From Rehab Center to Lawn Care Business Owner! (Hiring Recovering Addicts)

Hey everyone, it's Mike Andes. Another episode of Roundup. Today we're going to be interviewing Cody and a very interesting story of how he came through addiction, became sober and has now built his business. Going from a cash only business to actually making it legitimate, being able to build credit and get financing.

In order to, to do this, you had to have all your taxes up to date, you had to have a registered business, you had to have insurance and $5,000 worth of stuff broke.

It's going to be a great episode for anyone that's gone through something very hard in their life, whether it be an addiction and a breakup. And you got to re. Kind of reset the business, your life and your mindset. Here we go.

Let's go. Thank. Thanks for coming on, Cody. I really appreciate it. Could you kind of kick things off by explaining what got you into lawn care? I really want to talk about your unique story of, you know, starting the business and how you used it really to recover and really inspire hopefully other people that potentially might be in that same place. Can you talk about kind of where you came from and what got you into lawn care?

Yeah, so it, I mean it's, it's quite, quite a story, but kind of started a couple years ago. My best friend was building a house and his neighbor, he had a little lawn care business. So, so I kind of got the idea there and I helped help frame the house and do some, do some work and a trade off to get a use zero turnout of the deal. And then things just weren't still in my. I wasn't going anywhere really. So I ended up selling my house and entering into a rehabilitation center. Just try to get a fresh start. And I came out of there. I knew I had a, had a zero turn and I had an SUV and a trailer and I moved, moved cities. I moved about two hours from where I was located most of my life and, and just kind of thought with my background, it's kind of with spotty, spotty jobs in between over the years, let's just try to do something on my own and, and it'll give me time to focus on myself plus and kind of pick my hours. I thought at first anyway, until it got growing and, and yeah, so that's kind of how it started.

What would you say to someone that is kind of coming from that same situation in terms of coming out of rehab, obviously is difficult to find a lot of times work. Was it difficult from a business standpoint though, setting up everything and you know, getting licensing, a bank account, things like that. And how did you deal with any of those obstacles?

Yeah, it was extremely hard. It, But I figured I had kind of come. Conquered the biggest battle in life. So I had, I had, I had momentum I guess behind me. I was, I was ready to take on the world. I wasn't going to just, just live to be sober. I was going to live my life and build something. But, but it was, and it still is extremely hard. The first, the first, the first full season of lawn care I pretty much did for cash, which, which hurts now because I can't. I have a hard time getting equipment, financing it, but it was what I had to do and I was able to buy a lot of equipment, cash use stuff off, off different marketplaces and, and things like that. So it, it had its benefits and it didn't, it's making it harder now that I'm scaling really quickly. But I mean you have to do what you have to do. You just, you just got to go for it. Just don't just keep calling people, keep, keep going to different banks. If this bank won't work for you, the next one will and, and have a support system that believes in you.

So 2020, you kind of ran it more on a cash basis. 2021, you started to actually run it legitimately. What were some of the steps that, what was the difference? Like obviously bank account, you get your entity structure, you start taking credit cards, things like that. But what were some of the things that you kind of were waiting in that period for, to happen for you could, so you could actually make it a legitimate company and do things, you know, above board?

Yeah. So I, it was kind of just figuring out myself like to, to, to make sure that's what I wanted to do. That it wasn't just I wasn't going to slip up again like many times in the past and, and everything like that. And I really wasn't. I mean we, we did good, we did good with the cash at first. But then I, I was still. I had 100, 110 different ideas going through my head. I wanted to do a million services and I wanted to do this, that, and it would change daily.

And then I took a business course. I got accepted into a business course last, I think it was January of 20 or 2021. Sorry. And I built like a 1520 page business plan. I ended up, it was almost like a competition and I, and I was successful in it and I, and I won the five thousand dollar grant. But in order to, to do this you had to have all Your taxes up to date. You had to have a registered business, you had to have insurance and, and things like that. So it was kind of like if you're going to do it, you got to do it now. So I just, I jumped in once again. Once again. And, and then now it's. Now I'm more obsessed with the business behind it than I am the actual cutting of grass and the. It's the business side of it that really interests me.

What would you say to someone that is potentially in that same situation? Maybe it's an addiction or something there you just even overcoming like a personal situation that they've gone through breakup, whatever it might be, and they're trying to come back and it's, it's a confidence issue of whether or not they're gonna be able to do it because they failed in the past.

Hey, what's up guys? Hope you're enjoying the episode.

So far.

We're gonna hear more from Cody about how he was able to turn his life around by starting a business. But before that, if you guys are having trouble with the financials and making your business legit, check out lawn care bookkeeper.com. they can handle payroll and bookkeeping services for you. It can totally change your business leg and take the headache out of knowing your numbers. So check that out. It's lawn care bookkeeper.com and make sure you stick around for the rest of the episode. We're going to hear how Cody just started his brand new facility and is expanding his local business. So let's get back into the rest of the episode.

What was the difference maker now versus times in the past you might have tried to be sober or start other things or do other jobs. Was there something that kind of unlocked that or made it this. Like this was the time that it start to really stick?

I don't know. Because yeah, there was a ton. I've tried certain other businesses and things like that. Every, everything I would, I would always end up. End up failing at some. Some way or another due to addiction. But it, I don't know what really stuck. I think it was just, you gotta decide now or never. And, and honestly, you, as, as a, as an addict, you, you want that instant gratification. And I was finding I was getting that same rush, that same high, I guess you could call it. When I would land a new account, when I would get a call to go look at a job, I was, I was getting that, that rush and it was taking away from any other distractions in my life, like negative distractions. And I kind of used it, used it to my advantage. I wasn't looking to fill any other voids. I was. You know, you can look at anything as instant gratification until you start to get your feet on the ground and realize it's not all about instant gratification, but sometimes you gotta just take it when you can take it. But that was, for me, it's a very fast moving company or business to even be in industry. So it kind of, it has a lot of similarities, as weird as that may sound.

So last year, from April to December, you kind of made things legitimate. You did over 140,000 in revenue, growing those pretty substantially. Now heading into 2022, you have a couple shop bays, you have a couple more trailers, trucks. You're getting some employees and you're also selling materials. Talk us through what that shop space looks like and kind of what your decision was in terms of selling those materials now from that shop space.

Yeah, so we're actually just in the. Just as of yesterday, we started moving, moving locations. We got 1500 square feet indoor space and maybe an acre or so outdoor. There's a couple other businesses in the, in the facility, but we have, we have the largest space. So we're going to. I did want to jump in and, and have an investor and start a landscape supply retail side as well as do the lawn and landscaping. But it just, the more I thought about it wasn't the right move. So we're just going to start small, keep our own materials or as much as we can for our own jobs. Maybe if a client says, hey, we need this, we can come and deliver it, potentially sell it by the bags. There's high profit margins and selling smaller amounts by the bag. Put them on pallets in front. We're in a, we're in a good location to. We have cameras. Like, we could really keep the overhead down and almost just set stuff out front of the shop on pallets. Leave your, leave your money or we'll send you an invoice. Like figure out something there, but just more of a different revenue stream with all the COVID money coming to a halt here in Canada, people may not want to pay for stuff to be done, but they may still want it done if they can do it themselves. And I can have my hands in both, both worlds. I think it'll, it'll help get us through this, this potentially tough time as.

You'Ve been kind of growing the business even the past year or so. And when there's obviously times when it's difficult and it seems like, you know, potentially the business is struggling or job goes south or employee leaves and you kind of feel a temptation or something that, like, hey, or fear that you're going to go back into your old ways. What do you kind of do to negate that or combat that and realize that, hey, like, this is a new chapter in my life. I'm not going back to what I used to be doing and this is like what I'm doing and I'm not going back.

Yeah. And that happens a lot. It really does. There's, there's, there's nothing for certain in life really, but I just kind of think even my. When I'm having a horrible day and $5,000 worth of stuff broke and we maybe lost a client or whatever, like, like things happen, I just tell myself it's still not as bad. My worst day now isn't even close to my worst day two years ago. Like, it's still, it's still fun. I just, you just gotta look at it from a different way. Like you, you just gotta keep moving forward and you just gotta tell yourself, I, I already did it. I, I made it through Suri, or not made it through, but got silver, which sometimes can be the hardest, hardest thing somebody will ever do. But. So, so you just gotta keep reminding yourself you've already conquered one huge mountain in life. Like this other stuff is. It's, it's just, it is what it is. You'll get through it. It's not life threatening.

Totally. And your, your perspective on. Even in hiring employees, have you taken a different look at it since you came from that environment and now you might have a little bit more perspective on someone trying to find a job, struggling to kind of make that change. And have you, have you utilized that in some way to actually tap into a market for finding employees as otherwise, you know, obviously very tough to find employees right now. Have you done that at all? And would there be any words for someone that, like myself, who doesn't have that kind, but would like to help someone, like to give them a second chance, but potentially might need some words of caution so they don't know, mess something up?

Yeah, it's. That was kind of the original plan was it was to build something where I could give people the opportunity for a second, third, fourth chance even. And it's hard. It's. You got to be very established and you've got to be successful before you can help somebody else. So, so I kind of pumped the brakes on that a little bit. But, but we are still two, two of the people we have are three, three, four years in recovery. I've reached out to different employment programs and different rehabilitation places trying to offer work programs for them. It's, it's starting to work itself out. But you, you just got to be careful. You can't put too much on somebody when they're in a vulnerable state. Only certain, like certain people can hack at certain camp. But you don't want to jeopardize, you don't want to jeopardize them for your business. Like you got to meet people, make sure they're in the right frame of mind, kind of be a little more flexible with hours. But, but I do find, personally I find they, they're usually around year two, three of somebody in, in rehabilitation. They're, they're loyal and they're, they're driven and they are looking to succeed. Like their, their accountability. They had to be so accountable to get sober that they, they bring that to, to work every day. And, and I've had a lot of success with those guys and myself. So that's the biggest thing. You just got to read the person and don't, don't give them too much, too much on their plate.

What's kind of the goal for 2022 for the business? Are you, is it a growth number? Obviously you moving in a new location, got more trucks, employees coming down the pipe. What's sort of the goal for you in 2022 now being the first full a year where you are doing things legitimately and running the business appropriately?

Yeah, we're, we have, we have some big goals we're hoping to do. I'm hoping around 245 to, to 280 in. In sales, hopefully keep around a 4050 profit margin. We're, we're quoting a lot of commercial lawn care. I think that that's if we can get a couple two year contracts that'll kind of get us through the third, fourth year of, of starting a new business. It'll be easier to get, get employees. You have the, you have the guarantee of the work. We've invested in a lot of landscape equipment as well. So, so we're able to, to take on a lot larger scale landscape jobs. Large large for us. So yeah, we, we, we have some big goals. We're hoping to at least double in in s for revenue, which also means equipment as well. So we're looking at purchasing even more, more zero turns, more trucks. But, but as we get the contracts, that's when we'll do it. We're not. We're not gonna go after any. Any equipment just yet.

Very cool. Awesome. If anyone wants to reach out to you, either virtually or even locally, where can they reach out to you, Cody?

My email is distinctcody gmail.com and our website is www.distinctlawnworks.com. so they can reach out there. There's a messaging service through there as well, so.

Yeah. Awesome. Cody, I really appreciate you coming on, brother. You have a great day.

Awesome. Thank you. You too.

Hey, everyone, I hope that episode of Roundup was helpful. If you want to watch another Roundup episode, check out this video here where I talk to another landscape business owner and they talk about how they use satellite imaging to do prices over the phone. So. So they don't have to go to the property, meet the client and do all the estimates in person. Check it out here.