, not like the spring. So in the spring, when the weather breaks, it that not only is there work to do, if you haven't just started from scratch, like you have some sort of schedule of work to do and then you have all the phone calls and the emails, you know, that you're trying to keep up with all the people that are like, oh wow, spring is sprung. Time to get all this work done that I procrastinated on or, you know, I just moved and I want to beautify my property or whatever the situation is. And so it's definitely challenging to navigate all of that. And you know, when I came from retail management, before this, before lawn care, and it really burned me out, was one of the main reasons why I leaned into something else which happened to be lawn care. Because I was that homeowner technician that just loved taking care of my own property. I'm like, yeah, I can, you know, I mean, I've managing retail businesses for 15 years. Why not just see if I can create a lawn care business? You know, that was 12 years ago, but it was it the spring mimicked like the busy times of retail management, which made me not want to like, like I was so stressed out in retail and like, especially the holidays. And then when, when it came time for the spring rush, it felt like it was like Christmas time, felt like the holidays in retail. And it was so stressful and overwhelming and it just kind of gave me a lot of PTSD and brought me back to that. So it was rough for many, many years until I got things dialed in systems in place for my business so that I don't have to deal with that. And I felt like I got crushed by the spring rush every year for many years. It's just like, oh man, I was struggling a lot of work, a lot of great opportunities, but I was stressed out and burned out before the season really even started. So that's why I talk about this because it's real. I'm not just making it up, I experienced it and I know there's a lot of other people out there experiencing it. We're all going through the spring rush, so that's, you know, it's a, it's a fun fact that we all need to navigate together.
- [05:08]
B
And like from early on, what did it feel like starting out and then like, where are you at now?
- [05:16]
C
Yeah, so I know many of your listeners, you know that this is their part time or, or it's a full time additional job. You know, maybe they have a full time job as well as lawn care. And, and I, I actually started as this side hustle. Like I started part time, you know, so I've been full time 12 years in my lawn care business. But 13 years ago I was part time just still working retail management, 60 plus hours a week. Brought like, and I had a handful of yards. I had a push mower in my, that I put in the back of my Jeep and store bought, you know, big box store hand trimmer and hand blower that I just shoved in there. It was what I used for my house, you know, for, for my, my small property. And at the time and I, and I would just shove it in there with a change of clothes and I would sneak out the back, you know, I change in my office and sneak out the back door and hope that nobody called me on the way so I could try and get a couple yards done before dark and then get the rest done on my day off and you know, trying to spend time with family and. But a couple of things happened though with that one, I realized what I could. Like I enjoyed it so much. I mean I enjoyed as a homeowner. So now I'm like living vicariously through all of these other yards. So like it made me feel like revitalized my me, you know, in a sense. Like I started because I was really getting burned out and depressed in retail and had no, no real quality of life. I just worked all the time. And when I wasn't working I was exhausted. So I couldn't really enjoy my family and everything was just kind of not where I wanted to be. It was literally falling apart. So mowing lawn, mowing those handful of lawns for one year part time, even though I was, you know, still stressed out in retail, that was like my sanctuary. Like it was relief. I was like, wow, this is amazing. I'm out here in the fresh air and you know, doing what I enjoy doing as a homeowner. Now I'm getting paid to do it. Like I Was like, this is amazing. Like I felt really good. Like I felt like a million bucks out there. But you know, so I thought to myself, man, imagine if I went all in this, this would be, this would be epic. Like I, I could, I could really do this if I go full time and invest all my time in this. So that was the first thing. But the other thing I realized was, man, I'm doing this all. Excuse me, I'm doing this all wrong. Like I gotta fix some things because I was driving all over town, you know, the neighbors are referring their friends and family that live all over, you know, the greater Richmond, Virginia area. It's like a 45 minute, you know.
- [07:45]
B
Right? Yeah, yeah.
- [07:47]
C
Just going all over the place. I mean I had one, one of my first lawns that I had for a few years. Like even after I went full time, I still had it, but one of my first lawns. It took me 45 minutes to get there like from. Because it was on the complete opposite side of reality. So it's like, you know, I've go from where I live all the way to this lady's house. Took me 45 minutes one way. Right? That's an hour and a half round trip for one. It only took me like 30 minutes to mow the lawn. So it's like it was just, I mean, I'm spending more than two hours just for this one property. I couldn't even charge enough. And not that I even knew what that even meant, you know, starting off part time. So I really, I really quickly realized that. And, and, and, and I feel like this is, and I'm saying this because I feel like there might be people listening that are in this situation or going to be or. No, don't even realize it because when I was part time, like at that first year, like I didn't really care about how much money I was. Like, I cared about how much money I was making, but I didn't really know about. I didn't know my numbers. I didn't know that was a thing. I didn't.
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B
You just wanted customers?
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C
Yeah, I just, I just wanted some customer. I was just happy that I was getting a handful of random, you know, neighbors and friends all over town. I thought that was great, you know, but you know, but I, I couldn't get that much done, you know, because I was. Spent so much time driving. But I was happy to. Able to squeeze in those five or six yards that I had. And, and I was happy to be getting money. Like I didn't really have Any real systems. Like, you know, people pay me cash, check. I don't even, I don't think anyone paid me credit cards. I didn't have any way for that. But I mean I was just, I think I found some random app, you know, to, to try and do some stuff. Like it was just so antiquated. I was just trying to make it, make it work with, you know, I knew I had to do something some. I, I knew I was all, I was professional, but I didn't know anything about all the behind the scenes. You know, I'm like take. I'm spending money on random stuff and you know, saving a little bit of it. Like I just had no, no idea. I didn't know what I didn't know. So I think there's a. And that's fine when it's like your side hustle, like yeah, when you're right, you think it's fine because you're just like, yeah, I'm making money, you know, but right that first employee or you go legit and start paying all this, you know, taxes and insurance and all these things. Now you're like, wow, wait a minute, this is a whole nother story. So I realized that also like, you know, towards the end of that first part time year, I'm like, if I go all in, like I gotta figure out how to like not drive all over town because this is not gonna work. And you know, I gotta come up with find us. I didn't even know it was a CRM, but I was like, I need to find a way to invoice people and do estimates on like research and stuff. I think I don't even know if what was even available back then. But I think they were just starting to pop up. Like the CRMs that we all know at now, we're just starting to pop up back in 2014, but so I was just trying to figure all that out. You know, this is 2013, I was part time. So 2014 I just quit and went all, quit my retail management and went all in, in lawn care. And that's when I just really focused on, okay, how do I get professional? How do I business create a business entity? You know, taxes, insurance, you know, invoicing, like all the things and what to do, how to charge properly. What does that even mean? Like that's when I really started figuring that out. But you know, in the first time, the first year I had no idea, you know, that part time year. So it wasn't until I went all in full time that I really, you know, in 2014, you know, 12 years ago and just, just went, went all in and started figuring all this stuff out and quickly. Some things I dialed in like route density was one of the fastest things that I learned because I wanted to get my time back and come home, you know, like buy a certain. I wanted to be home by, for dinner. I didn't want to work on the weekends. Cause they worked all the time weekends in retail. So I had like hard stops. I created some boundaries right away without realizing that was like a term. I was just like hard stop at six, you know, unless like it's, you know, unless I, you know, like five or six, ten or so. Like if I start. But I'm not going to start anything close to six knowing I'm going to be, you know, done at seven. Like, you know, like let's make six a hard stop. So if you can't get done before then don't even start it unless it's some big project that got carried away so that I could have some of these boundaries so I can make it home for dinner and I can have weekends off. And of course I didn't always work out in the first year. You're trying to really get your foot in the door and, and make as much money as you can. But creating those boundaries at least gave me something to, to lean into and to know what to say yes to and what to say no to. And you know, the things that took a little bit longer was figuring out my pricing and how important having credit cards on file is and just so many other, so many other important, you know, systems and money management. You know, I learned some of that in the early, in the early days as well and just started dialing that in. So it's definitely been definitely what was a journey for sure.
- [12:36]
B
But yeah, now does, does, did every year to have a different goal or a different theme over the winter. It's like, hey, I'm going to change this. 2015, I'm going to do this. And was, did each season have a different goal?
- [12:51]
C
Yeah. So I mean in the beginning and all the way until, I don't know, recently I guess. But I've, I've always had the same consistent goal, main overall goal which, which guided, I was trying to think of the best word which guided all of my decisions throughout all those years. And the initial goal was because I had to replace my income from retail management. Yeah, I had to pay my bills. Fortunately my wife had just gotten a full time job several months before that. She was like oh wow, we're going to be rich. And then I quit.
- [13:26]
B
Oh wait, we're back to where we started.
- [13:29]
C
Yeah, it was rough, but at least, you know, so I, I, you know, I try to remember to say that though because I don't want people to think that I just, you know, like I've got a wife and kids and I've got this pretty decent retail management salary. I mean I was making close to six, I was grossing close to six figures and you know, insurance and taxes and all that comes out, you know, so. But still it was enough to pay all of our, essentially all of our bills. I think. You know, my wife had some part time jobs at that point, you know, as the kids were getting a little bit older and going into school and things of that nature. So. But when the kids went all, went all in, she went all in and found a full time job. So if it wasn't for that full time, her having full time job, me quitting would have completely like messed us up. We would have been like bankrupt and homeless or whatever. We would have had to like significantly downsize because I was not able to get that re rebound or be able to get my income back, replace my income. Like the first year, you know, my first year in lawn care I barely broke even because I was investing money into like my first full year in 2014. Like I was investing everything into some equipment and resources and really trying to figure everything out, you know, and my schedule wasn't fully full. Like I was fortunate. I did some things to really help market my business early on and, and I got like 30 something CL mowing clients right out the gate. Most of them were weekly, some of them were bi weekly. So you know that, that, so that, that changes what your schedule looks like and your ultimate revenue. So that was a challenge revenue wise. So because my wife had a full time job, at least I was, we were able between her full time job and what I was able to make from lawn care that first year or two that it all worked out. But then, so my goal was like, how do I replace my income quickly? Like what is my goal? Like what does this look like? I'm not going to just start a lawn care business, just start mowing lawns and hope for the best. Like I'm a management guy, like I got to figure this out. You know, I had a goal and I broke it down into five years. My goal was to have multiple crews and I, I don't remember if I had like, like a number. I think at the time you Know, I figured out how much money I needed to make personally in order to help, you know, support my family financially in addition to my wife's income, and figured out, do the math, like, okay, well what does that look like revenue wise? So that when it breaks down to what I make, it's enough for me to live my life. So whatever that was, it was like high in the six figures. Of course, you know, like is probably close to, close to a million dollars in revenue, I'm sure, which is multiple crews. I think two or three crews was what I was estimating. And I wanted to stick to certain services, lawn maintenance, like mowing law, wheat fertilization. We control aerating and seeding all the, the good core services throughout the year. And then with a little bit of landscape maintenance for my regular, you know, my regular clients, like trimming bushes, doing fresh mulch, you know, in the spring, and cleaning leaves, you know, in the fall, that, that sort of thing. Here.
- [16:25]
A
Do you have a system for your business or are you just buying stuff and hoping it works? Equip Exposition taking place this October is where landscapers go to build the whole package. Equipment, software and training. Registration is just $25 before May 31st.
- [16:41]
C
Equip Exposition.com Register now at Equip Exposition.com or use the link in the podcast description. Save 50% off your registration when you apply the code. Side hustle at checkout. So that was the whole plan. But then I was like, okay, how do I break that down? So I had like a five year go, five years. I want to be ready to hire employees, you know, and then my first employees in five years, and then five years from that, from that. I want to have multiple, you know, I want to have two crews, right? Like the, you know, that the first five years I would be the first crew leader, you know, and, and, and that with employees. And the next five years have two crews. And maybe that was a really long, like a really, like a, a drawn out goal or whatever. Because in hindsight, thinking about it now, like, man, that, that's a long time just to have a couple of crews. But at the time I just had no idea, you know, how long any of it would take. I was just trying to think sensibly how this would work. And I mean, I hired my first employee in four years, you know, and then I had two crews in six, six years or whatever. Like, you know, think things definitely got, were happened a lot sooner than I thought, but at least I had a plan.
- [17:43]
B
Yeah.
- [17:44]
C
And so that, and when things got Kind of out of hand or a little away from me. I would just like. Like, look back, think back about that. Okay, where am I on this roadmap? You know, like. Like, what am I doing? Like, I'm offering services I said I wasn't going to offer, and, you know, I. This and that, and I don't have employees, or I do, or, you know, just trying to make sure I'm. I'm on the same page with that, which is. It's a pretty basic goal, but it was something to at least help dictate or. Or guide me, you know, along the way.
- [18:13]
B
Now, how. How have you changed? You know, how's your spring rush now? You know, how is it going on a SC to 10, 10 being the craziest? Where would you be at now?
- [18:24]
C
I'm at like a. A one.
- [18:28]
B
You're like another. Another day.
- [18:31]
C
Yeah, it's. It's. It's. It's just pretty chill. But that's because I've set up. I've set a lot of things. You know, I have a lot of systems in place for that reason. I mean, but there's still going to be times there. There have still been things that I've said yes to that I should have said no to. And, you know, there's. There's always going to be little. Little speed bumps here and there, but no roadblocks. Yeah. Anyway, you know, knock on wood. But, you know, like, I, I just. I mean, I get contacted all the time. All of that still happens, you know, like my phone ringing and emails and people coming up to me when I'm at someone's yard. You know, all that stuff happens all year round, but in the spring, it's. It's really, you know, exaggerated, of course, but I just have everything in place. Like, I just have all these systems that, that I've learned, that I've developed and learned. Like, some of them I've just figured out on my own. And a lot of. A lot of them I've learned peers, other peers and mentors. You know, whether I've gone to coaching groups, I've gone. I've been mentored, you know, by, like, the lawn care millionaire folks of that. Folks like that, or just, you know, watching social media and listening to podcasts, audiobooks, just expanding my knowledge, going to trade shows. And so I've learned a lot that way. But of course, there's things that I've just learned that work for me, and then that's stuff that I share in my content as well, and that. So that that it just makes it just super chill. Like, like my voicemail is designed so that I, people don't leave messages that shouldn't be leaving messages and if they do, it's very few and far between. And you know, like all of my messaging is very specific. Like I only service these neighborhoods, these services in these neighborhoods. If this is, this applies to you,
- [20:08]
B
then then we're good, right?
- [20:10]
C
Yeah, we're good. But like, you know, people don't always listen or pay attention to that. I don't want you to be my customer then. Because if you can't read or listen.
- [20:19]
B
Right. Yeah.
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C
So like I'm not going to even deal with that. Like I'm, I'm super. Like years ago I realized how important it was for me to focus on finding my ideal clients while most of the other businesses around me were focusing on just piling up as many headaches as possible.
- [20:38]
B
Yeah. And getting as many clients doesn't matter who they are and they're not ideal.
- [20:42]
C
Right. And I'm looking for quality over quantity. Because think about it this way, I mean you've heard the less is more, you know, statement probably and probably over the years all kinds of things about wouldn't you rather have half as many customers if you charged, you know, twice as much? And you know, but that stuff is just like fun little exercise mental exercises that, you know, you can't charge someone double the amount for that you're charging for their lawn in most cases. But the, the objective still stays the same of the quality over quantity because if you have really high quality clients, whatever the clients mean, they reoccurring, not just a one time customer transaction. Right. Customers are transactional, clients are relational. So you just have long term relationships with clients versus just having a whole like I stopped people calling people that call me, you know, that, that do apply to all those things. Like they're in the right service area and they want the right services and then I, I contact, I, you know, respond to them or I already am already talking to them and they, they qualify. But if they just want a one time service, I stopped on on demand lawn care. I don't, Yes, I do offer those services for my reoccurring clients for my regular clients, for my yearly clients is what I say. I shrimp shrubs and you know, freshen up mulch for my regular clients. Oh, and you know, sometimes I will get people to say, oh well what, what services do you offer? And I give them quotes and I'll get customer, I'll get clients that way. But most of them are just looking for a quick fix. Right. They're getting, you know, their neighborhood, their neighbors, or their neighborhood's getting on their case because their bushes are overgrown or they're moving and they just realized that yesterday. Like, oh my God. And they just woke up. Oh my gosh. My. Right. My house is on the market and I need to mow the lawn.
- [22:27]
B
Yeah. Or they just fired their other guy to like you because whatever. Right. And they're scrambling. They think they can just get somebody.
- [22:33]
A
Right?
- [22:34]
B
Exactly.
- [22:35]
C
Yeah. Because they got Chuck and Chuck's like, I'm out.
- [22:37]
B
Yeah.
- [22:38]
C
Something happened. Yeah. So like, you know, all those things. So I mean, yet again, that's another thing. Like the on demand services. Like I've just never. I. That fills my schedule up, but not with what I want. So I focused on just the quality all the way around and just have quality clients that I can continue to upsell and I can get a lot more out of my current clients than just trying to bring on more people and film overload my schedule in the spring and then be crying in the fall when it's colder. It's get like right now it's getting warmer and the days are getting longer and you think you're a hero and you fill your schedule to the max and guess what's going to happen in the fall? It's going to get colder. You're going to be more exhausted and getting burned out because it's the whole. It's the end of the season, not the beginning of the season, and your days get shorter. So now you're trying to squeeze in all this work. You thought you were the man, you know, or the woman. And, and, and, and now you're like, now you're real stressed out. You're working past dark and, and it's not even late. It's just dark because that's how it is in the fall and it's cold and everything's just a mess. So I, I just rewired the way that I think over, over the years so that I can build a business that serves me instead of me serving it it. Like that was the whole point. That was the whole purpose, like to design a business that serves me to get my life back. That. So I guess maybe I have an advantage over some folks because I, I went all in, you know, like I. Versus having a side hustle for a little while and kind of having that safety net, which I argue sometimes keeps people kind of like feeling safe and just kind of not doing some things that they might that they should be doing or might be doing possibly in their business so that they can actually be more profitable, grow their business. But they're kind of like, they got that safety net, so they're not making some of the decisions that maybe they should make. But I had no other option. Like, for me it was sink or swim. So I'm like, I gotta go. I'm going all in. So I'm going all in. Like, I don't. I quit my job. So I'm just, I'm not recommending that for anyone. But sometimes people lose their job and they have no other option to get into this business. But. And then you feel desperate and that puts you in a bad place when you're. Because now you're hiring people last minute, maybe the wrong people, you're, you're taking on the wrong customers. You know, you're just, you get in a desperation mode and it ends up, you know, you end up making a lot of bad decisions. So I just really focus on designing the business that serves me. That's always been at the forefront of everything for my business. And like I said, it hasn't always been perfect, of course, but right now. And nothing's perfect right now. But you asked me at the spring rush, I'm just chilling. I'm doing my thing, you know, I'm serving my clients and everybody's happy. And you know, I can do this or I can't do that. Everyone knows the deal. Like I, I trained my clients to be my ideal clients. And we all work together in perfect harmony, you know, with some hiccups here and there. The new people are the problems. And I gotta, I gotta get them programmed properly.
- [25:33]
B
Yeah, they gotta get with the program. But yeah, I think that's so awesome that you're not just doing one offs just to have quantity. You're having reoccurring revenue that you've probably had for 13 years. And you think about that, you know, how many times it's. You've doubled your money like every single time.
- [25:56]
C
And you know, and one of those things too is that I forgot to mention part of that was when I had employees I needed to pay my employees, I needed. And I want my work to be as year round as possible. Here in Virginia, central Virginia, we have a much better opportunity that, than New York, where I'm originally from, where we can get a lot of lawn maintenance and landscaping, you know, 10 months out of the year, there's really only two months. Yeah, here in Virginia, there's really only two months that we can't really do anything. And if it does, and it's usually just cold and it doesn't really snow and if it does, it's a little bit. So it's like you just kind of like have two dead months of like nothing. You know, it's, it's rough. Like a lot of the companies around here go in the red, you know, and they just really scramble to do some things to keep their guys. But anyway, so I was just trying to think outside the box. So like by having re, by having clients, you have that predictable income, that reoccurring revenue, you're not relying on selling constantly. And how much, what am I going to get now and who's going to contact us and our marketing strategy, Is it good enough to get the phones ringing and this and that? Which, which that's, you know, the like landscaping, hardscaping, that's, that's part of that. But for me that's why I really, from a lawn maintenance standpoint, I just, I just stopped all that unpredictable income that is just randomly coming in and just focus all in on how do I increase my predictable income and just stick with those year round clients. That was also a big proponent. So now I could schedule it. I knew what was going on and when and everything was full and my employees always had work and it was a lot less stress for me as well.
- [27:32]
B
And I think a lot of people, especially just starting out too, you're trying to get strangers, you're trying to get customers that are strangers when you should be looking at inward into your own customer base to say, hey, you know what? I am going to offer fertilization next year or I'm going to offer mosquito or whatever. And that's what we did. And we kind of just tapped back into our own customers and they already know, trust us, like our services, it's just, oh, wow, that, that's great. They're offering that now. And now we didn't just offer the new service in the first year to everybody. We would take like a small little sample of 10 for one season and say, hey, we're gonna get, we're gonna learn how to do this and make sure we're doing it right and then we'll offer it. But I think a lot of people miss looking inward and looking at the base that you already have.
- [28:27]
C
Right, right, yeah. 1, 100. I do the exact same thing. Like I started doing a whole bunch of miscellaneous things with mowing as like the foundational service because I really enjoyed it. And it's, you know, Pretty routine for me from being that homeowner technician, you know. And then I just kind of learned people were just asking me for other services, and I would just say, sure. And some of them I already knew how to do. Some of them I would research on YouTube and. Or just research, I mean, like online on Google. And then YouTube videos would pop up, and that's how I discovered Lawn care Millionaire and some other folks in the community. But. And I would just figure Stu out and. But then as I learned more things and then, you know, got my fertilization, you know, applicator's license and so on. Like, then I would go back and like you said, you know, and I would. I would find my. My best clients, the ones that I knew if I messed something up, you know, that and I could just tell them, hey, I. I'm just started doing this. Do you mind if I, you know, you know, practice on your property, things of that nature? I mean, that's like when you're doing patios and pools and ponds, they recommend that kind of stuff too. Like practice on your friends and family and. And neighbors and your best clients. Give them a discount or whatever, so if you feel like that's necessary. But so, yeah, I would always test those kind of new services out on some of my best clients. And then I would just keep adding that, you know, keep telling more people that I'm already taken care of. And then now all of a sudden, you just have all this extra work with the same clients. Hey, guys, 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@brandabull.com to learn more about our professional branding website and graphic design services and how we can help your business look awesome and grow.
- [30:15]
B
We attend a lot of live events together. I would say we. We're on the tour. You know, we have a quip. The Super Bowl. We have lawn and landscape technology conference. Now that I, you know, Flo floated you a picture of a news magazine article and today we should go to this, you know, with all these other crazy ideas I have. But what's. What's looking down the. Looking down the calendar? What do we have? What are you excited for? If you could talk more on that, I. You know how much I love the community and building the community and for participating, and I just love it so much.
- [30:57]
C
Yeah, I do have been hosting a lot of events over the years, and partly because I When I first started attending events like Equip Expo, which it wasn't called that at the time, and a couple of other, you know, like influencer if you will, you know, events like YouTubers that were make. Creating some events back in the day, I was go, I went to those and, and it was really impactful for me. Not just what I learned from the people there, but also like the networking and like meeting people that, that either were complete strangers to me and, and them like we're just hey, how are you? And just strike up conversation, get to know each other and talk business and, and life or people that you know. Because I, I got on social media like almost right away like within my first year after I started my business. So like when I started going to these events, some people actually knew who I was and, and vice versa, I knew, I knew like who the lawn care millionaire. And so if I saw them, you know, that that would be cool to be able to meet them and interact with them and, and vice versa, people wanted to meet me. Oh, I love your videos. Really helpful. Like, you know, I went to, the first year that I ever went to a Quip Expo, two different people came up to me separately and thanked me for my content, my YouTube videos and saying, you know, that they both came from corporate America. And my content really resonated with them because that's what happened to me. And, and it really helped them start their, like motivate them to start their lawn care, their landscaping and lawn care business. And they never look, haven't looked back. And that's when it became really real, like this like next level connection, you know, and I didn't realize how much I like didn't have that in my life, like community and connection. I was, you know, an only child and you know, didn't really spend a whole lot of time with my extended family and you know, single mom and I had friends. But it's different than family. I feel like our, our community is like family in a way. I mean we really get to know each other over time, which even makes it even more family. But even the first time you meet somebody, it's an energy that you can only experience, you can't explain. It's just something about all of us, lawn care and landscape guys and girls, we just have this connection, this, this same mindset that we're all at. So when I, when I just started first experiencing that I was, I was, I was hooked. I was like, wow, this is, this is something. And, and then, and then I wanted, and then And I was, wanted to kind of be a part of that, just like I was a part of creating content. And so I wanted to create some events. So you know, fast forward to now. Along the way I've definitely created many networking events, hosted many networking events as well as a few educational events. And I have one coming up this June here in Richmond. But one of the things before, before I blab about that is the main reason now why I create these educational events versus just a networking event is because over the years I have met and have heard, you know, on comments and DMs and things of that nature. People, you know, other, other business owners that are stuck, they're stuck at different levels of their business. There's the startups, there's two, there, there's two different types of these business owners that I interact with. And then I see there's the startups and the scale up ups. The startups that literally just starting out and they don't really know which direction to go. They don't know what they don't know and they're just stuck. They don't, they don't know how to grow and they're struggling and they're looking at social media and maybe they get a book and they go to this thing or that thing and it is kind of overwhelmed. Sometimes you get analysis by paralysis because there's maybe too much information out there now for some people if they don't actually know which way to go and the direction that they want to head in and they don't have goals and they're just overwhelmed and they just get stuck, right? And sometimes they may just give up, like maybe this isn't for me or they just stay stuck for a long time and it just burns them out and so on. And it's mainly because they don't know what they don't know. Then there's the scale up businesses, the ones that are going from startup to scale up, like okay, now I want to hire employees or maybe I have several, maybe I have a couple of crews and maybe they're stuck in what I call a crashing zone where they're, you know, if you've ever been to an ocean beach where the waves crash, you know, like you start to walk in to the ocean and you know, the water gets sucked in like oh, here we go and a wave sometimes depending on where it is, there's small waves or really big waves crashing down. Those big waves crash down in that, what I call the crashing zone. And it's funny when you see people fall and get knocked over. But I mean, you can really get hurt, you know, if you don't know how to swim or you get knocked, knocked off your feet and suck a bunch of water. You could literally drown. You know, you get tumbled around and sprain something, break something, like, it's no joke, especially if they're really big waves. So you have to either stay on the beach, know, like stay in the shallow, shallow part, or get past those waves, right? When you, when you in between the waves and you scurry your way through there, quick, get past the waves. Now the water's deeper, so it's a little bit scarier, but it's calmer. You know, you're past the crashing zone now, but now you're like, okay, I'm in deeper water. This is different. Now what? You know, now I can't just stand here and I kind of have to learn how to swim a little bit. I have to be able to tread water and, you know, now there's more knowledge and different types of anxiety. Not fear, right? Because if you see a shark, now that's real and present danger and that's fear. But if you just imagine, I don't know what's in there, I can't see, it's dark and deep. I don't know. That's just anxiety because you're perceiving future potential danger. So there's a difference there. And this all applies to our business because we think the bigger we get, the more of the same problems we're going to have. And we get all anxious about it and we call it fear and we get scared and, and, but we're just envisioning, you know, we're painting this bad picture of like, what could go wrong and what could happen and what's my life going to look like? Instead of like feeling anticipation like, oh my gosh, this would be amazing. You know, when I do this and that and my life looks like this and that. So the scale ups get stuck in this crashing zone, though. They don't. They don't, they're, they're too scared to, from all the anxiety to go past the waves and they get stuck in there and they, and they crash and burn and get hurt and quit. And I see those folks like, and it's also because they don't know what they don't know. But also the problem with the scale ups is that they sometimes skip steps to get to where they are. They don't build a strong enough foundation. They don't learn how to swim before they Go in the deep end, you know, like, they don't realize salt water stings your eyes. You know, like, all these different things. And, you know, and. And. And because they're just like, oh, I got this. They just kind of run in there and they jump in the ocean and they get, like, a rude awakening. Like, I didn't. They didn't know how cold it was. Whatever. They didn't know how powerful the waves were. They're gonna rip their bathing suit off. Like, they had no idea. So because they skipped steps, they didn't take the time necessary. I'm not saying. And it doesn't. It's different for everyone, but there is some time necessary to learn certain skills and mindset to get you to the. In the. In the deeper waters and navigate properly. And so because of that, I have been creating these. These educational events so that it will help everyone learn the skills and the mindset necessary. Another. Another way to put it real quick is I'm sure you've. Mike, you've played video games when you were younger, right?
- [38:26]
B
Yes.
- [38:27]
C
What about. Did you ever play Super Mario Brothers?
- [38:29]
B
Yes.
- [38:30]
C
Yeah.
- [38:30]
B
Yeah.
- [38:31]
C
It's a classic. For those of you. I'm sure everyone's heard of it because it's been around so much, so many retro versions of it. But anyway, Super Mario Brothers and have levels, but I like Super Mario Brothers in general, but also for this. For this picture, because, you know, you start with. There's all these levels. You start with level one. It's pretty easy. It's fun. You're kind of learning how to. How to use the controls. And every level gets progressively harder, and you start learning new things, new technique. Oh, there's a spin and spin and jump or, you know, whatever. Oh, I gotta run fast to clear this spot. Or I can. If I run fast, I can actually go over these gaps, you know, like, I can just run right over it so fast, and that makes me get through quicker, and I don't get ran over by the boulder. And you kind of learn these things as you go. One thing that. One of the things that Super Mario Brothers is notorious for is there are these epic little, like, secret passageways, right, that warps you to, like, board level eight. You go from level three or four to level eight. You think, that's amazing. You're like, oh, my gosh, look at this. This crazy stuff's flying and this and that and whoa. This is crazy. You think it's amazing. It looks amazing, but you die like a meteor.
- [39:37]
B
Yeah, right?
- [39:38]
C
You start playing, boom. You're dead. You're like, what in the heck? And, you know, and sometimes you get further and further along, and if you have enough patience and. And time, maybe you make it all the way to the end of that level finally. But you probably didn't collect any of this stuff or unlock any other secret things. And it was kind of like, what is the point of me even playing this level? I can't even play it properly. And that's because you haven't become the person that's able to play that level at level 8 and complete it because you skipped all the other levels to get there, right? You didn't learn on Level 5 or 6 how to jump, how to double jump in the air, right? You know, double jump in the air so you can reach that higher ledge to then get to the section you got to get to to unlock something. Like, you never learned that skill that you need in level eight to just get to the next level next, to get to just advance, not even to unlock anything, right? You're like. So that's what. What I. What I my picture for. For businesses that, that skip ahead, don't build a strong foundation. They look like they got it all figured out from the outside. Looking from the outside, they look like heroes, but on the inside, they might be like, imploding. And you have no idea, they might be falling apart because they were built on a weak foundation. And then try to skip ahead. Oh, I know. I can figure this out myself. I don't need to pay anybody for this. I don't need to do ask anyone that. And then they have a chip on their shoulder, maybe whatever it is, you know, and, and I know a lot of us, I mean, we get a lot of pride in figuring stuff out on our own, of course, but there comes a time where we all need help. Now, the final part of what. What happens to Super Mario Brothers? There are power ups along the way, right? There's power ups. There's like, what, the Star of Invincibility for a short time. There's the mushroom that makes you bigger. There's the. The fireball, you know, flower that you shoot. Fireball. So there's all these power ups that help you get through the level a little bit easier and a little bit faster. Some of the levels you can't even complete without some of these power ups, right? Like, it's designed that way. You cannot even get past this level without mastering this particular skill that you need to use this power up with, you know, like raccoon tail or whatever. And you Got to figure this out, you know, and, and like so what I think of the educational events that I create is their power ups to help you level up your business and your life. So when you attend an event like the LCR Summit or Profit Accelerator live coming up in June 26th and 27th in Richmond, Virginia, it is a power up to help your business level up. Right? Because now you're learning skills that are going to help you advance different levels in your business faster and easier without skipping any steps. So specifically a profit accelerator, we're going to be focusing on all the ways to help you increase, how help you make money faster essentially. Right? Increasing the profits in your business, you know, more time in your schedule. And there's so many different ways to do that. It's not just about like knowing your numbers. There's just so many things like I mean from route density, you know, right there to time management so that you can manage a busy schedule so that you have time in your life and you, you can run your business to money management. Like I, I'll be teaching a whole bunch of things money. I have a time management and a money management system all following nature's framework. If you, yeah, I know you were in LCR Summit, Mike. So I, I, I taught some of that last year at the LCR Summit. So I'll be doing that again here for at Profit Accelerator because I mean it definitely applies. And then you have Jonathan, I mean John Pak who's really going to help dial in like pricing and how to figure out your numbers from, from, from that perspective and profitability. And then Eric Triplett, the pond digger who is an expert in closing high ticket sales. You know, he's, he, he owns a multimillion dollar pond construction business in California. So he, he, he's always closing big projects, right? Ponds are not cheap. You know, waterfalls and water features are not cheap. And then there's the maintenance aspect after the fact. So he's gotten really good at sales communication and knowing how to, to also price high and how to have multiple levels of pricing and different packages to offer and really listening to the customers, what do they want, what do they need, what can I give them? And really how to, how to attract those premium customers and then how to close those premium customers and get those high ticket sales. So altogether the three of us going to be putting together two days of jam packed ways for you to really level up your business from a profitability standpoint so you can make more money money and if anything else, you know, it'll be after the spring rush. So if, whenever you're listening to this, you might need a refresher, right? It's a Friday and a Saturday. Beautiful, beautiful time of year in Richmond, Virginia. Come spend the weekend with us, network with your peers, learn from some of the mentors that you might have that are there and kind of revisit how your business went in the first half of the year so that you can come with a plan there at Profit Accelerate.
- [44:38]
B
Live.
- [44:38]
C
Like, it's not just you're taking notes, you're sitting in the back of the room. No, we're going to help you literally create plans in real time. Like, I'm going to actually help people manage their schedule in real time. Like set boundaries, list your priorities. Instead of prioritizing your list. Like, what do your priorities look like? Let's put those into your schedule. Let's figure all this out, you know, with the time management system that I have, and just really dial things in for everyone that are attending so that you can finish the second half of the year stronger than you start started and then go from there. And it. And also it's a great time to bring your spouse or business partner because for a limited time, you have a buy one, get one. You say you get two tickets for the price of one. So a lot of folks want to bring their spouse or if maybe their business partner is your spouse or you just have a business partner that's not your spouse. Either way, both of you can come, you know, and, and spend the weekend with us. And there's going to be some other special guests. Cornell Mack is coming. He's gonna help me host the event and I call him the mc. So he's going to be there. He's driving down from PA it's not, we're not that far from Pennsylvania. Only like four or five hours, depending on where you are. And Cornell's in Pittsburgh, so he'll be driving down with his wife. And I know some other folks as well. We have. The landscaping bookkeeper is going to be there. We have, we have a bunch of, a bunch of stuff down, down, down the pipeline. But you guys can always check it out, you know, Profit AcceleratorLive.com is the website there. You can see all the details and everything else that I did and didn't say is all there as well.
- [46:04]
B
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. I will be there. I looked at my schedule. I'm not far at all. It's a short drive, five hours. That's a couple of podcasts and, you know, boom, couple phone calls and we're there. And it sounds so great that you're not just taking notes and then, all right, maybe I'll revisit that. It's actually. You're walking away with something immediately, even on the first day where the gears are starting to move and starting to. To. You're starting to grow.
- [46:52]
C
Well, yeah, and I mean, you. You were. I mean, you've been at the LCR summit since the beginning, and. And you've probably seen the evolution over the last three summits that we've had. But I feel like the theme has still always been the same. You know, it's been that. That engaging event where you can interact with this. The speakers and ask questions. They can ask you questions. But the whole goal has always been to have that kind of workshop, engaging, get some work done while you're here, environment. So, I mean, like, have you. Is that accurate? Have you experienced that? I mean, you could be honest, like.
- [47:23]
B
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. The gear, the ideas start flowing, and you start talking, and I'm like, oh, man, I want to implement. There's something I implemented from one of the speakers right at that moment. I forget what it was exactly. It was some way to get more reviews. And I'm like, that is the greatest idea I've ever heard. And boom. And implemented it right away.
- [47:47]
C
Yeah, yeah. I've heard many people say that and do that. Like, I know Grant and Sons, you know, they're. They're.
- [47:55]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [47:56]
C
Friend. Friends of the show and my inner circle members. And for. For a couple years now. But, like, the first summit that they went to, they literally made the changes to their social media accounts, like, immediately while they were there, and then it blew up. You know, I mean, not right away, but, like, quickly, you know, because they followed. They. They did. They did what they learned, and then they stuck with it, you know, and year later, you know, it only took about a year. And they had. They had content that had millions of views, you know, all kinds of different. Different reels that were just popping off, and they just started really growing. So that's. So imagine what that could do for your business. That's not about just being, like, you know, viral or being an influencer. It's. The whole point is marketing. And that's a whole. Another thing that we don't really touch upon on profit accelerator because we're really focusing on profits, which marketing is part of that. So I know we'll touch upon it, but we really focus on that more at the LCR summit because that's. Which is later on down the road. But that focuses on like all the pillars of your business, like sales, marketing, hiring and training and profits, you know, and all the main aspects. But you know, you should be marketing your business on social media. Like it's not just to be, you know, like an influencer or something like that. Everyone is on social media. Anytime they look something, look up a lawn care or landscaping service online, it's going to immediately pull up whatever social media and websites are available. So the more spots you pop up, the better off you are, the better chances you have of getting that person to call you or contact you in some way. So.
- [49:23]
B
Oh yeah, and I think people like
- [49:25]
C
seeing brand, you know, get people to buy.
- [49:28]
B
People like seeing the behind the scenes, like kind of seeing how things work and you know, what, what the inside of the truck look like and what are these? You know what I mean? Like little. They feel a connection to the people that they see and they want a little bit of like insider information.
- [49:44]
C
Yeah, for, for sure, 100%. And that's, and then that's what you could focus on with your content is, is realizing that, that your audience is your potential, you know, future clients, hopefully. And you should be educating them. Like, hey, we sharpen blades however often because of this, you know, like, we don't want to ruin your grass. This is what happens when the blades aren't sharp and you know, you don't have to get all super scientific about it, but you just, you just show the bait. Like here, here's, here's what a mower blade looks like when it hasn't been sharpened in forever. I, I'm guessing most homeowners, homeowners have, have never even looked at their blade and it's supposed to be sharpened. So we cut a lot of grass. So we sharpen these blades however, often to keep them sharp and angled properly. And you know, again, that's as good as it gets right there. And then you don't have to show them how you sharpen it. That's what like we want to see. Right when you're, when you're making content as an influencer, that's more that type of content. But when you're just trying to market your business, you're just focusing on the why, why do we do this? Why is it important and how do we do it? And I mean not, not like how, but like, like how often things of that nature, like so that then they're like, oh wow, they're really knowledgeable. I didn't, I didn't know that like you teach them something. Oh, I didn't know you have to sharpen your blades. Oh, is that why my grass looks like that? Oh, okay. Wow. They, they, they know that and they stay on top of it. Maybe I'll contact them. So that's just one very basic example. But that's something that is, is, could completely, completely change the game for you, just that post because people will know that you are actually cleaning your decks and sharpening your blades so that you can have the best cut as possible for those properties. And it's going to make people want to contact you for multiple reasons. So social media is definitely key. So back to the whole point is just like you grandsons made tweaks to their social media immediately based on what they learned and started getting results, results, you know, very quickly, big time.
- [51:42]
B
How can people learn more about Profit Accelerator Live?
- [51:46]
C
Yeah, so profit accelerator live.com, that's the quickest, easiest way to get there. Also Mike's got a code 50 off for a single ticket. So if, if you use Code Mike promo Code Mike because that's just the easiest thing to remember. It is like side Hustle Squad podcast Mike. So if you put in Code Mike, you get 50% off a single ticket because you know, if you get two, it's buy one, get one anyway. So but if you're going by yourself, you know, save some money and, and use Mike's code and, and, and so there's that wanted to share that for a limited time there. But yeah, profit accelerator live.com, that's, that's where, where you go and I hope to see, hope to see you guys there in Richmond June 26th and 27th.
- [52:28]
B
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Again, these, the, these events are always like a shot in the heart arm and it's like, you know, I come back with like just re energized and it's at a perfect time just to even make some tweaks that I can do on the fly and, and really, really learn from you guys. Always, always learning and I appreciate you hosting it.
- [52:53]
C
Yeah, well, thank you, thank you for your kind words and I look forward to seeing you and I know you, you, you kind of go to all the, all the industry events and always you're a good example of staying Sharp, staying fresh, never getting complacent. Always. Always seeing what you can learn somewhere. Like, one time I had someone say to me about something completely different. They said, is whatever it was, they were like, which it wasn't an event. It was some totally different situation. It was like some sort of training that was outside of our industry. But they were just asking me, is this worth it? Because they knew it was something I knew about. And I said, well. Well, the way I see it is everything is worth it. If you get. Well, if you only get one thing from something, it was worth it, right? Because that one little gold nugget or gold crumb, can you just get a whole bunch of those crumbs? And now you got yourself a gold bar. And they were like, oh, I see it. I get it. You know? So, I mean, I don't take anything for granted. I don't. I am grateful for all the opportunities. I. I don't know the right words to say that I'm looking for, but essentially, I go to all the things that I can. I try to get the most out of everything. I appreciate whatever opportunities there are so that I can learn, even if it's just one little thing, you know, but it's usually more than that. So as you're. You're in. My whole point was you're a testament to that because you go to all these things, you know, and you're sometimes the same thing, you know, but sometimes you hear. Hear the same thing a couple different times, maybe from different people, different ways, and it just kind of registers different, you know, or you're different, you know, you're a different person than the first time you heard it, whether that was a month ago or a year ago ago. You're different in your business. You're different in your mind. I mean, tomorrow we're all different because we have different experiences. That makes us different. We think that's why when you watch a movie that you've seen a bunch of times, you see it again, and sometimes it hits different, right? If, you know, you know, you know. So, I mean, that's because you're different. So that's why even if you think you've been to all the events or, you know, all the things, don't be, you know, don't be. Yeah, don't be that. That person. That's just. I think you know everything. And then sooner or later you end up stuck because you don't know everything. And. And. And you might. You might end up like Spirit Airlines.
- [55:08]
B
A lot of playing, a lot of planes in the desert just sitting there. Oh man. Naylor, thank you. Anything you want to add? Anything I'm I left out or didn't touch on?
- [55:20]
C
No, I think we covered, covered everything. I appreciate, I mean if you guys want to stay in contact with me or more information above. And Bey talked about for Profit Accelerator I talk about all the time on my podcast, LCR Media Podcast. So if you check that out, there's always links in the episode description is always current and updated for the most recent episodes. And it's, you know, it's a way for me to get guests on like Mike does and so many other industry leaders as well as kind of sharing my business journey, you know, over the last 12 years. I mean I sold the whole route, you know, a couple years ago ago that I had over 26 accounts in a million dollar neighborhood because I route density is like second nature for me. And I created this framework when I realized I should probably share this with people and like, well, what do I do? Oh, this is what I do. These four simple steps. But it's easier said than done. They're simple but hard to do, hard to stick to because one of them's saying no and we always want to say yes. Right? But anyway, those are many things that I'll share at Profit Accelerator, but I about talked talk about that kind of stuff all the time on the LCR Media Podcast. So if you're curious to learn more, hear more about what I have going on and hear more guests, feel free to check me out there.
- [56:33]
B
All right, well, we'll leave it there. Thank you, Naylor for doing this again and this is really good and it's always great having you on.
- [56:42]
C
Awesome. Yeah, I appreciate you having me back on as well. Thank you.
- [56:45]
B
All right, we'll catch you guys on the next one.
- [56:50]
A
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 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.