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Hello and welcome to the Lon Hustle, season number one, episode number nine.

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In today's episode, we're going to discuss an old phrase.

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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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Now you might be thinking, what does that have anything to do with me and my lawn care

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business in the year 2024?

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Let's talk about it.

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Sometimes in life, you need to act quickly.

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Thinking too much about a problem does not always help solve the problem.

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In fact, thinking too much about a problem can at times hold us back.

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We have expressions to describe that way of thinking, no time like the present.

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A rolling stone gathers no moss.

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Just do it.

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Or get her done.

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But sometimes slower is better.

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Many things require careful thought and preparations.

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Sometimes we need to be cautious and take precautions.

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A great expression for that kind of thinking and that kind of behavior is an ounce of prevention.

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Is worth a pound of cure.

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This saying comes to us from Benjamin Franklin.

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In addition to being a writer, Franklin was a printer, a political thinker, a politician,

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a scientist, an inventor, a diplomat, and Franklin was one of the founding fathers of

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these great United States of America.

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So Benjamin Franklin was a busy man, yet he always found time to write and to offer

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help and advice to others.

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If Benjamin Franklin were alive today, he would probably make a good living as a life

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coach.

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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is one of his most famous sayings.

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Now Franklin lived in the 1700s before the metric system took effect in Europe.

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The word ounce means something very, very small.

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In fact, it's two one hundredths of a kilogram.

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So his expression meant that when dealing with a problem, spending a small amount of

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time and effort early on is a good investment.

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It can save you more trouble in the end.

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It is better to take precautions than to suffer severe consequences later.

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So what does that have to do with you?

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What does that have to do with me?

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We are in the lawn care business.

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The spring rush is upon us.

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Mulch madness has begun.

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I received an email from Google.

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My Google page received 105 contacts so far this month.

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You're fixing to be extremely busy.

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I am going to be extremely busy.

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And it is better to take precautions than to suffer severe consequences later.

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A small amount of time now, a small amount of effort now is a good investment in our

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business.

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You might ask, what are you saying?

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Before the rush starts, now is the time to service all of your equipment.

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It doesn't matter how many mowers you have.

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It doesn't matter how many handheld blowers and trimmers and hedge trimmers.

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Now is the time if you have one or you have 10.

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Now is the time to service what you have.

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The first Monday of every October.

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I put my plows on, my spreaders on, and I do a dry run.

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I make sure there's no problem with the plow angling to the right, angling to the left,

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putting it in scoop mode, putting it in V mode, raising and lowering it.

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I hit the spinner button on the spreader controller to make sure everything is functioning the

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way that it should.

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Why do I do that?

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I'm investing a little time and a little effort before the snow flies, so when it does come,

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I'm not caught off guard.

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I have preached this to some of my local friends, and I have seen some follow my steps and do

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it, and others get caught off guard when the snow flies and their plow don't function.

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So I am better off taking that first Monday in October, putting a little effort into putting

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the plow on and the spreaders on and doing a dry run.

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So I know in November or December, when we get our first accumulating snow that we're

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good to go.

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We're ready, we're prepared.

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And as soon as we reach a snow trigger, we can go keep our businesses open, keep our

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residents open, so they have access in and out of their property in case of an emergency

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or in case emergency services needs to reach them.

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There's access.

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I would feel terrible if someone was depending on me and there was a situation where I couldn't

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service their property because I wasn't prepared and something happened to that homeowner because

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emergency services could not reach them.

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I would feel devastated.

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So I put forth a little effort early so I'm prepared later.

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So the spring rush, mulch madness.

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It's here.

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In Indiana, where I'm from, the grass is starting to turn green.

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It's early this year.

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We're going to have an early spring.

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The groundhog has verified that.

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It's not going to be long until the grass is growing and in that early spring season,

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I call it the rapid growth season.

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To where the grass is growing like its own steroids, it's hard enough to keep up with

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it when everything is running smoothly.

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You have a breakdown early on in the spring and your properties can get out of control,

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which is going to lead to upset customers.

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And potentially you could lose a few customers and your business suffer.

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So now is the time to pull those mowers in the shop, jack them up, scrape your deck,

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put sharp blades on.

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I like to start my season off with new blades.

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Change your oil, change your air filter, change your gas filter.

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If it's time, according to your manufacturer, if it's time for you to change your hydro

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filter and your hydro fluid, do that.

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Make sure you follow your manufacturer's recommendations.

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The last thing that you or the last thing that I need is for when the spring rush starts,

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for us to be in the field and something happened and a mower go down or a piece of equipment

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go down and we can't finish the job.

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Or the trimmer wants to bulk down when you pull the trigger or the blower wants to bulk

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down and it's not blowing like it should all because you did not do anything to prevent

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an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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Now is the time while it is maybe a little slower for you to start servicing doing dry

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runs.

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I just this week finished putting belts on servicing the mowers and we are ready to go

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as soon as the grass is green and growing.

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We're ready to go on day number one because I spent a little time and put forth a little

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effort early and invested early in my business.

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I don't have to worry about day one, week one, month one about equipment failure.

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Now I know things can happen.

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I know you can service your equipment and change the oil every 50 hours and do exactly

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what your brand recommends and something can still happen.

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I understand that.

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I'm talking about some things that we can prevent from happening because we put forth

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a little effort.

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We invest a little time.

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So get your equipment serviced now.

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Be prepared now.

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Be ready to go on day one.

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Now let's shift gears.

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Not only does your equipment need to be prepared, you need to be prepared.

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I need to be prepared.

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Let's face it, over the winter, if you're anything like me, you gain a few pounds because

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we're not going as much.

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So I need to prepare my body, my mind right now for that spring rush.

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Start walking a little bit.

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Maybe cut back on a few of the cookies and the snacks and the soft drinks.

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Start preparing your body for the rush and the hustle of the spring season.

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You would be surprised how much better you'll feel when day one comes if you start preparing

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right now.

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Prepare your body.

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Prepare your mind.

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Start thinking about and looking at your schedule and in your mind, preparing yourself for the

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work that you have to do.

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The sole purpose of this podcast is to be a help.

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I've been in business for 15 years.

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And if there's something that I can say that will help you find success and help you to

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run your business smoother and more profitable, that's what I want to do.

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So thank you for joining.

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You can always follow us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.

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You can email me.

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You can call me.

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I'm available.

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Tune in next week for another episode of the Lawn Hustle.