Running 40+ Lawn Care Locations Remotely (Liz Naber from Augusta Lawn Care)

Hey, everyone. Calm today. Very excited for another episode here of Roundup a little bit later this evening than usual because as we've been interviewing the people on the West Coast, I have to kind of accommodate the fact that people have to get work done. And so we've been pushing off a little bit later. So for those of you that it's 8:30 and you're about to get into bed, this is great material to put you to sleep. So it's gonna be a good show today. Today I'm gonna be having Liz Neighbor on the show. Liz has been my longest employee that's been with me and kind of been with me since really one or two other employees until where we are today with Augusta Lawn Care. So a really good perspective. This is the third and final episode that I'm going to have of some of our locals, some of our gust members of Augusta Nation. We had Chuck a few weeks ago. That was from the Mooresville location, Edge general manager Lee, general manager at the Bellingham Walkin county location. And then now today, talking to Liz, who's my operations manager and has really been with me from the beginning and probably knows me professionally more than anyone in terms of hours worked with me. So some interesting perspective, I hope, today, and especially a really great episode for those of you that might have people in the office that are wondering how they can improve, how they can grow with the business, what they can do to move the needle for the company, support you as the owner, this is definitely a great episode to share with them. So without any further delay, let's go ahead and welcome Liz into the show tonight. Liz, welcome. Thanks for coming on.

Hi.

Very cool. So I know. I know you shared in other places before, and we have done some interviews on the show in the past. I think it's probably been at least a year and a half, though. I don't know. I think our last one was the debate about trailerless setups. Oh, yeah.

That was fun.

So I want to kind of, first, for those of you, those of the listeners that have not watched or seen your story before, just tell how you kind of joined Augusta, what you were doing beforehand, and all of that before you do that, I want to make sure that everyone presses like and makes a comment only for the algorithm's sake, because these roundup episodes get 10% the views of our other ones. So if you could do me a kind favor of pushing the like button, making a comment about something you learn, I'd greatly appreciate it. All right, so go ahead, Liz. Give us kind of the, you know, couple minute version of how you kind of came to work at Augusta and what led up to that.

Yeah, I was thinking today how crazy it is that you have the subs that have been with us for a long time, people that kind of have been on the journey, whole journey with us, and then those that are brand new and don't know us at all. So just in a nutshell, I owned a janitorial business, and then I went into the medical field from there with some of my patients that wore my customers in the janitorial business, and I owned an in home care business after that. Then I went to work at the hospital, and I worked night shifts, six to seven nights a week. And one day, Mike texted me and he said, hey, can you just come by the shop when you get done in the morning? At that time, we were in Blaine. He was delivering materials, doing estimates. He had one guy in the field, and the two of them would go out and work, and Mike would bring his laptop, his phone, and try to work. Then. Then he would close the office and try to go out and do estimates and deliveries. And so when I came that day, he said, I am working over 100 hours just in the office, plus trying to do all the rest of these things, and I need somebody that I trust to come and be my office manager. Well, I agreed. And then I had to do my two weeks, final two weeks at the hospital. So I worked there night shift and work with Mike in the day. And when I started there, I was way out of my comfort zone. I was driving a tractor for the first time in my life. And we always joke that God had a sense of humor because Mike and I were both in the medical field in this very sterile environment. And now we were working outside in the dirt all day. No bathroom, an outhouse, and fun times. So that is how I came to.

Not much has changed. Not much has changed.

Still no bathroom at the bellingham shop.

I'm very grateful for a bathroom at command center.

Yeah. So that's it in a nutshell. And then I was at the Blaine shop with Mike for a while. Then we transitioned to bellingham. And now I've transitioned out of the role of office manager over there into. I don't know what my title is here, but I'm gonna. I am at the command center now training the new hirees and making a, we hope, a world class team in the future.

So how I kind of look at what you've done so far to gusa kind of has three different stages or you know, you know, quote unquote titles. One being really at the beginning, more of an office assistant, answering the phone, emails, you know, when we're at the Blaine shop, really just managing the traffic that would come in, you would load them up. The retail side of the business. And it was kind of a good segue for us to afford an office person was to have the retail side. But we quickly realized the ebbs and flows of retail was 10 times worse than the seasonality of the service side. So we ended up stopping, stopping that when we moved to the Bellingham location and really just focusing on services only, but really looking at office assistant. Then as we went to Bellingham and you started really taking over the Bellingham location, becoming the office manager, starting a lot of the hiring and really governing schedules and everything without me being there. And then even to the point where I wasn't in the field at doing the estimates, and you were really manning and operating the entire operation. And then now recently moving out from the daily operations of the physical stores, moving towards more of the support for the franchisees as Opera operations manager. For someone that is in maybe the office assistant role, answering the phones, doing quote unquote grunt labor, answering emails, etc. What would you say to them if they wanted to progress with a lawn care landscaping business and they felt like they're just kind of at the bottom of the totem pole?

Well, first of all, I would say that it doesn't matter what industry you come from or what you've done before. If you educate yourself and you jump in all in to support the owner, you'll be okay. So I looked at it like, to. To really be good at my job and to really be the best support to you. I think the person would have to study the owner, what makes them tick, how they react. And what the owner is looking for is someone that will do it the way they want it, that. That you would be able to take over something and they would feel like, okay, okay, I've seen this like three or four times and they've got this. So listen to the owner, be aware of them and how they roll and how you know they would want you to handle things. And then in every task you do, keep that in mind. How you respond to the customers, what the goals are for the business. What is very important is that you are the first face of the business. You're the first voice they hear. You are the first impression of your company. And so you want to be clear, concise, you want to be confident and even if you really don't know about everything, about the products, about the services entirely, you can still speak with confidence enough that you can draw them in and they want to experience more of Augusta or your company. Another thing for me is I was in the medical field, so I didn't know anything about business, so I felt inadequate in that aspect. And I thought, oh, I need to go get a business degree. And Mike said, you'll learn as we go. And then I got into the Audible and. And I just started listening to every book about customer service. There's just a massive amount. And from every book, we were able to take things out of those and implement them. So the more you learn, the more of an asset you'll be to the business, the more you take off the owner's plate little by little, oh, I got that. I can handle that. And they see you can do it, then they can, you know, just have confidence that you can handle more responsibility, which can move them more towards out of the office and just working in the field, knowing you can handle things.

For someone that is in the position, perhaps as an office assistant or in the office for a company, and perhaps they are a single mom or a single parent, and they need to get ahead financially. I think that something that's very unique about your position is when you first came on board versus now, you probably tripled or more your income, but you never asked for a raise. Right. You just basically came to the point where every single junction I had to realize you were more and more valuable the company, and I needed you more and more and more. What would you say to the person that they feel like they aren't necessarily getting that appreciation financially, but they need it. Like, they really do need it for their kids to provide for their families, and they need to make more money from the business and be more valuable, but also get something back in return for that?

Well, the thing is, if you don't focus on the money and you focus on bringing value to your company, you will become so valuable that we say, oh, no person is unreplaceable or whatever. But if you listen to the book the Linchpin, he talks about a person that is so beneficial to the company and brings so much value to the company that the company can't exist without them. Now, I know me as a person, the company can exist without me, but while I'm here, what kind of value can I bring to the company? And if there's another book called so Good they can't ignore you, well, if you're focusing on you and being incredibly good at everything you do and bringing so much value without thinking of the money. Somebody will recognize your value. If it isn't the owner that you work for right now, it'll be a customer that comes in and says, hey, man, you're really good. I really need you. How much does he pay you? It's called talent poaching, and I will pay you this much more. If you never focus on the money and focus on being irreplaceable, somebody will recognize your value, and they will pay you what you're worth. So I could. I could have owned. I owned my own businesses. And Mike would recognize when I get to junctions, okay, I got this. I'm bored. I need this. I need more responsibility. I just love learning. And so I appreciate that Mike has the character and realizes that, okay, we're going to go further with this person, with me, than without me. And so he would give me money raises that I even felt I didn't deserve. And then I felt more pressure to bring value.

And he would say, just stop it. If you were 80% of. If you were bringing 80% of what you're bringing now, you're still worth it. So I would say, especially for a single mom, she's. She's trying to work all day. She has her kids, she has the meals that she has to prepare and laundry and all this kind of stuff. She's exhausted, and yet she's trying to shift out of this mom role and then put on the uniform and become someone else and then take care of all these people. It's a massive undertaking of just taking care of people all the time. So I would suggest that they completely simplify their lives, like paper plates, if you need to, and just simplifying everything so that you're focused on you being good so that you're good. When you come to work for your company, you bring as much value as you can. You walk out the door, you go home, and you be the same kind of mom that you just were at work for. All of those people focus and have your goals and know that you have to be this. And, you know, you feel this pressure to provide for your kids, and I would just encourage you that you can do it. You have to do it. And so don't give up.

For someone that has an office person as an owner, what would you tell that owner to kind of help the office person either be more productive or get out of their way or set the office person up for success or what's something that, like, maybe Even stuff that I've done that might have annoyed you as the owner towards the office side of the business. For someone that's in the office, what can I do as an owner to set that person up for success?

Well, I think that it's important for the owner also to watch that employee, how they are and what they need to succeed in their role. It's very important to. To study your employees and see where their talent lies. Are they going to be better with the customer service and out front, or are they going to be better with the crew leading more quietly in the background if they don't want to be in front of people? And your question again, was to the owner. Right. And how to look for, how to.

Set up the office person, how to make it either better for them? What's the something that you would find that an owner might kind of get in the way of the office? What can we do as an owner to make sure the office is successful?

Yeah. So once you realize this is somebody good and you want them for a long time, you need to be aware of when they. They do take the role. And they're very good at maneuvering and setting things up and taking care of you. And you walk in and you say, oh, no, no, don't do it like that. And don't do it like that. And. And. And we had that sometimes where Mike think of the owner like, you've dealt with everything yourself all this time. You've called the shots, and it's not that you don't want to relinquish it. You need to know that somebody else can handle it. And we had a time specifically when it was the end of the day and you're maneuvering all the routes around and so. And so is going to go grab the trailer and go pick this up and all of that. And. And Mike walked in like he had been at the gym or somewhere else, and he walked in and he's like, oh, hey, you do that and you do that and you do that. And I was like, I had it. It was good. Our plan was good. And then. So it's times like that that we had to really, you know, assess. Like, okay, she's got this. She can do it.

And it's not easy for the owner either. But yeah, we've had a lot of times like that. But you've been good to recognize my gifts and my strengths and then let me, let me go with it. And if I mess up, you let me mess up, and then you let me again call the customer or say I'm sorry to the employee and then fix it myself. But you let me. You gave me a place to be free to fail, which we try to do with our employees, to a safe place to fail and then get better.

There's been said that there's. In a lot of businesses, there's kind of the visionary and integrator and we've talked about before. You know, obviously I'm very visionary. I come with a lot of ideas and all the rest of it every single time I go on a run. And basically I'm coming back with another idea. For someone that is the integrator side, like yourself, that basically has to, you know, the rubber meets the road, and you're the one that actually has to go get marching orders and put things together. What can someone who is visionary very much clouds, very visionary, wants to think about goals and have meetings with their team. What can they do to either tone that down or make it better for the integrator role that they're trying to hire in their business? Whether that be a number two or. Or just maybe their first couple employees that are like, dude, get your head out of the clouds. We're trying to get work done here. What was that? What would your message be to a visionary like myself to allow the integrator and people within the organization to get stuff done?

So, first of all, I would recommend to read Rocket Fuel, which really helped us. I think Mike said it helped him appreciate me more and where I was coming from.

So.

So the visionary has all these ideas, and, you know, I've had times where Mike would go away for the weekend after the conference or something, and already on Sunday, he's texting all these ideas and all this stuff he wants to do, and I'd be like, take a nap. Like, you know, just. Just so full of ideas. And I'm like, oh, man, when he comes back, he's just gonna, like, cause disruption and gonna have all these ideas, and we're gonna change this and that and this and that and that. We have found a lot more balance in, like, Mike will bring the idea. So let's say he'll. Every time he goes running or anything, then he comes back and he has an idea, and then we talk about the idea, and he's like, well, we could do it this way and we could do it now. And then we talk together about the way to integrate that thing. So it used to be we're going to try this. And then they say, entrepreneurs, they try 100 things and they might implement nine or 10. But they tried 100 fast, they fail fast. So it takes, I say, a special person to get where the visionary is coming from and get that they're coming from a good place and get that 90% of the stuff's going to fall to the ground, but the 10% is going to be dynamic and it's going to be what really helps the company go forward. And so over time we've gotten that a little better. And because we're growing so big and so fast, we're really not in each other's way that much. It's more like I, as the integrator, am integrating and doing the things that the entrepreneur wants or the visionary wants, carrying out the vision pretty much, and then answering back to him of where we are, what we need to change, kind of where things are at the present. And then we together talk about what we need to change next for the future. So I work with the team, you have the ideas, I integrate them and then give you feedback pretty much.

How has it been like in terms of obviously you as the integrator, I try to relegate as much as possible in terms of decision making on operational side of things. But when that hasn't happened, we have kind of clashed in the past over certain things. What has been the way that you've kind of had to either talk me out of certain things or basically convince me that like, look, this is just, it's not going to happen. It sounds great in theory, but your visionary tendencies are going to lead to a lot of issues operationally. And I think, you know, I say this because a lot of times we as entrepreneurs, someone as an owner perhaps is thinking too visionary too soon. Yeah. And I've talked about this before. Some of the franchisees where it's like, look, you only have five or 10 employees. You do not have time to start thinking about like, you know, all these grand, these grand things and structures and all the rest of it's like get work done. Right. And I was still doing estimates literally until we were selling franchises and a very silo business, multiple locations, etc. What would you say to someone who is very visionary, wanting to grow, has these great grandeur plans as a visionary, but they're just causing havoc for the people in their, in their company because they keep changing things and trying this, oh, will the trailer set up? Oh, we're going to try this different mower, we're going to try this, try weed Whacker and like we're going to try this different scheduling thing or different software like what would you tell them to just, like, put the brakes on and focus on operational excellence before trying to create the next apple of lawn care?

Be aware that these team members and the other people are working so hard, they're working so many hours, they're just exhausted. And it's not that they don't mind your ideas, but when you come buzzing in and you know, you've played golf or you've had a nap or you had a great time with your family and you have somebody to make you dinner and. And they're going to go home alone and nobody to make dinner and they still have to get groceries and all that kind of thing. You're going to be on a different level of playing field because they don't even have the luxury to sit there and dream stuff up. So I think it's important that the owner is in the trenches, so to speak. Not maybe doing the work all the time, but in the trenches, being situationally aware to what's going on and, and what they're trying to do for you. Like, you could sit down and be visionary all day, but nobody wants a pie in the sky person who's like, but what if we did this? Or what if you did this? And then in the meantime, somebody is making it happen and they really have the best input. Like soldiers on the ground have the best input going up the chain of command for how things should roll. So your idea is awesome. And, and then it's better to be like, hey, what do you guys think of this? And to come alongside people instead of being in front of them. You know, the authoritarian kind of style of leadership that people had in the past, it's really not going to work now. It's shouldering up beside the team members and doing it together and saying, hey, you're out there all the time. I was thinking of this. Do you see, what do you see the pros and cons of trying this would be. So I think it's important that you support the visionary. If you have one of those in your business, you're blessed because there'd be nothing worse than having the employees, like, dragging. We should try this. We should try this. Or like P for P or anything. And then he's scared, he's scared to try. And I think it's important to have some vision. If you don't have vision, you're not a leader style person. Then you get behind somebody who, who does and who can lead, such as yourself and others in the industry and learn from them and take their advice. I Could go on and on about that.

But for someone that is in, typically the owner is more the visionary type. Typically, not always. Sometimes they're very operationally excellent, more integrator. And then they go hire someone that is a visionary. But for someone that is. Is really struggling to find someone that is their number two, that is struggling to get someone that is going to care for their team, really take the burden of command, they're willing to pay if they could find, but they just can't find them. What would you do to, you know, encourage that owner or what could someone like myself do to find someone like you or cultivate that talent within existing team members?

So I think that you lead by example and a great leader. You know, they're a great leader by the great leaders that are created by what they do and the example by which they live. Right. So I think that you could look around to personal people that, you know, if there's like say a lady that is, she's a school teacher or something and she needs work in the summer and she could maybe start with you helping in the office that way. Even if you're a young guy having a business, somebody solid like that and a little bit older, I would say is a good face for your business. And there are people like that out there, but they, they have to be somebody that will pivot and change with you. You don't want somebody that's putting the brakes on what you're trying to do. So I would listen to the employees that are there and hey, yeah, that's a great idea. Should we try this? So it might not work, but let's do it. And then, and then they work with you, they collaborate with you. And wow, that was great. That works. So let's try this. And so you, you will likely in, in many companies, if they're seeking to get rid of the top people, I would say 90% of the time it's not to go out and bring somebody that's unfamiliar with the industry in and try to change things. It's usually the people below that have watched and they have the most experience experience to move into a leadership position. If you, if you feel like you don't have anybody on your team, you could put an ad out. I thought I needed a, an office assistant and I never thought that I would find somebody that would be the perfect match for me. And I wrote a kind of unique ad and that is what it was, just honest and open kind of the ad I needed. And the first person who applied said they applied because of the verbiage in the ad and so be original and try to find somebody that way. Interview a lot of people. You could even do people on a trial basis, or they could shadow at the office for a day and kind of watch how you roll. And then they would see, oh no, this guy definitely, I do not want to work for him. Or they might be, yeah, I could do this. I could work with this team. So you could shadow people. And then for your actual office position, you want to hire up, don't feel like you gotta hire somebody that's 15 or 16 and 18 and cultivate them to be what you want them to be. You want people smarter than yourself in different areas so they can make you shine and do what you do and then they can take the things you're not good at and get them done.

For last question in this regard. For someone that is a female in this industry, whether it be in the office or a spouse of the owner, whatever it might be, how have you dealt with sometimes, you know, other contractors, subcontractors and even clients, potentially putting that as a big barrier to why you can make certain calls in the business? And what would you say to another female? It's either supporting their spouse or just working in the office and trying to really operate in what's otherwise a male dominated industry.

I would say for. I'll tell you the two different sides, but the office side, I think it's really important to know who you are and the kind of person you are. And then you create by the way you act and the air about you, I would say of professionalism and how you want to be in the industry. And then people follow along with that. So we actually had a guy come one time when I was loading product and he's like, I don't want a woman loading my truck. And I had the skid steer and I was like, well, do you see anybody else and can I load it myself? And I'm like, no. And there was an RN there and she was like, I can't believe he's saying that. And I'm like, yeah. And I could probably put an IV in him too. And so he wasn't too pleased that it was a woman. He watched his truck like a hawk and then he was totally fine at the end. But things like that. And then there's times where, you know, all have to come head to head with some of the contractors on behalf of Mike and on behalf of the business where, you know, they, they say things about us to other companies and kind of pull us down, which is what we're not trying to do in the industry. It's really to support each other and help one another in the community. And my nature is not confrontational or anything. It's nice to have the peace and be all positive and. But when you come against my company and my team, it's my job to protect the guys and to say things to better my company. And so in those times, it's been a little bit of challenge, but I had to go hardcore. And it kind of makes them mad and hate you and stuff, but it was the right thing to do for my company. That's a little bit hard. And then I would say to the gals that work in the field that you need to really look after yourself. And so anytime I've hired them, I say to them, are you confident to stand up for yourself? And I don't mean, like, being, you know, a jerk or like, oh, I'm a girl, and you got to cater to me. You know, a lot of the ones that come, they're hard workers. They want to be out there working, and they're fantastic. Like, the gals that we've had are just amazing. I would go and start a franchise with them. Like, they're that quality of people and worker. And so I would always ask them, will you? You know, girls need to go to the bathroom sometimes, and sometimes they need to go right now. And I would tell them, you have to be able to say, hey, I'm just taking the truck. I'm going up to the gas station. And really watch out for yourself. Not let anybody push you around and protect yourself. And. And those kind of women do very well.

So right now, like, your role is somewhat malleable at command Center. Obviously, the big part is just taking care of the team, training all the new people that we've had to develop over the past five, six months as we've really quadrupled the scale of command center. But as you've been managing now the command center and seeing really 43 locations in operation, what separates the ones that do really, really well versus the ones that just do average? Now that you have this test group or this beta group that you can see all the different people every single day, and you're in contact with most of those locations, and whether it be vicariously through other office people at command center or directly, what's the differentiating factor between the ones that really crush it? And we're talking, you know, they're doing $50,000 in a few months in revenue or, or the ones that kind of struggle their first year and it kind of takes them into their second year to kind of find their stride. What is that differentiation that you see?

Yeah, I love this question. Like, I think about the franchisees all the time and I think about the way to even have confidence in you to become a franchisee. You're talking about the franchisees, right? Not the staff. Yeah, correct. So once they, they've spent all this time, years, they listened to hundreds of podcasts, basically vet you by listening to all that content. All that content. And then it's the.

Idea that, okay, I've committed this 10 year commitment of a relationship, but now is Mike going to be there for me? Are these people that he's hired going to be able to take me from here? Can I work with them? Can I trust them? Do they have my best interest in mind? And, and I always think try to put myself in the place of the franchisee. Many of them have given really their last dollar like to put into this because it's like their last option because they quit high paying jobs because they wanted something different for their family and they wanted to build something. And so I think that the biggest, I wouldn't say weakness, but the thing that holds them back so much is that, you know, solopreneurs, they have, maybe they don't like to work with employees and they just want to be alone, don't want to deal with people or lead. And then I find that they're afraid to really let go and grow. Right. They, they have so much potential now. They have us to do their marketing. They're selling talk on the phone for them, which, which we're really good at. And, and I feel like we could just shoot their businesses to the sky and they could have exponential growth, but their personal things hold them back. So maybe they have complexes. Maybe they don't have the support of their partner. Maybe they're a single parent and they've had like life reversals. Some of their life reversals have put them in this place and it's really all or nothing. And so I, I feel like sometimes maybe there's some complexes or lack of trust. And so it's hard to, it's hard to believe that when you would talk to Liz and you would know that, okay, she is like figuring out everything to maneuver my schedule to help me. We're very sensitive that it is not easy when guys call and they're frustrated. Yeah, their employee just walked off the job. Their stuff, the wrong product was delivered. It's Pouring down rain in Florida and you're having to move all their jobs. Like, we, we feel for them, and we are 100% here to support them. And I think that especially if you've had a tough life, you know, it's hard to trust people, that people are really that genuine. So I think that they're afraid to just let loose and go and trust the process, because the process does work. And I'm beyond.

Proud of them and the character that they have to do what they're doing. And I highly value that they've placed their trust in us to help them.

For the past several years, as you become more involved with the industry, and even the past couple years as my personal brand, and we've had conferences and we do podcasts, and now just a lot more attention our way. And you've become much more an integral part of people reaching out, asking you for advice, asking you at conference about, you know, the role of the second in command, the role of someone in the office. What's been the kind of takeaway, something that you've learned from this industry as a whole? Where is the lack in this industry for companies to progress, go forward? Is there some sort of common denominator between the people that you see do well in this industry and the ones that you constantly see just constantly, either plateauing or just failing over and over and just constantly up and down, in and out. What is that something in the industry that you've seen as you spoke at conferences and all the rest of it?

Yeah. So first of all, what I would say that I see as a lack is that humans, and even in all industries, is an ego. And so if, if I asked five people today, hey, what do you know about this? Or, hey, what about this? That's five more things that I've learned, and every person I train, I've learned from. And so I think that across the board, the ego thing that won't reach out for help, how much better could you be even in the industry? Like, is there really competition, like, to change the professionalism in the industry, everybody on a personal level to make America great again, Every person, if they all went internally and did the hard work to change themselves and knew their weaknesses and changed individually, then collectively we would change the professionalism in the industry. So, like, I think of the guys in the field, they feel like, oh, I'm just out here, you know, making the big bucks for somebody else. No, if we don't have your feedback, so the phone call goes out, then the estimator goes out. And then the team in the field goes out and, and they make it happen. They, like, bring to fruition what the vision of the company is. And so I think the guys in the field, if they could value themselves, look professional, act professional, talk professional, then other people would start to recognize, okay, these aren't just field guys. Like, this is a professional. I'm talking to somebody who could probably do anything. And here they are mowing lawns. It becomes something that, that we can build careers out of, and people can build businesses for their families. So overall, I would say that the ego thing of, of being humble enough to reach out for help from one another in the industry and support one another in the industry, and then together it's. It's pretty amazing. Like, I think of how we collaborate even with probably many of. There's probably many lawn care companies that are just local here, that are listening and they know how, that, you know, they'll call and they'll be like, hey, I don't even know how to measure this property. Can you tell me how much I need? And we help them, and they go out and look awesome to their customers. We, for instance, don't do irrigation. But I was able to call another company where I saw the two young guys that are really driven, hardworking, very honest, and have a straightforward conversation. Like, I'd like to partner with you. You know, if you don't take our landscaping jobs or whatever from those customers, I will recommend you for all the irrigation. And now they're just like, huge, hugely busy. Like, they can't even take on all the work. But that's because together and collectively in our community, we're trying to build unity. You will see the guys out there. It was like 100 and something degrees A couple weeks ago. And you're like, you had your little nephew and you're like, hey, let's go get them ice cream sandwiches. And you know, you took them ice cream. It's just like, I see my brother working hard over here, and I need to go to support him. So that is how we'll bring the professionalism. Secondly, I think it is quite different now. You look at Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos and people that had that authoritarian type of leadership. I don't think that'll work. Now, typically, the genre of guys are pretty rough and have been through rough things that come into our industry, but I think that you are. You're giving the opportunity for some of these guys, like, their only opportunity they'll ever have. And if we look at this more as not Building businesses, but changing lives. Like, we're in the life changing business. If you change their lives, they will change their businesses. We all together will change the level of professionalism in the industry. And I don't get up in the morning to go and do lawn care or anything like that, but I believe that if you build great teams, there's absolutely nothing you can't do together. And so I believe in people. I. I get up in the morning for people like Nick Reed and Tim and Austin and Marcus and, you know, Charlie, like our guys who have dramatically changed because we've been together. So if I don't care in your business, like with your employees and everybody, if you seek to come to work to make life a little better for somebody else, to put yourself in their place, I mean, people are dealing with tough stuff, and if they know you're there to help them get their work done, like, how could we not change the professionalism if we are all becoming personally professional and, and supporting one another to reach their goals? If you support enough other people to reach their goals, you'll reach yours.

So speaking of goals and kind of like what we've kind of worked together, and I'd say, like I said at the beginning of the show, and that is you and I have probably worked the most hours together in terms of professionally.

As we've grown. Augusta. So from your perspective, how have I changed over the past five, six years?

Yeah, yeah, something like that. Six.

What's been kind of the biggest change that changes that you've seen, whether it be positive, negative, whatever it might be.

Yes. So the changes I've seen in you is, I would say, much more seriousness because the burden of command gets really heavy. And the care that you have for the employees and what they go through personally, you know, you watch, you watch your people struggle to make money and to live. And what has changed, the way you've changed has made you change your business. So you're a burden for people and to care for them. And you realize if these people work so hard for me, I should give them a portion of what they make. And that is how with P4P, people become high performers. You attract high performers. You attract people who want to work hard for you. So I think that watching you lead by example.

The burden of command is heavy. It is very lonely at the top. And watching you with the burden of that.

It'S hard for me to see that, but I know it's necessary, so I understand it. And.

I would say that the burden of command has changed you you're the most positive person I've ever met. When you look at situations, you always see the solution. You're solution oriented. And how else have you changed? I think you've become more, more empathetic and understanding because so many times we have no clue about what people go through and their illnesses and stuff. And there are people that come to work with us, right. And somehow we've got to get them here to work for us. And you are really good at inspiring them, being sensitive to what they're going through. I think that you have wisdom beyond your years because of these things. And people would say, oh, you're young and how could you know this? You haven't even gone through anything. Well, what you don't realize is from a very young age a person is born to be a certain way and they're already visionary, giving. And I have just seen all the, the good qualities in you come to greater manifestation and basically multiply themselves by your leadership. And what I see rub off on the guys and the kind of quality of franchisees that are attracted to you is because they know you care and not only about their businesses, but about their personal lives to realize they're not going to come to the business good unless their personal lives are intact.

Last question. And kind of. You kind of already delved into it there. I had for you. And that is, you know, again, because you know me so well and worked with me so closely from a professional standpoint, for someone that has watched a lot of the videos and things like that, what is one bad thing about me that they would not pick up from the videos? And then what's one good thing potentially, if there is any, that they wouldn't pick up from the videos or just like kind of behind the scenes that no one really sees? I don't put the camera on things like that. From first. Bad, then we can go to good if there's anything.

Okay. I think the bad thing would be, oh, you're perfect now.

The bad thing would be that you're often distracted and that is because again, the burden of command because you have people drawing from everywhere. You have people that need answers and guidance from everywhere. And, and you've got the media team, you've got command, you've got the managers, you've got the franchisees, and then also the attention that the growth of the business needs because you need to be working on the business. And yet there's so much in the business that keeps pulling at you and not so much that you're in the business but you still care for the business, you're still like watching over it. And so I think that I don't know that it would be a fault. I mean you're going to be distracted and now with the social media and a lot of, you know, attention coming in through that way, you're very careful about those things and trying to keep an eye on them and the direction we should go. So if somebody, you know, was with you a lot on a personal level, they would be annoyed that you're so distracted and, and distracted.

And so I'm supposed to say the good thing about you now. Good things.

No, no, not good things. No, not, not plural. Just one good thing. Just one thing that people wouldn't know. Like not, not, not just what I'm good at, but like what is something that isn't visible from, you know, just watching the videos.

I would say that you have a good vision of the 30,000 foot view and that at times you need to be hard and at times you need to be very caring and soft and sometimes you need to be funny. It's interesting because in social media you have to have something that grabs people's attention. So the face that you have to put forward to grab their attention, to pull them in and then give them business advice is going to be crazy and loud and wild and you know, clickbait. And that is something that people would not that don't get it and don't get business and what we're trying to do, they, they wouldn't get that. But I would say it's actually a very good quality and that you can move into these different roles and be what is necessary at those moments for the sake of the greater vision of the business, which would make you easily misunderstood. But I think the thing that I would say is great about you is.

You never lose focus of the bigger picture. The how and the why of the below stuff is just because of the big picture. So I would say that's an incredibly good quality about you. And most people, I would say know that but they, you don't sleep very much, but I bet they know that too. You're remarkable in the way that you can detach from situations and then make the right call. So that would be behind the scenes. I would say you run like a maniac up a mountain and that's pretty impressive too. On a, you know, non business side.

There'S a lot what there's one question that came in here I want to address about P4P and kind of off of that too because you were kind of with us, obviously, as we switched to P4P out in the field and really moved towards profit sharing for managers and really started establishing more involvement financially with the team. But Milton asked, in addition to the P4P program, is there any other buy in that a worker has with Augusta or at least helping develop people into the mindset of investing?

So you're talking about the worker themselves, and they've all. They've already bought into P4P and you're wanting to help them have the mindset to move forward with investing.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of, like, the. The way that even someone like, you know, Tyler Austin, Nick Marcus have really started out in the field and are now being business owners. And the development of that process, the optional meetings, like, what can someone do besides even the monetary profit sharing P4P, what can they do to motivate their team to actually get. Do something more than just mow lawns the rest of their life?

Yeah, I would say that you make it an everyday part of conversation. It's, hey, did you see that one stock? And. And then the younger guy will be like, I don't even know what that is. You mean you already invest? Yeah, I have this Robinhood app on my phone and. And be. Be always talking about those things. A lot of people in the generation before us, my generation, even never talked about money. It was like some kind of taboo thing. But if you look at it as a tool and you talk about it all the time, like, hey, if you make that extra and you do this and you do that, it's just always making it aware. Hey, there's this awesome podcast, you know, Millennial Investing and. Oh, you have Robin Hood. Well, you know what, if you want to see some great tutorials, I'll send you a link for that. It's always keeping it before them and in front of them to. To use money as a tool and to grow it to do great things, keeping them inspired, I think.

How is your. How is your relationship or your thought process of money changed as there's been more money in the business? There's been more money going out, there's more money coming in. There's. We're trying to make money for the franchisees and, you know, not just success, but money specifically, and trying to train even frontline employees to have a different perception about money and success and their financial future. How has that changed over the past several years as you've had to groom other people to a different mindset about money and success? As well as your own kind of progress in the direction of financial education.

Yes. So it's completely changed My, My original or the way I think is to. I, I just work. Like, I don't look at my paycheck. I never look at my pay stub. I just work and I believe that the money will follow. My, My thoughts about. Money itself is really, it's a tool. So it could be used to build a hospital. It could be used, you know, like you say about a brick, it can be used to throw through a window and break things. And everybody that's good that has money will use it for good things and evil people. It will just accentuate their bad qualities. But without money, you can't do a lot of the things that progress people and progress lifestyle. And in order to do things that are going to be successful, you have to have money to get out of the gate and try stuff and have enough money to let it break. And so, for instance, for like a winter, you know, we're paying employees to work and floating the business because there's. Because there's no. Because there's no business in the winter sometimes. But we wanted to keep the people. So if you look at all like, what a waste. But no, we are, we are keeping these people and they, we know it's an investment in the business. One difficult thing for a lot of people would be that I have to pay this person more than they're really worth. But will they rise up to that level? So, like, for yourself, in order to keep people like myself and Lee and Lonnie here.

You have to be willing to make a sacrifice up front, believing that this person will move into that and bring value. And to do what we want to do takes a lot of money. And that's why to. To fund.

The podcast and all of these things, it's. It's a very collective mentality that all of us together are supporting all these roles to make the money we need to do this or that or that.

The mentality about it is that we need it and we need to manage it carefully to grow it so that we can do this together.

Personally.

Having one another to talk to about it all the time. We have motivational meetings on Wednesday mornings. It's super awesome to talk to other people about what they're doing, tease them because their stock lost, you know, value and just pick on them. And just in all of that, day to day, we learn so much from each other.

Really awesome. Very cool. Well, I wanted to say thank you so much for everything. That you, for myself, the franchisees, the team locally. And I know going forward, really, your role is very much around just the people, the culture, and, you know, probably eventually becoming the chief culture officer. Really, everything from hiring to making sure everything's ran the way I would want in terms of treating people and the culture and all the rest of it. So I really appreciate everything that you've done for me for the franchisees, how much you care for them. And I know that we, we shed tears over their, their failures and when they have bad days and when they are struggling. And so I just appreciate how much you care for the business, care for myself, the employees, and everything you've contributed over the past several years. I really, really do appreciate it. And thank you for coming on.

You're welcome. I love you all.

Bye. All right, everyone, thank you for coming for another episode of Roundup. I really appreciate it. As usual, make sure you come for the live Q and A's where we actually go more. Just one on one Q and A's and I can answer a whole bunch of the questions. I know there's a, a ton of questions coming in tonight. We can get to those in more of a live Q and A. This is more of a interview style, but make sure you do go ahead and share this with someone else. You do like this. Again, like I said, these, these videos, it's almost tempting to not do the Roundup interview sometimes because they get such little views and actually brings down our subscriber count, usually because people are annoyed by long videos like this. But I, I truly believe in it. I think we'll keep doing it because it's, in my opinion, the thing that actually is going to move your business forward is having some of these hard discussions, hard topics and learn from people have actually done it, whether it be big businesses, small businesses, solo operators. We've talked about it over the past 13 episodes with all sorts of ranges, and these are the type of discussions that I feel is going to actually move your business forward, actually change the level of professionalism in this industry and actually going to allow your business to be more profitable. I'm Mike andes here on landscapebusinessports.com thanks for joining me for another episode of Roundup. We'll see you on the next episode.