Turned His Failing Business Around - While Working a Full-Time Job! (Top Notch Lawn Care)

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Roundup. Today we have a very special guest I'm looking forward to bringing on the show. But make sure if you are alive, that you go ahead and post any sort of questions you might have in the chat box and we will get to those towards the end of the show, but without any further delay. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a man that painstakingly painted his walker mower black. The only man I have flown across the country and back to meet for only a couple hours. A man that has never feared being honest about his love for family or his lawn care business. A man that beat Covid and is known as Top Notch Lawn care. Please welcome Mr. Brian Shane. Brian, thanks for coming on.

Awesome, man. That was quite the introduction.

It's the only reason we made the show is so I could have more fun with the intros.

I got you. I got you.

Oh, man. Cool. So thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. And like I kind of alluded to in my. In my intro there a couple years ago, I flew out there for a little bit and met with you. And that was. That was a real honor. And I think what I wanted to do kind of day is kind of follow up on that, maybe touch a little bit on some of the stuff we mentioned then, but then kind of dive into it in the past few weeks has been really taking off on YouTube for you and just digging into kind of your life and business over the past couple years. So maybe first now kind of give us a little bit of a overview of, you know, what the business looks like. Now we're going to talk about a little bit in the past, but kind of share a little bit about the business, what you're up to now, and what top notch Lawn care is up to.

So, yeah, so, yeah, the business is doing well. We are. I shouldn't say we. I am because I'm solo now. I am, you know, still doing lawn care, irrigation. We've kind of wiped out all the big projects because I just can't do big landscape projects, big stuff like that by myself. And it's just too time consuming to do that. And so we've wiped all that out and we just kind of focused on a couple, couple things, which is lawn care and irrigation, and we're just going forward with that and it's working really well so far.

Awesome. So I want to talk a little bit about a bit of a recap because I feel like, you know, a lot of times I am talking about growing, getting Bigger, getting more employees. And I know when we talked about, when we talked together last time, it was you just started to scale back. It was your first year kind of scaling back. You used to have this big fancy shop that everyone loved to see. The flags and the banners and your amazing shop and like upstairs office, all that great stuff. Talk me a little bit through. Not necessarily the humbling, but like, was there something that like, was when you knew you wanted to go solo or like you knew that was the right move for the business was there like that, but like I, I want to grow or like I want to make it bigger. What was that like for you?

You know, for me, it's more of a, I had to come with grips with myself and kind of be honest with myself. You know, everybody, when they start out, they want that, you know, million dollar business and they want to, they want to rule the world. You know what I mean? They want to be the biggest lawn care company in the city. Yeah, I mean, just take over and, you know, and I, I kind of had those dreams as well, but.

But.

Through the process of doing that, I realized that, hey, that's just not for me. I'm, I'm just not, you know, I'm not that guy. I, I. And then I started kind of realizing that I really don't want to be that guy. And you know, instead of, instead of looking at, you know, I wanted to be the big guy on the block, I just started looking at, I want to make more money for myself. And I just figured out kind of the best way to do that was kind of to scale back and kind of, you know, get, get my services, you know, to where they're, I'm only doing a few things and I'm not running ragged everywhere because I do have other sources of income. So.

So yeah, I mean, it was just, it was just better for me that way. And that's, you know, that's why I wanted to scale back and, and do it that way. And so far it's worked out really good.

So when you first kind of thought that and maybe saw it in the business or saw it in your personal life, that the change needed to be made to the time that you actually made the decision to do that in your business, how long was that and what was that process like in terms of just kind of like thinking about the future, what it would look like, Was there some fear involved in that? What. Tell me a little bit about that. Because honestly, in my mind, I think there's people that need to do what You've done right. And I feel like they're afraid because of either fear, fear of looking, you know, bad in front of other people or that they like having employees or like having a lot of trucks. But what's right for their life, like they're, they're just, their well being is actually go smaller. And I think I'm sometimes taken the opposite direction that, hey, grow, grow, grow, grow. But what was that like for you in that interim?

It was, it was kind of scary, you know, when for somebody who's kind of put my life and my business on YouTube for a long time I didn't know what the feedback was going to be. When I was like, okay, well I pretty much can't do it this way, so I'm going to go a different direction. And I didn't know what that feedback was going to be. I wasn't really scared as far as my, my life outside of YouTube because, you know, I just wasn't. You know, this is something my wife wanted me to do. I had her blessing and all that type of stuff and, and I knew I could still make some money. And I, you know, especially after talking with you, when you came down and visited with me, that's when I was like, okay, I think I'm doing the right thing. But it was more on the YouTube side to where I was like, everybody's going to think I'm a failure. Everybody's going to think, you know, I don't know what I'm doing or whatever. And you know, it's a little humbling and you got to swallow a little pride and you know, you just, you just do what you got to do and try to be as honest as you can.

Aside from the number side of things and the business being doing better after that transition from a personal standpoint, family, things like that, what impact did that have? But either positive or negative, making that change in the business 100% better.

100% better. When I was, when I had my shop and I was just super busy, I just wasn't home very much. I mean, I just wasn't. And I felt like that I had to keep grinding, as people say, and I had to keep, you know, business owners have to work 18 hours a day, you know, and do all this stuff. And which is true, you kind of, you have to, if you want to keep on growing, you got to put in the time, you got to put in the work.

But it, you know, it took a toll on my family life. So the minute I moved back to the house, it Wasn't the fact that, like, okay, now I'm only working six hours a day, I'm still putting in some time and putting, putting in some effort, but I'm literally just a yellow way. You know, I'm right out in the garage or in the backyard or, hey, come here. You know, it's not, I'm not across town. So, you know, if there's something that, you know, needs to be handled or fixed or, you know, hey, dinner's ready or whatever, I can hop on that. You know what I mean? So, yeah, you know, my time was a little bit more. I mean, I could be more free with my time because, you know, you're inside, you're. You're doing the family thing and then, you know, people fall asleep or whatever, hey, I'm gonna hop outside and do some paperwork for an hour or edit a video or something like that. So it's way, it was way more easier for that. And honestly, I love it. I love it. I love being back at home. I didn't think I would. I thought I would kind of have a little bit of regret because I love the shop and I love that kind of space too, but I freaking love being back home. I love the new shop I got in the backyard. It's perfect for what I, what I do now. And honestly, that side of it, I couldn't be more happier.

For a little while there, you were mostly working out of the garage. Once you came back home, just kind of take a little bit of a detour here. Why did you decide to get the shop in the back? Obviously that's an expense. Was it a matter of space? Was it a matter of you wanting a little bit of separation between the home and the business? What was it in terms of needing that shop space which you're currently in? I think if I remember correctly, is it 40 by 10?

It's a 12 by 40. Yeah.

12 by 40. Got it.

Yeah.

So why did you feel that was necessary?

Well.

You know, for one, I'm, you know, I was taking up the whole garage and, you know, I mean, sometimes my wife might want to park her car inside. So that was a hassle. But, you know, the, the, the more reality of it is, I think, I think I just kind of needed something that was my space. I needed my space to where I can go and work on stuff and, and do things. And now I'm still right in the backyard. And it just made a lot of sense. You know, I needed it for. I needed to make a purchase kind of for, you Know, just kind of for tax purposes. I wanted to spend a little bit of money, and it was something I really wanted, and it really has a purpose and it has a need, so. So, yeah, we ended up getting it.

Someone operating at. Wanting to operate at home, is there certain CC and rs or is that not as big an issue in your neighborhood in terms of having, like a secondary shop? Did you have to look into that, get a permit or anything?

No. So since I'm not running a business out of my house, like, customers are coming to my house, then I don't have to have. Because, I mean, I did have to go to the city and ask them as far as the size of shed that I brought in, and there's certain requirements on that. I had to be a certain amount of feet from the back fence, side fence. I can't take up a certain amount of percentage of my actual property as a whole. And, you know, that's when I knew I can pretty much get whatever size I wanted at that point. So. So yeah, I did. I did check with them and, you know, I did everything I was supposed to do. So I didn't have to get any permits or licenses or anything to do it, because I'm not. Customers aren't coming to my house.

Very nice. Kind of backtracking a little bit. I know when I came there, we talked, and then on the way back to the airport, actually, you showed me some of the properties you mowed in the past. Massive pieces of lawn next to the highway. Aside from just the fact that the business was bigger with employees and a shop and multiple trucks and all the rest of it, how do you feel that type of contract played into your decision in. In terms of having a. A commercial contract, slash, really, municipality and city contract that ended up giving you payment problems and not paying you on time and all of that? How. How do you feel like that type of business model played into your decision?

It played a lot because, I mean, when you. When you're doing that type of Those type of properties and you hate doing them, you know what I mean? You, like, every day you're like, oh, we gotta go do that one again.

Huge, like, talking massive stretch, you'd be like, yeah, we started here, and then like a minute later we ended here and we're driving down the highway and I'm like, with the walkers?

Well, I mean, one of them. But yeah, I mean, you know, one thing I like to say is no, no good decision ever starts with, ah, what the hell? And that's what I did. So I was like. I was like, you know, I literally pondered those properties for like, a week or two weeks, and then I just. I came to this decision. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go for it. What the hell? And I wish I wouldn't have, but, you know, it was a good learning experience. I know for a fact I will never, ever, ever, ever do those properties again.

That's awesome. And tell me just real quickly, I know we kind of talked about before, what was the main issue with those. In terms of payment? What did that kind of end like? Because I know it was like. I don't remember if it was a subcontract relationship. They ended up just not paying you for, like, 90 days or something. Crazy. What did that look like again?

Yeah, so. So, yeah, you. You basically had it, right. I was a subcontractor. So basically what happened in our. In our town is one company kind of knew somebody with the city, and they got all the mowing, pretty much all the mowing contracts, and they would sub it out to all the other long, smaller lawn care companies, and they weren't paying their subcontractor. So at one time, they owed me $32,000 at 1. @ one point. And I did end up getting my money. I did end up talking with the city, and I did end up. And since then, I don't know if it was 100% me or whatever, but since then, there is a new rule that you cannot subcontract that. That.

Workout. They were like, never again.

Yeah. So I told the city kind of what was happening, and they were like, oh.

No. Interesting. So I want to talk in here in a bit about what you're doing now with YouTube. And. Well, I'm very impressed the past few weeks, I have to say, but we're gonna get to that.

But I want to talk first, though, really. I. I don't know how much you want to share or can share the past year, year and a half before the past few months, what has it been like for you where you kind of felt. I don't want to say stuck in the middle? I just. From the content standpoint, you didn't. It didn't seem like you're motivated to make content.

Where was it? Was it a mental struggle, Business struggle? What was that mindset the past couple of years? Were you trying to find what you wanted to do next? What was that.

Like? Yeah, so my content has kind of been sporadic at best the last probably three years on YouTube. And when you're. When you're Kind of a vlogger type channel. It's just the same thing over. I feel like I was making the same exact video every single day. And like how many times can you show the same exact property? And you know, and you know, how many times can you say the exact same advice, business advice or, you know, I've already had all the problems that I'm going to have. I can't really relive them five more times. You know what I mean? So I was kind of in a, I was in a spot to where I even three years ago, I knew I wanted to do something different. I just didn't know what it was. And you know, that, that's kind of, that's kind of where I was stuck is I, I still like to make videos, but I wasn't, I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used to and that's why the content kind of went down and I just didn't put out that many videos.

So. So was in that mid, that, that, that time, past couple years, what have you been doing? What have you been focusing on in terms of the mowing side? Is it more long? You said no more projects, but what has that the business looked like over the past couple.

Years. So, you know, I think it was two years ago we started the irrigation side of the business. So basically what I wanted to do was since I knew I wasn't going to be doing landscape projects and that type of stuff and we still did a few here and there, but nothing like what we were doing before that. I kind of wanted to replace that with something that didn't take up, you know, a full eight hour day to do one project. So I got into the irrigation and, and I like it. It's something different. I'm still learning. I don't know everything there is to know about irrigation, but I can, I can pretty much figure it out. So in, in two years that I've been doing irrigation, there's only been one job that I had to walk.

Away and go, I think I remember that one. Wasn't it like a year? Didn't you make a video on that? Or like.

I might have. No, you know what, it was just a really, it was a job like a mess. It.

Was.

Yes. I.

Forget. Yeah, but I did figure it out. So. But like I said, you know, you know that that's just kind of what I wanted. I wanted to add a, another service and not just be 100% mowing. So I added the irrigation to kind of take the place of the.

Landscaping what did you, what do you charge, like on an hourly rate for irrigation versus landscaping in the past? Is it higher.

Rate? No, it's, it's, it's a little bit lower. So I charge a $65 an hour rate for.

For irrigation work. And you know, that's not including service call or parts or anything like that. That's just, that's just labor. When, when we were doing landscaping projects, I tried to at least get $100 an hour, but at that time I had somebody with me as well. So I did have a worker that worked with me the last couple of years. So. Hundred dollars an hour, two guys. So, you.

Know.

Was there certain targets you had for the past couple of years in terms of either revenue per week or number of lawns that you were trying to achieve from the, the, from the businesses side of, side of.

Things? You know, I, I've never, I've never been one to kind of set a goal to say I'm gonna, I want to make $150,000 this year. I, I never have. I just.

What I, what I've kind of always done is, you know, I just try to fill up my schedule and, and I know I, I know by looking at my numbers how much money I'm making. So I know like, that's going up every year as far as, like the money I'm bringing home versus the expenses that's going out. So, So I know I'm, I'm on the right track. You know what I mean? So. But I've never been one to go. You know, I'm shooting for that 150,000 this year, or I'm shooting for half a mil, or I've just never, I've never been that, that kind of guy. I just, I just want to keep kind of evolving and kind of just getting better at what I'm.

Doing.

So for someone that might be thinking about adding irrigation, especially if they're solo, they want to add more of a higher value service like irrigation. What did you learn in the past couple of years in terms of, you know, easier way of doing things or what parts of irrigation do you really like to specialize in or make the most money.

In?

Repairs. Repairs are a good moneymaker. One thing, one thing I love about irrigation, especially being solo, is you can make a lot of money up front at the beginning of the year doing turn ons. And then during the year, you're not, you're not really so busy with irrigation. You just, you know, a repair here and there, and then at the end of the year. You get to make a lot of money for blowouts because we do blowouts here because lines can freeze and things. So. So I like that aspect of it because I can, you know, I can make a lot of money at the beginning, a lot of money at the end, and then just kind of sprinkle in some stuff here and there during the season when actually you're really getting busy in the spring. You know what I.

Mean?

So where did you learn the irrigation side of things, or had you kind of dabbled it already in prior with the business? In the past, I knew a.

Little bit, but I really didn't know a whole lot. My dad, I. I went over a lot of stuff with my dad, and he kind of. He helped me out, probably the most out of anybody for sure. And there was. There was quite a few calls that I went on that are like, hey, dad, here's what's happening. I can't. Can't quite figure it out. And he would help me out. And, you know, so it was. It was scary because, you know, I, you know, you go on these calls and you're like, what am I going to get myself into? And. And all this.

Stuff. And so, yeah, with that one job that you didn't know how to do because, like, so, for example, myself, Irrigation and me have absolutely no relationship whatsoever. I would mess it up a hundred times. Like, it'd be horrible. So for someone that does want to get into it, then their biggest fear is, hey, if I learn it and then I get into something, I don't know what I'm doing. What was that conversation with the customer like? How did you handle.

That? It was tough. It was really tough because I didn't want to go to him and say, hey, I'm sorry, I can't figure out your problem. But that's. That's what I had to do. I had to be like, you know, hey, man, I've looked at everything that I know how to look at, and I'm sorry, I just can't figure it out. But at that point, I can't charge him for the work, you know, the time I was there, really, because I really. I didn't fix anything. You know, it's like taking your car to a mechanic and he has it for a week, and he doesn't fix anything, but still sends you a bill. I don't think that's right. So. But he was really cool about it. You know, he was like, hey, I understand one thing I wish I would have done. I wish I Would have followed up with him like a few weeks later to actually see if he got it fixed and if he did, what the problem was. But his was. His was just a weird deal. It was. And it was. It was a crazy.

Setup.

For. Have you not touched installs at all? I'm assuming, just because the amount of man hours that.

Requires. Yeah, yeah, installs. Installs is something I would like to do, but I just don't have the time or the manpower or the equipment to get them done in a. In a timely.

Manner. Got it. Cool. What is your. What is your mowing setup look like now? I know if at one point the business had two trucks, full setups, several mowers, what's that ideal setup now for you with the focus on irrigation and the mowing side and being a solo operator. What's kind of that perfect mix for you.

Now? So. So we got rid of all the bagging mowers. We don't bag. Really. We don't bag grass anymore. So we're running. We're running Hustler stand on mowers for our normal setup. So a 52 and a 36 stand on is what. What I take in the trailer. You know, most days, there's one day out of the week that we'll throw the 60 on there. And because we have two big properties that we still mow, but that's it. Everything else is just small residential.

So. And why. Why the change? I know obviously you were burned a little bit by the massive, massive ones. Yeah. Why didn't you stick with some of those large. Because I know in your area there are larger properties. Did you have to say no to some of them? Did you cancel some clients? Or is it just a matter of like, hey, we're going to focus on this, and as new customers come in, we're only taking the smaller.

Customers. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I think you. You actually had a big part in that, and.

Lawn care millionaire had a big part in that. So I think both of you guys have told me kind of, you know, to kind of find your niche and, you know, stick with that niche. And that's. That's what I like. I like doing small residential. Anything under 10,000 square feet, I can knock out in. In half an hour by myself. You know, some of them are 15, 20 minutes. So, you know, that's what I like. What I don't like is when you go on these, you know, big properties by yourself and you're there for two hours and, you know, if it's wet rain, you Know, you just have too many. Too many problems. So I just. I like to get in and out. I like to get in and out. And I'm not getting any younger. I'm definitely not getting any slimmer. So I like the ones that I.

Can. Now, come on. Now you're losing some weight that we saw the. The numbers slide in there for a bit, and then Covid came was.

Like, no, yeah, Covid put the. Put the people's elbow on me for sure. But yeah, I just. I like the ones that I can literally just hop out, knock out, and get back in the.

Truck.

So tell me a little bit about that now that we've brought it up. So obviously we have to address the fact that you did get through Covid. You were going through kind of a time right before that where you were losing weight and things like that. From. From that standpoint. I know. I remember watching the video a little bit of why you're doing it, what your goals were, etc. Are you still doing that? What we found, just from a standpoint of now actually, it being the summer when you're actually working on the field, is it harder to keep the diet, et cetera? Talk to us a little bit about.

That. Yeah, it is. It is hard. You know, I'm. I'm. I'm a creature of habit. It's really hard for me to break bad habits. And eating. Eating bad is a really, really bad habit for.

Me.

Hey, we had some barbecue when I was there on the way back to the airport.

So. So, yeah, before COVID you know, I was. I was like on a schedule. I was doing good and I was feeling good. And then Covid hit and you're in quarantine for two weeks. I was down in the basement in my room for two weeks. Can't leave. And yeah, yeah, it was just a free for all at that point, so. So, yeah, you know, honestly, in that. In that part of it, I'm not really doing very good at all. I'm kind of just kind of maintaining. I'm probably losing a little bit here and there just because I'm outside working a lot.

But, yeah, I definitely need to get back on it for.

Sure. So we have to talk about the past few weeks because the past few weeks has actually been pretty awesome to see what you've been doing on your YouTube channel in terms of. I kind of saw the rumblings of the change, like what you were trying to do, and then you started to perfect it really well, and then now you consistently are getting 150,000 views within a matter of days in your videos. What have you been doing and how has that changed, even how you think about the business now from a standpoint of, you know, do you keep doing irrigation? Do you take on any more clients? Talk to me a little bit about.

That. Yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely eye opening. I didn't, I knew I could have some success, and I've always known that if I put my mind to it and I work hard at it, I can, I can have success in pretty much anything that I want to do. But I didn't think it would happen that fast as far as, like, the views going up that fast. You know, I thought maybe I was six months away from something like that or whatever. But I did tell myself at the beginning of this year, so one, I made a promise to myself because I've never really took a whole year and said, you know what? I'm going to put it all out there on YouTube. I'm going to give it my all for a whole year, and I'm going to see what happens. Because I was kind of at that stage to where the last few years wasn't going very well. And I was like, you know what? This is kind of my one last shot. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it. And then, you know, like, we've already talked about. I was kind of tired of the vlogging. I was tired of doing all that. I've done that for years. I was tired of it. So I wanted something different. And I've always liked doing cleanups and makeovers type type stuff, because I like the before and after myself. And then, you know, obviously watching some other guys do, do those type of videos.

You know, I was like, hey, I'm gonna give it a shot. So that's basically, basically what we.

Did. So, so when you make those right now, like, are you, I know, are you doing some of those for free or are you, do, do you charge for most of them.

Now? No. No. So they're, they're almost 100 free.

And I, I, I've done a lot of free work over the years. A lot. I, I'm kind of a sucker that way. Somebody gives me a little sob story and I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're, you're good, Joe. But I've always liked helping people out, and this just gives me another way of doing.

That. Very cool. And so, so right now, what do you kind of think the future is? Like, obviously the past few's been great for you. Is that kind of something you're going to double down on? Do more of obviously learning from what you did? This is kind of a question regardless of YouTube or business or whatever, looking back at kind of where you burnt out in certain areas, potentially in the business, is there something now when you approach YouTube and the success you're having that you're like, hey, I don't want to keep doing X because I'm eventually, this isn't sustainable or I can't do this for a longer period of time. What's your kind of thought process now as you kind of have this new of success? It's not just YouTube. I, I feel like it's in any business or anything like that. People can learn from that. So, so what's kind of your take right now on what you're.

Doing? So I've always been the type of person that.

No matter what it is, YouTube, business, golf, whatever it is, if I do it too much, I'll eventually get burned out. And I kind of, not that I've conquered anything, but I kind of look at it as I need another challenge. And you know, I don't know, I don't know what YouTube's gonna do. I don't know. I mean I'm gonna, I'm gonna ride it out as long as I can and you know, but I'm, I'm the type of person that, you know, if I don't enjoy doing it, I'm not gonna do it. That's why I stopped vlogging. It wasn't, it wasn't about the money, it wasn't about the subs or nothing like that. If I don't enjoy doing it, I'm just not gonna do it. You know, that's just the way I am. So, so yeah, I mean, I'm just gonna ride it out, see what happens and hopefully we can continue doing some cool.

Stuff. So obviously busy between YouTube, you got the business.

One quick clarification. Are you still working your full time job.

Too?

Yes. Oh my goodness. So I think what sometimes like I remember, like my mind knew this for sure and it was a new realization to me. But I think some people fail to remember you have a totally like another job that you do. That combined with the fact that you got, you know, spring rush, you got irrigation, now YouTube's taking off. Regardless of whether other people have all those things are one of them. How do you kind of deal with the spring rush? The stress that comes along with that now being stretched in even more directions between work, business, YouTube, et cetera. Are there certain coping mechanisms, certain things that you do to make sure you don't burn out during this.

Time? Yeah. So this was the first year in my business that I've ever really said no to people. I'm always the guy that, yeah, yeah, I could, I can help you out. I can do it. Let me try to fit you in On Thursday at 7:00pm, you know what I mean? And honestly, that's, you know.

I love doing that type of stuff. I love helping people out, but you know, it takes a toll on you after a while. So this was the first year and since I made the decision to kind of really try to give YouTube that one last go, you know what I mean? I knew that I couldn't, I couldn't get bogged down with the business as far as like trying to get a whole bunch of new clients and things like that. So I was, I'm really happy where I'm at with the business as far as customers go. I can manage them really well. If I get a day's rain, it's not, it's not heartbreaking on me. I can, you know, I can work around.

It.

So. So yeah, just being able to say no has really been my biggest blessing this.

Year. Do you think you'll raise prices on your actual mowing customers in order to be kind of a hedge? If anything ever happened to YouTube, you'd have a really well.

Paying. Yeah, I've actually started thinking about that. So I'm probably going to do that at the beginning of next year going in, going, you know, after this year into next year. So. So yeah, I've, I've already been thinking about certain things and, and.

You know, as you said, kind of hedging your bed a little.

Bit. So in terms of pricing, just in general, how has your thought process changed from several years ago when it was like, hey, I need work to keep the guys busy. I want to keep growing to where now it's almost like you're putting the brakes on from a pricing standpoint, from accepting job standpoint. What's your mindset? How is that different now versus just even a few years.

Ago? It's a little bit different, especially when you're, when you're running solo and you're the one out there doing the work. Kind of like, you know, any job you're out there doing and, and you under bid and you're the only one doing it, you really feel it, you know what I mean? So. But I feel like I've been Doing this for a long time now, and I've kind of. I've got a really good grasp on pricing and I know. I kind of know where I'm at and, you know, as far as what I can do in a certain amount of time. So, yeah, that's just something I really don't think about much anymore because. Because I've. I've priced so many lawns over the years that I, I know. I know what these lawns go for and I know what I can get for.

Them. Awesome. Well, if anyone has any questions for Brian, feel free to post those in the chat. I think the last thing I wanted to talk about is in terms of this year, 2021, obviously gone through Covid, but besides that, what has been kind of the biggest struggle for the business over the past in 2021 and maybe even 2020, going through, you know, so much changes in our economy and in the way everyone was operating, etc. Even in your state, you know, for a while, being shut down, whatever it might be. What has been some of the one or two big kind of hurdles you've had to face over the past.

Year?

Well, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't really have any. I mean, I've just. I've set it up now to where I just. I have a certain amount of customers and I don't want any more. And I have a certain amount of. Of work that I can handle in, in the four days that I have off from my other job. So I have four days to get everything that I need to get done done, and.

Everything'S just kind of worked out so.

Far. You know, if you were growing the business again, like, and you were actually wanting to grow it to employees, et cetera, et cetera, what would you do different now versus, you know, five, six years ago, as you were starting to think in that same line of.

Sight? So the, the. One of the best advice I've ever gotten was from a guy by the name of Mike Andes when he came and visited me at my house. And he told me that when. If you're not good at something, then you get somebody else that is good at that and let them do it. And I'm not good at being a manager. I'm not good at being a boss. That's just something I'm not good at. I'm not good at keeping guys in line and doing things like that. That's just, that's something I failed at miserably when, when I had, you know, my employees and my shop and all that. So that would be the number one thing for me is to hire somebody to take over that, that has experience in managing people, you know, all that, all that type of stuff. So I'm just not good at.

It. So my question, when are you going to go full time into all of this? Are you going to keep doing the other.

Job?

Yeah, I plan on it, I plan on it. But, but things change. Things change sometimes. So.

Yeah, it's just, especially for at least another year or two because, you know, I've been out there 23 years, I'm invested, retirement, 401, pension, all that type of stuff. But most importantly, it insures my whole family. So I don't have to go look for private insurance. I don't have to, you know, do all that. So my, my kids are still not quite at the age to where they have their own insurance. Maybe at that point when it's just me and my wife, we can kind of look at some other options. But for right now it just, it just really works for what, what I'm.

Doing. We, we have several of our franchisees that Augusta have. Either they're basically trying to run either another job or they're going to school. What has been something that could help them from you now years running a business, even when you had multiple employees and having a full time job on the side, has there been something that helps would be scheduling that you could share with.

Them? Yeah, knowing, knowing what you can do in the, in the time that you're allotted and being, you know, being able to say no is not a bad thing. I've always struggled with that. And even though, you know, like if I have four days to get work done, I'll keep telling people yes, even though I know it's gonna take really that extra effort to get it done. You know what I mean? So, you know, just kind of, you have to manage your time really, really well when you have obviously two or three different things going on and you want to be good at anything that you do. So you have to manage the time and just kind of figure it.

Out. Saw Khan asked, how do you manage doing office work? Estimates and field.

Work.

So since I'm not really taking on a whole lot of clients right now, that's, that's pretty easy because I just don't do a whole lot of them anymore. But you know, in the past.

I can't remember who I learned this from, but, but around here I just put on Google Maps, I measure out the area and I have a chart that I go by. So I got a certain price for up to 4,000 square feet. I got a price for four to six. I got a price six to eight. And then I don't, I don't take on anything over 10,000 square feet. That's just my structure. That's what I like. I like small lawns. I can get in and out and you know, I'll have a certain percentage for bi weekly. So, you know, here's my price for weekly. I up it by 25 if it's a bi weekly. And that's just the way it.

Is. And do you use Google Earth to measure those square footages right now?

Yeah. Google Maps.

Yeah. Very.

Cool.

Yeah. Awesome. Well, I really appreciate, Brian, you coming on, doing a recap after a couple.

Years.

Yeah. And I wish you all the best. Every time I see a video now, I'm, I, I look at it and say, okay, I'm looking at, in 24 hours I'm gonna see how many views it has because now it's like 150, 200,000. So I'm very well that your success and I think a part of it is just your relatability to people out there in terms of, you know, they can feel like they're mowing the lawn honestly, like you're, you're so open and honest and I really appreciate that about.

You. Yeah, well, I appreciate you being, doing the stuff that you do because you've, you've helped me out more than you know and I know you help a lot of guys out. So even though, you know, I'm not trying to get up there to, you know, kind of a lot of stuff that you talk about doesn't mean that we can't take a little bit of, you know, advice from some of the things that you say.

So. Awesome. Well, any parting words you wanted to share with everyone before you head out for the.

Evening?

No, but man, I got, I did it. I did a really, really, really good property.

Today. Today, today. I saw.

That. So. Well, I posted. No, I'm not talking about the video I posted. I'm talking about the one I actually did.

Today. Oh, really.

Cool. That I will edit tonight and tomorrow. I spent six hours on this property and yeah, it was quite the.

Job. Mercy, that's awesome. Cool. Thanks so much, Brian. I really appreciate your time. Thanks for everything you've done for years. I remember coming and telling you, like, look, when you look up lawn care, you see top notch and like all over the place. So I really appreciate everything you've done for the guys getting started and even those that are solo to give them kind of a vision of what they can be doing. So thank you so.

Much. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

Mike. Take care. All right, everyone, that is it for episode number five of the.

Roundup episodes. They're doing very well. I appreciate everyone supporting it. And next week, we're gonna have another special guest. I'm looking forward to. I will announce it. It's gonna be a. It's gonna be a banger. All I'm going to share with you, and I look forward to having you all here. Thanks so much. We'll see you tomorrow.