Avoid Losing Winter Revenue in Lawn Care (By doing this)

Two of like my good guys, Gabe. He took the car and like slid the tires. I guess one of the workers, like the next day came up to them, said, hey, who left these marks in the gravel? And they, they both admitted to it. They're like, hey, I'm so sorry. That was us. He went to the owner who's like a 70 year old lady. She calls me and she's like upset. She's like, your guys are doing donuts. You're evicted. You're done, you're out. Please, please, please do not do this. Like, give me a second chance. She's like, get this fixed or done.

All right, what do you got?

I know we've talked about it before with winter, Winter services. I'm trying to get people to move into it. I think, I think so far I've actually been pretty, I guess, effective, even though I've just sent out one email about it. Only, only 15% of our customers have paused or canceled so far. Of course it will pro. It will increase with time. You know, I, I've got 25 customers right now that are on pause for the season. I've sent all them, like a response. Like anytime someone asked to pause for the winner, I sent them a template response. Just saying, hey, that's okay. Let me tell you about winter maintenance. First, I just break it down in a short response and I say, hey, to do that, you do monthly mowing or pause till March 1 at the end of it. Which one works best for you? And those 25 have all said, hey, I want to pause. It's like, how do I make that 25 less?

Have you thought about, for those 25? So you're already trying to do those three things, which is good. Have you thought about pitching to them the idea that when they say pause, I would reword that to where you're saying that I will go in the database and start your mowing for the 20, 2026 season on March 1st to secure your spot is how I would word that instead of just pausing.

Yeah, that's what I say.

Okay.

Yeah.

So all 25 of those have secured the date on March 1st to resume. Then I'd say you're doing exactly what you need to be doing.

Or.

Or what? Or the question is, is as how to, how to continue to try to convert those 25 back to the winter services. Is that the question?

Yeah, like that's, that's, that's what I'm doing right now. Like sending a loom video. I'm working on this, but sending A loom video to each person just breaking down winter maintenance even more with a graphic so it looks cool, it shows the savings, yada yada yada. I'm also putting a flyer on their door about winter maintenance. It's kind of like a double tap to try to see if I can reel them back in. What I'm also going to do later is send a video to like all of my leads. Like people that never accepted just explaining winter maintenance. Like I'll send them literally just a video in text message just to everybody and see if I could try to convert some people. But like I think 25 pauses is actually not that bad like 15% so far. But how do I like what are some ways that I could reduce that? Maybe anything.

You could share the only really things that I can think of off the top of my head. I mean you're, you're already doing more than probably 99% of people of like trying to get them to stay or at least like converting them to like maybe a monthly mo or like something like that. The only thing that I can maybe think of is the inventory list of to dos on your winter service package may not be what the customer exactly wants. So how do we add more to that list list to bring more value, to bring more buy in so that way more people want to stay on some of the things off the top of my head that I've. I'll share with you that we did in the leadership meeting. I know we already talked about the scalping, the doing the half half scalp in February. We are also going to be adding a, an ice. What are the, what, what do you put down when there's ice?

It's called ice melt.

Ice melt. Okay, so we already looked into that. We looked at the product costs on that. It's fairly cheap and you can buy it bulk order and just put it in your shed. But that could be a good line item when there's a freeze coming that you just tell them, hey, we will salt the sidewalk, driveway and curbs and porches for that. You could also upsell that to like a one time thing. Obviously we talked about the head covers. There were a couple other things that we had talked about.

Are y' all doing the head covers?

We are gonna do the head covers. We are gonna do the ice melts. Obviously all the other stuff that's pretty generic.

Are you ordering that that I smell from E Wing?

We haven't made a decision on that yet but when we looked online it was fairly cheap and we did the Math on how much salt that you would have to use per the square footage and stuff. And we figured out that you would need to use about 1/3 of a bag for, you know, 50 pound bag, 1/3 of that to really like salt the driveway and the porch properly and maybe like some of the sidewalk. And I don't think the bags were that expensive. I think it came out to be like $3 in product cost per visit, which I think is very fair.

And you use one of those little hand spreaders, right? Like the ones you use for like fertilizer. Same thing.

Yeah. And then we're also, like you said, gonna do pre emergent embeds. Yeah, I mean, I would just really kind of try to think outside of the box of like how much Val, how, how can you bring more value? We're also actually looking at incorporating tree trimming again, which I don't love, but I think you can get away with a pull, a pull saw, not, not like, like, like you could get the one with the chain on it. But also there's one that like you just go forward and backward with to where the crews don't need to get any ladders or anything like that. And I've used that before. But maybe incorporating something like that just again, standard HOA tree trimming up to 8ft so the HOA doesn't get on you or whatever. And then a certain inch diameter, thick wise that I, I, that's, that's probably, dude, outside of that, I mean, I think you're approaching it. There's naturally going to be brains when the grass goes dormant. They're just like, I don't want to pay for lawn care. Like it just doesn't make sense. So I think you sending the loom videos will definitely help. And I think you hitting all those things that we talked about, like you, you, you're already doing most than probably most people will do, you know?

Yeah, yeah. And I'm doing pretty much all the same things you're talking about. Like we're doing tree trimming too. I smell pre emergent scalping, all that fun stuff. Yeah. One thing that I saw that Augusta does is they during the winter they added dog poop cleanup, which I know me and you talked about.

Yeah. You just need to kind of probably pair that with something else. Because like we talked about, like why would the customer pay, you know, 45, $50 for somebody to clean up their dog waste? But if you pair that with also bed, pre emergent starts to make sense. Like, hey, we picked up the dog Waste and did pre emergent in your flower beds. Like it's like, oh, okay, 50 value. Cool, you know? Yeah.

Or they like even edged and did and blew up all the concrete quickly, which takes like two minutes. Add that all up, it makes it worth it.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

Well, we've already like said what we're going to do. Maybe I could add more stuff, but I think what we have is pretty good. I might do that head cover thing though. That's interesting.

Yeah, we looked it up. I think the product was like 250 or $3 per, per head. And most, most houses only have like two spigots. One in the front, one in the back. You might have a couple that have three or four, but even at four, okay, that's 15, 16 bucks in product. You just have to balance that with what's also being done on the property, which kind of gets a little complex when it comes to the field team making those decisions. Like, I think, you know, hey, if we're going to do the covers, maybe you do one extra thing or something like that, or maybe you don't because you could justify to the customer the delivery, pickup and material cost of that. You know what I mean? To again, like for someone that's really busy, that values their time more, that does not want to drive to Home Depot, sure. Like it's only 15 or 16 in product cost, but like for them to pay 40, 50 bucks, I mean, I, I'd pay that to save me two hours running the Home Depot and sitting in traffic and stuff.

Yeah, I think my only issue is like storage. Like we have 400 square feet in the unit. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty big. Like it's tall and all that. But it's getting.

So you, you have a 400, so. Yeah, that's interesting.

Yeah, I have a 15 by 30.

Interesting. Ah, dude, you're running, you're running things lean over there.

We're running it lean, bro. Our, our rent spots and rent to the storage is 5,559amonth. We get water, electric, porta potty and employee parking.

So what do you do for disposal? Like do you run to the dump every time you got to dispose?

I just got an extra five by ten unit.

Oh, okay. And then you just fill it up.

Just fill it up.

So where do you put your fertilizer?

Inside the main unit, the 400 square foot unit.

So the main unit fits all your mowing equipment.

Seven more. I could fit about 10 mowers, all the trimmers, blowers, edgers. It could fit about eight pallets, a shelf and desk in the back, and then a workbench.

Interesting.

It's. It's tight. Like I had to like figure out how to like just squeeze this all together for it to work.

Yeah, okay. Because we run two units in Salina. I think they're, I think they're like 30 by 10, but I just wanted them to have enough room, you know what I mean, to store storage and all that stuff.

But yeah, I've considered like, there's a unit that just opened up next to it, same size. It would add an extra 400 square feet. I could, but it's just like, for what? Like we could run an 800, 000 business out of the 400 square feet. Like 100. Like we raised prices like enough that unit can, can handle five trucks. Like five full time mowing trucks.

It's pretty good, dude. That's a good model.

If we raise prices enough, we could run the business out of that and make like 7,800k. Yeah, with like probably like 6,700 in rent. The only problem is, is that we're not on a lease. So like we could get evicted. She's threatened to evict me before.

For what?

Is something stupid, man? Like, one of my workers is so dumb. Lawn technicians, man. It's just stuff happens sometimes. It's just crazy. Two of like my good guys, like Gabe, right, He doesn't care if I bring stuff we've already talked about, but he got a new Dodge Charger and it's a gravel lot, the whole storage unit. So he, he took the car and like kind of slid the tires a little bit. Like, he just, he didn't do like donuts. He just like kind of slid the tires, which he shouldn't be doing, but he slid them to like turn the car really fast while he was leaving. And I guess one of the workers, like the next day came up to them, said, hey, who left these marks in the gravel? And they, they both admitted to it. They're like, hey, I'm so sorry. That was us. Like, we apologize. And he went to the owner who's like a 70 year old lady. She calls me and she's like upset. She's like, your guys are doing donuts in the lot. I'm so sick of this. You're evicted. You're done, you're out. I'm sending you a notice. You're. You got 30 days. And I'm like, please, please, please do not do this. Like, give me a second chance. She's like, fine. Get this fixed or done. I'm like, thank God.

So I got it fixed.

Let's go. Yes. I made sure they never do that again. They were written up.

Both them.

Yeah, but yeah, like, that's the only problem with that place is like one more dumb, stupid thing kind of blown out of proportion because she's never there could get us kicked out. So that's the downside, which, I mean.

Worst case scenario, there's, I promise, other storage units within a 3 mile, 4 mile radius. Like you could probably migrate to. They. They may not have the water source and electricity as best as you have currently, but you know what I mean, there's, there's. There's other options out there.

There is, yeah. Just everything that we get, plus employee parking is like, it's. It's a deal. It's, it's. It's a steal, in fact. Yeah, I don't want to lose that place. I wish I could. Like, I should come to her and like, try to sign a lease or something. But then she could still evict me. So, like, even if you sign a lease, it's like, she could still evict you.

I wouldn't worry too much about it until they send you a letter. And even then you don't have to get it, dude. Even then, yeah, you'd be fine. You would have a few months transition, I would think.

Well, you have 30 days.

Yeah. Okay, so four weeks. But even then, dude, I, I think I, I think you're fine. I think you're fine. Bring them donuts or something.

I should, I've thought about it immediately. I'm like, man, I should bring her like flowers and like a basket, some chocolate. The thing is, the maintenance guys were so nice to them. Like, we've given them equipment to help keep up with the place and like, been so nice in helping them. But then it's like, man, give us. Be cool with us, you know? But they shouldn't have done that. They know now regardless. Anyways, moving on. Oh, by the way, when do you start your winter services? You do that December 1st, like we do, right?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, we do. That's what we do. I tried keeping my customers to weekly this year till next week, so I'm making the switch over the weekend.

Yeah, how did that, how did that turn out?

Actually, not that many people, like, said anything. Like, we had like maybe five customers complain.

Out of how many?

300.

So you didn't have anybody that like, wanted to skip? I mean, because we get, we. We were getting skips like, yeah, we had skips.

We didn't have anybody, like, complain, like, we had hardly any.

Yeah, I'm sure you. I'm sure you made more money than you would have if you push everybody to bi weekly. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I'm just thinking about, like, how could I increase customer lifetime value? So, I mean, it's a little wrong because, yeah, like, the grass isn't really growing that much, but, like, I don't know.

I think you also just need to look at, like, what you communicate to customers on estimates and stuff like that. You know what I mean? So, like, for us, we do tell them, like, hey, we do go bi weekly, spring and fall. Now we don't really give, like, for how long? Could be a couple weeks, could be a month, could be two months. But, like, you know, just. Just being clear with that.

And I made that up front. I made that up front that when we're making the switch, like, I sent an email in October saying, hey, this is when we switch to weekly or bi weekly.

Yeah. And then if, like, yeah, I mean, you all. You give the customer the option to skip anyway, so I think you're. You're good.

Yeah. Yeah. So I might keep that. I might keep it, like, mid November, weekly. Oh, we'll see.

Yeah.

Anyways, any. Any layoffs? You got any. Anybody you've laid off or you kind of just. I don't know if you can talk about that on here, but I guess maybe if you can't talk about that, how are you handling those right now?

So I'm not gonna go too deep into the details. We are in a seasonal business, so we do retain the top talent throughout the win. What that conversation looks like. I would do a. For. For anybody that's watching. And you. Right. I would do a mental firing exercise where in your brain, you would just. You would fire everybody on the team and then ask yourself, would you rehire them March 1st to come back? And if the answer is no, then that conversation is different than what I'm gonna say. So obviously, you just kind of let them go and they don't come back. Right. For the ones that you like that you want to come back, I think you approach it in a very positive way. You'd say, caleb, dude, you are. You are one of the most hardest working people I know. You're a stud. When I look at the big three bonus, you're not getting yellow slips. You're doing great production. You're phenomenal, dude, and I want you on the team. The problem that we're running into is we're in a seasonal business and so some of the work is kind of falling off here at this time. What I could do is basically you know, and what I always like to do is give them about a three to four week advance notice because I tell them, I say in our orientation process we require a two week notice if you're going to leave. The reason for that is because we have to fill your spot. Because I care about you Caleb and you're not going to have work here in the next, after 30 days I'm giving you a three or four week advance notice because I want to give you enough time to go find other work. That's kind of the most more respectful way to do it. And then what you would just say is like there are retail stores that over hire like for warehouses for the winter rush. Amazon grocery stores like that this is their like busy season like in the, in retail for the Christmas time and so they can get part time jobs there. And um, also and I literally told this the other day, I was like if you don't want to do that and you want to collect unemployment, do it. I don't care. I will approve the submission for you because I care about you and technically we are laying you off. So because you're a good person, because you're a good team member regardless, like I like that's, that, that's if, if you want to go that route I, I can do that too. But most people just get like a part time job in the winter. Get them through. Also if any positions open up, who knows next week somebody could be leaving. You're going to be the first person I call because again like I said to start, I want you on the team. It's not that I don't want you, I just don't have the work to keep you busy. Otherwise I, let's just stay here. And that's a more, that's a more like and then, and then obviously hey if you return back March 1st, we'll give you a 500 sign on bonus. And then, and then what I do is I pull up the P4P numbers. I like dude, you're already, you're making 30 an hour here. So if you want to come back, make $30 an hour March 1, come on back, we'll give you 500 sign on bonus and then we just have them turn their uniform shirts in and it's that, that, that's really all it is. There's. I used to get really worked up about it in the first like couple years but like after doing it for so long, like it's just, it's just part of it. Just, just a normal conversation. You can, we can sit here and stress about it all we want about how we're not going to, we gotta lay that it's just part of the game, dude. It's there work goes down, so does the cost of goods sold. And unfortunately the field labors are part of the cost of goods sold. Yeah, that's why also as a asterisk for anybody that is listening, that is a team member here. That's why it's so important that you do everything that you physically possibly can. Show up every freaking day, have perfect attendance, don't get yellow slips, get good production and you're probably not going to get cut if there's 10 people on the team and we can only pull five through supply and demand, man. Get, get your skill set so good that you, you're not going to be the one getting cut.

Yeah, that's true. Now the only thing that I, I'm dealing with right now, like I usually don't have a problem with laying people off. Like, especially if they're like not great performers. Like it's just an easy okay, sorry man, you're not really great. So the only thing is like, man, all of my guys are actually great. Like it's weird but for the first time I have like a players like all of them. So it's like, it's kind of hard for me. Like I know the two that I want to keep, Gabe and Justin are staying no matter what. They're just like phenomenal and they could both be managers. Gabe is going to be a manager next year. But two others, Scott and Gabri, which they're not going to see this so it doesn't matter. But those two slightly below Gabe and Justin. Now I, I just want you to like tell me maybe if you can based on the info that I give you which one I should lay off. I'm gonna give you context behind Scott and Gabri and then maybe you can help me make a decision right now.

Okay, so you're. So you're trying to decide between these two team?

Yes, yes, it's hard. Okay, so here's the thing. Scott has been with me since last April, so about close to a year and a half. Scott had a rough 20, 24. It was bad B minus player, like not great. Now this year he has come to an A player like solid 100% efficiency, 90 to 100, little to no slips, pretty solid attendance. Not perfect, but great in my opinion. The only thing is he did leave twice in the year because just. I don't know if I should say super personal stuff.

I would keep it service level for this video. It's not going to be live for like probably two weeks, three weeks. But by that time you might have already made a decision. But yeah.

Yeah. So he basically had like his family lives in another state, his kids and wants to move back there. So he made a trip once this year. That was when he quit the first time because he wants to live with them. Didn't work. Came back to work with us, did it again. It didn't work again. So he's back with us now again. So he did it twice. So then. And also the other problem with him, this is Scott, by the way, is his. I just don't know if I can promote him. Like, how do I say this? He's not the sharpest tool in the shed. I don't know how to say that any nicer.

Okay, so that's Scott. What? What's the other person's name?

Gabri. It's not Gabe, it's Gabri.

Okay, so what. How long has he been with you?

Since June this year. So about five months, six months maybe. His official score is fantastic. He has almost like barely any slips.

Like attendance?

Iffy.

Really? Worse than Scott?

Yeah, yeah, way worse. He's been late like 12 times this year and he's had like two unexcused absences. So his attendance sucks. Yeah, it's bad. But his official score is incredible. His yellow slips are almost nothing he's gotten.

Have you written them up?

No, not for attendance.

So he's had 14 issues in five months?

Yes. And this is why I implemented a. A new attendance policy. It's a point system to combat this. Which it improved once he. Once I actually implemented that. It did improve.

Okay.

However, it was really, really bad up until then. So it's. It's improved.

So what other data are you gonna share about Gabri? Yeah.

Is that it? Gabriel wants to move up. Like, he wants to. Here's the difference. Gabri wants to move up. Scott. I just don't see a future in any future positions just because he's not the smartest tool in the shed. Gabri is smart. Like, this is a guy I could see. Like, be. Could potentially be a manager or like a trainer. He already wants to do that. He wants to be an applicator and a trainer. So he wants to move up. He just has less Tenure, his attendance sucks.

So when do you need to make a decision?

Like this week, next week?

In the famous words of Mike Andes, on this one, I'd probably flip a coin. Honestly, I don't think it really is going to make a meaningful impact on the business. Whichever way you go. Honestly, if you, if you choose to keep Scott, he doesn't want to stay long term anyway. So, like, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna create work for him in the winter when realistically, if you're not doing 30 budget hours already, you should be the one out there doing those hours, not him.

Yeah.

From a production standpoint, in fact, you could probably do more because it's winter and you and I are way faster. So you could probably do more like 35, 40 budget hours and still do other things. I don't know, like where, if you're still doing the office stuff, then, yeah, maybe keep it only to like 25 or 30. Yeah. As far as the other guy, dude, I, I, I have a very short tolerance for attendance issues. He would not last that long in our organization. But I think a lot of it is just leadership. It comes, it's, it comes down to leadership and the fact that, like, it's cool, it's good that you put the point system in, but as, as a good coach in your corner, like, it really, you just really need to take action quicker and you need to just put it on paper like, like within the first month. If there's two instances, we're putting it on paper and we're just, hey, man, just, we love you. We want to see you succeed here, but you're on a path that you won't be here in a month. I'm just being, I'm just telling you right now.

Yeah, I agree. And that's the thing is, like, it'll be like two lates in a month and I just let it slide. But if you break it down over a year, it's like, that's 24 lates.

Yeah. And we can see and, yeah, and, and we did the same thing, Larissa and I. We, you know, between call offs and tardies. Well, which one's worse? Well, I'd rather have somebody comes in late that still gets a route down and someone calls up. Right. But at the end of the day, it'. It's just being a good steward and showing up and being ready each day. Right. So, like, I think with, I think if you had more time, I would tell you to kind of set the tone with both of them. Just say, hey, the season's coming to a close here in a couple of months. These are some issues I've seen and I want you to be here still, but I need to see improvement in these areas and like have that conversation. Especially like that one guy who wants to move up. It's like, dude, if you want to be an applicator, bro, there zero attendance issues.

Zero.

Like that's the expectation as the applicator. They need to be here every single day. That's how it is in our organization. Only the only, only the most reliable person gets pulled up to the applicator because we need them. They're spraying five days a week because there's so, there's so much volume at Aubrey. They don't, they can't afford to take days off much.

He is reliable. Like he's had two days where he wasn't there.

Out of, per month?

No, out of the, out of the whole tenure. Five, six months.

Oh, it was just, it's just the lates.

He showed up like 99 of the time. It's just, it's just the lates. Oh, a few minutes late like every day. Like nothing.

But even that. Dude, I, I, I've had, I think back on like even just a couple of other gms that I've hired and stuff like that that were having late issues. And dude, I'm telling you, when there, when there is an attendance problem problem, like there, there's something deeper that's going on and it's, and it may be like, I don't know, I, I, I don't know, but it's not a good thing. I could tell you that it's, it's not a good thing between the two. I mean, from the way that you're responding, it almost sounds like you should pick the other guy, Gabe Gabri, because if you know that first guy is not going to be with you long term or doesn't have a long term vision with you anyway, then maybe, you know, you could just tell him on the, on the exit is like, look, exactly what I said. Praise him for how great he does. I just don't have the work for you right now. And I know your goal is to move back to your family. This might be a presented a perfect opportunity for you to move back. If you're still here March 1st, I'd love to have you back. You're a hard worker and you fix a lot of things and you improve a lot of things. We'll give you 500. I mean, you can even give Them a thousand dollars sign on bonus. I've ran the math. Even a thousand is a good sign on bonus. We had I think one or two people come back last year for $300 but they didn't end up working out anyway because they were again I mean we look at the totem pole and whoever the highest performers are that we keep depends on how good they are is what the bonus would be. Honestly like if they're stud probably going to give them a thousand. If they're average I'd say 500.

Yeah. I would give them both a thousand to come back. I like them like in my books. I like them.

Yeah. So look, building this kind of business can feel lonely. That's why we built a private stream school community that is based off of a ton of other home service business owners that are literally going down the same pathway as you. We are winning together. You get all the tools, resources and direct access to us. Join the movement today. The links in the description below. Yeah, I mean between the two one you see long term wise and the other you don't. I'd say just from that surface level like yeah, I'd probably pick. Pick the guy and invest in the guy that I see being here longer. I mean that's just what I would think right Is, is probably, probably how I would approach that. But regard like. Like you could also do like what you could do is like a temperature check with them where you kind of sit them down do a one on one eval and ask them what their goals are. See how they like working here. Hey, would you change anything? Just, just get a feel for them. What's. What's going on in their life. Yeah just, just get it. Just get a feel. Try to see if you can feel them out a little bit.

But yeah, they both, they both like I. I do them one on ones every month. Like they both want to stay. They want to stay. They like it. They have no problems. They want to move up which that might just be Gargan that they just want to tell me because I'm their boss.

I don't know.

I feel like that's what it is because they all say the same thing. But what, what are their goals?

Because that will dictate the type of caliber person as well. I'm just being honest like if they're like, like. Like some of the goals that, that I have. I don't mean to cut you off. Some of the goals they're like. I don't know like. Like move out which again I know everybody starts Somewhere, Right. But like, and then there's other people that have goals. Like, I want to buy a house, I wanna, I wanna buy a car. Like, it's like, oh, okay. Like we're, we're, these are good, good goals here that like, I don't know, sometimes the person that knows where they want to go is probably the person that maybe be. Might be a better caliber.

I don't know. I think it's just the way I've been asking the question, like, is so I think I've been asking them. What I ask them is like, hey, what role or responsibility do you see yourself in in like a year or two? That's what I ask.

So when you ask that question, and this is a good learning point for everybody that watches us, you're kind of forcing them, backing them up into a corner to like, basically give you what you want to hear.

Yeah, exactly.

And I don't like, dude, I've put people through orientation before and we get to the end and we're like, okay, what's your goals? To be a GM of military lawn cuts. And like, it sounds great, it sounds awesome, but it's a lot of work, dude. To become a GM at military lawn cuts, you got to be the number one. We only hired the top 3% of people that come through the door. And then on top of that, you got to beat out the other 10 people that you're competing for. You know what I mean? Like, it's this, it's not like, maybe just say the way that I normally word it is. Like, look personal, professional, it doesn't matter what I want to like the core of it. What I want to know is what you want. What does Caleb Bartlett want three to five years from now? What do you, Caleb, want your life to look like? Where are you living? What car are you driving? How much money are you making? What do you want? Not me, I don't. Tell me what I want to hear. I don't want to hear that you want to be a GM at military. Like, unless like that's your burning desire all of a sudden after going through orientation that you just feel obligated. Like, I, I mean, maybe, but most of the time people don't go through a two hour PowerPoint or four hour PowerPoint and have an epiphany that they're going to be a gm, right? Like, and maybe you do that before you even get into the any of the eval. You just give a sticky note and just be like, dude, my whole goal here is to help you get what you want. Because I believe if I help you get what you want, you will help me get what I want. And it's a win win. If I help these people buy a new car or put it, save up enough money to put a down payment on a house, they will get me what I want. They will show up every day. They will not get yellow slips. They will move up within the ranks, which is what I want. You know what I mean?

Okay, I like that. What do you, what do you want your life to look like in a few years?

Okay, yeah. Three, two, three, four years from now, like paint the picture to me. Give me what. And, and so that way on a hard day, when they come back and they're sick and they're not feeling and they, they overworked or they, it was a long weekend, I can grab that sticky note and put it down on the table and be like, dude, this is what you're fighting for. You not showing up late today and still showing up even though you're sick is the same reason why you're gonna buy this car in the next 12 months.

Yeah, I agree. That's good.

Or, or if we're having a manager talk and they're not doing what I'm telling them to do, okay. Which happens sometimes. I pull that sticky note. I got, I got somebody on my team who wants to go to Hawaii. The exact reason why we need to get down and grind in the day to day business and knock this out today is the same thing that's going to get us on that trip to Hawaii. And, and the beauty of it is it's not what you want. You may not want to go to Hawaii, but that person does. That's what they wanted and that's what will motivate them to push through. And so I always, and I tell my people, dude, Toby, I'm like, dude, you're riding with me, bro. You've made the decision to join this team, to become a general manager and carry out this mission together with me on the same freaking train. It's going the same way. I'm like, when, if you're riding with me, I will make sure that you hit these goals if it's the last thing I do. Because I know if I can get, if I can have him complete those goals, I will get what I want. It's all it is, dude.

Yeah.

And most people, if in, in anybody that's watching this and you and me, including, if, if I ask you the question of what is your team's goals and you. And you can't fire them back right away or at least be like, hey, this is the wall we put it on. Let me go check that. We're failing as leaders because how do you know how to motivate them? You don't. But now you know.

Yeah. Because you don't know what motivates them. Yeah. Yeah, that's good, man.

And then it also sees the. The. Not to say that the goals contribute to the caliber of the person, but, like, also, like, again, like, if you have two, three people and one of the peoples are like, yeah, my goal is to, I don't know, buy a bike. Like, not. Not like a bicycle. I don't know. I'm not good at this stuff. Off the whim, it's like, dude, just go buy a bicycle. They're like 100, 200 bucks. Like, why. Why have you not done it already? Or someone that's like, you know, like, I want to make 75, 000 a year. Cool. Let me show you how, because there's a position that's opening up 12 to 24 months from now that could have your name on it. If you do these things, you know, start a family is a big one. Cool. How are you going to support them? Making babies is expensive, you know.

Yeah.

And then you can tie that back to finding a lot of it. You can tie back to finances, buy a car, buy a house, all that stuff. But.

Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah.

Questions?

Let me see. Maybe. Yeah, man. I'm still. I think the only thing that's. I mean, I can make the decision, like, if I flip the coin. I think either way works regardless, because I have two a players that I just love, and they're gonna stick around no matter what, and they're freaking awesome. Scott's just. He's been with us for a year and a half, I think. I have a feeling he'll stick it out. I don't think he's gonna try to move out of state again for a while. He could, obviously. Obviously there is that risk.

You should ask him. She'd be like, hey, man, what's. What's the. What's the update on the move? How's that going? Right? Like, you got to dig a little bit.

Yeah, I need to dig. Yeah. Because he. When I brought him back again for the second time, I asked him, like. Like, we did, like, a rehire probation. Like, if he broke any rules, he's fired immediately. Like, this is like, last chance.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

And I asked him in that. That when I was Bringing him back in. Like, are you planning on moving again? He said, no, like, I'm here to stay.

So, yeah, just. Just, you know, and it's. It's. It's. You're coming from a caring heart, right? You're saying, hey, Scott, I know, I know your. Your master plan was to. To move, and I know that you said that you're not really interested in doing that, but I just, you know, my. My goal as a leader and a coach for you and a mentor is like, is to help you get what you want, dude. Like, I want you to be a better person. I want you to, like, achieve your goals. Like, is there a way that I can help you with the move, get you connected with a moving comp? Like, you know what I mean? Like, I, like, is that still the plan? Or like, like, like, where are we at with that? Like, is there any way I can help you get to where you want to go? And if you ask it in that way, they're like, wow, Caleb is super caring. Right? It's like. And you're also digging to see data. But what I will also tell you is, and this is a really big lever, it sounds cliche, but I'm telling you, this thing works, dude. If you really have no idea. And they're basically both 50, 50 shot. I would pray about it and I would sleep on it for two to three days and just be like, God, like, just show me. Can you show me? I'm trying to make a decision. I'm trying to do what's right. I'm trying to help these people, give them. Provide a good paying job. Can you show me who's supposed to be here and who's not? And all of a sudden, dude, I'm telling you, you'll come into work on Monday and something's happening or that's. And it's like, wow. It's like, okay, thank you. Like, like, you showed me exactly what I needed to see. You showed me exactly who needs to be here and who needs to go. And it's. It. It's a very powerful thing to have him on your side.

Yeah.

In the most gracious, peaceful, humble way. And just know he's in control of everything. As much as we get in our own minds and like, freak out about all this stuff, and it is emotional. D first couple years, dude, it is extremely emotional. Trust me. I rode the roller coaster every. Every. Every year now the GMs kind of ride more of those roller coaster ones, but at the same time, yeah, that. That would be my Wisdom to myself, like, three years ago, is to just, Just seek guidance, make sure you're doing the right decision of, of what he wants, not what you want. You know what I mean? And, and if you follow that path, you'll, you'll, you'll make the right decision.

Okay, that's good.

Yeah. Dude, I have a really good video out coming out, by the way, of the framework on this, about this exact thing. It's not like the exact thing, but it's basically a framework. Every time I find myself in it, in a, In a problem or a challenge or an obstacle which drops, I think on Monday. I think it comes out on Monday. I would watch that video, and it goes really deep into a framework to help you make these decisions. So I think if you, again, just take two or three days, sleep on it, kind of let things figure. Figure itself out. Help. Help. Have him help. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

That way you can make a right, the right decision.

Okay. Yeah, you're right, man.

Yeah.

I'll have to sit on it for. I want to sit on too long. Make a decision this week, I guess. Last thing. When do I bring him back? Because, like, I realized with last year, I brought in a guy, like, way too early, like Scott. I actually let him go last winter.

Oh, you brought, You. You let Scott go and he came back?

Yeah.

Oh, we'll just do it again. He has more data, dude. He was cool with it already. He understands the gig.

Yeah, he, he literally got, like, a retail job at, like, a factory or like, a warehouse. And I came to him, say, hey, I'll give you 500 bucks to come back. He was like, okay, great. Came right back. He loves the job. Like, he would rather be here than anywhere else.

And he's probably making more money this year because you raised prices and did all that stuff, so. Yeah, man, I, I. And he wasn't. It's business, you know what I mean? Like, he, he, he gets it.

He comes from a world of, like, winter work. Like, he, he's always done construction and stuff like that. So he, he literally told me the first time I laid him off. He's like, it's okay, man. Like, I get it. I. I've done this before. I understand the winter thing. Don't worry about it. And he went and got a job and came right back.

So he didn't take it personal, dude. And he's numb to it. Just part of the.

No, no, no, no.

Not at all.

Like, no issues.

Yeah.

Okay. Decision made.

Done.

But when should I bring him Back, like, do I bring him back? Like March 1, like by the way, context, we have the same business. Just about like our business is almost the same.

Like, so when did you bring them back?

This year, like mid February, but I didn't need them.

Yeah, March 1st, do March 1st, March 1st.

Yeah. Okay.

Because March 1st, even if it's still too cold, we start our mowing season. Dude. Like we start mowing now, we may start later in the day to where the daytime temperatures are above the 32 degree below freezing temps. So we're not hurting the grass. But like March 1st we start mowing. So like we need the people. So all the people we're bringing back and you don't have to train them so they can literally plug right in on the first week. And yeah, maybe you give them like a little bit of refresher of a couple things you guys tweaked in the off season. But yeah, March 1st, March 1st.

Okay, what about like if I wanted him to pass out flyers for weed control? Because that's something I'm going to do next year instead of like just passing out mowing flyers in February, early March because like doesn't do anything, does not work.

So I've tested this before now for multiple seasons. So I'm going to give you the data that I know. Door hangers start working the soonest, the absolute soonest is the last week in Feb, anytime before that, you're just burning money, you're wasting time, you're wasting wages. If you want to maximize your return, even if you had him started March 1, you're going to be on a bi weekly rotation anyway. There's not going to be a ton of hours he's going to be getting done soon or there's an off week that's not that busy. Like he can go do door hangers then. But to pay somebody or multiple people for hours and hours and hours to go put out door hangers, it doesn't make sense. Anything before the third week of February, February, you're wasting money. I firmly believe that and I would and I would be willing to bet 10k on that. So if anybody wants to bet, bet me on that. But not saying that anybody would, but, but like, like I would be willing to put money up and be like, because I've done it, I've done it now for like basically three. I mean we've been in business for six, six seasons. But yeah, even if you're targeting weed control still, I, I think you would get better leverage and better return sending a Mass text email out to thousands of people instead of paying somebody to go do door hangers or run Facebook ads. It's way less expensive. Dude, wage is the highest line item on a P. L. And you have to remember that. So if you're going to pay somebody to do door hangers, don't do it when the timing's off or a week or two before because you're going to waste money for a week or two in labor and it's going to cost a lot of money. You have to do it when it's prime perfect time. And that's generally not even like the first week of March. It's normally like the second or third week in March of when it really justifies. Like, guys, we're cranking down thousands and thousands of door hangers now.

Yeah, it's really like second week of March through, like last week of April is like door hangers just crush.

Yeah.

Like crazy. Literally just a month and a half.

Yeah. And honestly, pull the data. You have co pilot CRM. You're tracking how they're coming in. And so, so many people, they come and they ask me, hey, when should I do this? It's like, dude, honestly, just pull the data from last year. You can look even, even, even if you don't. Even if people that are watching this that are not tracking how the lead is coming in, I can. You can still see how many leads are getting created in the database in your CRM. And I can tell you. And if you track it week by week and start March 1st, which down here we're in Texas, but like first week, second week, third week, fourth week of March. Okay, first week, second, three, third week, fourth week in April, like, pull the numbers and generally, and I know weather changes, but like, within a week, like, it's not going to change that much. So, like, that's what I would do. And on those weeks where you get tons of leads, I would start maybe the soonest a week before that. That's it.

Yeah.

I would start your hiring way in advance though. Like, dude, this year, because we're going to be ramping up significantly. I. We're going to be starting hiring February 1st, like, going all in. Like, we're going to be scheduling like 10 interviews twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then we would just book out the start dates. Like two, three weeks out is how we're gonna do it.

Yeah, yeah. I'm actually gonna go earlier than that. Funny enough that you bring that up. I'm starting in January. Like last Week of January just to go ahead and like just get it rolling. Get it.

Yeah.

Because I, I did the first week of, of Feb too last year. But maybe there's something wrong with, with my hiring process because I, I implemented the same thing that you do with Jotform and all that stuff. Man. It was a struggle labor wise. Figured it out after a while, but I'm just gonna start early.

Yeah.

Early early just. Yeah.

Yeah. If you wait too long. All the other home service businesses that are seasonal for the weather, fence companies, pet waste, insect fertilization, weed control companies, all of them are, are doing the same thing. So if you can get, you know, two, three weeks ahead of them. Generally, dude, we make our best hires in February often. So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I found one of my like super A players, Justin in February. That guy's never been late. Never been late, never called out. Like I've never seen that.

Yeah. I would praise him every month. Perfect attendance. Dang.

I don't, I do, I do in the monthly one on ones.

Yeah. So praise, praise people in public. It's better. They'll, they'll feel that's a good point.

And I'm lacking it. Yeah. Praising for certain things because I forget it sometimes you take it for granted.

Yeah. And that's, dude, that, that's a whole other piece about like leadership and stuff that we're figuring out as well. Dude, we spend more if not half, at least half of the meeting is praising people. And we do that intentionally on purpose because it's a positive work environment. Like dude, even the littlest things, like we sometimes will have our crews like do just busy work around the shop, manual adjustment, half day of like cleaning up the yard and the property and we'll, we'll praise them like on Monday on the meetings when we'll be like, dude, great job. You helped clean up the property, picked up garbage. And it's just like small tasks that don't matter much but like us praising them on Monday meetings, I'm telling you, try it. Spend more than half of the meeting, pray and dude, and, and we'll go around and, and, and literally praise every single person for something positive that they did. And it seems weird because like, like most people be like, oh yeah, they're just praising but like dude, I'm telling you, do that for three weeks straight and see, see what happens.

Yeah. I think this is my weakness. Like I, I take things for granted in a way. Like I don't. Like I, I do see the things that they do. I just forget to bring it up or I just don't think about it. Whenever I'm creating my slides, I create slides before the Monday meeting and I have like a moment of appreciation slide always forget all the little things they do half the. Most of the time.

I will tell you, as you. As you grow the team, because I think you have like, what, five or six team members this year?

Yes, I think Peak was seven, but we ran the company at five on average.

How many trucks did you have?

Four.

That's good. So, yeah, as you. As you grow as a leader, like, that becomes more and more demanding from you. Like you. It is required that when you walk in the office every day or the shop that you're. You are the energy. You are the positive speaking person. You are the. The influencer in the room to be like, uplifting people. Hey, man, nice hat today, Caleb. Dude, that sweatshirt looks so good on you, bro. Like, you know what I mean, Dude, Go guys. Go out there and crush it today. I'm rooting for you. Let's all go make some great money. P4.

P0.

Yellow slips. That's the motto. You know what I mean? Like, that kind of like cheerleader, but like, not in a. Like a weak way. Like in a. In a. I can like, like in. In a good way. In a good way. You're. You're positively speaking. And it. And it come. And it becomes apparent in all roles and it becomes very demanding. And when you lose that touch, things don't go well. That. That's like 2.0. Like 1.0 is like getting like 17 members that report to you. That's like 1.0 leadership, which is most of it is like, I like, like, you know, you earn their respect from you doing a lot of the work. But 2.0, is that like next phase where it's like, how do you motivate people? You know what I mean? That's.

Yeah.

Or in like getting managers of that manage people that don't directly report to you. That it's a whole other level of like figuring out.

Yeah, that's a good point. It's something I need to be a lot better at praising people. I do it. But it's not. It could be a lot better.

It.

So thank you.