How to Take Your Lawn Care Business to the Next Level

Hey everyone, it's Mike over@landscapebusinesscourse.com today. I have some really special announcements and then we're going to talk about how you can get your lawn care landscaping business to the next level. And I get so many questions coming in every single day, but I'd say a majority of them are really, if you boil it down to it, this is what they're asking, like, how do I get to the next level? I'm at 100,000 a year. How do I get to that half million dollar marker? Or I'm at $600,000 a year, I have eight employees. How do I get to that million dollar marker? All they're asking is how do I get to the next level? So regardless of where you're at today, whether you're just starting, you have two or three employees, you have a whole bunch of employees, and you have a big business. Regardless of where you're at today, you're probably asking yourself the question, how do I get to the next level? And I want to answer that today. Before we jump into that though, I want to say a couple things, a couple announcements. Number one is the conference is coming up and it's almost registration's going to be closing in about one week. So it's January 17th, 18th and 19th that we're holding this event. Go to landscapebusinesscourse.com conference for more details. I want to show you what the conference schedule is looking like right now. We've already printed this out. This is the conference schedule. You can see here. Open this up for you. Everything that's happening over on Thursday and then over on Friday, and then on the last day is Saturday. So on Thursday between 2 and 5 o' clock is going to be registration and then from 5 to 5:45, we're going to be. I'll be doing a keynote about what holds you back. And then we're going to introductions, so introducing yourselves to all the different landscapers and business owners that are there. And then we'll finish the first evening off with another keynote about never fearing change. We're going to talk about the different changes in our industry, whether it be technology, labor, different aspects of how to advertise online, digital, print, etc. All the changes that are happening. So we're going to be talking about how you can never have to fear those things if you adapt and actually use them as a catalyst for your growth. On Friday, we're going to start off the morning. It's going to be a chino on why this Internet thing matters, we're going to be talking about inbound marketing, content marketing and what you can be doing on your website to really drive traffic via marketing without spending a whole bunch of money on ads. So that's why this Internet thing matters. We're going to be talking about that financial planning workshop is going to be really great. From 10 to 12 on Friday morning, we're going to be doing everything from your master plan for your business to your five year plan and figuring out the financial steps you have to do in order to get to those places. Really digging deep in the next 12 months. So. So really digging deep into 2019. We're going to go very in detail making an action list for 2019. After lunch we're going to go to the marketing workshop. We're going to boil down your marketing. We're going to go over a whole bunch of marketing things that are improved, that have really worked, that I've been trying out. We're going to go very deep into that and I think this one's going to take a lot of people by surprise. Just how in detail we're going to get on that. That afternoon we are going to keynote on how to grow during a recession. It's an episode that I posted a couple weeks ago just with kind of, kind of a 30,000 foot view. We're going to very deep into this how you can actually grow when the next recession comes. So whether that be this year or next year or whenever, five years, who knows when that happens, I want you to be prepared to actually grow and capitalize on the opportunity instead of being on your heels. That Friday evening, during that evening we are going to actually have the live viewing of Zero Turn the episode two that is of a company called Mastercuts that we did a film for and their company is doing about three quarters of a million dollars in revenue and they have about eight, 10 employees. And you're gonna see that live viewing, we're gonna watch that video together. The episode on Saturday, the last day of the conference. We're gonna start the day off with creating a world class team. We're going to talk about how to do that and exactly the steps as we go into the hiring and the team workshop. In this workshop we are going to actually have you perform interviews, we are going to do mock interviews, we are going to do how to do career fair. I am going to show you exactly how we do our career fair. And then in the afternoon we are going to do a project management workshop. We are actually going to go out and Kind of do a bit of a field trip, go out and do an estimate on commercial grounds. Estimate. We're going to come back together, see what your numbers are at. I think people are going to learn a lot from that. That afternoon of the last day, we are going to do a keynote on customer experience.

Customer experience is something we've really, really been fanatical about in our company the past year. All about customer experience from the estimating standpoint, marketing standpoint, website design, right down to the type of business card you're using. We're going to be talking about customer experience and we do have a special announcement. I'm waiting on the conference to share that with you. That's going to be a lot of fun. And then the last part of the evening of the last day, there's going to be closing comments and we're going to do a live Q and A. You'll be able to ask your questions throughout each workshop to me personally. Also, I'll be there early morning into the wee hours of the morning. Throughout the night, I'll be staying at the Motel Holiday Inn Conference center that we are having this at. And so if you have questions, you can talk to me personally. But then on that last day, we're going to put a couple hours aside to just ask live Q and A and really make sure that when you leave this conference, you can take that action list, take that game plan for 2019 and implement it and get all your questions answered. So that's the schedule. And then also I am creating right now is the handbook and the workbook. So the handouts and the workbook, we're creating that right now. This is going to be a binder that you can take home. Inside of it is all the different handouts that we will be having throughout the entire conference. So whether it be the marketing workshop or the hiring workshop or the financial planning workshop, throughout all of those there will be handouts. There will be things you need to fill in. And when you leave the conference, this is going to be your game plan. You will be able to take this home for 2019 and beyond and really build your business and take it to the next level. So. So if you haven't already, I got an extension from the hotel for getting nights. So we have eight more spots to fill and they said we can use those. Eight more spots can get the discount on their stay at the hotel per night. So go to landscapevinnscourse.com, sign up and then you'll see a link there for discounted pricing to stay at this hotel. It's a beautiful hotel. It was built less than a year ago, brand spanking new and very, very cost effective. And with the discount they're giving us, giving to us, it's absolutely, you can't beat it. So definitely go there. Landscapebusinesscourse.com I can't wait to see you there at the conference. I promise you it's going to be something that you will look back at in a year and really, really, really identify that as the turning point for your business. And so.

That'S the first announcement I want to share was landscapebusinesscourse.com Conference sign up for Landscape Summit. The conference is starting. Just a couple more days. Sign up today before it's too late. There's special deals on there for you. Last announcement before we jump into today's show, which I know I'm going on and on, but this is more of an announcements type episode anyways. Is Facebook Group. I've created a Facebook group just right now as I speak. There's no one on it. I just created it. It's called Landscape Business Course. Go into Facebook, go to groups and just search Landscape Business Course. If you are on YouTube or on Facebook. In the description I'm going to have a link. Also I'm going to have the link on podcast, itunes, wherever you're listening. In the description I'm going to have a link to the group as well. Make sure you jump in on that, especially if you're coming to the conference because we'll be able to have dialogue throughout the entire conference with other members and other attendees. But if you're just a listener or you've watched the show for a long time, definitely go to the Facebook group, check in there. You'll be able to ask me questions and have a lot more open dialogue. I do a lot of emails, I do a lot of phone calls, but I'm usually quite a ways back behind on getting to all those. So having this Facebook group will be great because you'll be able to get other input from other business owners, not just myself. And then I can jump in there and answer a bunch of those when I get the chance and get a lot more questions answered that way. So go to Facebook groups and then just search Landscape Business Course and I will be on there as much as I possibly can. So make sure you do that. So today I just wanted to talk about what is going to get your business to the next level and it really ties into the fact that we are coming right into the Conference Landscape summit in just a couple weeks and just the value that I think education and educating yourself and learning brings to the table. So I really, truly believe that in our industry and for so many business owners at large, even on Business Bootcamp podcast, when I have so many other different industries besides lawn care and landscaping.

The big thing that holds people back is the way they've been doing things for so long is what prevents them from getting to the next level. Today we're talking about how you get to the next level and information and education. Education is one of the biggest things that I feel holds people back. And I don't mean education in terms of math or science or English or keyboarding or whatever technology. I'm talking about education. When it comes to business, whether it be marketing, financials, they're industry related. Business learning, that's what I'm talking about. The reason I'm talking about this today is we just finished at our company going to a seminar. The seminar was two days long. It was for business, for landscape business owners. And traditionally that's only the people that go there are the landscape business owners. I decided to take my entire team. So this cost us several thousand dollars because I did paid training. They all got paid while they were sitting in the seminar. And then obviously it cost like $125 per person to go to this seminar. And so I paid several thousand dollars to get my team to go to the seminar where 95% of the content was for owners of the business. Why did I do that? Because I feel like to get our business to the next level, I need all the people that work for me to be thinking like owners. In order for me to think that they are going to think like owners, I need to give them the education and the knowledge and the information that I have. And then in order for our company to get to the next level, they have to get to the next level in their mindset. They have to get to the next level in their understanding of the business. They have to get to the next level of understanding the numbers. What goes into the marketing, what goes into the hiring process and the team and the compensation packages. All the things we talked about at the conference was for business owners at the seminars two day event last week. Really nice place. It was paid training for my whole team. And even people who are new to our company haven't even actually started working, but are starting in February. We invited them too. I want them to learn exactly all the information that I have in my mind. That because in order for our company to get to the next level, there's gotta be an implementation of information, new ways of doing things, creative ways of looking at problems and challenges. And from that conference or the seminar, we've had already a bunch of changes that we've come up with. And what's great about it is they, the employees came up with the ideas. They came up with two specific ideas on the second day that's gonna increase our efficiency. And we had a really good debate about our pricing strategy for our customers. We have a really good debate about compensation package within the company, bonuses and things like that. And even coming into next week, we're going to still have these conversations and debating ways that we're doing things right now. Is our compensation package actually rewarding performance and not just how long people stay with us? Are we having the most efficient way of fueling our trucks, cleaning the trucks, how do we reduce overtime? And how do we think about taking steps from a saw to the brick pile instead of just moving the saw to the brick pile? Like all these things that they learned at the conference, at the seminar two day event, I spent thousands of dollars to pay them to be there, pay the seminar people, the organizers, for us all to be there. And I kind of made it really. I was making a statement too to all our competitors that this is how we should in our industry, this is what we should do. We should bring our whole team, we should bring everyone that works for us. Some people aren't going to be cut out from classroom learning in a Semin environment. And so we let them stay at the shop and do work around the shop and get things ready and the tools and equipment kind of tuned up. But for everyone that wanted to be there, they were there and present. And like I said, 95% of that information was for owners. But now they'll be able to get how I have to think about the company every single day.

Literally even since then, we've already seen several things where they come up with ideas of ways of improving the company or ways for them to grow within the organization. Because they start to see from a business owner's level, business owner's mindset, who is going to get rewarded and who is going to just get enough attention for them to stay on. And so because that's at the conference, at the seminar.

We'Re all talking as owners what we should do within our business. And of course we're talking about how to compensate people who we should be focusing on our superstars and foremen and how all. And so they start to realize okay. That's how an owner thinking. In order for me to get to that level, I need to do X, Y and Z. And they start coming up with creative ways of making the business better, making their role at the company more and more.

Strategic and being able to make it much more effective for the team as a whole. And they really start to look at the business as a whole instead of their very vertical view of just office work or just estimating or just labor or just lawn care. And they start really thinking in a holistic point of view because that's the education, that's the information that was given to them. And that's why I'm holding this conference at Landscape Summit in a couple weeks, is because I've been to conferences many, many times and when I get these conferences.

I don't feel like there is the information and the education is not the priority thing. There's other people trying to sell things, whether it be they're trying to sell packages of advertising or they're trying to sell their website designs and so they might do a great presentation, but behind all that, they're trying to sell you like web design. And you're like, look, I just want the information. And so at this conference I wanted to create something for lawn care and landscape business owners to come to and just get solid information education that is going to get them to the next level. And I really encourage you, if you have a manager, if you have a spouse, if you have an office manager or someone out in the field that you rely on, bring them to the conference. There's quite a few people coming to the conference. They're bringing their second in command or they bring their office manager or they're bringing their spouse. And I highly, highly recommend you to do that. You're going to bring them to the next level. Thereby, if you bring everyone in your organization to the next level in their own understanding of the business, the business is going to go to the next level. If I want to take my company, that's a seven figure company and take it to an eight figure company like we want to do, I have to go to the next level. What is it going to take for me to get from seven figures to eight figures figures, it's going to be the education, the information and the knowledge that I've enforced within the company, within the team and within myself that's going to get me to that next level. And so I really encourage you. We have eight more spots at this conference and I know I've been pitching this a bunch in the past few weeks we just have eight more spots. We're capping at 50 people. So right now we're at 42. We got eight more people. We're going to keep it small, keep it tight. You'll get to know everyone within the conference, be able to interact, get their phone number. You'll be able to talk to me personally. So 50 people all were allowing to come to the event. Eight more spots. I'm pretty sure those are going to fill up pretty fast. So go to landscapebusinesscourse.com conference if you're tired of me talking about the conference, I'm sorry, within a couple weeks, you won't hear about it again. But I promise you this is going to be something that's fantastic for your business. It'll be the greatest ROI for your company ever. And yes, the prices next year is going to have to go up. We aren't making money obviously on $100. So many people have asked why it's not more. They think somehow because low price is not going to be good quality. That's not the fact. Yes, I could have charged $500 for it, $1,000, whatever. But I wanted to get 50 people there, really concentrate, get to know people, see them, create the relationships instead of just having a bunch of people and doing a big talk, a bunch of talks. I'd like to get to know you more, know your businesses, see your numbers and it'll help you one on one. So landscapebusinesscourse.com conference be a part of those last eight spots and don't forget to join the Facebook group link is in the description. Go there and ask me what you want to learn about in your business at the conference, on this podcast, on these videos. What can I do to help you and your business? And I'd love to give you some advice on that group. So check it out today. Landscapebusinesscourse.com.