Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to another edition of the Better Contractor. Today I have ditched my co-host Alex, but he is here. What's up dude? What's up? And I'm joined by Annie, who is the Vice President of Atlantic Corp, business partner and wife. So welcome. Thank you.
Speaker: It's been a few episodes since you've been on, but has been the cool thing about this podcast though is we actually have two in-person guests instead of it being on a screen. So We have Avery and Owen from VIP Outdoors. So super excited to have someone in person this time and local to us. So guys, welcome.
Speaker: Yeah, thank you, Brent. Andy, thank you so much for having us. A true power couple here hosting the podcast. And beautiful establishment. i mean, the decor caught my eye right away, especially this chainsaw here. A chainsaw's got a story. So that chainsaw was my great grandfather's and it was supposedly the first chainsaw in Fayette County, Illinois, which is where I grew up. So got kind of a cool story. It's heavy.
Speaker: I'll be honest with you. It's super heavy. yeah Like those dudes had backs of steel or something, but it ah only runs upright. So that was back before the motors could be turned on their side without running the top end dry. So it runs upright only and you actually pivot the blade only back and forth. So a lot different.
Speaker: The other thing that's kind of cool about it, so modern chainsaws turn really quick. That one goes slow enough you can actually count the teeth as they go by. Oh wow. But it takes huge chunks out of the wood. So a lot different than a modern chainsaw, but it's cool. So probably 100 years old.
Speaker: The qualification to run that is definitely a handlebar. 100% and brute force. So but now it's super cool. So one of the things you guys are obviously young. How old are you? I'm 24, 21.
Speaker: twenty one Man, 24, 21. So 24, just for example, twenty she's twenty or she was 24 when we started this business. I was 25. So I resonate like with you guys doing this hustle at this young age, and I love it. so Awesome. i appreciate that. Yeah, yeah. So take us back to the beginning, which I know wasn't very long ago. But take us back to the beginning. How did two brothers who were playing football get started in this business?
Speaker: Take it away, Yeah, so it actually started, I was about 14 years old in middle school. With the help my parents, took out a loan, bought an Exmark and a utility trailer, and then they would just drive me around to different places and just drop me off, and they'd come pick me back up later after I was done. And then Avery graduated in 2020 of high school, and then I graduated in 2023.
Speaker: both went to McKendree to play football. And then, you know, with football, it's like, you just can't have that full-time job. And then everybody's just expected to just give it all into football. And then so I looked at Avery one day, and I was like, man, I'm just tired of like not being able to do anything on the side or anything like that.
Speaker: At one point, our business, we we were parking our equipment on a small utility trailer, the same one that he took out with a loan, with a tarp over the Exmark and weed eaters. And like today, fast forward, we have this shop, we have a reliable truck. We started with a 1995 Chevy 2500.
Speaker: twenty five hundred yeah Yeah, I mean, and this thing, like you want to talk about some mechanical experience. It broke down every morning so it was like a fight to just get that thing started and then we go out we hit our yards and yeah, yeah just over the time and I'm sure we'll get into it But that's actually how st. John got so involved was like yeah like you like you said any like he just saw two guys Grinding and just working and we wanted to allow our dad who also does landscaping on the side so at one point
Speaker: when we're in little league i probably eleven twelve years old or dads mowing thirty yards on the side just to be able to make ends meet outside of this full-time correctional job because we have two younger sisters.
Speaker: So that was one of the main reasons why we got into it was just, hey, we want to allow dad and mom to be able to do their thing. Our mom owns a small business, salon and boutique. And we were like, we don't want to have to ask them for money every weekend. Go to the bar with the teammates. We want to be able to go do that on our own and afford it. And on top of that too, like having Hillary in my life, I was like, she's grinding. she's going to physical therapy school for six years so she can't work a she can't work a full-time job either so being able to have some money in our pocket build yeah oh yeah well and i think too at 14 where you said that you took out ah somebody took out a loan yeah was that you guys did you pay that loan back did yeah it was like my mom and dad co-signed for me so Okay, but it was actually you that took took the loan out. that's That's huge, though. It's important, especially second generation, third generation, fourth generation, that they don't lose that grind, the beginning grind. The beginning grind different than any anything else that you'll experience in business.
Speaker: because that's when you put your blood sweat and tears in that's when you're worried about how you're gonna make that's when you do the hard work and you're actually out there running the weed eater and and doing it before you have employees nothing that you can read will give you the feeling of what it's like to be the one sweating when you have employees that are doing it they're doing the one sweating your sweat equity is why the business is still going because of what you previously put in but when you get to the point where it gets big enough that you're not out there running the weed eater.
Speaker: They're the ones sweating. And it's easy to forget. And then when you have kids that no longer see you being the one doing that, They don't get how hard it was to start and why it's so precious to continue pouring that type of work ethic in along the way.
Speaker: So it's yeah important to remember that. it's kind of cool. So your kind of beginning story of like the truck and the trailer. Yeah. It's funny how many people we interview and even ourselves, how that is actually so common. So when we first got started, so we were doing vegetation management for pipeline companies.
Speaker: Well, one of the, or actually not one, the very first contract we got was lawn mowing of this tiny facility in Litchfield, Illinois. And I was still working at her job. She was in law school. And i might have told this in the last podcast, so I apologize if you listen to both.
Speaker: But again, it was my personal truck pulling a cheap trailer that I bought in Sykeston, Missouri, with my dad's borrowed zero turn or my brother's borrowed mower. And my brother was kind of like, you know, David for you guys, where it's just like this, my brother's a lot older than I am. So he was able, and he was already in business and doing stuff. So he was like someone I leaned on, like, hey, what how do I do this? What do I do with this? And he was investing and cared, you know, that this was going to take off. So it's just kind of cool to see so many stories are very similar to starting with literally borrowed stuff or really cheap stuff. Our first truck that we bought was 99 Dodge Ram.
Speaker: We still have it actually just for, you know, cause it's cool. yeah And, uh, but again, you know, it was, we worked on it a lot, you know, it didn't look the best. I know we didn't look that professional when we showed up.
Speaker: But in that stage, we outworked anybody, though. Oh, yeah. So maybe we weren't the prettiest when we showed up, but our job was way better. And we may have mowed at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night. But there's a difference in rolling up in something that has age on and rolling up with something that's trashed. it was still clean. Like, we cleaned it every day. But it was a clean old truck. Yeah. So when you guys kind of got started, was the plan always to, this was going to be a full-time gig, or was there a period of time where it's like,
Speaker: Let's get through college. You know, we don't necessarily want to work for someone right now. Let's get through this. And then all of a sudden one day it's like, well, shit, let's let's do this, Ashley. Yeah, no, I mean, whenever you ask that question, what genuinely comes to mind is the fact that Owen did start this young, and i wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. I was cutting hair in college. That's what my mom does. She owns a salon boutique, like I mentioned.
Speaker: I started watching YouTube videos to make some side money before Owen brought the equipment to McKendree. And i wasn't exactly sure what i was going to do, but whenever he asked me to do it, I was like, man, this could always be a testimony as to like how much I really love my brother because this is what he wants to do. I'm going to put all my chips in the middle of the table and support him and be a part of it.
Speaker: And I knew that with going to business school and having the mentorship from St. John, ah knew that I did have a lot to offer in terms of taking on the business world. I knew that I'm able to form really good relationships with the customers. I feel as if I really care about each one. And, you know, you name a customer, I'll tell you something about them. Or I'll tell you what they're dealing with. Yeah.
Speaker: I like to check up on them, especially those that, you know, might not be able to go out and do the work themselves. Those are the ones that really mean a lot to me to be able to serve them. Anytime that we show up and it's like an elderly woman, she could be a widow, could be a man in a wheelchair. Like that, that really means a lot to me. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, they enjoy seeing you guys every week too. I guarantee it. Yeah. Yeah. yeah So what, do what do you think is Owen's strengths that he brings?
Speaker: Oh my goodness. I would say on the team, Owen really is the quarterback. And I'm sitting back there at running back, like protecting his blind side, really. Because at the end of the day, he's running our marketing. He's doing all all of our social media. he's sending out the invoices He's working in the field. And then he gets home, and he's so waxed that he can't take a phone call. And I'm like, all right, i'll I'll take the phone calls. Like, I'll talk to the customers, and that's why, like, it's inevitable, right? A rock's going to go through a screen door at some point. Oh, yeah. So it's like, I'll go have that tough conversation because I know all the things that I'm doing on the back. yeah And then I'm like.
Speaker: You actually find that video on our TikTok, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had to make some content on that. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's content. The most viewed video. so Oh, really? That's hilarious. And what happened? The rock went through the customer's back screen patio. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. I'm Owen, and then I just look over at Owen. He has his defeated look on his face. Look at it. A-beater on the ground. I'm like Avery Chase. This went through. A rock drew wings. Oh, yeah yeah. Hopefully it was just the screen, though, right? No, no it was the glass. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. It's not about when those things happen, though. That's the thing. It's how you handle them. Oh, Yeah. Yeah. You did the good thing where you said, hey, I'm going call the customer. going let them know before they see it and have to make the phone call themselves. Yeah. So you've mentioned a few times David St. John's. So I feel like we need to probably tell the audience who that is and how he came in and the the part that he plays now.
Speaker: Yeah, so David St. John, i met him at a restaurant in Lebanon, and I was up there. My my friend at the time, he was bartending, and I was having lunch.
Speaker: I see a guy over there. He's wearing a nice wash, looks super dapper. I'm like, man, he's interesting fella. I'm going to go have have a conversation. So I start talking to him and then ask him what he does. He says that, you know, he's selling a men's salon at the time.
Speaker: So then I tell him, well, that's interesting because I'm actually cutting my head coach tomorrow at my apartment. You should come by. And I feel like after he watched me give one haircut, I i gave him a heart attack. He probably is like, this dude needs to cut instead of hair. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm like essentially putting stripes in my coach's hair. Long stripes.
Speaker: Yeah, they're straight though. Yeah, they're straight. As long as the next haircut, you go the other direction. Yeah, you've got to keep it changed Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm putting patterns on his hair. And anyways, yeah, so then the relationships are to form. And then Owen and I are building our business.
Speaker: And St. John is a customer at this time, and we don't have a place to park our equipment, so we are parking it in his backyard with our utility trailer, tarp over our equipment to protect it from the rain.
Speaker: And then he's just doing more and more, right? Yeah. He's getting to the point to where he's like, listen, maybe you don't need to be fishing and cutting baits. Like, give me the business phone, so I pass off the business phone. He's meeting with customers.
Speaker: He's having tough conversations as well, right? Like, if a rock goes through a glass door, I'm like, hey, St. John, I got to keep it rolling. We've got 20 more to do today. Like, this going to be a lengthy conversation. Can you do it? He's like, yeah.
Speaker: Never ask for anything along the That's awesome. But then Owen and I, the way that we grew up, it's like, hey, at some point, we have to – allow him to earn what what yeah he's put into this business.
Speaker: So then we had an opportunity this winter to be able to bring him on board. And it's been great for us because we have someone working on the business while we're working in the business. That's awesome. yeah That's awesome. I think that's going to prove probably to be super valuable for you guys. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I can look back like when we started, we, I think, I don't know about you.
Speaker: I thought I knew everything at 25. I really did. I knew there was stuff I still needed to know. But now looking back, if I'd had someone like that, you know, that was 20, 30 years older than I was to say, hey why don't you try doing this? Or, you know, kind of educate you on some of these things in life to make this business so good at this stage that as you guys grow and you replicate,
Speaker: that you don't have some of those bugs. You've probably heard the phrase like scaling you know chaos. That's the last thing you want to do at this point. You guys want to scale something that works. Before the podcast, we talked a little bit about franchise models. The reason those work is because it's a system.
Speaker: It has a proven track record, and you can repeat it over and over and over. so But that works in any business, whether that's franchise or not. And that's what someone like that is going to really help you guys do, I think, is build this structure and this system that as you move from whatever your growth is now to $2 million to $5 million to $10 million, hopefully it's not super chaotic and you're able to actually grow that thing without having a ton of headache. You're going to have headache, but the goal is to have less headache. Yeah, we talk about all the time. we We call them growing pains. And it's just something that we've navigated through. And and one thing that we really harp on is just keeping lines of communicate communication open and not having any unspoken expectation between one another. So it's yeah like if there's a customer out there that's wanting a bid, I can't just expect St. John to know, hey, I need to go give this customer a bid. I have to have a conversation with him and say, hey, this customer, while was out on their property today, they're looking for ah retaining wall. And so then St. John can get that assessment on the books, go out, bid that job. And then if he has any questions with the bid in terms of what goes on in terms of working in the field, then I'm right there for him. I don't care if I'm on a property. I'll i'll stop the mower for a minute, take the call and be like, hey, this is what's going to go into it. I think we need to
Speaker: you know, cut four inches of the sawed out and be able to come in with some rock, lay the foundation, pour the concrete over. Yeah. like Yeah. So we we have a lot of help in our corner. yeah. Yeah, it takes a village. That's awesome. yeah I um was talking with someone the other day, and he asked the question, when was it, has there been a point where you've thought that you've made it?
Speaker: And I said, Yes. He's like, when? Yesterday. And he just kind of looked at me. And I said, and then again today.
Speaker: And then again tomorrow. Because if you get to the point where you think that you've made it and you don't make it today and then start over tomorrow having to make tomorrow and then make the next day. You get lazy and you should always be chasing the, there's more I can learn. There's more I can do. I want to keep growing because the moment that you decide that I've made it and I'm not going to put any more into it and I'm, I know everything. That's the day that you just, you start failing.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah And I think having that moving goalpost is nice too. Cause I know that's one thing I think we're pretty good at is Being able to be content that you're where you are, but not so content that you don't want to continue to move forward. So like there was a point in time where, you know, where we're at now was a goal.
Speaker: But now that it's here, I've moved that goalpost a little bit further. Sometimes I hide it on him. Yeah. So it's that keeping that goalpost out here. Like, okay, we hit this mark.
Speaker: Now we need to hit this mark by this stage. And I think that's important. But two, what it does is it makes you guys keep asking the question, how can we improve? You know, i see a lot of business owners in whatever industry, they have this mindset, or not even just business owners, people in their career.
Speaker: I want to make X amount. And then once they get to X amount, it's almost like they let their foot off the gas. And at that point, what do you do? You stop being the innovator. You stop being the person that is out there, you know,
Speaker: improving whatever sector of life you're in or whatever industry you're in, you've stopped being relevant, in my opinion. And I think that's when the competition or someone young and hungry is will like gobble that opportunity up. So you've got to always be moving that goalpost forward and saying, what can I do better? But that applies to personal relationships, faith. Like, you you have to apply it to all areas of your life. Because if you're not 100% at all areas of your life, then you are failing overall. So you have to make sure that all areas are keeping up with each other. Yeah, I'm glad that you brought that up, too, Faith. Because as you were saying that, I read something yesterday that really resonated with me, and it was, if God doesn't give you what you're praying for, that means that you should probably be thankful for what you have. yeah So it's like, man, there's been so many times where I'm like,
Speaker: man, I want that big concrete job. And it's like, I can't forget about the fact that we started with Home Depot bags and we're bagging leaves and throwing them wherever we could yeah we're calling people hey i see you have dumpster outside your house can i put this in there yeah they're like yeah go ahead because they see young hungry guys yeah trying to work but yeah i think that that's something that i really try to um focus on is just not only trying to strive for what's out there in front of me but yeah also being able to step back and give thanks for what we've built so far oh yeah yeah that's awesome
Speaker: So one thing we talked about before we started recording was a subscription model. Yeah. And I and i think that's genius. and i And I really don't understand why more don't do that. So tell us a little bit about the idea and where it came from and how you kind of plan to continue to to grow with that idea.
Speaker: Yeah, so as you said, you don't understand why more people don't do it. I think that more people will be doing it. i do too, yeah. And that's okay because it it's a tough strategy to implement, right? Like we put a whole off-season into it, and going into this off-season, we're going to be able to put another whole off-season into what we've already implemented. yeah And so Jobber's been huge for us. We use Jobber as our CRM. Again, Owen runs everything through Jobber.
Speaker: And the way that it's broken down is, let's say that a customer's property, and this is just for round numbers, is $1,000 the year. Well then, rather than them paying a higher payment for eight months, they're paying a lower payment for 12.
Speaker: And then what we've said is, if you're willing to meet us there and go on a 12-month term as opposed to an eight, we're going to give you a 20% discount compared to your neighbor who's not on our subscription.
Speaker: on any additional services. And we're also giving them one complimentary snow removal in the winter months to be able to get back to them in way. Yeah, that's genius, especially from a cash flow perspective. Like, that's going to be big for you guys. Yeah. Because I know especially if you're listening, you don't know where we're at. We're in Illinois.
Speaker: Southern Illinois, and the issue of Southern Illinois is we don't get a lot of snow. So a lot of companies that maybe do what you guys do to the north, they can do the lawn care landscape thing for seven, eight months,
Speaker: And then they get enough snow that they're doing snow removal pretty consistently all winter. We don't have that much snow. So cash flow for a lot of companies around here and in your line of work, that is an issue, you know, especially like December, especially in the January, February, because then you're at the the end of that off season. And it's been a while, you know since you didn't take a check. So I think that's genius as far as doing that. And coming from like a potential like customer ends,
Speaker: I would love to have it more flatlined, where I just know I'm getting a bill for this amount, whether it's December or it's in July. It'd just be nice. And it's easier for budgeting. So it's easier for budgeting for you guys, but also on the other end. so Yeah, because the the payments are coming in month to month, and it creates budget pricing for the customer, but it gives us predictable cash flow to be able to line item different things and say, hey, we can afford this. yeah We can't afford that. yeah And then is there anything else that you'd like to add into that, O? No.
Speaker: Yeah. what a So I'm just curious, what what are your goals? Was it like you're in your 20s, mid-20s, both of you now? What's your 30-year-old goal and 40-year-old? Yeah, so I would say that especially Owen, I think that being able to get Owen out of the field and allowing him to be able to work completely on the business, on the technology aspect, I think that that would be something that would really elevate our business.
Speaker: I always see myself in the field. I love working with my hands. I like to grind. im like whenever something breaks down, having that back against the wall feeling of I have to get this fixed up. I have to get it back in the field. I like, i just like the rush and I like to be with the customers. I like the communication. i like the travel. i just love the business. But I think that if we could get Owen out of the field and working on the business as opposed to in, I think that that would really elevate it. okay And being able to put myself in a situation to where I'm not necessarily mowing the yards, but I'm almost um like a project manager for our company, being able to set up different projects and have those ready for our team members to be able to come in and then see the job through. And I'm i'm probably going to be a part of that, but i would like to be able to take myself out of that at some point and be able to set up the next one. So then it's just a level mission. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker: I think one thing you guys are doing well and obviously just meeting you today, um you see a lot of partnerships have struggles, you know. And it's usually because there's either a conflicting ego, you know, trip going on here where, like, you don't want him to shine, he don't want you to shine even though you're on the same team. I can tell already you guys very much are leaning on each other's strengths.
Speaker: So I think that's key. But I think, too, just me and you guys, briefly, all three of you, each of you have a very specific set of strengths, and you're very much willing to let the other person own those strengths while you own yours. So I think it's it's awesome to see that. And I think it's going hugely beneficial for you guys going forward.
Speaker: Have you guys taken the Myers-Briggs personality test? Do what? Have you taken the Myers-Briggs personality test? No. St. John was talking about that a little while ago. yeah Yeah. Should we take that? You should take it. Yes. Which there's a lot of people that don't like it because...
Speaker: They view it as, oh, you get your four letters and then you put yourself in that box. And the reason that they don't like it is because they do that. The whole point of it is communication, like how you receive information, how you deliver information. But each personality type has something unique that they bring to the table. And it's about strengths and weaknesses. So you find out your strengths and your weaknesses. And if you know what your weakest link is and you can work on making that your strongest, now you don't have a weak link anymore. But it also helps with communication because everybody has a different style. So if I'm talking to you in a way that you understand, but not you, then you're not hearing me.
Speaker: So I may as well not be talking. I have to approach it in a way where you both are hearing me um say the same thing, deliver it a different way. And it just, it helps with communication with relationships and business and yeah.
Speaker: so So some of our audience, but but I would say most of our audience is probably their age to a little bit older, right Alex? Yeah. um So speak to that person for a second. So for us, I'll speak for myself primarily.
Speaker: When I was your age, skipping out on the dumb stuff was not something I, like it wasn't something i cared about. So it was easy for me to do. I don't know if that's the case for you guys, but a lot of people your age don't have your mindset yet. Just being honest. Like they they don't have it. They don't have that. I'm going to grind. I'm going to put in this time. I'm going to put in this effort today to see a result in 10 or 15 years.
Speaker: They'll get there sometimes, but they're usually not there quite at 21, 24, 25 years old. twenty four twenty five years old What would you say to those people about what you're potentially giving up a little bit now?
Speaker: your mindset towards doing that and like having that end goal and and living that life now, knowing that, hey, if I keep doing this, by the time I'm 30, I should have accomplished this.
Speaker: And that will mean so much more to me than saying, yeah, I went to that party with so-and-so or I did this on a Friday night. At 30, those things won't matter to most people. What you're living at 30 on, that's gonna be end up being what matters the most.
Speaker: So what would you say to, your peers? Well, mean, playing college football, right? And I come from a super small town. I felt like I was the man whenever I first got there, right? Like I was partying. I was having a good time and yeah probably doing some things that shouldn't have been doing. But I think what it really came down to is I had a really good friend named Kayla Fisher that helped me find Christ in a massive way that was pivotal in my life.
Speaker: And I also give a lot of thanks to my now wife, Hillary, because she had such a straight head on her shoulders that i knew that if i don't carry my weight then this is going to the one that got away she got away in high school yeah right she was your older she ended up going to maryville i ended up at mckendry and yeah so then we found our way back to one another and she really really set the tone i mean she's a physical therapist and now and i saw her grinding and i think that that's why we really worked out was because i was cutting hair i was mowing yards i was playing football i was still taking care of my schoolwork we were both living our own lives yeah then we would come together on the weekends and yeah she she would travel to most of the games as well that's awesome that's really cool what do you think that you would say
Speaker: I would just say find somebody older. Like every every person that I keep close to me is always older except for my girlfriend actually. She's yeah more younger than me. but just having those older people to where they'll actually tell you those things where like that doesn't matter at that time. Whereas like you have people that are the same age as you, they're not thinking those things. So they're just like wanting you to go do those things. Yeah. That shows a lot of wisdom. It does. And you need to understand that that's rare. Like don't take that for granted in yourselves because i mean, older people all the time will tell younger people, don't do that. It doesn't matter how many of them actually listen. Yeah.
Speaker: you know That is a lot of times for younger people, the the throwaway advice. And then when they get older and then they realize, oh, wait, I see why they was giving me that advice. But to be your age and to take it to heart says something about your character.
Speaker: yeah We owe a lot to our parents as well. I mean, our dad, again, he's he's a correctional officer. He was taking care of lawns on the side as well. Our mom was running a small business. They really saved us. set a good example and they always told us that they weren't there to be our friend. They were there to set us up to succeed and tell us not what we wanted to hear but what we needed to hear and grow as individuals and they always wanted more for us than what they set out to do. So they're always yeah pushing us and yeah definitely steering us in the right direction as we grew up. And I'm sure that there's a ah lot of times that you were being watched by Mr. St. John that you didn't even realize it.
Speaker: and You know, like it it is rare to have somebody that that sees the potential that sees what you're pouring in and then takes action to say, I'm going to help them be the people that God created them to be.
Speaker: And he did that. And at any point that was yours to lose. whenever you were one way in front of him in a different way when he wasn't watching and he was actually watching like it it matters how you present yourself it also matters how you truly are when nobody's watching and and so yeah well just the fact that you guys value mentorship i think this young you know that shows a lot too and that's Looking back even on our journey, you know, I mentioned my brother earlier and my had awesome parents that were also a part and her grandfather was a part.
Speaker: Very, very blessed for all those. You know, I actually kind of wish I can lean on them more, you know, looking back now. um But no, I love that you guys, you know, value mentorship and seek out people like David St. John and and that. That's awesome.
Speaker: Your turn to ask question now. I've been talking. um So have you had any situations that where you have grown any setbacks, any where you were projecting something and then it just didn't turn out the way that you thought it would?
Speaker: Yeah, coming back to kind of what I had said earlier, right, like you talked about sacrificing now for the game later. and I talked a little bit about, you know, just getting wrapped up in, hey, I'm a college football player. I'm one of the only guys to do it from Beardstown.
Speaker: Feeling like I'm on cloud nine. God brought me down. I broke both bones in my ankle. sat out a whole season and I think that was huge for me because the team's out practicing and I'm on my own right I got my leg and I'm sitting in my apartment I'm thinking about what I really want to do and I spent a lot of time by myself and that's something that I would say as well is I think a lot of guys need to spend some time with themselves and be able to understand who they really are and get a good idea as to how they want to carry themselves and
Speaker: relationships that they're seeking and the habits that they're building and really take that time. And one thing that helped me through that tough time as well was journaling. I mean, I do like to write down kind of where my head's at, how I'm feeling, and have good understanding as to I'm carrying myself in the work environment as well because I could be having a tough day or the heat's getting to me. i know This year, that's the thing. Yeah, and Owen will be like, whoa, oh yeah you're on 10. And I'm like, yeah, I probably need to do that. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. That's awesome. I, uh, you guys mentioned like, you know, your wife and, and, you know, mentors. And I think that's hugely important too. And that's one thing, like when we were getting started, She was in law school, so we spent like three three states away, nine hours away. So she was doing the law school thing, which obviously takes up a lot of time. And then we had just started this. I was actually doing in my master's in business. When I started this, it took off a lot faster than we thought, honestly.
Speaker: So at some point there was this conversation. It's like, do I keep doing the NBA route or do I just jump into what seems to be having some momentum? So we we jumped in. But also, you know, she had her apartment there.
Speaker: which I was helping pay for at the time. And then I just decided you know what, I'm just gonna live with my parents right now because our business was very, even from the very beginning was multi-state because there's only so many clients go around. So I was in the road and I was telling them other day, i put like 200,000 miles on my truck in like three years.
Speaker: That's how much I was on the road in the beginning. But that allowed for a lot of time by myself, yeah allowed for a lot of hours in that truck just thinking. And I remember keeping a notebook in the passenger seat just writing ideas all day long. And then taking them back home and like just trying to implement them on weekends as much as I could. But that's what it takes. But you mentioned like your wife, too. And that's one thing with us that's been awesome is I don't have to worry about, like is she going to let me grind?
Speaker: like okay she going to let me focus? and and And also vice versa. That's hugely important. And like, just to be blunt, like we're 20, 19 years in not every year is great. So having someone who can handle the stress of those bad years as well, it's hugely beneficial because the last thing you want is when you get home, like when shit hits the fan and you come home and and your wife, you tell her the story and then she freaks out even more so than you were already freaked out. Instead of like leveling things down and saying, Hey, we got a problem here.
Speaker: What is this solution? yeah you know And that's something we always lead it within our management team meetings too, is like, you got about, like if if if you if you're wanting 10 minutes of my time, I want one minute for you to tell me the problem, nine minutes for you to tell me the solution that that you recommend. Give me three, and then we'll pick one. That's almost how we've kind of done it at home too, is like,
Speaker: Because does get to hear a lot of the daily stuff that happens. But it's in that it's that calm, hey, let's figure this out. there There's a way through it. Let's figure it out. So anyway, when you bring up your wife and mentors, I think, again, head screwed on straight.
Speaker: Well, I appreciate it. So. Yep, that's good. Also, too, I think. i think When was it?
Speaker: a We decided to start doing um like prayer before at the, when the guys were going. And Dan is the one that, that, that does that. And he was concerned that like, well, everybody may not believe and, and all of that. And so we told him, well, you know,
Speaker: they can they don't have to They don't have to join in, but that's what we think is important is yeah covering our crews and our men with prayer at the beginning of the week before they go out. And it seems like something small, you know, that, well, how this is an actual, like, work that you're doing.
Speaker: But it's really the most important work to make sure and take time and that that that's done to remember that he actually has everything under control. and Yeah. Yeah. That was something. So Dan's our safety director. So we do a safety call once a week. So it made sense of like, if anyone's going to pray over the company, you should be praying over the health and safety of your people. yeah So, and he's a strong faith dude. So, you know, he brought it up one time. He's like, I would like to have a little bit more of my faith in the company, but i don't know what I can do.
Speaker: I said, well, you can pray as a group. Just give other people the option. You can't really make it mandatory. Yeah. So we do it at the end of the call. You know, 60 people are on that call at least.
Speaker: Two drop off. That's it. You know, the other 58 remain. They listen to it. You know, that's been, when we talk about culture a lot. That helps with culture too. It's attracting people of a similar mindset, but it's also letting them know, you know, most of them are faith oriented to some extent.
Speaker: This company actually isn't shy about it. They actually care about this. Like it's not just like this, thing they talk about, they're actually bold enough to say, we're actually going to do this. And there was a competitor of ours that we were close with in the beginning. And I always admired them for the same thing. They did a Bible study on Mondays, like a small men's group Bible.
Speaker: I say men's group, this is blue collar, most of us guys. um They did a small men's group every Monday morning, like 530 AM for one hour before the safety kickoff at 630 for the whole entire company. And I think back then they had like 30%, 40% of their 200-person company come in and actually participate voluntarily. At 5.30 in the morning, nobody wants to get up that early and be doing Bible study. But again, just awesome. I'm not even sure how we got off on that topic. Well...
Speaker: I don't know. Somebody brought something up there. Something about things. that to tapped in that But then whenever he was talking about the drive time back and forth, we spent you spend a lot of time on the road. um you can listen There's so much content out there to listen to. Oh, yeah. i mean There wasn't back then.
Speaker: I'm old. There was no podcast yet back then. But like every moment that if you are doing quiet time, that's one thing. But if you are doing by yourself time and you think like now 10 years in the future, all of the time that you spent by yourself, what did you fill it with?
Speaker: Was it something that was going to benefit you? Was it something that was going to help you grow in one area of your life? If it wasn't, that was wasted time. And if, you know, nobody wants to get to the end life and say, you know, they wasted their life, they made they wish they made more mistakes, you know, they, you want, you get to the end of your life and you're like, I wish I had more time. And then we have all this time that we're driving or that we could be filling it with something meaningful. um So I think that that's a a thing to keep in mind whenever you're out there by yourself, you know, mowing or whatever. Yeah, it reminds me, during COVID, see her back was bad, so she didn't want to fly.
Speaker: And then obviously didn't also want to drive the 18 hours to where my parents were staying in Florida. So I got tired of just everything in Illinois being shut down. So I just jumped in my car and just drove to southern Florida and for, what, three weeks, two weeks?
Speaker: On the drive there, which is, again, 18 hours, I drove it straight through. Left it like 3.30 or 4 in the morning. I got to Florida and realized i had never jumped off of like the podcast thing. And I, again, I had that notebook in the passenger seat. And I think by then I was on page three of just ideas and notes. And and when I got to Florida, like just was like so hyped and this is 15 years in the business of like, man, we're going to do this. We're going to do that. Like implementing stuff, trying to turn those ideas into some kind of strategy to be able to actually do some of the stuff. And I look at that and I'm like, I could have just listened to
Speaker: music all the way down or some dumb podcast about politics or something that doesn't really affect me and on the daily, you know, but, and again, I'm not hyping myself, but it's just, what I'm saying is taking that intentional time for growth, mind, mind things is huge. And I, you know, like you said, we all have so many things in our life that we waste an hour.
Speaker: or two or whatever. And then we always like, we don't have enough time to do this. don't have enough time to do that. Most of the time, the time's there. You're just not prioritizing it right. So, but yeah, having those growth things that keep pushing you, even after this beginning, when you're, youre when you're at year five, when you're year 10, year 15, that's where I see some people,
Speaker: let off the gas. And I forget the statistics, how many businesses make it to year 10. And I think it's because they lost a little bit of that drive that got them going. They didn't keep that spark alive. I think as long as you keep that spark and that drive and you're being intentional, you're being innovative, you're constantly saying, okay, what we're doing works.
Speaker: Is there anything we can do better? You know, I think that's a huge part of keeping that going. Yeah. Do you guys have any questions for us?
Speaker: I had something for a minute, but it slipped. Yeah, but it's all good. How many employees do you have now? Yeah, so we've we've been as high as having two full-time guys. yeah And then actually currently we're back to Owen and I being the only ones in the field. And then St. John working on the business. okay So it's been something that we've navigated through. You know, like yeah we'll have a high school kid and then he starts up school. Or we'll have a guy come on and then he he had a set career path that he wanted to have at the beginning. And it's like, hey, I fully support that. You know what mean?
Speaker: there's There's a beginning and an end to everything, and I understand that. and yeah um Really, as we grow, that's one of the goals of this is the subscription-based model as well, is just being able to get ourselves in a position to where we can give guys livable wages.
Speaker: As opposed to saying, hey, we're going run you into the dirt for eight months, and then we're going to lay you off, and then we're going to bring you back on yeah again for eight months, and we're going to grind. And being out of position to where, again, maybe five, ten years down the road, we can have a guy that comes on, and we're giving him a super nice life, and he's able to really provide for his family through work, and we have – consistent cash flow coming in and we can afford this guy great but right now we're really just building our systems yeah again we're in year one with st. john owen and myself so this is all about yeah setting the fundamentals up oh yeah yeah we're doing layups yeah yeah that's awesome yeah when do you what's your goal for your first crew that's not one of you three yeah i would say the first crew so owen and i this year
Speaker: I don't see there being a reason why there'd be any more than two guys in a mowing crew truck. Yeah. You know, I mean, we've we've been able to get it done. Like yesterday we took care of 21, and these aren't 21 cookie-cutter yards. Some of them were pretty big. okay We take care of anything from six acres and down right now. Okay, nice. And so, you know, we we have some pretty big ones. to say six-acre long is not small. No, thats it's pretty decent size, yeah. And, again, that's mixed in with 20 others. So, I mean, yeah.
Speaker: That's a full day right there. And I think that if we could get it to the point to where we have two man crews going out and and I've seen where guys will do certain tools for the crews, it's all kind of coordinated. And so then you know what tools are going with what crew.
Speaker: And then if we could kind of take ourselves out of the mowing and focus more on the project work, well, now we have this well-oiled machine as one of our lanes. And so the mowing portion of our business is taken off. Now we can focus on this hardk build data up get that going And now that's rolling. It's a well-oiled machine.
Speaker: Now we focus on, it may be land clearing or it could be, again, like grading out properties, whatever it may be. But picking lanes, building those up, getting those rolling, and then getting into the next one. Yeah. That's where I see it. Have you visited the, um what are they called? the Where they sell lawn just lawnmowers, like what Noah has?
Speaker: I mean, anyway, it's just the stores that sell lawnmowers. Oh, like a lawn garden. Like just the lawn and garden stores, the smaller ones. Because, mean, if people are going there to buy a lawnmower, it's because they like to mow their own grass. Right.
Speaker: And maybe they also do it for a couple other people. But there could be people there that they don't really want to own their own business. Yeah. But you could pick up some people that already are doing it. They have a lawnmower and be like, hey,
Speaker: will absorb you. We have systems and processes in place. If this is something you enjoy doing, and that may be a good place to pick up people to add to. Yeah, when you were talking about like adding a crew, I went to, i think it was Equip Expo or it was TCIA. I don't remember which one.
Speaker: But they had a guest speaker that was talking about like basically doing what you guys are doing right now. So he was taking it from like a small mom and pop to I'm adding crews. And his whole thing was I want everything to be so identical that you could put you in truck five instead of one.
Speaker: And there's literally no difference. So he went to, I don't know where you find this, but like U-Haul. And he bought, think like 10 old yeah U-Haul trucks. Like exactly, you know, so the enclosed body, I think they were 12 or 15 foot.
Speaker: And he literally built this rack system inside that literally every single truck, the shovel went on the back left, like, It was 2-8-T all the way around, labeled and everything. So when you roll the door up, you look in the truck, like every truck, you couldn't tell which truck you were in. yeah And that was his goal. And then he said, ah when we hire a new employee, we give them an outfit, you know five of them for the week, and we give them a bag. And inside that bag is everything they would need from PPE, to small like hand tools that the cat would stay with that person. And he said, so every employee has the exact same thing. And he said, and then they track all their trucks. They have tags on their equipment to know where all the equipment's at. And he said every day, you know at the beginning of the day, they meet out in the yard.
Speaker: They roll their back doors up. they The manager does one walkthrough to make sure there's nothing nothing missing. And then they all leave. But he was talking about how like beneficial that was for him as it grew quickly.
Speaker: Because one of the biggest things he said he had on the first crew he hired was, hey, we forgot our chainsaw. Hey, we forgot this. And he's like, I was running around taking stuff to people instead of running my business. yeah So he said, I ended that by saying, OK, you will have everything you need one of or two if it's needed. And every single rig is going to be exactly the same. So if you left something, it's 100% on you that you didn't have it. But anyway, although that was kind of cool. And then he's like, you know, when we roll up to a job site,
Speaker: you know that's us because it's the enclosed truck. You put graphics on the side of the truck. Like it's them that rolled up. So. What I like about that a lot too is let's say you have five of the same truck. Well, once you learn how to work on that truck. Exactly. Now, you know how to fix that same problem on all the trucks. Yeah. So I really like that aspect of it as well. I think it simplifies it. That way not working on a Ford one day, Chevy the other day. And it's like everything's completely different. Oh yeah. No, I really like that. Yeah. We had that in the beginning too. We're, We had like a Ram, we had a Dodge, or a Ford, and then we had a Chevy, and then different brands of zero turns and different brands of, you know, Bobcat and a Terex and a Caterpillar, you know, skid steers, and now we're all one. So it's all Ram, it's all Caterpillar. Yeah, so it makes a huge difference. And in our shop, we have a shop now as well.
Speaker: Now we know, hey, I need 20 of this part because that breaks on exactly caterpillars a lot. And then the mechanic knows how to do it because it's all the same. So, yeah, it matters a lot.
Speaker: I agree. so So what is your goal for the next five years? i don't really know. I just go with the flow. Go with the flow? Yeah. Yeah, I don't really know. Yeah. Well, I would say...
Speaker: dream bigger. there's There's a lot of people that they're doing what they're doing because they're capped out at their gifts they've been given.
Speaker: don't Don't cap yourself whenever God's giving you more. Dream bigger. you're You're doing this, and that's amazing for how old you are, but don't let that be your only touchdown.
Speaker: go ahead and set that next goal and and know what that is. And don't cut yourself short because you've done amazing and you've done this. Don't think that that you're capped out at your life because this is just a small piece of that.
Speaker: and And don't stunt your growth by getting in your own way. Yeah, and that that reminded me of what slipped my mind earlier, and it was, I can't remember where I picked this up, but I had read one time, imagine getting to the end of your life, and then God presents an image of what he had laid out for you, but you weren't willing to face the battles day to day to do the right thing, and yeah just stay motivated and stay on the right track, and you get that snapshot of what it could have been, and That seriously touched me and stays on the back of my mind. Yeah. And just the word regret, like if I get down the road and again, I have a daughter on the way and I look back and I'm like, man, I wish i would have done this earlier on on. So then now she set up.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. that That would be painful. So it's always trying to keep that in the back of my mind as motivating factor. I love that. And we've talked about that before. And I don't know if it was Ed Milet or who had talked about something very, very similar.
Speaker: But it made me kind of think about, yeah I'm but i can I've been to enough funerals and like stuff like that over the years now to where like there's a very clear difference in the person who got to the end and you can see like a little bit of bitterness.
Speaker: And you know deep down there's probably a lack of some sort of faith. There's a regret. Like I'm 80 and i I now thought this is what I wanted to do.
Speaker: It's over now. I didn't do these things. And that's where that bitterness comes from, I think, over, you know, when you look back, I left stuff on the table. I did not max out this life. Or you see someone who's 80, and there's like a comfort.
Speaker: Like they know it's the end, but somehow they're peaceful about it. There's no bitterness. They know they're going somewhere better. And they know, you know what, I left it all on the table. Everything that God gave me to the best of my ability, I tried.
Speaker: And I achieved some. And I think that's key. So I think you know that's a really good way to look at it. don think but then you said and And that guy's dying with his boots on. Yes. yes i yeah I just love that, right? Yeah.
Speaker: Just a man that at the end of it, he dies with his boots on. He's still grinding. He's doing what he can. He's giving back. He's spent. yeah all like He's exhausted from putting everything that he can into his family, into his work, into his relationship with God into this life. Oh, yeah yeah. Yeah. I think that's that feeling of completeness. Yeah, I agree. And there I think a lot of that, too, I read, so Arnold Schwarzenegger, I talked to Noah about other day, but I read Arnold Schwarzenegger's book, Be Useful, this past weekend. And the one thing I really liked in it is it talked about expecting hard times.
Speaker: Like, I feel like as humans, sometimes we're like, almost think like we're immune to it. Like, it's not going to happen. I'm going to do this 30 years of entrepreneurship. It's going to be 30 years of amazing.
Speaker: At 44, I can tell you there's going to be some hiccups. But also, the difference, though, in people who expect it versus the ones who think, oh, man, life's unfair to me right now.
Speaker: That's not life being unfair. That's life being life, number one. going back and if you actually expect that hard time and you walk into it knowing that, you know what, God's pushing this my way or life is pushing this is my way, but it is to make me better because most humans, they will get a lot better when they're pushed. Like, you know, we've talked about like the coach that pushes you talk about these hard times in life and all these different things where something or someone shoved you somewhere where you did not want to go.
Speaker: That's when you end up learning the most. and I think that's what a lot of people do not realize is that those are hard times, they may suck in that moment, but they're probably prepping you for something so much better than what you were ever going to walk through had it not happened at all.
Speaker: So almost expecting those hard times, but then also saying, you know what, bring it. Well, and the mindset too of like struggling through the hard time and then, just waiting for the the break to hit so that you can recover or looking at it that you got your break and when that hard time hits, that means that you recovered and you're ready for the hard time because you had the break. Like, like okay, now what do I need to learn through this? Instead of just going through the entire hard time waiting for the break to hit.
Speaker: Instead, just like see what you're supposed to be learning while you're walking through it yeah because you had the break. the break that was behind you was to prepare you for the hard time. Don't keep looking for what's ahead of the yeah hard time. Yeah.
Speaker: No, I agree. And I think it comes down to a simple phrase and it's, if times get tough, go harder. Yeah. Like we went over the first quarter and I opened up to these guys. I was like, man i feel like with how hard we've worked this could be better and i'm like hey i can go home and lick my wounds and say i want to be done i'm gonna take a different route i don't know yeah like this week we went harder i mean it's 113 real field 21 yards let's get it yeah for sure because someone out there is going to appreciate that fact and give us a good opportunity oh 100 yeah absolutely i mean our customers already have like
Speaker: you know we We get first dibs on a lot of jobs just because they know that we're going to show up, we're going to work hard. The heat's not going matter. It ain't going get to us. We're going communicate with them, even though we're deep. yeah And no matter what, the finished product's going to look good. It doesn't matter if it takes an extra day and we've got to keep the rentals out. but yeah We lose some money. Oh, well. yeah The product is going to come out and it's going to look good. And you're going to keep that customer. but don't Don't get so deep in the grind, though, that you have blinders on to, like,
Speaker: the world because you have to be aware that things change and and be ready to pivot and sometimes continuing to grind like in this in a straight line is really just digging a hole sometimes you have to pivot because things change and you have to be willing to do that as i say yeah yeah it's a great partnership yeah he's like hey you're you're a horse running the track like to kind of take a step back, see what's going on, give yourself some grace here and there. So it's been having him in my corner. That's awesome. Being able to kind of pull the reins back a little bit and be like, Avery, we got to take step back and assess and pivot, like you said. So it's been good. It's been really good to have that. Owen's really good about that as well. He's like...
Speaker: Hey, I don't think that that bolt's coming undone today. We've been here for 30 minutes. It's probably time to move on. Yeah, and you got veins popping out your neck, man. Let's move on. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Do you guys do landscape maintenance too? Meaning? Like just general like you know shrub cleanup, trimmings, mulch. Okay. Yeah. That was one thing when you brought up the subscription model. Made me think, like for whatever reason, a lot of the places we've used at our our property, I feel like I have to always ask. for that even though like the expectation is set in the very beginning of the year like i don't want to do any of this stuff like you know if if there needs to be mulch mulch it if there needs to be a trimming done do it when it's right um if weasney pulled like don't make me call you i feel like that could easily probably be built into that model as well it's just like tell us what you want in the spring if you want two trimmings if you want mulch done once or you want done twice like build all that in and and when we're there
Speaker: We'll take a look. If it needs done, we'll either do it then or if it's bigger than that, then we'll send the crew, you know, on a rain day or an off day and we'll knock it out. but And there is a market for a really good irrigation company.
Speaker: There is locally, by the way. Yeah, very good market for that. yeah No, and like you said, that's one thing that I really like about our subscription model as well is we're at the customer's house on a week-to-week basis. And so I'm looking around, I'm like, okay, what would I be doing if this was my house? I see that shrub. That is a topiary shrub and it looks beautiful, but it's just overgrown and you can't even see the spiral that's going on in it. yeah Well, I'm going to go ahead, talk to the customer. I like to keep that line communication open and be like, hey, I see that this shrub needs needs to be trimmed up. that something you'd be interested in?
Speaker: Get the quote over that night. Most the time, yeah. Yeah, I'll bring the tools next visit. Whenever I'm here next week, take care of that and then keep it going. Do you do a video walk around on first day on the job? Yeah, yeah. that's something that St. John's been doing a really good job about. And that way too, we have a video to where whenever we come together at the end of the day, be like, hey, this is the property that I checked out today. What do you guys think? And we're able to break that down. And we also have a drone that Owen takes up and nice so for some different jobs and whatnot like we have a job that we're checking out soon and they want a blueprint i was like man we should really take our drone up get a snapshot and then be able to take measurements incorporate that and use software be able to really cat that out yeah them a professional blueprint that'd be awesome yeah that's something i'd like to get into as well yeah yeah okay yeah well the last question i have because i think how long we no one where we at
Speaker: Yeah, so it's about that time. One thing I want to do, so i had a guest on, don't know, it aired last week, I believe, but kind of similar to you guys, young, getting started. One thing I thought would be cool would be to, like, have you guys back in 100 episodes, you know, and then just at that point say, hey, last time we talked, this is where you were. You know, 100 episodes is probably about a year and a half away, two years away. Okay.
Speaker: If that happens, where do you want to be?
Speaker: Yeah, I definitely want to have crews out in the field. yeah I'd like to be in that situation to where we we have some operation running closer to home. With me having a daughter, I'd like to have some operation running in the Creep Corps area. okay And so that could be two days a week. you know Like, hey, we're going to service the Metro East on you know Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We're going to pop over Creep Corps Thursday, Friday. Something like that. So I'd like to have...
Speaker: Action going on in Illinois and Missouri. And again, it doesn't have to be too big. There there are some serious competitors coming out of the St. market. Oh, there is, yeah. Like focal point. Yes. yep And i have a lot of respect for those companies because I know that they had to have started.
Speaker: at ground zero where we're at. yeah They have to put a lot of work into it. and They have good systems in place. yeah But yeah, I would say that that would be the main one is have crews out taking care of mowing. And I just don't want to lose the touch point with the customers either. I want to be able to come back on that podcast yeah and say, hey, I still have a really good relationship with every customer and we keep tabs on what's going on yeah and our crew is well taken care of and have a really good culture. That is faith based kind of, yeah I'm really glad that they got brought up in this podcast. Yeah. really yeah
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, it should be part of it. Honestly, if if you're building the company and you're saying you have all these core values, If you're faith oriented, that is a core value. So I feel like, can you force it on people? No. But can you make it a part of it?
Speaker: Absolutely. Yeah. Kudos to those that have done it, and but i don't even see how it's possible running a business without God in your corner. Because seriously, there's been times, again, we're a small business. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Go to sleep on Friday. Don't even know what you're doing on Monday. Pray on that. Next thing you know, booked up for two weeks on Monday. thanks I don't know where that came from, but yeah, I kind of do. yeah yeah yeah so it's been huge Yeah. That's something we always do over our contracts before we submit them. Yeah. Yeah. We've always prayed over them. Yep.
Speaker: So it seems kind of small, at the same time. But there's been some where the door is closed and I ah wonder why, then I'm like, you know what, I just gotta leave it to God. Something something was not gonna be right there. so you You mentioned Focal Point.
Speaker: That was like the first one that came to mind, why? We drive by there every day. Okay. We drive by there every day. I'm not even in your line of work, and if I had to name a number one in the area, that's it. Oh, for sure. Yeah. yeah I mean, i I keep an eye on them. Yeah. yeah they They look professional when they roll up. The reason we didn't go with them was, we can talk about that later, um but um they stand out. They do. They stand out because of their the way they present themselves. All their crews present themselves the same way, and they're
Speaker: yeah Yeah, I've always been impressed. um So they do the landscape maintenance at part of the golf course near where we live. And like no matter, and we've lived there for seven years.
Speaker: every time the truck is clean, ye every piece of equipment is painted the exact same colors. Their uniforms are always look great. Again, same colors. Like it's so much different than what I see out there most of the time. Like it just looks professional, yeah yeah you know, and it's, and it's awesome to see that. And,
Speaker: And I don't know how big they are. They've got to be probably the largest, I think, in the Metro. Definitely a big regional player as well. of but So, guys, ah wrapping up here, but forgot to ask the question early on. Where can people find you, follow you?
Speaker: Where are they going? ah You can find us on Facebook, VIP Outdoors Inc. On our website, www.vip-outdoors.com. TikTok, Instagram, it's all the same. Social media handles. Okay. And the website's separate.
Speaker: Very nice. Well, you guys have your final thoughts, final words. No, just big thanks for having us out. I look forward to episode 190. There you go. Yeah, I really do. Yeah, that was a thought. I think Ali's kind of brought it up in my, that's a good idea. like that a lot, actually. I like, wow, that's that's pretty cool because because it makes you reflect and just think ahead a little bit. Like, where do I want to be? Yeah, it'd be cool to look back and say, hey, this is this is this is where we came since that episode two years ago. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: But guys, if you like this podcast, please do share it. And I want to ask Avery and Owen to share it as well. so And don't forget, we do have a private Facebook group. So if you guys are wondering, like, hey, how do I find a mentor? Or how can I ask some questions about this struggle that I'm going through? That private Facebook group is the first place to start. So join it.
Speaker: Follow these guys. And thank you for joining in. Catch next time. Bye.
