REAL TALK: Stress & Pressure GROWS with a BIG Lawn Care Business

So, like, give it. Give us, like, a freestyle version of, like, who's Mike Andes? What is Augusta Lawn Care? And, like, how did you get started? And, like, what's your what. What has been your, like, tearing? Because you say, like, I got from, like, 200K, 500K and this and, like, a million. And then it's like. But you explain, like, how you do different things, like, for each step of the way, like, maybe just talk about that for a couple minutes.

Yeah, for sure. So I got started basically, like a lot of us really, really young. I started when I was 11 years old, mowing lawns, kind of saving up for college. So I started college when I was really young. I was 13 years old when I started college. I thought I was going to become a doctor, so I wanted to get a head start on that. So. So basically, lawn care was what kind of paid my way through college for my undergrad degree. And then before going to medical school, I decided to basically cancel my applications and to start Augusta. So beforehand it was my brother and I. Andy's Lawn Care, my last name. And so I switched to Augusta Lawn Care. And you're just really being. Scale it up. While I was getting my MBA at night in the local university. So that was when I was 18 years old. I started. And then like you said, kind of those first several years, like, in terms of revenue, like, the first year was part time, So I like 28, 29,000 revenue. Then I went full time next year with the 200. Year three was about 490.

Year four was about 800, and it was like 1.1, 1.2, 1.6 and a half. So that was kind of the progression in terms of, like, my role throughout that period. I feel like there's really four different stages that we as owners go through, and the first ones are when you're out in the field, right. You're a labor. Right. It's really. If you really boil down what your title, your position is, you're a laborer. And. And then what happens as you begin to grow is you eventually become the point where you kind of become office manager. You're no longer necessarily working out in the field, but you're kind of managing the office. Like, a lot of your day is spent on estimates, emails, phone calls, hiring, training, people. Kind of like everything in the business still besides the labors, right? It's like stage two is really office manager. Third stage is estimator. And so that's usually going to be when you are. You have hired someone for the Office. So what kind of happens is as you grow, you kind of hire up the position you last leave. So if you leave the labor position going to the office manager, you've now hired people in the labor category to kind of take care of that and then to go from an office manager to kind of the estimator role where all you're doing is estimates. Mostly you got to hire an office manager, right? So traditionally I see someone going from labor to office manager around when they have like four to five employees, maybe six employees, depending on your market, what services you offer. And then really going to where they have an office person, they've hired that out and now they're an estimator full time. I usually see that starting to happen when someone has more like 7 to 10 employees. They start becoming more or less a full time estimator. And then the fourth category is really kind of CEO, and that is you hire an estimator. And now your role really is to grow the business. Focus on marketing, focus on branding, focus on hiring new talent to the team. But you're really not involved in the day to day operations. Like you can leave for a week or two and things still move and operate just fine. Jobs still get sold, jobs still get completed. So it's kind of like the four stages I kind of break it up into and kind of like how I got started.

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, I.

I'm, I'm doing that like right now.

I'm having trouble like getting off of like, because I passed the maintenance onto somebody and then I wanted to just start a project crew that does like cleanups, mulch, that kind of stuff.

But I'll say, like, it has been like a little difficult in like January and February to like try to do that because like, even though we'll have like full weeks of like work, sometimes like there isn't a full week. And then so like, I don't know, it's just difficult to juggle it. But I would say that's what I'm working on right now.

But yeah, what about landscape business course?

What?

Well, actually like, where, where do you get your like all your business savviness? Because like, you're pretty good at it and you're 24 or 25.

Did you learn all this in college or like what class did you take to learn all of this stuff?

Yeah, like I would say a small percentage of it, not very much, honestly was like from you know, getting my mat, you know, the MBA program. Honestly.

I would say most of it was, you know, books and then obviously just learning and reading and just absorbing yourself in it. Like, when I was just getting started, I was. Those first couple of years when I was in the field, like I said, that was when I was getting my MBA at night, right? So, like, what I would do is I'd be up early, I'd work usually from about, you know, sun. Sun up for us, you know, as you know, is not super duper early in the spring. So like maybe 7am I get started. I'd finish though, around 5, 5:30. Then I drive straight to school at 6 and I go from 6 to 10 for lectures. And then after we have class, like class projects and study halls, stuff like that for the MBA program. So usually what would happen is like all day long while I'm working, I'm listening to audiobooks, podcasts, interviews, business, business, business content. And then you go to school and that's all you hear for the next four hours. And after that you're absorbed in it. So, like, it was really two years of boot camp of just learning everything to do with business. And so that's probably what I attribute a lot of the initial part. And the fact of it is just like the curiosity and the love of that topic is something that. The same way that some people look on the weekends at a fishing magazine or they go golfing on the weekend, I look at stocks and I look at business journals and the Wall Street Journal. Right. So that's what I love to do. And so the fact that someone would allow me to do that and get paid for it is pretty cool. The same way that some people would look at football or golf and say, like, man, I love that and I wish I get paid for it. That's kind of how I look at it.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I feel like.

When you get to like a certain point, you're. It's like super fun. But like before that, you're like in the trenches, it feels like.

Yeah. And I think. I think it's almost a wrong mentality to always think that too much because it becomes very much of a horse, you know, a carrot in front of the horse. Like, oh man, like when I get bigger, it's going to be easier. Like, in a way, yes. Like, financially, is it easier for me now than when that first couple years, like, yeah, 100%, you know, stress and pressure of like, the business just being able to survive. Is that no longer there as much? Like, true, yes. But does that mean that, like, less stress or like. Like the problems I have now on a daily basis would have been, like, big issues, my first, you know, year or two, right? Like, they would have put me out of business. But now they happen every day, right? So, you know, to think that, like, oh, like, if you get big, it's gonna become so much fun, so much more fun is not necessarily, like, I really think, like, look at every day and every stage of the business, and what can you get from a positive angle? Like, what can you get out of this? Like, whether it be if you're in the field, like, you're gonna get in really good shape. You can learn a lot by listening. You don't have ton of people and phone calls and emails and, like, you're not tied to just trying to help other people because you can really lock in on your. Your own skill set. And so as you become a manager, as you become an owner with more and more employees, you don't get that.

Kind of, like, alone time in the truck anymore. You don't get the day where you just grind for 10 hours mowing a lawn back and forth. Like, that doesn't happen. So, like, I think you got to cherish the good parts of every stage of growth, knowing that each and everyone's going to have their pros and their cons. But to think that, like, the next stage is going to be, like, so much better and unlock happiness for you, in my mind, just like a very, very poison, like, very, very dangerous to think that way.

Right? So what. What are, like, what are the problems that you have, like, at your stage that you're at right now and you're at, like, the CEO stage. So, like, what comes along with that?

Well, like, now that we have franchisees, my biggest headaches or, like.

Stress is, like, as you said, like, it's not like it was the first year, right? The first year it was I broke someone's window. And, like, that would, like, ruin my week, right? Or a customer wouldn't pay me, and that would ruin my, like, you know, a couple days in my life. And so whereas now it's like, it's bigger issues, right? Like, you're dealing with franchisees that are divorcing, going through a divorce. You're dealing with people that are going, like, business owners that you're now responsible for that are having a mental breakdown. Like, those are bigger pressures than broken glass and $100 unpaid invoice, right? And so it's not to say, though, or diminish the amount of stress of the broken glass, because at the time, that could have put me out of business or that could have really damaged my reputation locally. So it's not to say that anyone's greater or more. Just different stages. Right. And so to compare them, in my mind, is very, very amateur, because to compare what I'm going through now is not to say. To compare it against the broken glass is not to say, like, I'm having bigger issues now. No. Because, like, I don't have the financial pressure of. Of knowing that if I broke glass, that it could put my business. Put me out of business. Right. So there's different stresses, and I think now for me now it's more about other people and me knowing the stress that they're going through. Growing this first year or two of business is very difficult to have that responsibility of them putting that trust in you to know that, like, they're investing in Augusta to make sure that they are successful and that I, Like, I want them to be that way. And so when they hit. When they hit issues and struggles, and that's when it really affects me a lot.

So how many franchises do you have now?

We have 37 locations now. Five of those are corporately owned, so we own them. Like, I own those ones myself, and those are, like, you know, one in New York, one in North Carolina, and then the three in Washington state.

Oh, nice. So where are you guys in Washington state?

We're in Bellingham, Mount Vernon, and now just recently in Redmond.

Oh, you're Redmond now?

Yeah, we just started one there. Redmond, Kirkland area.

Nice.

Don't worry. We're not coming. We're not coming down to Bothell. Don't worry.

Dude, there's so many lawns to mow. Like, there's. There's plenty of lawns for Augusta to come over here and mow, too. But just be careful. Just be careful, because we have really quality service, Mike.

But, yeah, like.

Like, explain how that goes. Like, starting. Because, like, you don't live in Redmond, and like. Like, how do you. How do you start a lawn business in Redmond without being in Redmond, not knowing people from Redmond, and you're in your office in Bellingham, like, yeah.

What's really crazy, it's not, like, so at the same tokens, like, they start in February, but in this month, we're also starting one in New York and one in North Carolina. And so both of those places, like, you know, I'm not there. All three of the people that are starting those as general managers, they are. You know, I don't know them personally in terms of prior to them. Working for us and. Or friends or family or anything like that. And two of them. Wait, one. Two of them I had never met before, literally, you know, a few weeks ago. Right. And so that's really when systems become so important, right? Like relying on the systems that the business has built and knowing that regardless of the person that is in charge, obviously the general manager needs to be competent and, like, have skills and all the rest of it. But it's not exclusively only going to work if Michael Andes is there. Right. That'd be very problematic. And so I think a lot of times we build our business around our personality, and that's why simplification and systematization is so important. So that way I can plug a general manager into anywhere in the United States, in my opinion, and the systems will work. It's about using those systems, and then just as long as there's a good executor, someone that can execute on those systems, it should work just fine.

Gotcha. So, like, like, for me, I would be, like, kind of scared to. Or like, like they have your name on their shirt, on their truck and everything. So, like, does that kind of like freak you out at all or like, probably not, because it's so normal to you, but like. And you probably wouldn't allow someone to have a franchise if they weren't like a straight up dude. But like, do these guys get interviewed or did they work for your location in Bellingham? And then you're like, hey, you're a really good worker. Would you be interested in starting another route over in Redmond?

So for the general managers that know they've never worked for us, they basically. I made a video in, I think it was December or January, basically, asking people to apply, got a whole bunch of applications, and then I weeded through them on Zoom, basically. Right. In terms of interviewing them, those for the general managers, for the franchisees? Not Almost. No, almost. I think all of them, actually, I haven't met them until they come for training. And so it's been through Zoom calls like this that we're getting to know each other. We are making sure that something that's going to be a good fit for them and get them to their. Their goals, terms of joining Augusta. So it's built on trust. It's built on. They have to trust us at the corporate level that we're not going to just take their money and run. And then we have to trust them, like you said, that they're going to be a good representation of the brand and what we're trying to do here at Augusta. And so there's definitely trust that has to be built both ways. And that's really part of what we believe is in our culture here is whether it be for the franchisee, the franchisor, but then also the franchisee or the owner, the employer, to the actual frontline employees on systems like pay for performance and profit sharing, where it's vital to have that trusting relationship.

Yeah. So, like, tell us a little bit about your. Because you talked about systems, like, what. What are some of your systems? Because, like, it's important to have, like, your Augusta culture on, like, all of your trucks. And, like, is wouldn't look good if, like, everybody was smoking a cigarette and, like, throwing it on the lawn or whatever. So, like, being, like, bigger, like, how do you keep that? Like, like good. The good guys and I don't know. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. Like, the goal is to have it where the system polices the behavior of the employee instead of you. Because, like, you can only manage so many people, right? And traditionally, you can only usually manage six to eight people very, very well that are directly reporting to you. And so that's a lot of times why people have to get a middle manager when they cross about 10 employees. However.

The fear. The fear of being misrepresented because you got all these trucks and trailers out there, you got people running around the country, like, using your name and your brand. Like, that is definitely a thought process of, like, oh, man, I don't know. Like, I can't control it. But honestly, that comes from a very much of a fear and a small mindset. Right? Like, because, like, if you think about Amazon, like, they have thousands and hundreds of thousands of vehicles running every single day. They have employees running, people with the name all over them, and there's going to be mistakes. And you have to come, you know, come to peace with the fact that if you're going to grow and you're going to grow your business and you're going to hire people, like, not only are you going to make mistakes, but your employees are going to make mistakes and they're gonna make you look bad occasionally. They make the brand look bad occasionally. But you have to look at the aggregate whole of scaling up. Like, Amazon has done a lot of good for the country and good for the world in terms of lowering shipping costs and lowering, you know, a lot of things. Obviously, there's people out there would say they did the opposite. Right. But overall, they serve the consumer, the customer, the most. And so in my Mind, you've got to look at it kind of like aggregate, whole. Like I believe we, when we go into market, we do bring up the level of professionalism of the competition. They now are expected to get their estimates to their customers within 24 hours because we do. They're expected to be able to have professional, uniform crew, good looking truck, because we do. They are expected to have a great website, have cards on file, answer their phone calls, get estimates back fast. Like all of those things are things that we create, create. And then when we move into us into a community, our goal is to raise the level of professionalism in the landscaping industry. And we do that location by location.

Gotcha. Okay.

What else, what else would you like to share, Mike?

Yeah, I think the big thing is, you know, especially for your audience, that you might just be getting started is like, don't look at like two people you shouldn't look at. Right. You shouldn't look at me and you shouldn't look at someone on like a YouTube channel. Like I'm just name people off and I don't mean to be detrimental to them because I just said myself. So like, let me explain, just give me a second. But when I say YouTubers, I'm talking like Brian's lawn care maintenance, you know, Keith Kalfis, Tigran, all these guys, right. So first off, why wouldn't you want to compare yourself to someone like me? You don't want to compare yourself to someone like me and, and judge yourself based upon what I'm doing? Because you're, you might be in year number one or two. Right. And I've been doing this for a long time. And Augusta's now eight, seven, eight years. Almost eight years old now. Right. So don't judge yourself on what, you know, you're saying. Oh man, I'm not, I'm not like as far down the road. Well, yeah, you just started the race. I've been running this race for 26 miles. I'm almost at the finish line on this marathon. Right. So you can't compare yourself to people who have just been in the game longer. And then you can't compare yourself to people that are just on social media and have a lot of the outward appearances of what makes a good business when really good equipment, lots of views and followers does not make a good lawn care business. Right. So to follow or emulate someone that has all of those things on social media is to basically say, I want to have what they have. Well, if that's what you want, that means you want a good YouTube channel, a lot of followers and views. It's not a good lawn care business. Right. And so to take their advice and say, hey, I got to get this certain type of truck and like, I got to always get the newest thing. We got to realize the reason they do that is because that gets views. It's not what makes their lawn care business good. And then to look at someone like myself who buys three or four trucks in a given sitting in a day or two and make a video about it, you can't compare yourself against them. That. Because I've been in the game for a long time. So when you're first getting started, do not judge yourself based upon other people's successes, failures or anything like that. Just put your head down, learn, and then just do your very best. And so that, that would be the biggest takeaway for someone just getting started. I would say yeah, for sure.

And yeah, I would think like pretty much everybody that gets started in lawn care, the, the started watching like Brian's lawn Maintenance or something is in the same boat. And like I was one of them. Like, and it's saying like, nothing bad about those guys or anything, but like, because they, they have their own business and it's YouTube. So like.

I, I'm not making podcasts to be a million dollar podcaster. Like, it's honestly just kind of a hobby. Just like my Instagram.

And like, hey, you never know. Joe Rogan got $100 million to go to Spotify.

Yeah. His podcast, he got $100 million to.

Just, hey, that's pretty nice.

Oh, like only on Spotify.

Yeah, his long form podcasts are now only on Spotify. He puts little clips on YouTube, but no longer is like the full versions on there.

Why? Because of like what's going on in the country or what?

No, no, they paid him out, they paid him $100 million to basically exclusively stream on their platform.

That's nice.

Maybe that'll be.

Used someday with landscape business cards.

I doubt it. Oh man.

So yeah, I mean, you got to get going here soon. I don't want to. It's a Friday night. You gotta go do stuff. Well, first, like, what do you do on a Friday night, Mike? Because like we all see you as like Mike Andes. You're probably gonna go like research grass or something.

What do you do? Just like, because like all these guys, like I've met like Brian, like a bunch, bunch of people that are like big on Instagram or something and like some people even like talk to me like that because I have like 7,000, almost 7,000 followers. But really, like, I'm just a. A guy, like, that has some lawnmowers and like, I like to ski and I like to goof around. So, like, tell us like, a little bit about you, Mike. What do you do on Fridays or whatever the heck?

Yeah, like, you know, I am. I am blessed in the fact that, like, I enjoy it, right? So for some people, they mow grass and they. Or they do business and they do it as a ways to. Means that is to provide for their family or is to.

You know, pay for school or, you know, whatever it might be.

I really love it though, right? So, like, even if I wasn't getting paid for it, like, my hobby would be business, right? And trying to make money and like, that, that would be what I would do for fun. And so when I, you know, have downtime, if I'm not with family or loved ones, like, that's. That's probably what I'm doing, right? And so. But again, for someone to say, like, oh, I have to be that way, that's wrong. And I don't feel like you even have to be that way to be successful in business. You just gotta find your niche, right? And so for me, like, yeah, that's probably what I would be doing in terms of just like, looking at the business, trying to make it, improve it, and especially on, like, weekends, for me, that's my time to kind of lock in simply because the employees aren't there working actively and the franchisees aren't as active, so I get less questions from them. So it's kind of my time to, like, even if I am working out or like, chilling out, it's like my time to think about other stuff and think about, like, creative ways of, you know, coming up with solutions or systems and things like that. So it's a lot of times the weekend is my time to step back from the business, from operating it. Like, you know, texting and emails and phone calls and zoom calls and all the rest of it and recording and all that sort of thing and kind of step back and start thinking about, like, how can I improve it? Like, you know, I had a great week and we got a lot done, but what could I have done to make it more efficient? What could we have done to make it better for the team? What could we have done better for the franchisees? And so it's kind of my time to get creative, which, again, for me, that's what I enjoy, right? Like, if I had. If I had a Choice between playing golf, which I used to love to do, like, love to play golf. Every single day, I'd play golf. That's why it's called Augusta Lawn Care. It's named after Augusta. Right? So I love playing golf. But, like, now if you gave me a decision to play golf for a round of 18 holes for six hours on a Saturday versus just literally look at stocks or look at different analytics inside of our CRM for our franchisees, I would choose the latter because I would enjoy it. It's just ebbs and flows of life. I'm sure maybe in 20 years, I might look at it a little bit differently, but I think being okay with your perspective and where you're at in life and what makes you tick is good and not judging yourself too hard. Like, I didn't judge myself when I played 16 hours of golf a day. Now I probably would. But, like, I also don't judge myself now when I love to work and I enjoy it. Right. And so I think it's very important before, you know, from a mental health standpoint that we first accept ourselves and are okay with what we want in life and what makes us tick and what makes us happy and being okay with that and then going from there, knowing that life changes and stuff happens. Right. And that it's okay to change. It's okay to have a week where you work 100 hours, and the next week, you know what? I need some time and working 20. Right. So I think that there's no right or wrong answer, really, when it comes.

To that, for sure.

So, like, what. What's your plan for. What do you want Augusta to look like in 10 years? Or, like, what. What's your end goal?

Is it.

Is it, like, to sell your company for, like, 10 million or, like, what?

Definitely not to sell. I always want at least majority ownership stake in Augusta. I'd say in 10 years, there's definitely gonna be another chapter on top of Augusta. For me, in terms of business, that's probably more impact driven than just money, but definitely for Augusta.

In 10 years, I would want to be able to have, like, very pointed list of people that I had a part in making them a millionaire. That'd be a big thing for me, just, like, knowing that I helped them start their business, and I know from starting this how hard it is and how much pain and mental energy and physical energy and money and stress and risk that goes into it. And so for me to be able to kind of guide someone through that and get them to the other side is Extremely rewarding. That's what I do, you know, what I do every single day and why I keep waking up. And so in 10 years, I definitely want to have a very good list of people that I can look back like, I was at least a part of that journey for them and helping them get through that. And that's why, you know, the podcast originally started Landscape business course and business boot camp is really just try to help other, you know, people starting out like that to know that, like, you know, right now, you people looking at me now like, you're like, oh, you got 37 locations. And then they're like, go back like three years, the podcast, and you can see I was working like I was dark as I'll get out because I was either running estimates or running out in the field doing stuff all the time, right? So, like, I want to be able to have that chronological kind of story of the podcast and the videos I make. So that way, in 10 years, like you said, in 10 years, when I have that list, it's not like, oh, like, it's just assumed that he was always that way. Like, there's. There's a lot of hardship that goes into it, and I want that to be evident to people. And that's why I try to be as honest and transparent as possible, because it's not always easy and it's not always fun and games and there's times you cry, there's times that you doubt yourself, there's times that you are afraid, and everyone has that. It's very normal. And so for someone to judge themselves and say that, oh, well, I'm not so and so online, who's always happy and has it all together in my mind, is very, very detrimental and risky in terms of society. And so I think in 10 years, I want to have a much, much more, much more of an impact when it comes to small business owners, their mental space and their confidence level as they begin to grow their business. And I would like to say one day that the same way that someone thinks about kind of personal finance, they think of Dave Ramsey. I would love for, if I could be someone that could be synonymous with trying to help small business owners get started when they need help and kind of someone they can lean to.

Yeah, hey, I'll be on your list of.

Sign me up.

Yeah. But, yeah, that's a really good mission to have for sure.

That's kind of. I don't know if I'll help someone become a millionaire, but by getting like, boss landscapers and lawn care guys on my podcast and with people plugging this into their ears, like, instead of two chains or something like that, like.

Help.

Them, like, get from, like, 10 lawns to 30 lawns or something just on, like, a smaller scale. And I mean, like, not to talk myself down or anything, but, like, I don't have an mba and, like, I'm not, like, wasn't the smartest person in my class and all this stuff, but, you know, like, I do. I do know how to work hard, and I do know how to, like, find a goal and go out and get that goal and. And, like, not quit and not listen to people that try to tell you different. So I think.

I think it's. I think it's really important. Like, I know it's super cliche to say, but, like, you know how people say, like, you know, stop trying to change the world, just change the world for one person, right? And so I think, like, what you said there is important because, you know, you do not need to be the next Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk to try to change the world or change the business landscape, but you can. You can be more impactful than them combined to one or two people, right? And so that's helping a small business owner locally that's struggling, whether it be financially, whether it be through advice, whether it be through guidance or support, like, whatever that is, you can be more impactful than maybe if just a handful of people, right? And I think if we all. We all did that, we'd probably be in a slightly better place, right? And so that's kind of the thing I would say.

Awesome.

Well, I know you probably got to get going here soon, Mike.

But.

I.

Want to say thanks for being or for doing a interview or what do we call this? A zoom call. And, like, like, do you do this all the time? Like, because I saw you had, like, a bunch of slots for zooms, and I'm like, dude, is this guy Zoom half the day?

I was like, pretty much. Job?

Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot of zooms and calls. So that's my job description now.

That's so sweet, because, like, other people charge to do, like, what you're doing right now.

And, like, I've been like, all these people are, like, charging for, like, all this stuff. And, like, I get it. Because don't you charge for, like, landscape, business course and stuff?

Yep. Yeah.

Like, people are charging to do a video just like this. And, like, I get it, but I'm like, where's. Like, where's the free help, man.

Absolutely. My pleasure, man.

Yeah, I just think it's super cool and like, if you would be down, I, I would be down to come down and just kind of like look at your spot and I don't know, like, see what I guess the lawn care is all about.

I would, it's, you're kind of like.

For like a local person, it's kind of like the perfect cut of like Bothell or like Bellingham or something like that. But like it would be cool to come down and like see what you guys are all about and maybe like walk around, meet some, some of your eyes sometime.

I don't know for sure. Yeah, for sure. Stay in touch with me.

Yeah, we should do that.

But yeah. Is there any other advice that you would have for me or any young bucks trying to be millionaires?

Yeah, I think honestly, like, I know I talk about making money a lot and things like that, but honestly, I think it's so secondary to being content. And if you need a million dollars to do that, then by all means you should work day and night to get there. But if you're content at 250, if you're content at 100, then you should stay there. Right? And so when you, when someone, there's a difference between contentment and complacency. I'm very much against complacency, but I'm 110% all in on contentment. And so for someone to say, oh, like, what do I need to get to a million dollars? Like, well, first of all, do you need it? Because is it going to actually make your life any better? Everyone always thinks it is, but is it? Because if you're content at 250, I'd stay there because a whole lot less stress. Right. So that's something to think about. That's why even when we talked about before the show is like when you asked about how to go from 250 to a million, I asked, well, do you want to? Because you could take that same business, make it 350,000 by just raising your prices, increasing your margin, having really good employees that you pay a higher price for, that you know they're not going to leave, you can really trust them. That's a different life than running a million dollar company that you have turnover and lots of different leads and you got estimated, you're hiring overhead and office space and trucks all over the place. So I don't think that making a million dollars makes anyone any better. But if someone needs that to be content or they have goals or aspirations to do so, and that's going to make them feel accomplished, or that's going to get them to a place financially where they can do something in their community or with their family, whatever it might be. Then by all means, like, it's going to take a lot of hard work. It's going to take a lot of blood, sweat, tears and, you know, stress. But it is absolutely worth it when you get there for sure.

Yeah. I was, well.

I'm friends with like, the owner of Synthetic Turf Northwest. And he said, yep, Mike. So I was like, mike, because I went in there, I want to do a turf job. And I was like, hey, let me get some samples of turf. And then he was like, oh, okay. And then I was like, mike, like, would you want to make a podcast and maybe like, talk about scaling business? Because they have just like a couple trucks a few years ago, and now they have like six trucks or seven, I don't know. And they're like selling turf and selling muck trucks and all this stuff. So, like, he was like, well, you know, you should really just talk to Mike Andy's.

Mike, send me Mike Andy's cell phone number. And then, like, I didn't get it. So just I DM'd you. And then you're like, yep. And I was like, whoa. He answered my message.

So. Well, I gotta bounce here for 5:30, but I appreciate it, brother. We'll stay in touch.

Thank you, Mike. See ya.

Take care. Have a good one.