@JamesSzojka, The Board Room - 002

All right, folks, welcome back. Another episode, C suite unfiltered. This one's a little bit different. So this is a pet project that I wanted to do, and I'm calling this the Boardroom. So we'll do spin off episodes where I have folks that aren't my candies on. And we're gonna call it the boardroom because you're sitting at the C suite table. Boardroom, baby. So I got the guys from Dirt Life, James and Liam. Guys, if you want to give the audience a brief introduction of yourself, if they don't know you, so go for it, guys.

Hey, guys. So, yeah, my name is James. This is Liam right here. This is our Dirt Life channel here on YouTube. We own a lawn care company in Canada called Yard Dogs Lawn Care. We specialize just in fertilizer and weed control. Take care of about 4,500 residential accounts. And we're not the level of knowledge of Mike Annie's, but I promise you we'll bring you the excitement, enthusiasm.

Yeah.

Good to have you, man.

Yeah, thanks for having us on. Yeah, we're really big fans. Like your guys Channel Mike and everyone been watching you guys for a while, and hopefully we can bring some good insight, especially on the chemical fertilizer, weed control side of the business too.

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, no, I'm really thankful you guys are here. Definitely. Everyone, I'll just give them the plug now. Go check out their channel, Dirt Life, like, and subscribe. But, yeah, I'm stoked you guys are here. You said I could pretty much ask you anything, and we were just going to go. Like a true C suite unfiltered episode. I come up with topics. I fire away at Mike, and we'll go from there. So my brief interactions with you guys and limited amount of time I've had to spend with you, you guys have big personalities, and that's a good thing. I love that. And you guys were able to speak at the Mike's most recent LAN landscape summit. And that was a lot of the compliments that you guys got. Like, you were engaging, you're energetic. So I have a question based on that. You have how many employees do you guys have?

So right now we're about 25 employees for the season here.

Cool.

Gotcha. So 25 employees. That's a lot to manage. And we'll kind of get into, like, how you manage that, how you split up kind of your roles and responsibilities. But I want to jump straight into it with being big personalities, being very driven. How do you guys make sure. You don't steamroll your employees.

Good question. So for sure. So I'll answer then.

You can answer.

I mean, I know that there's like, Jordan Pearson. He talks about all these kind of like, different personality traits and all those things there too. And I know that depending on who I talk to, like, obviously what people saw at the landscape summit is us in front of a crowd of 300 people. Yeah. We're going to bring High Level Energy. A podcast like High Level Energy, but I'm talking one on one with someone in the industry and stuff. I'll probably go into a different kind of James mode where I'm just trying to understand you as a person. Like, we're talking like this kind of like that first person date kind of thing. We're having a serious conversation. Like, it's going to be a complete different tone. Like, hey, man, like, so right now we're trying to get these sales numbers. Like, right now I need to see about 100 calls a day from you. Right now we're sitting at that 70. I want to figure out what's going on. How can we increase it by 30 calls a day? You know, like, you change your personality and your demeanor based on the situation.

Yeah. Like, I think tonality is a word I use a lot. And I think that was something, you know, I had to work on a lot as a manager was I had.

Little to no soft skill.

And it was like everything's black and white. You're either right or you're wrong. And like, you. You move forward.

Right.

But some people can't take that. And as a manager or as an owner, in your guys's case, you have to practice that tonality and those soft skills. So, like, Liam, do you ever feel like you come in, like, too high energy to situations or that, like, people react to that well? Because sometimes people also react to, like, high energy managers and owners really well. So how do you think you balance that, Liam?

Yeah, like, I guess kind of what James said, like, yeah, you kind of put on, like, different faces. Like, for girls, I might talk like a different way. For guys are like, my might just kind of be like myself. Right. And then for, like, I might just be, you know, just a bit different as well. It just really depends on, like, who I'm talking to. I. I feel like definitely too, like, I am, I guess, to a degree, high energy. But obviously, too, there is a personality, like, on.

In front of the camera too.

Right. Or when I'm like, presenting in front, like 300 people. Like, I'm going to go hard right. On the day. I'm probably a little bit more subdued, a little like less caffeine. Right. But I think it just depends on like who you're talking to and just it's individual to individual. Some people, like, they don't like the high energy and like the direct tone. They just want somebody just to talk with them and just be empathetic. Right. So it really depends on like who you're talking to basically.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Like you guys said is huge. Like if my wife walks around the house and I hear James, that's. That's one kind of response.

It's like, James, like all these different, same word, different tones. I know what to expect going into the conversation.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that makes sense. So James, you're married. No kids or do you have kids?

I have three kids. Oh, cool.

I wasn't sure. That's awesome, man.

Four year olds, a three year old and a one year old. We're gonna have as many kids as possible.

That's cool, man. That's going on. Liam, what about you? Single, dating. What's that like? Let's just get personal.

So married. Married for three years and then expecting a kid here in two weeks, man.

Very cool. That's exciting. Congrats. Congrats. Very cool, guys. Awesome. So with the kind of the personality side of it and maybe it's just the way you guys present on stage or how you do your content, which I think is fantastic. Do you feel like though, because you are high energy and you guys move really fast and you shared some of that story at Mike Summit about how quickly you moved and grew the business? Do you feel like there were times where maybe you steamrolled an employee or overstepped with an employee or each other and then what did that corrective action look like? Do you guys feel like that's ever happened either between the two of you or with employees?

Yeah, that's good question. I would say like just in general with the business, like we're very like, we love risk, we love the growth. And obviously we saw like in 2022 we were just way too over ambitious. We just steamrolled. We thought we were like basically invincible with like growth and just application, the triple and double whatever.

Right.

And we really got the fast realization of life that like, hey, it's not that easy. So I, I think there's like really like that example that we have to be as, you know, like pushing towards growth and we love risk. But at the end of the day too, we've got to be more conservative. We gotta be more like, okay, let's grow 50 or 100. Not like 400%.

That we work.

Totally.

You know, so, yeah, like, Since. Since that 2022 beat down, I think we've been. Because we thought we are God's gift to lawn care before that. And like, reality check, like, 2023 was an awesome year for us because we still brought the same intensity, energy, but we. We're a little bit more grounded, a little bit more realistic with our goals. And we actually had a conservative goal and budget and we had a ambitious goal in budget. So you shoot for the ambitious, but you make sure for sure that you're going to get the conservative one, because that's how you plan all your expenses and cash flow and st. Yeah. But I think overall, like.

We were.

Definitely way over our head, though.

Like, oh, in 2022, we thought we were going to be at. In one given season, we're going to expand three locations. We're gonna hire, like, like 40. 40 people. 50 people, like customer service and sales. But we didn't know our numbers leak was the biggest issue. It was just wishy washy feelings. And I guess a huge downside of sometimes Liam's and my partnership personalities is that if we can definitely motive each, motivate each other and edge each other and encourage each other, but if it's a bad idea foundation, we're encouraging the wrong idea, like expansion. So just making sure that we're more conscious back when four and I think Wonky.

Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think you guys said a key word there because I. I said that you have, you know, commanding personalities, which is great, but maybe it's just like the confidence. Right. So how do you regulate that self confidence? Right. Like, I. I feel like, is that something you guys have always had? Like, you were. Were you guys, like, the class clowns growing up? Were prom king or like, whatever? Or were you guys, like, was that a skill you've developed over time and since you've developed it now, you have to scale it and. And track that confidence. Like, what's that look like for you guys?

Yeah, I. For me, it's. I was always, honestly, like, a very quiet person growing up.

Okay.

Yeah.

I would never really want to raise. And even quite frankly, like, this day, like, I am still, like, when. Before I did that presentation, man, like, my heart rate, I think, was at like, 130. Like, I was terrified of, like, public speaking. Like, I was terrified to just, like, raise my hand, like, in class. Honestly, back in the day, it was something that never really like came easy to me. So like, yeah, like maybe sometimes I am confident if I know what I'm talking about. But genuinely speaking, like, I struggled to like, like the fact that you could just go on stage and just talk and like make it all natural and all that stuff. Like I was like, wow, that's awesome. Like my heart, man, like felt like it was like. But he was definitely more like, of like the outgoing one.

Like kindergarten. Right.

So like I, I did like a personality test. My extra version was like on the highest level possible.

Yeah.

It doesn't mean though, like it situations matter though. Like for example, if I'm in a new situation or I'm doing something I'm not sure about. Confident about my personality for sure. Can take like a green down low. But I, I'm confident in things that I've done a lot of times. Like if you put me in front like a computer for sales, for lawn care, I'm confident, but I've done it thousands of times. So like I that undeniable proof behind me that what I'm doing is probably going to work out. But you put me a new situation. Like if Nathan came over and said, james, make me the route for tomorrow, I would not be confident with the way I dragged my mouse around the houses to do because I'm like unscheduling. People are giving free lawn care for life.

So.

But definitely like that. I love that presentation. Liam and I compared heart rates. Mine was for sure down, but I don't know, it's just been something I've been exposed to a lot more.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's cool. That makes sense in terms of like, let's kind of switch more towards the operations of the business. So if you don't mind sharing, like what was kind of revenue last year? What are we projecting this year? What's that look like? And then I have kind of more specific questions about what you guys do operationally.

Yeah, for sure. So revenue last year we just hit the two million marks.

That was like two point.

Oh, it just shines one, which is great. And then this year we just made the goal two days ago. 2.75 million is a goal.

Okay, cool. That's awesome. Yeah. And so tell me about like the balance of the role's responsibilities, like who's in charge of what. And then how did you guys come up with that division of. Of tasks?

I think a huge problem for the first few years is this actually our decade in business. Now, like Lee and I started 2014. It's really only been five years, though, since we've gone full time, since we've done school and then focused on fertilizer and weed control. But one issue that Liam and I had for a long time, because we're both 5050 owners, there was kind of two bosses. So people would go me for a question, but then they'd ask the same question to Liam. And when the answers can be different, inevitably, they didn't really know who to pick. So what we did last year, we made it very clear, like, Liam's a better manager than I am. So we made it very clear. Listen, Liam's the general manager. James is the sales manager, and James on, in theory, is on the same level as the customer service office manager and the operations manager. People report to Liam, and if they ask me a question, that's more for Liam. We try really hard not to ever break the chain of command, which means I'm not going to answer a question that really, even though I'm the owner and I know the answer, I'm not going to answer. I'm going to say, I think that's a question for Liam. And just being very conscientious about how we answer questions and make sure it's very clear who reports to who.

Yeah, exactly. So we kind of, like, drill, like, that org chart. Like, hey, I do the general manager, and then he's like, the sales manager. He's extremely good at sales. And we have an operation manager. And then I also manage customer service, too, so.

Okay. Okay, gotcha. So how did you define those roles? Was there, like, a moment where it came to, I guess, a peak of stress or confusion? Or was it just something you've kind of worked out over time? Like, how did you create that org chart? And then was it. Did you both try different things? Or was it like, okay, well, James is naturally geared towards sales, so it makes sense. And, like, Liam's naturally more operational, so that makes sense. Like, how did you guys come to that conclusion? Because in my conversations with, you know, folks inside of Augusta, but also outside of Augusta, you know, they get to that point where they're like, okay, like, I need to start, you know, training a general manager. I will not be able to handle all of this stuff myself. And then it becomes, well, should I get, like, more of an ops person? Should I get maybe more of an office person? Should I get an estimator? So how did you guys kind of navigate those waters? And what would be some advice you would have for the Owners that are going through that, you know, they're a million plus in scaling and having to make those decisions.

Yeah, that's a great question. There's a really good book from Gino Wickman called Traction Cool EOS process. And like he really talks about right people, right seats and like you gotta find like your God given talent. And like when you really break that down, it's like, okay, from day one, this guy was always the one selling, like doing the door. And I was always one that kind of imagine the operation. So like really just like just peeling it all back. What is your God given talent? What are you really good at? For him it's not operations, but it's definitely sales. And it's the complete opposite. Yeah, I cannot sell for the life of me, but I can. I'm pretty decent at like operations, so I really just like focus game what are you really good at? And then focus on that, what are you really bad at?

This.

Delegate that out. But really have a clear like that organization chart of who reports to who and like who's responsible for what. But yeah, that's my answer.

And there's many times like so Liam said two things there. He said the right person and he also had the right seat. Sometimes you have the right person in the wrong seat, which means the right person is someone that adheres to your company's core values. You know, like everyone that's ever worked at your company or everyone that hasn't worked out, they either had or broke some core values that you guys have that's unsaid. So you need to get those core values in the wall first and foremost. And.

But if someone is the right point.

They can be in the wrong seat sometimes. 2022, technically I was in the integrator role, which means I was kind of like the general manager. Wrong role for me because that wasn't my strong suit. Doesn't mean I Yo, James, you know what? You stop, you're fired sort of thing. It means you're the right person in the wrong seat. Let's go find the right seat. The tricky part gets when that you have the right person, but there's no seat. Sometimes you have a great person, but what this company just does not seat for you. And that unfortunately usually part ways. All in good terms. And then what's a lot more blatantly obvious, when you have the wrong person perhaps in the right seat. So you might have a killer sales guy, but if he lies, cheats and steals, he's the wrong person in the company. And that Needs to be dealt with right away.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. I agree with that totally. Core values, I'd love to hear what those are. Like how many are there, what are they? And let us know.

Yeah, for sure. So yeah, we have the core values. So first one is like curious and always ready for a challenge. So I just get in there and like regards, if you know it or not, you just give it your all and you're always like researching how to get better. How to get better. Right. So like just basically not afraid to fail is what that one means. And then the second one, extreme ownership. So we believe in absolute and utter like ruthless self accountability. Like when everything went to freaking in 2022, I feel like for us to blame accountants or blame whatever, but no, we like looked in the mirror. We're like, no, like we are absolutely and utterly at fault. Like this is our business, this is no one's fault but ours. What can we actually do to improve things? And like that's where things got better because we actually took ownership. I always felt like the same, funny, when you point the finger, there's always like three fingers pointing back at you. Yeah, I feel like sign from like God or whatever. Like hey, instead of pointing the finger, point at yourself, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

When you talk about the other three core values there because you can't remember them.

Excellence. Which means, you know, if we're going to do something here, let's not half asset. Like it's okay to not be curious and not know a lot about something, but if you're going to commit something, go all out, finish jobs, 100% drama. Free zone is a big one for us because like, you know, we all have personal issues in our lives. Like we might have some stress at home, all these things. But when you come to work, let's leave it at the table, you know, let's leave it at the door. Let's have a great day. If we ever have a problem with someone for whatever reason, let's chat man to man about it. Let's not create gossip. Let's not be grow resentful. Let's just be kind of blunt and straight up with each other.

And the fifth one. Sure, yeah.

My favorite one. Go for it.

Yeah, sure. The fifth one is earn, not given. So like we cool. Never spoiled. When we were younger we always do like, you know, our parents didn't come like a lot of money, so we always had to earn like everything we got. Like we started off with like a hand me down van from like Jimmy's parents, like, no muffler in 1995. Previa.

Like, earn things. Opposed, like, just being handed. Okay, here's the trucks. Here's everything, right? So we, like, people, like to earn their way up at Yard Dogs. Like, they start maybe as a technician, and they work their way up. And we've had lots of employees do that, and we really respect that. We respect. You are not entitled. They come in there, they prove themselves, they work their asses off, and then they get promoted, like, through the company.

So entitlement has always been a big issue, I think sometimes with our generation. Like that. I remember. So that red van, like, just so we're being very clear, things sound like a spaceship, and it looked like a driving landfill. Like, it was bad. And, like, I drive it to school, all these kids are getting these, like, brand new BMWs from Mommy and daddy.

Yeah.

James here in the red van. And, like, I remember this class. This girl sits beside me, and she's like, jimmy, you wouldn't believe the car I. I parked beside today. It was the ugliest thing I've seen in my life. And I look at her, I'm like, was it red?

So, like that. But that red van was a great way to start. We had so much fun in that van. Like, and that's, like, the start of the J and L Lawn Care, which was our name before someone thought we. Prison, jail, Lawn Care. So it became Yard Dogs quick. But that was the first van. Like, I wouldn't have done it any other way.

Oh, yeah, that was so funny. Those are some of the best times. But that was a good filter, too, for, like, any girls, if they. If they stuck with you, like, in that van.

Yeah.

Just walk away.

You're like, this is a girl. This is the girl I'm gonna stick with. Yeah, that's hilarious. Yeah. So that's awesome.

Yeah, I love that. So kind of around the core values, let's say I love, like, the earn not given. I love the extreme ownership. Like, those are. Those are very similar to some of the values we hold at Augusta. And me personally, like, I definitely hold those values. Let's say you had someone, or maybe you have had an employee that has done this. But let's. Let's talk in hypotheticals. Hopefully it doesn't get too personal. But let's say you have an employee that clearly is not embracing those values. But it's hard to measure ownership. Right. It's not like, well, what percentage of ownership is he exercising? Or he or she is exercising. What percent of Earned, not given. Is that person exercising? So let's create a hypothetical here. You have an employee that, like, it's not late, they're never late. Like they show up on time. They do, okay, like they're not your, they're not your top performer. But like they put up numbers and they're serviceable. Okay, They're a standard employee, if you will. But you know, behind the scenes you don't have like direct evidence. Maybe there's, there's some negative talk, Maybe there is some drama. Maybe there is some, you know, well, I've been here for a year, so like, I should get a better position. You get that feeling, right? As managers, owners, we tend to learn how to read people over time. What do you do in that case, right? When they aren't clearly violating a core value, they aren't doing anything to fire, get themselves fired. Like, how do you handle a situation like that?

There's this awesome part of traction called the people analyzer. And the way the core values work is that it's not necessarily got it or not. There is a middle zone. So you can have check mark, you can have. Or, sorry, you can have a plus plus minus. You have a plus minus and you give it a minus. So the rule of our company is that you are allowed to have two plus minuses. It doesn't mean you get away with that. You got to continue to start to strive and get, turn those into pluses. But it's okay if I had, if I was plus on three of them and a plus minus on two of them. But I can. No other company can have an X on any of them. If you have 1x, you're considered the wrong person at the right company. For example, someone has all the four, you know, committed to excellence, their editing or nothing given and stuff. But the one X they have is drama free, which means they're always talking shit about people. They're talking about things that just bring a negative attitude. Even though they're awesome at their job and like they're honest, technically that's a negative. And it kind of comes down to the discretion of the manager. Is this something that we, I believe that they could develop and fix or honestly, is this who they are? And we, we're not in the business of change, of like changing people. We're in the business of giving people a clear path and motivating them because only they can change themselves. You just got to, got to think to yourself, is this person going to prove or not? And if someone's clearly unable to Improve like we have had. Some people were like, drama was just built into their blood. And like, no matter what, they always had to be talking bad about something. And I can't believe how much that changes the culture around here. When one is clearly an out. A black sheep in like, in the company and everyone else, the company is watching to see what the owner slash managers do it. Will they tolerate that person being around? And if they don't think they're technically making a choice to keep that person around. But there's been so many times where, you know, we've had the conversation, we let that person go, and everybody at the company goes like, thank God kind of thing.

Yeah.

It'S crazy, like how much of one person can really drag things down. And it's crazy how that person's gone, how much things get better.

Yeah.

Like, we saw that a couple of years ago. We had this one employee just always like, more money, more this not good enough. You can never make them happy.

Basically.

Yeah, he did his work, though. He showed up on time, all that. He was relatively funny to be around, all that. Right. But just, he was never happy. Right. As soon as he left and was gone, everything changed. Everything completely changed. Same with like last year too.

Right.

Like, there's. It's crazy how it's. Especially if you're on the fence about something, you really have to figure it out. Like there's. I remember Donald Trump saying this. Like, he literally said worst employees are the good employees because they're not good enough to make your company great, but they're kind of good enough where, like, they stick around, right. Where the so obvious that they have to go. But you don't want the good employees because they, they just.

They just.

They just don't get you better. And they just always are like a distraction, basically. Right. So those are the ones that you really have to like, let go and keep your eye on.

Yeah.

And your average, you know, because you got 10 good employees and three great employees, hey, the average is still. You are a good company.

And the great ones tend to do like 2x3x at least over what the good ones are. The production or $2 more per hour. It's just like, just get the great ones, get the exceptional ones.

Yeah, definitely. And that. That comes with a lot of trial and error. And like, that's one thing. Like kind of the verbiage we use a lot internally at Augusta would be, you know, like, hey, we're always trying to hire A players. Right. The great employees, we will hire B players. Right? But they need to be pulled up to the A level by the managers and by that the A players on the team, right? Like, not, not everyone you hire is going to be an A player, right? Like they have certain life, life events that have affected them. Maybe they're financially, they're struggling, maybe they're mentally, they're struggling, right? So they get hired as a B. But you need to create a culture that can get Bs to A's through like your training, through your, your, you know, bonus incentives, things of that nature, right? But like, we will never hire C players, right? Like the good, the average is like, if we, if they just like want a job. Like, this is my favorite question in an interview, and I'd kind of like to know what your guys are because I'm sure you do a lot of interviews. My favorite question in an interview is, hey, outside of this interview doesn't impact your employment here whatsoever. What are your goals in life? Where do you want to be in 10 years, right? And if it's just like, oh, I just want a job, oh, I just got to pay bills, oh, I got to pay child support, it's like, okay, like, I don't want to hire you because like, that's seed player mentality, right? Versus like, oh, look, I hired a guy, no experience in the industry. Personally, I didn't think he would make it past a day. Like, I thought he would drop dead just from the physical labor side of it. And he was like, I want to be a history teacher. And I was like, cool. Like, you have a goal for yourself. You might be a B player in terms of the physical ability to do the work here, but I know you have the mentality of reaching a goal. So I can pull you, with my team and my culture up to an A level. Does that make sense?

Absolutely. No.

That's a great push, man. I love that one. It's also too, like, you see like, like the eye, their eyes like light up. They're like, wow. No one's ever asked me that, like in my life. And I buy a house, I want to have a family, I want to have kids. I want to be this right? And it's awesome to see that. And I think people need to be asked that more, even just in general when they are employed, just to check in once every couple months, whatever. What are your goals? What's your one year plan? What's your five year plan? Because I think that's a really valuable question. My favorite question, I. To be honest, I haven't done an interview in a long time. But I always like to say, when was your last argument and what was it about?

Oh, interesting.

Lets the guard down. They start to talk, and it's got to be about something that's drama related. And it's like, okay, how did you handle that conflict? Did you take ownership? Like, there was it.

No.

My boss is a freaking idiot.

This and that.

I hate him. And it was all, like. All his. Like, how they described the argument really tells me a lot about is this person be good or not? You know? So that's my favorite question. Was my favorite.

Actually the question I asked their. The references. Because you always get references for employees. Huge mistake if you don't. We've learned that one the hard way a thousand times. But when you're talking. When I'm talking to reference, the very end of the interview, I'll usually ask him, like, I'll be honest. Like, listen, like, so, like, we're a lawn care company. Like, a lot depends on this person's position, sticking out and working out and stuff. Here's like, a bit more background of my company. If you were me, would you hire them? And, like, I've had people, like, kind of pump up that person the entire time, but once I kind of get real, like, face to face, and I'm like, listen, would you hire them if you're me? I've had them, like, kind of think and say, you know what? No, I actually don't think I would, to be honest with you. And like, like, the average is like, well, you know, he's an alcoholic. I'm like, oh, that's good to know. Or there's been times where I just, he's a great guy, but in your situation, I don't think you guys are good fit for each other. So I think that's an invaluable question that I like. I love to ask the references.

Yeah, fantastic. I love that. I like the argument question. I might have to use that. I'm going to steal that one for sure.

Cool. I think I want to switch gears a little bit. So let's talk about the man who is not here, Mike Andes. This is a unique perspective that I love to get from you guys because I got hired by Mike when He had maybe 2,000 followers on YouTube. No one knew who he was. It was just one business. It was just Augusta Lawn Care of Bellingham. And now it's what we see today. So I got to see him grow and become the authority of the industry that he is today through hard work, doing Determination and just building an awesome company and awesome team. What were your guys's initial reactions to him? Like you found him on YouTube, I'm assuming or some forum, some social media. Like what was your initial reaction? Like fake guru. Who is this guy? How tall actually is he? I can't tell in the videos. Like what was your guys initial reaction? I love hearing what people have to.

Say about this video.

You ever saw?

Oh yeah, I do. He was like talking in front of a whiteboard and I could tell he was like very short.

I can also like very much tell you he was smart and he knew what he was talking about. Talking about. He's very young, so I really liked him. I think he must have had three, four, five thousand people because I was always following like Stanley Dirt monkey.

Cool.

My go to there's a lawn care millionaire which I really like too. But just like, like what Mike said, there's a lot of influencers on YouTube. They're not like there to build their business. They're there just to get promotions, get sponsorships and just grow their media which is, there's nothing wrong with that. But I was like, I want somebody to actually help me build a business. So I was like, subscribe right away. This guy looks smart. He's my age. He's running a, a decent sized, big longer company. Probably a million dollars at that point. I was like, I like this guy. Then I saw him kind of grow through the ranks from like that 3,000 to like the 10,000. And yeah, I, I was always extremely impressed by him. And yeah, still am today, man, huge fan. So trying to think of like anything that I was critical about.

I remember, I remember think I remember being a bit confused in the sense of like the guy is doing some great. Like my first impression, just like Liam was saying, I love that he was young, he's the same age as us, which I thought was really cool. So something that we had in common. I thought it was so weird that he like lived in the closet of the gym and stuff. I'm like, okay, like I'm like, like like. I mean there's something else for him. But I'm like like are things, is he actually bankrupt behind the scenes or like is he like. Or is he someone that he's like so motivated that maybe like I hope he's taking care of himself kind of thing. Is that open for too? I remember the first time I saw him in person, which was at the landscape summit. I remember like huge celebrity status. Like I saw in person. Like even though. Yeah, he's like, I'm a short guy, but he's like shorter than I am. I remember thinking presence, like, oh, there's the untouchable man.

That kind of thing there too. So I definitely have that celebrity status. But like, no, he, he was always a genuine guy. You can just tell he's, he's like, he's doing this to help other people, industry. He's very wise, he's incredibly smart and. But you can tell he's, he's doing it for the right reason, which I just absolutely loved.

Yeah, that's cool. So was there ever like a tipping point where you were like, okay, this guy's an authority. We got to listen to him, or was it just like, over time you just felt like it was just he was legit?

That's a good question.

He. He.

I think everyone naturally questions when they see anyone on YouTube like, oh, this guy's legit. Right? So there's always like that questioning period. Is this guy legit? And obviously the first thing. Well, you're just like watching the videos. Okay, does it make sense? Yes, it makes sense. Right? But no, I honestly, like, from the get go, like, especially out of all the other YouTubers, I was like, hey, this is like the guy that actually knows about building the brand and building like a company the best. And you can see he's got like 150 plus locations.

Right?

So he obviously knows what he's talking about. But yeah, I know from the get go, I've always thought he's like, extremely smart and I've always taken a lot of good advice from too.

So he definitely earned my respect. Once I started to see him talk about like his orphanage in Africa and him doing these turnarounds completely for free and helped elevate the business, that was, to me, that was like proof that he is who he says he is. Because behind the scenes, like, I was very impressed with all this stuff, but I guess maybe subconsciously I'm like, why is he doing this?

Why?

Yeah, yeah, like why doing a free turnaround? Why is it post a four hour video on how to start your lawn care company that takes so much time and energy to do? I kind of understood is why. I'm like, okay, I'm behind this guy. Let's. Let's do this.

Yeah, that's cool. That's awesome. No, we greatly appreciate you guys support and being at the conference. And I'm not, I'm not looking for you to just gas up Mike by any means, but I honestly just love hearing that person Perspective from people, because, you know, obviously, I do. You. Most people know. I'm not sure if you guys know, like, I am the gatekeeper of Augusta, if you will. Like, if you want to get into Augusta, you book a call with Lee, and we have a conversation kind of just like we're doing now. I try to keep it as loose and relaxed as possible. And ultimately, like, I'm looking for people that, you know, aren't just fans of Mike. Right? Like, there are a lot of people that want to join Augusta because they're just a fan, and it's like, that's great. But, like, fans go to football games and, like, don't do five workouts a week. Like, these NFL players. Like, you wouldn't put a fan on the field at an NFL game. They would literally die, right? Versus, you know, that's my American side. Let's go hockey for you guys, right? You wouldn't put a fan on the ice otherwise, they would. They would die. Right? So I think for me, like, that's a filter that I have to use, but I always want to see, like, what are people's actual reactions to Mike? And sometimes to my own detriment. You know, I worry about what people think about Mike because I am so against online gurus, right? But I got to see Mike at 2000Followers. I didn't even know he had a YouTube channel when he hired me, right? And now I get it, and I've seen the story, so I have a unique advantage. So I. I'm very concerned about people wanting to join just because of what they see on YouTube. It's like, no. You have to be willing to put in the hard work. Like, you guys said, like, earned, not given. And that's something that a lot of people who follow YouTube personalities don't get. Like, YouTube personalities had to earn that. You don't just get to coattail off of them, right? Well, I am, with this podcast, I'm coattailing off Mike. I'll just hand up and admit that.

But I was watching this really good video by her mosey, and Hermosi was talking about how, like, the context of who you are is a lot more important than what you say. And an example of that is, like, I might go, like, if I go to Twitter. And, like, right. Like, right now, I'm on the toilet, and I post that, like, people are gonna think it's kind of weird. Like, what the hell? But it's like, if Elon Musk does it, it's hilarious. In a million retweets why? Because he's the richest guy in the world?

Kind of. Yeah.

And the thing about Mike is that even though like all the stuff he's saying behind the scenes, Augusta Lawn Care, 140 franchisees, 150 franchisees, Copilot, all these things, like he doesn't need an introduction. Well, I can believe what he says because of the evidence he has behind him. There's absolutely so many gurus, there's no evidence. And like what they say might be like kind of intriguing, clever, good. Without that authority behind it. It's like Warren Buffett saying you guys need a dollar cost average every month versus like the 18 year old telling you how to get rich. Like it's just advice, but the context of the person is completely different. Yeah. And Mike's got the context.

Yeah, yeah. I was, I got myself on a fake guru the other day, you know, scrolling YouTube. So I click this video and I'm like, this is intriguing. So I'm watching it and that was just like a whole pitch to setting up like a drop shipping account. And I was like, okay, I'm out. Like, I was like, please stop. So what's the purpose of your guys YouTube channel? Dirt Life. Like what are, what are we getting into? Why are you guys getting into this?

You know what, I first of all, again, we enjoy doing it. I think that's a good part. What's gonna make sustainable. We have a lot of fun doing calls like this and just posting our story. Like we truly believe that yard dogs one day can be Canada's largest lawn care company. Why not document the process along the way? Just before this video, I was going through some old files and I found all these logs of mine from 2018 that I'm like, oh, I'm so happy I have these because when I'm gonna go back and like pump for that and like, could there be opportunities that come down the road such as sponsorships and coaching, things like that? For sure. But that's a long, that's a very long term play. I think the people that we have access to from doing the dirt life is really what it's about. Like the fact that you and I, like we're all talking right now, we want to be able to do this if we're just running a long care company, not putting ourselves out there on YouTube, having Mike here, who knows what people we're going to meet. And I think life is all about the relationships that you build. So long term, relationship building play, honestly.

Yeah, exactly. But yeah, short answer, we don't really have like a exact like direction with it. We're just, we're just having fun. It seems like where it's gonna go. I'd like to hear like a little bit too. I'll ask you a question. So like when you join 2,000 subscribers, how much of priority was it from like to grow the channel? And like how was that friend? Was he just filming every video, doing the edits, like at nighttime? Like, what was that like?

Yeah, so I would say, and I might get my timelines a little bit blurred, but yeah, when I first got hired, like didn't know he had a YouTube. He was just, you know, clicking record and stepping in front of a whiteboard, right? Or sitting in front of a podcast mic. And he was just doing that all on his own. No editors, no videographers. Like he just did it himself. I think two years into me getting hired. So that was when kind of Liz, our operations manager now CEO of Augusta, kind of took over the Bellingham shop. She ran it. I was the estimator salesperson. And then Mike started having a little bit more free time to get into it. And then I think my first third year into Augusta. So that probably would have been. What would that be? 2021, maybe is when he took one of our guys from the field who did have some videography experience, started as like a part time videographer and editor. So to answer the question, it was never a priority. I think he knew eventually it was a little bit of a means to an end. And I think he also knew, like that was his long term vision was I want to help small business owners across the world. Like, small business owners in a lot of ways are the backbones of economies. And a lot of small business owners are great, honest, hardworking people, but they don't have the systems, the education, the support to grow these great businesses that they dream of. And I think that's where he found his niche was like, if I can prove that I can do it, let me prove it first, then I will start focusing on the media. And like you said to James's point is like now like the evidence is there, right? With the turnarounds, with the, you know, videos he puts out and the education for free. Like the evidence is there. That's what he's doing. That's the, his mission. So now media has taken a focus, but I think now he has six in house media people, right? So the, the focus is like, you guys tell me when I'm flying out and then I will give you my Undivided attention during that time. So that's really cool to see that growth that, like, I saw him doing it by himself and it was zero priority. I'll record a video at midnight and I will post it right then and there. No edits, Right? If you watch some of the old videos, like, he forgets to cut out the intro. He forgets to cut out the outro. Like it's bad lighting, like it's not recording, whatever. But now it's like, okay, now he can just focus on his mission, helping small business owners. And he has six people that are like, here's how you're going to help small business owners. We got the back end. I think that's a really cool transition I got to see. But, yeah, he never wanted to be a YouTube star. Like, I can tell you that with 100% honesty. Like, Mike doesn't do it for the fame, for the celebrity. It's. I want to create a platform where people can learn and grow and, and not make mistakes and not lose their business over simple things that could have been avoided with education, right?

No, for sure. No. He's really filling, like, a. A void too. Like, there's been, like, I feel like a demand for, like, just like, you know, small business education for, like, especially, like any, like, home service businesses, you know, so, like, there's like, Horosi, but that's more like for like, gyms or whatever, right? Or big, bigger business. But like, that mom and pop chucking a truck guy that wants to grow. There's been a big, like, void. And like, he's definitely filled that for sure.

Yeah. And even. Even with, like, Hormozi, like, this is. This is a piece of advice I like to give to people a lot of times because, you know, we. We find gurus or successful people once they go viral, right? So I literally tell, like, managers inside of Augusta, they're like, what course should I take? Or like, did you watch this Hormozi video? This, that, the other? And I'm like, watch this video from Mike from four years ago. That's what you need to learn from. Like, he was in the trenches doing what you're doing right now. And the same thing he taught four years ago applies to you today. You don't need to watch his new multi million dollar marketing plan, which is great and you probably will learn something. But let's go down to, like, the grassroots of, like, when he ran a 1 $1 million company, right? And like, some of my favorite Hormozi videos that I have like, saved on playlists are, like, from two, three years ago. Like, that have not many views, but I'm like, these are some of the most tangible videos. And his new ones are great, and I love them and I watch them all. But some of his older videos are, like, so much more practical for, like, where I'm at in life and where Augusta is as a business.

I was literally just saying that the other day because, like, I'm like, my. I love the videos and stuff, but if you want the real gold, go two, three years ago, when it's just him kind of like. Like this and a whiteboard and, like, no talking for sales. That is the real stuff. And, like, I think once YouTubers get bigger and they've got kind of money to spend, it can get a little bit flashy. But the real meat and potatoes comes down when there's no budget. It's you in a whiteboard and the camera, and you just do what you got to do. Like, that's when that's. That's the true test of time. Is what you're saying so good that people are watching you? It's not because it's fancy graphics and animations?

Yeah, yeah, 100%. All right, I'm going to totally switch gears here. Liam. Liam said his name. So I want to know. I want to know, you know, do you guys care about American politics? You know, is everyone as obsessed with us as we are? Right. What do you. What do you guys think about the current status of American politics? And if you don't have an opinion, totally fine. I don't. It doesn't bother me.

We definitely have opinions, man. We definitely. All right, good. I. I really got into, like, I watched the Apprentice with Donald Trump back in the day.

Like, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. Like, that's why I probably, like, love business so much. It's like, I just saw him, like, in the boardroom, like, firing people, you're fired, all that.

Like, it was.

Yeah, so it was just, like, it always instilled that competitive, like, mindset of, like, you know, doing your best and, like, really working hard. And then probably in 2016, we started to run, and there's always, like, primary debates, like, Jeb Bush, like, low energy jab ye. Oh, that. I was like, this.

That was good tv.

That was some of the best ever. So I. I really got into it more. So, like, for the entertainment purposes. But then I really got into it for, like, the politics, and I was, like, a massive Trump fans. Like, I am. I got a Trump flag at My house.

We were literally in the streets of Calgary waving Trump's legs.

Let's go.

Couldn't believe their eyes. Like, what the hell, guys? That's so weird. And, like, so lots of thumbs up, though, especially in our city, Calgary. And when we went to Lake once, did the same thing in the response of Lake was awesome. You go to other cities in Canada, you're getting shot. But, like, or maybe stabbed.

I was gonna say you're not gonna. You're not gonna get shot.

I know. Like, I like, like, we're. We're big Trump fans. I mean, I think Trump is gonna. Is going to just wipe Biden out. I really hope so. I personally probably would prefer it if Desantis would have won. Honestly, I think it might have been a little bit better for the country because unfortunately, like, Trump is stigmatized by so many people. Like, they just won't vote because it's Trump kind of thing. Even though I like what Trump says, I like his policies, all these things too. I personally probably would have voted for Desantis or I really, like, he was fantastic. But you know what? I do think Trump versus Joe. I'm really rooting for Trump for sure.

Yeah, it'd be awesome. Trump and Vik partnered up and he's a vp. I think that'd be a great, smart decision. I think Vivek will bring in, like, a lot of, like, the younger people, and he's just, like, so easy to understand, and you roll it middle. That needs to be swayed more over, like, the Republican side, so.

And I'll make a prediction that one, if Trump wins after his term, he's going to give his endorsement to Tucker Carlson, and then Tucker's going to run and I think, huge move for usa. Talking about Canada, though, I think we can all agree that Trudeau's got to go like that guy, master of this country. Our votes on pure Polyev, 100%. And I do think if, like, the Republicans get in for the same states and the Conservatives again for Canada, I think we might be able to undo a little bit of the mess that we've got ourselves into.

Absolutely.

Sure.

Yeah. Yeah.

What do you.

What do you guys think? I do want to ask about Trudeau a little bit. What do you guys think about this? So I saw a comedian recently, you know, and, you know, Biden has had more than enough snafus. Whatever side of the aisle you're on, you have. You. You have to admit, like, he has had some pretty dumb public mistakes. Right? But I saw a comedian that was saying like oh, you know, you hear all these conservatives that say like oh Biden makes us look weak on an international stage. And he was like what is a terrorist going to see him trip and be like now we should attack. And I was like okay, haha. Good, good, good bit, good bit. But ultimately like how do you guys see it as you know, not American citizens? Like do you think the way Biden is perceived in the media or the snafus that he's had, like does it make America look weak? What is your guys reaction to that? What are the reactions of people up there that you talk to you?

Yeah, like it's, it's crazy like how much the media can really control because like obviously I'll follow like all the Republican channels like on Instagram. So like I see it for myself. It makes them like look like a genius. It's like yeah, buying had a great press conference today. They'll just show like two seconds of it and they won't show like all the questions that he could have had but he decides not to take them. Right. So it, it, it's crazy how much the media actually has a lot of control over like the minds. You saw all that stuff like during co obviously like how much of like a population they could just control and just manipulate. So like to tell you the truth, like people don't really see it in Canada because it's just so controlled. Like also interesting censored version but it's really hard to actually like see the fully non edited full like clip without any, you know, without any modifications. Right.

So people are really scared in Canada. Like we have no backbone. Sometimes I find, and this is myself for sure, like people like we call it the silent majority, meaning that they don't agree with a lot of things that are going on but everyone is scared to say something about it because they're worried that the woke mob is going to cancel them. And I feel the same way. Why? So like when I see, yeah, when I see Biden the way he is, I think, I do think it's kind of a joke. Like I think like the United States is for sure a weaker country right now and there's some pretty messed up stuff going on in the world. In the recent times. I just watched that one interview with Ben Shapiro and Destiny and like there's those, those are two very smart individuals. Is very awesome debate I thought but there's some weird stuff going on. But in Canada like everyone just does what's popular and what's popular is what the media decides and the media decides that the radical lefts are what's popular and stuff. So like even like I hate on social media whenever there's a new thing about, gosh, pick any subject, pick, pick up abortion, pick vaccines, all these things. Everybody is pro whatever the radical lefts want it to be.

And if you fully backs them up.

They back them up 100% and it makes sense. The media wants, and the government wants people to be more dependent on the government voting to get this universal benefit of wage sort of thing there to rely on the government, pay lots of taxes because they're going to take care of you. What people don't realize is that nobody's coming to take care of you. That's the power of small business. You actually have a choice to go out there and make something for your family. But people are scared and people think the government's going to save them. And that's never worked in history. And if we're not careful we might be another, we might be the new Venezuela. Like there's like, like there's so many times where people put all the trust in the government and look how that turned out.

Exactly.

People history. And I'm very bad at history. Like, like history was botched in school.

Is anymore.

Yeah.

It's hard to know what the truth is.

Yeah.

But all I can say is just like yeah, smaller government like to me like works on and it's just good to see you know small businesses always like seem to like support the conservatives like less government. But it's crazy how much the media can like fully manipulate and control things and just absolutely just throw all the bias in your way. So if you're not smart with it and you don't do your own research, you're going to end up like some like woke left freaking pink haired person.

And you're, and you end up depressed as hell. Like if someone's like super scared in life, go to their house ct.

CNN is on all the time in the back.

Watch with a mask.

They watch it with the mask. They put a mask on their job too because they're.

Like one thing that like during COVID even we were told like you guys, this is not the time to grow your business is not the time to buckle down. You got to preserve your cash and like sit in the corner and like hope the government's going to come save you. We decide, you know what, Our business is the one thing that we can control. So we're going to people like you know what, shut off the damn news, get out there, sell Some more lawn care.

Yeah.

Like, if your sales are good and your profits are good and your team is strong, you'll be surprised at how many problems just go away.

Exactly.

And how many problems aren't actually there. Like, if you want to put that core value driving free Zone and put it into politics, everybody would have that big minus on it because they love. Yeah, it's the liberal votes.

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think too, like.

I think that a lot of people get like, fear mongering, right? So it's like, oh, we, you know, we have to follow the crowd. Like, oh, that's too scary. So let's just stay over here and like, not think outside of the box. And I think that happens on the conservative side as well. Like, you get the really far right, you know, folks who are like, everything's a conspiracy theory, you know, you know, they're coming. Nancy Pelosi is going to come eat our brains. Like, and it's like, okay, like, dude, get out of your box. Like, realize, like, yeah, maybe she's a corrupt politician, but, like, let's figure this out together. I think both sides of the aisle need to do that. I will say this in my prediction. If you guys can get someone conservative in and if Trump wins this, this fall, we will have the best spring rush ever in 2025, hands down.

I think so too. Our city, Alberta, which is the province we're in, is like gas province, some of the cleanest energy in the world. And like, they. I think that if we can, because right now, Trudeau, he thinks we got to get carbon free oil and gas and stuff. And like, does not realize the majority of his country's natural resources are oil and gas. And they have the highest standards, like, some of the high standards in the world for producing that.

Meanwhile, they're imported from Saudi Arabia, like.

Off like the cliff. They have like the worst human rights I've ever seen, but they're going after Alberta for some reason.

Ridiculous. So I'm with you. I truly hope that both countries can go conservative because I do think, like, we've been beat down a lot. I think small business owners, I can't imagine having a restaurant during COVID being a gym instructor during COVID a barbershop. Like, like, we were lucky. Being lawn care outside considered it service. We are just blessed and we have nothing to do with that. But all these small businesses are hurting. Meanwhile, Walmart, Costco, Amazon, all those guys have. And Netflix, like, there's. Everything's been skyrocketing for them. I think it's Time for the small business owner to start to get some dividends.

Definitely. Yeah. No, I completely agree with that. Cool. Well, I think that's all I got. Well, I guess unless you guys do have some, we can go to not financial advice. If you prepared some, if you have some for the people, you can fire away. And if you don't, I won't hold it against you. My not financial advice is subscribe to the Dirt Life channel. It's a great channel, lots of value. So that is my not financial advice. And then if you actually do want to give real financial advice, you just.

Say it's not financial advice.

I would say, let's see. This is my, this is my non financial advice. I hire a personal trainer during like the on season like last year. I just did like yesterday, like during the, like the spring. It's absolutely crazy. You're working like 50 hour weeks, whatever. Even more than that, you have to have a healthy body to help have a healthy mind or a healthy mind to have a healthy body. Right. So I really think, you know, investing in the fitness, investing in a diet or whatever it might be really, it's a couple hundred dollars a month. I did it last year, I'm gonna do it again. We got to be in the best shape of our life to have a really good season this year.

So I think my big thing would be like, so I just bought a house and it's a, it's a house that's honestly, it's outside of my budget. Like I'm nervous to make happen. But that's sort of like our life model. Like if you're gonna live, like take, take some risks. Like like never. Obviously don't kill yourself in the process, don't go bankrupt in the process. But it's okay to honestly just always be uncomfortable because the second you're comfort, you're no longer growing this yard. Dogs, our best years are when we didn't know what was going to happen. And entrepreneurship the best part of being entrepreneurs, like you don't actually know what's going to happen, but you're going to hustle, take a risk and make it work, make it risk and you're going to learn so much along the way. And honestly, I truly believe everything always ends up for the best when you actually look in retrospect like, you know what, I'm glad that thing happened to me because if that didn't happen, then this would have happened or that wouldn't have happened, etc. So you know, take a risk and like if Anyone watching this podcast right now is like on the fence about starting up a lawn care company or like, or like breaking that shop or taking that shop.

Just do it.

Yeah. When we got the shop, we, like, we were hard.

Holy shit.

But that. It was that fire under said. Okay, you know what? Instead of. Instead of coming at 10am let's come in at 8 and start dialing some.

Phones and start going to the gym at 4am you know, stuff like that, Right? It just pushes you. It's like, yeah, go out of your comfort zone. At the end of the day, we're all dead. We're all on the ground. Let's take those damn risks and let's work our asses off. And it's really pushing ourselves into the next level.

So one. No. Yeah, that's everything.

Go for it. Go out.

No, go, go, go. Make that change a job. Go start your own business, you know?

Exactly.

Do things before you're ready.

Yeah. Embrace the suck. That's what I like to say. Yeah.

This is.

This is.

This is kind of just a random last question, but let's, you know, because you said, like, hey, we got a house. You know, maybe it's. Maybe it's a lot or whatever it is, but it's going to make me work harder. I was talking to my buddy who owns a marketing company, and he said that he found this study that business owners are entrepreneurs that have a luxury item that maybe is technically outside of what they should afford. A one luxury item, it actually increases their chances of success because it gives you something to kind of like work towards. Like you have a taste of luxury. And obviously I'm not like, pro materialism. I think, like, we should give back. I think we should take care of our families. But, you know, like, I have, you know, luxury tastes. I have. I have a list of maybe watches I want to buy one day. Right. So what about you guys? Are there any, like, luxury items or things that maybe motivate you, you know, outside of, like, you want to provide for your family, you want to make a great environment for your employees? Of course. But indulge me a little, like watches, cars, like, what. What's something you guys want to work towards for fun? For the fun of it.

Yeah, for sure. It's like also all the. The stuff that you talked about, right? The family stuff, whatnot. I would love a Porsche 911 Turbo S. All right.

That's like my dream car right now.

That would be the dream.

Yeah.

Nice.

I'm sure. Grown on me and stuff. Like, honestly, like, my big thing is, like, we really, as a family, we really wanted a nice house, and this is a very nice house.

That's awesome, man.

For that. So now that I've got that, honestly, I think I just need to sit back and think about what kind of things I want. Like, Liam's got a sick hot tub idea for me and all these things.

So nice.

I do know, like, for sure there are some things. Like, my. It's important for my wife and I that she stays at home, takes care of the kids. Like, that was also. Liam and I both want to get better at golf. You can. You can consider that, like, a luxury. Like. Oh, yeah. And stuff. Like, that's all luxury there. But, like, we just want to keep having fun, you know? Like, and like this. Like, I think work and the dirt life and yard dogs works because, like, we would be. Liam and I would be friends even if we weren't working with each other. And don't get me wrong, we're very different. Like, we're a partnership, but it's important that we're not the same, because if we were both the same, that'd be a bad partnership. Like, you're literally half the company to be with someone that's fun to be around. Like, our skills and strengths are very different. So I don't answer the question. But anyways, like, yeah, there are some stuff, like, I would love that Porsche. You're not gonna lie. A Ford Raptor.

Yeah, those are gonna get banned in Canada soon. Those get, like, eight miles to the gallon, dude. So you gotta. You gotta work hard to get one now.

Good point. All right. More fire. 2,024 is a season. Let's make this happen.

Yes, sir.

Cool.

Awesome, guys. Well, I appreciate you taking the time very much. Definitely. If you want to plug your socials again, that'd be great.

Awesome. And if you're watching the C suite right now, unfiltered, you have not subscribed.

What are you waiting for?

Give them a. Like, subscribe.

Thanks, gentlemen. We appreciate you. Congrats on a thousand. We'll be joining you soon.

Absolutely, buddy. Thanks, bud.

Take care.