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S2-92: Lessons learned for setting up your New/Young Snow Company to be successful!
920 Plays1 month ago
The guys welcome Mike Santolucito of Outdoor Pride, and Scott Lesak of Kasel Rocks to the show to discuss tips and lessons learned in the early stages of their snow companies to help you better prepare your new(er) snow company to have success! The guys discuss their own experiences, as well as mistakes they made along the way, to help better prepare a new snow company to have success.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Kickoff
00:00:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Let's go snow jobs nation. We are back again, bringing you episode 92 of the snow jobs podcast powered by top gun backblades as always. I'm Steve. It's right. You know who's with me? Chuck Norris a snow by snow compadre Rick James, Jeremy Lindstrom.
00:01:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
So Jay,
00:01:06
RICK JAMES
Another night, another night.
Preparing for the Snow Season
00:01:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah but
00:01:10
RICK JAMES
not ah Not a whole, not a lot going on here.
00:01:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nope.
00:01:13
RICK JAMES
We're just kind of getting ready, I guess, for finishing a few things up.
00:01:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
You guys getting anything?
00:01:17
RICK JAMES
Bring our new Brian chart together.
00:01:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Anything on the horizon yet?
00:01:19
RICK JAMES
Uh, no, no, nope. I can wait a little bit.
00:01:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, there's like guys posting snow like in a couple different places. I think at elevation, but still out there.
00:01:28
RICK JAMES
Like 10,000 feet. Yeah.
00:01:31
RICK JAMES
Some dust things out there. Yep.
00:01:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:01:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
How, what's the elevation out in Fargo?
00:01:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Uh, negative 4,000.
00:01:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
in New Orleans.
00:01:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah. No, I don't fucking know what it is.
00:01:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh, it's coming, dude.
00:01:43
RICK JAMES
It's flat.
00:01:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's coming.
00:01:44
RICK JAMES
but No, it's been like upper sixties and I think it's only down in the upper thirties.
00:01:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Is it cold at least?
00:01:51
RICK JAMES
I think tomorrow tonight or tomorrow is like 29, but yeah, it's supposed to be thirties and 30 fifties all week, almost 60, I think.
00:01:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
right
00:02:00
RICK JAMES
So it's going to be another good week. So no big.
00:02:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's coming. It's coming, baby. It's coming.
00:02:03
RICK JAMES
Take it and wait. We don't need it yet. Give me a few miles.
00:02:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Happy Halloween.
00:02:08
RICK JAMES
Happy Thanksgiving.
00:02:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
What are you, what are you going as? What are you going trick or treating us? What's your costume?
00:02:16
RICK JAMES
Um, Rick James, I suppose.
00:02:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Going as yourself.
00:02:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:02:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
00:02:20
RICK JAMES
What are you going as a fireman?
00:02:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
I i was going to try and no, I was going to try and be Andy Broughton.
00:02:22
RICK JAMES
You can be a cop guy, be a policeman.
00:02:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was going to try and pull off the silver bullet costume that everybody seems to be wearing now. How, how dead on was that picture of that guy I met?
00:02:31
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:35
RICK JAMES
That was pretty good. That was really good.
00:02:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Right.
00:02:37
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what he's doing in New York, but you never know where you'll find Andy Bratton. So yeah.
00:02:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Didn't that fool one of Andy's kids?
00:02:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Gus, Gus, Gus goes daddy, I guess. And his, his men, but Gus is pretty young, but his middle one said that's not daddy.
00:02:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's freaking great.
00:02:54
RICK JAMES
So right.
00:02:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Dude, how crazy is that though? In the last week, we've managed to find exact doubles for two of our guys. Pretty cool.
00:03:03
RICK JAMES
i wouldn't I wouldn't trade Andy out, but maybe Mitchell.
00:03:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Pretty funny.
00:03:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, there we go again.
00:03:10
RICK JAMES
I love taking shots. I love taking shots of Mitchell.
00:03:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love you, Mitchell.
00:03:14
RICK JAMES
Fuck Mitchell.
00:03:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
Summer Insights and Beginner Tips
00:03:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
So what are we doing tonight, buddy? I think we learned a lot this summer with all the events and stuff, um talking to guys, talking to different snow pros out there.
00:03:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, we were doing it since April with the Stork Snow Alliance. That kicked it all off for the the summer event season. And the one thing Jeremy and i I think we learned this summer that's become really clear was the turnover.
00:03:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
in snow. There are a lot of brand new or relatively new like under two or three years old snow companies out there. um There's definitely been a changing of the gardening industry. A lot of young guys out there and you know we've been asked more this summer than ever before you know to maybe do an episode or or talk to guys about you know our experiences when we just got started in snow or you know when our snow business was very young and if we had any tips and stuff to make sure they you know do the right things as they grow. um So that's what we're going to try to do here tonight. We had some stuff written down. We were going to do a different, like either a webinar or something on it. But we figured as we always do, it's it's better to have you know four
Guest Introductions: Mike Sano and Scott Lezak
00:04:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
sets of eyes than two. And so we brought a couple of big time voices, big time guys, a lot of experience and knowledge in the industry. And they the best part is they've all been we where we've all been. you know At some point, we were all starting out.
00:04:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, so nobody jumped in, well, I don't know if I can say nobody, but but very few of us jump into the game that's already established for us. you know A lot of us, most of us I think have to start from scratch.
00:04:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's what we're doing tonight, all right?
00:04:50
RICK JAMES
Even, even hobby pushers, even hobby pushers got to start somewhere.
00:04:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
We have Jeremy, what's that? Absolutely, yeah we're all just hobby pushers when you you compare us to Glacier, right?
00:04:59
RICK JAMES
That's what you say.
00:05:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Isn't that isn't that the the way?
00:05:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:05:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Oh shit.
00:05:05
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:05:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, you know, we, we have Jeremy and myself, you know, we, we look at the business from two different perspectives. Um, we're in two different positions in our company. So, uh, you know, we have our points of view and tonight to try and help us, you know, help out the newer generation of snow pros.
00:05:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
We brought big Mike Sano, Lesito from ODP. All right. He's back with us. Mike is always a crowd favorite whenever we have him on. And we also. We're able to coax Mr. Scott Lezak of Castle Rocks on with us tonight, all right? Scott has, ah yeah, he's ah he's one of the big boys, the Lehigh Valley Mafia there taking all the industrial sites. They no sooner get them built and and they're snatching them up. it's' It's been really good. He's done a great job. and You know, they both know what they're talking about. They're both excellent snow business minds. They have a ton of experience. And like we said, they've both been where where we've all been at some point in our career, you know, at the beginning.
Interlude: Team Top Gun and Week in Review
00:06:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
So before we get into this with the guys, though, let's hear from Team Top Gun. We'll be back and we'll do our week in review.
00:06:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we're back. So quick week in review. Last week, we had Shawnee, D'Vincenzo, Native Snow, New Jersey, and Robert Thing of Already Outdoor. All right, they came on with us to do our quick week in review. ah Always a lot of fun with those guys. Always a lot of laughs with those guys. We love them. um We really appreciate all they do for us and all they contribute for the success of this show. We couldn't do it
Weekly Recap and Industry Interactions
00:07:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
without them. So thank you again to Shawn and Robert for doing the equip review with us.
00:07:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
We appreciate you boys. What else did we do last week? We dropped the live from equip Arctic army roll call episode last week. All right. We talked with big daddy, John Starick, hopefully healed up from his, uh, what was it?
00:07:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Not a tricycle scooter accident, right?
00:07:25
RICK JAMES
Scooter. Scooter.
00:07:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:07:26
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:07:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wear a helmet, always helmet ride safe.
00:07:30
RICK JAMES
Oh, boy.
00:07:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
um He almost died.
00:07:33
RICK JAMES
Oh, Jesus, a little dramatic there.
00:07:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, he didn't.
00:07:36
RICK JAMES
No, Steve being so dramatic.
00:07:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know. He was unconscious. He was unconscious, right?
00:07:40
RICK JAMES
He was not. He was fine.
00:07:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
he said I thought he said somebody woke him up and said, hey, you all right?
00:07:45
RICK JAMES
He said he might have been unconscious, but he's fine.
00:07:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
He said he didn't know long how long he was there.
00:07:50
RICK JAMES
Right. Right.
00:07:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh
00:07:52
RICK JAMES
He's a tough guy.
00:07:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, your big daddy's the man. Big daddy's the man.
00:07:55
RICK JAMES
Big self-sider, self-sider.
00:07:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, and we also had the snow with a snow design genius Blake straight he gave us some time and We wrapped it up with the Arctic marketing mastermind Spencer straight
00:07:59
RICK JAMES
I have no idea.
00:08:08
RICK JAMES
Spencer. ye
00:08:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, they all gave us a few minutes out of their busy schedule at equip and they were busy. They had two boots. They were running inside and outside and they ah stopped to tell everybody what they had going on and what they were doing individually.
00:08:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that is always a lot of fun to talk to the Arctic gang. and We want to thank those guys for giving us the time and letting us know what's new with Arctic Wells. We got Jay. We're dropping.
00:08:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
We're dropping tomorrow, right?
00:08:32
RICK JAMES
So it's a merch, so merch. sell some merch
00:08:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, we're definitely, so we're definitely got to sell some more merch. That's good guys. Take advantage of Jeremy's got that sale going on. All right. Do not order anything ah out of the store right now without using the code to get your money off the order.
00:08:49
RICK JAMES
All 20.
00:08:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
I, I, I don't know. What is it? Fall 20.
00:08:52
RICK JAMES
I think it's fall 20 or 20. I've been, I've been catching them and trying to put it on there, but yeah. Yeah. I did. I did the old after the equip. I almost everybody wanted that shirt girls on my plot was shirt, you know, it's my Andy wearing.
00:09:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:09:05
RICK JAMES
So I had a bunch. So I took a picture of it last week again, put it on my Snapchat. And then I had like five orders rolling. Problem is I didn't plan it off very well. Um, we're out of stock on them.
00:09:17
RICK JAMES
So I know.
00:09:19
RICK JAMES
I had to order them. They're coming in this week, I think. So we'll get them out.
00:09:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
All good.
00:09:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
All good. We'll get them out there. We'll get them out.
00:09:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:09:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
but But take advantage of the sale, guys. You know, take advantage of it. We've had more orders in the last two weeks than we had, I think, in the previous three or four weeks, and yet nobody, next to nobody, used the promo code get to get the money off.
00:09:38
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:09:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
So take advantage of it. When Jeremy drops these sales, he doesn't like giving money away. So when when Jeremy drops these sales on you, take advantage of it, all right?
00:09:45
RICK JAMES
All right. Yeah.
00:09:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
He still has his communion money. All right.
00:09:51
RICK JAMES
Oh my.
00:09:54
RICK JAMES
What's communion.
00:09:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
and and ah just commit Just kidding. Just kidding. Oh man. But tomorrow is going to be obviously this is dropping Monday. So tomorrow is going to be Tuesday. We are dropping another special for y'all.
00:10:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Jeremy Kirkham always wants multiple episodes a week. You'll be very happy. All right. We got another one. We had a visit from another design genius. All right. Uncle Rick.
00:10:15
RICK JAMES
Oh, correct.
00:10:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
AKA Uncle Rick, AKA Rick Wile from Snow Power. He brought along the Zuber man with him. We had a nice conversation with those guys about how the summer went for Snow Power, and because we hadn't talked to him, right, since Simon?
00:10:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Before Simon?
00:10:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah, before sama hip I mean Yep, yep, then I Saw him at the couple shows and yeah, they're just killing it.
00:10:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Before the big unveiling of the V?
00:10:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
The killer V?
00:10:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
00:10:39
RICK JAMES
So I guess if you listen, they'll they'll tell you all about it. So My V's coming this week my V's Rick spring my V here this week, so
00:10:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, they've had a very busy summer, very successful summer, snow power's really taken off, we're really happy for him. So make sure to tune into that one tomorrow morning as well. We already talked, what's that?
00:10:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh yeah?
00:10:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's got a, he's got a like a Ford Bronco or Ford Ranger.
00:11:02
RICK JAMES
No, no, no, no. Not ah the one, just the normal one.
00:11:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh okay, I gotcha.
00:11:06
RICK JAMES
No. I don't know. He's bringing the, he's bringing the, bringing the right one, so.
00:11:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was going to say, man, he is quick. He, he managed to make that UTV plow with to fit a Ford ranger ah fast.
00:11:15
RICK JAMES
Oh, God. Oh, he said he was going to, but he hasn't.
00:11:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
He did say that.
00:11:19
RICK JAMES
I'll have to keep holding him to it.
00:11:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup. You got anything else brother besides the merch? Anything I forgot?
00:11:26
RICK JAMES
Um, no, I don't think so.
00:11:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
No. Okay. All right. Well then guys, let's just hear from our partners real quick. We'll be right back with you and we'll get into this. All right.
Guest Locations and Activities
00:14:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we are back thanks to all our partners. So let's get into this. All right. We're going to welcome in Mikey, Santa, Lesito of outdoor pride and Scott Lezak of castle rocks.
00:14:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Boys, welcome to the snow jobs. Long time no see. How are we?
00:14:46
RICK JAMES
You guys.
00:14:46
Mike Santolucito
Doing great.
00:14:48
Scott Lesak
and Fantastic.
00:14:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
What's the word? Where are you coming to us from?
00:14:50
Scott Lesak
Fantastic.
00:14:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Scott? You're a busy guy. You're a jet setter. Where where are you?
00:14:54
Scott Lesak
I am in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina right now running a retreat. So down here with Thane Isaacs and we're doing a leadership retreat for the next week.
00:15:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:15:01
Mike Santolucito
Nice.
00:15:05
Scott Lesak
So two sessions coming up.
00:15:05
Mike Santolucito
That thing didn't want to pop on.
00:15:08
Scott Lesak
yeah he's in bad Everybody's in bed, man. I'm the only one up right now.
00:15:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
well What it?
00:15:13
Mike Santolucito
That's fair.
00:15:14
Scott Lesak
yeah
00:15:14
RICK JAMES
ah
00:15:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
What is a retirement home? It's nine 30.
00:15:17
Scott Lesak
Yeah, pretty much. Well, yeah, we're getting closer to 10 now. Give him a little slack.
00:15:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:15:21
RICK JAMES
third
00:15:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. I was going to say, yeah, you're not coming to us live from the coffee on the peak studio.
00:15:27
Scott Lesak
I'm not. I am not. Therefore, I don't have my mic either, so hopefully...
00:15:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's all good. You sound great.
00:15:31
RICK JAMES
It's all good.
00:15:31
Mike Santolucito
He feels naked.
00:15:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
You sound great.
00:15:32
Scott Lesak
Good.
00:15:33
RICK JAMES
It's all good.
00:15:33
Scott Lesak
Alright.
00:15:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, guys, so we know why we're here tonight. I think the best way to to do it is just to you know talk about just starting out. like what What can we tell guys from our own experiences that we had when we were just starting out that can help set them up to have success and
Advice for Newcomers: Niche Focus and Stability
00:15:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
snow? like What would be the biggest thing you could tell them? Start with Mike and we'll go around the room.
00:15:57
Mike Santolucito
Oh, that's a good one. So starting out, don't try and follow what the guy down the street's doing. Figure out what your niche is. If you have one, figure out what market you want to target, whether it's residential, commercial, and then the various sectors in those realms. And just go, go to steady speed where you focus more on your bankroll and your cash in the bank, then you do spending trying to get the latest and fanciest equipment in the door.
00:16:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. Amen. What about you, Scott?
00:16:30
Scott Lesak
Love it, love it. I think one of the biggest things is paint the picture the right way. We all started somewhere, sometime. I mean, Castle Rock Snow Division started when I was 14 years old, driving around in an open cab, Kubota L-3010 plowing driveways.
00:16:46
Scott Lesak
That was how I started. That was what we were doing.
00:16:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
00:16:48
Scott Lesak
No truck. No snowblower, a shovel, and a Kubota man going around plowing driveways for 40 bucks.
00:16:53
RICK JAMES
Hmm.
00:16:55
Scott Lesak
And if you wanted your walkway, it was another 20.
00:16:56
RICK JAMES
Hmm.
00:16:57
Scott Lesak
And you know put the pieces together from there, made autonomous stakes going through that. But I think the biggest thing is keep your perspective. ah Don't look at the big dogs. Don't don't look at the the Arctic's in the East Coast facilities and want to be that tomorrow Go talk to somebody that has actually built it and see how long it takes see what it takes to learn and You know Mike nailed it with that with your ICP your ideal client profile You know figure out who you want to work with but you're not gonna have a clue at the beginning. So start Somewhere just start and if you want a plow truck if that's your biggest goal
00:17:30
Scott Lesak
Go get a plow truck, but figure out how you're going to pay for it first. Create that roadmap of how you're going to pay for it and then go get it.
00:17:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:17:36
Scott Lesak
And then create another roadmap to pay for it. And if you're dreaming of industrial right now, work industrial snow first before and find out how much work it is. If you're dreaming of institutional, go work it first and find out how much work it is.
00:17:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:17:51
Scott Lesak
And you know, it's not all sunshine and roses. So education, I think, I think sum it up in an education, educate yourself in every aspect of it.
00:17:55
Mike Santolucito
Amen.
00:18:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. 100%.
00:18:01
RICK JAMES
Great.
00:18:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
I agree. What do you think, Jay?
00:18:02
RICK JAMES
Yep. Yeah. Pretty much echo what they both said. I mean, it's, you gotta, you gotta to come out of the gate knowing you gotta got to have a plan, what you want to do. I mean, you gotta focus on the area.
00:18:13
RICK JAMES
I mean, residential, commercial, whatever you want to do, but you gotta have a plan. You don't want to be hodgepodge of we're going to do this and that. And then you're never gonna work out. It's ah I mean, it's, I mean, maybe down the road, but I i find that hard to believe you gotta have, you gotta have a good plan in place where you want to go.
00:18:31
RICK JAMES
I mean, is it better if you, like Scott said, go sub on with somebody for a year or two, figure out what, what positions you want, but I mean, that's pretty much basics.
00:18:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:18:41
RICK JAMES
You gotta have a plan.
00:18:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:18:42
RICK JAMES
No, it's about a plan and don't go, don't promise stuff you can't do.
00:18:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. Amen. Randy straight show up on time. Do what you say you're going to do.
00:18:51
RICK JAMES
Yep. Easy.
00:18:53
Scott Lesak
Amen.
00:18:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. for Yeah, it it really is.
00:18:54
Mike Santolucito
That's simple.
00:18:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
i mean That's 90% of the battle right there. um the the the only thing There's a couple things I would say just starting out, do not get into snow unless you love snow, unless you know you love plowing snow.
Loving the Snow Business: Challenges and Passion
00:19:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everybody thinks about, oh, it's good money, blah, blah, blah, this. When you're dealing with four to five nights in a row in January where you're out all night, every night, either checking property, salting, pushing, whatever you're doing, if you do not love snow and and everything that comes with it, you're going to hate it and you're not going to do it well, which is going to cause you a lot of issues. So I would say the first thing you got to do is you got to love to do it. You got to know you like to do it.
00:19:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
The second thing I would say is start small with as little expenditure and as high profit as you can. All right, basically dip in the toe. And in in keeping with that, my recommendation is always to guys, start with driveways. There's nobody shoveling driveways anymore. there is no That 12-year-old kid does not exist in 90% of the neighborhoods around this country anymore that will shovel your driveway for $20 or for free because he's a good neighbor and was raised right. That doesn't happen anymore. so There's most people nowadays are two income families. Both people are working. They don't have time to shovel their driveway. They don't want to shovel their driveways.
00:20:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Driveways are easy to go into a neighborhood. but Well, let's I shouldn't say easy. They are easier to go into a neighborhood and collect 10, 15 driveways that you can do for 80 bucks to 100 bucks each and have them done in an hour versus trying to get commercial right off the bat. Commercial requires a lot more expenditure, a lot more insurance. Driveways, not much insurance. You can do driveways on basically a commercial auto insurance yeah if you really wanted to roll with it.
00:20:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
I would say start, what's that?
00:20:45
Mike Santolucito
For now.
00:20:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah, for now.
00:20:47
Mike Santolucito
For now.
00:20:47
Scott Lesak
Yeah.
00:20:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
For now, yeah yeah, for now.
00:20:48
RICK JAMES
it
00:20:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
For now. But I would start small. Start small, dip the toe in, do it with stuff you already have. Most landscapers or whatever that are starting out in the snow already have a truck, right?
00:21:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Most of them, the truck is pretty much probably the first thing they have. ah If you have that already, put that to good use. But make sure you make enough money that if it breaks, which let's face it, you're going to need that truck for seven months out of the year doing something other than snow. Make sure you're making enough money and then also enough to pay for repairs on that truck and upkeep on that truck. Because that's your money maker if you're a one out a one-truck outfit when you're starting.
00:21:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
But thats that's my biggest thing. I always try and push people to driveways. There's a lot of, if you structure them right, you can get driveways on seasonals. So you can actually have a projection now of what you're actually going to make no matter how much or how little it snows. And if you structure it right, you can do floors and ceilings with driveways as well and still make a lot. There's a couple of guys around me that are starting to adopt that model.
00:21:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Then and they're crushing it. They're able to sell seasonals on driveways and nobody thought that was possible around here, but they're they're doing well for themselves. So ah that that's what I i just don't do it if you don't love it, because that's going to be a nightmare midwinter when you're getting beaten down with these little tiny events that are just keeping you up at night and the little money out is possible, right?
00:22:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Snow Business
00:22:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
um What do you guys think of the biggest pitfalls that you can remember that you and as a new snow guy or a young snow guy you want to avoid at all costs?
00:22:07
Mike Santolucito
That's it.
00:22:07
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:22:18
Scott Lesak
I think one of the biggest things is echoing off of what you said, you know, start small and make as much profits with as little expenditure expenditure as possible.
00:22:19
RICK JAMES
Just jump. Go ahead. Go ahead Scott.
00:22:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
God, God's got.
00:22:32
Scott Lesak
My biggest pitfall, the hardest part was when we started buying equipment, when we started buying plows, and when we started buying salters, and we had payments on loans that we had to have, and realizing that we didn't have enough recurring revenue happening.
00:22:44
Scott Lesak
to cover those loans and then Landscape had to cover those loans and then there weren't profits for a year or two and you know not having the proper financial planning in place when we started buying the stuff.
00:22:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:22:55
Scott Lesak
um That was without a doubt the biggest pitfall that I experienced really you know when when we took that move to get into it a lot harder.
00:23:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%. I agree 100% with that. That is definitely, I think, especially as a young guy, because a lot of these younger guys, they they try and keep up with the Joneses in the social media age where, you know, social media is great. It shows you all the good stuff. ah Nobody ever posts, Oh, I made a $50,000 mistake. Like I really fucked this up. Nobody ever posts that. So you only see the good stuff. You see the flashy equipment. You can't see that the guy has struggled to afford that equipment for nine months out of the year.
00:23:35
Mike Santolucito
Exactly.
00:23:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, so I agree with that 100%.
00:23:37
Scott Lesak
Absolutely.
00:23:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mike, what do you got? What are your biggest pitfall for you?
00:23:40
Mike Santolucito
To piggyback off Scott, it's also making sure that you have the the labor force to take care of it both experienced and inexperienced because you can easily get yourself into a position where the sales come in, you either hit the goal that you set, or there's work that you really want to get that is in front of you that you don't want to turn down because you know that it's going to
00:23:48
Scott Lesak
yeah
00:24:00
Mike Santolucito
It's going to lead to more. It's going to be more growth, more revenue. It's going to allow you to get that business at next level. But if you're not looking at your team, if you're not looking at how you're recruiting new team members, how you're training guys, you know, if they're happy and they they bring people in, that's a good indicator that you've got a good culture and you get a great business model. And, you know, utilizing that team to get your brand out there, you know, talk about how great it is to work there so that you can get maybe some new guys in the door that, you know, like yourself, that the guys who are listening to this, you're starting off on the ground level of what's going to be one of the future great companies.
00:24:35
Mike Santolucito
You know what I mean?
00:24:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
ye
00:24:36
Mike Santolucito
And then you get some veterans that are probably just local to the area and are sick of traveling to the site that they usually go into like, ah, well, we'll stay local this year.
00:24:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
00:24:44
Mike Santolucito
And, you know, they hop on with you and then you you get to grow that way. But if you don't have that that base, that bench, it it makes that growth that much harder.
00:24:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. Love it. What about you, Jay? Biggest pitfall?
00:24:56
RICK JAMES
A big pitfall would be, I think what most people end up doing is they they take on more work than they can do. I mean, nobody wants to turn work down.
00:25:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mhmm.
00:25:06
RICK JAMES
Everybody wants to make the money and you can always think you can do it, but you you really got to step back and figure out if you can really handle the job. and We talk about it all the time, but it it is really hard to say no when you think you can do it.
00:25:21
RICK JAMES
But the thing is you got to like in the snow business, you got to be thinking, about a six or 12 inch storm every time. Maybe, I mean, 90%, you're probably getting one to two inches, but that, that big storm comes, you have to be prepared to hammer that storm out.
00:25:34
RICK JAMES
At least that's how we, we plan everything.
00:25:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:25:36
RICK JAMES
You know, we're, I mean, you got to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
00:25:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%.
00:25:41
RICK JAMES
I mean, That's just, I think that's what the toughest thing everybody does to turn in.
00:25:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
I agree.
00:25:48
RICK JAMES
It's not even snow. It's everything, you know, you don't want to turn money away because you think you can handle it. But that's, that's, that's a big pitfall for a lot of guys. We're no different than anybody else.
00:25:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
and
00:25:57
RICK JAMES
I've never, I've never said no either.
00:25:58
Scott Lesak
right
00:25:59
RICK JAMES
I always say we can do it.
00:26:00
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:26:01
RICK JAMES
And I, I've been lucky enough to get it done, but.
00:26:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
when when ran ah sorry When Randy Straight was on, he said something on here that he said to me, whatever it was, eight years ago.
00:26:04
Scott Lesak
but
00:26:04
Mike Santolucito
well
00:26:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
He says, don't tell you, because I was young and I was getting into equipment, I was taking on more commercial sites and everything. He's like, every site you look at for a new season, you You ask yourself the question, can I fit this into my schedule, into my production schedule when it's a foot of snow and on my worst day?
00:26:25
Scott Lesak
But right. But I.
00:26:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
And if I can't say yes, I can nail it even with a foot. He goes, plan everything as if you're going to have a foot of snow. And then when you get two to four, you're knocking it out of the park with no problems. But plan everything that way.
00:26:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I've never forgotten that. And it's served me very, very well. Plan everything like it's going to be the worst day every day out. And and you'll be OK. so
00:26:51
Mike Santolucito
That's definitely a solid point. But to add to that, don't let the weather dictate from last year or the year previous what you think your business is going to do this year.
00:26:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead.
00:27:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes, yes.
00:27:02
RICK JAMES
Yes, yes, yes.
00:27:02
Mike Santolucito
kind of you You can look at all these models, like even the ones I just sent you, Jeremy and Steve, like that my boss actually just sent me on Facebook Messenger.
00:27:02
Scott Lesak
Oh.
00:27:10
Mike Santolucito
Oh, it's going to be a great snowpack year or whatever it is. Yeah, that could be true. But don't don't let last year or the year before dictate your sale for this year. Don't scare yourself into saying yes to something that you can't handle just because you think it's going to be another dud year and you're not going to make any money.
00:27:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nope.
00:27:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah, nice.
00:27:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, I plan on every winter as being a banger. I plan on every winter is we're getting 90 to 100 inches and we're getting three to four major nor'easters dumping a foot and a half each.
00:27:31
Mike Santolucito
You have to.
00:27:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because if i if I'm prepared for that and I'm staffed for that, then everything else is a breeze.
00:27:43
Mike Santolucito
That's it, prepare for the worst.
00:27:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everything else is, you're not losing any sleep the whole winter. You know, and you know, when I believe the the seasonal forecast, I believe them in April after it's over.
00:27:47
RICK JAMES
right.
00:27:52
RICK JAMES
Yep, exactly.
00:27:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. That's when you compare them because other but it's all bullshit until then, you know, until you see what you actually got. Nobody really knows.
00:28:01
RICK JAMES
i I have this problem every year. with a or not every year, but every good year we have, a lot of our partners will think, oh, we put $500 on our loaders or our sidewalk
Financial Planning for Snow Seasons
00:28:12
RICK JAMES
machines.
00:28:12
RICK JAMES
We're going to go buy this and buy that. I'm like, no, you can't. That was a great year, but you cannot plan that every year. This is, I mean, we can have like last year, we didn't do shit. and I mean, the year before we were out 40 some times or whatever we were out last year, we were out, what?
00:28:25
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:28:27
RICK JAMES
10, 12, whatever. it's These guys, you just got to reel them in and say, yeah, it'd be great if it was like that.
00:28:29
Mike Santolucito
Stash it away.
00:28:33
RICK JAMES
But that's not reality. That's just not reality.
00:28:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's not realistic.
00:28:37
Mike Santolucito
Replace what you have to, repair what you have to, and then stash it away like Scrooge McDuck. Don't look at it, pretend it's gone.
00:28:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:28:44
Scott Lesak
Yep.
00:28:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
For, for me, the biggest pitfall, I think it kind of piggybacks on what Scott was saying. Like I tell the younger guys all the time, if the, if they ask, I'm not just going around spouting it off, but if they ask me, what do I think what's the biggest mistake in this day and age with the younger generation, I tell them, do you want to be flashy or do you want to make money?
00:29:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, don't worry about the gram. Don't worry about Facebook. Don't you know worry about the cash. Worry about your bottom line, your income. Don't try, okay, the guy down the street bought a new skid steer and a brand new metal plus or whatever he bought. Don't worry about that. If you can do the same thing for less expenditure and make a higher profit margin until you're established and on your feet,
00:29:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Don't worry about the flesh. you know Show the grind. if you if don I'm not saying don't promote your company. Don't market your company on on ah social media. But show the grind. you know People respect the grind. like There's a couple of guys by me that are small guys. They're two, three-man operations.
00:29:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
And every day they're doing phenomenal work and they're posting it. And I love seeing what they're doing. They're both phenomenal guys and they're not about the flash. And you know what? One of them's got 20,000 followers.
00:29:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
So he's in Jeremy Lindstrom territory, you know, on the gram. People love seeing that. So I tell god the younger guys, especially, don't worry about being flashy. Don't worry about doing stuff for the gram.
00:30:02
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:30:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
You do it. What's going to make you the most money because we all, you only have one shot. Let's face it. In today's economy, you may only have one season. to get it done and to get a foothold built.
00:30:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because if you don't if you don't make it or you're underwater at the end of that season, it's over for most people.
00:30:14
RICK JAMES
Mhm.
00:30:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
There's nobody bailing us out. You know, there's no government, the federal government in coming to bail out snow guys. You know, we're not making cars or anything.
00:30:26
RICK JAMES
No.
00:30:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
So. But yeah but that's that's my biggest pitfall that I tell
Learning from Early Mistakes
00:30:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
guys all the time. Just stop doing stuff to keep up with the Joneses. Don't get in over your head as far as equipment expenditures before you're established. And and like Scott said, before you can afford it and not Robin Peter to pay Paul.
00:30:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know um
00:30:46
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:30:46
Scott Lesak
Yeah.
00:30:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
what what do This is good stuff, guys. what What is the biggest mistake that you made in your early days that you learned from?
00:30:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
And survived. What do you think, Mike?
00:31:01
Mike Santolucito
Honestly, it's just, it's trying to do everything on my own or with a very skeleton crew, you know, young, dumb, full of piss and vinegar.
00:31:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:31:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:31:09
Mike Santolucito
You, you know, you can do it, you know, your work and your quality and you, you just want to keep on that road, that tradition, but it, You're better off building the team so you can go farther together.
00:31:19
Mike Santolucito
I wish that I had listened to a lot of people that were trying to tell me that years ago, like you you have a team, use them.
00:31:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Were you ever burned though? Were you ever burned?
00:31:30
Mike Santolucito
No.
00:31:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. Well, and then then you have no excuse. Like most people don't trust team.
00:31:35
Mike Santolucito
No, I don't accept failure.
00:31:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
hu Most people like get burned by somebody along the way and then fear like they can't trust people.
00:31:41
Mike Santolucito
I've had guys burn me, but that's different.
00:31:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, that's what I'm saying.
00:31:44
Mike Santolucito
I stayed.
00:31:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's what I'm saying. No, but I'm saying if you've been if you've tried to entrust responsibility to people before and they burned you on it, they haven't they haven't done it, then it's harder for you to trust and the you know ah delegate from that point on.
00:31:52
RICK JAMES
No.
00:31:58
Mike Santolucito
It is.
00:31:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a lot.
00:31:59
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:32:00
Mike Santolucito
It definitely is.
00:32:01
RICK JAMES
Nope.
00:32:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
What about you, Scott? Biggest mistake that you learned from in your early days?
00:32:05
Scott Lesak
Well, I think we got to recognize that mistakes aren't necessarily a bad thing. Every success I have today is rooted in a mistake somewhere, something.
00:32:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
No. Nope. As long as you survive them.
00:32:14
Scott Lesak
As long as you survive, them as long as you learn from them, you know, you can make the same mistake 20 times.
00:32:16
RICK JAMES
Ha.
00:32:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:32:19
Scott Lesak
You didn't learn from it. You're an idiot.
00:32:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
True.
00:32:20
Scott Lesak
But if you make it once or twice, and then you learn from it, that that was worthwhile.
00:32:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
True. ah ah but
00:32:25
Scott Lesak
um I think my biggest mistakes I made was was just overextending, taking on way too much work with way too few resources, human and assets.
00:32:36
Scott Lesak
I remember a specific winter 2013 into 2014, man, I had I had contracts all over the place, 20 miles apart. And I mean, it wasn't much. We had one plow truck and, you know, two skid steers running at the time. um But they were, they were literally, we had stuff 20 miles apart that the truck had to be bouncing back and forth, back and forth. And it was like a 70 some inch winner. So that that was pretty good for our area. We had two newer Easters that year. And, ah you know, we just got our butts kicked. We got everything done. I mean, we don't, we don't,
00:33:09
Scott Lesak
We'll fail in every other way, but we don't drop the ball for our clients. We've always been that way. So, I mean, we got it done, but it was brutal. I lost my sanity. I was up for 60, 70 hours.
00:33:20
Scott Lesak
I mean, my my wife and I were driving down the road after one of the storms of one night and I slammed on the brakes and she's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I didn't want to hit those deer. She's like, what deer? I'm like, Oh God, we got to go home.
00:33:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
a
00:33:32
RICK JAMES
ah
00:33:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:33:34
RICK JAMES
Well, we're switching.
00:33:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
ha
00:33:38
Scott Lesak
ah Well, yeah, we're extending. oh Absolutely overextending. we We got really good at planning, really good at scheduling from there. And, you know, it it makes a big difference when you can be out and everybody's done simultaneously across the board. That's a pretty cool feeling.
00:33:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. Gotcha. What about you, Jake? Biggest mistake you learned from.
00:33:59
RICK JAMES
Um, I don't know, I would say, ah yeah, whatever.
00:34:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
You don't make mistakes.
00:34:03
RICK JAMES
No, I, I makes, I still, I just, I just like Mike said, I don't delegate enough and just, I don't have the trust in some of the guys where it seemed like every, if I, I'd give stuff away, you know, how people do stuff.
00:34:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:34:18
RICK JAMES
I mean, they get it done, but it's not the way I want it done. So that's my own personal things that'll be perfect. And do I want it? And that's, that's an inner thing of mine where I got all that shit go more.
00:34:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
yup.
00:34:30
RICK JAMES
But I would say that, and ah probably a little overextending. We, we tend to do that. I mean, we, we like to, I like to talk that we don't want to overextend, but we do.
00:34:41
RICK JAMES
I mean, we always figured out wouldn and get it done.
00:34:43
Mike Santolucito
Everybody does to a point.
00:34:45
RICK JAMES
But as, I mean, we don't ever, like Scott said, we don't ever not get it done.
00:34:46
Scott Lesak
Yeah.
00:34:51
RICK JAMES
We, we get it done one way or another, but we might be shot at the end of it, but we're gonna, the clients are going to be happy and we're going to be shot. So it is where it is.
00:35:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. ah I think, I don't know if I'd call it a mistake, but it definitely, it it kept me where I, where my business still is.
00:35:07
RICK JAMES
boom
00:35:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was, I think I was too cautious where my brother and my father and their businesses, they are gamblers. They are calculated gamblers. Like they will take risk and stuff.
00:35:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
I am, I mean, for six years, I would only take one medium and one larger property a year. I would only add what I knew. Again, that we could knock out of Randy straight, beat that into me, you know, with one 25 minute phone call, he scared me and I'm like, you know, this guy's been doing it for at the time, 30 something years. He's built one of the largest self performing snow companies in the country. He's been doing it that long. He must know something. So ah why wouldn't you heed his advice? And I, I used it to not
00:35:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Not take chances that I should have they were calculated that I know I could have crushed them but if I couldn't say without a shadow of a doubt like what What if that happens? or what ah like I would drive myself crazy thinking of reasons why not to take on more properties that were right in my area, right in my lap, that we could have crushed and we could have grown a lot bigger. But in hindsight, i'm still I'm right where I want to be. As I got older, I didn't want to be as big. So it it was a mistake 10 years ago. I don't think it was a mistake now. But i'm just for me to tell younger guys, if you're younger in this game and you're looking to grow,
00:36:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
As long as they're calculated, as long as you've thought of of everything you need to think about, don't be afraid to add that property if the money is right and you know you you have calculated all the all the things that could go wrong and you still know that you can knock that out of the park. I would tell you to take the gamble ah because I didn't and it hasn't hurt me, but it definitely It's kept me to a point where I'm not going to grow anymore. you know I'm just too late in the game for me. i'm I'm happy where I'm at. But for younger guys starting out, I would say don't be afraid. As long as you've calculated all the risks, don't be afraid to take the gamble on a property if the money's right. Make sure the money is right, though. That's the biggest problem. We'll get into that later.
00:37:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
00:37:15
RICK JAMES
so
00:37:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
But that would be, ah that would be the biggest thing I would say was a mistake for me. um Here's a
Overlooked Costs in Snow Contracts
00:37:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
good one. What do you guys, we've all, we've all looked at properties. We've all priced properties and bid it on properties. What do you feel is the biggest cost or hidden cost that guys forget when they're pricing a property for snow at that property? Like, you know, whatever, whatever it may be.
00:37:41
Mike Santolucito
AM and PM site checks.
00:37:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. Yep. That's a big one.
00:37:44
Mike Santolucito
so Especially if you're even, if you're, if you're breaching zero tolerance contracts to any extent, like you, you got a bank on being there, you know, after that storm, at least a few times until that runoff is taken care of or those piles are moved.
00:37:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
I did that. um
00:37:46
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:37:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Have we all done that? Have we all forgotten to put the, the, the site check?
00:37:58
RICK JAMES
you yeah
00:38:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes. Okay. Everybody's nodding. So yeah. So guys, if you're young and starting out, that is a big one.
00:38:02
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:38:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
We've all been there. We've all done it.
00:38:07
RICK JAMES
Your time is worth money.
00:38:07
Mike Santolucito
Well.
00:38:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Make sure you account for those hours.
00:38:09
Mike Santolucito
Make sure you add it in your contract that it's a separate cost.
00:38:09
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:38:11
Mike Santolucito
I cannot stress that enough. Don't expect that to just land in your in your seasonal and and you can absorb that. No, that's additional.
00:38:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Or at least budget for it in the seasonal price. At least budget for those hours.
00:38:22
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:38:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah, your time is worth money.
00:38:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, they add up real quick. I did that. I've, I've spoken about that on a, on previous episodes that I really, uh, I cost myself quite a nut one winner because I didn't put the site checks in there and ended up being ridiculous.
00:38:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Even for a company as small as mine and as tight a, tight a route as ours. I want to say it was like 30 or 40 hours that, you know, it was just basically free. It was ah out of our profit margin. So don't do that.
00:38:48
Mike Santolucito
yeah
00:38:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
What about you, Scott?
00:38:49
Mike Santolucito
that
00:38:51
Scott Lesak
I'm going to give you two because one's very specific to distribution, but in in our in the distribution world, propane gauges.
00:38:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:39:00
Scott Lesak
um Making sure you're clearing them off keeping them safe keeping safe going to those and underneath and around metal steps I mean those areas take far more time and They have to be clean the whole time There's people coming in and out of the building to swap out the propane cylinders that are running the forklifts inside So make sure you're looking out for that stuff again.
00:39:12
Mike Santolucito
Yeah. Is that.
00:39:20
Scott Lesak
That's distribution only ah and the other thing is Doing too much pushback during the storm, you know make Put in your contract where you're piling the snow, pile it in the parking lot, and if the piles start getting in the way, do relocation and charge extra for it.
00:39:38
Scott Lesak
that That's part of what we do, because every time you're doing pushbacks, you're damaging curbs, you're damaging grass, you're costing yourself way more money, and you're losing out on the upsell of the relocation.
00:39:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Got it.
00:39:49
Scott Lesak
So that's ah that's an upfront communication and something in your contract.
00:39:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Great.
00:39:52
Scott Lesak
Make sure you're transparent about that one with everybody, but that that's a big one.
00:39:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup. Absolutely. That's great. That's a really good one. What about you, Jay?
00:40:01
RICK JAMES
I would say kind of like Scott said there, put it in your contract that if they want, if they want that pile over the curve, if the grass gets wrecked, that's on them. You know, that's put that, it's not our problem. I mean, ah we might've caused it, but it's us really want the pile. They're going to have to cover for us to fix it in the spring. Cause that's an extra cost that we all, I'm sure we've all done it. Have to.
00:40:28
RICK JAMES
somehow take on, you got to make sure that's in your bids. You know, that's to me, that's a lot of guys forget about that because that's in the spring. Nobody thinks about spring stuff. So it's already there and you got three foot ruts and when and the ground wasn't frozen in your loader window.
00:40:42
Mike Santolucito
Yeah,
00:40:45
RICK JAMES
And been there, done that.
00:40:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:40:47
Mike Santolucito
yeah it's in all of ours.
00:40:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
good
00:40:48
Mike Santolucito
A lot of our contracts actually ask us to, well, they require us to do it after the storm. And we're, none of us are in the business of doing this for free. So we just make sure that we just look at it and say, all right, these are the piles.
00:40:59
Mike Santolucito
How long is it going to take to loam and hide your seat? All this. you know What's the ratio of curb damage? you know Is it asphalt? Is it granite? Take a peek at that and see if there's likelihood that you are going to damage something. If it's maxed out on parking, there's nowhere else for these cars to go. If there's a back 40, that's usually empty. You can get away with leaving the pile there like Jeremy said, but you know read your RFP. That's the number one thing I tell guys, just read that thing top to bottom because there's usually some stuff in there that you're going to miss and that's one of them.
00:41:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
got Gotcha I guess for me the the biggest hidden cost that I missed on one ah Besides those site checks was this How do I put this? There's an architect out there. he's He's designed one building for all of us. I don't care where you are in snow. There's this devil architect that designs these buildings, these commercials that have the downspouts coming down actually onto the parking areas.
00:42:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
And if you don't realize this, guys, that the roof downspouts, when the snowpack melts on the roof during the day and then the temperature drops below freezing at night, you can be back there every night. If you get into that cycle, that freeze-thaw cycle, ah you can be back on that site salting every night for weeks. And ah that can cost you a lot of money. So if you see a condition like that what in your walkthrough pre-bid,
00:42:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
You bring that to their attention you say look at where your downspouts they're emptying onto the parking lot or onto the sidewalk We are going to have to be back here All the time to you know in the freeze-thaw cycle using time using material ah liability um because we can't be there 24 7 and You know, if that's a if that's a site that's that's operating after dark, you know, uh
00:42:46
Mike Santolucito
right
00:42:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Who knows? you know So that you got it you gotta you got to have that factored in because I didn't and there was one site and we had it after that, we definitely had it in there after that first year that that was gonna be extra money.
00:42:52
Mike Santolucito
Right.
00:43:05
Mike Santolucito
Steve, can I write off a few more?
00:43:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, bang it out.
00:43:09
Mike Santolucito
So depending on the site, don't forget about your fire hydrants, your PIV valves, anything that needs like a yeah any kind of maintenance visit or just for EMS to get to.
00:43:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:43:19
Mike Santolucito
um so echo To echo Scott's point, the propane cages are important, but don't forget if they have an underground propane tank that's going to need to get shoveled out. If they have that for their heat or whatever it is, if it's a restaurant, you know, if they're using that and they don't have gas coming off the street.
00:43:37
Mike Santolucito
Don't forget about your parking spaces, if there's cars left there after the storm. If it's a per push, make sure it's in your contract. you know After the storm, it's X amount to come back and clear and salt parking spaces, salting separate, plowing separate, obviously. um But if it's a seasonal contract, you know what kind of business is it? you know When do these cars usually leave?
00:43:59
Mike Santolucito
Is there shift changes? Do they all leave at the same time? Do they have box trucks or any kind of ah a van system that parks there overnight? Guys come in and clean them off in the morning.
00:44:09
Mike Santolucito
They leave all that nice beautiful snow on your nice wet parking lot.
00:44:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:44:13
Mike Santolucito
You know, you get an account for clearing that off and that's going to be an excellent extra charge too. um And then the last thing I would say is if there's any unmarked emergency exits,
00:44:25
Mike Santolucito
At least where I am out here, there's quite a few that just lead out into grass and you wouldn't really notice it unless you get close enough to the building. They're going to want that shoveled after and they may not outline it right off the bat, but definitely something you want to make sure you add in there too.
00:44:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. Good.
00:44:40
Scott Lesak
Good stuff.
00:44:40
RICK JAMES
Good ones.
00:44:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
All good stuff, brother.
00:44:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
All good stuff. um What do we think ah for a new guy starting out, young company, best way to establish themselves?
Residential vs Commercial: Market Focus
00:44:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Would you guys tell him to go residential doing driveways or commercial or maybe try evening snack?
00:44:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, I wouldn't even touch an industrial right off the bat.
00:45:00
Scott Lesak
No.
00:45:00
RICK JAMES
i
00:45:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
don't even Don't even go near it.
00:45:01
RICK JAMES
ah
00:45:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just get your feet wet.
00:45:02
Mike Santolucito
Not unless you're going to be a partner to somebody.
00:45:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, exactly.
00:45:04
RICK JAMES
I would, I would, I'd tell a guy, figure out what he wants to do for, his is he want to go on the residential market or does he want to go into commercial?
00:45:05
Mike Santolucito
Just supplement.
00:45:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Unless you're subbing on.
00:45:11
RICK JAMES
and If he wants to do one or the, I mean, try to, try to piggyback on or subcontract onto somebody so you can figure out if that's really what you want to do. I mean, if I want, if I want to be a commercial snow pusher, I'd probably go sub for a bigger company and figure out how they're doing everything.
00:45:29
RICK JAMES
and trying to find all the ins and outs. And if I'm not, if I want to do residential, I'm sure you can do the same thing in residential. I mean, there's guys looking for help for that. I mean, residential a little easier to get into.
00:45:41
RICK JAMES
I mean, it's not easy, but there's, it's little, you know, it's not as much as a commercial.
00:45:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
A lot less they can bite you, you know.
00:45:45
RICK JAMES
So that's my, right. Right.
00:45:49
RICK JAMES
And you can, you can control a lot more in a residential than you can in commercial.
00:45:49
Scott Lesak
Yeah.
00:45:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:45:53
RICK JAMES
So.
00:45:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know.
00:45:54
Scott Lesak
I love the sub concept there. That's exactly how we got into it to the next level. you know I gave you that story about being 14 and driving around in a tractor. But when we started getting serious, we were a hardscape company, hardscape and landscape install that had skid steers. So we weren't a snow company. We didn't have maintenance contracts to be going out there and getting them ourselves. We had to keep those skid loaders busy in the winter.
00:46:16
Scott Lesak
And we subcontracted with a reputable local contractor that paid us enough money. I can't stress that part of it enough, not just being a sub for any random random guy out there, guy I knew.
00:46:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:46:24
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:46:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:46:27
Scott Lesak
And you know he he was a good mentor over time and just really helped us get into it. And we were working industrial sites. we were We were running skid loaders around trailers and employee parking lots and found out what it took working hand in hand with the big wheel loaders with the back hose and you know just watching how the entire process worked and after doing it for a couple years we were like you know what we're we're almost more detail oriented than what we're working with right now maybe maybe we should start going out and getting some of our own stuff
00:47:00
Scott Lesak
still didn't pull our stuff from those sites. So we we're still running stuff there and started picking up our own at that time and made that full transition in. um I think the direct answer to the question is follow the money. Follow the money and you know your market could be different than what my market is and different than Mike's and different then Steve's, you know, we all have different markets.
00:47:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
amen
00:47:20
Scott Lesak
So is residential going to be your gateway to earn the cash that you need to to get to the next level? Do that. No problem. Maybe you can, you know, we bash on residential a lot of snow guys, but there's a lot of money in residential.
00:47:32
Scott Lesak
If you're doing residential, well, you can do it.
00:47:32
RICK JAMES
oh yeah
00:47:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:47:33
RICK JAMES
ye
00:47:34
Scott Lesak
It's not for me. God bless you if you're doing that.
00:47:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mhm.
00:47:36
Scott Lesak
That's not for me, but it is there. It's a reality. um So follow the money and don't get into too big of stuff too fast. Learn learn your limitations and then push those limitations. Don't dive in beyond into the unknowing.
00:47:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:47:53
Mike Santolucito
Great point.
00:47:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here's a funny story, residential versus commercial. So a friend of mine does a residential driveway for a customer that owns a commercial business.
00:47:58
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
Importance of Route Density
00:48:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
He has a one acre commercial lot and he wants to pay per push for that commercial lot less than he pays for his driveway to be done. So that you know that just think about that.
00:48:14
Mike Santolucito
by Bye-bye.
00:48:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
So he's paying him $190 a push on his driveway, but only wants to pay $175 from the push off the one acre resident the the one acre commercial lot he owns. So there's money to be made in residential.
00:48:29
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, and if you are in residential, it's about route density, route density.
00:48:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
dont
00:48:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:48:33
Scott Lesak
Yes, yes.
00:48:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. If you're doing it right, get them on seasonals, whatever, you know, there's money to be made. You can have a forecast. But yeah, I like that. I think we're all in agreement that the best way to figure out if you want to go commercial or industrial is sub
Subcontracting: Pros and Cons
00:48:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
on.
00:48:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everybody's ah good with, you know, a vendor part, you know, partnering up vendor partners, that kind of thing.
00:48:50
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:48:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Obviously, Jeremy is.
00:48:55
RICK JAMES
As long as you do your homework, as long as you do your homework on the contractor.
00:48:55
Scott Lesak
Absolutely.
00:48:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah You guys all do it. Yeah. Know who you're getting into bed with. and Absolutely.
00:49:01
RICK JAMES
So go ahead, Mike. Mike had something I think.
00:49:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead, Mike.
00:49:04
RICK JAMES
Oh, I thought you said that earlier.
00:49:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Scott, you got something else?
00:49:06
Mike Santolucito
Oh, that's perfect.
00:49:07
Scott Lesak
No, no.
00:49:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:49:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
To sub or not to sub. I wouldn't sub for a broker. I would tell them, stay away from brokers.
00:49:18
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:49:19
Scott Lesak
Ever.
00:49:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right? don If somebody's offering you an eight acre Walmart site in a 40 inch market for $19,000, we'll be the first to tell you it can't be done.
00:49:27
RICK JAMES
jump on it.
00:49:29
Scott Lesak
Yeah.
00:49:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right? Say goodbye. yeah Yeah, don't don't even don't even think about it.
00:49:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:49:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right I sub for a exactly ridiculous.
00:49:36
RICK JAMES
There's some crazy prices out there right now. There are some crazy prices like
00:49:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely ridiculous pricing Yeah ah
00:49:41
Scott Lesak
I just got, I just got a list the other day from a, we'll leave the name out for, for this, but, uh, you know, 75 bucks ah for a plow and assault and shoveling walkways at acre to acre and a half lots.
00:49:55
Scott Lesak
And I'm just like, who, who's doing this?
00:49:56
RICK JAMES
Oh my God.
00:49:57
Mike Santolucito
Yeah, stay in bed.
00:49:58
Scott Lesak
Like, who do who do they get to do it?
00:50:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know.
00:50:02
RICK JAMES
I don't even know how they, I don't even know how they can push send on that to people. I mean, that's his, this says robbery.
00:50:06
Scott Lesak
I know.
00:50:11
Mike Santolucito
I've seen a lot of those comments on the on the snow pages on Facebook already. I'm like, you you guys understand. And I mean this in the nicest way possible.
00:50:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
never know.
00:50:18
Mike Santolucito
You understand you could say no.
00:50:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
You might want to...
00:50:19
RICK JAMES
and Yeah.
00:50:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
You might want to take a look at it just in case, you know.
00:50:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:50:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah ah Well, say no.
00:50:26
Mike Santolucito
Like it's okay to say no to the stuff guys.
00:50:27
RICK JAMES
yes Just in case.
00:50:28
Mike Santolucito
Like if we don't say no, they just, they're going to keep coming back.
00:50:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Guys, say no. Listen, there's a reason when they when the when some of these national brokers send you a request for for basically, will you do this property for this money? And they, right under the price they're offering, they have a counter offer button. like Don't accept the first offer if you're gonna accept it at all. like If they're putting a counter offer right there, they're basically saying, you're an idiot if you accept this outright.
00:51:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
for for this price we're offering.
00:51:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:51:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
like don't Don't say yes, counter, always counter.
00:51:03
Mike Santolucito
I think the rule of thumb is if they're sending you something with a number on it, just delete it.
00:51:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know it ain't benefiting you.
00:51:09
RICK JAMES
right Yeah.
00:51:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know it's not yeah not Exactly, exactly.
00:51:10
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It ain't your number. It ain't the right number.
00:51:12
Mike Santolucito
If they're not asking for your number, delete.
00:51:12
Scott Lesak
yeah that's it
00:51:12
RICK JAMES
I can guarantee that.
00:51:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
But there are some guys that like there's some guys out there not knowing their numbers, or or it seems like it's good money for them because of them not knowing their overhead, not knowing their costs, or not knowing their market value.
00:51:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:51:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, but just don't do it to yourselves, right?
00:51:30
Mike Santolucito
Mm-hmm.
00:51:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a, it's a bad, bad, bad thing to get into.
00:51:34
Scott Lesak
So let's let's squash that right now because ive I agree with you 100%, but there's no excuse not to know your numbers.
00:51:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do it.
00:51:42
Scott Lesak
How much are you spending?
00:51:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
00:51:44
Scott Lesak
How much do you have to pay your employees? How much solder are you gonna put on the acreage that you have?
00:51:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ding,
00:51:50
Scott Lesak
Average it all out and put a net margin on top. That's it, it's that simple. you know There's ah obviously more intricacies than that to get really good at it, but you will make money with that.
00:51:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
ding, ding.
00:52:00
Scott Lesak
You will make money with with that math that I just said there.
00:52:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. 100%. 100%.
00:52:03
RICK JAMES
And I, and all these guys are going to go down this rabbit hole, miles will keep going. All these guys that let's just say we're doing three stores and or there's three stores, one in the middle that we're not doing.
00:52:15
RICK JAMES
And they offer you a low ball. We'll, we'll take that low ball. Cause we're right there doing those others.
00:52:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Makes no sense.
00:52:20
RICK JAMES
Why, why sell yourself
00:52:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
It
Appropriate Pricing Strategies
00:52:22
RICK JAMES
short?
00:52:22
RICK JAMES
Who fricking cares? It's not, no.
00:52:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
makes no sense.
00:52:24
Mike Santolucito
You'll make more money saying no.
00:52:26
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:52:26
Scott Lesak
Yes.
00:52:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
I.
00:52:27
RICK JAMES
Oh, we're right there. So we also do it for cheap because they're right there. That, that, that doesn't hold any water. Just don't do that.
00:52:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
drives me crazy. I can understand if okay that middle problem because that drives me nuts when guys say they're like oh we're doing this one here and this one here and it's right in the middle you know they're like 50 percent less than we want to do it for but since we're there anyway we figure it's better to take a little more
00:52:46
RICK JAMES
Right there. Yeah.
00:52:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, bullshit. Unless you wanted 10,000 and they're offering you 9,500, that's okay okay.
00:52:55
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, I could do that.
00:52:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm taking a little bit less and I'm right there.
00:52:57
RICK JAMES
it that Yep.
00:52:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
But if you need 10,000 for that property and they're saying, yeah, well, you can have it for 3,800 and you take it, you're a moron. you know what you're
00:53:06
RICK JAMES
Cause then you just screwed everybody in the area right there.
00:53:08
RICK JAMES
He just screwed everybody in there.
00:53:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, whatever hole you had to do those other two properties via fuel, labor, insurance, equipment, that hole that you were filling in three quarters of the way, you just dug a little more out to do that middle property for bargain basement.
00:53:08
Mike Santolucito
Mm hmm.
00:53:21
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:53:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Don't do it. Don't do it. It's the quickest, quickest race to the bottom.
00:53:25
RICK JAMES
I hate that. I just hate that comment so much that guys live while we're right there. So we could do this one cheaper. I was like, no, no, you can't.
00:53:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
I get if cheaper is like 5%, 10%, but if cheaper is 60, 70%, that's idiotic.
00:53:32
Scott Lesak
You're breaking the system.
00:53:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's ah you know Don't do it. Don't make those mistakes, guys. Don't do it.
00:53:45
Scott Lesak
there's There's a difference in the comment of doing it cheaper and doing it for a reduced margin.
00:53:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
um
00:53:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
00:53:49
Scott Lesak
That's completely different.
00:53:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes, exactly.
00:53:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:53:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Exactly.
00:53:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:53:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. Well put. Well put. um What do you guys think is the best way to market a new or younger snow company?
Marketing Strategies for Snow Businesses
00:54:04
Mike Santolucito
your clients, use your clients, use them as a reference, use use social media to a point, you know, after the storm's done, you know, show how great your your loss and your walkways look, but your clients have a network that is untapped for you at this point.
00:54:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. I love it. Yup.
00:54:21
Mike Santolucito
And the more, the more you're able to do for them in their, you know, in their company, they will speak volumes to their friends in different companies in your area.
00:54:33
Mike Santolucito
that will get you in the door to where you want to be eventually or quicker.
00:54:38
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:54:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love it.
00:54:38
Scott Lesak
Amen.
00:54:38
RICK JAMES
Makes perfect sense.
00:54:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
What do you think Scott?
00:54:41
Scott Lesak
I think getting those clients to the advocacy stage, just like Mike said, make that happen and door to door. If there's a lot that's not plowed and you see that after a storm, go knock on that door.
00:54:52
Scott Lesak
If you noticed it while you were on your route that it didn't get handled well or it looks bad at the end still, go knock on that door. And I mean, this this holds water if you're new or if you're a well-seasoned existing company.
00:55:03
Mike Santolucito
Hmm.
00:55:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:55:05
Scott Lesak
Go knock on that door. like Keep an eye out for underperformance and go hit it. We've for probably gotten more sites that way than any other way the entire time we've been in business.
00:55:13
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:55:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:55:14
Mike Santolucito
Or ask your client if they know who owns that lot or if they know who owns that, but nine times out of 10, they do.
00:55:14
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:55:17
Scott Lesak
Yes.
00:55:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:55:21
Scott Lesak
Yep.
00:55:21
RICK JAMES
Right. Yeah.
00:55:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
You've gotten a bunch of sites that way.
00:55:22
RICK JAMES
ah Yeah. Those are perfect. Perfect answers right there.
00:55:27
RICK JAMES
I mean, clients and door to door, like you said, keep an eye on, I mean, that's how we've gotten a lot. Just like you guys, I guess. So.
00:55:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:55:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:55:35
Mike Santolucito
Social media is great for keeping your clients engaged and your employees engaged, but it's it's not gonna get you the new work.
00:55:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep
00:55:43
Mike Santolucito
very You'll get some, but very little.
00:55:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Not big work. Not big work.
00:55:46
RICK JAMES
Um, some, some you'll get some, but you're not going to get.
00:55:46
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:55:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, not.
00:55:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:55:50
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
00:55:50
RICK JAMES
I mean, cause cause, uh, oh my God, say owners, owners talk, they had their own little groups, you know, all these. So they ask each other who's who's using who for what.
00:55:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:56:01
RICK JAMES
So that's, that's how you get good customers.
00:56:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep, absolutely. um i would tell i I love what Mike and Scott both said. you know your Your customers are your biggest advocates. um Let your work speak for itself, and it should, it will, if you're doing it right. And if you're doing it better than everybody else out there in your area,
00:56:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's gonna get noticed. It may take a year or two, but it's gonna get noticed, and then you're gonna struggle another year or two to get them to meet your pricing, if you're pricing yourself right, because they're not used to usually in that area paying you know for that kind of white glove service. But if you stay the course, it will come around for you. The one thing, I am a pay it forward guy. It's how I was raised. um For better or for worse, my parents raised me to take care of people and stuff. I've heard guys say,
00:56:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
There was a car in a snowbank and I could have pushed it out, but I didn't because I'm worried about getting sued for damaging the car or whatever. You know, we didn't yank it out. I have gotten two of our biggest accounts because I saw somebody struggling and stopped and took 10 minutes to help them.
00:57:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
uh, during a snow storm. So I always venture, even though, yes, could you get screwed by trying to do the right thing? Absolutely. But I always put my faith in, you know, good will triumph over bullshit. And, uh, I, I've always done like one guy was struggling. I watched the guy during one of those nor'easter Scott was talking about, um, a couple of years ago. I think it was a 30 inch dump we got on us. And this guy was struggling to do a section of sidewalk.
00:57:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
50 feet down from where we had an SSV with a snowblower, and he was struggling with a little two-stage, wasn't going very well, and we just said, screw it. we'd We'd sent the SSV down there, and we did that section of sidewalk. What would have taken him probably two hours, we banged it out in about 10 minutes with the SSV, which we were testing at the time anyway, so we wanted to put it through its paces.
00:57:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
and ah that guy happened to be the owner of a complex and he's like, Hey, can you come give me pricing for my complex? Cause that was really nice. He and nobody else stopped.
00:58:09
Mike Santolucito
nice.
00:58:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
There were so many different plot guys drove by and saw me struggling and you know, you guys stopped. So, and you didn't ask for anything. So the paying it forward, doing the right thing. I don't think it's ever a bad idea to do the right thing.
00:58:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Um, so I, uh, you know, I'll take the risk that I'm going to get screwed at some point with ah a lawsuit for damaging a bumper, but I'll yank somebody out of a snowbank and I'll do the right thing. Cause I, it did for me, it worked.
00:58:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
I gotten doing the right thing and being visible to people that need help. Uh, you know, it'll, it'll come around for you. I,
Altruism in Business: The Benefits
00:58:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
I believe it anyway.
00:58:42
Scott Lesak
love it love it do we do we actually know anybody who ever actually got sued for damaging a bumper from doing that i hear that story all the time but i don't know any actual stories of it okay yeah
00:58:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh,
00:58:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
There is a guy in my area, yes, he used the plow. He used the plow to, he didn't put any snow between the plow and the car.
00:58:59
RICK JAMES
You got to put snow between it. You got to put a lot of snow between it and you just hammer.
00:59:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's the key, right?
00:59:01
Mike Santolucito
thank
00:59:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. You got to, yes, he didn't put any snow and you know, these plastic cars now, you know, that back bumper crumpled up a little bit, uh, getting pushed out of the heavy wet shit.
00:59:04
Scott Lesak
ah
00:59:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
And yeah, he, uh, he got a bill for the back bumper.
00:59:15
Mike Santolucito
That's a nice thank you.
00:59:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
right I left the woman there.
00:59:17
RICK JAMES
weve We pushed so many cars out that way.
00:59:21
RICK JAMES
We pushed semis out that way.
00:59:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:59:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
he
00:59:22
RICK JAMES
We've done it all.
00:59:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
He did and he he, I still, I might still have the text with the picture of the bill for like $580 for the back bumper. Like he goes, fuck you when you do the right thing, bullshit. Never again.
00:59:37
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:59:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
So yeah, from time to time, I mean, I'm in New York, so you yeah it's not all roses here. Not all good people on the level. But yeah, so that's that's that. when you are When you were a new or young company, best investment equipment wise, what was the best decision you made equipment as a newer company that that changed you? What do you think, Mike?
Best Equipment Investments
01:00:04
Mike Santolucito
Metal edge or metal cutting edge boxes just get rid of those protects once and for all. Doesn't matter what it is metals metal less salt better burn down.
01:00:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:00:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Got it.
01:00:15
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
01:00:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
01:00:17
Scott Lesak
ah
01:00:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
What about you, Scott?
01:00:18
Scott Lesak
Mine, mine too. That's exactly what I was gonna say, metal cutting edge. And then shortly after that, we went to live edge and just making that succession. Absolutely. It is where you'd be better off buying one live edge plow than three river rubber edge plows, if that's what it comes down to.
01:00:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. 100%. What about you, Jay?
01:00:39
RICK JAMES
I would say our Artix, but Artix and then our Schmitz altars, once we got those and people saw our lots compared to anybody else's, that's how we got so much work is like, we want our lot to look like that.
01:00:53
RICK JAMES
So yeah, those two things, I mean, that's, we just took off once we, we had those two things, so.
01:00:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:01:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
for For a small guy when I was really small. one machine, I had one skid, I had to make a plow choice, and there was no choice. I was going with Arctic. ah Having that sectional scrape literally, so they they advertise, I think, 30% that'll save you 30% salt savings you know if you switch over. It was higher than that for me. Being able to scrape hard pack to nothing um We were able to start pretreating basically without even you know having to worry about the cost of not having because the one year we didn't have pretreating in the bid.
01:01:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
We just were doing it because it made a cleaner scrape and it made the conditions safer. We forgot to put it in that to charge for it. Another mistake.
01:01:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:01:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
But um yeah, it saved us so much in salt that just went to our profit margin because we could charge the same amount of salt, but we we're using less of it.
01:01:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:01:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, uh, yeah, the Arctic, like, like you guys were saying, the live edge, active edge, whatever the hell edge they want to call it, you know, it means the same shit. That's that scrape is going to save you a lot of money in salt. It's going to transform and it's definitely going to, it's definitely going to pay for itself. I mean, I want to say that first Arctic, what we saved in salt and I'm a small company that thing paid for itself just in salt savings and probably maybe a little under a season and a half.
01:02:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, you know, cause at the time eight, nine grand for a plow was ah a big nut. That was a big decision. And, uh, yeah, I kinda, I took the, took the shot and it it definitely, that was huge.
01:02:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
What else? Anybody got anything else? Cause we could go all night with this, but, uh, you know, we might have to come back and do a part two.
01:02:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:02:45
Mike Santolucito
It's not a bad idea.
01:02:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cause I think we lost Scott. I think Scott's froze up.
01:02:50
Mike Santolucito
Oh yeah, look at that.
01:02:50
RICK JAMES
Is it? Oh yeah. Yes.
01:02:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
I think he is.
01:02:51
RICK JAMES
I was like, you really staring at it.
01:02:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
So yeah, he's scaring intently. So you know what? Let's ah let's do some commercials here and we will ah we come back and we'll wrap it up.
01:03:02
RICK JAMES
Oh, you want.
01:04:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we're back. So we lost Scott and, uh, you know, we're about that time anyway. So we're going to do a, uh, Mike, you go with coming back and doing a part two.
01:04:18
Mike Santolucito
Yeah, let's do it.
01:04:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Yeah.
01:04:20
RICK JAMES
um was a kidding Where's the kitty?
01:04:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Scott says he's in. I'm texting him now telling him, keep your, keep your North Carolina country internet.
01:04:24
RICK JAMES
the kitty?
01:04:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Why did I think North Carolina would have good internet right now?
01:04:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Didn't they just almost get wiped off the map with that, that hurricane?
01:04:33
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:04:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Why did I think that that would be okay? my man
01:04:38
RICK JAMES
Where's the kitty Mike?
01:04:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh well.
01:04:41
Mike Santolucito
I have no idea.
01:04:41
RICK JAMES
Where's the beast?
01:04:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
The most giant cat I've ever seen.
01:04:45
RICK JAMES
and
01:04:45
Mike Santolucito
He's ah he's somewhere right now.
01:04:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
What's that thing weigh in at about 40 pounds?
01:04:47
Mike Santolucito
He's probably on. No. Enzo's like 26.
01:04:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, only 26 pound cat.
01:04:53
RICK JAMES
40 pounds.
01:04:54
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
01:04:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy crap. I think it was huge.
01:04:56
Mike Santolucito
Yeah.
01:04:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Took up the whole table.
01:04:57
RICK JAMES
ah oh
01:04:59
Mike Santolucito
I mean, he's got nothing to do. He's killed everything in the house he's gonna chase. Now he just lounges around all
Transitioning from LMN to Aspire
01:05:04
Mike Santolucito
day.
01:05:04
RICK JAMES
ah
01:05:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:05:06
Mike Santolucito
The dog chasing him around, but he can get up to all these high places, so.
01:05:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh man
01:05:12
RICK JAMES
What's, uh, what's, uh, what's the plan this week?
01:05:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
all right
01:05:16
RICK JAMES
Are they just still putting stuff out or are you guys got everything out or what, what's your guys is doing?
01:05:19
Mike Santolucito
No. So with with the changeover to using Aspire from LMN, we're inputting all of our existing contracts that we're still good for this year, getting all those uploads so the guys can start punching into them.
01:05:20
RICK JAMES
what
01:05:36
Mike Santolucito
And then all the new contracts are going in there too.
01:05:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh man. All right.
01:05:38
Mike Santolucito
So we're we're trying to hammer down to get that done by tomorrow. We're almost there. We're like 90% there. So we can do first of the month billing in November.
01:05:47
RICK JAMES
Nice.
01:05:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
01:05:48
Mike Santolucito
yeah Glued to the computer.
01:05:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Well, let's wrap it up before somebody else loses internet here because this is going to drop in the morning.
01:05:54
RICK JAMES
All right.
01:05:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, guys. Well, listen, Mike, thanks so much. Scott, thanks a lot. I know you're going to hear this in the morning. So ah that was awesome. That was a lot of good information. Like we said, we'll we'll get together next week. We'll do part two.
01:06:08
RICK JAMES
Sounds great.
01:06:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, because I think this will work for a lot of guys.
01:06:08
Mike Santolucito
Thanks guys, appreciate it.
01:06:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, so thank you, boys. Appreciate it.
Unity in Snow Jobs Nation
01:06:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, everybody out there, the the best thing about this Snow Jobs Nation, you know, unity that we've we've ah been experiencing with everybody is everybody wants to help each other succeed.
01:06:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's it's been awesome. but By far the best part of this, everybody willing to share their knowledge and experience and, you know, Mike and Scott are there. No exception. ah This is by far the best part of what we're doing here.
01:06:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
So can't thank you guys enough out there. All right. Keep going hard. Keep doing things the right way. ah Keep paying it forward and everybody be safe. Have a great week.
Conclusion and Encouragement
01:06:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
We'll see you. Tune in tomorrow too for a new one. Keep pushing.