16 years of experience in the green industry
and Tonight we have a special guest all the way
from Australia Gary Ashton. Thank you for joining
the lawn hustle It's a pleasure Andy. I was fortunate
enough to invite you to Come on to my podcast
for the Australian lawn industry and yeah return
the favor and do an episode each well tell our
listeners the name of your podcast and where
they can listen to your podcast. So the podcast
is Aussie Lawn Stars. And sorry for the accent
for your listeners. I'm sure they'll struggle
with this. Aussie Lawn Stars is the podcast.
It is available on all podcast platforms. The
easiest place to find it is either Spotify or
YouTube. Well, let's jump right in. Tell us how
did you get started in the lawn care industry?
And what made you take the leap into running
a lawn care business? Yeah, so I've been in the
industry for 15 years now. So I started just
after you by the sounds of it. And I was working
for an insurance company 15 years ago. And so
it's getting close to 16 years ago, actually.
The insurance company was not that great to work
for. I enjoyed the job, but the pressure. was
not great. And when I got a bonus for saving
them one and a half million dollars, the fifty
dollar bonus just was a bit of a slap in the
face. So what was your first year in business
like? And is there something that you wish somebody
would have told you early? Yes, so my first year
was in 2010. And I took a career break, so paid
career break, paid parental leave and annual
leave. And I took 12 months to start the business
where I had the option of still going back to
my old job. So in that time, I didn't understand
business skills very well. And I made a lot of
mistakes. So I didn't make a lot of money in
that first 12 months. One of the things I wish
is that there was industry podcasts back then
that obviously make a massive difference to people
starting up now. You get armed with all of that
information from the podcasts like yours and
mine. And it helps to make sure people know what
things they need to think about when they're
starting a business. So I wish I had that. And
I think the thing I'd like to refer to when I'm
interviewing people and when I'm looking at what
makes the biggest difference in business nowadays
is having systems in place. Now, you may remember
when you started, Andy, when I started, I had
systems in place, but they were default go to
things that I did rather than systems that I
actually thought out and planned well. So a lot
of them were pretty miserable failures in the
initial days. Well, what was your biggest mistake
you made? in the beginning and how did you overcome
it? So can I say two things instead of just one?
Absolutely. Pricing was a big mistake and it
took changing accountants and my new accountants
sat down with me and said you're not charging
enough, you're undercharging and that took me
a while to get my head around too because I thought
I was charging a fair amount and You know what
it's like when you set a price in your head and
you think that's the right amount to charge for
a particular job, then you convey that to your
customers with a little bit of confidence. But
if you're then going to your customers and adding
20, 25 % on top of that and saying, hey, this
is the right amount. And that's how far out I
was saying this is the right amount. I struggled
to do that with confidence. Well, what does your
business look like today? And how have you grown
to where you are today? Yeah, so the things that
have changed in that 15 years, I haven't grown
my business a huge amount. I have a business
now which is doing only large commercial grounds.
So I have two contracts and that's it. And I
have two casual employees that work with me.
So in Australia, compared to America, a lot of
businesses in the lawn and landscape industry
are running solo or they have casual employees.
They don't grow the business to have a lot of
employees. And there's still some that do, but
I'm in one of those spaces where I'm quite happy
running a couple of casual employees and a couple
of large contracts that means that I'm busy.
busy enough to keep myself full -time employed
as well as having casual employees that are coming
close to having another full -time employee,
but I spread it over to casuals that works better.
And that gives me plenty of time to podcast.
So I start work at six o 'clock in the morning
before the noise curfews because it's an industrial
site, there is no noise curfew. And then I finish
up by about two o 'clock in the afternoon, five
days a week, chasing interviews with people like
you. I think we talked about on your podcast
the pricing difference there versus here in the
United States. It's a lot more in Australia than
it is here, I believe. Yeah, look, there's a
lot of variables, Andy, and I'll throw a question
back at you with this one, because often... What
I see is people will charge a similar price regardless
of the demographics that they're in. So what
I've noticed recently in Australia is there's
a bit of a price fixation on $80 for a lawn to
be cut. And that's regardless of the size of
it. So if you turn up and you do a lawn that
is going to take one person 20, 25 minutes to
cut. you can charge $80, but if you turn up and
you do a lawn that takes an hour to cut, you're
gonna struggle to charge much more than $80.
So it depends on the demographics, but that's
a reality across Australia. So if you are in
an area where you can get $80 for... 20 to 25
minutes work. You're going to charge more when
you're doing 45 minutes work or an hour's work.
Yeah, you'll charge double. But somebody who's
working in a more regional area where their lawns
are what we refer to quarter acre blocks by comparison
to the smaller ones that are half that size.
Quarter acre would sound would resonate with
the land sizes in America, yeah? So what is your
minimum for a mowing surface? the minimum cut
price? Yes. So for me, I'm only doing large commercial
work. So I tell people now $50 ,000 a year is
my minimum starting price. But if we go back
to residential work, then a lot of people are
going to be at around the 60 to $80 mark as their
minimum on residential jobs. Okay. So what is
your most profitable service that you offer?
Or should I ask first, What services do you offer
and what is your most profitable? So my business
is revolved around maintenance only rather than
doing improvements. So I'm not doing a business
model where we do hard landscaping. do some mulch
installs and a few garden installs but predominantly
what I'm doing is lawn and garden maintenance.
So hedge trimming and lawn mowing and general
garden tidy. So weed spraying, weed pulling.
And that's the bulk of what I'm doing. I find
for myself I package that all into one, so I'm
not putting a higher price or a lower price on
that. And when it comes to doing a mulch install
or a garden install, then I will look at the
costs associated with that job and make sure
that my margin is a healthy ratio. OK, what systems
or tools has made the biggest impact on your
efficiency? What equipment do you use? Oh, I'm
going to hit both of those there. So systems
and tools. So there's a couple of tools that
I have found really have improved my efficiency.
I started 15 years ago with a residential quality
Dixon 42 inch zero turn mower. And now I use
a couple of right standards. So I've got the
standard I 42 inch and I've got the standard
ZK 61 inch and the Productivity levels on the
61 -inch machine are far superior to any other
machine I've used, and I've used quite a few.
But yeah, the productivity levels on that 61
-inch machine with a 37 -horse vanguard on it,
it's just amazing. So that's one. Battery tools
is another massive efficiency gain for me. I
have had a lot of problems with tennis elbow
or golfer's elbow, depending on which way you
swing that one. But... The battery tools, I have
not had any problems while I'm using them. So
the battery tools have been really good, not
just for preventing injury, but also in terms
of operation, they're quiet and effective. I'm
able to recharge them while I'm on the run, so
that's not a problem. And yeah, those are the
tools that I think make the biggest difference
for me. Then systems, I have... I've interviewed
270 odd people since I've been podcasting Andy.
And what I've learned from other people, I've
adopted myself along the way. So the systems
that probably make the biggest difference to
me right now would be having documentation. And
some people might say, oh, that's boring. That's
not a system. Everything we do is a system, whether
it's intentional or not. And so the way you start
your run in the morning, how you pack your tools,
what you tell your employees, everything is a
system. What I've found is that if the system
is in my head, it's reliant on me doing it or
giving directions to an employee to do it. And
that's inefficient. When it's documented, and
I've got clear documentation for employee contract
and... work health and safety policy and standard
operating procedures, then it gives my employees
a sense of confidence that they know what their
expectations are and what their job role is and
if they enjoy it. If they don't have that foreseen
approach where they can go, yeah, we know what
we're doing, then there's a little bit of uncertainty
just in general, but also in their job stability.
So that's a great system. Well, let's talk about
the battery powered equipment for a minute. I
just did a podcast with Danny Hernandez with
all that grass lawn care. And he is... Thank
you. He's transitioning to battery powered equipment.
And I believe you primarily use battery powered
equipment. Is that correct? Correct. So the petrol
tools that I still use are the ride on or stand
on mowers of course and I still have a BR600
backpack blower. So what is your feeling about
battery powered equipment? Is it going to take
over our industry? Are we going to be kind of
pushed into battery powered equipment? or will
gas -powered equipment always be around too?
So, look, I've been at the forefront with battery
-powered equipment in Australia, and I think
Australia versus America, there are slightly
different adoption rates when it comes to battery
power, but I've been using it since 2019, and
actually started testing it in 2018. But what
I've found over that time frame, so we're talking
six, seven years now, is that the battery powered
tools are far superior in a lot of ways. They
have some downsides. So carrying petrol is much
more efficient than carrying batteries when you're
running a tight route density. And you want to
know that your employees and you have the access
to fuel or battery. So battery is a fuel one
way or another. But yeah, carrying gas, as the
Americans call it, we call it petrol here. That's
easier to deal with in general. But the comparison
I've seen here at the moment is that in the commercial
space, there has been a great uptake of battery
powered tools. And outside of the commercial
space, it's almost nonexistent. So even then
in the commercial space, I think it's around
10 to 15 % of contractors in Australia using
battery tools. So certainly I don't see it being
pushed really heavily here. And I don't think
the government is mandating it here other than
one or two small spaces, but in America, you've
got, you know, California rules, which are mandating
a lot of battery powered tools. So I guess it's
just one of those things, Andy, if you look at
cars and the way they've changed in the last
15 years, or your lifetime and my lifetime, cars
have changed hugely. And it's not a matter of
being mandated. It's a matter of going, well,
what do you want? You want something that's current
and fairly efficient to operate. Well, I've had
a brand reach out to me and I'm going to become
a Influencer for this brand And they are sending
me a bunch of battery powered equipment And I'm
excited to use it. I can't wait to get it. It's
gonna be shipped on the 18th of this month so
stay tuned Stay tuned. There's going to be some
content on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook.
And we'll probably do a podcast episode about
it. So I'm excited to work with this brand and
I'm excited to try out the battery powered equipment.
Chris sent me a blower and I've been using it.
Echo sent me a blower and I've been using it.
Cynics sent me a blower and I've been using it
so I like the way they work. I mean just pull
a trigger and go. You don't have to pump it,
prime it, pull a string, any of that. You just
grab it, pull the trigger and start blowing or
start trimming. So do you feel like the battery
powered equipment is more efficient? than gas
powered equipment. Andy, there's a couple of
things that come up there. And I like to say
this, but the battery blowers are a gateway drug.
They really are a lot of fun and so easy to use.
The blower is one of those tools you're just
always sitting there when you pull it out of
the trailer, priming it, pumping it, pull starting
it, and away you go. Whereas the battery blower,
you pull it out. As long as it's got a charged
battery in it, all you gotta do is pull that
trigger. And a lot of battery tools nowadays
don't even have an on -off switch. So some of
the brands I've used, it's just pull the trigger
and away it goes. You've got to be careful. It
doesn't accidentally bump the trigger when it's
in the trailer. So what you'll find comparing
different tools in the battery lineup, you do
get efficiency gains with some tools. The hedge
trimmer is one of the most efficient battery
tools you will find. So one of the... The terminology
that we use talking about battery tools is the
battery capacity. Now you will have different
voltage brands and you'll have a host of different
variables there, but if you look at volts times
amps, that will give you watts, right? So if
you have a 5 amp hour battery that is 36 volts,
you multiply 36 by 5 and that will give you the
amount of watt hours of available electricity.
So that's just one option. So that's 180 watt
hours for anybody who hasn't done the maths.
When you're looking at battery tools, the average
watt hours available on a handheld tool will
be somewhere around 200 to 300 watt hours. Sometimes
that 180 watt hours is fairly common as well.
If you're running a whipper snipper, you can
chew through that battery in five minutes, or
you might get 40 minutes runtime if you're doing
well -maintained grass that is easy for you to
trim. If you look at a hedge trimmer, that same
battery will do three to four hours. And in a
blower, five minutes. Yeah, the hand -held blowers
that I've been sent, the batteries... They run
down pretty quick. But I haven't really noticed
any less power with the battery blowers versus
my steel BR800 or my handheld steel. So I think
the power is about the same. My only hesitation
is that battery life. Trying to get it to last.
long enough to where I can work the entire day
and keep batteries charged and running. What
I've found, because I've interviewed a lot of
guys in Australia that are running battery equipment,
the average brand of battery tool, so there's
variables but the average one, for an individual
person between six and ten batteries to get them
through a day. And what brand? What brand of
battery -powered equipment are you using? I've
played around with a few different brands like
you, so I've predominantly used Husqvarna and
Ego. Okay. Well, have you heard of Greenworks?
Yes, I have indeed and I do like Greenworks.
Greenworks sent me a battery -powered hedge trimmer.
Yeah. And I love that thing. It'll trim anything.
There's not a there's not a shrub too thick or
too tall that that thing will not cut through
And it's battery powered and it will last a good
long time So I'm excited about that but I I really
want to get to the place where I'm following
the industry and I'm not going against the industry.
You know what I mean? If the industry is heading
that direction then I want to head that direction
because I think you either flow with the industry
or you'll get ran over by the industry. Yeah.
Well, I had the the fortune of interviewing still
a few months ago. So I noticed you mentioned
that you've got still battery, not battery, but
petrol powered tools and the still battery line
up that is available now is phenomenal. So that's
another brand that is well worth looking into.
used a couple of steel tools use them when I
interviewed them I had a demonstration with their
tools but I'm still considering different brands
at the moment so I've been using the Husqvarna
and the Ego for a while but most of my batteries
are now at that stage where five six seven years
old and it's time to replace them so that's why
I'm thinking I might try Greenworks or Steel
in Australia we've got another brand called Bushranger
I've never heard of that Yeah, it's an Australian
brand. The Scenics has just come here as well.
So tell us your honest opinion on battery powered.
Is it worth the investment? Because there is
an investment to it. The price of everything
is a little higher when you go to buy the batteries,
the charger, and the piece of equipment. what
brand or what would give someone the best ROL
return on their ROI, I'm sorry, the best return
on their investment. So, look, I'm going to say
this varies, Andy, and if you've got somebody
that's just starting a business. And in Australia,
we refer to our industry as a low barrier to
entry. Anybody can go buy three tools, chuck
them in the back of their hatchback. You would
have heard Paul Jamieson mention that. That's
how I started. Yeah. If you chuck three tools
in your hatchback, you're going to find it a
lot easier if you go down to your local hardware
store and buy a Ryobi. And if you want something
that's going to be commercial quality, then that's
where you can start to find its neck and neck
between the return on investment between battery
and petrol. So with petrol tools you will save
money up front because you're not buying fuel
when you buy the tool, whereas with the battery
tools when you buy the tool you're buying...
a lot of fuel up front. Now yes, you still have
to recharge your batteries, but the cost of recharging
is very low by comparison to the cost of buying
petrol. So those two costs tend to balance each
other out over time. And you find after you've
bought batteries, like I said, I've had between
five and seven years run out of my Husqvarna
batteries. And they're at that stage where they
need to be replaced. So keep in mind each battery
was about $400 to buy. When you're buying battery,
you're making all of your investment up front.
When you buy gas powered, that investment is
every week filling up the gas, the mixed oil.
You got to constantly repair and fix. I've had
so many problems with some of my equipment, with
the screen getting clogged up. and having to
take it out, clean it, burn it off, put it back
on. And we can thank California for all of that,
that we have to deal with. We have that same
issue here. And there is one brand in particular
that is really common for that. We call it the
spark arrestor. That's the screen in your exhaust
that you have to pull out and clean. What most
people do here is they pull it out and, oops,
didn't put it back in. Never blocks up again.
We're going to take a short break and hear a
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onboarding. Eartha Pro, you run the outside work,
we run the office. And we're back with Gary Ashton.
We're happy to have him on the show tonight.
And I was a guest on his podcast last week, and
I enjoyed myself. And I appreciate you being
here tonight. Let's talk about our faith for
just a minute. We are not ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him.
So, let me ask you, Has there been any time in
your business where your faith was challenged
or questioned by maybe a client or a competitor?
Any experience in that? Yeah, Andy, look, I'm
happy to be really raw and real with this. I
started my business in a very tumultuous time
of my life. So 2010, I had been divorced. and
remarried and remarried with one child of my
own two stepchildren and one child that's ours
so four children new marriage new business and
the family life was tumultuous and the business
was not doing well and my ex -wife took me to
court to get custody of my son so i was at the
lowest point in my life about a year into my
business where I was going to court and I said
to God one night I said I have lost the motivation
for absolutely everything in my life I really
don't have any care or desire to be here and
I wasn't suicidal but I was at that point where
I was done with life and I was like everything
is just hurting so I prayed that morning when
I got up and I said to God, I have zero investment
in the outcome of anything that I am doing here,
God. So it is yours. Whatever happens, you tell
me what you want me to do. If you've got some
instructions for me, because I'm not sure where
I stand with what I believe anymore. It's yours,
God. And I started getting phone calls for new
customers. Every single one of those phone calls,
Andy said that my phone number, they found it
in the Yellow Pages in Australia. And in Australia,
the Yellow Pages is a paid phone book. You pay
to be in it as a business. And I have never been
put in the Yellow Pages. I've never paid for
it, not in there. Amazing. So I went from 20
customers to 70 customers in a very short space
of time. And every one of them said they found
my phone number in the yellow pages. Wow. So
I was walking a very close relationship with
God through this experience and I said to God
one day, I said, hey, you've blessed me with
a problem. I've got so many people that I need
to look after, I can't keep up. So I said, God,
I'm going to need to put on an employee. And
then I went and talked to my father. and my father
-in -law and I said hey I'm gonna have to put
on some employees gonna think about this and
um recommendation came back to employ a couple
of my nephews that were just finishing school
and give them casual work before the in between
school and studying at university and I called
my accountant up and I said hey I need to put
on employees and can you help me set up the paying
their tax and all the different documents I need
for that so my accountant said hey I've got a
employment agency on the books do you want me
to ask them if they've got anybody and I said
well sure because I'm going to need somebody
once my nephews start studying at university
but you need to find somebody who's close by
so that I don't have to worry about travel and
preferably if they've got a driver's license
as well. The next day I got a phone call from
an employment agency And they started rattling
off a spiel. And I thought, hang on a minute,
that doesn't sound right. And I'd interrupt them.
I said, hang on a minute. Did my accountant give
you my phone number? And they said, no, no, no.
This is the first time we've ever done this.
We're cold calling businesses from the yellow
pages. So Andy, God's been really powerful in
my life. And... That experience has one final
thing that really stood out for me about 12 months
after that initial experience. I realized I wasn't
actually praying and relying on God every day
when I started my day and asking him to lead
and giving him the outcomes. So I was doing one
of those jobs. Now, around here, I was doing
jobs that range from 30 minutes to an hour. And
then this one job that I picked up that God gave
me was three hours long to mow the whole yard
and do some gardens. And I started praying as
I started this three hour job. God, I've neglected
you. What is it you want from me? And it was
like a bolt of lightning, like not audible words,
but he basically said, you've got a court date
coming up next week for family custody arrangement
and you haven't given them instructions. You
need to sort it out right now. So I said to God,
I said, okay, done. As soon as I finished this
job, I will send an email to my lawyers with
the instructions. for the upcoming court date.
As that happened, Andy, in my mind, then in the
prayer going through there, I was running ISO
tunes in my ears to listen to podcasts and whatever
while I was working and wasn't listening to something
then while I was praying, but I heard an email
tone come through the ISO tunes. Three hours
later, I've pulled up from putting the mailer
in the trailer, hopped in my car, and I read
the email that came in and it was from a lawyer.
And my lawyer said, Gary, your ex -wife has withdrawn
from the court case. It is all over. It's done.
Awesome. I am so convinced that God is mindful
of us. If it wasn't for the hand of God touching
my life, I wouldn't be here today. I would have
died of cancer at one point. The doctor told
me I had two weeks to live and that I would die
in my sleep. But I made it and I've been cancer
free now for 18 years, 17 years, something like
that. Congratulations. That is an awesome testimony
for God. But it was nothing short of God touching
me. healing my body and giving me strength to
start my business and to help me grow my business
we started off with one customer now we have
a hundred and forty and it all goes back to God
putting this hand on my life and touching me
and I'm grateful for that in my life I'm grateful
for what God has done in your life And we should
never be intimidated to share our faith and our
testimony with somebody else. And that's why
it's always welcome on my podcast to talk about
our faith and our experience and our relationship
with Jesus Christ. Thanks, Andy. And yeah, I
don't often talk about my faith on my podcast,
but I don't deny it and I don't hide it. It's
just one of those things where my podcast is
focused on business and helping people. And so,
you know, if faith comes up, it comes up. Right.
But yeah, it is great to share testimony. And
I think across. time, 2000 plus years since Jesus
was on earth, the testimonies that we share are
the most powerful evidence of God's existence.
Right. Well, let's move back into the lawn care
side of the show. What CRM are you using and
how do you do your billing? A little secret there
at the moment, I'm not using a CRM. However.
I have talked to a couple of CRM manufacturers
that are Australian based and they are designed
to benefit the Australian industry. So the two
that I've talked to is ServiceMate and Sortscape.
And the best way to describe the difference is
that ServiceMate is aimed at industry where you
have... the need to quote every job and you have
to do a lot of marketing. So it's really good
at capturing leads and helping you to filter
those leads from leads into schedules. Whereas
Sortscape is more focused on routine maintenance.
So if you're doing a job every two weeks or every
week or once a month or whatever it is, Sortscape
is amazing at that side of it. And obviously
they both can do both, but there is that little
bit of a niche that they operate in differently.
So I'm not actually using them, but I have had
a bit of a play with both of those. I don't need
to use a CRM at the moment because I only have
two contracts. Right, okay. But Andy, if I can
take you in an interesting direction, I didn't
mention to you beforehand, sorry if this throws
you, but one of the things I've done with large
commercial work, is I have implemented a series
of autonomous mowers to operate on the grounds
there. So they do roughly a third of the lawn
mowing for me. Oh, wow. Nice. That's good. What
brand of autonomous mowers are you using? Look,
I've played with a few brands. A lot of the mowers
that I've been using are made by Ambrosio. They're
an Italian brand. I've had a bit of a play with
Husqvarna's as well and Husqvarna's are probably
the OG in that space in terms of they've been
around longer than any other brand. The other
ones that I've found really interesting to use
are the Segway, the Segway Navimo. I seen the
Segway booth at Equip Expo and I watched their
little mower, they had a little path set up for
it to, you know. so people could watch it work.
And it was going up a hill and down and around.
And it was very interesting to me. And those
have always been intriguing to me. I wonder,
do you have to leave the mower on site or do
you pick it up and take it back with you every
day? That is a really good question. So all of
the autonomous mowers I've used you leave them
on site and they just stay there and the benefit
comes when they mow every day so In Australia,
on average, a contractor will mow a lawn once
every two weeks. So we call it fortnightly. A
little bit different terminology, but that's
what we run with. I encourage Australians to
go to weekly cuts on their lawns, and then if
you've got a robot, it's cutting once a day.
So the finish is much better. Now, the other
difference between Australia and the US in that
regard is that... We often cut our grass like
you would refer to sports turf. So it is cut
around two to three inches tall. So a little
bit lower than what the average lawn would be
in the US. And I'm sure there's variation depending
on what state you're in in the US as well. But
sports turf, around that two, I cut a lot of
mine at two and a half inches, but then... there's
an area which I cut like a golf course and it's
cut at one inch tall. So 25 centimeters tall.
And the robots excel at that because they're
cutting once every day. And I think this is where
I like to make a lot of noise about this. The
more often you cut, the lower you can cut and
still have a really healthy lawn. So if I was
to come and cut some of your lawns at one and
a half to two and a half inches, it would look
like they've been scalped, right? Because they
take all of the green off them. Whereas if you're
cutting at one inch every day of the week, it
looks green and it looks like a golf course.
I cut my grass between three and a half and four
inches. Yeah. And it looks green, healthy, and
the stripes are beautiful. But we have cold season
grass because we get a lot of snow in Indiana.
So we're a cold season state. or warm season
grasses like in Georgia, Florida, maybe California,
they cut their grass shorter than what I do because
the different seasons and how that affects the
grass growth and the health of the grass. So
I don't cut real short. I've had a lot of customers
ask me, well, can you cut shorter? I say, no.
I would like to, but I just really don't want
to. Because you're going to have healthier grass.
Because where I'm here from, short grass, you
get more weeds. You get a weaker root system.
But that loner grass, it seems to choke out weeds.
The grass is healthier and stronger and looks
better. So that's... one of the major differences
between Australia and where I'm from in the United
States. Yeah, and I think you'll get varying
mileage when it comes to the issue about weeds
coming through shorter or longer grass. One of
the things I've noticed is that the warmer season
grasses, if you cut them short, they thicken
up really nicely and they choke the weeds out
really well. So obviously in Australia we don't
have a lot of areas where we have cold season
grasses and even where we do have cold season
grasses, we still don't get snow regularly in
those areas. So most of Australia, it's an exception
to see snow rather than the rule. We do have
a couple of snow fields, but you don't see a
lot of grass being mowed in the snow fields.
We got a couple of inches of snow Monday. So
we had our first snow, I had to let it melt off.
so I could finish trying to do some leaf cleanups,
which we worked on those all day today. But I
appreciate you. I really do. I thank you for
reaching out to me and inviting me to be on your
show. It was a great honor. And I appreciate
you being a guest on my show. Where can our listeners
follow you? How can they listen to you? So the
easiest place to find me is Instagram. So if
you look up Ozzy Lawn Stars, you will find my
Instagram account. If you want to listen to my
podcast, any of the podcast platforms, you will
find Ozzy Lawn Stars. But again, Spotify and
YouTube are the easiest place to find Ozzy Lawn
Stars. Well, when you reached out to me to be
on your show, I searched you on Apple Podcast
and subscribed and hit the notification button.
Because I don't want to miss an episode. I want
to hear what you have to say. Because I believe
you can be a voice in my life to help guide and
direct me towards success. And I encourage my
listeners to search him. Follow him. Subscribe
to him. And you will enjoy his podcast. I've
listened to several. in the last few days and
I've enjoyed those and I like your content and
I appreciate your voice in our industry. It really
has meaning, has something to share with us and
to help us grow. So thank you for all of that.
Thanks for the comment words and I'll say this
about that. started my business 15 years ago.
I started listening to content on my phone straight
away, but podcasts were not big back then. And
it was a little way down the track before I found
Julio to me. And Julio's in Canada, right? And
I was listening to Julio's podcast. Two things
stood out to me. One is that Canada and the US
have very different conditions to Australia.
The other one was that when Julio did an interview
episode, it piqued my interest. So I started
listening or looking through his content just
for the interviews because I was like, okay,
when he's interviewing somebody else, that is
really interesting to me. And so my podcast is
built around doing interviews. There is every
episode that's an interview with somebody. What
is your best marketing strategy? Have we got
another hour? Now I'll keep it short. So in my
opinion, Andy, we have the capacity to look at
marketing predominantly based on what our brain
tricks us into believing is true. So when you
start your business and you started by doing
a word of mouth job, so somebody approached you
and said, can you do this? And you're like, oh,
there's an opportunity. I'll start a business,
which took a little bit of time for you to get
that process into place, but that's how you started.
So. What your brain tells you in this situation
is word of mouth marketing gives you a 100 %
success rate. Right. My first year, my business
grew 0 % from word of mouth. So I had word of
mouth inquiries come in and I got them 100 %
but come and go. So I'd lose one, I'd gain one.
Over that first 12 months, I barely gained anything.
What I have found is word of mouth can get you
customers, no doubt. But also if you start doing
marketing down the lines of, so we can't do door
hangers in Australia, but letterbox dropping
or Google ads or Facebook ads, you can do really
targeted advertising with all of those three
options, right? So those allow you to increase
the value of word of mouth. So what I'm saying
here is by combining the various different forms,
you get the best value. So if you just do Google
ads or Facebook ads or letterbox drops, you are
getting half of one percent return in inquiry
rate. So you put out a hundred flyers and you
will get half of one inquiry. Right. If you put
out those hundred flyers around a neighborhood
where you've already got half a dozen lawns or
all of your route, then when people see your
flyer, they've also seen your trailer. Now, if
they recognize you from the flyer and they go,
oh yeah, the branding lines up, I can see his
trailer, I can see his uniform, all those different
things. He looks polite, he looks professional,
the job looks neat. You've got about five touch
points just on those things, right? If you've
got five touch points, that person trusts you.
guess who's going to call you. Right. That's
what I believe is the way to go. So you can do
one or you can do the other or you can get the
best of everything. I've started asking my customers
if you are happy with the job and you are pleased
with the work, leave me a five -star rating and
a nice review on my Google business page. And
last month, I got 68 contacts from Google calling
for service. And I'm doing three jobs tomorrow
from my Google ad. And on all of my local groups,
like what's happening in New Castle, Indiana,
or what's happening in Henry County, Indiana.
I'll do an ad on those sites on Facebook. And
I have gotten a ton of work off of those pages.
So you are exactly right. And I think branding
your vehicles, branding your shirts, your hats,
all of that is a powerful influence on your business.
So let me ask you this. One question before we
start wrapping this up. What is the best or worst
business advice you've ever been given? Best
or worst business advice I've ever been given?
Look, there's a dirty word that needs to be spoken
about, and that word is mindset. So, in my opinion,
Andy, mindset is the way we do things. In Christianity,
we often think mindset is woo -woo and it is
leading us down a path of spiritualism that is
not God -focused, right? It's taking you away
from God. Mindset literally is, when I get up
in the morning, what's the first thing I do?
Do I... let my mind be distracted by things that
are taking me away from God or do I sit there
and read my Bible and pray? Mindset is also this
is the way I run my business so these are the
steps I put in place every day and that's how
my mind works, that's how everything works. I
believe 100 % we need to challenge our mindset.
We need to actually sit there and go okay what
is it that my mind automatically does and is
that healthy or is that bad? I can tell you right
now if you've got an addiction and I've struggled
right if you've got an addiction that is your
mindset your mind is hooked on that process more
than it is hooked on a substance if your mindset
is in line with God's design for us and in line
with business thinking, you hang out with five
people you wanna be like on a regular basis.
There's a bunch of other things we can run through
like that, but you get what I'm saying. Utilizing
the awareness that you can change your mindset
and you can make it stronger and you can make
it better. You can start to focus on business
skills. rather than addictive substances or processes,
you can make sure that your family life and your
business life are built on healthy habits. That's
good. That's real good. I think I read recently
in a book, I'm trying to think of the name of
the book I was reading because I'm always reading
something or listening to a book. I've listened
to or read, I think, all of Paul Jameson's books.
His newest book, Level Up Your Money, is a great
read. But I read that if you get up in the morning,
the first thing you do is grab your phone and
look at Instagram or look at Facebook or whatever,
your day automatically is going to start off.
more negative because of people putting garbage
on social media and garbage in, garbage out,
you know? But if you... It fuels a dopamine hit.
And that dopamine hit is not a positive dopamine
hit. If you want a dopamine hit, go for a run
in the morning. Go to the gym. I get up in the
morning and the first thing I do is I have to
get my cat. some treats. She wants treats first
thing in the morning. So I give her some treats
and I make a pot of coffee. And I will look at
my schedule and confirm what all has to be done
that day. And is it necessary? Is it important?
Is it an emergency that I get this done? Is it
something I can delegate? Is it something that
I need to do myself? and then I will set my schedule
for that day according to what I planned that
morning. And I know when I get in my truck and
leave what I have to do, how long it's going
to take me, and I can guess within about 30 minutes
what I'm going to pull back in my driveway that
night because I've timed myself on every job
so I know exactly how long every day is going
to be. And I try to start my day off positive.
You know, I'll read some scriptures or I'll listen
to a podcast or I'll listen to a motivational
speaker. Something to help me start my day in
the right direction. So you're exactly right
that how you start your day will affect how the
rest of your day goes. So that's so true. But
I think we're going to wrap this up for tonight.
Is there anything else that we're missing or
leaving out that you want to share with us? Look,
there's one thing you touched on. I didn't get
the chance to say it at the time because we were
moving in a different direction. But your location,
you talked about the city that you're in being
Newcastle. Yeah. Newcastle, Indiana. The name
of the city is closest to me in Australia. Oh,
really? Wow. That is amazing. I've heard you
say that a few times on your podcast, but yeah,
that's one of those things. I should mention
that. Well, thank you for sharing that. I don't
believe anything happens by accident. I believe
that whatever happens, there's a reason for it.
There's a purpose. And you told me that A man
in Australia listened to my podcast and told
you about it. That's correct. And then you contacted
me to be on your show. I don't believe his name
is Grant Osborne. So a big shout out to Grant
for pointing me in this direction. Thanks, Grant.
Thanks, Grant. I appreciate it. I don't think
it was an accident that we met. I believe there's
there's a purpose and I might not know the purpose
now. I might not know or understand the full
reason behind it yet, but there's a reason, there's
a purpose. And when I make a friend, Tony Rudolph
told me, when he makes a friend, we're friends
for life. So when I make a friend, I want to
tell you we're friends for life. You're stuck
with me. Well, Andy, you're a good person to
make a friend with. So I look forward to keeping
in touch. Maybe I'll even make the effort to
do a trip over there for the GIE Expo. I would
love to have you come to the GIE Expo. It is
to our industry what the World Series is to Major
League Baseball. Or what the NBA Championship
is to the NBA. That's what... Equip Expo is to
the lawn care industry. It's the third largest
trade event in the United States. So it is a
huge event and if you come, I can introduce you
to a bunch of people and we can go out, we can
eat, we can fellowship. We just have a great
time. Sounds awesome. I heard this year they
did the prayer breakfast, I think they called
it. Yes. Mike, oh, he played for the Chicago
Bears Singletary, Mike Singletary. He was the
speaker. Next year, Willie Robertson, Willie
Robertson from Duck Dynasty is going to be the
speaker. A year before last, Darrell Strawberry
was the speaker, the Major League Baseball player.
But it's awesome. It's incredible. just this
year there was probably 400 people at the prayer
breakfast. It started off I think the first prayer
breakfast they said there was just a handful
of people that showed up. Now because word is
getting out how powerful it is and what an impact
it's having on people's lives. People are coming
and this year we had over 400 people show up
for the prayer breakfast. Yeah. Well, I think
a trade show like that can often revolve around
the party life. So it's great to see that it's
also got that spiritual life that's very present
there. Right. And that's one thing that I admire
about our industry. It is a community. It will
accept and take in everyone. There really is
no big eyes and little use. When you step into
that massive showroom floor, and you can meet
the Paul Jamiesons or the Naylor Taliaferros
or the Bryan's Lawn Maintenance. You can meet
these guys and shake their hand and talk to them
and they'll answer questions. They'll talk to
you. They'll give you advice. And it's the same
thing. I'm not on their level. I don't know if
I ever will be, but I've had people approach
me and say, I watch your Instagram or your TikTok.
I want to thank you for your content. I want
to thank you for your podcast. Had a guy reach
out to me just two weeks ago, thanking me for
my podcast. One of the episodes that he listened
to, he said it was exactly what he needed to
hear at that moment. So our industry, it's a
community and it's just awesome. If you come,
I promise you, you would not be disappointed.
I'm sure. But I want to just say a positive thing
about you. I think you were a little bit dismissive
of not being on the same level as the other guys
in the podcast industry there. And I've listened
to all of the podcasts, maybe not every one of
them, but I've listened to them. And I choose
to listen to yours because yours has a good focus
on learning business skills and a focus on improving
businesses. So on that level, I see your podcast
as one of the best in the industry. I really
appreciate that that that humbles me and I appreciate
you for saying that. Thank you That's true and
it was a joy to have you on my show and We're
gonna stay in contact. You've got my email. You've
got my my phone Let's stay in contact. I'll get
you back on the show, you know here in the future
and we'll have a great great show There's many
more things we could talk about in another episode.
Look, thanks for your time, Andy. It's been good
to join you on your podcast and likewise having
you on mine. Well, I appreciate you. I wish you
nothing but success. And I know you're going
in the right direction. Thanks. Well, folks,
thank you for listening to the Lawn Hustle podcast.
Until we talk again, remember the grass is greener
where you water it. Thank you for joining. We'll
talk again real soon.