February 13, 2025 • 37 mins
What if your toughest challenge became the foundation of your success? Join us on Roots of Success as we explore how Jillian Burns turned financial adversity into a thriving landscape venture. Learn about her unwavering commitment to investing in her team, her innovative strategies in snow and landscaping, and her passion for fostering female leadership. This episode is packed with insights for landscape company leaders who want to redefine setbacks as opportunities.
THE BIG IDEA:
Transform setbacks into empowering opportunities
KEY MOMENTS:
[00:00] From Adversity to Success
[04:41] Value of One-on-One Meetings
[08:24] Unsung Defender's Vital Role
[14:45] Empowering Women in Business
[18:24] Adapting Communication for Leadership Success
[22:39] The Importance of Team Feedback
[24:03] "Continuous Feedback: A Two-Way Street"
[28:35] Women's Peer Group Initiative
[31:20] Passionate Personal Branding Experience
[33:33] Effective Leadership and Feedback
QUESTIONS WE ANSWER
How can women succeed in male-dominated industries?
What is the role of leadership and strategy in landscape business growth?
How to overcome financial setbacks in a family business?
What are effective ways to build and empower a team in the landscaping business?
How do athletics influence success in a business career?
What are the challenges and opportunities for women in snow management and landscape industries?
How to establish and run a business networking group for women?
What is the significance of one-on-one meetings in team management?
How does personal branding impact business success?
What strategies can help in managing and preventing business embezzlement?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The Roots of Success podcast isfor the landscape professional
who's looking to up their game.
We're not talking lawns or grass here.
We're talking about people,process, and profits.
The things deep within the businessthat need focus to scale a successful
company from hiring the right peopleand managing your team to improving your
operations and mastering your finances.
(00:20):
We've got a brain trust of experts tohelp you nurture the roots of a successful
business and grow to the next level.
This is The Roots of Success.
Hey, welcome to another episode of Rootsof Success, and I'm your host, Tommy Cole.
Man, we have another amazing guest.
And yes, I do say that on every singleshow because all the guests are amazing.
(00:42):
But I got a new challenge.
This is a new, my almost new friend.
I don't know her that well, butI have sort of semi behind the
scenes, got to know Jillian Burns.
In the Boston, Massachusetts area.
Welcome, Jillian.
How are you?
I'm good, Tommy.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, so let's talk aboutlet's talk about you.
(01:02):
This is, this is, this is goingto be such an amazing story.
You're such an influential person.
And you're with Burns Landscapeand Snow management in Boston
area, along with your husband, Mr.
Burns, I would probably assume.
And then so I am so intrigued by youbeing involved in the Landscape Company
(01:23):
and I want to know more about it, butalso, most importantly, also as well,
as your co founder of Influentialencounters which is empowering women
in the male dominated industry.
Good luck, right?
That is no easy taskat the end of the day.
But I want to give all the credit to Mr.
Bob Marks of EMI in Pennsylvania.
(01:45):
He got us connected.
I said, I want to knowmore about that person.
Like weeks later, here we are.
This is amazing.
This is gonna be great.
So let's just jump right in.
How in the world did you get intolandscaping, you and your husband?
Like, are we like pushing mowersor what, what, what happened there?
So my story is unique.
I joined the landscape industry during oneof the most challenging times in my life.
(02:09):
My husband and I discovered thata financial embezzlement within
our family business, which reallyput us in a significant deficit.
So, I stepped in to help, eventhough I didn't have a background
in landscaping or snow and.
At that time, I, I remember it like it wasyesterday, I was pregnant and balancing
(02:31):
the weight of rebuilding the business.
And it just, it was a really,really hard time for us.
But, you know, what started as a necessityreally turned into a passion for me
as I discovered, like, how rewardingit was to build something back up, but
also support my family while doing so.
And so, you know, in that time Ilearned so much about perseverance
(02:56):
and adaptability and the importanceof relationships along the way
and, and how important that is.
That's great.
So tell me more about the company.
Like what's the setup?
How does it, you guysare heavy in the snow.
I, I, I can, I got the snow presence.
What's your involvement?
I guess it kind of camedown and build it back up.
(03:18):
Tell me about some of those steps.
Yeah.
So.
That was not easy at all.
So at Burns, we're really bigon investing in ourselves and
in turn investing in our team.
Because we know that that'sreally what drives success.
So, you know, whether it's providingtraining, or creating opportunities
(03:39):
to grow, or just making sureeveryone feels valued we try to
build a culture where people thrive.
Yeah,
Yeah, we focus on open communicationand giving our team the tools.
They need to do their jobs welland also feel good about it.
When we invest in our people, itjust strength strengthens the whole
company and, you know, helps us.
(04:01):
Deliver for our clients.
So that really is what our focuswas af like in the rebuilding stage,
that's so amazing.
It's almost like, you know, I always telleveryone people are the number one asset.
Like it's not the fancy equipment andthe facility and you know, whatever it
may be, but we always can think that thatis it, but it's the people and when you
(04:24):
invest in people that equals success.
A hundred percent.
Now, you, you could have abuy to hire, right, Julian?
I'm sure you've had some, right,but you got to walk through that.
You got to cultivate through all that.
Tell me investing in a team.
What does that mean to youguys investing in the team?
Is that through education?
(04:45):
Is that through likeweekly one on one meetings?
What is, what is all that?
all of the above.
So it's so important, you know,whether it be leadership trainings
or, you know, the one-on-onemeetings are so important every week.
There's, there's so many different things,trainings, you know, taking somebody out
to lunch, making them feel valued talkingabout their families, not just about work.
(05:06):
There's, there's so many, youknow, different layers to that.
Yeah, I, I always love the, the,the power of a one on one meeting.
I've said this many of times.
I'll say it again becausethis is going to be great.
You know, say you have fivedirect reports, that's a one
hour meeting with five people.
What's five hours in a week ofyour 30, 40, 50, 60 hour work week?
(05:26):
What's five hours of undivided attentionthe five people that report to you
to make sure that they are okay?
Right?
And like, what do you need from me?
How can I help you?
Right?
It's not just about yourcareer or your work.
It's also the personal.
Tell me more.
What happened over the weekend?
What are your biggest struggles?
What's stressing you out?
(05:47):
What's keeping you up at night?
I, I love that.
That is fascinating, awesome stuff.
And I love landscape.
You don't know me thatwell, but this is great.
Landscape's awesome.
The most amazing industry.
I love it.
We get to put smiles on people's faces.
That's sort of my, my mission.
We're here today doing this and,and nothing is more rewarding.
My wife says, she's like, sometimesyou get all stressed out all the time,
(06:09):
but like, look what's the impact youget to do every day, put things in
the ground, make cool projects, putstripes in lawns and get the snow
the heck out of these facilities.
So you can put a smile on her face.
Right.
How is birds today?
Fast forward.
You're doing likegetting this house built.
(06:30):
How are you today?
Yeah.
So we're, we're doing really wellwhere we've shifted our focus.
You know, we've, we've had many failuresalong the way, but that, you know, allows
for growth personally and professionally.
We've learned so much.
We are heavily involvedin the snow business.
We have a very small Smaller companyanyway now, and we're focusing
(06:53):
on commercial snow, commerciallandscaping, and we're doing a
lot of design build out there now.
That's, that's really what we're,we're shifting our focus now,
because we're really good at that.
Cool.
And that's still going on today.
Your husband's running it.
Everything's good.
Everything's
Are you still part ofthe organization now?
I am
What's your role?
(07:14):
oof.
Everything.
so I guess my role within burns hasreally like evolved over the years.
You know, initially I was.
In the trenches, learningeverything from the ground up.
I had a business background, but Iwas doing, you know, anything from
operations to finance to clientrelations, you name it all the things.
(07:35):
Now I really focus on leadershipand strategy and ensuring that we're
just maintaining the business, butcontinuously growing and improving.
I'm super passionate about developingsystems that work and empower our team.
I do oversee our snow operations, whichis a major part of our business, like
(07:56):
I just mentioned, but, you know, I'mjust making sure that we're prepared and
we're delivering, you know, the qualityservice that our clients really depend on.
Yeah, it's something that alwaysneeds to be evaluated, right?
Absolutely.
ongoing thing.
I've got a great question.
I'm going to throw you a curveball.
Don't be nervous.
Did you play soccer incollege or high school?
(08:18):
I may have.
Yeah, yeah.
Tell me about playing asport, being an athlete, has
carried over into your career.
I, I, I've been there.
I, I know where you're going.
I know part of this,but tell our audience.
What that means.
I'm raising a teenager right now.
We're heavily involved in sports.
Everyone knows this.
(08:40):
If anyone knows me, they,I'm highly invested into it.
Tell me about the things that you learnedthat has carried over to your career.
So I did play college soccer.
And I was a defender and I always,you know, the way that I look at the
position that I was in in college, I wasa defender and defenders don't really
(09:01):
get the recognition that the forwards do.
They're protecting the net, whichI feel as though my position
at Burns is, is very similar.
I'm,
yeah.
I'm behind the scenes.
I'm protecting the net.
I'm not getting the recognition.
Not that I want it, butI, it's, it's a very.
important role within the organization,just as it is on the soccer field.
(09:22):
So I, that's where like, you know,you're always working, you're always,
you know, preparing yourself for thenext day for that next, you know, making
sure you're keeping your teammates, youknow, abreast on what's, what's going
on or what's going to happen or whatthe right, the next move should be.
That's, that's amazing.
I I did a small stint of, ofcollege athletics and I was tennis.
(09:47):
That was, that was my gig.
I loved it.
It was.
The loneliest sport known to man.
It's the only sport that has nocoach, during the match and you
have to figure it out on your own.
That taught me and I'llshare this mental toughness.
It was great.
I love it.
I was had to figure things out on my own.
(10:10):
And when you're in a one to two hourgrueling match, it's, it's you, the
opponent and, and all the obstacles andthe court and the wind and the weather
and you name it, you got to figure it out.
I mean, someone can yell something,but it doesn't, there's no coach,
there's no caddy, there's nohalftime, there's no intermission,
there's no, there's no nothing.
It's just, it's justsolely an individual sport.
(10:31):
I love, I love athletes.
they're great because there's asense of team, there's a sense of
camaraderie, there's discipline involved.
You got to show up on time when youdon't, when the weather's cold or it's
hot, you got to embrace your failures.
When you get your butt kicked, it's tough.
So I like that.
That's why hopefully you didn't, gothere in a different route, but soccer.
(10:53):
I used to play soccer in high school.
I had to choose soccer or tennis.
I chose tennis.
So don't hurt don'thurt me but all's good.
What I would love to get intonow is is Influential encounters.
This is the cool part and I Ithink this is the juiciest part.
First off What what isinfluential encounters?
So, influential encounters,so Val and I teamed up to
(11:14):
create influential encounters.
So it was born out of a desire to createa space for women and male majority
industries to connect, inspire and grow.
When I entered the snow and landscapingindustry, I realized how like,
how few women were in these roles.
But I also saw our potential for change.
So.
I really focuses on bringing womentogether to share experiences build
(11:37):
support networks and empower one another.
So we really focus on creatingopportunities for women to have a
voice develop their leadership skillsand feel seen and valued in industries
where they've often been overlooked.
So, you know.
Our mission with Influential Encountersis to meet, inspire, and influence women
(12:00):
to know that they can succeed no matterwhat the industry is that they're in.
Yeah, that's long has this been going on?
Is this relatively new?
It's relatively new Val and Istarted the company, in October.
Okay.
Yeah, right.
So how did you meet Val?
So, I met Val through her husband,Scott, who's in the industry.
(12:23):
I've met, I've known Scott for many,many years now after attending a couple
of different, conferences and he's, he'sbeen fabulous and he, at the Sima snow
symposium in June, I spoke on our panelfor women in snow and I was out there by
myself and he invited me to dinner with,you know, five or six other gentlemen.
(12:43):
And at that dinner, he was like,you need to meet my wife Val.
You guys were get along great.
So the next week we hopped on a call.
Wow.
hit it off.
I pitched my idea and she pitchedhers and I, we just said, let's
do this and we, we hit the groundrunning and it's, we haven't stopped.
Yeah,
of fun, a lot of work.
that's that's awesome.
(13:03):
So What what what do you guys do?
What what are the is it?
It's a meetup.
Are we, I think you guys do some coachingor something, but tell me, tell me what
your, the, the, the message that theday to day message that you're doing
and what, what are the meetups about?
Yeah, so we're hostingnetworking events where you know,
(13:24):
they're essentially dinners.
And where we have a keynotespeaker that comes in and we do,
we go through different exercises.
And we'll have a topic for each event.
We're hosting an event in Aprilin Pennsylvania, and we're doing
another 1 again in June in Michigan.
And then we'll be backin Boston for December.
(13:46):
And it's, you know, workshops andwe're also doing coaching where, you
know, we have a lot of big ideas.
We're taking it sort of slow.
But we have a lot of a lot ofthings that we're working towards.
Yeah.
what are some of the challenges insnow and being in the mail industry?
(14:08):
I don't, obviously don'thave a lot of experience.
I do have experience in thisindustry starting out as a kid.
You know, I went to, I went to collegeI got a landscape architecture degree
and I'll never forget my very first job.
I, I lived in Phoenix, Arizonaand moved from, moved from Texas.
And so here I am, this Texan sort of,you know, and boots and, and jeans and,
(14:30):
you know, I go to work at this designfirm and I'll never forget one of the
first days on my job, I, I meet this guythat's about 60 years old and you could
tell he is been very well experiencedand I get on the job and he goes.
Basically, you don't know shit.
And, okay, there's alittle, little bit of that.
I get it.
(14:50):
There's also like, man,that's real welcoming.
You know, here we go.
I got a guy that's 60 years old andhas probably been in the industry
for 30 plus years that knows a lot,but also can bring something else.
And I want to learn, I want to understandwhat are some of the roadblocks that you
face along the way in this male dominatedindustry that you've Successfully
(15:11):
like yeah, I've conquered that
So, I mean, a lot of the feedback thatwe've received from hosting the December
event in Boston was, you know, like,there's this unconscious bias, right?
How do you handle that?
And, you know, even simplethings like asking for a raise or
having difficult conversations.
How do you navigate those?
how do you show up, andjust to be respected and
(15:33):
understood within the industry?
You know, there's I'm a mom of 3.
There's there's moms out there.
There are, you know.
There are a lot of women that wear many,many hats and it's not an easy industry
to be in, but to feel supported is, youknow, the number one takeaway from our
Boston event is how do we, how do we getmore of these women in the same room?
(15:57):
Because it's just so powerful.
yeah, Do you think whenpeople go to these meetups?
They feel more empowered to havethe tough conversations about a
raise or Move for different divisionand not be so like intimidated.
Is that right?
(16:18):
A hundred percent.
I You know, after the event,we talked about Bob in the
beginning of our conversation.
I had a conversation with Bob afterour event, and he was just like,
you know, I love what you're doing.
And here's an example of why.
And he had sent 1 of his employeesthere, Katie, and he was like, Katie came
back and she's, she's using her voice.
(16:41):
She's but the thing is that voice alwaysexisted, but now she's more confident.
And she definitely felt empowered.
So like, that's what we want.
We want it to, you know, empowerher, but also be, you know,
something for the company to, toreap the benefits of that, right?
(17:01):
You want to empower your, yourfemales within your organization
just to, you know, have that voice.
Yeah, great case.
Bob's fired up about Katie.
We're getting Katie all this love.
I met Katie last year last June.
Rockstar, by the way, employeeaccount manager, by the way.
(17:22):
I, I do believe, and I'm with you,women, you know, women can seem
like, it's, it's on the inside.
They know they have it.
But there's not a, a platformor some sort to understand it.
I have many, several women,and I think I have women in
every ace peer group of mine.
(17:44):
All, all of mine.
All four.
And they, I actually have a lot ofmen and women, husband and wife.
It's been fascinating.
I will tell you this though.
For the wife being there, thank God,because I'm not sure the husband will
be like where he is today withoutthat, that person sitting next to him.
(18:05):
And there's several of them out there.
I won't, I won't name them, butthey will listen to this episode
and they're like 100 percent right.
And they will, they will nudge andcheck on the husband going, that's
not happening in our organization.
Why?
That's it's almost like an accountability.
Peace because, tell us what, whatyou believe women have the capability
(18:29):
of doing that a lot of men arelike, not happening, forget it.
We're almost like too blackand white, like myself.
And they have this ability tosee the soft side, but then go
something about raising kids.
And having patience along the way, Ithink I may be tipping it off a little
(18:50):
bit, but tell me more about that.
So when I first started with Burns,I, you know, I had Every aspect of
the business, and then it came timefor us to be, you know, meeting with
our leadership team and presenting toour leadership team and stating facts.
And I, you know, I love the data and Ilove the systems that we have in place.
(19:11):
So I would put together a presentationand spit out the facts and it was
like, nobody wanted to hear it from
Me
mm hmm,
and I didn't understand why.
And then I just changed my approachbecause it facts are facts, right?
And once I shifted my, youknow, focus and, you know.
(19:36):
The way that I went about theconversation, it was, it was definitely
received a little bit better, but thatfor me was like, oh, my gosh, here I am.
Putting together this presentation,putting a ton of work into it.
Going through everything witha fine tooth comb and it wasn't
received as I had expected it to be.
And after that, I really shifted my focuson how can I deliver this message so that
(20:01):
they understand it, so that they thinkthat I'm, you know, they, they value me.
mm hmm.
to help them.
I'm not here to hurt anybody here.
And that was really, really hard for me.
Yeah, I would have done the same thing.
I would have, I would havebeen just like you do.
I would have been like, this is how it is.
Gross profits here, netprofits here, revenue's short.
(20:23):
We're like, that's totallythe wrong approach.
I'm with you.
I'm black and white.
I'm a little harsh sometimes.
I just can't tell how it is.
But at the end of the day, that'snot how they should be treated.
They got feelings.
They need clarification.
Everyone interprets things differently.
Right?
Some of the audience I talkto, they're like, I love it.
(20:44):
I'm ready to jump on.
I'm ready to run througha brick wall with Tommy.
A lot of people are like, well, hold on.
Tell me the value in it.
Tell me where we're going.
Like, what's the reason behind this?
Where should we be at?
That's where leadership and especiallywomen can, can provide that.
I think men oftentimes struggle withbeing so direct with their things.
(21:08):
So I, man, give you all the credit.
Talk about women have patience.
And how does that translateinto the business in the world?
Or anything that they're doing.
You know, I think of myself,I have a ton of patients.
With my kids, with my husband,with my peers but I often, you
(21:31):
know, my husband will react.
And that's not to say it's abad thing, but he, he will have
the answers just like that.
And for me, I have to.
You know, digest the information,really think about it before
I make my next move and.
Sometimes, you know, an email orsomething will come through that really
ticks me off and I want to respond.
(21:54):
I want to react.
But I don't because I haveto be patient with that.
I have to be patient with my own emotions.
I have to, you know, really letset in to say like, is it worth it?
Or like, no, it's not.
Just do what you do and you will be fine.
Just be patient.
Yeah.
(22:15):
Oftentimes I think listening is, iswomen do really good at listening.
Men don't, men don't really that's okay.
That's why we coexist, butwomen are great at listening.
Almost pausing.
I've had to do that over the last manyyears of learning of just listening
(22:35):
more, listen more as people discuss andunderstand where they're coming from.
I'm sure you've had to learnthat in a leadership role.
Like you got to listen to whatthe team is telling you, right?
So tell me about, there's gotta be someways where they want to be involved
and they want to provide feedback.
So you can't go into that leadershipmeeting and say, I got this idea.
(22:57):
We're going to do this.
it or leave it.
Although some of my old bosses would saythat, but, tell me about the feedback
from people that you got to receiveand how that's really good for you.
100
Oh my gosh, feedback isso, so, so important.
And It, you know, we'll when we walk intomeetings and we have these great ideas,
(23:19):
we do bounce it off of our team membersjust to say, like, this is what we're
thinking and this is why it will be good.
Or this is what, you know,what will work for us.
Or so we think and we want to know yourthoughts and they will come back to
us and they might say things that wemight not have didn't occur to us and.
(23:40):
That's usually when, you know, like Ilike to say magic happens because now
our brains are all working together.
And how can we make thiswork or tweak something?
So that that really has helped us.
And then in turn for influentialencounters, we've, you know, after
our Boston event, we sent out, youknow, a questionnaire for feedback,
the good, the bad, anything, sendit our way because we want to know
(24:02):
what's working or what worked.
And, you know, for that event, it wasjust more like, how can we do, how can
we, Bring more of these events to life.
Like, what can you guysjust I want more networking.
I want, you know, more coaching.
I want retreats.
I want all these things.
So, like, Val, and I really had to,like, put our brains together and say,
all right, this is what our focus is.
(24:23):
And we need to, you know, shift thingshere or there and let's just make it work.
You have to listen to the feedback.
percent continuous feedback.
That's like my most favorite thing.
When you get continuous feedback andyou invite it, then people are willing
to share their thoughts and ideas.
The teams that we run, they'refull of energy and full of ideas.
(24:47):
We have to sort of like women arereally good at dropping down the
barrier and walking them in andprovide feedback along the way.
I was, I was on a trip the lastfew days in Florida and And I was
talking to someone and he said,yeah, it's like a two way street.
If you just keep going and drivingyour direction, you driving your
(25:09):
speed, you doing your own dashboardand expected one, everyone in the
rear view mirror to follow you with nofeedback coming the other direction.
This is a great analogy, right?
Then there's no road.
There's a road by myself with, I mighthave a few followers, but that's it.
But if I can encourage the feedback tocome the opposite direction, I got to hold
(25:32):
on that steering wheel a little tighter.
I got to pay attention.
I got to be aware.
I may have to listen, right?
And that feedback loop coming the oppositedirection is, super, super important.
So you guys have the abilityto, to, to listen, to learn
continuous feedback along the way.
God, this is, this is,this is great stuff.
(25:52):
If you're not getting excitedlike me, then you're crazy.
is there any challenges or lessonslearned along the way that go, man, that
really stuck out my memory bank, anything
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
We have all day.
Yeah,
mean, you know, it's really challengeshave played a huge role on my journey.
(26:14):
You know, from the betrayal from theembezzlement and to rebuilding the
business from the financial hardship.
Those, those times reallyshaped who I am today.
But like I said, in the beginning,one of the biggest things that
I learned was, you know, yeah.
Perseverance andadaptability are everything.
(26:36):
You know, success isn't, isn'treally about like avoiding problems.
It's, it's how you handlethem when they come your way.
Cause they will.
And
to write this down.
So bear with me.
So what you said, this is so good.
Success is not avoiding problems.
You got to hit them head on.
hundred percent.
(26:57):
I love this.
God, I love it.
Great stuff.
you know, there's always moments in ourlife where we look back and go, gosh, wow.
You, you never want theembezzlement to happen.
You never want the hard time.
But looking back, it was kindof like, okay, that's probably
a moment I had to go through.
Or, actually, we had to go through.
(27:17):
In a million years, you'll probablynever want to go through that again.
So it's not like you, youencourage it or, or, or, or.
want that to happen.
But that's what you built as you.
That's why you form.
That's why burn, snow andlandscape is growing, thriving.
That's why IE, InfluentialEncounter, is now thriving, right?
Because of that success story.
So there's always those little, those,those moments in life that are almost
(27:39):
going to happen that we just have toembrace and go, how am I going to react?
I can sit here and hide under a rockor I can pick up the rock and chunk it.
Absolutely.
And it's, it's so important to, surroundyourself with the right people too.
And, you know, whether it's yourteam or your clients or mentors or
just the people around you that,that do make the difference and.
(28:03):
Again, failure doesn'tmean it's over, right?
Yeah.
of what I like to say, something better.
Right.
What's the future ofinfluential encounters?
Like, what do you, what's,what's the big dream here?
What, what do you, what, if you couldjust sort of like magic wand poof, is it.
This is what I, this is what I envision.
(28:26):
So the future for me and everythingaround me is all about growth.
You know, for myself, for my business,for influential encounters, I guess
like on the burn side of things,we're focused on scaling sustainably
developing our team and really honingin on like our service offerings.
But for influential encounters, like Ireally envision it becoming a movement.
(28:53):
You know, connecting womenacross male majority industries
hosting events nationwide andcreating simply a lasting impact.
Yeah.
I, what you're doing is, is fascinating.
It's almost, we got to getpeople like you more involved.
We need to have a puregroup of women only.
(29:14):
At our, our company and you guys getto travel and see the women that do
landscaping and do speaking and we gotto figure out a way to get you involved
with our business and help your business.
I think that something in the works therethat I'm going to try to put together.
I know a lot of amazing.
I met some, some womenlast week in Orlando.
They were just, they're taking over.
(29:36):
One of them was taking overtheir parents business.
She's a little shy.
She's not sure.
She's under the wings.
She's the woman, right?
And she's like, how the heck do I do this?
And I'm like, you got it.
You can come.
So she's going to come down to to newOrleans in March for our ACE discovery
event, where we introduced new ACEs.
I said, you can do this.
(29:56):
This is it.
And she had a little smile on her face.
Like, I think I gotthat, that right there.
I need to push her your direction too.
I think she's up in the northeast as well.
So I'll have to push her your direction.
Love that.
Jillian, I noticed a couple of things.
You put out another curve ball.
You had a couple of books that Irecognize on your website and it
(30:18):
was traction and it was deep work.
Did you, did you know that was there?
I didn't you know what I did?
I did know that was there.
Yes, they are.
Okay.
Why are those two?
I didn't recognize the third one, but I dorecognize the two deep works and traction.
Why do those books mean so much toyou to be on the face of your website?
(30:40):
You know, I believe structureand holding yourself accountable
is like, is so important.
And following systems, right?
You.
You have to set yourself up forsuccess, whether it's through books and
mentors and, you know, it's important.
Yeah, I love those two books.
I was like, there is something betweenus that is pretty cool right now
(31:01):
because I, it's, it's really small.
But if you go to their, if you go totheir website, influentialencounters.
com Awesome website.
You and Val have done aphenomenal job of branding.
Let's, actually, this is great.
If you're a landscape company,go check their website.
It's fascinating.
It's very simple.
There's a branding, there's sort oflike a page there that I saw that's got
(31:24):
some swag gear, a beanie hat, this sortof empowerment that it's got all the
right colors, it's got the right gear.
Am I saying it right?
But anyways, look at this page, it'sgood quality photos, you guys are
engaging, a little here and there.
Tell me more how you came upwith that fascinating website.
(31:49):
Thank you.
Yeah, so we are really, set on our brand.
Personal branding is so important.
We are putting ourselves out there and,and we're very passionate about what
we're doing and, and we want those aroundus or those that are, Looking into our,
(32:10):
you know, events or our coaching oranything to see like we are who we are.
And we take that stuff seriously.
You know, we, the call fromthe colors from the events.
Everything is is an experiencefor all those involved.
And, you know, from the 2nd, thatyou sign up for 1 of our events,
(32:32):
we mail out, swag or whatever it istailored to that specific location.
Like our Boston event, we,we mailed out those Boston
sweatshirts that are in that photo.
Just a simple little touchthat, you know from the details.
All the details are so, so very important.
And in, you'll see that translatedin the events that we host.
(32:53):
Yeah.
Oh, that, that's great.
You know, you and Val, youknow, you're laughing, you're
cutting up, you're engaging.
You can, you can feel theenergy on the website.
Which is, which is fascinating.
Jillian, we're getting close to the end.
This is always my favorite part.
I'm going to ask you a question.
What's one advice that you can leavewith the audience, but let me back up
(33:15):
and do some Tommy takeaways, littlecheesy, but it works very well.
So, I'm going to say Burns Landscapeand Snow Management is the company
that I like a lot because theywent through some major financial
hard times and they didn't give up.
So if you're in your business right nowand there's challenges, hit them head on,
encourage them and pound them in the face.
(33:35):
You will, you will overcome it.
100 percent Just keep grinding.
We're here for you.
I learned a lot about an athlete,a college athlete that's defender.
I love it.
My son is a catcher,teenage catcher in baseball.
It's his favorite sport.
Catcher gets zero recognition.
No, no awards, no MVPs, no nothing.
(33:57):
But the minute somethinggoes wrong behind the plate.
They, they complain, but as longas they're not complaining, I
think my son's done his job.
You know, some other thingslook, you know, people thriving
leadership one on one meetings.
You know, I love all that this is thisis facts, you know, if you go into a
(34:19):
meeting, you got all these facts and kindof blow them up and you don't listen to
the feedback that's coming your, yourdirection, then basically you're talking
to the wall at the end of the day, you'regoing to clam up and, and get no feedback.
I love the fact of structureand accountability, the systems.
My thing about your website I justlearned is everything is an experience.
(34:42):
Everything's an experience, right?
Good or bad, right?
You might have ordered the food,it come in wrong, bad experience.
You might have ordered food, itcame out perfect, it was the most
amazing meal you've ever had.
Great experience.
One of my most favorite things, I'mtaking all this, these are quotes with me.
If you're okay with that, successis not avoiding the problems.
Hit them head on.
(35:03):
Ah, you're full of them today.
If there's any words of advice, Jillian,that I've missed, or you want to really
hone in, what is it for our audience?
So don't let your past define your future.
You know, no matter where you've beenor what you have experienced or the
challenges you've faced, you know,you're the, you're the 1, you have
the power to change the narrative andbuild the life that you really want.
(35:28):
And every setback is, is reallyan opportunity to be stronger.
keep showing up, keep learning and, youknow, remember that that being successful
is, is, is essentially a journey.
You know, not, not the destination.
Now, life's a journey.
(35:49):
We get to choose it,
For sure.
right?
That's, that's the best life's a journey.
If you keep focusing on theresults every, you know, way down
the road you'll never get there.
It's just putting them in the workevery single day, putting the time with
the family and the friends every day.
Getting 1 percent betterand enjoy the journey.
Jillian, it is a hugepleasure to have you on.
(36:11):
Thank you so much for takingtime out of your busy schedule.
Go, go check her out.
Awesome person.
Once again, influentialencounters.
com.
Her and Val on the face of that website.
Hit them up, follow them on social media.
They're on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Is that correct?
Correct.
Yep.
So go hit them up, follow, like,and enjoy all their travels.
(36:32):
There's several events that shementioned throughout the year.
They're on the website.
I saw those, but give her afollow, give her a shout out and
and give her some good vibes.
Thank you.
Thank you again, Jillian.
It's been awesome.
Thank you so much for having me.
Ready to take the next step?
Download our free Profitability Scorecardto quickly create your own baseline
financial assessment and uncover thefastest ways to improve your business.
(36:56):
Just go to McFarlinStanford.com/scorecardto get yours today To learn more about
McFarlin Stanford our best in classpeer groups and other services go to
our website at McFarlinStanford.comAnd don't forget to follow us on
LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
See you next time on the Roots of Success.
The Roots of Success podcast isfor the landscape professional
who's looking to up their game.
We're not talking lawns or grass here.
We're talking about people,process, and profits.
The things deep within the businessthat need focus to scale a successful
company from hiring the right peopleand managing your team to improving your
operations and mastering your finances.
(00:20):
We've got a brain trust of experts tohelp you nurture the roots of a successful
business and grow to the next level.
This is The Roots of Success.
Hey, welcome to another episode of Rootsof Success, and I'm your host, Tommy Cole.
Man, we have another amazing guest.
And yes, I do say that on every singleshow because all the guests are amazing.
(00:42):
But I got a new challenge.
This is a new, my almost new friend.
I don't know her that well, butI have sort of semi behind the
scenes, got to know Jillian Burns.
In the Boston, Massachusetts area.
Welcome, Jillian.
How are you?
I'm good, Tommy.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, so let's talk aboutlet's talk about you.
(01:02):
This is, this is, this is goingto be such an amazing story.
You're such an influential person.
And you're with Burns Landscapeand Snow management in Boston
area, along with your husband, Mr.
Burns, I would probably assume.
And then so I am so intrigued by youbeing involved in the Landscape Company
(01:23):
and I want to know more about it, butalso, most importantly, also as well,
as your co founder of Influentialencounters which is empowering women
in the male dominated industry.
Good luck, right?
That is no easy taskat the end of the day.
But I want to give all the credit to Mr.
Bob Marks of EMI in Pennsylvania.
(01:45):
He got us connected.
I said, I want to knowmore about that person.
Like weeks later, here we are.
This is amazing.
This is gonna be great.
So let's just jump right in.
How in the world did you get intolandscaping, you and your husband?
Like, are we like pushing mowersor what, what, what happened there?
So my story is unique.
I joined the landscape industry during oneof the most challenging times in my life.
(02:09):
My husband and I discovered thata financial embezzlement within
our family business, which reallyput us in a significant deficit.
So, I stepped in to help, eventhough I didn't have a background
in landscaping or snow and.
At that time, I, I remember it like it wasyesterday, I was pregnant and balancing
(02:31):
the weight of rebuilding the business.
And it just, it was a really,really hard time for us.
But, you know, what started as a necessityreally turned into a passion for me
as I discovered, like, how rewardingit was to build something back up, but
also support my family while doing so.
And so, you know, in that time Ilearned so much about perseverance
(02:56):
and adaptability and the importanceof relationships along the way
and, and how important that is.
That's great.
So tell me more about the company.
Like what's the setup?
How does it, you guysare heavy in the snow.
I, I, I can, I got the snow presence.
What's your involvement?
I guess it kind of camedown and build it back up.
(03:18):
Tell me about some of those steps.
Yeah.
So.
That was not easy at all.
So at Burns, we're really bigon investing in ourselves and
in turn investing in our team.
Because we know that that'sreally what drives success.
So, you know, whether it's providingtraining, or creating opportunities
(03:39):
to grow, or just making sureeveryone feels valued we try to
build a culture where people thrive.
Yeah,
Yeah, we focus on open communicationand giving our team the tools.
They need to do their jobs welland also feel good about it.
When we invest in our people, itjust strength strengthens the whole
company and, you know, helps us.
(04:01):
Deliver for our clients.
So that really is what our focuswas af like in the rebuilding stage,
that's so amazing.
It's almost like, you know, I always telleveryone people are the number one asset.
Like it's not the fancy equipment andthe facility and you know, whatever it
may be, but we always can think that thatis it, but it's the people and when you
(04:24):
invest in people that equals success.
A hundred percent.
Now, you, you could have abuy to hire, right, Julian?
I'm sure you've had some, right,but you got to walk through that.
You got to cultivate through all that.
Tell me investing in a team.
What does that mean to youguys investing in the team?
Is that through education?
(04:45):
Is that through likeweekly one on one meetings?
What is, what is all that?
all of the above.
So it's so important, you know,whether it be leadership trainings
or, you know, the one-on-onemeetings are so important every week.
There's, there's so many different things,trainings, you know, taking somebody out
to lunch, making them feel valued talkingabout their families, not just about work.
(05:06):
There's, there's so many, youknow, different layers to that.
Yeah, I, I always love the, the,the power of a one on one meeting.
I've said this many of times.
I'll say it again becausethis is going to be great.
You know, say you have fivedirect reports, that's a one
hour meeting with five people.
What's five hours in a week ofyour 30, 40, 50, 60 hour work week?
(05:26):
What's five hours of undivided attentionthe five people that report to you
to make sure that they are okay?
Right?
And like, what do you need from me?
How can I help you?
Right?
It's not just about yourcareer or your work.
It's also the personal.
Tell me more.
What happened over the weekend?
What are your biggest struggles?
What's stressing you out?
(05:47):
What's keeping you up at night?
I, I love that.
That is fascinating, awesome stuff.
And I love landscape.
You don't know me thatwell, but this is great.
Landscape's awesome.
The most amazing industry.
I love it.
We get to put smiles on people's faces.
That's sort of my, my mission.
We're here today doing this and,and nothing is more rewarding.
My wife says, she's like, sometimesyou get all stressed out all the time,
(06:09):
but like, look what's the impact youget to do every day, put things in
the ground, make cool projects, putstripes in lawns and get the snow
the heck out of these facilities.
So you can put a smile on her face.
Right.
How is birds today?
Fast forward.
You're doing likegetting this house built.
(06:30):
How are you today?
Yeah.
So we're, we're doing really wellwhere we've shifted our focus.
You know, we've, we've had many failuresalong the way, but that, you know, allows
for growth personally and professionally.
We've learned so much.
We are heavily involvedin the snow business.
We have a very small Smaller companyanyway now, and we're focusing
(06:53):
on commercial snow, commerciallandscaping, and we're doing a
lot of design build out there now.
That's, that's really what we're,we're shifting our focus now,
because we're really good at that.
Cool.
And that's still going on today.
Your husband's running it.
Everything's good.
Everything's
Are you still part ofthe organization now?
I am
What's your role?
(07:14):
oof.
Everything.
so I guess my role within burns hasreally like evolved over the years.
You know, initially I was.
In the trenches, learningeverything from the ground up.
I had a business background, but Iwas doing, you know, anything from
operations to finance to clientrelations, you name it all the things.
(07:35):
Now I really focus on leadershipand strategy and ensuring that we're
just maintaining the business, butcontinuously growing and improving.
I'm super passionate about developingsystems that work and empower our team.
I do oversee our snow operations, whichis a major part of our business, like
(07:56):
I just mentioned, but, you know, I'mjust making sure that we're prepared and
we're delivering, you know, the qualityservice that our clients really depend on.
Yeah, it's something that alwaysneeds to be evaluated, right?
Absolutely.
ongoing thing.
I've got a great question.
I'm going to throw you a curveball.
Don't be nervous.
Did you play soccer incollege or high school?
(08:18):
I may have.
Yeah, yeah.
Tell me about playing asport, being an athlete, has
carried over into your career.
I, I, I've been there.
I, I know where you're going.
I know part of this,but tell our audience.
What that means.
I'm raising a teenager right now.
We're heavily involved in sports.
Everyone knows this.
(08:40):
If anyone knows me, they,I'm highly invested into it.
Tell me about the things that you learnedthat has carried over to your career.
So I did play college soccer.
And I was a defender and I always,you know, the way that I look at the
position that I was in in college, I wasa defender and defenders don't really
(09:01):
get the recognition that the forwards do.
They're protecting the net, whichI feel as though my position
at Burns is, is very similar.
I'm,
yeah.
I'm behind the scenes.
I'm protecting the net.
I'm not getting the recognition.
Not that I want it, butI, it's, it's a very.
important role within the organization,just as it is on the soccer field.
(09:22):
So I, that's where like, you know,you're always working, you're always,
you know, preparing yourself for thenext day for that next, you know, making
sure you're keeping your teammates, youknow, abreast on what's, what's going
on or what's going to happen or whatthe right, the next move should be.
That's, that's amazing.
I I did a small stint of, ofcollege athletics and I was tennis.
(09:47):
That was, that was my gig.
I loved it.
It was.
The loneliest sport known to man.
It's the only sport that has nocoach, during the match and you
have to figure it out on your own.
That taught me and I'llshare this mental toughness.
It was great.
I love it.
I was had to figure things out on my own.
(10:10):
And when you're in a one to two hourgrueling match, it's, it's you, the
opponent and, and all the obstacles andthe court and the wind and the weather
and you name it, you got to figure it out.
I mean, someone can yell something,but it doesn't, there's no coach,
there's no caddy, there's nohalftime, there's no intermission,
there's no, there's no nothing.
It's just, it's justsolely an individual sport.
(10:31):
I love, I love athletes.
they're great because there's asense of team, there's a sense of
camaraderie, there's discipline involved.
You got to show up on time when youdon't, when the weather's cold or it's
hot, you got to embrace your failures.
When you get your butt kicked, it's tough.
So I like that.
That's why hopefully you didn't, gothere in a different route, but soccer.
(10:53):
I used to play soccer in high school.
I had to choose soccer or tennis.
I chose tennis.
So don't hurt don'thurt me but all's good.
What I would love to get intonow is is Influential encounters.
This is the cool part and I Ithink this is the juiciest part.
First off What what isinfluential encounters?
So, influential encounters,so Val and I teamed up to
(11:14):
create influential encounters.
So it was born out of a desire to createa space for women and male majority
industries to connect, inspire and grow.
When I entered the snow and landscapingindustry, I realized how like,
how few women were in these roles.
But I also saw our potential for change.
So.
I really focuses on bringing womentogether to share experiences build
(11:37):
support networks and empower one another.
So we really focus on creatingopportunities for women to have a
voice develop their leadership skillsand feel seen and valued in industries
where they've often been overlooked.
So, you know.
Our mission with Influential Encountersis to meet, inspire, and influence women
(12:00):
to know that they can succeed no matterwhat the industry is that they're in.
Yeah, that's long has this been going on?
Is this relatively new?
It's relatively new Val and Istarted the company, in October.
Okay.
Yeah, right.
So how did you meet Val?
So, I met Val through her husband,Scott, who's in the industry.
(12:23):
I've met, I've known Scott for many,many years now after attending a couple
of different, conferences and he's, he'sbeen fabulous and he, at the Sima snow
symposium in June, I spoke on our panelfor women in snow and I was out there by
myself and he invited me to dinner with,you know, five or six other gentlemen.
(12:43):
And at that dinner, he was like,you need to meet my wife Val.
You guys were get along great.
So the next week we hopped on a call.
Wow.
hit it off.
I pitched my idea and she pitchedhers and I, we just said, let's
do this and we, we hit the groundrunning and it's, we haven't stopped.
Yeah,
of fun, a lot of work.
that's that's awesome.
(13:03):
So What what what do you guys do?
What what are the is it?
It's a meetup.
Are we, I think you guys do some coachingor something, but tell me, tell me what
your, the, the, the message that theday to day message that you're doing
and what, what are the meetups about?
Yeah, so we're hostingnetworking events where you know,
(13:24):
they're essentially dinners.
And where we have a keynotespeaker that comes in and we do,
we go through different exercises.
And we'll have a topic for each event.
We're hosting an event in Aprilin Pennsylvania, and we're doing
another 1 again in June in Michigan.
And then we'll be backin Boston for December.
(13:46):
And it's, you know, workshops andwe're also doing coaching where, you
know, we have a lot of big ideas.
We're taking it sort of slow.
But we have a lot of a lot ofthings that we're working towards.
Yeah.
what are some of the challenges insnow and being in the mail industry?
(14:08):
I don't, obviously don'thave a lot of experience.
I do have experience in thisindustry starting out as a kid.
You know, I went to, I went to collegeI got a landscape architecture degree
and I'll never forget my very first job.
I, I lived in Phoenix, Arizonaand moved from, moved from Texas.
And so here I am, this Texan sort of,you know, and boots and, and jeans and,
(14:30):
you know, I go to work at this designfirm and I'll never forget one of the
first days on my job, I, I meet this guythat's about 60 years old and you could
tell he is been very well experiencedand I get on the job and he goes.
Basically, you don't know shit.
And, okay, there's alittle, little bit of that.
I get it.
(14:50):
There's also like, man,that's real welcoming.
You know, here we go.
I got a guy that's 60 years old andhas probably been in the industry
for 30 plus years that knows a lot,but also can bring something else.
And I want to learn, I want to understandwhat are some of the roadblocks that you
face along the way in this male dominatedindustry that you've Successfully
(15:11):
like yeah, I've conquered that
So, I mean, a lot of the feedback thatwe've received from hosting the December
event in Boston was, you know, like,there's this unconscious bias, right?
How do you handle that?
And, you know, even simplethings like asking for a raise or
having difficult conversations.
How do you navigate those?
how do you show up, andjust to be respected and
(15:33):
understood within the industry?
You know, there's I'm a mom of 3.
There's there's moms out there.
There are, you know.
There are a lot of women that wear many,many hats and it's not an easy industry
to be in, but to feel supported is, youknow, the number one takeaway from our
Boston event is how do we, how do we getmore of these women in the same room?
(15:57):
Because it's just so powerful.
yeah, Do you think whenpeople go to these meetups?
They feel more empowered to havethe tough conversations about a
raise or Move for different divisionand not be so like intimidated.
Is that right?
(16:18):
A hundred percent.
I You know, after the event,we talked about Bob in the
beginning of our conversation.
I had a conversation with Bob afterour event, and he was just like,
you know, I love what you're doing.
And here's an example of why.
And he had sent 1 of his employeesthere, Katie, and he was like, Katie came
back and she's, she's using her voice.
(16:41):
She's but the thing is that voice alwaysexisted, but now she's more confident.
And she definitely felt empowered.
So like, that's what we want.
We want it to, you know, empowerher, but also be, you know,
something for the company to, toreap the benefits of that, right?
(17:01):
You want to empower your, yourfemales within your organization
just to, you know, have that voice.
Yeah, great case.
Bob's fired up about Katie.
We're getting Katie all this love.
I met Katie last year last June.
Rockstar, by the way, employeeaccount manager, by the way.
(17:22):
I, I do believe, and I'm with you,women, you know, women can seem
like, it's, it's on the inside.
They know they have it.
But there's not a, a platformor some sort to understand it.
I have many, several women,and I think I have women in
every ace peer group of mine.
(17:44):
All, all of mine.
All four.
And they, I actually have a lot ofmen and women, husband and wife.
It's been fascinating.
I will tell you this though.
For the wife being there, thank God,because I'm not sure the husband will
be like where he is today withoutthat, that person sitting next to him.
(18:05):
And there's several of them out there.
I won't, I won't name them, butthey will listen to this episode
and they're like 100 percent right.
And they will, they will nudge andcheck on the husband going, that's
not happening in our organization.
Why?
That's it's almost like an accountability.
Peace because, tell us what, whatyou believe women have the capability
(18:29):
of doing that a lot of men arelike, not happening, forget it.
We're almost like too blackand white, like myself.
And they have this ability tosee the soft side, but then go
something about raising kids.
And having patience along the way, Ithink I may be tipping it off a little
(18:50):
bit, but tell me more about that.
So when I first started with Burns,I, you know, I had Every aspect of
the business, and then it came timefor us to be, you know, meeting with
our leadership team and presenting toour leadership team and stating facts.
And I, you know, I love the data and Ilove the systems that we have in place.
(19:11):
So I would put together a presentationand spit out the facts and it was
like, nobody wanted to hear it from
Me
mm hmm,
and I didn't understand why.
And then I just changed my approachbecause it facts are facts, right?
And once I shifted my, youknow, focus and, you know.
(19:36):
The way that I went about theconversation, it was, it was definitely
received a little bit better, but thatfor me was like, oh, my gosh, here I am.
Putting together this presentation,putting a ton of work into it.
Going through everything witha fine tooth comb and it wasn't
received as I had expected it to be.
And after that, I really shifted my focuson how can I deliver this message so that
(20:01):
they understand it, so that they thinkthat I'm, you know, they, they value me.
mm hmm.
to help them.
I'm not here to hurt anybody here.
And that was really, really hard for me.
Yeah, I would have done the same thing.
I would have, I would havebeen just like you do.
I would have been like, this is how it is.
Gross profits here, netprofits here, revenue's short.
(20:23):
We're like, that's totallythe wrong approach.
I'm with you.
I'm black and white.
I'm a little harsh sometimes.
I just can't tell how it is.
But at the end of the day, that'snot how they should be treated.
They got feelings.
They need clarification.
Everyone interprets things differently.
Right?
Some of the audience I talkto, they're like, I love it.
(20:44):
I'm ready to jump on.
I'm ready to run througha brick wall with Tommy.
A lot of people are like, well, hold on.
Tell me the value in it.
Tell me where we're going.
Like, what's the reason behind this?
Where should we be at?
That's where leadership and especiallywomen can, can provide that.
I think men oftentimes struggle withbeing so direct with their things.
(21:08):
So I, man, give you all the credit.
Talk about women have patience.
And how does that translateinto the business in the world?
Or anything that they're doing.
You know, I think of myself,I have a ton of patients.
With my kids, with my husband,with my peers but I often, you
(21:31):
know, my husband will react.
And that's not to say it's abad thing, but he, he will have
the answers just like that.
And for me, I have to.
You know, digest the information,really think about it before
I make my next move and.
Sometimes, you know, an email orsomething will come through that really
ticks me off and I want to respond.
(21:54):
I want to react.
But I don't because I haveto be patient with that.
I have to be patient with my own emotions.
I have to, you know, really letset in to say like, is it worth it?
Or like, no, it's not.
Just do what you do and you will be fine.
Just be patient.
Yeah.
(22:15):
Oftentimes I think listening is, iswomen do really good at listening.
Men don't, men don't really that's okay.
That's why we coexist, butwomen are great at listening.
Almost pausing.
I've had to do that over the last manyyears of learning of just listening
(22:35):
more, listen more as people discuss andunderstand where they're coming from.
I'm sure you've had to learnthat in a leadership role.
Like you got to listen to whatthe team is telling you, right?
So tell me about, there's gotta be someways where they want to be involved
and they want to provide feedback.
So you can't go into that leadershipmeeting and say, I got this idea.
(22:57):
We're going to do this.
it or leave it.
Although some of my old bosses would saythat, but, tell me about the feedback
from people that you got to receiveand how that's really good for you.
100
Oh my gosh, feedback isso, so, so important.
And It, you know, we'll when we walk intomeetings and we have these great ideas,
(23:19):
we do bounce it off of our team membersjust to say, like, this is what we're
thinking and this is why it will be good.
Or this is what, you know,what will work for us.
Or so we think and we want to know yourthoughts and they will come back to
us and they might say things that wemight not have didn't occur to us and.
(23:40):
That's usually when, you know, like Ilike to say magic happens because now
our brains are all working together.
And how can we make thiswork or tweak something?
So that that really has helped us.
And then in turn for influentialencounters, we've, you know, after
our Boston event, we sent out, youknow, a questionnaire for feedback,
the good, the bad, anything, sendit our way because we want to know
(24:02):
what's working or what worked.
And, you know, for that event, it wasjust more like, how can we do, how can
we, Bring more of these events to life.
Like, what can you guysjust I want more networking.
I want, you know, more coaching.
I want retreats.
I want all these things.
So, like, Val, and I really had to,like, put our brains together and say,
all right, this is what our focus is.
(24:23):
And we need to, you know, shift thingshere or there and let's just make it work.
You have to listen to the feedback.
percent continuous feedback.
That's like my most favorite thing.
When you get continuous feedback andyou invite it, then people are willing
to share their thoughts and ideas.
The teams that we run, they'refull of energy and full of ideas.
(24:47):
We have to sort of like women arereally good at dropping down the
barrier and walking them in andprovide feedback along the way.
I was, I was on a trip the lastfew days in Florida and And I was
talking to someone and he said,yeah, it's like a two way street.
If you just keep going and drivingyour direction, you driving your
(25:09):
speed, you doing your own dashboardand expected one, everyone in the
rear view mirror to follow you with nofeedback coming the other direction.
This is a great analogy, right?
Then there's no road.
There's a road by myself with, I mighthave a few followers, but that's it.
But if I can encourage the feedback tocome the opposite direction, I got to hold
(25:32):
on that steering wheel a little tighter.
I got to pay attention.
I got to be aware.
I may have to listen, right?
And that feedback loop coming the oppositedirection is, super, super important.
So you guys have the abilityto, to, to listen, to learn
continuous feedback along the way.
God, this is, this is,this is great stuff.
(25:52):
If you're not getting excitedlike me, then you're crazy.
is there any challenges or lessonslearned along the way that go, man, that
really stuck out my memory bank, anything
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
We have all day.
Yeah,
mean, you know, it's really challengeshave played a huge role on my journey.
(26:14):
You know, from the betrayal from theembezzlement and to rebuilding the
business from the financial hardship.
Those, those times reallyshaped who I am today.
But like I said, in the beginning,one of the biggest things that
I learned was, you know, yeah.
Perseverance andadaptability are everything.
(26:36):
You know, success isn't, isn'treally about like avoiding problems.
It's, it's how you handlethem when they come your way.
Cause they will.
And
to write this down.
So bear with me.
So what you said, this is so good.
Success is not avoiding problems.
You got to hit them head on.
hundred percent.
(26:57):
I love this.
God, I love it.
Great stuff.
you know, there's always moments in ourlife where we look back and go, gosh, wow.
You, you never want theembezzlement to happen.
You never want the hard time.
But looking back, it was kindof like, okay, that's probably
a moment I had to go through.
Or, actually, we had to go through.
(27:17):
In a million years, you'll probablynever want to go through that again.
So it's not like you, youencourage it or, or, or, or.
want that to happen.
But that's what you built as you.
That's why you form.
That's why burn, snow andlandscape is growing, thriving.
That's why IE, InfluentialEncounter, is now thriving, right?
Because of that success story.
So there's always those little, those,those moments in life that are almost
(27:39):
going to happen that we just have toembrace and go, how am I going to react?
I can sit here and hide under a rockor I can pick up the rock and chunk it.
Absolutely.
And it's, it's so important to, surroundyourself with the right people too.
And, you know, whether it's yourteam or your clients or mentors or
just the people around you that,that do make the difference and.
(28:03):
Again, failure doesn'tmean it's over, right?
Yeah.
of what I like to say, something better.
Right.
What's the future ofinfluential encounters?
Like, what do you, what's,what's the big dream here?
What, what do you, what, if you couldjust sort of like magic wand poof, is it.
This is what I, this is what I envision.
(28:26):
So the future for me and everythingaround me is all about growth.
You know, for myself, for my business,for influential encounters, I guess
like on the burn side of things,we're focused on scaling sustainably
developing our team and really honingin on like our service offerings.
But for influential encounters, like Ireally envision it becoming a movement.
(28:53):
You know, connecting womenacross male majority industries
hosting events nationwide andcreating simply a lasting impact.
Yeah.
I, what you're doing is, is fascinating.
It's almost, we got to getpeople like you more involved.
We need to have a puregroup of women only.
(29:14):
At our, our company and you guys getto travel and see the women that do
landscaping and do speaking and we gotto figure out a way to get you involved
with our business and help your business.
I think that something in the works therethat I'm going to try to put together.
I know a lot of amazing.
I met some, some womenlast week in Orlando.
They were just, they're taking over.
(29:36):
One of them was taking overtheir parents business.
She's a little shy.
She's not sure.
She's under the wings.
She's the woman, right?
And she's like, how the heck do I do this?
And I'm like, you got it.
You can come.
So she's going to come down to to newOrleans in March for our ACE discovery
event, where we introduced new ACEs.
I said, you can do this.
(29:56):
This is it.
And she had a little smile on her face.
Like, I think I gotthat, that right there.
I need to push her your direction too.
I think she's up in the northeast as well.
So I'll have to push her your direction.
Love that.
Jillian, I noticed a couple of things.
You put out another curve ball.
You had a couple of books that Irecognize on your website and it
(30:18):
was traction and it was deep work.
Did you, did you know that was there?
I didn't you know what I did?
I did know that was there.
Yes, they are.
Okay.
Why are those two?
I didn't recognize the third one, but I dorecognize the two deep works and traction.
Why do those books mean so much toyou to be on the face of your website?
(30:40):
You know, I believe structureand holding yourself accountable
is like, is so important.
And following systems, right?
You.
You have to set yourself up forsuccess, whether it's through books and
mentors and, you know, it's important.
Yeah, I love those two books.
I was like, there is something betweenus that is pretty cool right now
(31:01):
because I, it's, it's really small.
But if you go to their, if you go totheir website, influentialencounters.
com Awesome website.
You and Val have done aphenomenal job of branding.
Let's, actually, this is great.
If you're a landscape company,go check their website.
It's fascinating.
It's very simple.
There's a branding, there's sort oflike a page there that I saw that's got
(31:24):
some swag gear, a beanie hat, this sortof empowerment that it's got all the
right colors, it's got the right gear.
Am I saying it right?
But anyways, look at this page, it'sgood quality photos, you guys are
engaging, a little here and there.
Tell me more how you came upwith that fascinating website.
(31:49):
Thank you.
Yeah, so we are really, set on our brand.
Personal branding is so important.
We are putting ourselves out there and,and we're very passionate about what
we're doing and, and we want those aroundus or those that are, Looking into our,
(32:10):
you know, events or our coaching oranything to see like we are who we are.
And we take that stuff seriously.
You know, we, the call fromthe colors from the events.
Everything is is an experiencefor all those involved.
And, you know, from the 2nd, thatyou sign up for 1 of our events,
(32:32):
we mail out, swag or whatever it istailored to that specific location.
Like our Boston event, we,we mailed out those Boston
sweatshirts that are in that photo.
Just a simple little touchthat, you know from the details.
All the details are so, so very important.
And in, you'll see that translatedin the events that we host.
(32:53):
Yeah.
Oh, that, that's great.
You know, you and Val, youknow, you're laughing, you're
cutting up, you're engaging.
You can, you can feel theenergy on the website.
Which is, which is fascinating.
Jillian, we're getting close to the end.
This is always my favorite part.
I'm going to ask you a question.
What's one advice that you can leavewith the audience, but let me back up
(33:15):
and do some Tommy takeaways, littlecheesy, but it works very well.
So, I'm going to say Burns Landscapeand Snow Management is the company
that I like a lot because theywent through some major financial
hard times and they didn't give up.
So if you're in your business right nowand there's challenges, hit them head on,
encourage them and pound them in the face.
(33:35):
You will, you will overcome it.
100 percent Just keep grinding.
We're here for you.
I learned a lot about an athlete,a college athlete that's defender.
I love it.
My son is a catcher,teenage catcher in baseball.
It's his favorite sport.
Catcher gets zero recognition.
No, no awards, no MVPs, no nothing.
(33:57):
But the minute somethinggoes wrong behind the plate.
They, they complain, but as longas they're not complaining, I
think my son's done his job.
You know, some other thingslook, you know, people thriving
leadership one on one meetings.
You know, I love all that this is thisis facts, you know, if you go into a
(34:19):
meeting, you got all these facts and kindof blow them up and you don't listen to
the feedback that's coming your, yourdirection, then basically you're talking
to the wall at the end of the day, you'regoing to clam up and, and get no feedback.
I love the fact of structureand accountability, the systems.
My thing about your website I justlearned is everything is an experience.
(34:42):
Everything's an experience, right?
Good or bad, right?
You might have ordered the food,it come in wrong, bad experience.
You might have ordered food, itcame out perfect, it was the most
amazing meal you've ever had.
Great experience.
One of my most favorite things, I'mtaking all this, these are quotes with me.
If you're okay with that, successis not avoiding the problems.
Hit them head on.
(35:03):
Ah, you're full of them today.
If there's any words of advice, Jillian,that I've missed, or you want to really
hone in, what is it for our audience?
So don't let your past define your future.
You know, no matter where you've beenor what you have experienced or the
challenges you've faced, you know,you're the, you're the 1, you have
the power to change the narrative andbuild the life that you really want.
(35:28):
And every setback is, is reallyan opportunity to be stronger.
keep showing up, keep learning and, youknow, remember that that being successful
is, is, is essentially a journey.
You know, not, not the destination.
Now, life's a journey.
(35:49):
We get to choose it,
For sure.
right?
That's, that's the best life's a journey.
If you keep focusing on theresults every, you know, way down
the road you'll never get there.
It's just putting them in the workevery single day, putting the time with
the family and the friends every day.
Getting 1 percent betterand enjoy the journey.
Jillian, it is a hugepleasure to have you on.
(36:11):
Thank you so much for takingtime out of your busy schedule.
Go, go check her out.
Awesome person.
Once again, influentialencounters.
com.
Her and Val on the face of that website.
Hit them up, follow them on social media.
They're on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Is that correct?
Correct.
Yep.
So go hit them up, follow, like,and enjoy all their travels.
(36:32):
There's several events that shementioned throughout the year.
They're on the website.
I saw those, but give her afollow, give her a shout out and
and give her some good vibes.
Thank you.
Thank you again, Jillian.
It's been awesome.
Thank you so much for having me.
Ready to take the next step?
Download our free Profitability Scorecardto quickly create your own baseline
financial assessment and uncover thefastest ways to improve your business.
(36:56):
Just go to McFarlinStanford.com/scorecardto get yours today To learn more about
McFarlin Stanford our best in classpeer groups and other services go to
our website at McFarlinStanford.comAnd don't forget to follow us on
LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
See you next time on the Roots of Success.
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