The Offseason Book: Chapter 8: Make a Decision: Fix Your Offseason

Chapter 8 Make a decision Fix your off season Here are the five cures for seasonitis. Go into lockdown mode. Sell more and better accepted jobs. Add adjacent services, Start a recurring maintenance program and create a new brand. What we've discovered is that off seasons will keep you poor. Seasonitis will keep you poor. I want you to be rich. I recommend removing off season from your vocabulary as a business owner is the curse of the home service industry. It is the reason the average home service business loses money. We do not have an off season. We have a window cleaning season and a gutter cleaning season. We have a roof installation season and a roof maintenance season. We have a mowing season and a Christmas light season. We have a pool installation season and a pool maintenance season. We have a lawn spraying season and a pest control season. We have an outdoor painting season and an indoor painting season. We have a landscaping season and a winter services season. We have season specific offers for season specific services. Which track should you use to cure seasonitis once and for all? At Augusta Lawn Care we use all five approaches. We sell more of our current mowing customers through better marketing. We upsell our current customers to increase their lifetime value. That's cure two. We cross sell them into snow services in applicable markets. That's Q3. We create recurring winter service programs. That's Cure4. We've launched Augusto Christmas Lights as a new brand for about half of our locations.

It's time to make a decision. Which cure will you use to eliminate your off season? Turn to page four in your workbook. Think back to the beginning of this book. How much was your jackpot? What dollar amount did you earn if you solved Q4? Collapse now? What was your golden ticket? How would it impact the lifestyle of your family, your life and your business? This is what we're facing. It's time to commit to one of these approaches or a combination. But you must make a decision. Lets look at some case studies from businesses that have implemented these cures. Connor and Kayla Hutchinson from Augusta Lawn Care in Charlotte, North Carolina report by doing winter services and adding Christmas lights, We are up 67% for the fourth quarter. Year over year we retained more customers with winter services, leaf cleanups and Christmas lights. In Q4 2023 they made $238,000. In 2024 that that jumped to $399,000 in revenue. Ricardo Vargas from Augusta Lawn care of Alexandria, Virginia says in our first year during Christmas lights we finished at $33,500. I'd say it was a success and pretty fun. To be honest, we had a 50% conversion rate for winter services, enough to break even during the winter until spring. If not for these two winter tracks, we'd be pretty tight and I'd be worried. Instead, Ricardo continues, I'm happy and have a clear mind about the plan to double the business next year. Corey Williams from Augusta Lawn care of Whatcom, Washington reports dramatic improvements. Q4 2023 was $287,000 in revenue with $29,000 profit. Q4 2024 jumped to $303,000 revenue with $115,000 of profit in 2023, 22% of our mowing customers converted to winter services. In 2024 that increased to 60% using the new sales process. Profit in Q4 is up almost 300% year over year. Brian Connor and Jeremy Owens from Augusta Lawn Care in Georgia chair we have kept six more team members at our location than last year. We now have 12 team members that we plan on keeping throughout the winter. We sent out a loom video comparing cleanups versus winter services and showing the value to our customers. This is our first year for Christmas lights and we completed 45 installs for close to $50,000 in revenue. They've doubled their year round workforce from six to 12 employees. Jason and Tracy Storts own Augusta Lawn care in Knoxville, Tennessee. They share an exciting three year journey. Our first year with Augusta in 2022, we offered winter services to our customers and most opted out. We started December with about 50 customers and kept 25 for the winter. There was much confusion with our teams and customers. I was not a fan at all. By the end of the season our Q4 revenue was $93,000 with a total loss of $75,000 in fall 2023. I almost decided not to do winter services due to the frustration from the previous year. However, we decided to try again. We did $162,000 in revenue but still had almost a $40,000 loss for the quarter. We started with 148 customers for winter services and kept about 110. This year we introduced Christmas lights and did just over $60,000 in revenue. We have 180 customers on the books for winter services and have done roughly $106,000 in revenue. And just for December, Q4 revenue reached $373,000. I'm very thankful that we did not give up on winter services and incorporating Christmas lights has definitely added more cash flow. We still have our GM and seven guys on payroll and we will keep them throughout the whole winter their persistence over three years finally solves Q4 collapse. They built their recurring maintenance business over time, but they cured their seasonitis. The Storts quarterly results tell the story. $93,000 in Q4 2022, $162,000 in Q4 2023 and $373,000 in Q4 2024. They exceeded $200,000 in annual profits. They also joined the Seven Figure Club at Augusta Nation. This group includes all owners with over $1 million in yearly revenue. This journey demonstrates the power of commitment to solving seasonitis. A once struggling season can turn into your best quarter. Stick to it. Each of the five cures offer a pathway to stability. But success rarely comes overnight. It requires patience, refinement and persistence. The most successful business owners don't accept seasonality as inevitable. They see that Q4 collapse is a fixable issue. Once they tackle it, they can unlock great growth potential. They replace the off season idea with season specific offers or season specific services. This change offers year round stability and boosts their enterprise value. Recall the jackpot you figured out at the beginning of the book. That's the financial effect of solving seasonitis. That number means more than money. It means freedom. It means you can keep your best employees all year. It also removes the worry of cash flow issues when you are growing fast. Plus, it lets you create a business that supports your life instead of taking it over. It means creating a legacy that can thrive without your constant attendance. As you close this book, return to your workbook and make a clear decision. Which cure or combination of cures will you implement first? Set clear goals. Create seasonal services. Build your pitch for current customers. Create the email and text templates you will send. Design a compensation model that rewards your crew for upselling. The key difference between home service business owners who survive and those who thrive is simple their readiness to cure seasonitis for good. I'm not asking you to follow the path I've outlined because it's easy. I'm asking you to follow because it works. The home service industry can be challenging, unpredictable and demanding. But the rewards for those who master its seasons are extraordinary. Your jackpot awaits. It's time to claim it. I would love to hear what your golden ticket is. What impact does solving seasonitis have on your life, your family and your business? Tag me on social media with a picture of the book. Include text stating your golden ticket. I would love to share your story with others. Together we can make the curse of off seasons into our most profitable time of the year.