June 4, 2025 • 47 mins
What happens when your body knows what your mind won't admit? For Matt Keller, it took chest-tightening panic attacks in his corporate office to recognize he was on the wrong path entirely. Despite managing a $250 million budget at Walmart by age 26, something was deeply wrong.
"I used to sit at Sam's home office, looking out the window, thinking if I could, I'd rather be digging a trench than looking at another spreadsheet right now," Matt reveals in this raw conversation with host Sy Kirby. This admission kickstarted a remarkable transformation from corporate executive to landscape business owner.
The journey wasn't without humiliation. Matt shares the gut-wrenching story of a former colleague secretly photographing him mowing lawns, a moment that could have crushed his spirit but instead fueled his determination. "That lit a fire under me," he explains, his voice still carrying the emotion of that day.
Drawing on his horticulture background and corporate skills, Matt methodically built his business by converting one-off jobs into steady contracts, focusing on commercial clients over residential headaches, and leveraging his professional communication abilities to secure apartment complex contracts. His corporate experience, once seen as irrelevant in his new field, became his secret weapon.
This episode offers practical insights for anyone contemplating a career pivot, especially those considering trading white-collar comfort for blue-collar fulfillment. Matt's advice on finding your vision, staying focused, and not diversifying too quickly applies universally to entrepreneurs at any stage. For those staring out office windows dreaming of something different, this conversation might just be the push you need to make your move.
Have you been feeling that same restlessness in your corporate role? Maybe it's time to consider what's on the other side of the window. Subscribe to the Blue Collar Business Podcast for more stories of transformation and practical business advice from those who've done the work.
Click the link above for a free marketing audit with insights to boost your blue collar business!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
, where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue collar
business.
I'm your host, cy Kirby, and Iwant to help you in what it took
me trial and error and a wholelot of money to learn the
information that no one in thisindustry is willing to share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,
(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Welcome back, guys, to anotherepisode of the Blue Collar
Business Podcast presented andsponsored by podcastvideoscom
today.
These guys I've been a part oftheir team for the past year.
They have amplified this showProbably the reason you're
watching right now.
They have reached out throughour social media campaign.
(00:53):
On any of the socials, look upblue collar business podcast so
you're making sure you're seeingall the shorts before they come
out on the major long episodeon blue collar business
podcastcom Totally free.
You can watch or listen fromthe website.
You do not have to have asubscription.
But if you do and you have asubscription to Spotify or
podcast or Apple or any of them,make sure you're following
(01:15):
along with Blue Collar BusinessPodcast.
Give us a follow and a ratingthere Today bringing you another
, some more Blue CollarSummertime Action.
Action for dang sure I've got along time good friend of mine
that is, uh, sitting down withme on the show today that I'm
very excited to shine a littlelight on.
He is wandering off into thelandscaping world and he is
(01:36):
starting to actually reallycatch, catch a uh, catch a
moving train, I guess.
Guess, you would say, becausehe has not only figured it out,
but he's not all over the placein the landscapers.
A lot of times I see a lot ofthese landscapers that either
come on the show or that I knowof.
They want to be in every singlemarket and there's so many
(01:58):
things that these guys getinvolved with.
But he has been growing verystrategically.
I'm very proud of his growthbecause he's been very steady,
but none other.
Let's get into it.
Matt Keller, southern Turf andLandscape Company.
Thank you for joining.
Yes, thank you Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Landscape, landscape.
We achieve this and that'sactually gonna be changing soon
to a five grounds, five starproperty management.
Five star property management,sorry, five Star Property
Management, five Star PropertyManagement, sorry, five Star
Grounds Management.
So I screwed up the name, youscrewed up the name.
I screwed up the name.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Okay, cool, that's the way we're starting the day,
but literally man.
So me and Matt, when Iimmigrated to this country I
started going to school.
Me and another one of ourbuddies was just kind of in a
small friend group and anyways,went through high school and
knew him all the way throughthere.
But after high school we kindof drifted and kind of did our
own thing.
Well, we worked together, Iguess, for just like a summer
(02:52):
right after high school.
It's probably one of myfavorite summers of my life
working at the golf coursetogether.
But since then, dude, kind ofgive us the rundown and as far
back or as soon as you want tostart um, the timeline to get
where you're at, and so that waythe show kind of has an idea
who you are and where you'recoming from yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I, uh, I started let's go back to to college
after post uh, golf coursemaintenance, that was.
That was about a five-yearexperience from uh high school
through college, and then I, I,uh, he's a really dang good
golfer.
I'm 40 more dude, um.
So, yeah, uh, I went to uva foruh in horticulture, turfgrass
(03:35):
management, landscape and designfor um a few years and and did
that.
And then I, I decided to uh totake a 180 and go into corporate
America right out of college.
So I went and worked forWalmart and then I bounced back
and forth from Walmart to Sam'sClub for the next six years.
Did you love it?
Oh man?
Yeah, I just loved it.
(03:56):
Every seat they had between you, right, it's living the dream.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So we found out the white collar wasn't your world.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, white collar wasn't my world.
I was associate buyer, 26 yearsold, at walmart, managing 250
million dollar budget, and, um,it was one day I I had had all
these dizzy spells and and Ijust kept, kept having these
dizzy spells.
Well, one day I was, uh, I wasat the layout center for walmart
and I had a real bad one.
My chest started getting realtight and I was like man, I know
(04:22):
I'm 26, but I, boss, I'm like Ithink I'm having a heart attack
.
And so I went to the ER andhe's like okay, bud, you don't
look very good, you look wise,it goes.
I'm like I guess I don't knowwhat's going on.
So I turns out, you know, I wasfreaking out and I went to the
ER and just had a bad panicattack, but it was kind of then
that just kind of likesnowballed you know what am I
(04:44):
doing here?
And I went from, you know,enjoying my job there to just
hating every day of it.
And I used to sit at Sam's homeoffice.
I had a nice window, you know,looking out, third story of the
home office and like man, if Icould, I'd rather be digging a
trench rather than looking atanother spreadsheet right now.
So that's kind of when the nextfew years uh just went downhill
(05:09):
in white collar world and and uh, I went work for a couple
suppliers covid hit, um, my jobwas axed at right out of uh
sam's club with a four month oldand so, um, I just got to a
point to where I was like I'msick of updating my resume every
freaking, you know, six monthsto a year, and handing out and
just going for these jobs.
(05:29):
I didn't want just to, you know, chase money, yeah, just to
chase money up here from Houston.
Had a food manufacturingbusiness down in Houston where
they made spices and and uh had,you know, have a 15, 20 million
dollar business in Houstoncalled Consolidated Mills, and
(05:51):
so he came up here and, uh, hekind of he knew that I was
wanting to get off into um, intomy own business and and, of
course, talking to my dad andstuff and and, uh, he had always
kind of brought me up and toldme I had work ethic and
everything, and so, um, I loveyour folks, but, yeah, shout out
(06:12):
, thanks.
Uh, so we went.
I started looking on businessesto buy on on uh biz by cell and
found this, this business downin West Fork where they
manufactured fake wood for hottub surrounds.
It was made out of HDPE, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
You're talking my world.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And it was a big business.
He wanted over a milliondollars for it and we went down
that road.
I went to the bank and, youknow, got very close to to
getting that, that loan, and andwas ready to go.
And then I was like man, I justdon't feel like, um, feel like
this is where my heart wants tobe.
And so, uh, just chase somemoney.
(06:59):
Yeah, just chase some money.
Again, I was like you know, know, and I sat down and had some
good conversations with my dadand Chuck and they were like you
know, if you could do anythingin the world, what would it be?
I was like you know, I used todrive by big commercial
locations when I was early 20sand, be like man, I could make
(07:19):
that place look so much better.
And so I just From all the golfcourse days, true, yeah, I just
from all the golf course days,true, yeah, yeah, from all the
golf course days.
And and, uh, now is it?
Is it as fun as what we hadback then?
No, absolutely not.
You know, it was all of our bestbuddies who would.
We'd be stealing beer at sevenin the morning.
I probably shouldn't say that,but it's the truth.
(07:41):
At seven, a shotgunning here at7 am with our buddies, and yeah
, we had a lot of fun.
God, it was so fun.
But that's what generated thepassion and the drive for the
industry.
And so I was like, you know,yeah, if I could be doing
anything, I think landscaping iskind of where that mindset went
.
Not just landscaping, butgeneral property, slash grounds,
(08:04):
maintenance and management, so,um, taking, you know, massive
apartment complexes or orwhatever, and you know, just
keeping them beautiful is likethere's there's a, there's a,
there's a need for that yeah,it's a definitely an odd passion
.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Absolutely it is an odd passion.
You're right, it is an oddpassion.
You're right.
I can go right to you, man,there's not a lot of guys out
there that have number one theeyeball.
But if you've looked at a golfcourse every day for six years,
seven years, you get kind of aneye for hey, why is all that
grass looking way taller than itjust sticks out?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, weeds stick out , everything sticks out.
And you know, and somethingwhere someone looked at him,
they go that looks okay.
I'm like, no, this looksterrible, it's covered in weed,
it's covered in in all thisstuff that shouldn't be there.
And, uh, so, yeah, I had the,the.
Uh, that's so cool man, yeah,yeah, so it's been.
It's celebrate that dude, yeahfor sure.
And so I, uh, in a nutshell, Ihad the opportunity to take over
(09:00):
a guy's business, um, right,almost four years ago, uh, three
and a half years, and, uh, hewas just, he had residential, um
, he had about 40 residentialcustomers and then about 10
commercial customers.
That really, um, you know, wasa good foundation for my
business.
And so, uh, the first two years, you know, it sucked I, I
(09:22):
worked my tail, my tail off.
I was out there Saturdays,sundays, breaking my back at
these commercial locations, justtrying to get them you know
where I knew they need to be.
And then All while your friends, don't, nobody understands
Exactly.
They're the entrepreneurialfriends right.
I went from literally sittingin associate buyer meetings with
VPs SVPs at Walmart and SandClub I had at SHOT Show in Las
(09:47):
Vegas.
I sat in three differentmeetings with the C-suite
executives of Winchester, bedronand Rennington You're talking
about billions of dollars tostepping up on a mower on day
one.
You know, and I'm like man,this is what the bottom of the
barrel feels like Like you'retreated, like you are scum of
the earth.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
You do 100%.
It's the stigma behind whatexactly you're highlighting.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, yeah.
So I actually had a guy who Iworked with, worked for at
ConAgra, who he saw me mowinghis neighbor's lawn.
And I'm turning around and I'mlooking at this tree and I see
this guy sitting back there andI'm like what is this dude doing
?
He's taking pictures of me,like mowing.
And I realized that's the guy Iworked for at ConAgra.
(10:28):
I'm like why would you do that?
That's so weird.
Yeah, that is so Demoralizing,just demoralizing.
Yeah.
So that lit a fire under me towhere I was like okay, you know
now, like I don't have to proveanything to anyone but other
than myself and my family,that's crazy dude.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
for a guy to stand there and take pictures of you.
What to share with his otherwhite-collar buddies.
Yeah, oh look, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I just hate everything about that.
Yeah, absolutely, it wasdemoralizing.
Anyways, monday through Friday,I would work and have, you know
, me and two other guys helpingme, and uh, and then after I get
done working, I would gosolicit business at apartment
complexes and, dude, I'd hit.
I'd hit, you know, 30 apartmentcomplexes in a week just trying
to to get them to see my faceand and to to get my foot in the
(11:21):
door.
And finally, um, through lotsof prayer and faith you had, I
got called on, my apartmentcomplex led to another one.
Then, within three to fourmonths, I had four apartment
complexes.
That To domino effect, yes, andit was awesome.
And so that was definitelydriven by help through prayer
(11:42):
and stuff and faith.
And so that's where of that'swhere I've, I'm growing and it's
not easy.
It's not not an easy growingpain, but, no, I still have a
lot that I'm learning and a lotthat I I take away on a weekly
basis and, um, I just feel likeit's a time game at this point.
So it's like you ain't lying,buddy, getting, I'm getting
(12:03):
website built, I'm, I'mrebranding my business, I'm, I'm
doing all these things now towhere it's like, okay, all of a
sudden it's.
You can see this new businesscome out.
It's gonna be like dang.
They just kind of popped up oneday, and so good for you, man
yeah we'll see what happensmaybe, maybe once uh to rebrand
and everything.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Maybe we'll have you back on the show, or maybe we
need to talk more about theYouTube stuff that we've got
coming with the channel and howwe're going to celebrate other
businesses.
It's some really cool stuff inthe works behind the scenes, but
anyways, man, what an embodiedstory to sit there and what you
guys don't understand.
(12:41):
Here in Northwest Arkansas weare covered up with corporate
America.
You have the largest globalretailer in the entire world's
just built a 345 acre campus and, it's funny, the retail layout
center.
The uh fire suppression overyour head.
We did all the underground firesuppression for that.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah.
So we did five of the buildingsout there and figured out that
during that construction is notsomething we want to be a part
of.
It wasn't set up for us.
But man, to be sitting there, Ithink you can be so relatable,
my guy, to a guy that could besitting there looking out his
cubicle, listen to this podcastand go man, all these guys,
(13:22):
what's the difference?
You know, you got obviouslylike go from a the corporate
America grind.
But that's literally from whatI understand.
I've never walked in it myself,but it's literally every three
to five years.
You're well, this pathway ofadvancement.
Uh, are we getting axed or arewe moving to a different unit or
are you going to a differentcompany?
(13:43):
And in this area, guys,northwest Arkansas is home of
Walmart.
It's home of JB Hunt, one ofthe largest trucking companies
in the lower 48.
We've got Tyson Chicken and alltheir headquarters are right
here in these two counties.
There is a lot of executive,which is great for guys like us
in the blue collar world becauseit drives money into the market
(14:03):
, right.
But at the same time, I knowthere's got to be one or two
folks and I hope you guys reachout to me.
They're sitting there going.
Man, I am so tired of lookingat spreadsheets, I am so sick
and tired of looking on a 70degree day, looking out my
window, wishing I was out thereand let's talk to those, those
people.
Now that you're on the otherside of this, matt, you've,
(14:26):
you've, I guess, got forced intothat leap of faith.
But isn't that funny how godjust closes doors to open one,
absolutely, and spin around.
Talk to that person that'ssitting in that cubicle.
That was you that hasn't justdone it yet.
Yeah, yeah, what do you say tothem, man?
It's hard.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Um, you gotta have.
I had somebody who, who helpedpush me off the ledge, um,
backing financially, which wasit was critical, but it wasn't
like, oh, here I'm gonna, I'mgonna pay for your, I'm gonna
give you a salary for the next.
No, I wish, push me off theledge by helping me take over
this guy's business.
(15:04):
Um, and it wasn't much money,but he helped me take over this
guy's business, who we all haveto.
Yeah, to get a start, and Markhad built a great foundation, um
, you know, but he, I knew wheremy vision was going and and
what I wanted.
So, yeah, that that firstcouple weeks into that job with
(15:24):
a child, and it was scary, but Ibuckled down and you gotta know
where to put your money in theright place.
And you gotta, all of a suddenit was like, oh, wait a minute,
I just drained all my money tobuy equipment.
But then give me two or threeweeks.
I'm like, oh, all a minute, Ijust drained all my money to buy
(15:46):
equipment.
But then give me like two orthree weeks.
I'm like, oh, all that money isright back where it was.
Isn't that funny?
So, yeah, so it kind of figuredout real quick in that first
winter and actually I took overthe business in October, which
was dumb, right Like I'm takingover this guy's landscaping
business.
All the businesses are going todie in December.
And so October, november, I satthere and I took all of his
(16:10):
commercial customers that were.
You know, he was in his early60s and he would just bill them
for the work that he did as hewent, so he'd do something and
then write them an invoice forit and they pay well.
So I got all those commercialclients on contract so that I
had money coming in in January,february, march and so, and then
(16:34):
that kind of gave me time todigest everything and figure out
.
You know, here's what I need todo next and all the next steps.
So when I look back at it waslike man doing this in october
was stupid, but it was really auh, it worked out.
So I don't know, just a leap offaith and yeah, it was.
Yeah, yeah.
(16:55):
Now you know, january, februarycomes and we get get a foot or
two of snow and you got to beout clearing apartment complexes
and and it's not very fun.
Those are the times where I'mlike dang it, I miss my
corporate life.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Should I put a freaking additive in my diesel
to start it up in negative 20?
Yes, sir, you probably shouldhave.
Damn yeah, we learned one there.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I did it the same way , dude, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Nobody taught me these things.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
You just go out and do it and you fail exactly.
You figure it out, you don'tlet it happen again, it's a
corporate america man.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Listen, you're another year, you're another
three years or five years awayfrom a demotion, promotion or
getting your jab axed.
You could deal with thedemoralizing.
You know it's funny that guy'sleaning out.
I can literally picture thisguy leaned up against a tree
trying to be sneaky, trying totake pictures of yeah, and he
fired me from ConAgra.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That was the first job I'd ever been fired from.
I was on Upward Progression incorporate America and six months
into that ConAgra role I washired as a sales analyst on
their biggest desk.
It was a multi-billion dollardesk on ConAgra.
You know, is it me Like what?
(18:11):
What happened here?
And it was just, you know,looking back, I'm like that.
That was.
I was just in the, in the wrongplace.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You were probably threatening a few individuals.
Maybe so, maybe I don't know so, but isn't that funny.
That dude who probably satthere in the same desk this is
so full circle probably satthere in the same desk at 26
years old and went.
Man, this really sucks, but ifI don't buckle down and stay in
(18:38):
this, I can't go do anythingelse.
And here he is, 30, 40 years,whatever, through corporate
America schmuck let's call himPoussey who jumped off on a leap
of faith, literally walked thisroad that nobody, nobody
excepta resource like BlueCollar Business, is here to help
(19:01):
you navigate getting from okay,working in corporate America to
owning and operating a bluecollar, any type of skilled
trades business you know,including landscape.
But yeah, I would agree with you, october, wouldn't?
I would not advise october.
But at the same time, dude, wedon't always get dealt at double
(19:21):
aces on our first texas hold'emdraw, you know what I mean.
Like sometimes you gotta gothrough a couple of hands of
seven deuce and bluff your waythrough it, fake it till you
make it, and then you finallyyou do get a couple of pocket
aces and you play the handoutand it works out for the first
time and you're like yeah whatdid I just do?
because I need to do that again.
Man, this, this is working out,and but it's you know.
(19:44):
Instantly you forget about thenine months that I wasn't
working out.
Yeah, you know, and it's justgrinding.
So, uh, to corporate america,if you're sitting there in that
desk, take a leap.
I hope you go jump on aplumbing crew or a freaking
electrician's crew, or I justhad, uh, jerry hoy with jerry's
plumbing in here.
I mean, these guys will pay fortheir schooling and we need new
(20:06):
guy, new farmers making afortune.
Oh, my god, dude, if you're amaster in a fortune, master
electrician in this area it'sridiculous, they can pay.
This is what blew my mind're amaster electrician in this area?
It's ridiculous, they can pay.
This is what blew my mind.
I had an electrician buddy, twomasters or a master in a
journey.
He can bill by the hour morethan I can bill for an excavator
(20:28):
and an operator.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Because people, two electricians, $150 an hour,
whatever, whatever it takes,you'll get it done in four hours
but a guy in a machine chargingyou $150, what do you mean?
This machine, I'm like dude'sgot an S10 full of pickup, full
of tools, and I've got $300,000worth of machines in your yard.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Right what?
That's actually a really goodway it's so.
I never thought about it thatway.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
But, like to these guys that are listening, that
could be in a corporate Americain four years.
If you're like Matt, that youwere younger and you got in it
younger and you struck on theopportunities and went through
that advancement train, that'sgreat.
But in four years you couldhave your master's license in
just about any skilled trade.
But circling back here, man,let's talk a little bit about
landscaping and the seasonalwork.
It sounds like the old Ishouldn't say old the prior
owner of your businessessentially would just do a
bunch of work, bill for it,collect when he could, kind of
(21:32):
thing.
There wasn't really anyfluidity to it.
But how, how did you walk usthrough and some and some of the
audience members, how you madethat transition Cause you
briefed over that really quick.
But let's shine some light onthat because you took a business
that was contract based meaninghey, invoice, pay me to a
(21:55):
contract-based business andspread that out over 12 years.
So talk about a little bitabout that if you don't mind,
and why you did that.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Obviously, we understand cashflow, but yeah,
so now, okay, remember, I tookover, say, give or take, you
know 40 to 50 customers from him.
Now I have zero of of hiscustomers.
That's how I took care of thatunderstood okay, you go in, you
build your own business andbecause those customers who have
been paying him for 20 years,like you know, thank you guys
(22:26):
for helping me get to where Idid, but you know they they're
so used to to X, for Y and forservice, times have changed my
guy.
I'm just not a guy who's gonnatake on work just to take on
work like I did it.
I did the hustle six, sevendays a week and it got to a
(22:48):
point where I'm like, man, thisjust isn't, this isn't and worth
it, man, it's not worth it.
Nope.
So you gotta learn how to sayno.
But that takes time.
You can't do that at first.
You gotta, you gotta do, youknow, you gotta do whatever it
takes at those first two, three,however many years just to to
keep stay floating.
(23:09):
And, uh, my ex-wife, we used to, she used to.
Well, you're working all thetime, you know, because I'd get
off work, I'd go home, I'dinvoice, I would, you know, do
the bids and estimates and I'mlike, no, I'm not, I'm not
working all the time, I'm reallynot, I'm, I'm trying to keep my
business alive, yep, and sokeeping, keeping it's a hard
viewpoint.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah it versus working all the time is those
are.
Those are two different thingsWorking in the business, working
on the business.
And there is, you're right, youcan't work in the business and
on the business at the same time.
I've tried to do it, bro.
It drove me literal to an pointof insanity and I couldn't do
it anymore.
But at the same time, there'sso many guys listening, just
like yourself.
You didn't know any other waythan just to do it, yeah, yeah,
just do it.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Just get out there and do it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Or you know there is resources.
You know when you're firststarting early.
Not to cut you off, you're myguy but like I see so many guys
that sit there and go home, andespecially with a business like
yours, you're more invoice heavyand transactional heavy than we
are at PsyCon.
Like we may do 10 invoices amonth and we bill out on the
(24:17):
20th.
That's what we do.
It's a 30 day cycle.
It's anyways don't get mestarted on that, but anyways.
So you were running invoicestyle business and keep keep
walking us through how youtransition into contract.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Sorry, contractual business.
Yeah, so I just took what hewas essentially here's what, I
think, mark, you're paying himand these commercial guys, they
knew they could run thespreadsheets and tell me exactly
how much they paid him lastyear.
And so I said, okay, let's justbreak that over 12 months and
you just pay me that over 12months.
(24:52):
And so year one worked, it wasfine.
Year two I'm like oh, this is,you know, you start learning,
you really learn and, uh, youknow, learn what things are
worth to you and how much youneed to to keep survive and keep
growing.
And you learn your costs too.
Um, yeah, maybe going backsaying that I don't have any of
(25:12):
those customers anymore probablydidn't sound that good.
But on the flip side, yeah, yougot to go in and grow your.
You got to build your ownreputation, your own business.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Anybody that's been in three or four years man, they
know exactly what you mean,yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So, um, yeah, it's just a, it's just a balance
between, uh, keeping thosepeople and if, if you can, can,
if you can raise that price withthat current clientele, awesome
, great are you, you know?
Good luck yeah, but it's a hardconversation because they've
been paying well, mark, hadn'traised my prices in 20 years and
(25:45):
you're coming and raising myprice.
I'm like, oh man, yeah, I'msorry, oh my gosh to say, but I
mean other than so, followingthat along.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It's funny, man.
Year two, year three, you start.
You just think me this isspeaking about me, not mad here.
I literally thought if I couldrevenue millions of dollars, it
didn't matter what the cost was.
Yes, you know, there was enoughmoney that yeah.
Oh boy, was I so freaking wrong?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
and it was it?
Speaker 1 (26:13):
more money on the top , the more I had to concentrate
on the pennies.
And so I thought, chasingrevenue and pushing revenue,
well, that ain't for nothing.
What you make on the bottomline and all those numbers in
between can't grow anyways.
But literally, my dude, secondyear it sounds like you figured
(26:34):
out your cost and you figuredout that, oh, obviously I
probably can't do it for whatyou're trying to do it for,
because he gave you that pricein 1997, my guy, it's 2023.
Gallon of gas is 350 a gallon,not $1.10 anymore.
I'm sorry, and it's not likeyou don't want, because it's
weird.
As a business owner you want tocapture everybody, you want to
(26:57):
help everybody.
But in the first year or twoyou're like you can't say no to
your point man.
You're just like yep, yep, yep,yep, yep, yep.
But then you start learningthrough your experience of
running through all these yeses,of what's soaking up all of
your time and what's eaten upyou know, basically the majority
of your revenue that's notturning into profitable revenue.
(27:17):
And so through the second year,third year, you really start to
build your cost and you knowthat if Jose and Marcus are
there to mow this lawn andyou've been sending it for a
hundred bucks and they can doeight of them a day.
You know for a fact that in ayear's time, as long as they're
doing that again, they'rehopefully being profitable.
(27:38):
You know what I mean.
But then you start looking atit and you're like well, this
cost has changed.
Well, we added a personindirect here, oh, to help
manage the fluidity of oursystems and all this.
Well, man, actually our priceneeds to go up to cover our just
year month to month costs.
So how do you do that?
(27:59):
Well, you have to do that toyour customer or lower your
costs, vice versa, right?
So anyways, I just wanted topoint out literally, do that and
grow.
there's to do that and growexactly you know, you bottleneck
yourself as a business ownerand literally I'm literally
going through it.
Nine years in, I'mbottlenecking again because of
(28:20):
how people I think the wordwould be affected me personally
through business and damaged mementally and emotionally as a
business owner that I didn'twant to go back down and open my
heart into that path again.
So but if you cut thebottleneck off and just let and
(28:40):
let the river flow, man, and getout of your own way, man, the
places you can go, but realquick guys here.
I just want to jump in here andshine a little light on blue
collar performance marketing.
These guys, I have man.
We have got some really coolthings in the work at blue
collar performance marketing.
These guys, I have man, we havegot some really cool things in
the work at Blue CollarPerformance Marketing.
I'm actually going to begetting involved there.
Stay tuned for that.
(29:02):
Coming down the pipe, saikhan isgoing to be kind of blending
some lines with Blue CollarPerformance Marketing.
So if you want to hear a littlebit more about that, reach out
to them.
You can get them atbcperformancemarketingcom
backslash bcb podcast.
You'll get a free,comprehensive discovery call
checking out your entiremarketing campaign.
So, essentially, if you got awebsite and you're in.
(29:23):
Everybody told you to get awebsite, but your website's not
doing anything.
Give us a ring.
We're going to tell you, numberone, why it's not doing
anything and number two, whatdirection, and build you some
strategy and hopefully point youguys in the right direction.
So give Ike and them boys acall over there, and I'm excited
to hear about your story andhow they can help you further
(29:45):
your business in the marketinggame.
So give them a ring.
So, matt, how many crews we gotnow let's talk about now Three
crews now.
Average crew three guys.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
So we got nine guys.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You got anybody in the office Me?
Oh, I just hustled all myself.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Oh so do you?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
I would love to see your personality test.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah, it goes from one to the other?
Oh, because you know what I did.
The same thing, man.
I did the same thing for years.
But I will tell you right now,I could not do what I do today
without the ladies in my office.
I would be host.
But when I was sitting in thesame seat that you are going,
what's less important than I canpass off, because it's all so
(30:34):
important in, especially in yourhead too?
You're like, well, okay, if, ifthis is marked a little bit
differently on the invoice thanTim the accountant's not going
to see it and not pay it andpush it out 15 days and I know
that they're not going to knowthat and or it's, uh, I, it's a
supply house, I'm checkingwhatever it is, man, but you
(30:55):
don't ever know what you canactually start to pass off yeah
sure you know and how many likeyou're probably doing.
Probably 40, 50 invoices a month, I would assume.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Right for sure yeah, maybe not that much.
Mine's pretty, uh, reoccurringbusiness invoices.
Okay, um, yeah, back to that.
The springtime it gets heavierbecause I do, we do some one-off
jobs and I always take thoseone-off jobs.
I'm like, why did I do this?
You know, just stick where I'mI'm good at.
And so, um yeah, the definitelyspringtime gets heavier.
(31:28):
And then as I grow and, and youknow, continue to prove myself,
then then we do get morebusiness from my core customers
outside the contract.
So, and that's great to have,for sure, so, but not super,
most of my invoicing is is, youknow, reoccurring.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I just kind of said it.
You use the software.
Yeah, I use QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
You.
Okay, I think I'm going tostart asking that question.
By the way, episode number 40,guys, this is insane.
I just thought of that.
Sorry, I just saw it on mypaper, but I think from here on
out, I'm going to start askingevery guest that comes in here
in the skilled trades business,because we're so scared to death
of software and you know what Imean.
(32:17):
And you, coming from corporateAmerica, you understand the
utilization of an Excelspreadsheet.
You already have a jumpstart onme and all these other guys
that literally are just likewell, I'm good at digging, let's
do a digging business.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
You know what I mean, like we didn't know what a
spreadsheet was yeah, I took myanalyst experience and I'm like
building let's do a diggingbusiness, you know what I mean,
like we didn't know what aspreadsheet was.
Yeah, I took my endlessexperience and I'm like building
out all these differentspreadsheets to the start and I
still run off those today andit's like it's simplified.
It's amazing dude.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
That is so cool that you're already to that level,
buddy, because you're not onlyfor you but for the people that
you're going to train.
You're going to be able tobuild them systems and processes
and be able to show them onpaper.
And that's where a lot of usblue-collar guys straight up out
of high school, we fail becausewe think systems and processes
(33:02):
and spreadsheets are for thewhite-collar folk.
We don't need them.
But you can't move withoutthose telling you where to move
to.
But it takes time.
So, just, there's so much valueyou have that God put you
through the corporate Americagrind and the mess of what that
(33:24):
is.
But man, you've got such aprofessionalism on emails Like
I've got guys that are 24, 25years old scared to death to
send a damn email, scaredcompletely to death to send a
damn email, scared completely todeath, and I'm.
But here you are been talkingwith billionaire board members
and having to email traffic andunderstand the professionalism,
and here now you arerepresenting yourself.
(33:44):
You're already a level abovesome of the guys in your market,
my guy.
So I just wanted to shine somelight on that, but literally so
from here, I heard you referenceto another really good
highlight that I want to shedlight on is keep the main thing,
(34:04):
the main thing.
And as soon as you, I do thesame dang thing too, because we
struggle with saying no andwe're like, yeah, dude, we can
do that, ain't no big deal,that's going to slide perfect in
this little schedule hole.
And then it rains for sevenweeks and you're all your other
customers are backed up, but youtold them you were going to hit
this week.
So you're like all right, lookguys, it's rained a little bit.
(34:25):
I got to back up two weeks.
Whoa, what do you mean, man,I've done all this other stuff.
Well, I have other customersthat I, you know, that I adhere
to first and I need you to know.
Well, we'll just find somebody.
Sorry, guys, we'll just findsomebody else.
Come on, dude, you know what Imean.
It's like, why did I?
And it's those it's alwaysthose jobs that you get so
(34:58):
involved with to pre-contractthat you're like all right, this
is what we're going to do, thisis the simplest.
You guys are going to be sohappy when it's done.
It's going to cost you a littlebit of extra money, but trust
me, it'll get there.
This is exactly what you needto do and then you have a little
scheduling conflict or, godforbid, it rains in our world,
right bub, and then spin around.
They act like you have justliterally killed their dog
because you need to move aschedule back.
Now it's on us to ensure thatwe're communicating.
We're not doing that the daybefore.
Anybody's going to befrustrated about it the day
(35:19):
before.
But if we're sending an emailout, hey guys, two weeks
beforehand, we're going to haveto move.
Work with us guys, justspreadsheet guys, like I
understand we're a totallydifferent breed, but there's got
to be some flexibility.
And especially residentialcustomers like homeowners.
They seem to be the worst.
Yeah, yeah, how many resiclients are you running?
Speaker 2 (35:43):
I hate it.
It's not to me.
It's just not worth it.
It's not.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Yeah, why.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Why in your world it's too much of a headache.
I'm running around like aheadless chicken and there's too
much commercial business herewho, because of my professional
background, I can go in andsecure those contracts and not
have to deal with the generalpublic.
And so, yeah, those guys who dodeal with the general public
(36:12):
like, yeah, you can go out andmake a bunch more money dealing
with them, but that's the guysthat you go and I turn down a
lot of work because I'll get toa job estimate and the homeowner
will be like you know, I was acivil engineer.
They start talking to me aboutgrading and perfect, and it's
going to drain this way and itneeds to be four degrees that
way, and I'm like you need tocall someone else.
(36:33):
I this way, it needs to be fourdegrees that way, and I'm like,
uh, you need to call someoneelse.
Yeah, I don't want to deal withyou.
Yep, and so the, the, thecommercial people, they, you
know, the only time that theywant to talk to me is when they
are at work.
They don't want, they're notgoing to call me when they leave
work, because that's their jobwhile they're at work is to take
care of that stuff, and so um,that's exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
And the the the other reason for me shedding the
residential world was in thecommercial world.
And you may, as I have, donethat clear scope of work.
You have to pay me.
(37:16):
Yeah, there was no.
Well, jimmy's wife down theroad said it needed to be
different.
And let's go ahead and redo thissection because Jimmy's wife
knows more than you do.
But didn't you hire me as aprofessional?
And then it would be oh, Ican't tell you how many times
Karen would get home.
And you know you and Johnny hadgot all this figured out for
(37:36):
the past three weeks.
Well, he didn't even tell MissKaren that this was happening.
And Karen comes out there,pissed off that you got a
machine in the middle of herfreaking daisies.
What do you mean?
I asked Johnny about thedaisies six times.
Well, he never taught.
And then you're in the middleof a marital argument and you're
like I'm just trying tofreaking dig your septic up, sis
.
Like I'm sorry, yes.
(37:59):
So when I found out that thecommercial world had a set of
prints and I can train guys tolook at the prints and hand the
prints over and go hey, go dothis and we get paid, that's a
repeatable model for me, right?
Yeah, for sure.
All right, buddy, I've got onelast question for you.
The same question I ask everysingle person that comes here
(38:20):
and I think you may have apretty eclectic answer here.
My guy, for the blue collarworker who is just stuck and is
just sick and tired of beingstuck in the mud man, mentally,
emotionally, what is he doing?
Man?
Or maybe that corporate Americaschmuck that we were talking
about earlier?
No offense to anybody, but howdo they keep going and change
(38:42):
direction and get out of wherethey're at?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Man, have a vision of the know where you want to go
and what you want to do.
Number one, number two, don'ttry and do you know, 80
different things to get to thatvision.
Have one set vision and then,if you have to do 80 different
things to make that happen, thendo it.
But you know, at the end of theday, whenever you get, find
(39:05):
what you're really good at andstay focused and call vision in
on that.
And so you know, that's why Ialways go back to, like Sam
Walton, you know, he startedwith one grocery store and then
he had a thousand.
Why?
Because he was really good atthe grocery store.
Point.
He was the richest man in theworld.
He was in the grocery storebusiness.
He could, but didn't, you know,diversified into 50 different
(39:26):
businesses, but he did.
He stuck to the grocery storebusiness and they became really
good at it and that's whythey're the largest brick and
mortar retailer in the worldtoday.
And so, um, have a vision,surround yourself with people
who are like-minded with you, um, and then, and then talk to
people and, and, and, you know,talk to older people who have
more wisdom and, and, you know,have experience and, and you
(39:50):
know, build those relationshipswith the right people, who can,
who can help you jump into whatyou want to do, and so sometimes
just a little push is all itneeds.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Literally yeah, literally, I think I talk about
it.
I have probably said the wordrelationship in all 40 episodes
of BlueCollarBusinessPodcastcom,but it's so key, dude, yeah, it
is so key.
Business is relationships.
Isn't it funny that you gotthat one first contract and all
of a sudden you got three orfour more, because it's probably
(40:23):
Karen saying man, I got thisnew kid on the block, man, and I
signed him up and man, we'reabout three months in and he's
flat killing it.
Who you got over there?
Well, well, here's his contact.
And then you're already in thisgroup.
You're right, man, if you canuse that professionalism to get
up to a different table thatmost people can't sit at, or
they can sit but can't speak at,man, you're already ahead of
(40:47):
the game and and you're justgoing to keep growing.
I can't wait to watch you.
I'm so freaking proud of you,dude.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
And you also, you know.
Another thing too is you gottabe, you gotta be able to juggle
Like you can't be afraid to wearevery single hat in your
business uh, no matter what.
So you're, you're not justgoing into one business, you're
going into multiple differentthings.
So that's why that's why Idon't I I'm not to a point yet
to where I feel like I need tohire another office person.
(41:15):
It's like because I've juggledit, I can juggle it, as long as
I can continue to juggle it.
And at some point in timewithin the next year or two, I
will need more help with it, butuntil then, then, we'll just
take one day at a time.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
No, I feel you.
I got to bring up one pointthere that most blue collar
folks don't know.
I've had some fractional folkshere on the show but most of us
we just don't understand.
But fractional CFO, fractionalproject management, fractional
system builder like you can goout and hire experts in their
(41:51):
field that fractionally help youwith your business and man,
I've done that with fourdifferent folks in the first
part of this year, six months in, and I can tell you I wish I
would have done it five yearsago.
Yeah, tell you avoid burnout.
Oh my gosh, if it wasn't forthem, I would be.
Yeah man, but it also stemmedand led from my own ego and my
(42:15):
own not wanting to self-reflectin the fact that, you know, I'm
damaged from how peoplepersonally treated me through
what I was trying to do for themor the company or whatever that
may be, reflect and go.
I can't let this stop us fromgrowing Right.
(42:36):
So, anyways, these fractionalfolks have come in and not only
have they helped me do things,but they've also sharpened iron
man.
They call me out when I start.
Well, I can do this.
Well, can you?
Though?
Here's these numbers that yousaid you could.
And I'm like dang, you knowthat entrepreneurial visionary
that most of us are.
(42:57):
You have to be you kind ofwheel that back just a little
bit.
But, man, I could not evenfathom where I could be sitting
here in this seat right now in adifferent position, if I would
have dialed back that ego andpushed off and delegated some
more tasks to the experts so Ican go out and do what I'm
supposed to do, and that's sell,Literally.
(43:18):
I'm hiring an operationsmanager, right, freaking now.
Hey, go to psychonexccom ifyou're at the last little bit of
this episode.
If you're a heavy civil-mindedrelationship builder, I am
looking for an operationsmanager.
Shoot your resume in over atpsychonexccom A small little
shameless plug there.
But I'm telling you thatbecause I have so much other
(43:43):
crap and I'm passionate about inmy life that I'm now being drug
into.
It's not fair to my crews, tothe ladies up front, to my
estimators up front, that I'mthe cog in the wheel that slows
everything down.
That's not fair, and I had goodconversation with everybody in
the team.
(44:04):
Is this the direction we needto go?
And, man, the feedback I gotwas insane.
Yes, we kind of do, and it'shard for them to look at me and
go hey, we need to replace yourass.
You know what I mean.
That's difficult and it wasdifficult for me to hear, but it
was the reassurance from themthat I'm like, oh my God, I am
the bottleneck and it was justthis relevating experience.
(44:25):
So hiring an ops manager so Ican stick over here in the sales
lane, be that people's person,be the person that folks want to
deal with and get their realestate development done or their
commercial project done withand know that I'm going to help
them walk through the wholeprocess and that's what I'm good
at, my guy.
Don't get me wrong brother.
(44:47):
You have to be, as anentrepreneur, a good operations
manager or you fail.
But there comes a point.
Are you passionate aboutoperations?
Are you freaking passionateabout the numbers coming out?
Or are you passionate aboutreading the numbers at 30 days
from now and analyzing andstrategizing where the business
and developing where it's goingto go?
(45:07):
Man, that's all deep stuff tochew on, you know.
And yeah, it's tough and I'mgetting force-fed this crap
right now.
And then when your team showsup and they're like Cy, it's
time, Like thank you forconcentrating on each and every
one of our roles and buildingjob descriptions and systems and
processes and SOPs, but it'stime to replace you or none of
(45:30):
this is going to work.
Yeah, and I'm like but anyways,I'm in the middle of that, so
I'm trying to practice what Ipreach because, man, the
bottleneck in business is sohard and once you cut the
bottleneck off of it, it's justlet the river flow.
But, guys, where can we findyou at Website Facebook?
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, my website's Facebook on Southern Turf and
Landscape.
But my website's being built atthe moment.
That'll be www.5stargroundscom.
Love it, and so that should golive within the next week or two
, hopefully sooner than that.
And then I got some thingsgoing with marketing and some
(46:13):
other things to try to ramp up alittle bit more.
Bet I got some things goingwith with marketing and and some
other things to, to try to rampup a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Bet, bet, I love it.
Um, go check them out.
Southern turf and landscape.
Yeah, thank you for saying that.
With it I screwed that lawnscape.
I'm sorry, it's the first nameI think I've ever messed up.
But go check them out.
Go check out number 40 episodehere, guys.
Go check out all 39 otherepisodes at
bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom.
(46:39):
If you have a product or aservice that you think needs
highlighted here on the show,become a sponsor there on the
tab on the website.
Shoot that over to us.
I'd love to get in talks withyou guys.
We've got some big thingscoming in that realm for you,
for all of the audience, movingforward.
I'm pretty excited for that.
Leave us a like and a followhere at the end of the episode.
(47:00):
Appreciate you guys so much anduntil then, be safe and be kind
.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like.
Share it with the fellers.
Check out our website to sendus any questions and comments
about your experience in theblue collar business.
Who do you want to hear from?
Send them our way and we'll doour best to answer any questions
you may have.
Till next time, guys.
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
, where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue collar
business.
I'm your host, cy Kirby, and Iwant to help you in what it took
me trial and error and a wholelot of money to learn the
information that no one in thisindustry is willing to share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,
(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Welcome back, guys, to anotherepisode of the Blue Collar
Business Podcast presented andsponsored by podcastvideoscom
today.
These guys I've been a part oftheir team for the past year.
They have amplified this showProbably the reason you're
watching right now.
They have reached out throughour social media campaign.
(00:53):
On any of the socials, look upblue collar business podcast so
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But if you do and you have asubscription to Spotify or
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(01:15):
along with Blue Collar BusinessPodcast.
Give us a follow and a ratingthere Today bringing you another
, some more Blue CollarSummertime Action.
Action for dang sure I've got along time good friend of mine
that is, uh, sitting down withme on the show today that I'm
very excited to shine a littlelight on.
He is wandering off into thelandscaping world and he is
(01:36):
starting to actually reallycatch, catch a uh, catch a
moving train, I guess.
Guess, you would say, becausehe has not only figured it out,
but he's not all over the placein the landscapers.
A lot of times I see a lot ofthese landscapers that either
come on the show or that I knowof.
They want to be in every singlemarket and there's so many
(01:58):
things that these guys getinvolved with.
But he has been growing verystrategically.
I'm very proud of his growthbecause he's been very steady,
but none other.
Let's get into it.
Matt Keller, southern Turf andLandscape Company.
Thank you for joining.
Yes, thank you Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Landscape, landscape.
We achieve this and that'sactually gonna be changing soon
to a five grounds, five starproperty management.
Five star property management,sorry, five Star Property
Management, five Star PropertyManagement, sorry, five Star
Grounds Management.
So I screwed up the name, youscrewed up the name.
I screwed up the name.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Okay, cool, that's the way we're starting the day,
but literally man.
So me and Matt, when Iimmigrated to this country I
started going to school.
Me and another one of ourbuddies was just kind of in a
small friend group and anyways,went through high school and
knew him all the way throughthere.
But after high school we kindof drifted and kind of did our
own thing.
Well, we worked together, Iguess, for just like a summer
(02:52):
right after high school.
It's probably one of myfavorite summers of my life
working at the golf coursetogether.
But since then, dude, kind ofgive us the rundown and as far
back or as soon as you want tostart um, the timeline to get
where you're at, and so that waythe show kind of has an idea
who you are and where you'recoming from yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I, uh, I started let's go back to to college
after post uh, golf coursemaintenance, that was.
That was about a five-yearexperience from uh high school
through college, and then I, I,uh, he's a really dang good
golfer.
I'm 40 more dude, um.
So, yeah, uh, I went to uva foruh in horticulture, turfgrass
(03:35):
management, landscape and designfor um a few years and and did
that.
And then I, I decided to uh totake a 180 and go into corporate
America right out of college.
So I went and worked forWalmart and then I bounced back
and forth from Walmart to Sam'sClub for the next six years.
Did you love it?
Oh man?
Yeah, I just loved it.
(03:56):
Every seat they had between you, right, it's living the dream.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So we found out the white collar wasn't your world.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, white collar wasn't my world.
I was associate buyer, 26 yearsold, at walmart, managing 250
million dollar budget, and, um,it was one day I I had had all
these dizzy spells and and Ijust kept, kept having these
dizzy spells.
Well, one day I was, uh, I wasat the layout center for walmart
and I had a real bad one.
My chest started getting realtight and I was like man, I know
(04:22):
I'm 26, but I, boss, I'm like Ithink I'm having a heart attack
.
And so I went to the ER andhe's like okay, bud, you don't
look very good, you look wise,it goes.
I'm like I guess I don't knowwhat's going on.
So I turns out, you know, I wasfreaking out and I went to the
ER and just had a bad panicattack, but it was kind of then
that just kind of likesnowballed you know what am I
(04:44):
doing here?
And I went from, you know,enjoying my job there to just
hating every day of it.
And I used to sit at Sam's homeoffice.
I had a nice window, you know,looking out, third story of the
home office and like man, if Icould, I'd rather be digging a
trench rather than looking atanother spreadsheet right now.
So that's kind of when the nextfew years uh just went downhill
(05:09):
in white collar world and and uh, I went work for a couple
suppliers covid hit, um, my jobwas axed at right out of uh
sam's club with a four month oldand so, um, I just got to a
point to where I was like I'msick of updating my resume every
freaking, you know, six monthsto a year, and handing out and
just going for these jobs.
(05:29):
I didn't want just to, you know, chase money, yeah, just to
chase money up here from Houston.
Had a food manufacturingbusiness down in Houston where
they made spices and and uh had,you know, have a 15, 20 million
dollar business in Houstoncalled Consolidated Mills, and
(05:51):
so he came up here and, uh, hekind of he knew that I was
wanting to get off into um, intomy own business and and, of
course, talking to my dad andstuff and and, uh, he had always
kind of brought me up and toldme I had work ethic and
everything, and so, um, I loveyour folks, but, yeah, shout out
(06:12):
, thanks.
Uh, so we went.
I started looking on businessesto buy on on uh biz by cell and
found this, this business downin West Fork where they
manufactured fake wood for hottub surrounds.
It was made out of HDPE, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
You're talking my world.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And it was a big business.
He wanted over a milliondollars for it and we went down
that road.
I went to the bank and, youknow, got very close to to
getting that, that loan, and andwas ready to go.
And then I was like man, I justdon't feel like, um, feel like
this is where my heart wants tobe.
And so, uh, just chase somemoney.
(06:59):
Yeah, just chase some money.
Again, I was like you know, know, and I sat down and had some
good conversations with my dadand Chuck and they were like you
know, if you could do anythingin the world, what would it be?
I was like you know, I used todrive by big commercial
locations when I was early 20sand, be like man, I could make
(07:19):
that place look so much better.
And so I just From all the golfcourse days, true, yeah, I just
from all the golf course days,true, yeah, yeah, from all the
golf course days.
And and, uh, now is it?
Is it as fun as what we hadback then?
No, absolutely not.
You know, it was all of our bestbuddies who would.
We'd be stealing beer at sevenin the morning.
I probably shouldn't say that,but it's the truth.
(07:41):
At seven, a shotgunning here at7 am with our buddies, and yeah
, we had a lot of fun.
God, it was so fun.
But that's what generated thepassion and the drive for the
industry.
And so I was like, you know,yeah, if I could be doing
anything, I think landscaping iskind of where that mindset went
.
Not just landscaping, butgeneral property, slash grounds,
(08:04):
maintenance and management, so,um, taking, you know, massive
apartment complexes or orwhatever, and you know, just
keeping them beautiful is likethere's there's a, there's a,
there's a need for that yeah,it's a definitely an odd passion
.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Absolutely it is an odd passion.
You're right, it is an oddpassion.
You're right.
I can go right to you, man,there's not a lot of guys out
there that have number one theeyeball.
But if you've looked at a golfcourse every day for six years,
seven years, you get kind of aneye for hey, why is all that
grass looking way taller than itjust sticks out?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, weeds stick out , everything sticks out.
And you know, and somethingwhere someone looked at him,
they go that looks okay.
I'm like, no, this looksterrible, it's covered in weed,
it's covered in in all thisstuff that shouldn't be there.
And, uh, so, yeah, I had the,the.
Uh, that's so cool man, yeah,yeah, so it's been.
It's celebrate that dude, yeahfor sure.
And so I, uh, in a nutshell, Ihad the opportunity to take over
(09:00):
a guy's business, um, right,almost four years ago, uh, three
and a half years, and, uh, hewas just, he had residential, um
, he had about 40 residentialcustomers and then about 10
commercial customers.
That really, um, you know, wasa good foundation for my
business.
And so, uh, the first two years, you know, it sucked I, I
(09:22):
worked my tail, my tail off.
I was out there Saturdays,sundays, breaking my back at
these commercial locations, justtrying to get them you know
where I knew they need to be.
And then All while your friends, don't, nobody understands
Exactly.
They're the entrepreneurialfriends right.
I went from literally sittingin associate buyer meetings with
VPs SVPs at Walmart and SandClub I had at SHOT Show in Las
(09:47):
Vegas.
I sat in three differentmeetings with the C-suite
executives of Winchester, bedronand Rennington You're talking
about billions of dollars tostepping up on a mower on day
one.
You know, and I'm like man,this is what the bottom of the
barrel feels like Like you'retreated, like you are scum of
the earth.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
You do 100%.
It's the stigma behind whatexactly you're highlighting.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, yeah.
So I actually had a guy who Iworked with, worked for at
ConAgra, who he saw me mowinghis neighbor's lawn.
And I'm turning around and I'mlooking at this tree and I see
this guy sitting back there andI'm like what is this dude doing
?
He's taking pictures of me,like mowing.
And I realized that's the guy Iworked for at ConAgra.
(10:28):
I'm like why would you do that?
That's so weird.
Yeah, that is so Demoralizing,just demoralizing.
Yeah.
So that lit a fire under me towhere I was like okay, you know
now, like I don't have to proveanything to anyone but other
than myself and my family,that's crazy dude.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
for a guy to stand there and take pictures of you.
What to share with his otherwhite-collar buddies.
Yeah, oh look, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I just hate everything about that.
Yeah, absolutely, it wasdemoralizing.
Anyways, monday through Friday,I would work and have, you know
, me and two other guys helpingme, and uh, and then after I get
done working, I would gosolicit business at apartment
complexes and, dude, I'd hit.
I'd hit, you know, 30 apartmentcomplexes in a week just trying
to to get them to see my faceand and to to get my foot in the
(11:21):
door.
And finally, um, through lotsof prayer and faith you had, I
got called on, my apartmentcomplex led to another one.
Then, within three to fourmonths, I had four apartment
complexes.
That To domino effect, yes, andit was awesome.
And so that was definitelydriven by help through prayer
(11:42):
and stuff and faith.
And so that's where of that'swhere I've, I'm growing and it's
not easy.
It's not not an easy growingpain, but, no, I still have a
lot that I'm learning and a lotthat I I take away on a weekly
basis and, um, I just feel likeit's a time game at this point.
So it's like you ain't lying,buddy, getting, I'm getting
(12:03):
website built, I'm, I'mrebranding my business, I'm, I'm
doing all these things now towhere it's like, okay, all of a
sudden it's.
You can see this new businesscome out.
It's gonna be like dang.
They just kind of popped up oneday, and so good for you, man
yeah we'll see what happensmaybe, maybe once uh to rebrand
and everything.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Maybe we'll have you back on the show, or maybe we
need to talk more about theYouTube stuff that we've got
coming with the channel and howwe're going to celebrate other
businesses.
It's some really cool stuff inthe works behind the scenes, but
anyways, man, what an embodiedstory to sit there and what you
guys don't understand.
(12:41):
Here in Northwest Arkansas weare covered up with corporate
America.
You have the largest globalretailer in the entire world's
just built a 345 acre campus and, it's funny, the retail layout
center.
The uh fire suppression overyour head.
We did all the underground firesuppression for that.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah.
So we did five of the buildingsout there and figured out that
during that construction is notsomething we want to be a part
of.
It wasn't set up for us.
But man, to be sitting there, Ithink you can be so relatable,
my guy, to a guy that could besitting there looking out his
cubicle, listen to this podcastand go man, all these guys,
(13:22):
what's the difference?
You know, you got obviouslylike go from a the corporate
America grind.
But that's literally from whatI understand.
I've never walked in it myself,but it's literally every three
to five years.
You're well, this pathway ofadvancement.
Uh, are we getting axed or arewe moving to a different unit or
are you going to a differentcompany?
(13:43):
And in this area, guys,northwest Arkansas is home of
Walmart.
It's home of JB Hunt, one ofthe largest trucking companies
in the lower 48.
We've got Tyson Chicken and alltheir headquarters are right
here in these two counties.
There is a lot of executive,which is great for guys like us
in the blue collar world becauseit drives money into the market
(14:03):
, right.
But at the same time, I knowthere's got to be one or two
folks and I hope you guys reachout to me.
They're sitting there going.
Man, I am so tired of lookingat spreadsheets, I am so sick
and tired of looking on a 70degree day, looking out my
window, wishing I was out thereand let's talk to those, those
people.
Now that you're on the otherside of this, matt, you've,
(14:26):
you've, I guess, got forced intothat leap of faith.
But isn't that funny how godjust closes doors to open one,
absolutely, and spin around.
Talk to that person that'ssitting in that cubicle.
That was you that hasn't justdone it yet.
Yeah, yeah, what do you say tothem, man?
It's hard.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Um, you gotta have.
I had somebody who, who helpedpush me off the ledge, um,
backing financially, which wasit was critical, but it wasn't
like, oh, here I'm gonna, I'mgonna pay for your, I'm gonna
give you a salary for the next.
No, I wish, push me off theledge by helping me take over
this guy's business.
(15:04):
Um, and it wasn't much money,but he helped me take over this
guy's business, who we all haveto.
Yeah, to get a start, and Markhad built a great foundation, um
, you know, but he, I knew wheremy vision was going and and
what I wanted.
So, yeah, that that firstcouple weeks into that job with
(15:24):
a child, and it was scary, but Ibuckled down and you gotta know
where to put your money in theright place.
And you gotta, all of a suddenit was like, oh, wait a minute,
I just drained all my money tobuy equipment.
But then give me two or threeweeks.
I'm like, oh, all a minute, Ijust drained all my money to buy
(15:46):
equipment.
But then give me like two orthree weeks.
I'm like, oh, all that money isright back where it was.
Isn't that funny?
So, yeah, so it kind of figuredout real quick in that first
winter and actually I took overthe business in October, which
was dumb, right Like I'm takingover this guy's landscaping
business.
All the businesses are going todie in December.
And so October, november, I satthere and I took all of his
(16:10):
commercial customers that were.
You know, he was in his early60s and he would just bill them
for the work that he did as hewent, so he'd do something and
then write them an invoice forit and they pay well.
So I got all those commercialclients on contract so that I
had money coming in in January,february, march and so, and then
(16:34):
that kind of gave me time todigest everything and figure out
.
You know, here's what I need todo next and all the next steps.
So when I look back at it waslike man doing this in october
was stupid, but it was really auh, it worked out.
So I don't know, just a leap offaith and yeah, it was.
Yeah, yeah.
(16:55):
Now you know, january, februarycomes and we get get a foot or
two of snow and you got to beout clearing apartment complexes
and and it's not very fun.
Those are the times where I'mlike dang it, I miss my
corporate life.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Should I put a freaking additive in my diesel
to start it up in negative 20?
Yes, sir, you probably shouldhave.
Damn yeah, we learned one there.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I did it the same way , dude, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Nobody taught me these things.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
You just go out and do it and you fail exactly.
You figure it out, you don'tlet it happen again, it's a
corporate america man.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Listen, you're another year, you're another
three years or five years awayfrom a demotion, promotion or
getting your jab axed.
You could deal with thedemoralizing.
You know it's funny that guy'sleaning out.
I can literally picture thisguy leaned up against a tree
trying to be sneaky, trying totake pictures of yeah, and he
fired me from ConAgra.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That was the first job I'd ever been fired from.
I was on Upward Progression incorporate America and six months
into that ConAgra role I washired as a sales analyst on
their biggest desk.
It was a multi-billion dollardesk on ConAgra.
You know, is it me Like what?
(18:11):
What happened here?
And it was just, you know,looking back, I'm like that.
That was.
I was just in the, in the wrongplace.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You were probably threatening a few individuals.
Maybe so, maybe I don't know so, but isn't that funny.
That dude who probably satthere in the same desk this is
so full circle probably satthere in the same desk at 26
years old and went.
Man, this really sucks, but ifI don't buckle down and stay in
(18:38):
this, I can't go do anythingelse.
And here he is, 30, 40 years,whatever, through corporate
America schmuck let's call himPoussey who jumped off on a leap
of faith, literally walked thisroad that nobody, nobody
excepta resource like BlueCollar Business, is here to help
(19:01):
you navigate getting from okay,working in corporate America to
owning and operating a bluecollar, any type of skilled
trades business you know,including landscape.
But yeah, I would agree with you, october, wouldn't?
I would not advise october.
But at the same time, dude, wedon't always get dealt at double
(19:21):
aces on our first texas hold'emdraw, you know what I mean.
Like sometimes you gotta gothrough a couple of hands of
seven deuce and bluff your waythrough it, fake it till you
make it, and then you finallyyou do get a couple of pocket
aces and you play the handoutand it works out for the first
time and you're like yeah whatdid I just do?
because I need to do that again.
Man, this, this is working out,and but it's you know.
(19:44):
Instantly you forget about thenine months that I wasn't
working out.
Yeah, you know, and it's justgrinding.
So, uh, to corporate america,if you're sitting there in that
desk, take a leap.
I hope you go jump on aplumbing crew or a freaking
electrician's crew, or I justhad, uh, jerry hoy with jerry's
plumbing in here.
I mean, these guys will pay fortheir schooling and we need new
(20:06):
guy, new farmers making afortune.
Oh, my god, dude, if you're amaster in a fortune, master
electrician in this area it'sridiculous, they can pay.
This is what blew my mind're amaster electrician in this area?
It's ridiculous, they can pay.
This is what blew my mind.
I had an electrician buddy, twomasters or a master in a
journey.
He can bill by the hour morethan I can bill for an excavator
(20:28):
and an operator.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Because people, two electricians, $150 an hour,
whatever, whatever it takes,you'll get it done in four hours
but a guy in a machine chargingyou $150, what do you mean?
This machine, I'm like dude'sgot an S10 full of pickup, full
of tools, and I've got $300,000worth of machines in your yard.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Right what?
That's actually a really goodway it's so.
I never thought about it thatway.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
But, like to these guys that are listening, that
could be in a corporate Americain four years.
If you're like Matt, that youwere younger and you got in it
younger and you struck on theopportunities and went through
that advancement train, that'sgreat.
But in four years you couldhave your master's license in
just about any skilled trade.
But circling back here, man,let's talk a little bit about
landscaping and the seasonalwork.
It sounds like the old Ishouldn't say old the prior
owner of your businessessentially would just do a
bunch of work, bill for it,collect when he could, kind of
(21:32):
thing.
There wasn't really anyfluidity to it.
But how, how did you walk usthrough and some and some of the
audience members, how you madethat transition Cause you
briefed over that really quick.
But let's shine some light onthat because you took a business
that was contract based meaninghey, invoice, pay me to a
(21:55):
contract-based business andspread that out over 12 years.
So talk about a little bitabout that if you don't mind,
and why you did that.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Obviously, we understand cashflow, but yeah,
so now, okay, remember, I tookover, say, give or take, you
know 40 to 50 customers from him.
Now I have zero of of hiscustomers.
That's how I took care of thatunderstood okay, you go in, you
build your own business andbecause those customers who have
been paying him for 20 years,like you know, thank you guys
(22:26):
for helping me get to where Idid, but you know they they're
so used to to X, for Y and forservice, times have changed my
guy.
I'm just not a guy who's gonnatake on work just to take on
work like I did it.
I did the hustle six, sevendays a week and it got to a
(22:48):
point where I'm like, man, thisjust isn't, this isn't and worth
it, man, it's not worth it.
Nope.
So you gotta learn how to sayno.
But that takes time.
You can't do that at first.
You gotta, you gotta do, youknow, you gotta do whatever it
takes at those first two, three,however many years just to to
keep stay floating.
(23:09):
And, uh, my ex-wife, we used to, she used to.
Well, you're working all thetime, you know, because I'd get
off work, I'd go home, I'dinvoice, I would, you know, do
the bids and estimates and I'mlike, no, I'm not, I'm not
working all the time, I'm reallynot, I'm, I'm trying to keep my
business alive, yep, and sokeeping, keeping it's a hard
viewpoint.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah it versus working all the time is those
are.
Those are two different thingsWorking in the business, working
on the business.
And there is, you're right, youcan't work in the business and
on the business at the same time.
I've tried to do it, bro.
It drove me literal to an pointof insanity and I couldn't do
it anymore.
But at the same time, there'sso many guys listening, just
like yourself.
You didn't know any other waythan just to do it, yeah, yeah,
just do it.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Just get out there and do it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Or you know there is resources.
You know when you're firststarting early.
Not to cut you off, you're myguy but like I see so many guys
that sit there and go home, andespecially with a business like
yours, you're more invoice heavyand transactional heavy than we
are at PsyCon.
Like we may do 10 invoices amonth and we bill out on the
(24:17):
20th.
That's what we do.
It's a 30 day cycle.
It's anyways don't get mestarted on that, but anyways.
So you were running invoicestyle business and keep keep
walking us through how youtransition into contract.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Sorry, contractual business.
Yeah, so I just took what hewas essentially here's what, I
think, mark, you're paying himand these commercial guys, they
knew they could run thespreadsheets and tell me exactly
how much they paid him lastyear.
And so I said, okay, let's justbreak that over 12 months and
you just pay me that over 12months.
(24:52):
And so year one worked, it wasfine.
Year two I'm like oh, this is,you know, you start learning,
you really learn and, uh, youknow, learn what things are
worth to you and how much youneed to to keep survive and keep
growing.
And you learn your costs too.
Um, yeah, maybe going backsaying that I don't have any of
(25:12):
those customers anymore probablydidn't sound that good.
But on the flip side, yeah, yougot to go in and grow your.
You got to build your ownreputation, your own business.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Anybody that's been in three or four years man, they
know exactly what you mean,yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So, um, yeah, it's just a, it's just a balance
between, uh, keeping thosepeople and if, if you can, can,
if you can raise that price withthat current clientele, awesome
, great are you, you know?
Good luck yeah, but it's a hardconversation because they've
been paying well, mark, hadn'traised my prices in 20 years and
(25:45):
you're coming and raising myprice.
I'm like, oh man, yeah, I'msorry, oh my gosh to say, but I
mean other than so, followingthat along.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It's funny, man.
Year two, year three, you start.
You just think me this isspeaking about me, not mad here.
I literally thought if I couldrevenue millions of dollars, it
didn't matter what the cost was.
Yes, you know, there was enoughmoney that yeah.
Oh boy, was I so freaking wrong?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
and it was it?
Speaker 1 (26:13):
more money on the top , the more I had to concentrate
on the pennies.
And so I thought, chasingrevenue and pushing revenue,
well, that ain't for nothing.
What you make on the bottomline and all those numbers in
between can't grow anyways.
But literally, my dude, secondyear it sounds like you figured
(26:34):
out your cost and you figuredout that, oh, obviously I
probably can't do it for whatyou're trying to do it for,
because he gave you that pricein 1997, my guy, it's 2023.
Gallon of gas is 350 a gallon,not $1.10 anymore.
I'm sorry, and it's not likeyou don't want, because it's
weird.
As a business owner you want tocapture everybody, you want to
(26:57):
help everybody.
But in the first year or twoyou're like you can't say no to
your point man.
You're just like yep, yep, yep,yep, yep, yep.
But then you start learningthrough your experience of
running through all these yeses,of what's soaking up all of
your time and what's eaten upyou know, basically the majority
of your revenue that's notturning into profitable revenue.
(27:17):
And so through the second year,third year, you really start to
build your cost and you knowthat if Jose and Marcus are
there to mow this lawn andyou've been sending it for a
hundred bucks and they can doeight of them a day.
You know for a fact that in ayear's time, as long as they're
doing that again, they'rehopefully being profitable.
(27:38):
You know what I mean.
But then you start looking atit and you're like well, this
cost has changed.
Well, we added a personindirect here, oh, to help
manage the fluidity of oursystems and all this.
Well, man, actually our priceneeds to go up to cover our just
year month to month costs.
So how do you do that?
(27:59):
Well, you have to do that toyour customer or lower your
costs, vice versa, right?
So anyways, I just wanted topoint out literally, do that and
grow.
there's to do that and growexactly you know, you bottleneck
yourself as a business ownerand literally I'm literally
going through it.
Nine years in, I'mbottlenecking again because of
(28:20):
how people I think the wordwould be affected me personally
through business and damaged mementally and emotionally as a
business owner that I didn'twant to go back down and open my
heart into that path again.
So but if you cut thebottleneck off and just let and
(28:40):
let the river flow, man, and getout of your own way, man, the
places you can go, but realquick guys here.
I just want to jump in here andshine a little light on blue
collar performance marketing.
These guys, I have man.
We have got some really coolthings in the work at blue
collar performance marketing.
These guys, I have man, we havegot some really cool things in
the work at Blue CollarPerformance Marketing.
I'm actually going to begetting involved there.
Stay tuned for that.
(29:02):
Coming down the pipe, saikhan isgoing to be kind of blending
some lines with Blue CollarPerformance Marketing.
So if you want to hear a littlebit more about that, reach out
to them.
You can get them atbcperformancemarketingcom
backslash bcb podcast.
You'll get a free,comprehensive discovery call
checking out your entiremarketing campaign.
So, essentially, if you got awebsite and you're in.
(29:23):
Everybody told you to get awebsite, but your website's not
doing anything.
Give us a ring.
We're going to tell you, numberone, why it's not doing
anything and number two, whatdirection, and build you some
strategy and hopefully point youguys in the right direction.
So give Ike and them boys acall over there, and I'm excited
to hear about your story andhow they can help you further
(29:45):
your business in the marketinggame.
So give them a ring.
So, matt, how many crews we gotnow let's talk about now Three
crews now.
Average crew three guys.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
So we got nine guys.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You got anybody in the office Me?
Oh, I just hustled all myself.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Oh so do you?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
I would love to see your personality test.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah, it goes from one to the other?
Oh, because you know what I did.
The same thing, man.
I did the same thing for years.
But I will tell you right now,I could not do what I do today
without the ladies in my office.
I would be host.
But when I was sitting in thesame seat that you are going,
what's less important than I canpass off, because it's all so
(30:34):
important in, especially in yourhead too?
You're like, well, okay, if, ifthis is marked a little bit
differently on the invoice thanTim the accountant's not going
to see it and not pay it andpush it out 15 days and I know
that they're not going to knowthat and or it's, uh, I, it's a
supply house, I'm checkingwhatever it is, man, but you
(30:55):
don't ever know what you canactually start to pass off yeah
sure you know and how many likeyou're probably doing.
Probably 40, 50 invoices a month, I would assume.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Right for sure yeah, maybe not that much.
Mine's pretty, uh, reoccurringbusiness invoices.
Okay, um, yeah, back to that.
The springtime it gets heavierbecause I do, we do some one-off
jobs and I always take thoseone-off jobs.
I'm like, why did I do this?
You know, just stick where I'mI'm good at.
And so, um yeah, the definitelyspringtime gets heavier.
(31:28):
And then as I grow and, and youknow, continue to prove myself,
then then we do get morebusiness from my core customers
outside the contract.
So, and that's great to have,for sure, so, but not super,
most of my invoicing is is, youknow, reoccurring.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I just kind of said it.
You use the software.
Yeah, I use QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
You.
Okay, I think I'm going tostart asking that question.
By the way, episode number 40,guys, this is insane.
I just thought of that.
Sorry, I just saw it on mypaper, but I think from here on
out, I'm going to start askingevery guest that comes in here
in the skilled trades business,because we're so scared to death
of software and you know what Imean.
(32:17):
And you, coming from corporateAmerica, you understand the
utilization of an Excelspreadsheet.
You already have a jumpstart onme and all these other guys
that literally are just likewell, I'm good at digging, let's
do a digging business.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
You know what I mean, like we didn't know what a
spreadsheet was yeah, I took myanalyst experience and I'm like
building let's do a diggingbusiness, you know what I mean,
like we didn't know what aspreadsheet was.
Yeah, I took my endlessexperience and I'm like building
out all these differentspreadsheets to the start and I
still run off those today andit's like it's simplified.
It's amazing dude.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
That is so cool that you're already to that level,
buddy, because you're not onlyfor you but for the people that
you're going to train.
You're going to be able tobuild them systems and processes
and be able to show them onpaper.
And that's where a lot of usblue-collar guys straight up out
of high school, we fail becausewe think systems and processes
(33:02):
and spreadsheets are for thewhite-collar folk.
We don't need them.
But you can't move withoutthose telling you where to move
to.
But it takes time.
So, just, there's so much valueyou have that God put you
through the corporate Americagrind and the mess of what that
(33:24):
is.
But man, you've got such aprofessionalism on emails Like
I've got guys that are 24, 25years old scared to death to
send a damn email, scaredcompletely to death to send a
damn email, scared completely todeath, and I'm.
But here you are been talkingwith billionaire board members
and having to email traffic andunderstand the professionalism,
and here now you arerepresenting yourself.
(33:44):
You're already a level abovesome of the guys in your market,
my guy.
So I just wanted to shine somelight on that, but literally so
from here, I heard you referenceto another really good
highlight that I want to shedlight on is keep the main thing,
(34:04):
the main thing.
And as soon as you, I do thesame dang thing too, because we
struggle with saying no andwe're like, yeah, dude, we can
do that, ain't no big deal,that's going to slide perfect in
this little schedule hole.
And then it rains for sevenweeks and you're all your other
customers are backed up, but youtold them you were going to hit
this week.
So you're like all right, lookguys, it's rained a little bit.
(34:25):
I got to back up two weeks.
Whoa, what do you mean, man,I've done all this other stuff.
Well, I have other customersthat I, you know, that I adhere
to first and I need you to know.
Well, we'll just find somebody.
Sorry, guys, we'll just findsomebody else.
Come on, dude, you know what Imean.
It's like, why did I?
And it's those it's alwaysthose jobs that you get so
(34:58):
involved with to pre-contractthat you're like all right, this
is what we're going to do, thisis the simplest.
You guys are going to be sohappy when it's done.
It's going to cost you a littlebit of extra money, but trust
me, it'll get there.
This is exactly what you needto do and then you have a little
scheduling conflict or, godforbid, it rains in our world,
right bub, and then spin around.
They act like you have justliterally killed their dog
because you need to move aschedule back.
Now it's on us to ensure thatwe're communicating.
We're not doing that the daybefore.
Anybody's going to befrustrated about it the day
(35:19):
before.
But if we're sending an emailout, hey guys, two weeks
beforehand, we're going to haveto move.
Work with us guys, justspreadsheet guys, like I
understand we're a totallydifferent breed, but there's got
to be some flexibility.
And especially residentialcustomers like homeowners.
They seem to be the worst.
Yeah, yeah, how many resiclients are you running?
Speaker 2 (35:43):
I hate it.
It's not to me.
It's just not worth it.
It's not.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Yeah, why.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Why in your world it's too much of a headache.
I'm running around like aheadless chicken and there's too
much commercial business herewho, because of my professional
background, I can go in andsecure those contracts and not
have to deal with the generalpublic.
And so, yeah, those guys who dodeal with the general public
(36:12):
like, yeah, you can go out andmake a bunch more money dealing
with them, but that's the guysthat you go and I turn down a
lot of work because I'll get toa job estimate and the homeowner
will be like you know, I was acivil engineer.
They start talking to me aboutgrading and perfect, and it's
going to drain this way and itneeds to be four degrees that
way, and I'm like you need tocall someone else.
(36:33):
I this way, it needs to be fourdegrees that way, and I'm like,
uh, you need to call someoneelse.
Yeah, I don't want to deal withyou.
Yep, and so the, the, thecommercial people, they, you
know, the only time that theywant to talk to me is when they
are at work.
They don't want, they're notgoing to call me when they leave
work, because that's their jobwhile they're at work is to take
care of that stuff, and so um,that's exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
And the the the other reason for me shedding the
residential world was in thecommercial world.
And you may, as I have, donethat clear scope of work.
You have to pay me.
(37:16):
Yeah, there was no.
Well, jimmy's wife down theroad said it needed to be
different.
And let's go ahead and redo thissection because Jimmy's wife
knows more than you do.
But didn't you hire me as aprofessional?
And then it would be oh, Ican't tell you how many times
Karen would get home.
And you know you and Johnny hadgot all this figured out for
(37:36):
the past three weeks.
Well, he didn't even tell MissKaren that this was happening.
And Karen comes out there,pissed off that you got a
machine in the middle of herfreaking daisies.
What do you mean?
I asked Johnny about thedaisies six times.
Well, he never taught.
And then you're in the middleof a marital argument and you're
like I'm just trying tofreaking dig your septic up, sis
.
Like I'm sorry, yes.
(37:59):
So when I found out that thecommercial world had a set of
prints and I can train guys tolook at the prints and hand the
prints over and go hey, go dothis and we get paid, that's a
repeatable model for me, right?
Yeah, for sure.
All right, buddy, I've got onelast question for you.
The same question I ask everysingle person that comes here
(38:20):
and I think you may have apretty eclectic answer here.
My guy, for the blue collarworker who is just stuck and is
just sick and tired of beingstuck in the mud man, mentally,
emotionally, what is he doing?
Man?
Or maybe that corporate Americaschmuck that we were talking
about earlier?
No offense to anybody, but howdo they keep going and change
(38:42):
direction and get out of wherethey're at?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Man, have a vision of the know where you want to go
and what you want to do.
Number one, number two, don'ttry and do you know, 80
different things to get to thatvision.
Have one set vision and then,if you have to do 80 different
things to make that happen, thendo it.
But you know, at the end of theday, whenever you get, find
(39:05):
what you're really good at andstay focused and call vision in
on that.
And so you know, that's why Ialways go back to, like Sam
Walton, you know, he startedwith one grocery store and then
he had a thousand.
Why?
Because he was really good atthe grocery store.
Point.
He was the richest man in theworld.
He was in the grocery storebusiness.
He could, but didn't, you know,diversified into 50 different
(39:26):
businesses, but he did.
He stuck to the grocery storebusiness and they became really
good at it and that's whythey're the largest brick and
mortar retailer in the worldtoday.
And so, um, have a vision,surround yourself with people
who are like-minded with you, um, and then, and then talk to
people and, and, and, you know,talk to older people who have
more wisdom and, and, you know,have experience and, and you
(39:50):
know, build those relationshipswith the right people, who can,
who can help you jump into whatyou want to do, and so sometimes
just a little push is all itneeds.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Literally yeah, literally, I think I talk about
it.
I have probably said the wordrelationship in all 40 episodes
of BlueCollarBusinessPodcastcom,but it's so key, dude, yeah, it
is so key.
Business is relationships.
Isn't it funny that you gotthat one first contract and all
of a sudden you got three orfour more, because it's probably
(40:23):
Karen saying man, I got thisnew kid on the block, man, and I
signed him up and man, we'reabout three months in and he's
flat killing it.
Who you got over there?
Well, well, here's his contact.
And then you're already in thisgroup.
You're right, man, if you canuse that professionalism to get
up to a different table thatmost people can't sit at, or
they can sit but can't speak at,man, you're already ahead of
(40:47):
the game and and you're justgoing to keep growing.
I can't wait to watch you.
I'm so freaking proud of you,dude.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
And you also, you know.
Another thing too is you gottabe, you gotta be able to juggle
Like you can't be afraid to wearevery single hat in your
business uh, no matter what.
So you're, you're not justgoing into one business, you're
going into multiple differentthings.
So that's why that's why Idon't I I'm not to a point yet
to where I feel like I need tohire another office person.
(41:15):
It's like because I've juggledit, I can juggle it, as long as
I can continue to juggle it.
And at some point in timewithin the next year or two, I
will need more help with it, butuntil then, then, we'll just
take one day at a time.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
No, I feel you.
I got to bring up one pointthere that most blue collar
folks don't know.
I've had some fractional folkshere on the show but most of us
we just don't understand.
But fractional CFO, fractionalproject management, fractional
system builder like you can goout and hire experts in their
(41:51):
field that fractionally help youwith your business and man,
I've done that with fourdifferent folks in the first
part of this year, six months in, and I can tell you I wish I
would have done it five yearsago.
Yeah, tell you avoid burnout.
Oh my gosh, if it wasn't forthem, I would be.
Yeah man, but it also stemmedand led from my own ego and my
(42:15):
own not wanting to self-reflectin the fact that, you know, I'm
damaged from how peoplepersonally treated me through
what I was trying to do for themor the company or whatever that
may be, reflect and go.
I can't let this stop us fromgrowing Right.
(42:36):
So, anyways, these fractionalfolks have come in and not only
have they helped me do things,but they've also sharpened iron
man.
They call me out when I start.
Well, I can do this.
Well, can you?
Though?
Here's these numbers that yousaid you could.
And I'm like dang, you knowthat entrepreneurial visionary
that most of us are.
(42:57):
You have to be you kind ofwheel that back just a little
bit.
But, man, I could not evenfathom where I could be sitting
here in this seat right now in adifferent position, if I would
have dialed back that ego andpushed off and delegated some
more tasks to the experts so Ican go out and do what I'm
supposed to do, and that's sell,Literally.
(43:18):
I'm hiring an operationsmanager, right, freaking now.
Hey, go to psychonexccom ifyou're at the last little bit of
this episode.
If you're a heavy civil-mindedrelationship builder, I am
looking for an operationsmanager.
Shoot your resume in over atpsychonexccom A small little
shameless plug there.
But I'm telling you thatbecause I have so much other
(43:43):
crap and I'm passionate about inmy life that I'm now being drug
into.
It's not fair to my crews, tothe ladies up front, to my
estimators up front, that I'mthe cog in the wheel that slows
everything down.
That's not fair, and I had goodconversation with everybody in
the team.
(44:04):
Is this the direction we needto go?
And, man, the feedback I gotwas insane.
Yes, we kind of do, and it'shard for them to look at me and
go hey, we need to replace yourass.
You know what I mean.
That's difficult and it wasdifficult for me to hear, but it
was the reassurance from themthat I'm like, oh my God, I am
the bottleneck and it was justthis relevating experience.
(44:25):
So hiring an ops manager so Ican stick over here in the sales
lane, be that people's person,be the person that folks want to
deal with and get their realestate development done or their
commercial project done withand know that I'm going to help
them walk through the wholeprocess and that's what I'm good
at, my guy.
Don't get me wrong brother.
(44:47):
You have to be, as anentrepreneur, a good operations
manager or you fail.
But there comes a point.
Are you passionate aboutoperations?
Are you freaking passionateabout the numbers coming out?
Or are you passionate aboutreading the numbers at 30 days
from now and analyzing andstrategizing where the business
and developing where it's goingto go?
(45:07):
Man, that's all deep stuff tochew on, you know.
And yeah, it's tough and I'mgetting force-fed this crap
right now.
And then when your team showsup and they're like Cy, it's
time, Like thank you forconcentrating on each and every
one of our roles and buildingjob descriptions and systems and
processes and SOPs, but it'stime to replace you or none of
(45:30):
this is going to work.
Yeah, and I'm like but anyways,I'm in the middle of that, so
I'm trying to practice what Ipreach because, man, the
bottleneck in business is sohard and once you cut the
bottleneck off of it, it's justlet the river flow.
But, guys, where can we findyou at Website Facebook?
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, my website's Facebook on Southern Turf and
Landscape.
But my website's being built atthe moment.
That'll be www.5stargroundscom.
Love it, and so that should golive within the next week or two
, hopefully sooner than that.
And then I got some thingsgoing with marketing and some
(46:13):
other things to try to ramp up alittle bit more.
Bet I got some things goingwith with marketing and and some
other things to, to try to rampup a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Bet, bet, I love it.
Um, go check them out.
Southern turf and landscape.
Yeah, thank you for saying that.
With it I screwed that lawnscape.
I'm sorry, it's the first nameI think I've ever messed up.
But go check them out.
Go check out number 40 episodehere, guys.
Go check out all 39 otherepisodes at
bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom.
(46:39):
If you have a product or aservice that you think needs
highlighted here on the show,become a sponsor there on the
tab on the website.
Shoot that over to us.
I'd love to get in talks withyou guys.
We've got some big thingscoming in that realm for you,
for all of the audience, movingforward.
I'm pretty excited for that.
Leave us a like and a followhere at the end of the episode.
(47:00):
Appreciate you guys so much anduntil then, be safe and be kind
.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like.
Share it with the fellers.
Check out our website to sendus any questions and comments
about your experience in theblue collar business.
Who do you want to hear from?
Send them our way and we'll doour best to answer any questions
you may have.
Till next time, guys.
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