Winter Nearly Bankrupted His Business (Here’s What Saved It)

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And we stayed right around 412, 450.
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My ops manager leave at the end of the year to just move on to greener pastures.
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It seems really enticing to want to grow an $800,000 business just in Northampton.
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I think it is possible.
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But we went from full financial collapse.
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We would have been in the negative if we had higher expenses for the past three years because it's just been figuring it out, doing residential and the condos.
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We had one commercial account this year and we changed all of our residentials.
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over to a flat rate because it hasn't been real winter here in three years.
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So everyone was saying, I don't want to pay.
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I barely had any income or dip into the savings.
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But so this year I changed them from like 800 to 1200 on average for salt, snow, walkways, steps, or even brushing the cars off.
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And then it ended up being real winter and they got a hell of a deal.
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So now they're all pretty locked in and hopefully next year when I try to raise the price, they'll still be game for that.
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Because usually residential, it's commercial and condos that'll go for a flat rate.
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And then the residentials will, I'm not going to risk that, I'll...
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I'll shovel myself or I'll find someone else willing to do it.
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So it's like $1,200 and then regardless of how much snow happens.
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Yeah, I didn't put any cap on it, which I could also do, say, this is up to 30 inches and then you hit your cap and then we're going to have to charge out from there just to get smarter about it.
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Yeah, for sure.
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So $65,000, that's pretty good though.
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Not better than last year.
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Yeah, not too bad, honestly.
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I was happy with our snow operation and I also was like, you know, it's the double-edged sword.
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Like, you know, we need income and I wish I had year-round services to offer and more snow for folks that like, it used to be a consistent thing where every week, every two weeks, you could count on it, but not for the last seven to 10 years.
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It hasn't been quite like that and then these past three were brutal.
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compared to like people didn't believe in winter.
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And then this year it finally came back.
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But I was able to get it to a point now where I hired enough folks and had experienced folks that came back from prior years that knew what they were doing.
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And I was able to like be out of town or even out of state for some snowstorms.
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you know, which I never thought, you know, I might be able to do again.
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It was like last winter for the previous two winters.
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It's just been grind time, like six hours on the computer doing back and, you know, writing the training manual, getting all my marketing for the next year and just hitting the gym.
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And then that was my day, super consistent working on the business, gave up my winter passions of snowboarding and, you know, yeah, yeah.
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I like to do a lot of like backcountry snowboarding.
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So splitboarding, trying to get out like,
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into nature, decompress, take a couple months off.
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And this year I was able to do that.
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I got back out there and my crew, I had trips planned for weekends and then it would end up snowing.
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I'd wake up in a cabin and it'd be zero degrees and they'd be calling me like, we got to get going.
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Where's the key for this thing?
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And they handled business and no complaints, which was awesome to see.
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That's good.
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So 2023 was 325 approximately.
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Yeah.
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Then 2024, last year's a little over 400,000.
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Yep.
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But this year, you're shooting for like basically 500,000, depending on your goal?
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Probably closer to 600.
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I mean, 150 a year is a comfortable growth rate for me because I've done it every single year since inception in 2021.
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First year we did 150, then we did 312.
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Then last year I was hoping for 500, but we had all these setbacks with employees.
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either having to be let go or getting injured.
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And we stayed right around 412, 450.
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And then this year, I think easily, granted we have another truck, we're gonna get another mower and we have a more experienced crew and we have that many more clients.
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Plus we have, I can show you,
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all this marketing in here we got stacks and stacks and stacks of um you know yeah we got 5,000 every door direct mail postcards plus your your old school instant quotes these worked well you know so we're looking to make a push somewhere you know this year um and so last year like the kind of the trouble with the growth was just retaining employees
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Yes.
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So it's been a saga.
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I'll tell you, I didn't count how many I've actually hired between inception and now.
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But last year, essentially, I had my ops manager leave at the end of the year to just move on to greener pastures.
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His heart's not in it.
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He doesn't see himself as in the landscaping and lawn care.
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He's not passionate about leadership.
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But he was great and really helped me standardize the processes.
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And he was...
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had more, you know, blue collar experience than even me.
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And he's like, you need to be like whipping people into shape this way, this way, this way.
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He helped me come up with the training manual, but he's gone.
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My mowing foreman hurt his knee on the job and has been out of work ever since doing rehab for his knee.
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No, no set comeback date.
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You know, he was an older guy.
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Um,
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And then I had to let one go due to theft with filling up his own gas tank, like petty stuff.
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He was honestly in every way, shape, or form one of the best people to work with and was super fast, agile on his feet, learned all the services really quick.
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And he was a young gun who I was looking, hopefully.
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grow with the business, but that didn't end up working.
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How many employees was there at a peak?
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For example, a month, fall season, last year, during November we had 50,000.
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During May, spring, we had 63,000.
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During those period of time, how many employees are staffed at that point?
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Usually, I'd say I have around 10 to 12, but only six to eight full-time equivalents.
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That's the thing with how I've started the business.
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I had a lot of friends that helped me and weren't in it full-time because they had other goals.
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They're either going to school, have other aspirations, but yet they have too much institutional knowledge, do too good at work, and I trust them too much to just think that they're not worth to keep around.
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I'd have four or five full-time people that were new or
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And then I'd have some part-timers helping me out on the weekends to try and keep from, you know, folks working too much overtime or people's bodies who couldn't handle it.
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Right.
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But that's the thing I've been trying to move away from, you know, part-time help.
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So this is going to be the first season, I think, where I'm just.
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It's either full-time or bust sort of a thing, because that's really what I've seen works the best in terms of getting the production that we need out of everybody.
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Setting people up to grow with the business into a position where they know the ins and outs are here every day, know everybody's first and last name.
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know what makes them tick, know what makes them...
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It's also just easier to manage.
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Right.
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Because on 600,000 revenue, you can do that with five to six full-time employees.
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Right.
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But when you have 10, 12 part-timers, it's hard to build the culture because it's someone new all the time.
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Right.
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It's also hard to manage 12 people.
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Yeah.
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And so they get less efficient, they get less training, they get less more time with you to be able to figure out how to actually do things directly, so it will cause more callbacks, et cetera.
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Right.
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Right.
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So that's what we're moving towards, and I'm set up for that.
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I have seven on staff right now that are going to be my full-time employees.
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But then I always, based on how my hiring and turnover has gone, based on medical, people not cutting it, I don't know really if they're going to work out unless I work with them every day, day in and day out for a month to see if they're up for the job and what their attitude's like on the fifth Friday in 100-degree heat.
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I always have people in the pipeline.
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I'm like ready to go.
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I'm gonna start staggering.
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April 1st will be the next soonest hire date and we'll get to know like during this first week of March cleanups in case anybody doesn't work out the first week.
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I got someone to step in.
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I'm always nervous about not having enough help because
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I don't think we could do, you know, six, I don't think, you know, based on where my prices are at, if we need more folks to do that amount of revenue, and I'm willing to have to step up and realize like, it'll take more to manage that, but in order to get there and then find the right squad that actually wants to work.
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you know, 50 hours a week in the busy seasons and their bodies can handle it, you know, taper off and figure out, you know, down the line when we can really make it efficient enough to do it exactly as, you know, as the book says, so to say.
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Do people quit or is it like they just want part-time?
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Because like technically, let's say you're charging an hour, which we're not hitting that now, but let's say it's 80 bucks an hour, we're able to actually hit that target or eight.
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and everyone works 30 budgeted hours a week, so about full-time.
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Right.
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We should be pulling in around $10,000 of labor revenue per employee per month.
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And so that's where I think like five to six employees is what we need.
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Yeah.
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But that does require them all working full time.
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Right.
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And so like on your, in your hiring ad is, are you attracting a lot of part?
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We are.
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No, no.
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So we haven't, it's just, that's the way the cookies crumbled, I guess.
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And like, you know, I've hired on some folks that have other full time commitments and then have just worked as weekends because I know, you know, I can't count on my staff to show up every time I require them for a weekend.
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So it's like,
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Some of them aren't productive by the fifth or sixth day, but they're really good employees and they're trustworthy and they want to be with the company for a couple of years.
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So it's like, do I let them work 30 hours or, you know, say goodbye because they can't work a full time week and then spend another five, 10 grand finding someone who might work out, who might be a better fit, you know.
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But all my high school friends are pretty much doing their own thing at this point.
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That's helped me start the business and really helped me standardize.
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And when you have that fluctuating, you never know what your revenue is going to be.
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It can be helpful to be able to pull from a part-time employee and not have to give them a ton of guaranteed hours with our summer slump when things fall off.
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It's like I'm not required by law to be paying them X amount per week.
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So it's been helpful up until now, but definitely this year, we're going to see how few people we can get away with.
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and try to find the folks that are really gung-ho to get after it with as many hours as possible to make hay while the sun shines.
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Because at the end of the day, that's what's best for their finances and for the businesses too.
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It's just hard to convince them of that when it's just go time in the spring season.
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I think cool.
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Very cool.
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I know you have some questions.
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We'll go over that, and then what we'll try to do is figure out, from a 4L framework perspective, what are the aspects that we need to improve in each area?
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Right.
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Kind of the targets for those, which I kind of have an idea of now, but I know you have a bazillion questions, so let's go to the news, and that will inform you better.
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Okay, sure, sure.
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Let me grab a pen, too, so I can take some notes when we get to the phone.
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Do you have a marker, too?
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Yeah, I got Sharpie work.
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Yeah, it works.
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Totally.
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Totally.
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Okay.
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We got questions for days, let's go.
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So I feel like it seems really enticing to want to grow like an $800,000 business just in Northampton.
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I think it is possible, I just don't know whether that's where I want to focus all of my marketing efforts this year, right?
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Is it better to have a higher customer value spread out among multiple towns?
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Or a lower, you know, customer lifetime value all in one town and just keep taking mowing only, maybe spring cleanup here, fall cleanup there.
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Doing the bids right around now, like when it's two minutes in between each house is nice.
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Fall cleanup season, it's five minutes.
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We forgot something, you know, down the road from when I was to go pick up a rake.
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It's nice.
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But is it limiting me, you know, when there's this, you know.
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equal equivalent size town with just as many folks that are interested in the electric component with no other competitors, just about a 15-minute drive from the Hadley shop.
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But that leaves that, it's about 35 minutes from here.
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So it would be smarter to probably just
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I think what you're going to say is move Southampton and Eastampton.
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Those are also viable markets, granted much smaller, a little more rural.
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You're probably not as many folks who care as much about the electric thing, but still do need lawn mowing that we could branch into and work our way this way towards the shop in Hadley, which is just moving north.
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Amherst is a little further north even, but it's a huge untapped market.
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So I'm wondering your thoughts on that.
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Expanding your service area is always going to increase in that customer.
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Yeah.
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Like, it's the fastest way to grow because you simply increase the amount of service area of people that could potentially use their services.
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Right.
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The challenging part, I think, is by saying, hey, we have to tap into people who care about electric, that all of a sudden just cut our market by like 90%.
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Because most people don't care.
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And so my thought is we use the electric part and if that's something that means a lot to you and you think there are a portion of people that care, but can we make it efficient enough to where anyone that needs lawn care service, anyone that needs landscaping, we can still serve them and be profitable on them and be competitive.
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Because most customers, 90% of them don't care about the electric thing.
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They literally just look at the price.
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And if it's a little quieter, cool, but they could care less.
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And so if we can become competitive in that market, we can 10x the market that we can serve here.
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And if you're building a $600,000 business in this market, I look at the lead side, like your website and other things that I see.
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We can double it easily.
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Easily.
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So I think going into a different market is always the simplest solution because, yes, you will immediately unlock that 10% that cares about electric, and you don't have any competition.
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So you will get those customers.
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And so it seems then intuitive.
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We'll go to the next city.
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And all of a sudden you have this massive service area.
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Driving 35 minutes from here saps all your electric stuff.
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Now you've got stuff so far away.
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It becomes even more you have to invest more in batteries because you can't afford them to come back here.
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Yeah.
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It's just a matter, it's a function of can we get more efficient so we can actually serve a market that doesn't care of electric, just needs the lawn care side.
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That's 100% of the market versus maybe 10%.
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Right, right.
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And so I think that's what I would be focusing on because as soon as you get into a wider service area, you're less efficient now.
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Yeah.
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So you can only serve that 10% of the market because you have to go up market.
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You can only be the higher cost option for electric.
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Right, right.
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So I would really encourage you to stay in the current area.
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00:14:05.587 --> 00:14:06.808
You are at $600,000.
206
00:14:07.048 --> 00:14:09.329
When I look at your website and I see like- Well, $450,000.
207
00:14:09.349 --> 00:14:15.251
$600,000 is the goal, but we didn't do much marketing last year besides a truck wrap and some lawn signs, and we grew $150,000.
208
00:14:15.392 --> 00:14:16.672
Let's just call it $450,000, though.
209
00:14:16.852 --> 00:14:20.134
I think when I look at the website, we're on the second page of Google.
210
00:14:20.154 --> 00:14:21.975
We only have 15 Google reviews.
211
00:14:22.075 --> 00:14:23.675
There's so much opportunity there.
212
00:14:23.896 --> 00:14:29.158
Just putting your estimate request form on the front of the page above the fold, that alone will get you up.
213
00:14:29.534 --> 00:14:30.836
30, 40% more leads.
214
00:14:31.056 --> 00:14:45.432
So like, those are the things that like, when I look at the leads opportunity, like I see, I see, the thing is, if we can get dumped leads, like if tomorrow you're getting like 10, 15 leads a day, you would end up forcing yourself to raise prices.
215
00:14:45.913 --> 00:14:46.073
Right.
216
00:14:46.093 --> 00:14:50.618
Because right now, like the function, the real problem is the fact that we have such a low hourly rate.
217
00:14:51.499 --> 00:15:02.546
We're just not making enough per hour, therefore we can't pay our guys enough on P4P to keep them sticking around, so we go back to hourly rate, simply because 40% on a low margin service is still not enough for them.
218
00:15:03.167 --> 00:15:07.010
If we could pay everyone $28, $29 an hour, we would keep a better crew.
219
00:15:07.590 --> 00:15:11.493
But we can't afford to do that, because our prices are too low, we're too inefficient.
220
00:15:11.993 --> 00:15:19.360
And so the only way for me to convince you to raise that to where you're actually making the $80 to $100 per hour is just dump leads on you.
221
00:15:19.601 --> 00:15:21.142
And that's where I actually see the opportunity.
222
00:15:21.162 --> 00:15:22.884
And that's why you're wanting to go to a different market.
223
00:15:22.984 --> 00:15:24.566
Because I need more leads.
224
00:15:24.626 --> 00:15:25.186
I agree with you.
225
00:15:25.647 --> 00:15:28.469
In the world of leads just being dumped on you, you raise prices.
226
00:15:28.489 --> 00:15:30.692
You can be able to pay your employees more.
227
00:15:30.912 --> 00:15:32.834
You buy the extra mower, whatever you need.
228
00:15:33.654 --> 00:15:35.454
And so I actually see this as a lead problem.
229
00:15:35.474 --> 00:15:37.255
And you know I rarely actually say that.
230
00:15:37.595 --> 00:15:43.056
Like usually I'm like efficiency, like let's nail this thing down, let's get weight, cut P for P, all this other stuff.
231
00:15:43.456 --> 00:15:46.256
It's very rare to say, we just need tons and tons of leads.
232
00:15:46.897 --> 00:15:52.518
And that's why I say going to another market is so attractive to you because you know immediately you unlock leads.
233
00:15:53.198 --> 00:15:59.919
But when I look at what you currently have with the website, the current operations, what you can do with the marketing, we're not tapping into it.
234
00:16:00.079 --> 00:16:00.439
It's true.
235
00:16:00.599 --> 00:16:17.365
I mean, at the beginning of this foray, like I took an online course to get some design work done, you know, I've done, I got, you know, the AI skills to build out all these, you know, postcards, door hangers, and then I bought your stuff too, just to help me, you know, solidify that and make that a bit easier.
236
00:16:18.005 --> 00:16:27.328
But I really haven't found the time to get a good Facebook up, you know, do the Instagram, cause I've had enough, you know, you know, success, I suppose.
237
00:16:27.802 --> 00:16:28.682
just with lawn signs.
238
00:16:28.722 --> 00:16:35.044
And we have 12 up right now from customers who have agreed to do that for a couple of free mowings or for free, bless them.
239
00:16:35.084 --> 00:16:36.865
So that's worked for now.
240
00:16:36.885 --> 00:16:42.187
But tapping into, I mean, I wanted to call around and see about someone on Upwork helping me get the SEO dialed in.
241
00:16:42.907 --> 00:16:51.810
So that leads me to my next question of, I mean, I have the option of putting 36 Lawrence Plain Road and Hadley as a official address.
242
00:16:51.830 --> 00:16:54.270
We could ask the landlord about that on Google.
243
00:16:54.650 --> 00:16:56.131
But right now, my service area is
244
00:16:56.451 --> 00:17:04.541
from Northampton and 99% of the calls that I get or the website visitors I do get on the intake form are from Northampton.
245
00:17:04.561 --> 00:17:05.442
So that helps me.
246
00:17:05.462 --> 00:17:09.087
I'm wondering, you know, if I put in Hadley, we had a Hadley route last year.
247
00:17:09.848 --> 00:17:12.971
So that's where our shop's located, but the lawns are a lot bigger.
248
00:17:12.991 --> 00:17:14.173
And I think, you know, there's
249
00:17:14.610 --> 00:17:18.633
probably a little more price discretion in that market.
250
00:17:19.013 --> 00:17:21.475
So I'm wondering, should I do that, you think?
251
00:17:21.615 --> 00:17:24.798
Well, having any address on Google is going to be positive.
252
00:17:24.818 --> 00:17:25.919
Because at least you show up on the map.
253
00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:30.943
And right now, if Google listing integrated directly now with maps, you want an address.
254
00:17:31.363 --> 00:17:35.106
You're showing up on the second page, but you are showing up first on Google listing.
255
00:17:35.346 --> 00:17:37.388
And that's because no one around here has Google reviews.
256
00:17:37.768 --> 00:17:39.209
You have 15 and it's like the most.
257
00:17:39.530 --> 00:17:39.750
Right.
258
00:17:39.970 --> 00:17:44.074
So if you can get above 30 at least in terms of reviews, that'll help.
259
00:17:44.335 --> 00:17:48.639
If you can also get an address verified on the map, even better.
260
00:17:48.939 --> 00:17:50.501
Now, ideally, it is in Northampton.
261
00:17:50.901 --> 00:17:51.101
Right.
262
00:17:51.161 --> 00:17:52.523
So this is Northampton?
263
00:17:52.603 --> 00:17:53.243
Southampton.
264
00:17:53.263 --> 00:17:53.724
This is Southampton.
265
00:17:53.744 --> 00:17:54.224
Two towns away.
266
00:17:54.244 --> 00:17:54.384
Yeah.
267
00:17:54.505 --> 00:17:55.365
I don't want to put it here.
268
00:17:55.425 --> 00:17:56.827
And then have these kind of in between.
269
00:17:56.847 --> 00:17:56.967
Right.
270
00:17:57.334 --> 00:18:02.436
Hadley is even further north than Northampton is.
271
00:18:02.456 --> 00:18:03.416
Oh, it's on the other side.
272
00:18:03.456 --> 00:18:06.657
Southampton, Eastampton, Northampton, Hadley.
273
00:18:06.817 --> 00:18:07.097
Got it.
274
00:18:07.117 --> 00:18:13.379
But if I'm looking at a map, are we, what, three, four miles from the center of your service area?
275
00:18:13.859 --> 00:18:16.060
About closer to 10.
276
00:18:16.600 --> 00:18:16.981
Right now.
277
00:18:17.101 --> 00:18:18.222
No, I mean your shop space, sorry.
278
00:18:18.242 --> 00:18:18.923
Oh, my shop space?
279
00:18:18.943 --> 00:18:20.504
Yeah, my shop space is a little closer.
280
00:18:20.544 --> 00:18:21.605
Yeah, verify that one.
281
00:18:21.686 --> 00:18:22.747
Use that one as a verification.
282
00:18:22.787 --> 00:18:25.089
It's already a commercial address of user verified.
283
00:18:25.109 --> 00:18:25.570
Right.
284
00:18:25.590 --> 00:18:29.033
I'm assuming all your stuff is sitting there, so you have to do video verification for Google.
285
00:18:29.554 --> 00:18:35.840
But if you just have that verified, and you get 30 Google reviews, just that alone will probably be in the first page of Google.
286
00:18:36.621 --> 00:18:40.745
And so that alone, just that one move will get you 20% more leads, I'd say.
287
00:18:41.165 --> 00:18:42.786
On the second page of Google, everything dies.
288
00:18:42.846 --> 00:18:43.327
No one cares.
289
00:18:43.707 --> 00:18:47.490
You've got five competitors above you from an organic search.
290
00:18:47.650 --> 00:18:49.212
None of them have Google listings.
291
00:18:49.312 --> 00:18:51.453
None of them are taking Google reviews seriously.
292
00:18:51.734 --> 00:18:52.274
Right.
293
00:18:52.354 --> 00:18:59.140
And so inside Service Autopilot, you can just simply make it an automation based upon when you complete a job, it's sending them an automated...
294
00:18:59.580 --> 00:19:00.241
I have that.
295
00:19:00.362 --> 00:19:02.645
Yeah, I mean, it's going out with the invoice.
296
00:19:02.665 --> 00:19:03.807
I don't know if that's a mistake.
297
00:19:03.827 --> 00:19:05.169
It should be a separate email.
298
00:19:05.270 --> 00:19:06.251
Well, do you have cards on file?
299
00:19:06.752 --> 00:19:07.113
Say again?
300
00:19:07.133 --> 00:19:08.675
Do you have cards on file for customers?
301
00:19:08.775 --> 00:19:09.476
What kind of, what do you mean?
302
00:19:09.496 --> 00:19:10.157
The credit card's on file.
303
00:19:10.177 --> 00:19:10.638
Are you charging?
304
00:19:10.658 --> 00:19:11.059
Yes, yes.
305
00:19:11.339 --> 00:19:12.762
So do they get an actual invoice?
306
00:19:14.748 --> 00:19:15.769
No.
307
00:19:15.949 --> 00:19:17.489
So only one-time jobs are getting it.
308
00:19:17.709 --> 00:19:20.370
Only one-time jobs are folks paying by check, I suppose.
309
00:19:20.430 --> 00:19:25.692
So then what you can do is just have it where it's like every 90 days or 120 days, you send a review request to customers.
310
00:19:25.932 --> 00:19:31.173
Now instead of asking for a review, what you want to do is you want to say, was your service satisfactory?
311
00:19:31.473 --> 00:19:33.574
And then if they click yes, it goes to Google.
312
00:19:33.854 --> 00:19:37.155
If they click no, it goes to a Google form and sends information to you.
313
00:19:38.316 --> 00:19:50.792
And then what I would say is inside that, tell them that if they leave a review for your crew, that they get a $50 bonus or whatever you want to put on that because then they're much more inclined to leave a review.
314
00:19:51.392 --> 00:19:54.656
So do say $50 incentive for a free mowing to the customer.
315
00:19:55.297 --> 00:19:56.938
I wouldn't do anything at free moment or anything like that.
316
00:19:56.998 --> 00:20:03.362
I would just say, hey, if you leave a review for us, the crew that was at your site, your property last, gets a bonus.
317
00:20:03.382 --> 00:20:12.808
Because most of the time, especially, so what I like to do is for recurring service, I like to go, was the service satisfactory, yes or no?
318
00:20:13.388 --> 00:20:14.409
More of a survey based.
319
00:20:14.429 --> 00:20:15.891
And if they say yes, it's going to Google.
320
00:20:16.071 --> 00:20:18.893
They say no, it's going to a Google form to keep that internal information.
321
00:20:19.314 --> 00:20:21.576
For one-time projects, I would change that one.
322
00:20:21.816 --> 00:20:25.480
Because the reason you're getting very few reviews on that is people typically don't care about your business.
323
00:20:25.820 --> 00:20:28.703
But they do care about the guys who showed up to their property and did the work.
324
00:20:29.223 --> 00:20:29.483
Right.
325
00:20:29.523 --> 00:20:33.707
And so you say, hey, Mr. Jones, Billy, Bob, Joe, and whatever, was that your property?
326
00:20:33.727 --> 00:20:34.848
They loved doing the service.
327
00:20:35.168 --> 00:20:37.430
If you leave us a review, they get a $50 bonus.
328
00:20:37.990 --> 00:20:40.632
If you do that, you'll get way more from the one-time jobs.
329
00:20:41.052 --> 00:20:43.434
Because now the customer cares about the people who show up their property.
330
00:20:43.714 --> 00:20:45.336
They really could care less about eco-valley.
331
00:20:45.356 --> 00:20:46.116
That's what I found.
332
00:20:46.136 --> 00:20:50.280
I mean, when I was doing – I mean, I still know every customer on a first-name basis nearly.
333
00:20:51.781 --> 00:20:53.122
But it's true.
334
00:20:53.642 --> 00:20:57.065
As we start getting more and more folks doing the service and I'm not there –
335
00:20:57.542 --> 00:21:04.506
they're getting to know my folks and making sure they're gregarious, outgoing, knowledgeable, and can take the place as the face of the business.
336
00:21:04.526 --> 00:21:10.270
And that's really, people care more about that than the business itself.
337
00:21:10.490 --> 00:21:14.893
That's why, I mean, you know that, I forget, FloridaTurfPro is the other YouTuber.
338
00:21:14.933 --> 00:21:19.636
He does the, he puts him and his family on the postcard and then it says, this is what I promise you.
339
00:21:21.416 --> 00:21:21.997
It rings true.
340
00:21:22.037 --> 00:21:29.019
It makes a lot more sense if people feel like my crews are getting a tip from the business based on how good of a job they did.
341
00:21:29.879 --> 00:21:32.079
You give that money to whoever was the last.
342
00:21:32.620 --> 00:21:39.001
The challenging part is, let's say, we do every 90 days, it's going out as a survey.
343
00:21:39.041 --> 00:21:42.482
That way, if they get it multiple times, it's not a big deal.
344
00:21:42.803 --> 00:21:43.523
Every 90 to 120 days.
345
00:21:44.543 --> 00:21:50.146
But the one-time jobs ones are the ones where I mentioned the $50 bonus, and those ones we just crush on.
346
00:21:50.366 --> 00:21:55.889
We're printing one to two a week just from spring cleanups, mulch installs, bush truines, just from that side.
347
00:21:56.090 --> 00:21:57.410
We do really good mulch work.
348
00:21:57.450 --> 00:21:58.771
That's where we were priced pretty good.
349
00:21:58.811 --> 00:22:08.256
We were like $200 a yard installed for some of our mulch because we're taking so much time with it, really edging crazy to the point where there's two or three inches of sod.
350
00:22:08.276 --> 00:22:13.119
We have to get a lot of material off-site to do it like that, but I think that's one area where...
351
00:22:14.165 --> 00:22:15.908
customers really, we go above and beyond.
352
00:22:15.928 --> 00:22:17.270
We don't have a bark blower.
353
00:22:17.290 --> 00:22:18.632
We're not running in and out.
354
00:22:19.053 --> 00:22:23.721
We're probably twice as expensive as the next company in terms of
355
00:22:24.238 --> 00:22:27.200
install but we still have folks going for that from us.
356
00:22:27.300 --> 00:22:30.361
If you even wanted to get 20 reviews in a week, this is what I would do.
357
00:22:30.401 --> 00:22:31.542
I would put a picture of your team.
358
00:22:32.262 --> 00:22:35.824
I would say, we're getting ready for the spring season.
359
00:22:35.844 --> 00:22:37.225
This is our team.
360
00:22:37.785 --> 00:22:41.527
If you've done service with us in the past and our work was quality, let us know.
361
00:22:41.588 --> 00:22:42.428
Leave us a review.
362
00:22:42.768 --> 00:22:44.969
And for every review that we get, we're going to put $50 towards a
363
00:22:46.250 --> 00:22:47.571
party for our team or whatever.
364
00:22:47.591 --> 00:22:51.334
Like, and we're going to go offsite, do a meeting, do it all around the team though.
365
00:22:51.514 --> 00:22:52.655
They don't care about your business.
366
00:22:52.675 --> 00:22:53.296
They care about the team.
367
00:22:53.856 --> 00:22:57.579
Especially because they, you know, their names, they know your employees name.
368
00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.121
They like Bob last year cause he installed the mulch.
369
00:23:00.161 --> 00:23:03.344
Like focus on that side and you'll get 15 to 20 pretty quickly.
370
00:23:03.764 --> 00:23:03.984
Mm-hmm.
371
00:23:04.565 --> 00:23:04.745
Yeah.
372
00:23:04.825 --> 00:23:06.607
And then just set up the automation to that.
373
00:23:06.707 --> 00:23:11.130
It's every three months, every four months is collecting reviews organically all the time.
374
00:23:11.410 --> 00:23:11.771
Right.
375
00:23:11.871 --> 00:23:12.151
Right.
376
00:23:12.231 --> 00:23:12.531
Wow.
377
00:23:12.611 --> 00:23:12.892
Yeah.
378
00:23:13.392 --> 00:23:13.752
Novel.
379
00:23:14.173 --> 00:23:14.473
Awesome.
380
00:23:14.874 --> 00:23:29.567
Yeah, because I've had it on my high-priority list to call every customer this year over the winter and say, but it seems at this point, if I'm just touching on that and that's the main point of the call, it's like I don't think that's a good idea.
381
00:23:29.907 --> 00:23:33.230
Yeah, especially because on a call, they still have to go log in on their device.
382
00:23:33.550 --> 00:23:36.232
They make it where they click on something and it's immediately there.
383
00:23:36.452 --> 00:23:37.453
Right.
384
00:23:37.473 --> 00:23:39.275
Do you have text inside Service Hub or not?
385
00:23:39.735 --> 00:23:41.156
No, I did not opt for that feature.
386
00:23:41.597 --> 00:23:43.118
So email, though, is sufficient.
387
00:23:43.178 --> 00:23:47.501
Like, just make the, like, behind the yes and the no as pictures.
388
00:23:47.821 --> 00:23:47.981
Right.
389
00:23:48.161 --> 00:23:51.824
And so they just say, like, was your, you know, service satisfactory?
390
00:23:51.884 --> 00:23:52.525
That makes it easier.
391
00:23:52.825 --> 00:23:53.065
Yeah.
392
00:23:53.645 --> 00:23:54.226
Right, right.
393
00:23:54.686 --> 00:23:54.966
Cool.
394
00:23:55.407 --> 00:23:57.868
That's, yeah, that's definitely something I can focus on.
395
00:23:57.888 --> 00:24:00.190
That would be high impact, low cost, for sure.
396
00:24:01.791 --> 00:24:03.352
So two properties.
397
00:24:03.733 --> 00:24:03.933
Mm-hmm.
398
00:24:04.436 --> 00:24:13.378
you know, what would you do in my shoes and what do you think the best step is trying to, you know, I don't want to get ahead of myself and try and think about, you know, 100 locations before I have two, right?
399
00:24:13.418 --> 00:24:18.439
Like in your most recent visit to the Carolinas, like that's not something I'm gung-ho on.
400
00:24:18.459 --> 00:24:24.280
The only reason, I mean, I'm thinking about this this early already is because we now have to plug this in here.
401
00:24:24.500 --> 00:24:24.720
Right.
402
00:24:25.040 --> 00:24:29.761
Is it going to be, you know, a distraction or a detraction or, you know,
403
00:24:30.701 --> 00:24:49.890
Is the business at a place where I think it can sustain that and start branching out into two locations under one roof with me as still managing everything as long as I can get some ops managers who are going to be coming back for next year and then be able to have people leaving from here with a trustworthy crew and not have to be in two places at one time?
404
00:24:50.110 --> 00:24:58.572
Yeah, I would try to get one location in profit mode with higher prices, well above $500,000 before I start breaking it apart.
405
00:24:58.772 --> 00:25:03.733
Also from a leadership perspective of no one to be able to start team meeting at the other spot, anything like that.
406
00:25:04.393 --> 00:25:09.374
What was nice is as you hire this year, you can say, hey, this is on the horizon next few years that we want to do.
407
00:25:09.735 --> 00:25:13.956
And then potentially you get someone that's a little early and you can kind of foster them into that role.
408
00:25:14.296 --> 00:25:19.857
But I would not be pushing for that, especially the fact that right now you're only splitting the two locations because you can charge the truck here.
409
00:25:20.177 --> 00:25:20.377
Right.
410
00:25:21.038 --> 00:25:24.340
You're driving an extra 15 or 20 minutes now simply to charge the truck.
411
00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:24.880
Yeah.
412
00:25:25.220 --> 00:25:28.803
And so can we charge that truck there any way, shape, or form?
413
00:25:28.823 --> 00:25:30.404
Can we put an inverter there or anything?
414
00:25:30.424 --> 00:25:31.224
It's not going to work.
415
00:25:31.465 --> 00:25:31.665
No.
416
00:25:32.986 --> 00:25:35.147
So then you would have to bring that truck basically then every day.
417
00:25:35.247 --> 00:25:37.048
Yeah, which is not possible, right?
418
00:25:37.129 --> 00:25:39.450
So it's starting a MoCrew from here.
419
00:25:39.490 --> 00:25:46.035
And I mean, I have hired a foreman to be an ops manager in training throughout this season.
420
00:25:46.095 --> 00:25:47.276
I'm ready to start handing off.
421
00:25:47.296 --> 00:25:48.637
They're actually out doing quotes today.
422
00:25:48.657 --> 00:25:51.820
They're doing property inspections, taking pictures of everything, taking a video.
423
00:25:52.260 --> 00:25:54.862
And then, you know, they're sending that to me over.
424
00:25:55.283 --> 00:25:58.265
And then I'm actually coming up with the prices for the customers.
425
00:25:58.365 --> 00:26:05.191
But I have people who are well fit for those roles who now seem like they'd be committed for at least a year, two years, three years.
426
00:26:06.572 --> 00:26:09.054
You know, so it's not, you know, out of the question.
427
00:26:09.094 --> 00:26:18.582
But from a revenue perspective, I'm trying to hand off certain administrative and sales and ops manager tasks without giving them a true, you know, salary in like sales.
428
00:26:18.882 --> 00:26:23.584
you know, gung ho, this is it because at 500K, we can't quite afford it yet, right?
429
00:26:23.644 --> 00:26:29.167
But it just starts to feel janky for the employees when like there's two different start sites.
430
00:26:29.947 --> 00:26:36.191
The one that you currently have over there at the shop space is at a different landscaping company's property, here it's your house.
431
00:26:36.671 --> 00:26:39.272
So like it starts to feel janky from an employee's perspective.
432
00:26:39.492 --> 00:26:42.394
And that's where turnoff comes in because they don't feel like it's a real business.
433
00:26:43.314 --> 00:26:44.756
And there's no camaraderie, there's no culture.
434
00:26:44.776 --> 00:26:45.977
You don't start in the same place every day.
435
00:26:45.997 --> 00:26:47.098
They don't see you every day.
436
00:26:47.118 --> 00:26:47.499
Right.
437
00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:49.100
And that's when you start to get low morale.
438
00:26:49.120 --> 00:26:51.243
People leave because they don't see you for three or four days.
439
00:26:51.263 --> 00:26:53.125
They think you're out partying, like doing whatever.
440
00:26:53.625 --> 00:26:59.572
So that's where I get concerned at the size of business is splitting is actually from a cultural perspective.
441
00:26:59.652 --> 00:26:59.832
Yeah.
442
00:26:59.852 --> 00:27:00.332
Retention.
443
00:27:00.653 --> 00:27:00.893
Right.
444
00:27:01.253 --> 00:27:02.454
Can we move the whole thing here?
445
00:27:02.514 --> 00:27:10.118
I mean, we could, in theory, with enough work in space and we have enough electric capacity and parking capacity.
446
00:27:10.158 --> 00:27:12.079
But that becomes a question of over there.
447
00:27:12.119 --> 00:27:15.682
You'll see when we cruise over there, there's some serious benefits to having a spot like that.
448
00:27:15.702 --> 00:27:16.962
He's loading us up with mulch.
449
00:27:17.403 --> 00:27:19.404
He's hooking us up with salt any time of night.
450
00:27:21.125 --> 00:27:24.106
Any bulk material we need, he's got the loaders for those.
451
00:27:24.126 --> 00:27:25.427
We're not having to drive to get them.
452
00:27:25.907 --> 00:27:27.828
Well, 800 bucks a month isn't so bad either.
453
00:27:27.848 --> 00:27:28.168
Yeah.
454
00:27:28.308 --> 00:27:30.750
So what you could do is you could probably grow into this.
455
00:27:30.890 --> 00:27:34.872
So even if you didn't full scale go in, like let's build this whole shop now, great.
456
00:27:35.212 --> 00:27:36.953
We're going to slowly move into this.
457
00:27:37.373 --> 00:27:42.016
But when we hit the 800, a million plus, now all of a sudden, 800 bucks a month is not going to kill you.
458
00:27:42.036 --> 00:27:43.116
You have a secondary spot.
459
00:27:43.316 --> 00:27:44.617
You might have a couple pieces of equipment there.
460
00:27:44.657 --> 00:27:46.338
It's closer to your service area.
461
00:27:46.798 --> 00:27:53.062
And don't treat it as separate locations, but more or less, hey, this is where we keep maybe the trailers or the landscape stuff.
462
00:27:53.623 --> 00:27:55.164
It's closer to our service area.
463
00:27:56.224 --> 00:27:57.445
They have the loaders, et cetera.
464
00:27:57.745 --> 00:28:03.189
You can make sense of spending $800 a month to have those type of savings, but I would not split the locations up.
465
00:28:03.549 --> 00:28:03.729
Right.
466
00:28:04.129 --> 00:28:07.652
Until you have someone that has been here for a few years, they're your general manager.
467
00:28:07.892 --> 00:28:08.372
They're not just like,
468
00:28:08.775 --> 00:28:16.140
here and they're a good worker, but they run team meetings, they do hiring, they do all aspects of the business, I wouldn't split the two.
469
00:28:16.381 --> 00:28:35.595
Because you're gonna have the whole notion of part-time employees and very much like a transient employment base happens when, it's like, oh yeah, we kinda start here sometimes, we start over here sometimes, we never really see the owner, there's no real leadership, there's no accountability, they get less efficient throughout the day, they forget stuff throughout the day, it just becomes a mess.
470
00:28:36.435 --> 00:28:38.556
So I would really try to keep it centralized.
471
00:28:38.896 --> 00:28:40.797
And if that means starting here, fine.
472
00:28:41.137 --> 00:28:43.098
You know, three trucks, you could start here pretty quickly.
473
00:28:43.238 --> 00:28:46.840
Right, you just need to park the trucks, then have parking for the employees.
474
00:28:47.080 --> 00:28:50.642
You say, hey, you pull the truck out, you park where the truck was at.
475
00:28:51.122 --> 00:28:51.402
Right.
476
00:28:52.985 --> 00:29:03.516
And then have like $800 a month is not a horrible thing to keep if you can have savings, if you make some of it financially from a just savings of like material, parking up there, whatever it might be.
477
00:29:03.656 --> 00:29:03.876
Yep.
478
00:29:04.096 --> 00:29:04.296
Yep.
479
00:29:04.817 --> 00:29:05.358
Interesting.
480
00:29:05.418 --> 00:29:06.238
Do you need that?
481
00:29:06.318 --> 00:29:08.681
If you had this all built out, would you even need that, you think?
482
00:29:08.961 --> 00:29:10.663
I suppose we wouldn't, honestly.
483
00:29:11.544 --> 00:29:16.248
But then there's the risk of this not being zoned, and it's like we need to fall back.
484
00:29:16.389 --> 00:29:16.989
I know, I know.
485
00:29:17.029 --> 00:29:24.056
It's like a long-term, I want to go all in, and we have no other option because this is now our home, and we have a mortgage out on it.
486
00:29:24.376 --> 00:29:24.857
Right.
487
00:29:25.458 --> 00:29:25.778
But...
488
00:29:26.239 --> 00:29:31.824
You know, there's already set up and change is so hard, you know, moving from all that from that space over to here.
489
00:29:31.884 --> 00:29:34.807
Like there's a lot of equipment, 40 foot shipping container.
490
00:29:35.608 --> 00:29:37.169
But that's closer to your service area, right?
491
00:29:37.409 --> 00:29:37.710
It is.
492
00:29:37.990 --> 00:29:42.634
Well, you could just have like a scaled down version of all the equipment on the trucks here.
493
00:29:43.034 --> 00:29:45.136
And that's like your equipment depot.
494
00:29:45.176 --> 00:29:52.363
It's like, hey, if you guys are out throughout the day or you need more batteries or you need to go pick up one of the battery luggage things, that's all over there.
495
00:29:53.104 --> 00:29:58.889
But then they start here, you have meetings, you're like, this is a good environment, I feel like, for the team versus being in someone else's yard.
496
00:29:59.670 --> 00:30:01.171
It's a weird thing for an employee.
497
00:30:01.412 --> 00:30:04.515
Like, yeah, I show up here, but yeah, I know it says other landscape all around me.
498
00:30:04.775 --> 00:30:05.896
It's a massive company.
499
00:30:06.116 --> 00:30:09.199
It's also very appealing for them to just, like, fail.
500
00:30:09.479 --> 00:30:12.122
So, personally, I think this would be a more controlled environment
501
00:30:12.382 --> 00:30:14.164
You have really nice space for them.
502
00:30:15.185 --> 00:30:17.888
You can build this out exactly the way you want it.
503
00:30:18.149 --> 00:30:19.150
Organize the shop space.
504
00:30:19.290 --> 00:30:21.012
You don't have a competitor around you.
505
00:30:21.032 --> 00:30:23.034
I think it's just a weird experience for an employee.
506
00:30:23.234 --> 00:30:24.636
They feel very much like second rate.
507
00:30:25.077 --> 00:30:27.179
Yeah, yeah, that's an interesting point for sure.
508
00:30:27.619 --> 00:30:27.880
Yeah.
509
00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:29.801
Yeah, I hadn't thought about that so much.
510
00:30:30.561 --> 00:30:30.882
Right.
511
00:30:31.142 --> 00:30:35.565
So trying to move into this spot as the main HQ and keeping that as a depot, you think?
512
00:30:35.585 --> 00:30:37.146
Depot slash insurance policy.
513
00:30:37.346 --> 00:30:40.367
If it was just the depot, I'd say let's get rid of it for $800 a month.
514
00:30:40.407 --> 00:30:46.431
But the fact is if you got the card pulled out for the month of the year, you don't want to be going back and begging to go back.
515
00:30:46.471 --> 00:30:48.192
And he's like, sorry, I already put stuff in that spot.
516
00:30:48.212 --> 00:30:49.033
Yeah, exactly.
517
00:30:49.253 --> 00:30:50.854
So it would really be an insurance policy.
518
00:30:51.154 --> 00:30:52.235
Right, right.
519
00:30:52.875 --> 00:30:55.857
Which you can't afford that insurance policy at $400,000 in revenue.
520
00:30:55.877 --> 00:30:57.598
But you can if you continue to grow.
521
00:30:57.858 --> 00:30:58.078
Right.
522
00:30:58.598 --> 00:31:04.620
Yeah, the way I'm treating this from an accounting perspective in this property is the mortgage is $2,600.
523
00:31:04.801 --> 00:31:07.381
We're paying three grand total between my wife and I.
524
00:31:07.942 --> 00:31:11.783
The business pays $1,000, I pay $1,000, and she pays the other $1,000.
525
00:31:12.363 --> 00:31:18.745
And so I'm treating that as rent on the balance sheet though because technically it's not a commercial property.
526
00:31:18.765 --> 00:31:20.866
It's never going to have any work on the balance sheet itself.
527
00:31:20.906 --> 00:31:22.667
So it's just I'm renting to myself.
528
00:31:23.747 --> 00:31:24.828
for a thousand bucks a month.
529
00:31:24.848 --> 00:31:26.008
So all in were like 1800.
530
00:31:26.028 --> 00:31:28.929
You actually write yourself a check from the business too?
531
00:31:29.109 --> 00:31:32.090
Yes, I just do the direct deposit automated kind of a thing.
532
00:31:32.211 --> 00:31:33.331
Yeah, that's good.
533
00:31:33.391 --> 00:31:38.693
As long as you can actually put it as an expense on the P&L and then like on your side you'll claim it as income.
534
00:31:38.913 --> 00:31:39.113
Right.
535
00:31:39.253 --> 00:31:40.594
But it'll wash itself out.
536
00:31:40.614 --> 00:31:41.354
So okay, good.
537
00:31:44.002 --> 00:31:47.366
So, yeah, we talked a little bit about winter and winter struggles.
538
00:31:47.406 --> 00:31:51.290
And I'm curious now that you have so many, you know, Augusta locations in winter markets.
539
00:31:52.471 --> 00:31:54.052
Winter layoffs have been a struggle, right?
540
00:31:54.072 --> 00:32:03.102
Like even for folks who have worked for me for the year, sometimes the red tape of like they don't receive payments for two months and then they only backdated a month.
541
00:32:03.322 --> 00:32:05.124
Folks haven't received a single payment all year.
542
00:32:05.812 --> 00:32:10.653
So I need an HR department to be able to call the Department of Unemployment Assistance and be able to get them on.
543
00:32:10.673 --> 00:32:15.034
So how do you- Oh, you're talking about your employees when they go on- When they get laid off for four months.
544
00:32:15.094 --> 00:32:18.755
Our seasons in the past have been closer to off-season.
545
00:32:18.775 --> 00:32:19.295
It's three months.
546
00:32:19.355 --> 00:32:23.035
December 15th through March 15th, I say we can get boots on the ground.
547
00:32:23.135 --> 00:32:26.576
Now this month, it was more like December through April 1st is what I say.
548
00:32:27.376 --> 00:32:29.717
So that's four months of, it's a hard sell.
549
00:32:29.737 --> 00:32:30.197
I thought about-
550
00:32:32.100 --> 00:32:34.621
I've seen you mentioned like the cash bonus for a return.
551
00:32:34.661 --> 00:32:44.205
I've talked to other folks about them paying their employees a flat like $500 a week just to be able to show up if they have really good snow accounts.
552
00:32:44.245 --> 00:32:50.428
Those are folks more with like loaders and things where like if they don't have people show they're really up an alley.
553
00:32:51.408 --> 00:32:52.629
But how have you dealt with that?
554
00:32:52.669 --> 00:32:53.890
I mean, it's the turnover.
555
00:32:53.970 --> 00:33:02.815
I don't want to put anyone else in a financially precarious position to say, look, you need to show up to work because you work for me, but I only have work for you maybe once a month.
556
00:33:02.835 --> 00:33:08.218
And then don't go look for another job or at least tell them that you're going to actually have to miss a bunch of days every time it snows.
557
00:33:08.898 --> 00:33:13.641
And then that ends up being them having such a limited income throughout the entire year.
558
00:33:14.101 --> 00:33:15.483
you know, season.
559
00:33:15.503 --> 00:33:23.074
And it's hard to find folks even that have been in the industry for a while that are like, okay, with just going on unemployment, milking it and pretending to look for a job, right?
560
00:33:23.114 --> 00:33:28.722
They make it so you actually have to be applying, following up, what was the rejection reason, etc, etc.
561
00:33:28.762 --> 00:33:29.423
You can't really
562
00:33:30.005 --> 00:33:32.247
Just, you know, it's so hard, you know?
563
00:33:32.727 --> 00:33:34.008
Yeah, there's two things you can do.
564
00:33:34.228 --> 00:33:37.551
One is if you're not paying people, like, just trying to, like, pay them to do nothing.
565
00:33:38.011 --> 00:33:38.231
Right.
566
00:33:38.271 --> 00:33:40.713
You can afford to pay more during the snow.
567
00:33:41.194 --> 00:33:41.374
Right.
568
00:33:41.414 --> 00:33:46.558
And you just make it so much per hour that, like, they are willing to miss a day of work.
569
00:33:46.678 --> 00:33:47.559
They're willing to work on the weekends.
570
00:33:47.579 --> 00:33:48.419
They're willing to work at night.
571
00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:48.760
Yep.
572
00:33:48.780 --> 00:33:49.680
Because it's so high.
573
00:33:49.981 --> 00:33:50.161
Right.
574
00:33:50.181 --> 00:33:52.262
Versus, like, I'm going to try to keep it going kind of busy.
575
00:33:52.302 --> 00:33:53.663
Pay them a little bit of money.
576
00:33:53.924 --> 00:33:55.205
Just to, like, that's...
577
00:33:55.885 --> 00:33:56.946
That's probably what I would do.
578
00:33:57.367 --> 00:33:59.629
That being said, most of your services for snow are simple, right?
579
00:33:59.649 --> 00:34:01.310
Like snow, plowing.
580
00:34:01.411 --> 00:34:02.792
You don't do a ton of plowing, right?
581
00:34:02.912 --> 00:34:09.358
We only have one plow truck and then one sidewalk snow vehicle at the moment for our big condos, like big wide sidewalk account.
582
00:34:09.659 --> 00:34:11.861
And most of you at night is a lot of times?
583
00:34:11.981 --> 00:34:12.982
A lot of the time it is.
584
00:34:13.122 --> 00:34:18.227
So if you can pay them high enough, they can go get another job, but then still be on call for you.
585
00:34:18.527 --> 00:34:26.195
You're going to have to make it very high, but I'd rather pay them a lot per hour than being on the some flat rate per week thing to keep them around.
586
00:34:26.816 --> 00:34:30.179
And all of a sudden, if I just put that towards the hourly rate, I could double my hourly rate.
587
00:34:30.617 --> 00:34:35.382
Because if you pay people $45 an hour to show up to Snowplow, they'd probably do it in the middle of the night.
588
00:34:35.402 --> 00:34:35.563
Right.
589
00:34:36.103 --> 00:34:38.286
I mean, they're doing it right now for $25 or $30.
590
00:34:38.466 --> 00:34:38.666
Right.
591
00:34:38.866 --> 00:34:46.055
And that's what our landlord also pays his guys, and he has a massive operation, and it seems like all of his trucks are out every snowstorm.
592
00:34:46.575 --> 00:34:52.542
But I have heard of folks paying closer to $30, $40 for folks that really want to show up every single time, and that seems like.
593
00:34:53.137 --> 00:34:55.881
And it takes the pressure off of you to pay them all the time.
594
00:34:56.041 --> 00:34:56.241
Right.
595
00:34:56.442 --> 00:34:58.084
Because I enjoy the respite.
596
00:34:58.845 --> 00:35:07.116
After the fall season, I mean, it's a bane of my existence, right, from a financial standpoint to not have consistent income over the winter.
597
00:35:07.596 --> 00:35:09.559
But also, the fact that I get
598
00:35:09.919 --> 00:35:20.689
all this time to myself to work on the business and then do stuff that I've been putting off in my personal life for these three months is definitely huge to help me go 110% into spring every year.
599
00:35:20.729 --> 00:35:24.453
Have you considered doing winter services for your existing recurring buying customers?
600
00:35:25.874 --> 00:35:27.635
I've thought about it, but I don't know what there is to do.
601
00:35:27.655 --> 00:35:30.075
I mean, it's cold here and it can be snowy.
602
00:35:30.115 --> 00:35:32.596
So beyond winter pruning, what is there, right?
603
00:35:33.076 --> 00:35:37.597
There's those four different ways that you talked about, depending on what market and how much snow they get.
604
00:35:38.057 --> 00:35:43.639
We could talk about that, but I have yet to figure out any, you know, it's tree service, but that's a whole other bag of, you know.
605
00:35:43.919 --> 00:35:45.860
So for mowing, how many mowing customers do you have?
606
00:35:46.340 --> 00:35:47.260
Like a hundred right now.
607
00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:47.500
Okay.
608
00:35:47.520 --> 00:35:50.841
And then how many of those take you up on the flat rate snow?
609
00:35:51.561 --> 00:35:54.324
I think at least 90% did this year.
610
00:35:54.444 --> 00:35:54.865
Oh, wow.
611
00:35:54.885 --> 00:35:55.485
That's really good.
612
00:35:55.505 --> 00:35:59.970
I required it, and some of them basically said goodbye and found another service last year.
613
00:35:59.990 --> 00:36:00.691
Cool.
614
00:36:00.871 --> 00:36:01.091
Yeah.
615
00:36:01.311 --> 00:36:05.595
Okay, so then that was $1,200 per customer for the off-season?
616
00:36:05.636 --> 00:36:08.158
$800 to $1,200, depending on the size of the driveway, yeah.
617
00:36:08.278 --> 00:36:09.019
That's really good.
618
00:36:09.159 --> 00:36:09.419
Yeah.
619
00:36:09.559 --> 00:36:11.001
This is probably your best off-season ever, then.
620
00:36:11.241 --> 00:36:12.922
It is, absolutely, by a long shot.
621
00:36:12.943 --> 00:36:20.749
So what I would consider doing is, you know that, let's say, $800 to $1,200 per customer is what they're gonna pay, and 90% of people do that.
622
00:36:20.769 --> 00:36:21.690
That's awesome.
623
00:36:22.170 --> 00:36:27.334
Can we get that to $1,500 to $1,800 if we say, hey, if it doesn't snow, because the,
624
00:36:28.255 --> 00:36:31.016
the objection they're gonna have is, hey, the past three has hardly snowed.
625
00:36:31.377 --> 00:36:47.145
Give them the downside protection of that happening that if it doesn't snow, we still show up every two weeks and we're going to trim, we're gonna blow things off, if branches have fallen down because of a windstorm, we're gonna check your gutters, we're gonna make sure we flap out the mats because they got moved around, those leaves up in the alley of the gutters.
626
00:36:48.105 --> 00:36:50.626
Add the whole list of services that you can do that if it doesn't snow.
627
00:36:51.546 --> 00:36:54.707
It'll also reduce the amount of people who will cancel because they're like, I don't want snow.
628
00:36:54.887 --> 00:36:56.928
It doesn't snow sometimes.
629
00:36:57.068 --> 00:37:04.590
So I think you could increase the ticket per off-season per customer and increase the retention of them throughout the off-season
630
00:37:04.950 --> 00:37:08.673
If you have a downside protection, which is if it doesn't snow, you still get services.
631
00:37:09.153 --> 00:37:17.478
And then what I would say is if it doesn't snow, realize that all your competition is charging that flat rate and their customers are unhappy because they're not showing up.
632
00:37:17.738 --> 00:37:17.958
Right.
633
00:37:18.139 --> 00:37:19.599
So what you do is you market against that.
634
00:37:19.640 --> 00:37:22.962
You say, hey, are you tired of paying for something for snow and it's not snowing?
635
00:37:23.602 --> 00:37:25.063
We come even if it doesn't snow.
636
00:37:25.623 --> 00:37:27.284
But now you can charge a more premium price.
637
00:37:27.485 --> 00:37:27.685
Right.
638
00:37:27.905 --> 00:37:29.946
So gutters is something I've considered.
639
00:37:30.546 --> 00:37:32.148
I mean, I'm trying to think of what you just mentioned.
640
00:37:33.088 --> 00:37:36.793
Stick in winter damage pruning and shrubs, that's a go.
641
00:37:37.334 --> 00:37:37.574
Right.
642
00:37:37.714 --> 00:37:38.135
Gutters.
643
00:37:38.235 --> 00:37:39.516
Gutters, leaf cleanup.
644
00:37:39.817 --> 00:37:40.277
Yep.
645
00:37:40.357 --> 00:37:42.600
We edge the walkways and blow things off.
646
00:37:43.081 --> 00:37:43.321
Yep.
647
00:37:43.401 --> 00:37:44.843
We look for any sticks that are fallen.
648
00:37:45.083 --> 00:37:47.046
We check the gutters and the downspouts.
649
00:37:47.506 --> 00:37:49.989
We'll do a visual inspection and we'll make a- So you're bringing ladders.
650
00:37:50.550 --> 00:37:50.750
Oh yeah.
651
00:37:50.990 --> 00:37:51.451
Yeah.
652
00:37:51.571 --> 00:37:53.111
So what we do is we only look.
653
00:37:53.492 --> 00:37:54.672
So we will not get on the second floor.
654
00:37:55.012 --> 00:37:55.253
Okay.
655
00:37:55.273 --> 00:38:00.775
So it's like, hey, it's only the first floor because anything down washes from that is gonna end up in our bottom ones anyways.
656
00:38:01.316 --> 00:38:07.499
And so we will also put as the last item in our property inspection is a property inspection with a video.
657
00:38:07.999 --> 00:38:08.880
And we'll send it to the customer.
658
00:38:09.140 --> 00:38:11.161
The reason, especially in this market too, you got a bunch of snowbirds.
659
00:38:11.681 --> 00:38:11.841
Yep.
660
00:38:12.422 --> 00:38:18.465
And so they're willing to pay more just knowing that every two weeks you're gonna be there, you're gonna make a video and send it to them.
661
00:38:18.925 --> 00:38:32.414
And so we have some of our services where they actually don't have any grass or bushes, but they just want us to show up, blow everything off, make it look like they're at home, and then send them a video because they're out in Florida for the off-season.
662
00:38:32.654 --> 00:38:42.140
So if you can increase, like right now, let's just say the average of $1,000 and 90%, that'd be like $90,000 I would assume approximately is what you probably made in the off-season, right?
663
00:38:42.260 --> 00:38:43.641
Maybe a little bit less.
664
00:38:43.681 --> 00:38:44.241
65, yeah.
665
00:38:44.261 --> 00:38:44.441
Okay.
666
00:38:44.641 --> 00:38:45.722
So if we get 65 to 120, right?
667
00:38:47.143 --> 00:38:52.404
Now all of a sudden you can afford to keep a couple employees full time during the offseason because you have more recurring services.
668
00:38:52.424 --> 00:38:54.705
Training them on service autopilot.
669
00:38:54.805 --> 00:38:56.325
And you have enough recurring services.
670
00:38:56.345 --> 00:38:59.666
Because the problem right now is you need them for snow, but that's intermittent.
671
00:38:59.686 --> 00:39:01.247
We want to increase the winter services.
672
00:39:01.287 --> 00:39:09.449
So you know every week, okay, we have at least 40 budget hours on the schedule just with the 80, 90, 100 recurring visits we have for winter services.
673
00:39:09.669 --> 00:39:09.849
Right.
674
00:39:10.369 --> 00:39:11.170
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
675
00:39:11.750 --> 00:39:12.331
Interesting, yeah.
676
00:39:12.351 --> 00:39:17.515
So what you could do though, is even going into the spring, as you sell more mowing customers, you put that on the estimate.
677
00:39:17.535 --> 00:39:20.758
So, you know our estimate notes, someone asked for mowing, great, we're going to give them a price.
678
00:39:21.158 --> 00:39:26.202
In that note, like I said, this is a 12-month service, we continue throughout the off-season with winter services.
679
00:39:26.502 --> 00:39:27.283
I leave it at that.
680
00:39:27.703 --> 00:39:36.811
They accept that estimate for mowing, and then come fall, as it's going into winter, I get ahead of it, before they start canceling mowing, I say, hey, mowing's ending.
681
00:39:37.231 --> 00:39:38.352
I'm going to make it on November.
682
00:39:38.372 --> 00:39:38.693
November 1st.
683
00:39:39.233 --> 00:39:40.915
After November 1st, we start winter services.
684
00:39:41.355 --> 00:39:46.200
This is what we would typically call snow services, but we make sure we come to your property regardless if it snows or not.
685
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:47.001
Right, right.
686
00:39:47.021 --> 00:39:50.564
And now that conversion will increase because now they're not worried about there not being snow.
687
00:39:50.865 --> 00:39:51.485
Right, right.
688
00:39:51.505 --> 00:39:56.310
You also then can increase the price because you're showing up twice as often throughout the off season.
689
00:39:56.330 --> 00:39:56.450
Right.
690
00:39:56.590 --> 00:39:58.092
How often do you do this every two weeks?
691
00:39:58.112 --> 00:39:58.532
Every two weeks.
692
00:39:58.853 --> 00:39:59.053
Yeah.
693
00:39:59.513 --> 00:40:00.774
So I want recurring revenue.
694
00:40:00.794 --> 00:40:03.296
How much do you, what do you need for a minimum visit?
695
00:40:03.336 --> 00:40:03.536
Right.
696
00:40:03.576 --> 00:40:05.997
I mean, we charge what we would for mowing.
697
00:40:06.278 --> 00:40:06.458
Yeah.
698
00:40:06.578 --> 00:40:06.798
Okay.
699
00:40:07.038 --> 00:40:09.500
So I, my goal is to keep the same, same price.
700
00:40:09.620 --> 00:40:10.900
We stay there the same amount of time.
701
00:40:11.221 --> 00:40:11.621
Got it.
702
00:40:11.641 --> 00:40:14.603
So I'm not going to come there and do a full out property cleanup for 50 bucks.
703
00:40:14.923 --> 00:40:19.125
But I'm gonna come and spend the same amount of budget hours as I would for mowing.
704
00:40:19.145 --> 00:40:22.567
So I tell the customer, hey look, we come to your property, here's the list of services we do.
705
00:40:22.827 --> 00:40:24.828
We start at the top and we work our way down.
706
00:40:25.449 --> 00:40:29.411
And we get through as much as we can in the same amount of time we would usually have spent on mowing your grass.
707
00:40:29.711 --> 00:40:32.473
Because they're used to be showing up for 20 or 30 minutes.
708
00:40:32.653 --> 00:40:35.434
So you show up, you start at the top of the checklist, and you work your way down.
709
00:40:35.894 --> 00:40:40.557
And then you can even have it where on the dispatcher note, they just put what number on the checklist they got to.
710
00:40:41.437 --> 00:40:44.398
So we have our set nine or 10 things that they're supposed to do in winter services.
711
00:40:44.418 --> 00:40:51.219
You usually get three or four, and then the next service they might get a little further, and by the end of winter, usually we've gotten through the whole list a few times.
712
00:40:51.339 --> 00:40:53.239
Where we're getting to the bottom of the list.
713
00:40:53.479 --> 00:40:57.780
And then you have one less person that needs a thorough spring cleanup and then can take on another customer.
714
00:40:57.820 --> 00:40:57.960
100%.
715
00:40:57.980 --> 00:41:06.402
The whole goal is to pull all that demand forward, get it done during my off season, so that when all the spring cleanups come pouring in, I actually have availability.
716
00:41:06.582 --> 00:41:09.185
Because my team, my customers got taken care of.
717
00:41:09.505 --> 00:41:09.685
Right.
718
00:41:10.025 --> 00:41:15.130
And you put it to the customers like, hey, if you have a fall cleanup and a spring cleanup, it's going to cost you $2,000.
719
00:41:15.170 --> 00:41:15.471
Yeah.
720
00:41:15.951 --> 00:41:19.695
Why not sign up for winter services and snow services for $1,500?
721
00:41:19.995 --> 00:41:24.399
And we come every two weeks and your property looks good the entire winter versus just twice a year.
722
00:41:24.820 --> 00:41:24.980
Right.
723
00:41:25.542 --> 00:41:36.864
I'm nervous about growing snow to the extent of like, we had 30 overall customers this year, four or five condo accounts, one true commercial cannabis dispensary, and then a bunch of driveways.
724
00:41:36.924 --> 00:41:46.546
But I mean, there was times when I was out 16 hours again, and I have hired 15, 20 people for what I think should six to eight people should be able to get done.
725
00:41:46.626 --> 00:41:50.527
So, but for my current customers, I can see that working.
726
00:41:52.027 --> 00:41:59.951
And now with the winter services, you fill in all the gaps around what otherwise would be snow events so you can keep a more consistent crew on board.
727
00:42:00.151 --> 00:42:01.391
So it's not like, oh, there's snow.
728
00:42:01.511 --> 00:42:02.572
All right, who's available?
729
00:42:02.632 --> 00:42:08.274
It's more a matter of like, I have my three, four, five guys working full time, and now there's snow on the ground.
730
00:42:08.434 --> 00:42:09.235
That's what we're not doing.
731
00:42:09.355 --> 00:42:10.015
We're not pruning.
732
00:42:10.035 --> 00:42:10.875
We're not blowing things off.
733
00:42:11.216 --> 00:42:11.936
It's time for snow.
734
00:42:11.956 --> 00:42:13.357
So you just merge right into it.
735
00:42:13.577 --> 00:42:14.157
Right, right.
736
00:42:15.117 --> 00:42:21.521
And what we do is in our snow markets, especially if it only snows like four to five, six times a year, it's perfect.
737
00:42:21.781 --> 00:42:23.962
Because, okay, it's in the middle of January.
738
00:42:23.982 --> 00:42:25.483
We've kind of got the whole property looking good.
739
00:42:25.563 --> 00:42:26.143
Now it snows.
740
00:42:26.203 --> 00:42:26.423
Great.
741
00:42:26.603 --> 00:42:28.805
We just send our crew because they can't do anything else.
742
00:42:28.965 --> 00:42:29.725
They're coming in full time.
743
00:42:29.745 --> 00:42:30.806
They're coming to work like normal.
744
00:42:31.166 --> 00:42:32.126
I just send them out for snow.
745
00:42:32.606 --> 00:42:32.787
Yep.
746
00:42:32.987 --> 00:42:33.107
Right?
747
00:42:33.127 --> 00:42:37.529
And they're going to go to all the winter service visits like they normally would and just do all the driveways.
748
00:42:37.709 --> 00:42:40.411
And I pull that next biweekly visit forward.
749
00:42:40.751 --> 00:42:41.031
Mm-hmm.
750
00:42:41.311 --> 00:42:42.912
So if it's like, well, it's supposed to be next week.
751
00:42:43.012 --> 00:42:43.832
Great, well, there's snow on the ground.
752
00:42:43.852 --> 00:42:45.333
I can't have anything, I gotta do anything else.
753
00:42:45.673 --> 00:42:50.776
They're just gonna go plow everyone's driveway and pull that one visit forward.
754
00:42:52.297 --> 00:43:01.742
Yeah, I mean, there was a good bit of snow on the ground, like enough covering all the sticks and leaves and everything for this season, which would prevent us from doing quite a bit of what you mentioned.
755
00:43:03.202 --> 00:43:09.405
Yeah, gutters are something condos are requested that usually have either farmed out or just have the property maintenance company tell.
756
00:43:09.425 --> 00:43:10.185
We don't clean gutters.
757
00:43:10.205 --> 00:43:11.226
That seems like a dead end.
758
00:43:11.526 --> 00:43:13.046
Right, but what you can do is do inspections.
759
00:43:13.246 --> 00:43:13.947
Right.
760
00:43:14.547 --> 00:43:17.908
Is it not worth it usually to have the insurance for getting the scaffolding?
761
00:43:17.928 --> 00:43:25.991
Because that seems like a pretty low barrier to entry to be able to clean gutters, but it happens at a time when we don't want to be doing it right around fall is when most people...
762
00:43:26.012 --> 00:43:29.733
So what we do for winter services is we inspect your gutters and your downspout.
763
00:43:29.733 --> 00:43:30.694
It's not worth it to clean them.
764
00:43:30.754 --> 00:43:31.415
We don't clean them.
765
00:43:31.615 --> 00:43:33.657
However, what we will do is we will offer masks.
766
00:43:33.677 --> 00:43:40.283
So it was like, hey, we're on the winter services and inspect gutters and check downspouts to ensure flow.
767
00:43:40.824 --> 00:43:42.045
And so we're going to get on a ladder.
768
00:43:42.345 --> 00:43:43.066
We're going to look up there.
769
00:43:43.086 --> 00:43:44.127
I'm like, oh, it's great.
770
00:43:44.287 --> 00:43:44.908
Fantastic.
771
00:43:44.948 --> 00:43:45.769
And then check it off.
772
00:43:46.269 --> 00:43:50.813
If it's all clogged up and whatever, then we're going to offer a bid to do it.
773
00:43:51.033 --> 00:43:54.275
But that's going to require not just a 15-minute service where we're checking.
774
00:43:54.756 --> 00:43:55.576
That's winter services.
775
00:43:55.836 --> 00:43:58.498
This would be a separate service, which is to clean out the gutters.
776
00:43:58.859 --> 00:44:01.981
Whether you sub that out, give it to someone else, or you just give...
777
00:44:02.301 --> 00:44:06.625
The value of the winter services is the peace of mind and the insurance that they know that their property...
778
00:44:07.285 --> 00:44:12.788
Okay, they don't have a $30,000 leak now that caused a whole bunch of damage on the side of the house.
779
00:44:13.148 --> 00:44:14.209
That's what they're protecting against.
780
00:44:14.229 --> 00:44:17.071
So some of your locations do clean gutters, other ones farm it out.
781
00:44:17.651 --> 00:44:21.213
Oh yeah, I would say it's not usually that difficult.
782
00:44:21.553 --> 00:44:26.676
It also depends like this sort of a gutter, for example, where it's 12 feet above the ground, that's difficult to clean out.
783
00:44:27.316 --> 00:44:31.942
If a gutter is like, say, eight feet, now you just need a six-foot ladder, again, I can just clean it out really easily.
784
00:44:32.343 --> 00:44:35.547
So you could just do it based upon like, is this feasible?
785
00:44:35.667 --> 00:44:41.735
And so I just tell my crew, like, hey, on checklist item number seven of which services, I want you to get up there.
786
00:44:41.755 --> 00:44:43.216
And if it's clogged, I want you to take a picture.
787
00:44:43.236 --> 00:44:44.338
I want you to attack to the visit.
788
00:44:44.878 --> 00:44:49.400
Then you're gonna go through the dispatcher notes, you're gonna see that, and like, can we actually do this service?
789
00:44:49.520 --> 00:45:01.605
And if so, I'm gonna send an estimate, if not, you're gonna send the report like it's stated in Winch Services, and tell the customer, here's the three services we recommend doing, based upon the fact that you're above 12 feet, I'll just look at your insurance.
790
00:45:01.785 --> 00:45:03.686
So for us, we can't get our guys above 12 feet.
791
00:45:04.166 --> 00:45:06.407
So I can't go up on the roof.
792
00:45:06.447 --> 00:45:09.548
But if it's a six foot ladder, I can do that, no problem.
793
00:45:09.868 --> 00:45:10.188
Got it.
794
00:45:10.268 --> 00:45:19.697
So I'd look at your insurance and see what you're covered for, and then just have the delineation on winter services, like which are the ones I actually offer an estimate to, which are the ones I just farm out or give away.
795
00:45:20.157 --> 00:45:20.457
Got it.
796
00:45:20.558 --> 00:45:20.858
Got it.
797
00:45:21.378 --> 00:45:24.121
Yeah, that's definitely an interesting take.
798
00:45:24.141 --> 00:45:25.122
I don't think anyone's doing that.
799
00:45:25.142 --> 00:45:29.846
The one hedge against no snow years is your price goes down for the following year.
800
00:45:29.966 --> 00:45:30.226
Right.
801
00:45:30.647 --> 00:45:31.587
We don't want that, right?
802
00:45:31.607 --> 00:45:31.928
Yeah.
803
00:45:32.208 --> 00:45:35.211
And then what happens is the next year you get a bunch of snow, and now you're –
804
00:45:35.771 --> 00:45:37.113
getting way low on rates.
805
00:45:37.674 --> 00:45:42.139
So you lock it in by saying, regardless if it snows or not, we're coming to your property every two weeks.
806
00:45:42.500 --> 00:45:47.667
And if there's snow on the ground- How do I hedge against that if it snows a bunch, plus we're already doing visits every two weeks?
807
00:45:47.887 --> 00:45:49.990
Because if there's snow on the ground, you can't do the other two.
808
00:45:50.030 --> 00:45:51.912
So you pull the visits forward.
809
00:45:52.313 --> 00:45:53.474
So for example, it snows,
810
00:45:54.215 --> 00:45:57.419
No, last week you blew off the property, everything was looking good.
811
00:45:57.539 --> 00:46:02.164
Keep track of how long that took, and then that counts against however many services I would have gotten.
812
00:46:02.184 --> 00:46:03.225
Yeah, exactly.
813
00:46:03.245 --> 00:46:05.488
We just pull forward the next winter service.
814
00:46:05.808 --> 00:46:10.273
And so also, usually when it snows once or twice, there's not a lot to do on the property.
815
00:46:10.953 --> 00:46:16.655
So that's why usually going into winter, after two, three, four winter services, we've cut the property up.
816
00:46:16.755 --> 00:46:23.156
Gutters are looking good, everything's been blown off, edges are dialed in, bushes are trimmed off of the house, everything's deadheaded, everything's great.
817
00:46:23.596 --> 00:46:24.876
Snow comes, perfect.
818
00:46:25.177 --> 00:46:29.318
That's what we need to pull the rest of the winter services forward and actually get their property looking good.
819
00:46:29.618 --> 00:46:30.758
Right, right, okay.
820
00:46:30.778 --> 00:46:33.058
And then we actually just, we do a price comparison.
821
00:46:33.078 --> 00:46:39.040
It's like look, the cost of a fall cleanup, because we have to do estimate fees, dump fees, we have to come look at the property,
822
00:46:39.800 --> 00:46:43.003
and a spring cleanup is usually around $1,500 to $2,000.
823
00:46:43.043 --> 00:46:43.303
Yep.
824
00:46:44.044 --> 00:46:50.129
Now you can do all the winter services, including if it's snowing or not, we come to your property for $1,500.
825
00:46:50.410 --> 00:46:52.231
But now your property looks good all year round.
826
00:46:52.572 --> 00:46:52.792
Right.
827
00:46:53.292 --> 00:46:53.692
Yep.
828
00:46:53.733 --> 00:46:55.054
That's a good sell for sure.
829
00:46:56.535 --> 00:46:56.835
Gotcha.
830
00:46:56.855 --> 00:46:58.637
I'm trying to think which ones are these.
831
00:46:58.677 --> 00:46:59.938
Let's run down the list.
832
00:46:59.998 --> 00:47:02.820
We have an hour until my employees show up and start helping me unbox.
833
00:47:02.881 --> 00:47:03.441
Okay, cool.
834
00:47:03.801 --> 00:47:04.082
Yeah.
835
00:47:05.502 --> 00:47:11.785
So virtual assistant versus, you know, for admin versus sales and training in-house.
836
00:47:12.005 --> 00:47:14.206
I want to get it to a point where I can help my team grow.
837
00:47:14.226 --> 00:47:27.232
That's been, you know, whether or not they're going to step into a leadership role, getting some of this stuff that slaps me across the face every spring, like offloaded onto them so they feel like they're not just part of the work production and actually take some sense of ownership.
838
00:47:28.613 --> 00:47:33.155
You know, I don't know much about virtual assistants and if they work or not at all.
839
00:47:33.575 --> 00:47:36.077
versus trying to have somebody trained up on that aspect.
840
00:47:36.137 --> 00:47:38.178
But we don't have an outbuilding, we don't have an office space.
841
00:47:38.859 --> 00:47:40.720
This for one employee I could see working.
842
00:47:42.222 --> 00:47:43.302
What are your thoughts on that?
843
00:47:43.342 --> 00:47:54.931
Like getting someone trained up, I want to get a second laptop with the CRM set up, same way we use Macs, we're going to have the cloud storage of all the customers' properties and notes, videos for everybody.
844
00:47:55.685 --> 00:48:01.610
And then, you know, being able to train them, you know, virtually via Zoom with screen shares.
845
00:48:02.270 --> 00:48:10.356
I know you've said that comes with its challenges when you're not in the same room, can't bounce ideas off each other, talk to each other, see each other, what you're doing in real time.
846
00:48:10.957 --> 00:48:12.218
What's the best move there?
847
00:48:12.541 --> 00:48:19.906
You're like, right now, if you look at your profit margin and what you're taking out of the business, if we hired someone like full-time here, for example, that would wipe all of that out.
848
00:48:20.086 --> 00:48:20.266
Right.
849
00:48:20.426 --> 00:48:21.407
So we can't afford that.
850
00:48:21.627 --> 00:48:22.307
Right.
851
00:48:22.487 --> 00:48:26.910
I also am wary about you focusing on training someone else besides your team right now.
852
00:48:27.210 --> 00:48:27.430
Right.
853
00:48:27.851 --> 00:48:29.812
And growing that side, like the operation side.
854
00:48:29.872 --> 00:48:30.092
Yeah.
855
00:48:30.412 --> 00:48:37.397
I would be looking at someone that can work two to four hours a day, that can handle like a whole litany of little tasks for you.
856
00:48:37.597 --> 00:48:37.797
Yeah.
857
00:48:38.277 --> 00:48:44.902
Invoicing, dispatching, scheduling, all the little stuff that you're kind of done throughout any of the day, but you're kind of managing yourself.
858
00:48:44.962 --> 00:48:48.185
Texting, phone calls, voicemail, et cetera.
859
00:48:48.285 --> 00:48:49.366
They can just knock out.
860
00:48:49.726 --> 00:48:53.229
And I'd pay them significantly more, but for two to four hours a day.
861
00:48:53.409 --> 00:48:55.911
And you probably only need them for five months a year.
862
00:48:56.031 --> 00:48:58.373
Because in the off season, you just don't need them that much.
863
00:48:59.154 --> 00:49:10.888
and so I'd be willing to pay someone either by the minute or a much higher rate per hour, there's people who already know your CRM, they're very well versed in it, you're going to pay more this is the virtual assistant?
864
00:49:10.988 --> 00:49:17.096
yes, I'd 100% go virtual you do not want to have to have an office person you will end up getting sucked in your time here
865
00:49:17.636 --> 00:49:18.377
Right.
866
00:49:18.497 --> 00:49:22.742
They will burn most of their day as an office person is just in between time.
867
00:49:23.463 --> 00:49:27.007
A really efficient office worker is working 50% of their time actually doing the work.
868
00:49:27.287 --> 00:49:27.408
Right.
869
00:49:27.428 --> 00:49:29.310
Because there's so much in between stuff happening.
870
00:49:30.271 --> 00:49:32.574
And then your current size, there's just not enough to do.
871
00:49:32.594 --> 00:49:33.855
There might be days where there's three calls.
872
00:49:34.256 --> 00:49:34.476
Right.
873
00:49:34.976 --> 00:49:35.998
And four emails.
874
00:49:36.618 --> 00:49:39.140
and now you're paying someone $200 for the day in wages.
875
00:49:39.581 --> 00:49:44.084
I'd rather pay someone way more, but they only work two to four hours.
876
00:49:44.244 --> 00:49:45.345
Here's the list of stuff you do.
877
00:49:45.625 --> 00:49:46.626
Here's the stuff that I'm going to do.
878
00:49:46.946 --> 00:49:51.189
And then you're not tied to them as an employee perspective where they have questions.
879
00:49:51.370 --> 00:49:55.773
You end up just spending more time doing their job than just doing yourself.
880
00:49:56.073 --> 00:50:04.580
So you've had luck with companies that... How does it not get fragmented when someone else from some other market that isn't part of your business picks up the phone...
881
00:50:05.201 --> 00:50:08.179
And it tries to, you know, request an estimate and then, you know,
882
00:50:08.704 --> 00:50:09.625
says, when can you come?
883
00:50:09.665 --> 00:50:11.005
And they don't know your schedule.
884
00:50:11.025 --> 00:50:12.546
Like, you already have to have...
885
00:50:12.566 --> 00:50:14.868
So they should be able to look inside your schedule and see your schedule.
886
00:50:15.048 --> 00:50:15.368
Yeah.
887
00:50:15.428 --> 00:50:15.588
Right?
888
00:50:15.608 --> 00:50:18.690
And when you put an estimate on your schedule, you're going to put it on at a certain time.
889
00:50:18.970 --> 00:50:19.190
Right.
890
00:50:19.431 --> 00:50:23.753
And then they're going to know, okay, he can do four estimates a day, or these are the days he's available.
891
00:50:23.773 --> 00:50:27.115
So, like, this is all, like, a virtual assistant knows how to, like, figure this part out.
892
00:50:27.215 --> 00:50:27.415
Right.
893
00:50:28.416 --> 00:50:28.836
Yes.
894
00:50:28.916 --> 00:50:30.457
Is it difficult to manage a virtual person?
895
00:50:30.477 --> 00:50:30.677
Yes.
896
00:50:30.737 --> 00:50:33.759
But it's also difficult to have a person in-house that you're paying full-time.
897
00:50:34.099 --> 00:50:35.500
You know they're not doing anything about the day.
898
00:50:35.520 --> 00:50:36.401
You're not doing estimates.
899
00:50:36.421 --> 00:50:37.321
And you're just like,
900
00:50:38.889 --> 00:50:53.053
My current foreman or ops manager taking on some of that to be trained up to become like step into a general manager role and paying them as a really good wage, but only four hours a week to do this admin training.
901
00:50:53.073 --> 00:50:57.914
That's kind of what I promised one of them who I just brought on as foreman, ops manager in training.
902
00:50:59.233 --> 00:51:00.674
to do some of this admin stuff.
903
00:51:01.254 --> 00:51:07.338
The alternative is the general manager or ops person could go out in the field and make $80 to $100 an hour.
904
00:51:07.638 --> 00:51:12.582
So why am I going to have them do a $20 to $30 an hour task, which is admin?
905
00:51:13.002 --> 00:51:15.164
And so there's no point in hiring.
906
00:51:15.204 --> 00:51:19.867
If someone has the skill set to make $100 an hour, why am I making them do a $30 an hour task?
907
00:51:20.027 --> 00:51:20.247
Right.
908
00:51:20.647 --> 00:51:23.149
And so I would highly recommend not moving.
909
00:51:23.269 --> 00:51:24.229
Like I did that at the beginning.
910
00:51:24.489 --> 00:51:28.371
I was like, oh, I'll teach them like four hours a day doing admin stuff.
911
00:51:28.451 --> 00:51:29.752
It's like that's a $23 task.
912
00:51:29.972 --> 00:51:30.912
They can make $100.
913
00:51:31.133 --> 00:51:32.333
They have the skills to make $100.
914
00:51:32.653 --> 00:51:38.636
And furthermore, as a general manager, they should have leveraged labor, which means they can manage a crew of five or six or seven people.
915
00:51:38.896 --> 00:51:39.937
Now their time is not worth $100.
916
00:51:39.997 --> 00:51:40.457
It's worth $150.
917
00:51:40.477 --> 00:51:41.338
Right.
918
00:51:41.598 --> 00:51:44.039
And so having them answer the phone is like crazy.
919
00:51:44.719 --> 00:51:45.780
You want to get that outsourced.
920
00:51:46.540 --> 00:51:50.303
And I'm willing to pay significantly more for a company that knows the CRM, is inside of there.
921
00:51:50.563 --> 00:51:55.987
I'm either paying them by the minute or a couple hours a day to knock out a series of tasks so I can stay focused on them.
922
00:51:56.067 --> 00:51:59.949
Because the thing that you'll need the admin person for is you don't want to be reactive.
923
00:52:00.129 --> 00:52:02.131
And you're actually really good even today.
924
00:52:02.191 --> 00:52:05.613
I notice you're not constantly getting text messages and phone calls and emails.
925
00:52:05.693 --> 00:52:07.214
You're not constantly being diverted.
926
00:52:07.674 --> 00:52:10.096
You're going to feel that way more and more in spring.
927
00:52:10.196 --> 00:52:11.997
Within two weeks, it'll be different.
928
00:52:12.057 --> 00:52:16.880
Yeah, so what you want to do is you want to create, hey, here's a list of 20 things that I do that someone can do on their own time.
929
00:52:17.240 --> 00:52:19.302
Okay, look at the dispatch notes from the day before.
930
00:52:19.642 --> 00:52:21.123
Close out the jobs and invoice them.
931
00:52:21.183 --> 00:52:22.003
Charge the cards.
932
00:52:22.264 --> 00:52:25.546
If they don't have the charge, if the card doesn't go through, send this email to the customer.
933
00:52:25.866 --> 00:52:27.507
Okay, go through the voicemail.
934
00:52:27.667 --> 00:52:30.349
If there are estimates that need to be set up, set them up on these times.
935
00:52:30.729 --> 00:52:40.275
Like, you just start to, here's the 20 things that I know I can ship off to someone, and then they're doing it on a permanent or a very conciliated period of time where they're actually going to go through tasks.
936
00:52:40.555 --> 00:52:41.156
Right, right.
937
00:52:41.576 --> 00:52:42.977
Wow, okay.
938
00:52:43.158 --> 00:52:44.639
So the virtual is...
939
00:52:44.999 --> 00:52:50.485
But be very careful about putting in someone who is capable of an ops position into admin.
940
00:52:51.105 --> 00:52:55.449
So you think about like from, you know, you have sales, operations, and admin for the business.
941
00:52:55.710 --> 00:52:55.890
Right.
942
00:52:56.110 --> 00:52:57.912
That is the order in which...
943
00:52:58.352 --> 00:52:59.433
the value of their time is.
944
00:52:59.713 --> 00:53:05.355
Someone who can sell millions of dollars worth of landscaping jobs, higher value than someone who can just install the work, that's operations.
945
00:53:05.636 --> 00:53:10.458
The operations person, they're a whole lot more valuable than someone who can answer the phone, answer texts.
946
00:53:11.038 --> 00:53:15.240
It's not to say anything bad about those people, they can move up in the organization, they can gain skills.
947
00:53:15.660 --> 00:53:19.522
But the value of their time is significantly more leveraged the higher you go up that.
948
00:53:19.622 --> 00:53:21.483
So admin, operations, sales.
949
00:53:21.703 --> 00:53:25.025
So I'm never gonna take an operations person that can lead a crew of five, 10 people
950
00:53:25.585 --> 00:53:30.430
And I'll be making $80 to $100 an hour and put them into a role where I can have someone texting someone.
951
00:53:30.770 --> 00:53:31.050
Right.
952
00:53:31.211 --> 00:53:38.738
And I thought, I mean, because so oftentimes people are burnt out after six or seven years in ops, they want a chance to move into admin or sales.
953
00:53:39.258 --> 00:53:41.260
But it ends up being too much to juggle for any other person.
954
00:53:41.280 --> 00:53:45.083
And so you say, hey, look, I can do that, but realize that that's a $25 an hour task.
955
00:53:45.264 --> 00:53:46.785
I want you to be able to get more money than that.
956
00:53:47.145 --> 00:53:48.667
In order to do that, I need you to manage a team.
957
00:53:49.087 --> 00:53:49.267
Right.
958
00:53:49.487 --> 00:53:51.288
And that's a different, like a totally different skill set.
959
00:53:51.468 --> 00:53:51.608
Yeah.
960
00:53:51.628 --> 00:53:53.989
So if you want to make more money, then you do this route.
961
00:53:54.009 --> 00:53:58.530
If you want to make less money and get out of the field, I can put you in an admin role.
962
00:53:58.550 --> 00:53:58.670
Sure.
963
00:53:58.690 --> 00:53:59.851
But you're going to make less money.
964
00:54:00.191 --> 00:54:00.391
Right.
965
00:54:00.531 --> 00:54:00.771
Right.
966
00:54:01.171 --> 00:54:01.711
Interesting.
967
00:54:01.791 --> 00:54:03.012
It is a less leveraged skill.
968
00:54:03.592 --> 00:54:03.792
Yep.
969
00:54:04.292 --> 00:54:10.158
Right, and that way the virtual assistants, as you grow with them, they learn better and better and they have more and more people dedicated to your account.
970
00:54:10.378 --> 00:54:17.404
Yeah, and if you get to $800,000 a million, you will then be able to afford a full-time person here and keep them busy all day long.
971
00:54:17.665 --> 00:54:20.647
But until that point, be very careful at $400,000, $500,000, $600,000.
972
00:54:21.488 --> 00:54:23.770
You get a full-time person because now you get a full-time person here.
973
00:54:23.910 --> 00:54:27.032
You get internet, computer, your time training them.
974
00:54:27.533 --> 00:54:29.975
Everyone understands how much it costs to train the person.
975
00:54:30.315 --> 00:54:33.718
It'll take you three months to get this person understanding how you run this business.
976
00:54:34.458 --> 00:54:37.240
And then that entire time is going to be during your spring rush.
977
00:54:37.601 --> 00:54:40.123
By the time you really have them trained up, you won't need them.
978
00:54:40.583 --> 00:54:42.404
because it's after the spring rush now.
979
00:54:42.425 --> 00:54:42.885
Right, right.
980
00:54:42.905 --> 00:54:49.990
So that's why I'm willing to pay a premium, and it's going to be a painful ask to someone charging you by the minute or per hour, very, very high.
981
00:54:50.090 --> 00:55:00.398
Like, for my gym, I pay someone $6 a minute to answer the phone when we miss the phones because I know that I'm only going to need them a few times a day.
982
00:55:01.059 --> 00:55:04.942
I'd rather do that than hire someone at even $20 an hour in the office.
983
00:55:05.417 --> 00:55:07.640
Which virtual assistant company knows?
984
00:55:07.860 --> 00:55:09.362
Do I have to look around and see who has?
985
00:55:09.563 --> 00:55:11.926
Everyone's going to tell me they have experience with service autopilot.
986
00:55:11.946 --> 00:55:14.930
They don't say that they know all of our systems already.
987
00:55:15.570 --> 00:55:18.614
I've got phone calls from folks in India that claim that they do.
988
00:55:19.636 --> 00:55:21.158
I'm not sure what route to go.
989
00:55:21.378 --> 00:55:26.663
Yeah, so I would actually go more premium at the beginning because it's going to be less of your time training them.
990
00:55:26.844 --> 00:55:27.284
Right.
991
00:55:27.304 --> 00:55:30.187
So the person in India, first off, you're going to explain to every single customer.
992
00:55:30.207 --> 00:55:30.467
Yep.
993
00:55:30.487 --> 00:55:33.811
You're going to have to teach them on, like, what grass is, literally.
994
00:55:33.831 --> 00:55:34.291
Yep.
995
00:55:34.311 --> 00:55:37.574
You're going to have to treat them about winter services, snow, et cetera.
996
00:55:37.915 --> 00:55:40.277
Well, I would go with more premium at the beginning as you get more –
997
00:55:41.338 --> 00:55:47.321
as the business gets bigger and you have the bandwidth to be able to train, you could go overseas and go more full-time or just bring them in-house.
998
00:55:47.741 --> 00:55:47.901
Right.
999
00:55:48.001 --> 00:55:53.024
And everyone thinks going overseas is the immediately cheaper option, but the amount of training that goes in that is so much more.
1000
00:55:53.244 --> 00:55:53.464
Right.
1001
00:55:53.544 --> 00:55:54.424
Tracking, et cetera.
1002
00:55:54.605 --> 00:56:02.088
I actually think what usually will end up happening is you scale your admin once you be overseas, once you have someone in-house.
1003
00:56:02.388 --> 00:56:04.269
I can keep them accountable all the time.
1004
00:56:04.549 --> 00:56:04.829
Right.
1005
00:56:04.970 --> 00:56:07.791
Tracking them, you track their phone, they track their device, everything.
1006
00:56:08.351 --> 00:56:12.332
because otherwise people can go off the rails very quickly.
1007
00:56:12.452 --> 00:56:18.934
So if you want, say, Jill's Office or Ruby or Call Boss, they all do service autopilot.
1008
00:56:19.154 --> 00:56:20.154
They would know what you're wanting.
1009
00:56:20.194 --> 00:56:21.795
You're gonna pay a very high premium.
1010
00:56:22.055 --> 00:56:24.356
We're talking like between two to four dollars a minute.
1011
00:56:24.736 --> 00:56:25.296
Very high.
1012
00:56:25.816 --> 00:56:27.597
But it's like, hey, here's the task I'm going to have.
1013
00:56:28.078 --> 00:56:34.782
If you even pay them a thousand or two thousand dollars a month, it's cheaper than having a full-time person here that more importantly, sucks your time.
1014
00:56:35.042 --> 00:56:35.262
Right.
1015
00:56:35.343 --> 00:56:42.187
Everyone takes into account what they're paying, like per minute to say a Jill's office versus hiring someone.
1016
00:56:42.547 --> 00:56:44.749
What they're not accounting for is the fact that they're trained.
1017
00:56:45.389 --> 00:56:46.610
And you have nothing to do with them.
1018
00:56:46.951 --> 00:56:52.695
And so, yes, they're going to be 80, 90% of your efficiency, but these are the tasks I want you guys to do, here's the tasks I do.
1019
00:56:52.935 --> 00:56:57.878
The people who hate those services are typically the ones that have a very blurry schedule.
1020
00:56:58.259 --> 00:57:01.041
They don't know what they're assigning, like what am I doing, what are you doing.
1021
00:57:01.261 --> 00:57:02.302
Just be very, very clear.
1022
00:57:02.322 --> 00:57:04.703
These are the tasks you're doing, these are the tasks I'm doing.
1023
00:57:05.124 --> 00:57:08.966
And then I would be really trying to get everything that is reactive to them.
1024
00:57:09.927 --> 00:57:10.107
Right?
1025
00:57:10.147 --> 00:57:12.388
Just everything like checking the dispatch board from the day before.
1026
00:57:13.669 --> 00:57:16.611
They can go through automation and approve the ones that need to go out.
1027
00:57:16.671 --> 00:57:18.491
From a collections perspective.
1028
00:57:18.732 --> 00:57:20.252
Answering the phones, sending out text messages.
1029
00:57:20.432 --> 00:57:22.373
All that stuff should be reactive on them.
1030
00:57:22.654 --> 00:57:24.655
And it's going to cost you a thousand, two thousand dollars a month.
1031
00:57:25.695 --> 00:57:26.796
Everyone's like, oh, it should be like $500.
1032
00:57:26.876 --> 00:57:38.461
No, if you hired someone here, you'd be paying four to five grand a month, plus taxes, plus you'd keep them during the off season, then you'd feel bad when you can't get them, and then if you can't get them to come back, you're gonna have to train someone else for three months, don't deal with that.
1033
00:57:38.561 --> 00:57:39.401
We need to grow the business.
1034
00:57:40.082 --> 00:57:41.782
Admin does not grow a business, it is defense.
1035
00:57:41.842 --> 00:57:42.403
It's sales.
1036
00:57:42.563 --> 00:57:48.465
You just need to get taken care of so you can grow the business to the point when you get 800,000 in revenue, you will be able to afford a person full time.
1037
00:57:48.945 --> 00:57:49.186
Go ahead.
1038
00:57:49.246 --> 00:57:50.346
I got some beans on the stove.
1039
00:57:50.586 --> 00:57:51.046
Let's go.
1040
00:57:52.687 --> 00:57:54.909
I underestimated how long they would take.
1041
00:57:54.929 --> 00:57:57.411
It's like a 24-hour ordeal.
1042
00:57:57.431 --> 00:57:58.212
24-hour beans?
1043
00:57:58.232 --> 00:57:58.732
Let's go.
1044
00:57:59.533 --> 00:58:00.393
Green peas, I guess.
1045
00:58:04.537 --> 00:58:05.097
I'm not going to lie.
1046
00:58:05.117 --> 00:58:05.978
The truck looks nice.
1047
00:58:05.998 --> 00:58:09.681
As much as it hurts my soul to say it.
1048
00:58:10.682 --> 00:58:11.242
Is that Breville?
1049
00:58:12.163 --> 00:58:13.064
Yeah, that's right.
1050
00:58:13.464 --> 00:58:14.985
I'm learning my coffee lingo.
1051
00:58:15.106 --> 00:58:19.229
All right.
1052
00:58:20.520 --> 00:58:21.480
You guys all doing okay?
1053
00:58:21.700 --> 00:58:22.440
Oh, yeah, we're correct.
1054
00:58:22.500 --> 00:58:22.761
All right.
1055
00:58:23.741 --> 00:58:23.861
Great.
1056
00:58:23.881 --> 00:58:25.221
I love all your questions.
1057
00:58:26.121 --> 00:58:26.261
Thanks.
1058
00:58:26.281 --> 00:58:27.142
So I got to take this, right?
1059
00:58:27.162 --> 00:58:28.142
Yeah, you're good.
1060
00:58:28.162 --> 00:58:29.302
Good morning, Eco Valley Lawn Care.
1061
00:58:29.322 --> 00:58:29.962
This is Cyrus.
1062
00:58:30.502 --> 00:58:30.762
Hello.
1063
00:58:31.263 --> 00:58:31.963
You got a lot of those.
1064
00:58:32.343 --> 00:58:32.943
Spam calls.
1065
00:58:33.363 --> 00:58:34.183
Yeah, I'm not too sure.
1066
00:58:34.563 --> 00:58:34.903
All right.
1067
00:58:35.243 --> 00:58:37.204
See, that's the thing that goes to someone else.
1068
00:58:37.304 --> 00:58:37.484
Right.
1069
00:58:37.504 --> 00:58:39.765
They answer and they charge you for five seconds.
1070
00:58:40.265 --> 00:58:41.225
Let's go.
1071
00:58:41.245 --> 00:58:41.425
Cool.
1072
00:58:41.445 --> 00:58:41.825
Go ahead.
1073
00:58:41.845 --> 00:58:42.925
Okay, I'm glad I asked that one.
1074
00:58:42.945 --> 00:58:44.706
Yeah, because I was really weary about that.
1075
00:58:44.726 --> 00:58:49.587
I'm like, man, I really need positions for my folks to be able to move into, to get out of the field, yada, yada.
1076
00:58:50.853 --> 00:58:52.833
You would still have to train virtual assistants.
1077
00:58:52.873 --> 00:58:58.255
And I guess it just requires you getting your own schedule and every task list for the entire day and week.
1078
00:58:58.275 --> 00:58:59.075
Very detailed.
1079
00:58:59.095 --> 00:59:00.135
Yeah, very detailed.
1080
00:59:00.335 --> 00:59:02.155
So I would audit your current week.
1081
00:59:02.175 --> 00:59:03.596
Like you have a couple more weeks till Spring Rush.
1082
00:59:03.636 --> 00:59:05.356
I would audit this week.
1083
00:59:05.416 --> 00:59:07.537
What are the tasks I do from an admin perspective?
1084
00:59:07.937 --> 00:59:09.037
There's going to be 20 or 30 of them.
1085
00:59:09.217 --> 00:59:14.418
Everything from checking for dispatcher notes, checking for pictures, invoicing, scheduling, estimates, like whole nine yards.
1086
00:59:15.018 --> 00:59:16.339
Just go through every single one of those.
1087
00:59:16.359 --> 00:59:18.420
Which are the ones that they're going to do, which are the ones I'm going to do.
1088
00:59:18.760 --> 00:59:23.223
And then just as you go into off-season, you have more time, you can take more off their plate.
1089
00:59:23.643 --> 00:59:27.526
Okay, this month, I'm going to take these three things back because I want to save a little more money.
1090
00:59:27.566 --> 00:59:28.066
Interesting.
1091
00:59:28.366 --> 00:59:30.387
Okay, so that'd be money well spent.
1092
00:59:31.008 --> 00:59:33.869
Standardizing pricing and pre-selling spring cleanups, right?
1093
00:59:34.430 --> 00:59:38.572
I would love to not have to get on-site to do 100 property inspections, but, you know,
1094
00:59:39.012 --> 00:59:46.761
I think in our industry, when pruning is included, which edges really need re-edging, it's a necessary evil, right?
1095
00:59:46.781 --> 00:59:47.622
I have to do those.
1096
00:59:48.082 --> 00:59:51.285
Customers want to see pictures with the little text box.
1097
00:59:51.486 --> 00:59:53.728
We're going to edge this bed, not this bed.
1098
00:59:53.748 --> 00:59:55.930
We're going to prune this shrub in such and such a way.
1099
00:59:56.371 --> 00:59:58.153
That's worth my time, right?
1100
00:59:58.233 --> 01:00:01.156
15 minutes a visit, do a video walk around right out of the truck,
1101
01:00:01.598 --> 01:00:05.622
explain everything we're going to do, and then I get a better sense of what can we actually charge them for this service.
1102
01:00:05.642 --> 01:00:11.989
We can't say, this is going to be $500 this year, Ms. Jones, but then it ends up being $1,000 worth of work, and we're screwed, right?
1103
01:00:12.429 --> 01:00:15.112
Well, ideally, I've run winter services on them all winter.
1104
01:00:15.432 --> 01:00:15.612
Right.
1105
01:00:15.652 --> 01:00:20.197
And I don't need to do property inspections because I've been on their property every two weeks doing a property inspection.
1106
01:00:20.617 --> 01:00:25.002
And so my goal is I go into winter, and I'm taking on new customers, not servicing my existing ones.
1107
01:00:25.222 --> 01:00:29.963
I can't offer winter services to everyone we do mowing or spring and fall cleanup for.
1108
01:00:29.983 --> 01:00:34.105
It would be like when the snow came, we would never be able to survive.
1109
01:00:34.605 --> 01:00:35.725
I don't think we have enough equipment.
1110
01:00:35.745 --> 01:00:41.567
It would require like 40 staff plus two new trucks plus another sidewalk snow vehicle.
1111
01:00:42.027 --> 01:00:45.588
to really be able to clear snow for that many people.
1112
01:00:45.748 --> 01:00:47.209
How many people on snow do you have now?
1113
01:00:47.689 --> 01:00:48.930
30, including five condos.
1114
01:00:48.950 --> 01:00:51.110
So about 25 residentials.
1115
01:00:51.170 --> 01:00:53.311
And that was a comfortable number.
1116
01:00:53.371 --> 01:00:57.293
I wasn't even here for all the storms, but we didn't get a massive storm either.
1117
01:00:57.373 --> 01:01:02.535
Like if it snows two feet, you know- If we could triple our off-season revenue, would we go throw two more trucks?
1118
01:01:04.015 --> 01:01:04.715
That's what I'm thinking.
1119
01:01:04.755 --> 01:01:13.339
Like if we can go from 30 to 90, and now all of a sudden our off-season revenue goes from seven to 10 grand a month to 30 or 40,000 a month.
1120
01:01:13.840 --> 01:01:16.361
And we were able to keep four or five guys on full time.
1121
01:01:16.381 --> 01:01:18.082
So it's not as much of a scramble.
1122
01:01:18.842 --> 01:01:20.663
I'm willing to get a couple extra trucks.
1123
01:01:20.783 --> 01:01:22.404
Yeah, right, right.
1124
01:01:22.644 --> 01:01:23.244
People do that.
1125
01:01:23.404 --> 01:01:24.525
It's a fast way to grow.
1126
01:01:26.110 --> 01:01:28.932
especially the guys already that have like dump trucks.
1127
01:01:29.032 --> 01:01:32.615
You can throw big salters on them and get commercial accounts and have the V plows.
1128
01:01:33.655 --> 01:01:41.781
Well, even if you don't do the plowing thing, you stick with, okay, for example, if people are doing winter services and I can triple my revenue doing winter services, don't go after plowing.
1129
01:01:41.801 --> 01:01:44.063
Just go after like, how do I do their walkways?
1130
01:01:44.363 --> 01:01:46.625
I do small driveways so I don't need a massive plow.
1131
01:01:46.645 --> 01:01:47.946
I don't need a massive truck.
1132
01:01:48.266 --> 01:01:49.947
I'm just doing the winter services.
1133
01:01:49.967 --> 01:01:50.288
Right.
1134
01:01:50.848 --> 01:01:51.068
Right.
1135
01:01:51.748 --> 01:01:59.752
And this is what you could do too, Cyrus, is like as you go into next fall, you'd sell winter services, you'd have a really good understanding, okay, did 90% of people stick with me?
1136
01:02:00.433 --> 01:02:01.433
Because that's what your goal would be.
1137
01:02:01.453 --> 01:02:09.597
The same way you did like 90% of people, hey, the snow has to be, you know, I thought you said 90% of your customers chose snow.
1138
01:02:11.531 --> 01:02:15.453
No, we have a very limited number of customers that we do snow work for.
1139
01:02:15.533 --> 01:02:24.358
So out of the hundred, only 20 residentials because I've done that by design because it is, I mean, you do not want to bite off more than you can chew in snow, right?
1140
01:02:24.378 --> 01:02:26.879
Because it's such a, it comes all at once.
1141
01:02:26.899 --> 01:02:28.220
You have 12 hours to get it done.
1142
01:02:28.240 --> 01:02:30.021
If you don't have the crew and the equipment to do it.
1143
01:02:30.402 --> 01:02:31.983
you're screwed and the equipment's expensive.
1144
01:02:32.523 --> 01:02:40.809
Sidewalks, snow vehicles, we have like the intro level model, 10 grand, the next one, the boss, you know, Toro, Snow Raiders, like 26 if you want a beast of a machine.
1145
01:02:40.849 --> 01:02:45.232
So it's like, I do not want to, but the death of winter is the past three years.
1146
01:02:45.272 --> 01:02:47.874
Why would I want to spend a ton of money on that?
1147
01:02:47.914 --> 01:02:48.094
Right?
1148
01:02:48.134 --> 01:02:51.096
It's like, I don't know if winter's going to be around much longer here.
1149
01:02:51.116 --> 01:02:51.817
It was my thought.
1150
01:02:52.537 --> 01:02:56.864
Yeah, that's why I think going after winter services is the move, right?
1151
01:02:56.964 --> 01:03:02.793
And so even going into the spring, if you change your estimate description for mowing, say, hey, there's a year-round service, we do winter services.
1152
01:03:03.034 --> 01:03:05.878
Add a line in there, you'll get one question every 50th.
1153
01:03:05.978 --> 01:03:07.000
No one bats an eye at it.
1154
01:03:07.405 --> 01:03:11.289
But then you come in a month before the fall end of the mowing season.
1155
01:03:11.349 --> 01:03:12.931
You say, hey, this is what winter services are.
1156
01:03:13.231 --> 01:03:14.192
This is what it includes.
1157
01:03:14.693 --> 01:03:16.054
And you go for it.
1158
01:03:16.114 --> 01:03:16.274
Right.
1159
01:03:16.514 --> 01:03:21.960
And now if 80%, 90% of people accept that, now you can with confidence go out and get other equipment.
1160
01:03:22.100 --> 01:03:23.862
Because now you know you're going to triple your revenue.
1161
01:03:24.082 --> 01:03:24.703
Right, right.
1162
01:03:25.123 --> 01:03:25.623
Interesting.
1163
01:03:25.823 --> 01:03:29.305
Because the goal is that you also make your spring so much more efficient.
1164
01:03:29.565 --> 01:03:35.408
You're able to actually grow and expand and versus right now you're doing 20, 30, 40 spring cleanups for existing customers.
1165
01:03:35.428 --> 01:03:37.669
It's three weeks that everyone wants it done before mowing.
1166
01:03:37.689 --> 01:03:39.029
You get it all done prior.
1167
01:03:39.189 --> 01:03:39.349
Yeah.
1168
01:03:39.389 --> 01:03:43.671
And now when we go into spring, we're actually able to take on the new customers and not book ourselves out two months.
1169
01:03:43.971 --> 01:03:44.151
Right.
1170
01:03:44.391 --> 01:03:46.172
Which is impossible for spring cleanups.
1171
01:03:46.232 --> 01:03:47.473
Most people just aren't having that.
1172
01:03:47.493 --> 01:03:49.314
There's bigger companies that will come in two weeks.
1173
01:03:49.494 --> 01:03:49.654
Yeah.
1174
01:03:50.174 --> 01:03:50.934
That's interesting.
1175
01:03:50.974 --> 01:03:51.795
Yeah.
1176
01:03:52.355 --> 01:03:52.675
All right.
1177
01:03:53.930 --> 01:03:56.751
Continuing my own accounting or hiring out for that.
1178
01:03:58.132 --> 01:03:59.332
I've done my own books up till now.
1179
01:03:59.392 --> 01:04:13.858
It's been quite a learning process and it's been good, but the discrepancy in what my net profit is on this versus what it shows with my person who handles my taxes based on the tax strategy we've set, we have different depreciation schedules.
1180
01:04:14.638 --> 01:04:21.461
I heard when you wanna build enterprise value and never do get big enough to sell, people aren't gonna wanna see someone who handles their own books.
1181
01:04:22.001 --> 01:04:26.666
It doesn't take a ton of time, but I don't see how they're going to be any more accurate when I'm doing all the purchasing.
1182
01:04:26.746 --> 01:04:42.383
I can add everything into the expenses and right at the time of invoice, save that to my desktop or whatever, and then I do P&L every two weeks to a month, depending on how much revenue we're bringing in throughout the year.
1183
01:04:42.890 --> 01:04:45.413
And that goes on the income.
1184
01:04:45.753 --> 01:04:56.806
But I'm still seeing a discrepancy of around $10,000 up or down in reconciliation in terms of the bank has $10,000 more or $10,000 less, even though I think I'm doing everything by the book.
1185
01:04:57.466 --> 01:05:04.114
So I don't know what to do from that perspective to keep it more accurate or by the book.
1186
01:05:04.254 --> 01:05:06.675
Yeah, so the accountant's gonna reconcile things out better.
1187
01:05:06.695 --> 01:05:12.377
So for example, that's probably caused from payments, in terms of the difference in what's in the bank account versus what's on the P&L.
1188
01:05:12.577 --> 01:05:17.999
But they'll reconcile that out, only interest expense should be on the P&L, so that should affect the balance sheet.
1189
01:05:18.019 --> 01:05:19.600
I'm assuming the balance sheet you don't touch as much.
1190
01:05:20.146 --> 01:05:21.287
Right, I don't look at those.
1191
01:05:21.547 --> 01:05:23.087
That's where the discrepancy is coming from.
1192
01:05:23.548 --> 01:05:25.989
But again, it's a matter of like, I think your books are actually really good.
1193
01:05:26.049 --> 01:05:27.829
If you're doing it yourself, you're actually doing really, really good.
1194
01:05:28.310 --> 01:05:32.432
So it's a matter of like, are you okay with someone else doing it at 90% of what you're doing now?
1195
01:05:32.812 --> 01:05:34.633
But more importantly, you get your time back.
1196
01:05:34.933 --> 01:05:35.153
Right.
1197
01:05:35.213 --> 01:05:37.854
Because if it's taking you an hour a week, we have a big problem.
1198
01:05:38.114 --> 01:05:42.196
Because that hour a week times four is four hours a week of you going out and selling jobs.
1199
01:05:42.536 --> 01:05:44.918
And training people and hiring and selling winter services.
1200
01:05:45.218 --> 01:05:48.180
That's a higher leverage task than categorizing expenses.
1201
01:05:48.220 --> 01:05:48.420
Right.
1202
01:05:48.801 --> 01:05:56.406
And so I'm willing to take a hit on something like accuracy or being perfect because I want someone else to do it so I can do a higher leverage task than bookkeeping.
1203
01:05:56.506 --> 01:05:58.688
And I don't even know their pricing, but I bet it's good.
1204
01:05:58.728 --> 01:06:06.794
My accountant, they're doing right now just the state and federal taxes for me and then the payroll at the end of every month.
1205
01:06:07.350 --> 01:06:10.113
and then my end of year taxes, and it's $1,200 for the year.
1206
01:06:10.133 --> 01:06:11.975
They have a little shop in the basement in Hadley.
1207
01:06:11.995 --> 01:06:13.256
They've been there 70 years.
1208
01:06:13.296 --> 01:06:21.064
Dude's a multi-conglomerate, owns 500 properties, still works from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and he's 70 years old.
1209
01:06:21.084 --> 01:06:22.886
So it's like- Yeah, $1,200 is a steal.
1210
01:06:22.946 --> 01:06:24.567
You pay that just for your tax return.
1211
01:06:24.868 --> 01:06:25.048
Right.
1212
01:06:25.068 --> 01:06:30.133
So if you're able to get more out of them, and you pay $1,500, and they take over all your bookkeeping, I'd do it.
1213
01:06:30.433 --> 01:06:32.475
Yeah, I think this might be the year to try that.
1214
01:06:32.675 --> 01:06:37.078
Yeah, it just simply comes down to every moment you spend on any task has a certain dollar amount attached to it.
1215
01:06:37.098 --> 01:06:37.819
I have to think about the leverage.
1216
01:06:38.039 --> 01:06:43.823
Yes, and you getting out and managing your crew of 5, 10, 15 people is higher leverage than bookkeeping.
1217
01:06:43.863 --> 01:06:46.545
The current constraint of the business is not the fact that we don't know our numbers.
1218
01:06:46.605 --> 01:06:48.326
You actually have a really good grasp of them.
1219
01:06:48.387 --> 01:06:53.610
It's like focus on the things that are current constraints, which to my opinion is getting so many leads that you need to raise prices.
1220
01:06:53.811 --> 01:06:54.051
Right.
1221
01:06:54.551 --> 01:07:04.436
So focusing all those door hangers as well as every door direct mail, doubling down, doing a lot of the routes that we've already done three years ago.
1222
01:07:04.496 --> 01:07:05.877
But now they know our service.
1223
01:07:05.897 --> 01:07:06.757
They've seen our trucks.
1224
01:07:06.777 --> 01:07:07.738
We have better branding.
1225
01:07:08.238 --> 01:07:11.600
Just sending them out to the same customers again, already in the neighborhoods.
1226
01:07:12.060 --> 01:07:13.541
I would go back even further.
1227
01:07:14.781 --> 01:07:18.884
Whenever you drive attention to your business, there's a certain conversion.
1228
01:07:18.924 --> 01:07:22.627
So for example, if you have door hangers or you run Facebook ads or you run Google ads or whatever.
1229
01:07:22.807 --> 01:07:24.328
I haven't done a good job of keeping track.
1230
01:07:24.408 --> 01:07:25.569
How do you keep track of that?
1231
01:07:25.689 --> 01:07:31.233
Well, before I even keep track of it, I want to make sure that when they come to my website, I actually convert them into customers.
1232
01:07:31.753 --> 01:07:34.855
And so that's where I actually think the biggest, highest leverage point is right now.
1233
01:07:35.115 --> 01:07:36.736
Like getting discovered on Google, great.
1234
01:07:36.797 --> 01:07:38.197
Getting Facebook ads, getting door hangers, great.
1235
01:07:38.358 --> 01:07:40.939
But when they get to my site, if one out of 50 convert, great.
1236
01:07:41.260 --> 01:07:41.500
Great.
1237
01:07:41.960 --> 01:07:46.024
But if I can make that one out of 10, I 5X the number of customers I get.
1238
01:07:46.504 --> 01:07:52.610
So that's why I look at your website and say, okay, we should have an estimate request form on the top of the homepage.
1239
01:07:52.990 --> 01:07:55.933
There's a lot of aspects of just tightening that site up.
1240
01:07:56.153 --> 01:07:56.313
Right.
1241
01:07:56.333 --> 01:08:02.039
I mean, that was the original Wix site, and I've definitely not done a good job of updating with new video, you know,
1242
01:08:02.439 --> 01:08:24.093
pictures and things but you said i mean what else could we do for the site besides a full redesign you know to get it better yeah like um from a social media perspective tying into the website is important too even from a talent attraction perspective if i'm an employee and i can't find you on facebook i can't find an instagram i can't see pictures of your jobs like that truck would get employees here right
1243
01:08:24.573 --> 01:08:26.494
It's like, I want to share that everywhere.
1244
01:08:26.914 --> 01:08:31.216
Then tying that to your website improves the SEO of that as well.
1245
01:08:31.676 --> 01:08:37.359
And so the fact that you've done everything in the business, which is phenomenal.
1246
01:08:37.459 --> 01:08:48.324
What takes you from 400,000, which is what a highly skilled juggler can do, doing everything, what takes you from 400,000 to a million is the person that starts learning the skill of delegation.
1247
01:08:48.844 --> 01:08:50.925
The person that can learn how to delegate bookkeeping.
1248
01:08:50.945 --> 01:08:54.466
The person that can learn how to delegate answering their phones and dispatching and the admin side.
1249
01:08:54.586 --> 01:08:56.647
The person that can learn how to get someone else to do the website.
1250
01:08:56.867 --> 01:09:01.729
And that does take money, but it's also the thing that allows you to focus on the higher leverage stuff, which is sales and training your team.
1251
01:09:02.209 --> 01:09:04.250
Anything outside those two things, I want to offer you play.
1252
01:09:04.790 --> 01:09:04.970
Right.
1253
01:09:04.990 --> 01:09:06.490
Because they're not as high value.
1254
01:09:06.990 --> 01:09:12.432
At this point, I'm just going to hire someone to boost the website and get it looking better with some of the videos we already have.
1255
01:09:14.493 --> 01:09:17.434
If you want, we could build that long-term web design.
1256
01:09:17.514 --> 01:09:18.995
I just give you the first six months free.
1257
01:09:19.315 --> 01:09:22.716
And even if you just take that design, even if you want to build your own thing, I could care less.
1258
01:09:22.996 --> 01:09:29.819
But it's simply a matter of a site that's going to be actually built for conversion instead of just a business card.
1259
01:09:30.139 --> 01:09:34.040
That truck should have pictures and video about it, and should be on the very front.
1260
01:09:34.200 --> 01:09:35.861
On the front of that is an SM request form.
1261
01:09:36.141 --> 01:09:37.702
It is then tied to your social media.
1262
01:09:37.962 --> 01:09:40.923
Then you have at least 30 Google reviews tied to it.
1263
01:09:40.943 --> 01:09:43.324
You have a address-verified Google listing.
1264
01:09:44.004 --> 01:09:48.727
Those things alone, you'll get to the top of Google in this market within a matter of two to three months.
1265
01:09:49.107 --> 01:09:51.449
And that is going to double the leads.
1266
01:09:52.069 --> 01:09:54.371
Yes, you go do door hangers and you'll get leads tomorrow.
1267
01:09:54.671 --> 01:10:04.076
But if you can go slow so that you can go fast is we take six months, we nail the website, we get the ranking well on Google, we get the Google reviews, we get the listing ranking high.
1268
01:10:04.337 --> 01:10:08.939
And then in six months, you're getting two to three times the amount of leads and you're not spending any money on ads.
1269
01:10:09.280 --> 01:10:09.500
Yeah.
1270
01:10:10.040 --> 01:10:12.503
The long-term goal is always to rank organically.
1271
01:10:12.643 --> 01:10:13.664
But we're on the second page of Google.
1272
01:10:13.684 --> 01:10:14.025
We die.
1273
01:10:14.185 --> 01:10:15.246
No one sees us.
1274
01:10:15.687 --> 01:10:24.597
But if you triple your traffic just because you start to rank well on Google, yes, we could do door hangers tomorrow and get customers, but in six months, I could be getting three times as many leads and not doing door hangers.
1275
01:10:24.977 --> 01:10:25.918
Right, right.
1276
01:10:26.399 --> 01:10:29.122
Best time to send out price raise for mowing?
1277
01:10:29.162 --> 01:10:30.043
Do you wait until...
1278
01:10:30.701 --> 01:10:31.962
closer to the season start?
1279
01:10:32.002 --> 01:10:37.767
Or do you say, look, we're thinking about raising your price this year before, you know, our start is April, end of April here.
1280
01:10:38.427 --> 01:10:41.910
So with the current truck setup, so we have two trucks and this one's a three trucks.
1281
01:10:42.050 --> 01:10:42.230
Yep.
1282
01:10:42.650 --> 01:10:48.195
How many mowing customers could we approximately hit without needing a fourth truck?
1283
01:10:48.495 --> 01:10:48.695
Right.
1284
01:10:48.835 --> 01:10:51.878
One of them, you know, our F-250 is our project trailer.
1285
01:10:51.898 --> 01:10:54.199
Okay, so we have two trucks, two mowing trucks.
1286
01:10:54.339 --> 01:10:58.503
How many mowing customers could we serve with those two trucks before you like, I need another mowing truck?
1287
01:10:58.763 --> 01:10:58.943
Right.
1288
01:10:59.924 --> 01:11:04.826
I've estimated probably, I think like 150 to 200 accounts.
1289
01:11:05.166 --> 01:11:05.787
Got it.
1290
01:11:05.867 --> 01:11:06.887
I'd say weekly accounts.
1291
01:11:07.087 --> 01:11:09.949
Let's say 150, just so it's gonna get in that strat zone.
1292
01:11:10.189 --> 01:11:11.309
That means that we're at 100 now.
1293
01:11:11.369 --> 01:11:14.530
We have 50 customers before we hit capacity.
1294
01:11:14.791 --> 01:11:15.011
Right.
1295
01:11:15.571 --> 01:11:17.672
I always say like, hit capacity, raise prices.
1296
01:11:18.292 --> 01:11:22.535
So instead of trying to balance this just right, and the reason you're nervous about it is what if I lose a few customers?
1297
01:11:23.035 --> 01:11:25.097
I want you to get 150 customers.
1298
01:11:25.457 --> 01:11:26.658
This is why I said it's a lease problem.
1299
01:11:26.938 --> 01:11:29.800
Get so many customers to where you hit 150, like, oh, my word.
1300
01:11:30.140 --> 01:11:33.442
If I don't raise prices and lose some customers, I will have to go buy another truck.
1301
01:11:33.702 --> 01:11:35.123
And I don't have 100 grand to go do that.
1302
01:11:36.024 --> 01:11:37.945
So you force yourself into raising prices.
1303
01:11:37.985 --> 01:11:40.267
And when you raise your prices, you don't do it by 5% or 6%.
1304
01:11:40.687 --> 01:11:41.808
Now you're going to raise by 15% or 30%.
1305
01:11:41.828 --> 01:11:42.088
Right.
1306
01:11:43.549 --> 01:11:44.390
Yeah.
1307
01:11:44.410 --> 01:11:54.576
The 5% a year, especially for some of the ones that are underbid and that I know are going to stick around, that's probably in the cards each year and I've had pretty good retention.
1308
01:11:54.596 --> 01:11:57.558
I don't think people are falling off for that reason.
1309
01:11:57.618 --> 01:12:01.101
So it probably doesn't matter so much when I'm telling them about that.
1310
01:12:01.141 --> 01:12:04.563
Based upon your pricing, I would say yes, we absolutely need a price increase by like 30%.
1311
01:12:04.583 --> 01:12:06.244
I would say like 30% probably.
1312
01:12:07.985 --> 01:12:10.926
And I think if you did that tomorrow, you'd actually be pretty happy with it.
1313
01:12:11.267 --> 01:12:18.810
Now, you know every single customer in a name, you won't think that because of pricing, but I think if you raise prices by 25%, you'd maybe lose 10% to 15% of your customers.
1314
01:12:19.390 --> 01:12:21.231
So I do think in the short term that would be a good move.
1315
01:12:21.411 --> 01:12:26.673
Now, that means that your goal is not to make it a $500,000 business and just say stay here.
1316
01:12:27.173 --> 01:12:28.093
You're trying to grow.
1317
01:12:28.113 --> 01:12:30.694
That's why I'm saying focusing on the leads is the constraint.
1318
01:12:30.794 --> 01:12:37.475
If you got to 150 customers, you would have to be like, man, I'm getting 10 new mowing customers every single week, and we're in the middle of spring rush.
1319
01:12:37.615 --> 01:12:39.156
You have to lose 20 customers.
1320
01:12:39.396 --> 01:12:40.936
So you go out and you raise prices by 25%.
1321
01:12:40.976 --> 01:12:41.236
Sure.
1322
01:12:41.316 --> 01:12:43.297
And you double your profits.
1323
01:12:43.597 --> 01:12:44.337
Yep.
1324
01:12:44.857 --> 01:12:46.998
That's why focusing on the leads is the constraint.
1325
01:12:47.098 --> 01:12:47.698
That's the biggest thing.
1326
01:12:47.718 --> 01:12:48.898
You just need 15 more customers.
1327
01:12:48.998 --> 01:12:51.079
You get 15 more customers, you will raise prices by 30%.
1328
01:12:51.339 --> 01:12:52.559
You will double your profit margins.
1329
01:12:52.779 --> 01:12:54.579
By raising your prices by 30%, now guess what?
1330
01:12:54.619 --> 01:12:56.160
P2P becomes very appealing.
1331
01:12:56.380 --> 01:12:56.620
Yeah.
1332
01:12:57.120 --> 01:12:57.380
That's nice.
1333
01:12:57.400 --> 01:13:00.161
And when you raise prices now, the crew makes more money on P4P.
1334
01:13:00.441 --> 01:13:00.601
Yep.
1335
01:13:01.161 --> 01:13:01.641
Exactly.
1336
01:13:02.201 --> 01:13:03.462
Right.
1337
01:13:04.002 --> 01:13:13.224
In terms of trying to get mowing services standardized, do you guys use a separate line item for your mowing jobs and dedicate a certain amount to line trimming?
1338
01:13:13.244 --> 01:13:16.225
Because I know folks can go off the wall and do too good of a service.
1339
01:13:16.245 --> 01:13:22.526
Some folks come from companies that literally double mow, do the diamond design, and then string trim every single bed.
1340
01:13:22.566 --> 01:13:24.687
And it's like most of our customers...
1341
01:13:25.427 --> 01:13:29.870
just want the job done to a decent degree for a fair price.
1342
01:13:30.751 --> 01:13:41.839
Everybody else that has top-of-the-line lawns and is doing treatments and all that has a full-service company that might be doing all that in-house and willing to do crazy amounts of beautiful lawn work for stupid cheap.
1343
01:13:41.939 --> 01:13:50.565
Most people, if they're going the ecological route, just definitely don't believe in pesticides and fertilizers and they just basically still want a fair price done quietly.
1344
01:13:51.866 --> 01:13:54.228
I've had a hard time standardizing that and figuring out
1345
01:13:54.990 --> 01:14:00.512
If there's a two-person mow crew, I know you like to string trim first, but I've done it the opposite, right?
1346
01:14:00.532 --> 01:14:03.452
Because someone's bound to have to go back for that tool.
1347
01:14:04.573 --> 01:14:06.373
So how do we standardize that?
1348
01:14:06.673 --> 01:14:14.716
That could be the difference between having someone on site for 15 minutes over a service if one person's trimming the entire time and only one person's mowing.
1349
01:14:14.736 --> 01:14:18.937
I should have two people mowing, try and stagger them so that one person finishes first.
1350
01:14:20.241 --> 01:14:26.763
a bit before the last and then they string trim and finish at the same time with as little overlap and wasted time as possible.
1351
01:14:26.803 --> 01:14:28.884
Yeah, this is more of a training thing, right?
1352
01:14:28.924 --> 01:14:30.305
Every size of property will be different.
1353
01:14:30.325 --> 01:14:33.166
So for example, this house has a lot of string trimming, right?
1354
01:14:33.186 --> 01:14:36.367
Because you have a lot of small areas of mowing and grass, et cetera.
1355
01:14:36.587 --> 01:14:37.807
So every lawn's going to be different.
1356
01:14:37.847 --> 01:14:38.747
It all comes down to training.
1357
01:14:39.128 --> 01:14:42.069
If you finish early, these are the tasks that need to be done.
1358
01:14:42.269 --> 01:14:45.830
You need to move the battery packs around, you need to blow out the trailer, blah, blah,
1359
01:14:46.230 --> 01:14:50.991
Now, I could train that until I'm blue in the face or just compensate based on it.
1360
01:14:51.411 --> 01:14:53.292
That's why we need P4P.
1361
01:14:53.312 --> 01:14:56.172
We need the prices higher so they can make more money on P4P.
1362
01:14:56.192 --> 01:15:03.194
Because when you incentivize someone to move faster, they will come up with the other five things that can be done when they're waiting around.
1363
01:15:03.234 --> 01:15:07.855
We trained that until we were blue in the face and then once it instituted P4P, we never train it now.
1364
01:15:07.935 --> 01:15:09.135
And they just figure out how to go faster.
1365
01:15:09.455 --> 01:15:09.635
Yeah.
1366
01:15:09.935 --> 01:15:11.196
Because now they're incentivized to do it.
1367
01:15:11.537 --> 01:15:11.657
Right.
1368
01:15:11.677 --> 01:15:15.500
So that's why getting them back on PPP is important, but right now our pricing, we can't.
1369
01:15:15.920 --> 01:15:16.140
Yeah.
1370
01:15:16.160 --> 01:15:24.386
We're not making enough per day to give them, you'd have to give them 50% to get them above base pay consistently, where they're making 25, 26 bucks an hour.
1371
01:15:24.626 --> 01:15:25.387
Right, right.
1372
01:15:25.808 --> 01:15:28.971
Also keeping people longer term, retaining them, they get more efficient as well.
1373
01:15:29.752 --> 01:15:34.496
But I believe, my thought is we do what we can control, which is again, many leads as possible.
1374
01:15:34.596 --> 01:15:39.862
We get 150 customers, we have to raise prices by 25 to 30% so we can make room for new customers.
1375
01:15:40.382 --> 01:15:41.023
We do that.
1376
01:15:41.563 --> 01:15:45.244
And now we can actually afford on P4P to pay them significantly more.
1377
01:15:45.444 --> 01:15:48.765
That is going to be the unlock to them making sure that they're efficient on their jobs.
1378
01:15:49.005 --> 01:15:51.226
When two people finish at different times, it's all.
1379
01:15:51.346 --> 01:15:58.028
Because otherwise, if you train super consistently, like you must do the lawn this way to finish at the same time, every property is so different.
1380
01:15:58.408 --> 01:15:59.509
It's so varied.
1381
01:15:59.889 --> 01:16:00.089
Right.
1382
01:16:00.129 --> 01:16:00.870
It's all situational.
1383
01:16:00.930 --> 01:16:03.552
If you get leaves on the grass, all of a sudden it gets way longer to mow.
1384
01:16:03.772 --> 01:16:03.992
Yeah.
1385
01:16:04.272 --> 01:16:06.894
And so it's really just a matter of incentivizing the end result.
1386
01:16:06.954 --> 01:16:09.336
Instead of trying to fix all, like, here's what you do here.
1387
01:16:09.356 --> 01:16:12.138
It's like, just if you get the job done faster, you make more money.
1388
01:16:12.358 --> 01:16:12.539
Yeah.
1389
01:16:12.999 --> 01:16:13.319
Got it.
1390
01:16:13.639 --> 01:16:13.860
Yeah.
1391
01:16:14.000 --> 01:16:15.161
Okay.
1392
01:16:16.642 --> 01:16:16.842
Right.
1393
01:16:17.347 --> 01:16:19.568
Most feasible way to learn a new service, right?
1394
01:16:19.588 --> 01:16:28.271
I don't have the shiny object syndrome yet, but I mean, I've thought a lot and talked with other landscapers about how much more you can solve the margin issue with projects, tree work.
1395
01:16:28.391 --> 01:16:37.215
I'm interested in, you know, having room to expand my and continue to learn, you know, other services since all I had was three years of experience doing push mowing, right?
1396
01:16:37.235 --> 01:16:42.557
It'd be nice to be able to do some small installs, you know, hardscaping projects or some tree work on my own.
1397
01:16:43.152 --> 01:16:47.813
I've thought about getting the business to a place where it's self-sustained and then I go work for somebody else.
1398
01:16:48.233 --> 01:16:56.435
But there's also the option of bringing on some skilled labor for a way higher price that really knows what they're doing and then being able to work alongside them and having them essentially teach you.
1399
01:16:56.795 --> 01:17:03.997
I'm guessing that's the most feasible way to move into a service when you have $100,000 to throw out the equipment plus a really skilled operator or person.
1400
01:17:04.457 --> 01:17:10.447
and then have them come work for you and start, whatever it is, a separate brand, or email all your customer contacts.
1401
01:17:10.467 --> 01:17:14.614
Look, we're now doing X, Y, and Z.
1402
01:17:14.955 --> 01:17:16.838
Give us a shot and then you can move into that.
1403
01:17:18.216 --> 01:17:22.861
How have you seen other folks move into different services successfully?
1404
01:17:22.881 --> 01:17:34.053
If I don't see us moving into pesticides and fertilizers as much as I'd like to for the margins and how easy that is to get into and the standard, I mean, those companies can grow fast.
1405
01:17:34.494 --> 01:17:35.295
It's just so simple.
1406
01:17:35.555 --> 01:17:37.296
The grass is always greener on the other side.
1407
01:17:37.637 --> 01:17:37.837
Right?
1408
01:17:37.897 --> 01:17:41.339
So those companies are, we then complain how easy it is to get mowing customers.
1409
01:17:41.540 --> 01:17:41.720
Right.
1410
01:17:41.880 --> 01:17:44.582
And how little they have to spend on marketing to acquire.
1411
01:17:44.902 --> 01:17:47.004
So like, the grass is always greener on the other side.
1412
01:17:47.184 --> 01:17:52.488
The difference between shiny object and the next shiny service, and then when do we actually add a service is
1413
01:17:53.648 --> 01:17:57.229
is the demand curve of that service different than what your current demand curve is?
1414
01:17:57.749 --> 01:18:05.032
So if you're gonna add a service that's also busy during the spring rush and also busy during the fall cleanup season, don't have anything to do with it.
1415
01:18:05.192 --> 01:18:09.313
Because it's simply going to increase the seasonality of the business.
1416
01:18:09.733 --> 01:18:17.375
But if I can do it during the winter, if it can fill in the gaps during my summer when we slow down during August and September, now it's something I can be interested in.
1417
01:18:17.555 --> 01:18:20.316
Which tree work seems a viable option to do?
1418
01:18:20.696 --> 01:18:22.159
to be honest, because the ground's frozen.
1419
01:18:22.199 --> 01:18:26.689
You can get trucks on the ground and fell trees without damaging the lawn as much.
1420
01:18:27.207 --> 01:18:31.988
Granted, it slows down and tree companies lay people off, but they're working well into the winter months.
1421
01:18:32.488 --> 01:18:38.669
And tree services that have lawns, they win the bid, they say, look, would you mind if we come during the winter when we're slower to do this work?
1422
01:18:39.049 --> 01:18:40.849
Most people say, yeah.
1423
01:18:40.889 --> 01:18:56.712
My challenge with adding that now, I'm not opposed to adding the future, is that I think there's so much more low-hanging fruit of getting winter services during off-season, as well as upselling our existing customers during August and September when things slow down on the services we already offer.
1424
01:18:57.553 --> 01:19:01.517
And if you're going to do small installs, that seems like a lower lift than figuring out tree service.
1425
01:19:02.078 --> 01:19:15.112
So if I can do smaller $5,000, $10,000 jobs, fill in my August and September that's slower, I'd rather figure that out using my existing trucks and equipment and maybe a little bit of YouTube University to figure out some smaller installs.
1426
01:19:15.132 --> 01:19:17.495
And I'm willing to do it because I slow down during that period of time.
1427
01:19:17.895 --> 01:19:18.576
Sure, sure.
1428
01:19:18.616 --> 01:19:20.438
And I used bulk email.
1429
01:19:20.818 --> 01:19:22.880
I'd send out all of my customers, give them a promotion.
1430
01:19:22.920 --> 01:19:24.501
I'd call my customers, upsell them.
1431
01:19:25.162 --> 01:19:26.784
I'd make door hangers for my existing customers.
1432
01:19:26.804 --> 01:19:30.487
I'd tell my crew, okay, this week we're putting on door hangers for everyone for this one service.
1433
01:19:30.527 --> 01:19:33.890
It's a limited time offer, and we're going to do it to fill in August and September.
1434
01:19:34.211 --> 01:19:34.391
Yeah.
1435
01:19:35.091 --> 01:19:38.555
So maybe make one marketing push to do during our summer slump.
1436
01:19:39.976 --> 01:19:46.662
Every dollar of revenue made during your off-season is worth significantly more than a dollar of revenue during your busy season.
1437
01:19:46.842 --> 01:19:56.171
And so if I can put an extra $20,000 a month during your off-season, it's a whole lot more valuable than growing by $20,000 in the middle of May right now.
1438
01:19:56.492 --> 01:19:56.752
Right.
1439
01:19:57.232 --> 01:19:57.433
Yep.
1440
01:19:57.713 --> 01:19:58.694
That makes a lot of sense.
1441
01:19:59.074 --> 01:20:01.795
Because growing in May right now requires another truck.
1442
01:20:02.155 --> 01:20:03.316
Because you're maxed out already.
1443
01:20:03.456 --> 01:20:04.456
You need more employees.
1444
01:20:04.797 --> 01:20:10.199
Versus putting that revenue during the off-season, I just take my current employees and current trucks I already have and just utilize them more.
1445
01:20:10.599 --> 01:20:10.799
Yeah.
1446
01:20:11.299 --> 01:20:11.580
Yeah.
1447
01:20:11.720 --> 01:20:12.500
Interesting point.
1448
01:20:12.620 --> 01:20:17.042
I mean, it all comes back to wanting the shiny object, but also...
1449
01:20:17.411 --> 01:20:22.276
I mean, a chipper and things for this property to be able to develop it for long-term value.
1450
01:20:22.916 --> 01:20:26.480
Look at all that land that way that has business potential as well.
1451
01:20:27.320 --> 01:20:28.802
But yeah, way down the road, right?
1452
01:20:28.982 --> 01:20:29.703
So that's the thing.
1453
01:20:30.490 --> 01:20:31.971
All right, we already touched.
1454
01:20:31.991 --> 01:20:32.712
Yeah, all right.
1455
01:20:32.772 --> 01:20:34.273
I think we've talked a lot about this.
1456
01:20:34.293 --> 01:20:36.794
I have a list of pain points listed by service.
1457
01:20:37.094 --> 01:20:37.915
Cool.
1458
01:20:38.475 --> 01:20:40.436
But we can talk about the 4L framework.
1459
01:20:40.456 --> 01:20:41.577
What does that stand for again?
1460
01:20:41.797 --> 01:20:43.198
Yeah, so we'll go through it here.
1461
01:20:43.218 --> 01:20:44.739
That's leads, leadership.
1462
01:20:45.260 --> 01:20:48.502
Like how I kind of see it is we have liquidity up here.
1463
01:20:48.622 --> 01:20:50.583
Like right now, I know you had mentioned...
1464
01:20:51.183 --> 01:20:54.266
you and your wife kind of wanting to have, start a family, things like that.
1465
01:20:54.286 --> 01:20:56.368
Right now we have like 20,000 in the bank.
1466
01:20:57.429 --> 01:21:05.597
What does that need to be for you to like, okay, from a liquidity perspective, cash flow perspective, I feel comfortable to like move that personal goal forward.
1467
01:21:05.958 --> 01:21:06.878
What's the goal on that?
1468
01:21:07.935 --> 01:21:09.055
Yeah, that's a good question.
1469
01:21:09.075 --> 01:21:19.838
I'd say I built up 16 in my personal savings because it seems like anywhere from six months to a year's worth of living expenses is highly.
1470
01:21:20.719 --> 01:21:24.140
The reason you've been able to run this business is because you kept your personal expenses in check.
1471
01:21:24.540 --> 01:21:24.740
Right.
1472
01:21:24.760 --> 01:21:25.540
I just want to say that.
1473
01:21:25.580 --> 01:21:26.340
You've done a really good job.
1474
01:21:26.360 --> 01:21:29.441
I can tell by the way you keep track of the finances, everything.
1475
01:21:29.861 --> 01:21:32.242
That's why you've been able to deal with the lower rate.
1476
01:21:32.922 --> 01:21:34.743
Usually when I see a $45, $50 effective hourly rate,
1477
01:21:36.102 --> 01:21:38.344
I'm like, this company will lose money hand over fist.
1478
01:21:38.484 --> 01:21:42.588
But you've been so frugal on your personal side, and I can tell how much you're taking out of the business.
1479
01:21:43.008 --> 01:21:44.830
That's why you've been able to keep growing it.
1480
01:21:45.170 --> 01:21:45.431
Right.
1481
01:21:45.551 --> 01:21:47.072
And so, like, kudos to you.
1482
01:21:47.112 --> 01:21:49.694
My goal is now, like, get so many leads that you can raise the prices.
1483
01:21:49.975 --> 01:21:51.036
The guys can make more money.
1484
01:21:51.256 --> 01:21:52.817
You can make more money during the offseason.
1485
01:21:52.937 --> 01:21:54.339
And still do it all on the same market.
1486
01:21:54.379 --> 01:21:55.940
Yeah, and not suffer on the personal side.
1487
01:21:56.020 --> 01:21:58.442
Because you'll need to take more money in the business to have the family.
1488
01:21:58.462 --> 01:21:58.703
Right.
1489
01:21:58.723 --> 01:21:58.903
Right.
1490
01:21:59.163 --> 01:22:01.746
And so like, okay, so right now we have 16,000 in the bank.
1491
01:22:02.067 --> 01:22:05.050
By end of year, what does that need to be to like move that forward?
1492
01:22:05.070 --> 01:22:10.156
Yeah, I mean, I've lived off 25K for like every year I can remember since college essentially.
1493
01:22:10.176 --> 01:22:10.877
Yeah.
1494
01:22:11.645 --> 01:22:19.208
Doing that comfortably once we have a kid in the mix I would say probably closer to 40 or 50 would be let's go with 50 That's still pretty good.
1495
01:22:19.228 --> 01:22:20.388
It's really good.
1496
01:22:20.728 --> 01:22:34.193
So okay, so from a liquidity perspective We need to have basically an extra 2,000 Let's just call it three thousand dollars more a month that we can take out of the business Yeah, because right now if we're living off of 25 we need to be able to immediately basically 50k
1497
01:22:35.573 --> 01:22:39.877
distributions slash salary coming out of the business annually.
1498
01:22:40.218 --> 01:22:41.419
That's like goal number one.
1499
01:22:41.839 --> 01:22:45.743
I genuinely believe, so let's just say we take 100 customers.
1500
01:22:45.984 --> 01:22:48.206
No, we're going to hit 150 because that's going to be our capacity.
1501
01:22:48.426 --> 01:22:52.831
We take 150 customers and we raise all of our prices by $50 a month.
1502
01:22:54.152 --> 01:22:56.573
That's about a 25% increase, probably.
1503
01:22:57.554 --> 01:22:59.775
That is literally $7,000.
1504
01:23:00.816 --> 01:23:04.818
That's why we can nickel and dime and think about batteries and all this other stuff.
1505
01:23:05.199 --> 01:23:05.639
I don't care.
1506
01:23:05.999 --> 01:23:07.340
I want to hit 150 customers.
1507
01:23:07.840 --> 01:23:11.242
I want to raise prices and be making an extra $6,000 to $7,000 of cash flow a month.
1508
01:23:12.063 --> 01:23:13.964
That immediately solves the liquidity problem.
1509
01:23:15.104 --> 01:23:21.647
By the way, down the road, when we get to labor, that will also solve the P4P problem.
1510
01:23:22.047 --> 01:23:26.549
Right now, we're not making enough hourly rate to pay them out on P4P well.
1511
01:23:27.230 --> 01:23:30.151
Well, define well, because 19 is the base pay.
1512
01:23:30.211 --> 01:23:34.112
I start people at 20 when I was on hourly, and then we boosted that to 22, 24.
1513
01:23:35.533 --> 01:23:41.538
And for efficient people who already knew what they were doing, some of them on some of the projects were making $26, $28, $30.
1514
01:23:42.419 --> 01:23:50.066
So I don't feel like going back to an hourly pay right now and doing away with pay for performance this season is going to be the move either.
1515
01:23:50.266 --> 01:23:53.689
During the fall, did you move the hourly just for temporary kind of thing?
1516
01:23:53.729 --> 01:23:54.590
Yeah, it was like...
1517
01:23:54.882 --> 01:23:59.763
I tried it on P4P for the first two weeks and it ended up like, okay, this is not working.
1518
01:23:59.823 --> 01:24:00.723
The bids were just too low.
1519
01:24:00.763 --> 01:24:07.165
Yeah, and I'd be willing to raise prices by 100% on folks to avoid that again this year because fall is so busy that I don't care.
1520
01:24:07.545 --> 01:24:08.145
Got it, got it.
1521
01:24:08.365 --> 01:24:13.486
Well, my hope is that by the time we hit fall, P4P has been affected by the price index.
1522
01:24:13.666 --> 01:24:13.887
Right.
1523
01:24:14.027 --> 01:24:18.108
So like, we got liquidity, basically we need to get to $50,000 take home pay.
1524
01:24:18.608 --> 01:24:20.988
We know that's gonna be done through price increases.
1525
01:24:21.328 --> 01:24:21.848
Yep.
1526
01:24:21.868 --> 01:24:23.609
So price increase is going to happen
1527
01:24:24.489 --> 01:24:25.811
at 150 customers.
1528
01:24:26.031 --> 01:24:29.235
So then really the whole game here is how do you get 50 more customers?
1529
01:24:29.355 --> 01:24:32.659
If you got 50 more customers, we hit capacity, and we have to raise prices.
1530
01:24:32.979 --> 01:24:35.382
So then from a leads perspective, we need more leads.
1531
01:24:35.502 --> 01:24:36.363
OK, how are we going to do that?
1532
01:24:36.463 --> 01:24:38.946
First off, web design.
1533
01:24:39.547 --> 01:24:41.249
And if you want us to do it, I'll do six months.
1534
01:24:41.389 --> 01:24:44.413
I'll cover it for you just so you can get a really good look at what it's going to look like.
1535
01:24:44.673 --> 01:24:47.574
and you'll be able to make an accurate assessment, and you can copy on Wix.
1536
01:24:47.654 --> 01:24:48.974
I could care less.
1537
01:24:49.154 --> 01:24:57.756
But ultimately, from the web design perspective, we are where the estimate request form is going, above the fold, on the home page.
1538
01:24:57.916 --> 01:25:01.077
We're going to put that truck right front and center when you look at that site.
1539
01:25:02.237 --> 01:25:04.557
You have the $75,000, use it.
1540
01:25:05.277 --> 01:25:06.518
Ideally, we have a video.
1541
01:25:06.678 --> 01:25:11.739
If you get a drone shot of it or something cool like that, we can use some footage that we get today at the job site, for example.
1542
01:25:12.199 --> 01:25:12.519
Use it.
1543
01:25:13.161 --> 01:25:14.142
It'll look so good.
1544
01:25:14.202 --> 01:25:16.905
It'll completely take your website to the next level.
1545
01:25:16.925 --> 01:25:18.066
Some slow-mo, something.
1546
01:25:18.126 --> 01:25:23.712
If you could take a conversion from 1 to 50 to 1 out of 25, you doubled your leads.
1547
01:25:24.133 --> 01:25:29.038
So, as a request form, a website design, we need 30 Google reviews.
1548
01:25:29.679 --> 01:25:30.439
How are we going to do that?
1549
01:25:30.459 --> 01:25:33.182
We're going to do automations inside the service office.
1550
01:25:33.383 --> 01:25:34.083
Automations,
1551
01:25:34.724 --> 01:25:36.364
And those automations are going to go twofold.
1552
01:25:36.685 --> 01:25:42.546
One is going to go to immediately existing customers and say, hey, this is our team.
1553
01:25:42.566 --> 01:25:43.586
We really appreciate your service.
1554
01:25:43.606 --> 01:25:44.586
Yeah, that's a great idea.
1555
01:25:44.606 --> 01:25:45.407
Get a good review.
1556
01:25:45.667 --> 01:25:47.867
Money going towards a spring party for them.
1557
01:25:48.107 --> 01:25:48.267
Right.
1558
01:25:48.287 --> 01:25:49.768
Then we're going to have two different automations.
1559
01:25:50.008 --> 01:25:56.289
One is every 30 to 90 days, or sorry, every 90 to 120 days, you're sent to existing recurring customers.
1560
01:25:56.689 --> 01:25:58.190
It's like, was your service satisfactory?
1561
01:25:58.210 --> 01:25:58.630
Yes or no.
1562
01:25:59.210 --> 01:26:01.131
Yes, going to Google Review.
1563
01:26:01.511 --> 01:26:02.731
No, going to a Google form.
1564
01:26:02.991 --> 01:26:03.171
Right.
1565
01:26:03.411 --> 01:26:10.913
And then when you send an invoice out to one-time jobs, also automation will be going saying, hey, if your service is satisfactory, give us a review, and your crew will get $50 bucks.
1566
01:26:10.953 --> 01:26:12.174
I got that all listed on here.
1567
01:26:12.194 --> 01:26:12.754
That's great.
1568
01:26:12.954 --> 01:26:13.794
Perfect.
1569
01:26:13.974 --> 01:26:14.515
Then labor.
1570
01:26:14.575 --> 01:26:17.515
So then labor is a matter of like, we've got to have improved retention.
1571
01:26:17.796 --> 01:26:26.178
And like I see it as, especially in this market, like if people can make consistently $26, $27 an hour, that'll be very incentivizing.
1572
01:26:26.918 --> 01:26:34.222
We also want to reduce churn because it is going to demotivate the highest performing employees when they're constantly seeing people churn through.
1573
01:26:34.242 --> 01:26:41.887
I think that having a unified spot where you're starting throughout the day will be very beneficial because they see you.
1574
01:26:42.467 --> 01:26:45.268
It's very demoralizing to not see you for two or three days.
1575
01:26:45.509 --> 01:26:47.089
You don't know what you're doing.
1576
01:26:47.109 --> 01:26:49.731
People make stuff up in their head.
1577
01:26:50.331 --> 01:26:54.735
You could be slaving away on estimates and they think that you're probably just vacationing.
1578
01:26:55.175 --> 01:27:04.503
So from a labor perspective, our goal is PPP still being high enough, like average 25 plus per hour throughout the whole season.
1579
01:27:05.004 --> 01:27:08.967
We do that because we are able to raise prices because we have enough leads.
1580
01:27:10.068 --> 01:27:12.290
And so labor, P4P, that's great.
1581
01:27:12.470 --> 01:27:13.330
Reduce churn.
1582
01:27:13.931 --> 01:27:18.754
I think that comes in the form of the culture side and having a centralized spot.
1583
01:27:19.335 --> 01:27:20.996
Every morning, have a stand-up meeting.
1584
01:27:21.236 --> 01:27:23.958
They're able to make sure you get the right tools and get the right equipment.
1585
01:27:24.799 --> 01:27:28.941
Personally, I would probably try to get this to where I can get them here as soon as possible.
1586
01:27:29.842 --> 01:27:35.687
And then I developed this land, like get the hedge, slowly build it in better and better as time goes on.
1587
01:27:36.067 --> 01:27:37.408
I try to get them here as quick as possible.
1588
01:27:37.448 --> 01:27:39.350
I mean, I was at the lot every day last week.
1589
01:27:39.390 --> 01:27:43.313
I have like a 15 minute team meeting check-ins to see if anybody's going to be dragging ass.
1590
01:27:43.333 --> 01:27:45.414
So we're not embarking down there, you know?
1591
01:27:45.454 --> 01:27:46.175
Yeah.
1592
01:27:46.255 --> 01:27:49.918
So that, that was, despite all that, there was the churn.
1593
01:27:49.938 --> 01:27:51.579
And I think it's because of the hourly rate.
1594
01:27:51.639 --> 01:27:55.302
Plus, you know, the happenstance, you can't be a great judge of character.
1595
01:27:55.362 --> 01:27:58.885
And, you know, from just from the interview and you don't know if people are going to work out and, you know,
1596
01:28:00.028 --> 01:28:10.376
It's hard to hire slow and fire fast, especially if you're- This environment is also more conducive with the team compared to working out of a box on a competitor's property.
1597
01:28:10.716 --> 01:28:12.537
It just feels janky.
1598
01:28:13.218 --> 01:28:14.839
They're watching other trucks drive by.
1599
01:28:15.259 --> 01:28:16.380
It's a bigger company.
1600
01:28:17.661 --> 01:28:18.682
It's just weird.
1601
01:28:19.042 --> 01:28:20.203
Let's go take a look.
1602
01:28:20.363 --> 01:28:23.165
I'm surprised at your perspective on that.
1603
01:28:23.466 --> 01:28:26.268
For me, it's like, yeah, I tell them,
1604
01:28:26.849 --> 01:28:34.296
I can afford to pay you what I pay you because we're parked here and I'm not trying to build this out with a $100,000 piece of land in an outbuilding.
1605
01:28:34.577 --> 01:28:34.717
Right.
1606
01:28:34.897 --> 01:28:35.678
And they understand it.
1607
01:28:35.738 --> 01:28:36.399
But you have it.
1608
01:28:36.659 --> 01:28:38.380
But now I kind of have it.
1609
01:28:38.400 --> 01:28:39.061
You got it, dude.
1610
01:28:39.201 --> 01:28:40.923
This is a great environment.
1611
01:28:40.963 --> 01:28:41.143
Yeah.
1612
01:28:41.203 --> 01:28:41.944
I think it's really good.
1613
01:28:42.492 --> 01:28:43.793
Right, but it's my second living room.
1614
01:28:43.833 --> 01:28:45.834
Do I want it to become like business HQ?
1615
01:28:45.914 --> 01:28:46.074
No.
1616
01:28:46.114 --> 01:28:47.795
Would we want to put up a second building?
1617
01:28:47.875 --> 01:28:48.475
More likely.
1618
01:28:48.495 --> 01:28:51.356
If it's going to be people in and out of here with dirty boots every morning?
1619
01:28:51.376 --> 01:28:52.497
Probably, you know?
1620
01:28:52.597 --> 01:28:53.017
Yeah, yeah.
1621
01:28:53.077 --> 01:28:54.258
Maybe the mud room.
1622
01:28:54.558 --> 01:28:55.959
Even that shop's place in there.
1623
01:28:55.979 --> 01:28:56.459
Right.
1624
01:28:56.559 --> 01:29:02.742
If you brought the box over here, for example, for equipment, moved some of that into there, made that a space.
1625
01:29:02.842 --> 01:29:05.123
It just feels like a shop.
1626
01:29:05.143 --> 01:29:05.944
A better vibe, yeah.
1627
01:29:05.964 --> 01:29:10.726
Versus I'm showing up and I feel like the little guy in the block because we have two trucks and this company has 20.
1628
01:29:11.187 --> 01:29:12.388
Yeah, interesting.
1629
01:29:12.428 --> 01:29:14.490
Yeah, what a different perspective.
1630
01:29:14.951 --> 01:29:15.872
Yeah, you're probably right.
1631
01:29:16.052 --> 01:29:24.280
I think tearing up the lawn and then solving the issue as it goes, as we can afford to here with cash.
1632
01:29:24.341 --> 01:29:28.905
You can make it a slow migration from over there, but I just definitely would not split the two.
1633
01:29:29.145 --> 01:29:32.569
Honestly, from more of a culture perspective than even economically.
1634
01:29:32.916 --> 01:29:37.177
Maybe just, I mean, since we're already going into spring rush and stuff, we're not moving for spring rush here.
1635
01:29:37.738 --> 01:29:42.839
Start there this year and then think about getting this place ready for spring 2026, to be honest.
1636
01:29:43.259 --> 01:29:43.419
Yeah.
1637
01:29:43.820 --> 01:29:52.903
And if you just bring the truck or like you get that one started, it's just going to be a little bit janky having a mowing crew starting here and then other crews, mowing and a landscape crew starting there.
1638
01:29:52.923 --> 01:29:54.623
That's just going to be a little bit tough.
1639
01:29:54.963 --> 01:29:55.743
Right, right.
1640
01:29:55.763 --> 01:29:59.905
Unless you have them start here earlier, for example, you're here and then you bounce over the other one.
1641
01:30:00.947 --> 01:30:03.528
That's the only other way it would work, I was thinking, yeah.
1642
01:30:03.829 --> 01:30:04.449
Okay, cool.
1643
01:30:04.669 --> 01:30:05.309
All right, so that's labor.
1644
01:30:05.329 --> 01:30:14.094
We've got to reduce churn, and we're going to do that by having the stronger culture, ideally one spot, but having something where we're moving towards it.
1645
01:30:14.855 --> 01:30:21.738
And then increasing P4P to where they are consistently making 25, 26, 27 an hour, even during the fall.
1646
01:30:22.099 --> 01:30:23.599
That only happens because we raise prices.
1647
01:30:23.799 --> 01:30:27.321
And then from a leadership perspective, I think it's a matter of...
1648
01:30:28.802 --> 01:30:33.303
Like we need to essentially outsource everything that is not sales and team.
1649
01:30:33.643 --> 01:30:37.805
So if we're not training the team, if we're not going out and doing estimates, it's being outsourced.
1650
01:30:38.025 --> 01:30:42.286
Whether it be bookkeeping, whether it be website stuff, whether it be advertising, whether it be answering the phone.
1651
01:30:42.306 --> 01:30:43.406
Door hangers too, right?
1652
01:30:43.506 --> 01:30:45.106
I've got three guys doing that right now.
1653
01:30:45.247 --> 01:30:51.788
Yeah, like the more of those tasks that you can outsource so that you can focus on doing estimates and focus on training the team.
1654
01:30:52.028 --> 01:30:58.250
Like in part, this also, the labor part, gets solved by you having the time to be out with them.
1655
01:30:58.471 --> 01:31:03.027
Instead of you doing bookkeeping, you're out there like, hey guys, today we're going to go over bush trimming in more detail.
1656
01:31:03.268 --> 01:31:03.448
Right.
1657
01:31:03.468 --> 01:31:03.769
Right.
1658
01:31:03.789 --> 01:31:03.930
Right.
1659
01:31:04.333 --> 01:31:06.094
and them actually getting trained better.
1660
01:31:06.414 --> 01:31:15.220
So a focus on training and sales, that's more of a focus, and then this is going to be done because now you outsource low-level tasks.
1661
01:31:15.580 --> 01:31:15.760
Right.
1662
01:31:16.321 --> 01:31:21.224
You were just talking with, what's the franchisee who's got the four locations that just conglomerate?
1663
01:31:21.384 --> 01:31:21.624
Connor.
1664
01:31:22.025 --> 01:31:28.709
About putting door hangers out, but waiting two weeks for something like that, and you saw a much better conversion ratio.
1665
01:31:28.749 --> 01:31:33.532
I mean, these say they're mowing-focused, quiet lawn mowing, but then I have mowing, trimming, and mulching.
1666
01:31:34.042 --> 01:31:39.403
Would we see a better return on these if we wait to put the thousand out two weeks before mowing, or should we just start now?
1667
01:31:39.883 --> 01:31:44.704
If you're trying to maximize conversion, you wait until there's pain.
1668
01:31:45.004 --> 01:31:47.104
So, like, two weeks after the grass is starting to grow.
1669
01:31:47.464 --> 01:31:53.085
If you're trying to maximize the amount of customers you get, you start now and are okay with a lower conversion throughout the next couple weeks.
1670
01:31:53.365 --> 01:31:53.605
Right.
1671
01:31:53.785 --> 01:31:56.706
Because right now, you're only getting people thinking ahead.
1672
01:31:56.986 --> 01:31:57.206
Yeah.
1673
01:31:57.426 --> 01:31:59.786
Whereas in two weeks, they have a pain point.
1674
01:31:59.947 --> 01:32:01.007
Their mower's not starting.
1675
01:32:01.107 --> 01:32:02.467
They need to call and get it fixed.
1676
01:32:02.607 --> 01:32:02.807
Yeah.
1677
01:32:03.107 --> 01:32:04.828
It just depends on which you're trying to maximize.
1678
01:32:04.848 --> 01:32:06.990
Customer acquisition cost goes a little higher.
1679
01:32:07.010 --> 01:32:07.610
A little higher now.
1680
01:32:07.830 --> 01:32:08.050
Right.
1681
01:32:08.550 --> 01:32:12.073
But still probably worth it in my case if the ultimate goal is $150 and we're at $100.
1682
01:32:12.133 --> 01:32:15.775
Like literally if I was you, like so much of this gets solved with more leads.
1683
01:32:15.795 --> 01:32:19.677
That's why I don't know if you look at the turnaround show, but I hardly have ever said that.
1684
01:32:19.697 --> 01:32:23.340
Because I know if you get enough lead to get hit capacity, you'll raise prices.
1685
01:32:23.400 --> 01:32:23.600
Yep.
1686
01:32:24.060 --> 01:32:27.202
And if you raise prices, you'll be able to get better liquidity.
1687
01:32:27.382 --> 01:32:30.164
You'll be able to pay people more on P4P so they won't leave.
1688
01:32:30.284 --> 01:32:30.484
Right.
1689
01:32:30.524 --> 01:32:31.985
And then you'll be able to afford the outsourcing.
1690
01:32:32.125 --> 01:32:32.305
Yep.
1691
01:32:33.126 --> 01:32:39.071
It all comes back to raising prices, but I don't think that's a fix now because you're going to be stuck in this weird limbo spot and you want to grow.
1692
01:32:39.711 --> 01:32:40.732
So go ahead and grow.
1693
01:32:40.932 --> 01:32:41.673
Get 50 more customers.
1694
01:32:41.693 --> 01:32:43.214
That's all that matters.
1695
01:32:43.294 --> 01:32:43.634
Okay, great.
1696
01:32:43.654 --> 01:32:45.156
We have three months of spring rush.
1697
01:32:45.196 --> 01:32:47.878
We need to have one new customer every single day net.
1698
01:32:48.198 --> 01:32:50.120
And if we do that by the end of spring rush, we'll be raising prices.
1699
01:32:50.140 --> 01:32:52.181
And I would raise prices by a minimum of 20%.
1700
01:32:53.022 --> 01:32:54.363
During the middle of the season, right?
1701
01:32:54.383 --> 01:32:54.563
Yeah.
1702
01:32:54.723 --> 01:32:55.884
Even after mowing starts.
1703
01:32:55.944 --> 01:32:59.467
We'll hit it because the goal is that we're getting one, two, three customers a day.
1704
01:32:59.747 --> 01:32:59.947
Yeah.
1705
01:33:00.148 --> 01:33:02.549
And then we're going to hit in the middle of May.
1706
01:33:02.629 --> 01:33:03.210
You're like, sick.
1707
01:33:03.310 --> 01:33:04.471
I need to raise prices.
1708
01:33:04.731 --> 01:33:06.933
Raise price everyone's prices across the board right then.
1709
01:33:07.493 --> 01:33:07.693
Right.
1710
01:33:08.154 --> 01:33:09.134
And you can raise prices now.
1711
01:33:09.335 --> 01:33:14.358
If there's 10, 15 customers you know you need to increase or whatever, go for it.
1712
01:33:14.779 --> 01:33:17.501
But again, a 5% increase just doesn't do a lot.
1713
01:33:17.521 --> 01:33:17.661
Right.
1714
01:33:17.761 --> 01:33:20.223
I want to get to the point where you want to lose customers.
1715
01:33:20.403 --> 01:33:20.743
Me too.
1716
01:33:21.224 --> 01:33:22.405
It's a good point to me.
1717
01:33:22.665 --> 01:33:23.727
As much as I love them all.
1718
01:33:24.808 --> 01:33:25.508
Yeah, cool.
1719
01:33:25.568 --> 01:33:26.349
Any other questions?
1720
01:33:26.930 --> 01:33:29.352
I think that pretty much covers it.
1721
01:33:29.372 --> 01:33:36.219
I can run through the list one more time, but a lot of them seem, you know, more, you know, petty and not as, you know, bigger picture.
1722
01:33:36.940 --> 01:33:41.705
So I think we've touched on most everything we really needed to, you know.
1723
01:33:42.207 --> 01:33:44.649
Let me see if I have anything in my pain points that we didn't cover.
1724
01:33:45.610 --> 01:34:06.710
Yeah, I mean, I feel like we've been doing good work, but still the churn of customers, it's so hard to know who's going to want work long term year round for that five to seven ideal minimum point because you get some folks who seem like a great fit and they want four services and then all of a sudden they're getting estimates from other companies now because we're on the higher end of the market even though we've done pretty good work for them.
1725
01:34:08.131 --> 01:34:24.669
But I guess it's just all solved with if you have enough customers, you find the ones that are really going to stick with you long term and service the ones that you can throughout the year based on their, you know, their price threshold and, you know, how many services that you will, they actually get from you throughout the year.
1726
01:34:25.190 --> 01:34:25.350
Yeah.
1727
01:34:25.782 --> 01:34:29.984
Like improving, like just going from the second page to the first page, you double.
1728
01:34:30.264 --> 01:34:39.809
That is literally a 2x on leads just by getting Google reviews, getting to the first page of Google, and once they get to the site, it converts really well.
1729
01:34:40.049 --> 01:34:48.794
Right, but now since we're pulling away from Hadley, that's my one only other option of having a listed address besides here, which isn't my main market, and I'm nervous about it.
1730
01:34:48.814 --> 01:34:53.016
I mean, I also have this as my actual mailing address.
1731
01:34:53.036 --> 01:34:54.557
I'm thinking about switching that to a P.O.
1732
01:34:54.577 --> 01:34:54.897
box.
1733
01:34:55.437 --> 01:34:57.078
right, and then picking the mail up from there.
1734
01:34:57.098 --> 01:35:02.100
So that way, I mean, to go all in on this from a business perspective is still nerve wracking.
1735
01:35:02.120 --> 01:35:05.541
I mean, he has a right to farm because he has the farm right over there.
1736
01:35:05.561 --> 01:35:09.903
That's why I think having that shop space as an insurance policy.
1737
01:35:10.023 --> 01:35:11.443
That's my business space.
1738
01:35:11.463 --> 01:35:13.004
This is just a storage spot.
1739
01:35:13.084 --> 01:35:17.805
But legally, you can only have one home office employee coming and going.
1740
01:35:17.846 --> 01:35:21.047
So the minute there's multiple cars, it becomes, you know.
1741
01:35:22.232 --> 01:35:28.335
Not an immediate risk, but $300 a day, I think, is what the fine is for, violating the bylaw.
1742
01:35:28.355 --> 01:35:30.996
That's why if you keep that place, I think that is a good move.
1743
01:35:31.296 --> 01:35:32.076
Yeah.
1744
01:35:32.096 --> 01:35:32.236
Right?
1745
01:35:32.256 --> 01:35:39.179
$800 a month on an $800,000 business, you're paying a couple percentage points to ensure that you don't have an existential crisis with that.
1746
01:35:39.719 --> 01:35:44.321
He has the ability to have your Google listing verification there.
1747
01:35:44.561 --> 01:35:47.222
He has shop space for the material, et cetera.
1748
01:35:47.242 --> 01:35:47.922
That's a benefit.
1749
01:35:48.442 --> 01:35:49.683
I think it's worth keeping it.
1750
01:35:50.348 --> 01:35:50.588
Gotcha.
1751
01:35:50.628 --> 01:35:53.350
So I'll have to ask Matt if he's willing to list us there.
1752
01:35:53.390 --> 01:35:55.891
Yeah, because just that alone will be huge.
1753
01:35:56.371 --> 01:35:59.933
If you just got Google reviews and a listing, it's a huge, huge impact.
1754
01:36:00.193 --> 01:36:00.394
Right.
1755
01:36:00.894 --> 01:36:01.974
Yeah, that can make sense.
1756
01:36:01.994 --> 01:36:03.575
There's no one around here that does Google reviews.
1757
01:36:03.935 --> 01:36:04.516
Right.
1758
01:36:04.656 --> 01:36:05.176
It's crazy.
1759
01:36:05.256 --> 01:36:05.656
I saw it.
1760
01:36:05.917 --> 01:36:06.177
Nuts.
1761
01:36:06.357 --> 01:36:07.037
It's wild, yeah.
1762
01:36:07.077 --> 01:36:11.360
If you get 30 reviews and you get your address verified, you'd probably be on the first page just with that.
1763
01:36:11.680 --> 01:36:14.221
Yeah, I should make that the priority for sure.
1764
01:36:14.601 --> 01:36:15.002
You're right.
1765
01:36:16.082 --> 01:36:16.382
Very good.
1766
01:36:16.402 --> 01:36:17.283
It looks like your crew is here.
1767
01:36:17.945 --> 01:36:18.329
Awesome.
1768
01:36:18.490 --> 01:36:19.055
Perfect.
1769
01:36:19.075 --> 01:36:22.059
We're going to be starting to get it going here.