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Side Hustle Squad
Ep 352. AI Isn't Replacing You. It's Replacing the Person Who Doesn't Use It!
00:14:06
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You don't need more ideas, you need a plan your team can actually execute. LaunchPreneur Academy LIVE 2026 is back November 7th and 8th in Novi, Michigan with a completely new speaker lineup, a refreshed event format and practical strategies you can put to work immediately. Develop stronger leaders, build a better team and create systems that move your entire business forward. Plus join us for Sunday masterclasses and connect with high performing contractors from across the country. Tickets are on sale now, but early bird pricing won't last. Visit launchopreneuracademy.com or click the link in the description Lawntrepreneur Academy Live 2026 where better leaders build better businesses 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 consider taking the leap. 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 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 Garve.
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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 on a Thursday, middle of July. We are in the thick of it, in the heat. I went out yesterday, was in the field, did some accounts up in North Jersey at our North Jersey branch and got to see some lawns, got to see some talk with some customers and it was good being out there. It's just we're growing it, we're growing it up there. Nice and steady, slow but steady. Methodical and keeping it. Everything you know the house, everything's within 40 minutes, right. We're staying within from one end to the other so it's, it's pretty good. So that's the update on that. That but I want to talk about as we're next week heading to the Lawn and Landscape Tech Conference. Looking forward to that being with a, of with our partners at Cress and other brands and we'll be at Pod House with triplet Nailer pay Jack Cornell. Gonna be really looking forward to that. But yeah, so we're, we're gonna be there and you know I want to talk talk about a little bit about I am no expert to AI, but I am watching what's going on, especially in the green industry, and talk about how AI, we're really changing how we do things and be missing the boat on it. You should be paying attention to it because it's not that it's coming to here, it's already here. And from, I think, writing marketing emails to, you know, answering questions about answering customer questions to streamlining operations, it's really changing how we're operating. And I want to share how we're using some of this stuff in coastal fertilization at roped and then where I think it's heading and how you could start using it today. But before we do that, let's hear from the show sponsors and then we'll come right back on the other side of the break. 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.
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Jim Fullerton here with branded bull. And if you've been thinking about upgrading your website, now's the time. Through July 31st, we're taking $500 off our proven starter and growth website packages during our dog days of summer promotion. So whether you're looking to build credibility, showcase your services or generate more qualified leads, a professional website is one of the best investments you can make in your business. To get started, visit Brainable.com to learn more and sign up today.
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All right, now, welcome back to the side Hustle Squad podcast. I'm your host, Mike Garvey, and we're talking about AI And I think it makes a lot of people nervous when they hear about it. Makes some people excited, some people think it's going to replace jobs, something, some people see it as a threat. But I don't think that's the way to look at it. I think it's going to, it is going to replace some people and things that are for people that refuse to learn from it. So I think if you're either a solo operator running a multi million dollar company, it's just going to be another tool in the toolbox. And I wanted to share how I'm using it and really jump into how you can help use it yourself. But really, let's talk about what is, what is AI, right? Like, it's not magic. It's not, it isn't this, you know, really in depth. I mean, it's not this thing that's going to Take over the world and all this stuff. I. But what it is is I think it's. I, I'm looking at as an assistant. I had my, my car broke down the other day and it was. Helped me diagnose exactly what, what I went. What happened and then what just talking into it and help me. Oh well, you know, it's an, it's an assistant. It is an assistant in all things and it can help you do so much in your everyday life and it needs a human to guide it. But it can help you write, brainstorm, organize, summarize, analyze, keep diving deeper and deeper into something that you want to create or research. And it doesn't replace your experience. It really amplifies what you're doing. So how I use it every day, I think it's helping me in my business between different sales, communication quotes, marketing emails, customer emails, social media posts, that is more engaging than something that I could come up with. And really, you know, helping me with that with Coastal, with again with robotics, with the rope with rope. It's doing, it's helped me do forecast projections on different financial forecasts and different presentations and product descriptions. So if I had to do all that manually, we're talking hours upon days upon weeks where this is doing it in minutes and helping me steer the ship. And let's talk about, okay, it's not going to be taking every single job. It's going to move repetitive work that where you have to generate a presentation and do it by hand on PowerPoint, where it could do it totally different and better than anything you could come up with or creating a proposal in Canva or a presentation or anything. It's reducing so you can look at other things and get more work and do less administrative work and have better communication and faster customer service. And if it takes you three hours on doing some sort of proposal, that's three more hours that you could do. Meeting customers face to face, selling more jobs, spending time with your family. So I think again, we're seeing different things change in the green industry, especially with robotic mowing. We're going to I think start seeing, we're already seeing route optimization, different AI scheduling, automated customer communication, virtual receptionists, automated reception, plant and plant disease and turf disease identification through different apps. So that's where we're starting to see the industry go. And I think if you are resistant to it and you are anti and not changing, you're going to be left behind because you're going to wait too long, you're going to be afraid of technology or you think, oh no, it's not perfect yet. It needs to, we need, we need to make sure it's perfect before we, we move forward. But I think other mistakes too on the flip side of the coin is not verifying the information that you're getting from and or trying to automate everything too quickly. So I think just starting out, use whatever platform you want to use and just start integrating it into your business. Write an email, create a Facebook post, an Instagram post. Build out a marketing calendar specific to your area and specific to your especially with fall aeration and overseeding season coming. Talk to this tool to explain I want to have as many customers as I want. I live in XYZ and I want to roll out a marketing plan. Please help me organize it. You might want to use it to organize your SOPs at your business. SOP number one, I want it to be this. Can you help me generate that could help you brainstorm so many things. If you're thinking about adding a service, have them have it analyze. Hey, I'd like to add mosquito and tick control to my business. Do you think that's a good idea? I currently offer this. I live here. What do you think I should what are the risks? What are the pros, what are the cons? And have it help you think. It's not replacing you, it's not changing your whole business overnight. But I think starting with some repetitive tasks and brainstorming is where AI can help. So I think if you want to win moving forward, you have to adapt to this technology. And the same way we adapted to us having a CRM or having social media or having smartphones. I think we're just in the next evolution. So don't be intimidated by it, learn it, experiment with it. I encourage you to do a few little, little things with it and it will help you be a better business owner. Not trying to replace you, but I'm trying to help you and that's just some of the things that I'm doing. So I encourage you if you enjoyed today's little episode, please leave us a five star rating and review. That's all I can ask for is is to help spread the show. If you think another business owner would like hearing about this or hearing from my podcast, I'd love to for you to share it. And I really want to say thank you to supporting the show. We're coming up going to have some really good content with Pot House Scottsdale with the boys being out at the lawn and landscape tech conference. Can't wait to report back on all of that good stuff and all the things that we're going to learn. It's an exciting week coming up tomorrow. I'm headed to Orlando real quick for some dealer training with Chris. Looking forward to bringing some stuff back to talk to you guys about that. Specifically training with the Voyager that we're going to start rolling out in the next couple weeks. So really looking forward to that. So have a good weekend. If you want to send me a message if you want to be on the show, love to hear from you. I had someone reach out to me the other day from across from Italy and I can't wait to reach back out to him and have them on the show. They said they found the show, love it, have a small lawn care company over there and that's what it's all about is connecting, helping people, making new friends again. All about helping each other and helping each other grow our businesses. So I'll leave it right there. Appreciate you guys and we'll catch you on the next one.
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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.