An Honest Conversation with a 25 Year Old Business Owner

Recently, I was on the turnaround show, and I went and visited a business owner that's doing about $150,000 in annual revenue, but was more interested in doing TikTok and YouTube videos than actually growing his lawn care business. So I'm going to play a clip from that turnaround show. The full video is down in the description, but it's just a short clip of the turnaround show. And then I want to expound on the parable of the talents and what it means for you and your business and why. Focusing on what's been given to you and then compounding that will usually yield better results than focusing on new, shiny things. Who cares?

You have this, and let's focus on that because you know what to do.

That's true.

Execution is what makes you money. Ideas wear the dime a dozen.

They're not wrong.

So the ideas that you get from that is fun and exciting, and you're an ideas guy.

I get it.

You're inspirational, you're motivational. You want to get out there. You want to be a natural leader. I get it. But if you can lock in on the thing that's working and not get distracted, and to use the words of Alex, do more and better instead of new, that's what will get you to this size of business where you can go do other things comfortably with a wife and kids.

That's true.

Because you're not gonna afford a wife and kids as it currently stands.

That is very true.

It costs a little bit more.

You're not wrong. You're not wrong.

Right, man, it's beautiful. I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

Because this is the thing, Eric, you have won the game of life because you're already content.

I am, man. I am. Because like I told you, man, you just gotta. I told you, bro, there has been moments where I didn't think I was gonna make it out, you know, I mean, there's been tears shed where I'm like, what's going on? But then God, you know, when God gave me this, that's where I learned. He clicked in my head where I'm like, man, like, God really does give you lessons. And these lessons, even though they're bad moments, you learn from them. And from those moments, you learn to be happy.

Yeah.

You know, and that's where I am right now. Like, you're not wrong.

Like, I agree. And here's the thing. God has given you this. I agree. But the same way that he expected return from the. In the parable of the talents he gave 11 talent, 13 talents. 15 talents. He's giving you talents. He expects a return on that. And right now we are spinning our wheels, getting distracted. Instead of just locking in on the talents, he's given us this business and getting them and maximizing the return from this. Like, you know the parable of the talents, right in the Bible, where the master was like, okay, you get one talent, you get three talents, you get five talents. I'm going to be gone for a couple years. When I come back, I want you to take care of those things while I'm away. He comes back two years later. The guy with five talents now has 10 talents. He's like, very good. The guy with three talents, he now has six talents. They went and did something. They started a business. They did something with the talent that was given to them from the master.

And then their guy with the one

talent went out and buried it in the backyard because he was afraid that, like, well, this master might come back and he'll rebuke me if I lose it, if I go try to start a business or do something with it.

And.

And then he came back and brought the guy. He's like, here's my one talent.

He's like, what did you do with it?

Like, I gave that to you. Why don't I get return? Why didn't it become two talents? And so he's given you a lot. I agree with that. And it's one thing to be thankful that the master gave you a talent. It's another thing to just go bury it and then go get distracted with other stuff.

Smart, man. I love that.

That was a good way to break it down, man.

And so, like, if you believe that God has given you a talent, which I believe that he has given you all of this, which is so much more above than what your family has gotten, what you've had in the past. Now he's looking at you and saying, I expect you to focus on this and bring a return back on this, which comes in the form of being. Being able to have a family, be able to have kids, raise them the way they should be, be able to give back to your community and to your church and to your family that you love. That's a return on the talents he's given you and the things that he's given you.

And you're a steward of this.

Not being on TikTok, not being a soccer star, you're a steward of this business.

Now, regardless of whether or not you're religious and you Know what that parable is from the Bible? I want to talk about the talents that we've all been given because all of us have something and you're like, no, I haven't been given a lot of talents. I'm young, or I don't have a lot of, or I don't have a lot of connections, or my family wasn't entrepreneurs, I don't have a lot of experience in the industry. We still all have time. And ultimately, when it comes to the time that we have here on earth, we've all have. We have three things we have to be good stewards of. And in the Bible, it talks about these, these three servants as stewards of the master's talents or the resources that were given to them. And ultimately, we all have three resources. We have time, we have money, and we have relationships. And most of the time, when I see people give excuses as to why they're not succeeding, they give excuse as to not having one of those three things. So say I don't have money and you need money to make money. They say, I don't have the connections, I don't know the people. I wasn't brought up in entrepreneurship. My family didn't have. They weren't entrepreneurs, they weren't business owners. That's relationships. Or they complain about the fact that they don't have the time. And I find very, very infrequently that anyone doesn't have one of those three things. Now there are people that have time, they have money, and they've been given a lot of resources. And certainly those would be kind of like the equivalent of the servant that had five talents. A lot is expected of them. In the Bible, it talks about how who much is given, much is required. That would be the person that has time, they have the relationships, and they have the resources given to them. But all of us have at least one of those three resources, and that is time. And so if you're young, if you're 16, 17, 18 years old, you don't have a family, you don't have dependence, you can go knock on doors and put out door hangers and hold a sign next to the road about your services, if you're trying to grow your business, we can all find something to complain about if we don't have one of those three things, time, resources, or relationships. But ultimately all of us have at least one of them. And the goal is to double down and focus on getting the most return for what we do have. The master wasn't looking for a 10x he was just looking for, hey, can I get something in return for what's been given to me? I think so many of us get so wrapped up in the idea that we need the money to buy the truck or the equipment we to need when reality to get the customer, the

only thing we really need to do

is talk to them. The only thing we need to do is expend the time that we have. And so if you're 16, 17, 18 years old, you have way more time than you will down the road when you have a family and kids and you've got to take care of a lot of dependents and so use the time that you have.

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Maybe you have kids and you have a family and you have dependents. Well now you probably have more connections, you have more relationships, you know more people and you can leverage those to get referrals, to be open up doors, to get other people to be able to give you reviews about your product or service and be able, able to scale much faster. But I find so many of us of those three resources, we have one and we bury it. And so instead of spending time door knocking, we just sit behind a computer, we scroll doom scroll on TikTok or on Instagram. We just are waiting for the customer to show up. That's the equivalent of just burying the talent and not getting a return on what's been given to you. And if you actually believe that to whom much is given, much is required, you will be considered a untrustworthy steward or an untrustworthy servant of what's been given to you. And we've all been given time here on this Earth Week. At the Augusta Nation conference, one of the owners talked about using everything that is like any car that's been dealt to you. Use it.

Maybe you're 12 years old like Bryson Turner, with a wide open schedule and you can work your butt off. Maybe you have a full time job and you don't need to pull a penny from the business and you can roll everything back in. Maybe you Got a whole fleet of adult kids that can work in the business. Maybe you got a family member that is willing to lend you money. Don't feel bad about whatever your competitive advantage is. Leverage it, use it, and don't be

ashamed of the talents that you do have. For him, he actually has a 9 to 5 job at the Pentagon in the cybersecurity unit. And he still works full time in his 9 to 5 while having a business that is over $300,000 in annual revenue. And he uses that to his advantage because he doesn't need to take money out of the business because he has a 9 to 5 for the same person that would complain and say, hey, I got a 9 to 5, I

can't grow the business.

He looks at that talent that as that leverage, as the ability to be able to use that thing that's been given to him as the fact that he can now scale the business and not need to take a paycheck. And many times I find the thing that people look as a disability or as a handicap as to why they can't grow the business is actually the exact thing that with the right perspective, they could use it to be able to scale and have a unique advantage.

The entire reason that I'm up here is because I have a huge handicap. And that is my full time job. 40 hours a week, I go to the Pentagon, I work cybersecurity stuff. I kind of lose my mind doing it, but it's a great job. So I'm not about to get rid of that handicap anytime soon. And there's a lot of handicaps that you guys probably have that you're not about to get rid of either. The handicap could look like maybe you're young and you don't have a ton of money. Maybe you're young and maybe the customers don't take you as seriously. Maybe it's hard for you to manage employees. The list is endless. We're not perfect, but we spent the vast majority this year taking whatever little pieces of advantage that we could scrape up and just maximize it as much as we possibly can.

Whether it be the fact that you don't have any resources, you have any money, you don't have the ability to be able to have connections to. You have time, use it. Maybe you don't have time because you have family and you have other dependents, you have people that you got to take care of, but you have a 9 to 5 that you can pour that money back into the business and not need a pool paycheck. For the first year or two, maybe your family's connected at school or at church and you can get reviews and referrals and be able to spread word of mouth. Use whatever you have. The master wasn't looking for a certain type of return. He was actually looking for effort. He was looking for the steward and the servant that would simply take what was given to them and seek out return. Seek out return on investment. And if you believe that you've been given time here on this earth, if you've been given some level of resources and some level of relationships, you are a steward of them. So I encourage you as we head into spring rush, instead of looking for all the reasons why you won't win, and the economy and the labor market and things are stacked against you and everyone's chucking a truck around you and prices are low and you can't get a website because you don't have money, you don't have the money for advertising. You have all these excuses. Instead of looking to those things, look for the one talent, the one thing that you do have, and just mine it for all it's worth. Go out and find a return on it. If it's time, go out door knocking, do door hangers. If you have relationships, look for reviews, referrals and word of mouth. If you have money, go figure out how to do ads and be able to do Facebook ads and Google Ads and find an agency. Use whatever you have in your hand. Because to whom much is given, much is required. We'll see ya.