July 18, 2024 • 22 mins
What if we told you holiday lights could be your landscaping company's most unexpected revenue stream? On today's episode of Roots of Success, host Tommy Cole delves into the festive world of holiday lighting with Tim Hikade, who has successfully integrated this service into his business, Full Circle Lawn Care. Uncover the strategies Tim uses to keep his crews working through the winter and how he maintains high profitability by keeping things simple yet professional. From planning and training to client satisfaction, get the blueprint you need to light up your seasonal earnings. Don't miss this enlightening discussion!
THE BIG IDEA:
Basic holiday lighting with existing clients first.
KEY MOMENTS:
[05:37] Office plans for sales season and client bookings.
[07:36] Prepare budget, plan for peak season operation.
[12:32] Diversify landscape business with holiday lights.
[13:19] Winter slows down work, but Christmas is busy.
[17:00] Start, focus on service, ignore comparisons.
[20:50] Christmas lights are profitable for service providers.
[22:49] Tim Hikade celebrates Christmas in July joyfully.
QUESTIONS WE ANSWER
What are the benefits of adding holiday lighting services to a landscaping business?
How can landscaping companies stay busy during the winter months?
What is the best training for installing Christmas lights safely?
How do I start a holiday lighting business?
How do I market holiday lighting services to my existing landscape clients?
FOR SHOW NOTES & MORE, GO TO:
https://mcfarlinstanford.com/podcast/ep-033-christmas-in-july-unlocking-winter-revenue-with-tim-hikade/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The Roots of Success podcast is
for the landscape professional
who's looking to up their game.
We've got a brain trust of experts to
help you nurture the roots of a successful
business and grow to the next level.
This is The Roots of Success.
Welcome to another episode
of Roots of Success Podcast.
And I am your host, Tommy Cole.
(00:21):
And we have another awesome guest today.
My friend Tim Hikade from New Jersey.
He's got a business called
Full Circle Lawn Care.
As well as NJ Holiday Lights.
He's one of our peer group
members and has been for years.
Welcome Tim.
Thanks, Tommy.
Thanks for having me on.
(00:42):
I appreciate it.
Yeah, this is, this is going to be great.
So everybody's probably wondering
what are we going to talk about?
And man, we have got a great subject
for our listeners today, it's about
holiday lights and it's an add on
service to your landscaping business.
Tim has got a wealth of experience.
(01:02):
Failures and wins along the
way of doing holiday lighting.
That's what we're going to dive into.
But first, Tim, tell me a little
bit about yourself and your
business and what you guys do
Yeah, so we're a full
service landscape contractor.
We do everything from your basic landscape
maintenance, outdoor living areas.
also had a small garden center
(01:23):
and florist in the area.
And you know, I started the
Christmas light business.
This will be our 14th season when somebody
asked me to put up their Christmas lights.
So we've grown that
substantially since that time.
nice 14 years.
Wow.
So let's talk about year, year one.
How did you get into holiday lighting,
(01:44):
installation, takedown, decor, all that?
One of our landscape customers came
up to me and said, Hey, would you
put up my Christmas lights for me?
I was like, Really?
He's like, Yeah.
You know, I have a lot of friends.
I'll pay a lot of money to put it up.
And I was like, Sure.
Why not?
It's something we always enjoyed
doing as a family growing up.
So, you know, I jumped on the opportunity
to do his house and a couple of buddies
(02:05):
and, you know, made some mistakes along
the way, but that's how we started.
Somebody asked.
Yes.
So you did this as a kid, right?
Yeah, growing up, you know,
that was a big big deal.
My family growing up, decorating our
house and helping our family out.
And yeah, I was surprised somebody
asked me to do their house.
So I was like, why not,
Make a few extra bucks, right?
(02:26):
yeah, you know, off season,
you know, we're slowing down
and we need something to do.
I'll bartend wait tables in the winter,
whatever I had to do to keep the company
going, you know, cause it was the
beginning of when I started the company.
So I had to do something.
Yeah, I, I was in the,
same boat as you as a kid.
I always enjoyed installing
(02:47):
holiday lights at my house.
I was the, I was the person
each year wanted to add on
one or two more extra strands.
And back in the day we didn't have this
fancy thing called LED lights, right?
It was like you had like what,
two strands to put together before
you got to find a, an outlet.
And if you put the third or
fourth strand, it kind of blew up.
Right.
And you, you had to find more
(03:08):
power and you're tripping circuits.
And my dad was getting upset
because he's, he can't use the
normal things in the house and he's
freaking out and I'm blowing fuses.
left and right.
Long build.
Here we are.
When I was in college, we did, we did
holiday lighting when I worked for
a landscape company and it was good.
We got extra cash in our pocket.
(03:28):
We had work to do during November,
December and January, and it was great.
So early in your years, Tim,
year one, how was that like?
Give me some things that went wrong.
like I said, incandescent lights, you
know, I still have nightmares about that,
you know, spill up the power, you know,
you do it four strands, you got to split
(03:48):
the power, split the power, different
power sources, you don't know if the
refrigerator is on one outlet on the
outside, where the GFI's are connected,
you know, just nightmare phone calls,
Christmas Eve, people's lights are out.
I was out, you know, out with my wife
on a Christmas Eve one night and all
dressed up and I had to go take care
of a client on Christmas Eve and, you
(04:09):
know, it was a nightmare and she's just
sitting in the car, watching me in the
rain, trying to fix this guy's lights.
I'm glad that's over.
Yeah.
So what, so here's the magic question.
What kept you going?
If you went through all that year
one, like what kept you going?
I asked the opportunity in my I live in
a fluid area and there's a, just, I just
saw the opportunity there and, just kept
(04:29):
going, it was hard to switch over to led.
Cause the it was more expensive, you know,
really good margins with incandescence,
but it wasn't worth the headaches, so
I'd say five, six years into it, we
switched totally to led and It's, it's
been a lot better, you know, yeah,
Well, good.
So, all right.
So you're a multi, you're a few
(04:49):
years into this and led kicks
in after five or six years.
And, and quite frankly, you'd stand,
you know, you can put a whole bunch of
lights together at the end of the day.
Right.
And, and into, into one outlet.
So it made your life easier
and you got less phone calls.
what is this gearing up for the season?
it's like a six month season for you.
(05:10):
Correct?
Explain, explain what you've
told me over the last few years.
Like it's six to eight
months long for you.
Oh yeah.
So our office, once the season is
done in January, the office, we'll
go through everybody's quotes, get
those up to date for this year.
We'll, we'll have a March madness sale to
start booking clients, which also helps
us front loader cashflow for the landscape
(05:31):
season and, We're coming up to July.
So we're, we're about to start getting,
getting ready to hit Christmas in
July, you know, we'll start, we'll send
out all of our clients, even clients.
We Then again, last year, we'll send
them out their quotes and, see if
we could book those guys especially
June, July, and August is the best
(05:51):
one bracket commercial clients.
this is Tom, you try to get your
commercial clients lined up.
I just spoke to a lady, their
business went out, they did
all the Hospitals in the area.
I actually set a conversation and, she's
going to introduce me to her contacts.
And, this is, it's almost
a year round project.
it kind of goes to the side
during landscape season.
(06:11):
We'll have our 3 month rush with that.
And then it goes into June, July, August,
we're getting ready for Christmas.
And then, really kicks off in September.
yeah.
You know, the one thing, Tim,
that is great is I never thought
I would say these three words,
but Christmas in July, I'm like,
what in the world does that mean?
I remember you mentioned that years ago
and it's really stuck me pretty hard.
(06:33):
And if you're a client, of your business.
That is that is really good because
you're you're jumping way ahead.
You know, it's 100 degrees
probably where you're at in July.
It's hot.
People are on vacation and you're
reaching out to him for November work.
And you're starting to
get the ball rolling.
(06:54):
Contracts are in.
You, you, you are, you are getting in
front of this because why you've got
to order all this material, right?
It's especially if they're new
or organize it, get it ready.
So talk about once you've
had this Christmas in July
opportunity, what happens after
that to get ready for November?
Yeah.
So, you know, we'll put a budget
(07:15):
together for what we think
we're going to make this year.
You know, budget wise, how many guys
we're going to need, how many trucks
we're going to need returning clients,
how many, how many new clients we could
take on, there's a short season, you know,
for new clients, you probably pretty much
have four weeks to get any new clients.
And meanwhile, you're trying to
service all your, all your clients.
Prior clients, and we start
that start them in September,
(07:37):
October, November is the crunch.
So at this point, clients have been with
us for years, know that they have to,
they really should sign up in July and get
their slot to pretty much guarantee their.
Be up in a timely manner for him.
So, you know, it's
Good.
Yep.
And so, so you're talking about budgeting.
So getting the budget set, getting
(07:58):
the, getting the crews ready.
a huge planning session for multiple
months to figure out the routes of where
the opportunities are, where, where are
you going to go service the clients, a
lot of the purchasing of more material
probably is for the newer clients.
One of the things that I saw when I,
when you, when you hosted your peer
group was the storage area of all the
(08:20):
Christmas decor, and we did a video there.
It was absolutely fascinating
how organized you were.
One of the things you got to take in
consideration when you're doing holiday
lightings is stay very organized
one and two, think well, well ahead.
How has that helped your business
from a profitable standpoint
and a margin standpoint?
It's just the efficiency, you know,
(08:40):
having a couple of guys working in the
shop while the season's going on, we
created our systems over the years,
you know, and we pretty much have it
dialed into, we will know what day we'll
stop doing installs in our back office.
We have it dialed in and having the staff
out, in the field that know what they're
doing and efficiently as possible, And
(09:02):
making sure everything's organized,
everybody knows where everything is
material wise, who's handing out material,
what's on the trucks, how many trucks
are out and really what we can handle.
Yeah, when we were there, it was, it
was a very fascinating piece to see
the bins and organization for every
single client, you had a client's name
on a specific bin or two or three.
(09:24):
It was categorized, it was
routed by different colors
in different neighborhoods.
It was like a Costco Home
Depot on steroids of wreaths.
I remember wreaths and bins
of holiday lights, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
we have our system down now, it's been
four, this is our 14th season doing it.
(09:44):
So, we know what works and what
doesn't work, and with our back office
is really got it together for us.
it takes a whole team to make
this thing work at the size,
Yep.
So talk about,
Tim, another question
is what about training?
For holiday lights, you know, that's
a little bit of a sensitive subject to
have landscape dominant people, right.
(10:08):
In your workforce to go now put
up lights, you've got ladders, you
got fall protection, prevention.
You have, whether you have now
roofs and gutters, and there's a
little bit of a liability type deal.
Now, what, what were some of the things
that you guys had to learn and train?
For you and your staff.
Yeah, liability, like I said, safety
(10:29):
is number one, no matter what,
it's a little wet outside, snowy,
number one safety, number one.
I don't care what's going on, how
far behind we are or whatever.
The weather's not good.
We're not going, it's the last thing
you need somebody to fall and get hurt.
So after Labor Day, that's when we'll
start bringing crews in, training,
ladder safety, harness training, roof
(10:51):
training, we go, we go really adept.
We do some ocean training with
somebody come in and train to come
in for a day, fall protection, you
really have to really, really be
careful because one little slip and
somebody could take it on their life,
so we take it very, very seriously.
It's a fun
That's really good.
it's very dangerous, you know?
(11:11):
Yeah, you don't want to be wearing Crocs.
And, as you're climbing
ladders and they're wet, right?
I have, I, the reason why I say that I
personally have seen show someone show
up in Crocs ready to install lights.
And I was like, are you serious right now?
Like what could happen?
So I think about that.
I think about that image all the time.
All kidding aside, that is, that's pretty
(11:31):
scary because then, you know, you're,
you're, now you're on someone's property.
Right.
and, and it creates a
whole nother set of issues.
Oh yeah, totally.
You know, like I said, gutter, gutter
protection, having the right stabilizers
and not crushing gutters, taking care
of the folks homes, you're not going
to go to a mahogany 20, 000 front door,
there's, there's a lot that goes into it.
(11:53):
So let's talk about what another,
topic here is, you've got the
landscape business, but this
holiday light spills in a gap.
And that gap is this What we always coach
to all the time is taking the seasonality
of your landscape company out and make
it a year round landscape company.
Parts of the country are less likely to
do that, but what are you doing in the,
(12:13):
the, the slower months besides just kind
of closing up shop and draining your
bank account to keep people on board?
You have been able to run this
successfully for 14 years.
Maybe the first few
years are a little rough.
So we'll say we'll give you
some 11 to 12 years, right?
Of, of good profitable things that has
helped your team stay there year round.
(12:35):
And tell me the impact of
having a year round staff.
It's huge, having the stat,
February will slow down.
It's almost a guarantee that
for four weeks, we'll take off
until the season picks back up.
But, we tell the folks you're
working with us to Christmas season.
You're making all those extra
hours to cover your winter
hours, until you start back up.
But having the seasonality of
(12:55):
landscape and then we have Christmas
and then we have the folks that
come back just for Christmas time.
we can almost rely on those folks coming
back every year, to hit that season.
It's pretty much almost a three
month season where it's a, it's a
lot of work with other landscape
companies are slowing down.
We're, we're getting a lot of those
guys back to just handle Christmas,
unfortunately, we can't, we, we staff
(13:16):
up more at the end of the year than we
do the regular season landscape season.
So we can't keep everybody.
So, it's they make more money,
they get more hours and, they
have money for winter time.
So if someone's trying to get into
this holiday lighting business,
what, what's some advice that
you would give someone out there?
I
Reach out to your client base,
(13:36):
just, you gotta start somewhere.
I talked to a lot of guys and I
tried to talk him into, he's got
to start somewhere, reach out.
There's some other
trainings out there online.
Everything's on YouTube.
You just got to do it, just go out there.
You have a client base already,
and then I'm sure you can pick up
five, 10 customers and just dabble,
that's all you have to do just start.
(13:57):
You just got to start somewhere.
would agree with you start with
the low hanging fruit, right?
So if you've got a maintenance company,
that's got 50 maintenance clients and,
and you're, you're doing the weekly
maintenance services, mow and blow
and, and all the, the FERT treatments
start with those 50 existing clients.
Yep.
(14:17):
pick five or 10 of your best
clients and offer an opportunity.
My suggestion would be to start
with those five or 10 and go, Hey,
we're starting this add on service.
I'm kind of a little new at this.
We're going to do our best.
We're going to provide
you a great product.
We're going to give you an estimate.
We're going to produce the quote.
(14:37):
We're going to install your lights.
We're going to take them down.
We're going to bring them back to
our shop or leave them there on site
neatly organized in bins and come
back the following year and repeat.
Are you willing to do this?
And most of them will probably say yes.
So by the time you get, let's say you
get five or 10 clients of the 50 on your
first year, that's a win, right Tim?
(14:58):
Oh yeah.
That's a big one.
You know, you know, you said you got
to start somewhere and it'll snowball.
I had a, I actually hired a consultant.
I had to be eight, eight, nine years ago.
Now he had a big company in Arkansas,
so he had a Christmas light business.
It's insult in the off season.
And I hired him on one year to
come up for a weekend, and he
(15:19):
gave me the game plan, what to do.
And, he's like, if you follow the
plans, it's going to keep snowballing,
you know, and it really does.
Like I said, we have the client
base and it's just educating
the customers of what we do.
it's, it's, it's a fun time of year
and the clients love it and, you
know, it's a win win for everybody.
Yeah.
(15:40):
You know, more and more now, more so
now than when I was a kid, when I was
a kid, a lot of our friends and family
and everyone in the neighborhoods,
we did our own lights for years.
Like you just, it's just part of the
deal, but you can see Tim and I can
see it in my own eyes that people
aren't less likely to just jump on
ladders and do all this themselves.
(16:01):
They're spending more time doing
other things with friends and family.
So this is a huge opportunity in
your market, wherever you are.
Don't compare yourself to
anybody else that's already
been doing it for 14 years, Tim.
Just get started with this, the
low hanging fruit and jump on it
and go with it because I'm here
to tell you right now, people are
looking at this type of service.
(16:23):
that homeowners are going to pay for.
So it's no different than,
you know, the trades industry.
It's no different than a trash bin
cleaning service that's out there.
Now, people are not willing to go on the
ladders, do this hard work, you know, risk
an injury, repeat the process every year.
So people like Tim and his, His entire
(16:43):
team can service these clients that quite
frankly, don't have time to do that.
I'm one of those guys too.
I have two little kids and I have
time to do anything, I'm like,
I'm one of you guys out there, I
just, I don't have time to do it.
I need somebody to do it for me,
and a lot of times we'll, you know,
the wives will call and I kind of
want my husband going on the roof.
So can you guys just do the roof line?
And, for a young family, they
want to still be involved a bit.
(17:04):
So they'll do all the ground stuff,
but then it usually turns out
it's just doing everything anyway.
So, know, one of those guys too.
you're one of those, you're one of
those to hire it out, which is great.
Yeah.
anything else to, in your 14 years
experience of holiday lighting that
you would throw onto our listeners?
Just keep it simple.
I saw, we, we saw basic Christmas
(17:27):
lights, scarlet and wreaths.
That's it with red bows.
That's all folks really want.
Classic Christmas, all the other
fancy stuff we've dabbled in and we
haven't had much success with it, but
people like classic Christmas and I
think just keep it simple, you know,
You know, you hit something really
interesting, classic Christmas.
So what, what is your take on all these,
(17:51):
Glitzy, all these like, what are these
like, what do you call these things
out there in the yard that are like
reindeers and blowups and all that.
So you're saying like, stay simple, like
lights on houses and what lights and
shrubs and keep it very simple and classy
That's it.
you're, you're kind of like the Chick
fil A model of landscape lighting.
(18:13):
Exactly.
Let's keep it simple.
You know, many lights, roof lighting,
wreaths, garland, and just keep it simple.
Blow ups and all the other stuff.
It takes up a lot of space.
They break, if people want to
add it on, we'll throw it on,
on an extension cord for them.
But besides that, you know,
we keep it super simple.
It's easier for the guys.
They know what they're using.
(18:33):
It's all the same material and It's
easier all around for us and, it's,
it's a look most of the clients want,
Yeah.
I did notice that in your shop, you
have artificial garland wreaths.
They're all different sizes, but
it's basically the same wreath.
That you guys generate.
So in other words, you can bulk order
those wreaths and a 48 inch, 36 inch,
(18:56):
24 inch, and keep them in stock and
have those available when the client is
ready to upsell, because you, it's the
simple wreath, you know where to get it.
You know, the cost, you know, to
put it up versus having 50 clients
with 50 types of different wreaths.
I'm already getting a
headache thinking about that.
yeah, that's it.
And it's easier for the guys.
You saw our racks, they just
(19:17):
pull them as we need them.
it's a 48 to 60, 30 entry, and the
Garland's all the same Garland.
So, quantities, the guy prepping
everything, loading everything into the
trucks, it's all the same materials.
So it just makes it a
lot easier for everybody.
And like, we love, we love Christmas,
it's all the same materials.
any crew can hop on any other
crew that needs to help out.
And, you're not dealing with
(19:38):
landscape projects where it's all
different materials and strategizing.
And we love Christmas.
It's all the same.
We love Christmas.
I bet you do.
You love Christmas with the cash it brings
in and, and the, the work for your team.
So Tim, I'm going to go through some
Tommy's takeaways and add in if there's
anything that I'm missing, because
(20:00):
this is, this is really good stuff.
So a few takeaways that I got was one,
if you're getting started in Christmas
or you're about to get started, or
you've started for a couple of years.
Existing clients is where to start
that you already are doing some sort of
service at that property, get them on
board with some sort of holiday lighting.
(20:20):
Two it's winter work for your team.
So between November and December and
January, tons of opportunity for them
to make extra money, keep them on
the payroll three, I love this idea.
Just keep it simple, classic Christmas.
It's Chick fil A type service.
We offer chicken and different
(20:41):
varieties of chicken and that's it.
Very hard margin work.
Very profitable.
I love your takeaway on training and
safety is the number one thing because
that stuff can be dangerous, way more
dangerous I would think than landscape.
And one of the things I
took away was plan ahead.
I love the March Madness idea.
(21:02):
I love the Christmas in July idea,
but you got to plan ahead for
material, deliveries, training.
It's not like you show up on November 1st.
you just roll up the truck
and get lights out the door.
Anything I'm missing there, Tim?
I think that pretty much covers it all,
you know, just keep it simple and start.
(21:22):
That's it.
You got to start, you know, a lot of talk.
A lot of guys are hesitant.
He's got to start with one
and take it from there.
Start with some of your best clients
cause above your best clients
will be a little more forgiving
for the hiccups along the way.
Right.
That's where I would start.
Yeah.
And they know you, they know
you're service, you know, you
know, You just got to start,
Well, good stuff, Tim.
Well, thank you so much.
(21:43):
It's been a pleasure.
It is Christmas in July,
according to Tim Hickade.
I will, that's the
famous quote at the day.
I enjoyed it, Tim.
Next time I need to probably wear my
Santa Claus hat or something like that
with some With some lights around my
neck next time, but thanks, thanks, Tim.
We really enjoyed it.
(22:03):
Thank you for taking the time
out in your busy schedule.
no problem.
Thanks for having me on.
I appreciate it.
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(22:25):
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See you next time on the Roots of Success.
The Roots of Success podcast is
for the landscape professional
who's looking to up their game.
We've got a brain trust of experts to
help you nurture the roots of a successful
business and grow to the next level.
This is The Roots of Success.
Welcome to another episode
of Roots of Success Podcast.
And I am your host, Tommy Cole.
(00:21):
And we have another awesome guest today.
My friend Tim Hikade from New Jersey.
He's got a business called
Full Circle Lawn Care.
As well as NJ Holiday Lights.
He's one of our peer group
members and has been for years.
Welcome Tim.
Thanks, Tommy.
Thanks for having me on.
(00:42):
I appreciate it.
Yeah, this is, this is going to be great.
So everybody's probably wondering
what are we going to talk about?
And man, we have got a great subject
for our listeners today, it's about
holiday lights and it's an add on
service to your landscaping business.
Tim has got a wealth of experience.
(01:02):
Failures and wins along the
way of doing holiday lighting.
That's what we're going to dive into.
But first, Tim, tell me a little
bit about yourself and your
business and what you guys do
Yeah, so we're a full
service landscape contractor.
We do everything from your basic landscape
maintenance, outdoor living areas.
also had a small garden center
(01:23):
and florist in the area.
And you know, I started the
Christmas light business.
This will be our 14th season when somebody
asked me to put up their Christmas lights.
So we've grown that
substantially since that time.
nice 14 years.
Wow.
So let's talk about year, year one.
How did you get into holiday lighting,
(01:44):
installation, takedown, decor, all that?
One of our landscape customers came
up to me and said, Hey, would you
put up my Christmas lights for me?
I was like, Really?
He's like, Yeah.
You know, I have a lot of friends.
I'll pay a lot of money to put it up.
And I was like, Sure.
Why not?
It's something we always enjoyed
doing as a family growing up.
So, you know, I jumped on the opportunity
to do his house and a couple of buddies
(02:05):
and, you know, made some mistakes along
the way, but that's how we started.
Somebody asked.
Yes.
So you did this as a kid, right?
Yeah, growing up, you know,
that was a big big deal.
My family growing up, decorating our
house and helping our family out.
And yeah, I was surprised somebody
asked me to do their house.
So I was like, why not,
Make a few extra bucks, right?
(02:26):
yeah, you know, off season,
you know, we're slowing down
and we need something to do.
I'll bartend wait tables in the winter,
whatever I had to do to keep the company
going, you know, cause it was the
beginning of when I started the company.
So I had to do something.
Yeah, I, I was in the,
same boat as you as a kid.
I always enjoyed installing
(02:47):
holiday lights at my house.
I was the, I was the person
each year wanted to add on
one or two more extra strands.
And back in the day we didn't have this
fancy thing called LED lights, right?
It was like you had like what,
two strands to put together before
you got to find a, an outlet.
And if you put the third or
fourth strand, it kind of blew up.
Right.
And you, you had to find more
(03:08):
power and you're tripping circuits.
And my dad was getting upset
because he's, he can't use the
normal things in the house and he's
freaking out and I'm blowing fuses.
left and right.
Long build.
Here we are.
When I was in college, we did, we did
holiday lighting when I worked for
a landscape company and it was good.
We got extra cash in our pocket.
(03:28):
We had work to do during November,
December and January, and it was great.
So early in your years, Tim,
year one, how was that like?
Give me some things that went wrong.
like I said, incandescent lights, you
know, I still have nightmares about that,
you know, spill up the power, you know,
you do it four strands, you got to split
(03:48):
the power, split the power, different
power sources, you don't know if the
refrigerator is on one outlet on the
outside, where the GFI's are connected,
you know, just nightmare phone calls,
Christmas Eve, people's lights are out.
I was out, you know, out with my wife
on a Christmas Eve one night and all
dressed up and I had to go take care
of a client on Christmas Eve and, you
(04:09):
know, it was a nightmare and she's just
sitting in the car, watching me in the
rain, trying to fix this guy's lights.
I'm glad that's over.
Yeah.
So what, so here's the magic question.
What kept you going?
If you went through all that year
one, like what kept you going?
I asked the opportunity in my I live in
a fluid area and there's a, just, I just
saw the opportunity there and, just kept
(04:29):
going, it was hard to switch over to led.
Cause the it was more expensive, you know,
really good margins with incandescence,
but it wasn't worth the headaches, so
I'd say five, six years into it, we
switched totally to led and It's, it's
been a lot better, you know, yeah,
Well, good.
So, all right.
So you're a multi, you're a few
(04:49):
years into this and led kicks
in after five or six years.
And, and quite frankly, you'd stand,
you know, you can put a whole bunch of
lights together at the end of the day.
Right.
And, and into, into one outlet.
So it made your life easier
and you got less phone calls.
what is this gearing up for the season?
it's like a six month season for you.
(05:10):
Correct?
Explain, explain what you've
told me over the last few years.
Like it's six to eight
months long for you.
Oh yeah.
So our office, once the season is
done in January, the office, we'll
go through everybody's quotes, get
those up to date for this year.
We'll, we'll have a March madness sale to
start booking clients, which also helps
us front loader cashflow for the landscape
(05:31):
season and, We're coming up to July.
So we're, we're about to start getting,
getting ready to hit Christmas in
July, you know, we'll start, we'll send
out all of our clients, even clients.
We Then again, last year, we'll send
them out their quotes and, see if
we could book those guys especially
June, July, and August is the best
(05:51):
one bracket commercial clients.
this is Tom, you try to get your
commercial clients lined up.
I just spoke to a lady, their
business went out, they did
all the Hospitals in the area.
I actually set a conversation and, she's
going to introduce me to her contacts.
And, this is, it's almost
a year round project.
it kind of goes to the side
during landscape season.
(06:11):
We'll have our 3 month rush with that.
And then it goes into June, July, August,
we're getting ready for Christmas.
And then, really kicks off in September.
yeah.
You know, the one thing, Tim,
that is great is I never thought
I would say these three words,
but Christmas in July, I'm like,
what in the world does that mean?
I remember you mentioned that years ago
and it's really stuck me pretty hard.
(06:33):
And if you're a client, of your business.
That is that is really good because
you're you're jumping way ahead.
You know, it's 100 degrees
probably where you're at in July.
It's hot.
People are on vacation and you're
reaching out to him for November work.
And you're starting to
get the ball rolling.
(06:54):
Contracts are in.
You, you, you are, you are getting in
front of this because why you've got
to order all this material, right?
It's especially if they're new
or organize it, get it ready.
So talk about once you've
had this Christmas in July
opportunity, what happens after
that to get ready for November?
Yeah.
So, you know, we'll put a budget
(07:15):
together for what we think
we're going to make this year.
You know, budget wise, how many guys
we're going to need, how many trucks
we're going to need returning clients,
how many, how many new clients we could
take on, there's a short season, you know,
for new clients, you probably pretty much
have four weeks to get any new clients.
And meanwhile, you're trying to
service all your, all your clients.
Prior clients, and we start
that start them in September,
(07:37):
October, November is the crunch.
So at this point, clients have been with
us for years, know that they have to,
they really should sign up in July and get
their slot to pretty much guarantee their.
Be up in a timely manner for him.
So, you know, it's
Good.
Yep.
And so, so you're talking about budgeting.
So getting the budget set, getting
(07:58):
the, getting the crews ready.
a huge planning session for multiple
months to figure out the routes of where
the opportunities are, where, where are
you going to go service the clients, a
lot of the purchasing of more material
probably is for the newer clients.
One of the things that I saw when I,
when you, when you hosted your peer
group was the storage area of all the
(08:20):
Christmas decor, and we did a video there.
It was absolutely fascinating
how organized you were.
One of the things you got to take in
consideration when you're doing holiday
lightings is stay very organized
one and two, think well, well ahead.
How has that helped your business
from a profitable standpoint
and a margin standpoint?
It's just the efficiency, you know,
(08:40):
having a couple of guys working in the
shop while the season's going on, we
created our systems over the years,
you know, and we pretty much have it
dialed into, we will know what day we'll
stop doing installs in our back office.
We have it dialed in and having the staff
out, in the field that know what they're
doing and efficiently as possible, And
(09:02):
making sure everything's organized,
everybody knows where everything is
material wise, who's handing out material,
what's on the trucks, how many trucks
are out and really what we can handle.
Yeah, when we were there, it was, it
was a very fascinating piece to see
the bins and organization for every
single client, you had a client's name
on a specific bin or two or three.
(09:24):
It was categorized, it was
routed by different colors
in different neighborhoods.
It was like a Costco Home
Depot on steroids of wreaths.
I remember wreaths and bins
of holiday lights, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
we have our system down now, it's been
four, this is our 14th season doing it.
(09:44):
So, we know what works and what
doesn't work, and with our back office
is really got it together for us.
it takes a whole team to make
this thing work at the size,
Yep.
So talk about,
Tim, another question
is what about training?
For holiday lights, you know, that's
a little bit of a sensitive subject to
have landscape dominant people, right.
(10:08):
In your workforce to go now put
up lights, you've got ladders, you
got fall protection, prevention.
You have, whether you have now
roofs and gutters, and there's a
little bit of a liability type deal.
Now, what, what were some of the things
that you guys had to learn and train?
For you and your staff.
Yeah, liability, like I said, safety
(10:29):
is number one, no matter what,
it's a little wet outside, snowy,
number one safety, number one.
I don't care what's going on, how
far behind we are or whatever.
The weather's not good.
We're not going, it's the last thing
you need somebody to fall and get hurt.
So after Labor Day, that's when we'll
start bringing crews in, training,
ladder safety, harness training, roof
(10:51):
training, we go, we go really adept.
We do some ocean training with
somebody come in and train to come
in for a day, fall protection, you
really have to really, really be
careful because one little slip and
somebody could take it on their life,
so we take it very, very seriously.
It's a fun
That's really good.
it's very dangerous, you know?
(11:11):
Yeah, you don't want to be wearing Crocs.
And, as you're climbing
ladders and they're wet, right?
I have, I, the reason why I say that I
personally have seen show someone show
up in Crocs ready to install lights.
And I was like, are you serious right now?
Like what could happen?
So I think about that.
I think about that image all the time.
All kidding aside, that is, that's pretty
(11:31):
scary because then, you know, you're,
you're, now you're on someone's property.
Right.
and, and it creates a
whole nother set of issues.
Oh yeah, totally.
You know, like I said, gutter, gutter
protection, having the right stabilizers
and not crushing gutters, taking care
of the folks homes, you're not going
to go to a mahogany 20, 000 front door,
there's, there's a lot that goes into it.
(11:53):
So let's talk about what another,
topic here is, you've got the
landscape business, but this
holiday light spills in a gap.
And that gap is this What we always coach
to all the time is taking the seasonality
of your landscape company out and make
it a year round landscape company.
Parts of the country are less likely to
do that, but what are you doing in the,
(12:13):
the, the slower months besides just kind
of closing up shop and draining your
bank account to keep people on board?
You have been able to run this
successfully for 14 years.
Maybe the first few
years are a little rough.
So we'll say we'll give you
some 11 to 12 years, right?
Of, of good profitable things that has
helped your team stay there year round.
(12:35):
And tell me the impact of
having a year round staff.
It's huge, having the stat,
February will slow down.
It's almost a guarantee that
for four weeks, we'll take off
until the season picks back up.
But, we tell the folks you're
working with us to Christmas season.
You're making all those extra
hours to cover your winter
hours, until you start back up.
But having the seasonality of
(12:55):
landscape and then we have Christmas
and then we have the folks that
come back just for Christmas time.
we can almost rely on those folks coming
back every year, to hit that season.
It's pretty much almost a three
month season where it's a, it's a
lot of work with other landscape
companies are slowing down.
We're, we're getting a lot of those
guys back to just handle Christmas,
unfortunately, we can't, we, we staff
(13:16):
up more at the end of the year than we
do the regular season landscape season.
So we can't keep everybody.
So, it's they make more money,
they get more hours and, they
have money for winter time.
So if someone's trying to get into
this holiday lighting business,
what, what's some advice that
you would give someone out there?
I
Reach out to your client base,
(13:36):
just, you gotta start somewhere.
I talked to a lot of guys and I
tried to talk him into, he's got
to start somewhere, reach out.
There's some other
trainings out there online.
Everything's on YouTube.
You just got to do it, just go out there.
You have a client base already,
and then I'm sure you can pick up
five, 10 customers and just dabble,
that's all you have to do just start.
(13:57):
You just got to start somewhere.
would agree with you start with
the low hanging fruit, right?
So if you've got a maintenance company,
that's got 50 maintenance clients and,
and you're, you're doing the weekly
maintenance services, mow and blow
and, and all the, the FERT treatments
start with those 50 existing clients.
Yep.
(14:17):
pick five or 10 of your best
clients and offer an opportunity.
My suggestion would be to start
with those five or 10 and go, Hey,
we're starting this add on service.
I'm kind of a little new at this.
We're going to do our best.
We're going to provide
you a great product.
We're going to give you an estimate.
We're going to produce the quote.
(14:37):
We're going to install your lights.
We're going to take them down.
We're going to bring them back to
our shop or leave them there on site
neatly organized in bins and come
back the following year and repeat.
Are you willing to do this?
And most of them will probably say yes.
So by the time you get, let's say you
get five or 10 clients of the 50 on your
first year, that's a win, right Tim?
(14:58):
Oh yeah.
That's a big one.
You know, you know, you said you got
to start somewhere and it'll snowball.
I had a, I actually hired a consultant.
I had to be eight, eight, nine years ago.
Now he had a big company in Arkansas,
so he had a Christmas light business.
It's insult in the off season.
And I hired him on one year to
come up for a weekend, and he
(15:19):
gave me the game plan, what to do.
And, he's like, if you follow the
plans, it's going to keep snowballing,
you know, and it really does.
Like I said, we have the client
base and it's just educating
the customers of what we do.
it's, it's, it's a fun time of year
and the clients love it and, you
know, it's a win win for everybody.
Yeah.
(15:40):
You know, more and more now, more so
now than when I was a kid, when I was
a kid, a lot of our friends and family
and everyone in the neighborhoods,
we did our own lights for years.
Like you just, it's just part of the
deal, but you can see Tim and I can
see it in my own eyes that people
aren't less likely to just jump on
ladders and do all this themselves.
(16:01):
They're spending more time doing
other things with friends and family.
So this is a huge opportunity in
your market, wherever you are.
Don't compare yourself to
anybody else that's already
been doing it for 14 years, Tim.
Just get started with this, the
low hanging fruit and jump on it
and go with it because I'm here
to tell you right now, people are
looking at this type of service.
(16:23):
that homeowners are going to pay for.
So it's no different than,
you know, the trades industry.
It's no different than a trash bin
cleaning service that's out there.
Now, people are not willing to go on the
ladders, do this hard work, you know, risk
an injury, repeat the process every year.
So people like Tim and his, His entire
(16:43):
team can service these clients that quite
frankly, don't have time to do that.
I'm one of those guys too.
I have two little kids and I have
time to do anything, I'm like,
I'm one of you guys out there, I
just, I don't have time to do it.
I need somebody to do it for me,
and a lot of times we'll, you know,
the wives will call and I kind of
want my husband going on the roof.
So can you guys just do the roof line?
And, for a young family, they
want to still be involved a bit.
(17:04):
So they'll do all the ground stuff,
but then it usually turns out
it's just doing everything anyway.
So, know, one of those guys too.
you're one of those, you're one of
those to hire it out, which is great.
Yeah.
anything else to, in your 14 years
experience of holiday lighting that
you would throw onto our listeners?
Just keep it simple.
I saw, we, we saw basic Christmas
(17:27):
lights, scarlet and wreaths.
That's it with red bows.
That's all folks really want.
Classic Christmas, all the other
fancy stuff we've dabbled in and we
haven't had much success with it, but
people like classic Christmas and I
think just keep it simple, you know,
You know, you hit something really
interesting, classic Christmas.
So what, what is your take on all these,
(17:51):
Glitzy, all these like, what are these
like, what do you call these things
out there in the yard that are like
reindeers and blowups and all that.
So you're saying like, stay simple, like
lights on houses and what lights and
shrubs and keep it very simple and classy
That's it.
you're, you're kind of like the Chick
fil A model of landscape lighting.
(18:13):
Exactly.
Let's keep it simple.
You know, many lights, roof lighting,
wreaths, garland, and just keep it simple.
Blow ups and all the other stuff.
It takes up a lot of space.
They break, if people want to
add it on, we'll throw it on,
on an extension cord for them.
But besides that, you know,
we keep it super simple.
It's easier for the guys.
They know what they're using.
(18:33):
It's all the same material and It's
easier all around for us and, it's,
it's a look most of the clients want,
Yeah.
I did notice that in your shop, you
have artificial garland wreaths.
They're all different sizes, but
it's basically the same wreath.
That you guys generate.
So in other words, you can bulk order
those wreaths and a 48 inch, 36 inch,
(18:56):
24 inch, and keep them in stock and
have those available when the client is
ready to upsell, because you, it's the
simple wreath, you know where to get it.
You know, the cost, you know, to
put it up versus having 50 clients
with 50 types of different wreaths.
I'm already getting a
headache thinking about that.
yeah, that's it.
And it's easier for the guys.
You saw our racks, they just
(19:17):
pull them as we need them.
it's a 48 to 60, 30 entry, and the
Garland's all the same Garland.
So, quantities, the guy prepping
everything, loading everything into the
trucks, it's all the same materials.
So it just makes it a
lot easier for everybody.
And like, we love, we love Christmas,
it's all the same materials.
any crew can hop on any other
crew that needs to help out.
And, you're not dealing with
(19:38):
landscape projects where it's all
different materials and strategizing.
And we love Christmas.
It's all the same.
We love Christmas.
I bet you do.
You love Christmas with the cash it brings
in and, and the, the work for your team.
So Tim, I'm going to go through some
Tommy's takeaways and add in if there's
anything that I'm missing, because
(20:00):
this is, this is really good stuff.
So a few takeaways that I got was one,
if you're getting started in Christmas
or you're about to get started, or
you've started for a couple of years.
Existing clients is where to start
that you already are doing some sort of
service at that property, get them on
board with some sort of holiday lighting.
(20:20):
Two it's winter work for your team.
So between November and December and
January, tons of opportunity for them
to make extra money, keep them on
the payroll three, I love this idea.
Just keep it simple, classic Christmas.
It's Chick fil A type service.
We offer chicken and different
(20:41):
varieties of chicken and that's it.
Very hard margin work.
Very profitable.
I love your takeaway on training and
safety is the number one thing because
that stuff can be dangerous, way more
dangerous I would think than landscape.
And one of the things I
took away was plan ahead.
I love the March Madness idea.
(21:02):
I love the Christmas in July idea,
but you got to plan ahead for
material, deliveries, training.
It's not like you show up on November 1st.
you just roll up the truck
and get lights out the door.
Anything I'm missing there, Tim?
I think that pretty much covers it all,
you know, just keep it simple and start.
(21:22):
That's it.
You got to start, you know, a lot of talk.
A lot of guys are hesitant.
He's got to start with one
and take it from there.
Start with some of your best clients
cause above your best clients
will be a little more forgiving
for the hiccups along the way.
Right.
That's where I would start.
Yeah.
And they know you, they know
you're service, you know, you
know, You just got to start,
Well, good stuff, Tim.
Well, thank you so much.
(21:43):
It's been a pleasure.
It is Christmas in July,
according to Tim Hickade.
I will, that's the
famous quote at the day.
I enjoyed it, Tim.
Next time I need to probably wear my
Santa Claus hat or something like that
with some With some lights around my
neck next time, but thanks, thanks, Tim.
We really enjoyed it.
(22:03):
Thank you for taking the time
out in your busy schedule.
no problem.
Thanks for having me on.
I appreciate it.
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(22:25):
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