WEBVTT 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:13.820 Welcome back to the Lawn Hustle podcast. The 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:18.280 podcast that is built for lawn care pros, landscapers, 00:00:18.899 --> 00:00:23.300 and green industry entrepreneurs who are tired 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:28.660 of guessing and ready to grow with purpose. I 00:00:28.660 --> 00:00:32.479 am your host, Andy Wilson, bringing 16 years 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:38.820 of experience in the real world. No fluff, no 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:43.939 hype. just proven strategies, honest conversation, 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.640 and lessons learned from the field and the business 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:55.780 side of the hustle. Tonight, we have Joey Koberling, 00:00:56.179 --> 00:01:00.039 the landscaping bookkeeper with us. This is our 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:03.240 second show that we have done. Joey, welcome 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:05.340 back to the Lawn Hustle. Thank you for joining. 00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:10.670 Hey, thanks, Andy. Honor to be here. Well, since 00:01:10.670 --> 00:01:15.450 we were at Equip Expo, I believe you have launched 00:01:15.450 --> 00:01:22.290 two new endeavors. The lawn care launch and the 00:01:22.290 --> 00:01:28.849 21 day lawn care hustlers boot camp. Yeah, yeah, 00:01:28.950 --> 00:01:31.400 the. The hustlers bootcamp is actually a kind 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:34.099 of an intro into our program. So it's all under 00:01:34.099 --> 00:01:36.579 lawn care launch. But yeah, it's a it's made 00:01:36.579 --> 00:01:38.900 for building foundations for companies because 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:41.180 I work with a lot of companies or have in the 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:43.000 past where the foundation wasn't set and you 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:45.019 have to fix a lot of stuff. So Megan and I were 00:01:45.019 --> 00:01:47.640 like, well, what if we built something with you 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:50.579 met Kevin Salters and our other person, Stephanie, 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:53.780 something that prevents a lot of these problems 00:01:53.780 --> 00:01:55.680 and nips it in the bud when companies are small. 00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:58.569 So it's it's It's built to set up companies for 00:01:58.569 --> 00:02:01.629 success, really, and not have to plug holes later 00:02:01.629 --> 00:02:06.469 down the road. It's always better to start off 00:02:06.469 --> 00:02:09.030 with some good habits. Yeah, yeah, it's... Than 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:11.530 to have to get rid of some bad habits. Yeah, 00:02:11.590 --> 00:02:15.629 right. A lot of it's from experience, honestly. 00:02:15.849 --> 00:02:17.729 Like, I've messed up a lot of stuff and I always 00:02:17.729 --> 00:02:19.229 have to go back and fix it. I'm like, well, if 00:02:19.229 --> 00:02:20.729 I just had some guidance in the beginning, I 00:02:20.729 --> 00:02:23.830 would never have to do this. Well, why don't 00:02:23.830 --> 00:02:27.370 you tell our listeners? Little more about the 00:02:27.370 --> 00:02:32.389 boot camp. Okay how someone can join What the 00:02:32.389 --> 00:02:37.610 fee is what they get When they purchase there 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:43.009 the boot camp Tell us about it. Okay. Yeah, so 00:02:43.009 --> 00:02:48.490 it's 21 days It has four live events. All of 00:02:48.490 --> 00:02:50.629 the owners of lawn care launch will be there 00:02:50.629 --> 00:02:53.210 So myself Megan Stephanie who runs marketing 00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:55.949 and then Kevin who runs the coaching side We're 00:02:55.949 --> 00:02:57.830 all there. Each week we check in with you. You're 00:02:57.830 --> 00:02:59.689 with the group. We usually cap it at about 30 00:02:59.689 --> 00:03:03.090 people. We touch everything from getting your 00:03:03.090 --> 00:03:06.949 banking separated from your personal, you know, 00:03:07.150 --> 00:03:09.909 finding the right type of bank, getting your 00:03:09.909 --> 00:03:13.930 social media accounts set up, learning how marketing 00:03:13.930 --> 00:03:16.509 works. We do custom door hangers for the people 00:03:16.509 --> 00:03:22.300 that join. We do a live SOP workshop with Kevin 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:24.479 Salters. Kevin's made more SOPs than anybody 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:29.819 I know, so he runs that. Megan and I run a little 00:03:29.819 --> 00:03:32.620 bit of the man hour rate. So we teach companies 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:34.180 how to set their man hour rate from the beginning 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:36.199 so you're not having to backtrack and readjust 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:39.520 all your rates drastically five years in or whatever. 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:42.539 And then we do a lot of videos inside of there. 00:03:43.469 --> 00:03:46.330 on how to read a profit and loss, how to read 00:03:46.330 --> 00:03:47.969 a cashflow statement balance sheet, all that 00:03:47.969 --> 00:03:50.569 stuff. We have a tax Q &A inside of it, so you 00:03:50.569 --> 00:03:52.909 get to come and meet with our tax expert, Sheila 00:03:52.909 --> 00:03:55.050 Chaplin. She answers all your questions inside 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:59.469 of there. It's only $100. It used to be 50. We 00:03:59.469 --> 00:04:02.800 bumped it up to 100. simply because we're trying 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:05.599 to market it a little bit more. And we send you 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:08.080 a workbook. So it's a 76 page workbook that you 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.520 go through and you write tangibly in it. So you 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:12.219 don't get a lot of information and not know what 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:14.780 to do with it. So it's really jam packed with 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:16.279 a lot of stuff. We have a lot of experts inside 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:19.160 of it to help you in different categories. And 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:21.319 yeah, it's just a little bit of a tidbit which 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:24.379 you get working inside of lawn care launch, which 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:28.019 is basically financial management, marketing, 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:30.139 and mentorship all under one roof for your back 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:34.149 office help. Now is there a boot camp in progress 00:04:34.149 --> 00:04:37.129 now? Yeah, we run a monthly so we just finished 00:04:37.129 --> 00:04:41.569 our We're taking a month off For February but 00:04:41.569 --> 00:04:43.730 starting in March we run them back -to -back. 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:46.069 So we ran one. This will be our fourth one We 00:04:46.069 --> 00:04:48.149 normally run them. We'll take a week off and 00:04:48.149 --> 00:04:49.689 go we took a month off with this one But yeah 00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:52.529 March 2nd is the next one And I can send you 00:04:52.529 --> 00:04:54.490 a link for your description if people are interested 00:04:54.490 --> 00:04:59.209 in checking that out Yes, please do Would you 00:04:59.209 --> 00:05:05.500 say that? the bootcamp is beneficial for people 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:10.060 that has been in for a long time? Or is it geared 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.699 more towards those that are just starting? You 00:05:12.699 --> 00:05:14.420 know, it really just depends. There are companies 00:05:14.420 --> 00:05:16.300 that I've worked with that had really good foundations 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:18.120 with from the beginning. Maybe it's their second 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.019 endeavor. Maybe they just have good Maybe they're 00:05:21.019 --> 00:05:23.759 just thorough in the beginning. We market it 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.579 for companies that are either part -time or let's 00:05:26.579 --> 00:05:28.980 say you're under 150 ,000 in revenue. That's 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:31.040 generally what we shoot for. However, I've worked 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:33.019 with companies in the seven figure range that 00:05:33.019 --> 00:05:34.959 have done half this stuff, which is pretty wild. 00:05:35.899 --> 00:05:38.339 So it really just depends. I mean, companies 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:40.459 are all over the place. We've done a... a lot 00:05:40.459 --> 00:05:42.600 of work trying to get it to where it's all pertinent 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:47.259 information for companies under that 150 ,000 00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:48.660 mark. But there are companies that have come 00:05:48.660 --> 00:05:50.540 through that have done a lot of the stuff already 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:53.759 inside it. But even if you've done seven out 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:55.759 of the eight steps, if you get one step out of 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:58.439 it, I mean, it's only $100 and it's a lot of 00:05:58.439 --> 00:05:59.860 peace of mind that you get knowing that you've 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:02.079 set it up correctly and knowing that you're doing 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:06.680 everything right from the beginning. $100 is 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:11.120 not a lot of money. when you look at it as an 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.279 investment into yourself and an investment into 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:20.199 your business, I feel like I should be investing 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:23.779 in myself as much as I invest into my business 00:06:23.779 --> 00:06:29.600 because it makes me a better man, a better husband, 00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:33.560 a better business owner, and a better citizen. 00:06:33.980 --> 00:06:38.410 So, you know, I... I don't mind the $100. I think 00:06:38.410 --> 00:06:42.050 that's cheap. You want to know my opinion? It's 00:06:42.050 --> 00:06:45.189 definitely super cheap. We do it at a break even 00:06:45.189 --> 00:06:47.089 cost. We make no money on it because it's a lead 00:06:47.089 --> 00:06:50.529 generator for us. Um, and originally our first 00:06:50.529 --> 00:06:52.889 class, we did it for free, but then the problem 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:55.350 we ran into with that was people not showing 00:06:55.350 --> 00:06:57.069 up. So we want to make sure that people at least 00:06:57.069 --> 00:06:58.889 have a vested interest. You know, they got money 00:06:58.889 --> 00:07:01.129 on the line, but yeah, I mean, it's jam packed 00:07:01.129 --> 00:07:03.569 with value. We had Paul Janison go through it 00:07:03.569 --> 00:07:05.310 and, and a couple others, and they said, man, 00:07:05.370 --> 00:07:07.250 this is worth several thousand dollars. You know, 00:07:07.290 --> 00:07:09.850 we've had feedback like that, but you know, it 00:07:09.850 --> 00:07:11.810 costs us, you know, some time, you know, we do 00:07:11.810 --> 00:07:14.490 four live events with the four of us and the 00:07:14.490 --> 00:07:17.629 cost of the book. But for the most part, I'd 00:07:17.629 --> 00:07:19.550 say we'd lose money on it if you put in all the 00:07:19.550 --> 00:07:22.310 time spent involved in it. But yeah, it's meant 00:07:22.310 --> 00:07:24.310 to be a lead generator for us, really. And we 00:07:24.310 --> 00:07:26.790 want to help a lot of people. So if we can send 00:07:26.790 --> 00:07:29.129 30 or 40 people through the class a month, that 00:07:29.129 --> 00:07:30.889 helps a lot of people. We might lose a little 00:07:30.889 --> 00:07:32.610 bit, but then we get conversions inside of that 00:07:32.610 --> 00:07:34.949 to join lawn care launch. So it's kind of the 00:07:34.949 --> 00:07:38.269 idea of it all. Well, in October, you and I were 00:07:38.269 --> 00:07:43.290 at Equip Expo. Was this your first year to attend 00:07:43.290 --> 00:07:45.490 Equip? Yeah, it was our first year. We've been 00:07:45.490 --> 00:07:49.110 talking about going since 2020. We decided to 00:07:49.110 --> 00:07:55.029 do Jason Creel's event instead in Alabama. And 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:57.129 me and Megan wanted to, one, get a little more 00:07:57.129 --> 00:07:59.750 experience under our belt working with lawn care 00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:02.209 business owners, because we started working with 00:08:02.209 --> 00:08:05.769 exclusively lawn care in 2020. And we also have 00:08:05.769 --> 00:08:07.649 had two children since then, so it's hard for 00:08:07.649 --> 00:08:10.959 us to travel up to Kentucky from Florida. uh 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:12.939 so you know just getting a sitter for the whole 00:08:12.939 --> 00:08:15.959 week is uh is kind of challenging for with two 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:22.800 kids so well in 2029 it's going to be in orlando 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.209 florida I saw that. Yeah, I think Orlando is 00:08:26.209 --> 00:08:28.569 still a good six hours from us. You know, you 00:08:28.569 --> 00:08:30.009 think of it being pretty close because it's in 00:08:30.009 --> 00:08:31.889 Florida, but we're in the panhandle, man. So 00:08:31.889 --> 00:08:33.789 but yeah, I'm excited about that. Honestly, I 00:08:33.789 --> 00:08:35.389 know a lot of people complained about it and 00:08:35.389 --> 00:08:37.509 it's a little inconvenient, but I think it'll 00:08:37.509 --> 00:08:39.769 bring new people into the into the ecosystem. 00:08:40.309 --> 00:08:44.049 And yeah, I mean, heck, I'm excited to make four 00:08:44.049 --> 00:08:46.509 hours less journey. So and heck, we can probably 00:08:46.509 --> 00:08:48.169 take the kids to Disney or something while we're 00:08:48.169 --> 00:08:51.899 down there. Bring the kids along. too excited 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:55.279 about the drive, I'll probably fly because I 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:59.340 can be in Louisville from my house in about two 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:01.159 and a half hours. Oh, are you that close? Yeah, 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:05.059 that's nice. So it's just get up a little earlier, 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:07.519 take off and I'm there. How many times have you 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.120 been there? I think I've been there for maybe 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:17.360 five times. OK. And I plan on going to Orlando. 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:22.059 I'm just going to. You got to plan it. You got 00:09:22.059 --> 00:09:27.159 to save back a little extra money. You're still 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:29.360 taking the same amount of days off. Basically, 00:09:29.620 --> 00:09:33.019 if you fly in, if you drive in, it might be a 00:09:33.019 --> 00:09:38.100 little more time consuming. We've already purchased 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:39.899 our booth for next time, so we'll have a booth 00:09:39.899 --> 00:09:42.559 set up if anybody wants to stop by and see us. 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:44.399 Kevin said that was his favorite part of the 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:46.600 entire year was going up there. It was one of 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:49.539 mine too. Just seeing what the industry is really 00:09:49.539 --> 00:09:51.679 all about and everybody being like a big family 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.700 there, it was cool. Meeting some faces. I've 00:09:54.700 --> 00:09:56.860 met a lot of people there from Jason Krill's 00:09:56.860 --> 00:09:59.039 bench that I've done three times now, but I've 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:01.899 met some new faces that maybe I'd talk to on 00:10:01.899 --> 00:10:03.720 the phone or something like that. It was cool. 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:06.409 People that listened to the podcast. Yeah. It's 00:10:06.409 --> 00:10:08.309 a, it's a one of a kind experience, man. It was 00:10:08.309 --> 00:10:11.549 really, really enjoyable being there. It's a 00:10:11.549 --> 00:10:17.370 community. Yeah. And it's amazing to me. I can 00:10:17.370 --> 00:10:21.330 walk in and there's a lot of guys there that 00:10:21.330 --> 00:10:25.389 run bigger businesses, produce more revenue, 00:10:25.389 --> 00:10:30.990 but they're so welcoming for you to walk up and 00:10:30.990 --> 00:10:34.169 just talk to them. And then I've got guys that 00:10:34.169 --> 00:10:37.230 want to come up and talk to me, and I'm a nobody. 00:10:37.970 --> 00:10:42.090 So, you know, it's just a community. And that's 00:10:42.090 --> 00:10:44.470 one of the things I love about the green industry. 00:10:44.850 --> 00:10:49.250 It's just a big community. It's a very, a very 00:10:49.250 --> 00:10:51.049 humble community, I would say is probably the 00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:54.049 best word to describe it. And, you know, whenever 00:10:54.049 --> 00:10:56.309 Megan and I were sitting down in 2018 on figuring 00:10:56.309 --> 00:10:58.029 out what type of client we want to serve, we 00:10:58.029 --> 00:11:00.720 didn't know who we really wanted to serve. And 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:02.600 inside of the landscaping bookkeeper, that is. 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:05.559 And we went through everything, like lawyers 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:07.820 and all these different types of people. And 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:10.480 we had a lawn care client and he was just the 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:12.200 most humble, nicest guy. And we're like, man, 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.019 if we could just multiply clients like this, 00:11:15.059 --> 00:11:16.960 this would be the dream business. And let me 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:19.940 tell you what, that's six, seven, eight years 00:11:19.940 --> 00:11:23.179 ago now. um and we exclusively work with lawn 00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:25.279 care uh that's been my whole experience i don't 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.440 we don't have anybody it's like oh not so and 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:29.399 so calling again like all of our clients are 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.179 just such a pleasure to work with and i think 00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:33.740 it's just uh really what the industry is all 00:11:33.740 --> 00:11:37.179 about well how many lawn care clients are you 00:11:37.179 --> 00:11:42.000 serving now so uh probably 60 or so i would say 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:51.320 yeah nice at what point do you recommend a business 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:56.480 to hire a bookkeeper? At what point in their 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:59.799 business or their growth or if they're trying 00:11:59.799 --> 00:12:04.559 to scale, where should someone consider hiring 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:11.399 outside help? Yeah, so I would recommend, number 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:12.960 one, I think you need to know where you're headed. 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:15.840 So if you have like a vision of growing a big 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.379 company, you're probably going to want to bring 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:19.940 a bookkeeper on sooner rather than later. Now, 00:12:19.940 --> 00:12:21.559 if you're somebody that's pretty content, you 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:23.399 run a small operation, maybe it's just you. You 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:25.039 don't really plan on growing it. Maybe you got 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.779 a helper. I don't even know that you necessarily 00:12:27.779 --> 00:12:29.340 need a bookkeeper. It might be something you 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:30.940 want just to keep you organized a little bit 00:12:30.940 --> 00:12:34.379 on the back end. But I recommend it for guys 00:12:34.379 --> 00:12:37.379 that are serious about delegating that want to 00:12:37.379 --> 00:12:39.980 stay informed, make their numbers progressively 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:43.779 better each year. So for those that are growth 00:12:43.779 --> 00:12:46.259 oriented, I would probably say, I've had clients 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:48.720 say, man, I wish I brought you on at 50 ,000. 00:12:48.779 --> 00:12:51.740 I generally recommend $75 ,000 is what I've seen. 00:12:52.700 --> 00:12:55.360 But, you know, it just depends on what your journey 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:57.620 is where you're headed. So, yeah, I'd say growth 00:12:57.620 --> 00:13:00.039 -oriented company, $75 ,000. And then it's just 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.700 kind of whatever you want to do if you're a solo 00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:05.879 operator and don't really plan on growing. So 00:13:05.879 --> 00:13:09.779 what I would recommend to our listeners tonight 00:13:09.779 --> 00:13:13.779 is for them to just give you a call. Get that 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:18.570 free 15 -minute phone call. And... Let you know 00:13:18.570 --> 00:13:22.830 where they're at, what services you have that 00:13:22.830 --> 00:13:25.769 can benefit them and maybe make the connection. 00:13:27.049 --> 00:13:29.970 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the reason we so for 00:13:29.970 --> 00:13:32.409 those curious, that's how we do our landscaping 00:13:32.409 --> 00:13:34.470 bookkeeper on boards as you schedule a 15 minute 00:13:34.470 --> 00:13:37.149 call with us and we see if you're a good fit. 00:13:38.039 --> 00:13:39.740 Just we want to make sure that we're serving 00:13:39.740 --> 00:13:43.440 you the best we can. And we're a good fit for 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:45.080 what you got going on. So that's the reason we 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:46.980 do a phone call and not just some random form 00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:51.519 that you fill out online. And it's made our we 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.659 don't get any problem childs in this way. And 00:13:53.659 --> 00:13:55.899 we can work with everybody that really respects 00:13:55.899 --> 00:13:59.759 us. We respect them. It's kind of a mutual benefits 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:03.940 both parties. So when it comes to bookkeeping, 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:08.659 what is the most common mistake? that you see 00:14:08.659 --> 00:14:15.100 lawn care businesses making? I would say they 00:14:15.100 --> 00:14:19.200 let stuff, I think a lot of companies let stuff 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.120 pile up and they don't take care of it and nip 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:24.200 it in the bud. A lot of times if we have somebody 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.440 calling us, it's because they have a problem 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:30.919 that they're starting to run into, five or 600 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:35.029 ,000. You got to think of bookkeeping as like 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:37.889 a system and we're all about systems and processes. 00:14:38.470 --> 00:14:40.490 So you want to start building systems before 00:14:40.490 --> 00:14:42.230 you really need them, before you run into a problem. 00:14:42.330 --> 00:14:45.269 The problem is most guys don't know what problems 00:14:45.269 --> 00:14:47.230 they're going to run into eventually. But when 00:14:47.230 --> 00:14:49.649 you've got several hundred thousands of dollars 00:14:49.649 --> 00:14:51.470 moving through your company, it's a lot different 00:14:51.470 --> 00:14:53.269 than when you have $50 ,000 moving through your 00:14:53.269 --> 00:14:55.690 company. It's kind of like a personal budget. 00:14:55.909 --> 00:14:57.429 People think of a personal budget. When you start 00:14:57.429 --> 00:14:59.450 running a business and you start delegating tasks 00:14:59.450 --> 00:15:01.309 and focusing on profit and have other employees, 00:15:01.710 --> 00:15:04.970 You need to be able to already have that system 00:15:04.970 --> 00:15:07.429 in place so you don't get backed up with everything. 00:15:07.629 --> 00:15:09.710 And we get a lot of panic callers generally around 00:15:09.710 --> 00:15:12.070 that $500 ,000, $600 ,000 mark. They don't have 00:15:12.070 --> 00:15:14.409 back office help that are really backed up. So 00:15:14.409 --> 00:15:18.370 I think it's just wise to listen to those that 00:15:18.370 --> 00:15:19.909 have the multi -million dollar companies that 00:15:19.909 --> 00:15:21.870 will, you know, most of them will recommend getting 00:15:21.870 --> 00:15:24.409 a bookkeeper before you need it rather than later. 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:26.470 You know, you get that old know your numbers 00:15:26.470 --> 00:15:30.750 thing that everybody says. Yeah, create systems. 00:15:31.250 --> 00:15:33.450 Um, and processes before you need them. Same 00:15:33.450 --> 00:15:34.870 with employees. You know, you want to go ahead 00:15:34.870 --> 00:15:36.509 and start documenting all your stuff when you're 00:15:36.509 --> 00:15:38.250 by yourself in the truck. If you plan on bringing 00:15:38.250 --> 00:15:39.870 employees, you want to have that system down. 00:15:39.929 --> 00:15:41.649 Same with bookkeeping. We're a system that implements 00:15:41.649 --> 00:15:43.590 with you, with your business. So that's, that 00:15:43.590 --> 00:15:46.470 would be probably the number one problem I see. 00:15:47.269 --> 00:15:53.129 Well, why do so many single operators or small 00:15:53.129 --> 00:15:57.429 businesses wait too long to clean up their books? 00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:03.320 What is it? That causes them to delay are they 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:08.419 fearful of the unknown or That's the reason why 00:16:08.419 --> 00:16:11.100 people wait so long I think in the beginning 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:15.440 you really you pinch pennies Because number one 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:17.240 that's what you've taught is the best way to 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:19.399 grow wealth. It's number two That's what you 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:22.039 have to do in your personal budget In business, 00:16:22.100 --> 00:16:23.480 yes, you want to have a budget, but you don't 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:25.539 necessarily need to pinch pennies. You need to 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:27.759 find what the most important task is in your 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:29.740 business and work towards that and delegate other 00:16:29.740 --> 00:16:32.159 responsibilities out. So it's a little bit different 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:33.759 than a personal budget. So when you have a solar 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:35.620 operator, the only thing they've ever probably 00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:37.379 done is a personal budget or nothing. And so 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:38.960 they're not used to thinking like a business 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.460 owner, which is constant delegation, focused 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:43.799 down on brand, on marketing, being known, those 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:45.639 sorts of things, getting your time out there 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.679 where you're... really investing in acquiring 00:16:48.679 --> 00:16:50.659 customers and creating systems and being the 00:16:50.659 --> 00:16:52.379 visionary that your company needs. And so that 00:16:52.379 --> 00:16:55.919 involves learning to spend money to make money. 00:16:55.940 --> 00:16:57.539 Now, there's a lot of misconceptions with spending 00:16:57.539 --> 00:16:59.220 money to make money because there's guys that 00:16:59.220 --> 00:17:01.200 are solo operators that spend a lot of money 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:02.940 on the wrong things. And that's when you can 00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:05.059 really start getting in over your head. So it's 00:17:05.059 --> 00:17:07.720 a skill that you got to learn. But really, it's 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:10.859 all about cash flow and spending money where 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:12.519 it's going to get you in the best position to 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:14.460 buy your time back and make your life easier 00:17:14.460 --> 00:17:17.380 and focus where you can live profitably. And 00:17:17.380 --> 00:17:18.720 like I said, buy your time back. That's what 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:23.220 it's all about. Right. So that's why we work 00:17:23.220 --> 00:17:26.660 so hard. We want to buy back our time. Yeah, 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:30.500 precisely. You know, we want to be able to attend 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:33.420 those birthday parties or those family cookouts 00:17:33.420 --> 00:17:37.119 or be able to go out of town for the weekend 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.839 and not feel completely guilty. You don't worry 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:42.880 the whole weekend that something's going to happen 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:45.930 because you're not there. So you want to buy 00:17:45.930 --> 00:17:49.650 back your time. You want to invest in yourself. 00:17:50.349 --> 00:17:53.650 And when you do those things, you're really investing 00:17:53.650 --> 00:17:57.109 in your business as well. Yeah. I think for solo 00:17:57.109 --> 00:18:00.410 guys, it's well, one of the main problems like 00:18:00.410 --> 00:18:02.769 selling bookkeeping services is different from 00:18:02.769 --> 00:18:04.869 selling, you know, let's say lawn care services. 00:18:04.869 --> 00:18:07.829 Like for bookkeeping, you kind of are selling 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.420 a problem that people don't know they have yet. 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:12.519 Or you get the client that I was telling you 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:14.099 about that calls you when everything's kind of 00:18:14.099 --> 00:18:15.319 backed up and then you have to go through and 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:17.720 clean up everything. And there's different businesses 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:20.660 for bookkeeping. where you have businesses that 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:22.539 maybe do a lot of that cleanup and work with 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:24.380 like fixing a lot of the debt problems inside 00:18:24.380 --> 00:18:26.420 of that. Our company is more, we integrate with 00:18:26.420 --> 00:18:28.180 you when you're small and we scale with you. 00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:30.420 That's always been our model. It's kind of like 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:33.059 training the guy that's untrained versus the 00:18:33.059 --> 00:18:34.940 guy with 20 years of experience in lawn care, 00:18:35.059 --> 00:18:36.500 right? Like you'd rather have the guy that's 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:38.180 moldable rather than the guy that's coming in 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:40.559 with 20 years of experience and is trying to 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:42.410 teach you. the owner how to do it their way, 00:18:42.430 --> 00:18:44.970 right? So we do the same thing. We onboard clients 00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:47.549 that are small and we scale. Like that's always 00:18:47.549 --> 00:18:50.490 been our model. It makes it easy, but it's also 00:18:50.490 --> 00:18:52.589 hard to sell that to someone that doesn't know 00:18:52.589 --> 00:18:55.029 that they need it yet. So we run into that sometimes. 00:18:55.970 --> 00:19:00.329 I love that because it's hard to tell somebody 00:19:00.329 --> 00:19:03.930 what they need if they think they already know. 00:19:05.009 --> 00:19:08.990 So when you get in on that ground or that very 00:19:08.990 --> 00:19:13.589 small business, And they grow with you. You know, 00:19:13.789 --> 00:19:17.829 that that's just a great concept. I love that. 00:19:17.990 --> 00:19:21.170 Absolutely. Let's take a short break in your 00:19:21.170 --> 00:19:25.890 word from our show sponsor, Eartha Pro. Tired 00:19:25.890 --> 00:19:28.029 of chasing payments and losing track of jobs? 00:19:29.269 --> 00:19:31.609 Eartha Pro back office software makes it simple 00:19:31.609 --> 00:19:34.769 for solo guys and small lawn care and landscaping 00:19:34.769 --> 00:19:38.589 crews. schedule, invoice, and organize all in 00:19:38.589 --> 00:19:41.210 the same place. We also have a mobile app and 00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:43.910 integrate into QuickBooks. Sign up at EarthaPro 00:19:43.910 --> 00:19:47.670 .com with promo code TheLawnHustle11 for a $50 00:19:47.670 --> 00:19:50.990 Amazon gift card, 10 % off, and personalized 00:19:50.990 --> 00:19:53.930 onboarding. EarthaPro, you run the outside work, 00:19:53.930 --> 00:19:59.049 we run the office. And we're back with Joey Coberly, 00:19:59.269 --> 00:20:03.950 the landscaping bookkeeper. Let me ask you. How 00:20:03.950 --> 00:20:09.549 much damage do messy books actually cause when 00:20:09.549 --> 00:20:13.690 it comes to tax season? Oh, man. So we actually 00:20:13.690 --> 00:20:16.569 don't prepare taxes, but I can tell you of our 00:20:16.569 --> 00:20:21.650 experiences with it. I think the tax professional 00:20:21.650 --> 00:20:23.950 is going to feel that more than us, to be honest 00:20:23.950 --> 00:20:27.049 with you. So we partner with Sheila Chaplin. 00:20:27.170 --> 00:20:28.710 I don't know if you've met her. Paul pushes her 00:20:28.710 --> 00:20:33.180 on Green Industry Podcast. Yeah, they, uh, she 00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:34.759 actually gives discounts to our clients because 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:36.819 we give her the same clean books every season. 00:20:36.900 --> 00:20:38.799 So it'll save you money. If you're organizing, 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:40.180 you come in, if they, if you come in with a box 00:20:40.180 --> 00:20:41.819 of receipts, that's a lot of, they're going to 00:20:41.819 --> 00:20:43.559 charge you more in an hourly rate and you're 00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:45.099 going to end up spending a lot more. So, you 00:20:45.099 --> 00:20:47.180 know, you can pay during the year to have bookkeeping 00:20:47.180 --> 00:20:48.900 done, or you can wait to the year end and have 00:20:48.900 --> 00:20:50.380 a lot of cleanup and it's going to cost you a 00:20:50.380 --> 00:20:52.920 little bit more. Um, but yeah, that, that would 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:57.579 be my answer to that. What do you, um, in your 00:20:57.579 --> 00:21:02.089 bookkeeping services or in the boot camp? Do 00:21:02.089 --> 00:21:06.970 you help lawn care businesses plan for seasonal 00:21:06.970 --> 00:21:11.430 income swings? Because in the winter, you know, 00:21:11.450 --> 00:21:14.750 your income usually will go down unless you plow 00:21:14.750 --> 00:21:21.410 a lot of snow. And so how can you help lawn care 00:21:21.410 --> 00:21:25.869 businesses plan those seasonal swings and keep 00:21:25.869 --> 00:21:29.529 a steady flow of income? Yeah, so your advice 00:21:29.529 --> 00:21:32.380 on that. So in landscaping bookkeeper, we don't 00:21:32.380 --> 00:21:34.460 do any budgeting. It's more organization. You 00:21:34.460 --> 00:21:36.839 get a monthly meeting with a dedicated bookkeeper. 00:21:37.579 --> 00:21:39.480 In lawn care launch, that's more so where we 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:42.299 would do stuff like that. Now we have Kevin who's 00:21:42.299 --> 00:21:45.059 on the mentorship side, which does, if you're 00:21:45.059 --> 00:21:47.220 in our main program, he does bi -weekly coaching 00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:50.349 one -on -one. currently for lawn care businesses. 00:21:50.849 --> 00:21:53.769 Now we're looking to scale that and so his time's 00:21:53.769 --> 00:21:55.750 limited. So what we're starting to integrate 00:21:55.750 --> 00:21:58.509 now is workshops. So we're gonna be doing monthly 00:21:58.509 --> 00:22:02.190 workshops, budgeting, marketing, year planning, 00:22:02.670 --> 00:22:04.349 like we're gonna be throwing everything out there 00:22:04.349 --> 00:22:06.269 that's gonna be more group oriented because then 00:22:06.269 --> 00:22:09.130 we can start really pushing the gas on stuff. 00:22:09.730 --> 00:22:12.609 But for now, yeah, Kevin will do budgeting meetings 00:22:12.609 --> 00:22:15.670 with you. He's very good at it. But yeah, looking 00:22:15.670 --> 00:22:18.059 to... Look into group. We're trying to build 00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:20.500 a group in a community that can all do their 00:22:20.500 --> 00:22:22.420 budgeting together. Like, we're trying to build 00:22:22.420 --> 00:22:26.200 systems to be able to do things in a group, mainly 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:28.000 because there's not much out there for that. 00:22:28.420 --> 00:22:30.940 And it's fun. It's fun to do a lot of that back 00:22:30.940 --> 00:22:33.660 office stuff in a group. You know, it's boring 00:22:33.660 --> 00:22:36.000 to sit down by yourself and do that. It's very 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:38.400 lonely. We're speaking from experience, too. 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:42.730 But also, it'll allow us to. Like, Kevin's time 00:22:42.730 --> 00:22:44.809 is very valuable. So if we can do it in a group 00:22:44.809 --> 00:22:46.789 class and build a system around it, I drastically 00:22:46.789 --> 00:22:51.390 drop costs for everyone that is, you know, in 00:22:51.390 --> 00:22:55.170 the smaller scale. Let's talk about Kevin for 00:22:55.170 --> 00:22:57.849 just a minute. He's been in the green industry 00:22:57.849 --> 00:23:02.490 for, I think, 40 plus years. So he's someone 00:23:02.490 --> 00:23:06.309 that knows a lot about the industry. Yeah. And 00:23:06.309 --> 00:23:09.369 he's been there and he's done it. So if there's 00:23:09.369 --> 00:23:14.140 anyone... that can help you, it would be Kevin 00:23:14.140 --> 00:23:17.880 Salters and Joey Koberley. So if you're listening 00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:21.960 to this show and you realize you need help, I 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:25.019 encourage you to reach out to these guys. Make 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:29.079 that $100 investment. If it goes up to $300, 00:23:29.259 --> 00:23:33.599 it's worth it or more. So, you know, make that 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:37.740 investment in yourself because when you do that, 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.779 You're saying to yourself, I do more than just 00:23:40.779 --> 00:23:45.680 cut grass. I'm running and operating a business 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:49.880 that is going to be successful. I'm working to 00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:55.759 build a legacy. So remember those names. Kevin 00:23:55.759 --> 00:24:00.759 Salters, Joey Coperly, contact them, reach out 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:03.819 to them and join the boot camp. I've been in 00:24:03.819 --> 00:24:08.150 the business for 16, going on to my 17th season. 00:24:09.170 --> 00:24:13.130 And I'm hoping I can join the March bootcamp 00:24:13.130 --> 00:24:17.190 because these guys have something that I can 00:24:17.190 --> 00:24:21.509 learn and help me become a better business owner. 00:24:21.910 --> 00:24:26.029 There's always room for improvement. They say, 00:24:26.549 --> 00:24:29.130 and I don't know if you've heard this, but if 00:24:29.130 --> 00:24:34.559 you're not growing, you're dying. Meaning, if 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:37.539 you're not seeing that growth in your business, 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:43.000 growth in your personal life, there's a dying 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:46.440 process taking place. And once you quit growing 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:49.019 and you start dying, there'll be a day that your 00:24:49.019 --> 00:24:52.779 business collapses. So remember to always invest 00:24:52.779 --> 00:24:57.539 in yourself. And while you're investing in yourself, 00:24:58.279 --> 00:25:02.609 you're investing in your business. Just remember 00:25:02.609 --> 00:25:06.190 that when you think, hey, I need some help. I 00:25:06.190 --> 00:25:09.130 need some direction. I need some guidance. Check 00:25:09.130 --> 00:25:12.809 out Kevin Salters and Joey Koberley. Well, I 00:25:12.809 --> 00:25:15.089 appreciate you grouping me in there with Kevin. 00:25:15.269 --> 00:25:17.890 The reason I brought him on was because I knew 00:25:17.890 --> 00:25:20.710 him for a while. He was a client and he knew 00:25:20.710 --> 00:25:22.809 everything. I'm like, why are you coming to monthly 00:25:22.809 --> 00:25:25.599 meetings for? You know more than I do. You know, 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:27.779 I know statements and investing and things like 00:25:27.779 --> 00:25:30.079 that. That's my wheelhouse, but, uh, we invited 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.700 Kevin along to do, to do just that because he, 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.859 I can't stump a man. I talked to him every week 00:25:34.859 --> 00:25:37.720 on my podcast. I throw everything at him. Can't 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:39.740 stump him. He's, he's done it all. He's a, he's 00:25:39.740 --> 00:25:43.559 a, he's a killer. Well, the thing that impressed 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:47.740 me about him at the LCR summit right before he 00:25:47.740 --> 00:25:53.259 quip this past year, he was there and I looked 00:25:53.259 --> 00:25:57.569 over at him. And he's taking notes. He's jotting 00:25:57.569 --> 00:26:00.269 stuff down. He's right. He's asking questions 00:26:00.269 --> 00:26:04.329 And he's been in the game for 40 years. Yeah, 00:26:04.369 --> 00:26:07.029 but he doesn't come across like hey because I've 00:26:07.029 --> 00:26:10.690 been in it 40 years. I Know what everything that 00:26:10.690 --> 00:26:14.690 needs to be known. No, he's so humble. He's coming 00:26:14.690 --> 00:26:17.549 across as hey there's something I can learn something 00:26:17.549 --> 00:26:20.109 that you know I got a question and when they 00:26:20.109 --> 00:26:22.549 would ask anyone have a question his hand would 00:26:22.549 --> 00:26:26.750 go up and he would ask his question yeah and 00:26:26.750 --> 00:26:29.470 I learned that's what I appreciate about you 00:26:29.470 --> 00:26:38.890 is the fact that you're so approachable and you're 00:26:38.890 --> 00:26:42.309 full of knowledge that can help these businesses 00:26:42.309 --> 00:26:45.289 grow. So I appreciate that about you, and I thank 00:26:45.289 --> 00:26:48.750 you for taking time out of your busy schedule 00:26:48.750 --> 00:26:51.630 to be a part of this show tonight. Well, thanks 00:26:51.630 --> 00:26:54.369 for having me on, Andy. I appreciate that. Yeah, 00:26:54.410 --> 00:26:57.690 I've always wanted to be someone that's approachable 00:26:57.690 --> 00:27:00.470 because, well, I think from my background in 00:27:00.470 --> 00:27:03.859 finance, I have a hard time approaching anybody 00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:06.099 in finance. It's intimidating. And so I really 00:27:06.099 --> 00:27:08.680 wanted to be someone that is approachable. So 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:12.039 it's nice hearing that from you, because I want 00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:15.420 to bring awareness of finances to this industry, 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:17.660 because we have a lot of hard work and people 00:27:17.660 --> 00:27:23.579 out there. And I'm just talking from personal 00:27:23.579 --> 00:27:26.180 experience. A lot of these guys got beat down 00:27:26.180 --> 00:27:28.019 in school, and they don't think they're smart. 00:27:28.140 --> 00:27:30.819 When in reality, This stuff isn't that complex 00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:32.460 that I'm teaching. You just have to integrate 00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:34.940 it into your business. Whenever you learn it 00:27:34.940 --> 00:27:37.259 in school, it's not related. It's not relatable 00:27:37.259 --> 00:27:39.759 to you. But the minute you own a business, it's 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:41.400 very relatable to you. It can take you to the 00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:44.160 next level. So I'm really passionate about bringing 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:47.660 just financial knowledge to the lawn care industry. 00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:54.099 So thank you. Well, when businesses fail in the 00:27:54.099 --> 00:27:58.869 green industry, most of the time. It's not because 00:27:58.869 --> 00:28:02.690 they don't know how to do the jobs. You know, 00:28:02.690 --> 00:28:05.690 they can mow a stripe and it looked perfect. 00:28:06.609 --> 00:28:10.109 They can edge a sidewalk or a driveway and it'd 00:28:10.109 --> 00:28:14.190 be perfect. But when they fail, it's because 00:28:14.190 --> 00:28:17.589 they have no systems and processes set in place 00:28:17.589 --> 00:28:20.769 to help them grow. Because you don't want to 00:28:20.769 --> 00:28:25.250 get stuck. So you've got to be growing. And that's 00:28:25.250 --> 00:28:29.210 why your business and your services are so vital 00:28:29.210 --> 00:28:33.309 to our industry. So, you know, I've seen business 00:28:33.309 --> 00:28:36.930 owners fail and I've seen their work and they 00:28:36.930 --> 00:28:39.890 do excellent work. They just don't know how to 00:28:39.890 --> 00:28:43.609 be a business owner. Yeah, yeah, 100%. A lot 00:28:43.609 --> 00:28:45.589 of times, well, actually, our friends at Earthapro 00:28:45.589 --> 00:28:48.230 say it best. Courtney always says one of the 00:28:48.230 --> 00:28:51.519 main problems of lawn care is They're very competent 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:53.559 in their job, but they have organizational chaos. 00:28:53.660 --> 00:28:54.960 And that's why they started their company. And 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:57.220 so, yeah, a hundred percent. It's either organization, 00:28:57.220 --> 00:28:59.220 which would be the SOP part of the things too, 00:28:59.579 --> 00:29:01.900 or they get into some sort of debt issue. That's 00:29:01.900 --> 00:29:03.700 the only things that I see companies failing 00:29:03.700 --> 00:29:06.599 for, to be honest with you. Yeah. Peter and Courtney 00:29:06.599 --> 00:29:08.440 are some great people. They're great. I love 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:11.700 them. I'm going to be on a show with them tomorrow 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:15.660 at two o 'clock. Oh yeah. Yeah. We hung out with 00:29:15.660 --> 00:29:18.960 them. They've been sponsoring the show now for... 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:21.579 about six months, maybe a little longer. Good 00:29:21.579 --> 00:29:23.180 deal. Yeah. We hung out with them at Equip. We 00:29:23.180 --> 00:29:24.539 went to breakfast with them and that was a good 00:29:24.539 --> 00:29:30.559 time. Yeah. We crashed their booth. About 12 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:34.579 of us stormed their booth and crashed it. It 00:29:34.579 --> 00:29:43.700 was a good time. So what would you say or how 00:29:43.700 --> 00:29:53.099 often should lawn care businesses How do they 00:29:53.099 --> 00:29:55.099 come to the point where they understand that 00:29:55.099 --> 00:29:58.819 staying busy doesn't mean you're profitable? 00:29:59.700 --> 00:30:02.339 Staying busy doesn't mean you're successful. 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:07.720 How can we change the way people think where, 00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:10.539 you know, I don't have to have a certain number 00:30:10.539 --> 00:30:13.559 of clients. I just got to have the right clients. 00:30:15.180 --> 00:30:19.450 I think, well, you have to be profitable. for 00:30:19.450 --> 00:30:23.089 starters, the starting foundation of buying your 00:30:23.089 --> 00:30:28.009 time back is profits. And a lot of times they 00:30:28.009 --> 00:30:29.990 don't know if they're profitable or not, which 00:30:29.990 --> 00:30:33.730 is where the bookkeeping can come in. So I've 00:30:33.730 --> 00:30:36.509 talked about this quite a bit, but you have to 00:30:36.509 --> 00:30:38.990 know what you're worth in the business, because 00:30:38.990 --> 00:30:40.910 I'll work with guys that are doing, let's say 00:30:40.910 --> 00:30:43.769 150 ,000 in revenue and they pay themselves $30 00:30:43.769 --> 00:30:46.829 ,000 last year. And they think that means that's 00:30:46.829 --> 00:30:50.059 the profit. It's like, or they'll have zero at 00:30:50.059 --> 00:30:51.500 the bottom line, but they paid themselves $30 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:53.660 ,000, right? So they'll think that their profit 00:30:53.660 --> 00:30:55.700 was $30 ,000. I'm like, no, that was your salary 00:30:55.700 --> 00:30:57.779 and you actually underpaid yourself and you should 00:30:57.779 --> 00:31:02.960 have a profit on top of that too. So it's discerning 00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:06.279 the difference between profit and salary. You 00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:08.460 have to know what you're worth. You wear a lot 00:31:08.460 --> 00:31:10.700 of hats. Let's say that you did work full -time 00:31:10.700 --> 00:31:12.339 out in the field. That doesn't account for all 00:31:12.339 --> 00:31:14.559 the office work you did, all the sales type of 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:17.549 stuff that you did. So if you were gonna... replacing 00:31:17.549 --> 00:31:19.250 yourself in the field, it might cost you $30 00:31:19.250 --> 00:31:22.269 ,000, $40 ,000, but then you did another $15 00:31:22.269 --> 00:31:24.509 ,000 of work in the back office that you're going 00:31:24.509 --> 00:31:26.029 to have to delegate out. That's a percentage 00:31:26.029 --> 00:31:28.769 of your business. And then you still need to 00:31:28.769 --> 00:31:31.730 have at least a 10 % profit left over after that. 00:31:32.650 --> 00:31:35.430 So on $150 ,000 business, I'd like to see you 00:31:35.430 --> 00:31:37.869 paying yourself at least $60 ,000 and bringing 00:31:37.869 --> 00:31:41.210 at least $15 ,000 to the bottom line. So that's 00:31:41.210 --> 00:31:43.509 an additional, you'd make $75 ,000 off of that. 00:31:43.970 --> 00:31:47.000 So it really comes down to discerning or knowing 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:49.160 the difference between what you're worth and 00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:52.700 what a profit actually is, because profit, it'll 00:31:52.700 --> 00:31:54.380 take your business a long time to realize this, 00:31:54.380 --> 00:31:57.819 but at the end of the day, profit is money that 00:31:57.819 --> 00:32:00.920 is paid to you through the assets that you own. 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:02.640 It has nothing to do with how much work you're 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:05.579 doing. Like you have these businesses in the 00:32:05.579 --> 00:32:08.039 stock market, if I read their bottom line, it's 00:32:08.039 --> 00:32:10.319 all passive income that is generated from the 00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:12.400 team. And those profits can be redistributed 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:14.180 back into the business or they can be taken out 00:32:14.180 --> 00:32:17.319 for dividends or whatever. But profit is money 00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:20.019 paid on the assets and then salary is paid on 00:32:20.019 --> 00:32:21.539 work performed. So you need to know the difference 00:32:21.539 --> 00:32:24.779 because if you buy mowers and trucks and trailers 00:32:24.779 --> 00:32:27.279 and your client list, how you've assimilated 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:29.660 that, that all is an asset that is worth money. 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:31.480 And that's what actually gives it value to an 00:32:31.480 --> 00:32:32.799 investor. And you need to know the difference 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:34.759 because otherwise you're not going to have a 00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:36.599 sellable business if it's not profitable. So 00:32:36.599 --> 00:32:40.279 you need to know the difference. That's good. 00:32:43.560 --> 00:32:48.000 business income, what you pay yourself. Don't 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:51.859 you include that in your total expenses so you 00:32:51.859 --> 00:32:55.140 can get a true profit margin of where you're 00:32:55.140 --> 00:32:57.839 at. Yeah, I misspoke earlier. So if you had a 00:32:57.839 --> 00:32:59.640 hundred and let's say you did a hundred thousand 00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:04.160 in revenue and you paid yourself $40 ,000 on 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:07.599 an LLC that is not an S corp. So this is most 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:10.690 businesses under a hundred thousand. You're Owner's 00:33:10.690 --> 00:33:12.250 salary is not going to come out of the profit 00:33:12.250 --> 00:33:14.170 and loss. So if I read your profit and loss, 00:33:14.170 --> 00:33:16.970 it's going to say $100 ,000. Let's say you had 00:33:16.970 --> 00:33:19.529 20 ,000 on the bottom line. Then we moved to 00:33:19.529 --> 00:33:21.089 the cashflow statement. That'll tell me how much 00:33:21.089 --> 00:33:23.089 you actually paid yourself because you're viewed 00:33:23.089 --> 00:33:25.869 as a dividend basically. And I know this is like 00:33:25.869 --> 00:33:27.630 a little, it's kind of hard to talk about this 00:33:27.630 --> 00:33:31.230 over a podcast. It's more visual, but yeah. So 00:33:31.230 --> 00:33:34.750 if you had $100 ,000 and you had $20 ,000 on 00:33:34.750 --> 00:33:36.349 your bottom line, but you haven't paid yourself 00:33:36.349 --> 00:33:39.329 that 40 ,000 yet, you actually lost money because 00:33:39.450 --> 00:33:41.710 The cash flow is negative 20 ,000, if that makes 00:33:41.710 --> 00:33:44.309 sense. So yes, you need to account for it in 00:33:44.309 --> 00:33:47.690 your expenses, but you'd have to do that manually 00:33:47.690 --> 00:33:49.569 on an LLC. On an S -Corp, it's automatically 00:33:49.569 --> 00:33:51.569 there. You're paid a salary on an S -Corp and 00:33:51.569 --> 00:33:54.269 you're there. You're a W -2. But yeah, an LLC, 00:33:54.349 --> 00:33:56.109 you need to account for it. So there's a little 00:33:56.109 --> 00:33:59.430 bit of a nuance there. I encourage all of our 00:33:59.430 --> 00:34:02.309 listeners, don't fall into that trap that you 00:34:02.309 --> 00:34:05.869 just take what's left. Pay yourself upfront. 00:34:06.730 --> 00:34:11.079 Pay yourself well. So you can get a true figure 00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:16.300 of how much profit your business is making and 00:34:16.300 --> 00:34:20.420 what your profit margin truly is. It's not so 00:34:20.420 --> 00:34:25.119 much the top end revenue that matters. It's that 00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:29.699 bottom dollar revenue. It really matters. You 00:34:29.699 --> 00:34:31.739 can feel good about your business for a long 00:34:31.739 --> 00:34:36.199 time. For example, you may be... growing it through 00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:38.480 just grit and hustling, but you're eventually 00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:40.519 gonna get to where you need to delegate. And 00:34:40.519 --> 00:34:42.280 when you get to that point, that's when you're 00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:44.260 gonna see if you're actually profitable or not, 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:47.800 because that's what a lot of these businesses 00:34:47.800 --> 00:34:50.000 run into, where you hear somebody going to 500K, 00:34:50.019 --> 00:34:52.539 then they have to drop back down to 250K, cut 00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:55.059 out their client list, restructure things. Most 00:34:55.059 --> 00:34:57.570 of the time... It's because they weren't they 00:34:57.570 --> 00:34:59.409 were under pricing or they weren't profitable 00:34:59.409 --> 00:35:01.489 to begin with. And they didn't know that because 00:35:01.489 --> 00:35:02.929 they didn't have any bookkeeping or they didn't 00:35:02.929 --> 00:35:05.030 understand their value of themselves inside of 00:35:05.030 --> 00:35:11.489 the business to be replaced. When I started growing 00:35:11.489 --> 00:35:17.389 my business, it took off pretty quick. And I'm 00:35:17.389 --> 00:35:20.809 thinking to myself, wow, there's days that I 00:35:20.809 --> 00:35:25.119 can make more money in a day. than what I made 00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:29.300 in two weeks when I was a deputy sheriff. And 00:35:29.300 --> 00:35:31.500 I thought, man, I'm making all kinds of money. 00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:34.719 But when I started trying to figure out what 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:38.739 my profit margin was, after I added up all of 00:35:38.739 --> 00:35:42.559 my expenses and what I paid myself, and I figured 00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:46.820 out what that profit margin was, I wasn't making 00:35:46.820 --> 00:35:49.719 any money because I had too many expenditures. 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:54.610 That's very common. I had to tighten my belt 00:35:54.610 --> 00:35:59.769 up. And it's true. I make more money now almost 00:35:59.769 --> 00:36:02.929 daily than what I made in two weeks as a deputy 00:36:02.929 --> 00:36:07.150 sheriff. That's sad. Law enforcement's not paid 00:36:07.150 --> 00:36:12.349 near enough. I agree. So, you know, it was a 00:36:12.349 --> 00:36:15.710 hard lesson for me because when I started, I 00:36:15.710 --> 00:36:20.309 really didn't know what to charge, how to charge. 00:36:21.250 --> 00:36:23.889 And I was just kind of throwing numbers out there 00:36:23.889 --> 00:36:27.010 to clients, and every yard had a different price. 00:36:27.230 --> 00:36:29.369 Yep. You know, this yard, well, that yard looks 00:36:29.369 --> 00:36:32.449 like it's about a $40 yard. This one's about 00:36:32.449 --> 00:36:38.250 a $30 yard. I realized that I've got to come 00:36:38.250 --> 00:36:43.030 up with a bottom across the board price where 00:36:43.030 --> 00:36:47.030 I start. Now I won't drop my gate for less than 00:36:47.030 --> 00:36:50.610 $65. Yeah, good for you. And it goes up from 00:36:50.610 --> 00:36:54.260 there. Mm -hmm. I've got one yard. It's $400 00:36:54.260 --> 00:37:00.500 and The guy pays it every week That's the more 00:37:00.500 --> 00:37:02.079 expensive ones are the ones that it's easier 00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:05.400 to get the money out of most the time And and 00:37:05.400 --> 00:37:07.559 he even asked me would you want me to pay you 00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:10.920 up front for the whole year? Yeah, you know because 00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:13.480 he's got it. He's willing to pay. Yeah, that's 00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:17.619 like clients. Yeah that always want to Find out 00:37:17.619 --> 00:37:19.579 right off the bat. How much is it gonna cost 00:37:19.579 --> 00:37:22.599 me? when that's what they're concerned about. 00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:25.960 This guy, he's concerned about what it looks 00:37:25.960 --> 00:37:29.960 like. Not what it cost him. And he's interested 00:37:29.960 --> 00:37:31.719 in building a relationship with your business 00:37:31.719 --> 00:37:33.760 too. He actually cares that you're doing it or 00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:35.900 your team's doing it. They get a really vested 00:37:35.900 --> 00:37:40.159 interest in the brand associated with it. And 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:43.579 that's why I've told numerous guys that call 00:37:43.579 --> 00:37:47.400 me or text me or send me an email when it comes 00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:51.739 to pricing. There's two ways you price. You price 00:37:51.739 --> 00:37:56.159 according to your value and you price according 00:37:56.159 --> 00:38:01.679 to the client's perceived outcome. When you ask 00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:05.500 a few questions to a potential client, like, 00:38:06.059 --> 00:38:09.440 you know, what are you expecting? What do you 00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:12.519 want your property to look like? And they answer 00:38:12.519 --> 00:38:14.940 that question. Oh, I want that beautiful stripe. 00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:18.289 I want that... the trimmed edged look, I want 00:38:18.289 --> 00:38:21.929 everything to be perfect, then I'm not ashamed 00:38:21.929 --> 00:38:25.349 or scared to throw out, okay, it's gonna be $75 00:38:25.349 --> 00:38:29.449 for you to get that property. Yeah. You know, 00:38:29.670 --> 00:38:34.230 and before, when I just first started almost 00:38:34.230 --> 00:38:37.750 17 years ago now, I was just throwing numbers 00:38:37.750 --> 00:38:41.590 out. And it didn't take me long to realize I'm 00:38:41.590 --> 00:38:45.230 not making any money. I'm killing myself working. 00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:51.320 I'm going daylight to dark. I'm killing my back, 00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:54.099 my knees, my feet, everything's hurting because 00:38:54.099 --> 00:38:57.440 I'm working hard, but I'm not making any money. 00:38:57.699 --> 00:39:00.860 So I start tightening up the screws and then 00:39:00.860 --> 00:39:05.860 I start raising my prices. So I encourage you, 00:39:05.900 --> 00:39:08.320 if you're listening to this show and you're struggling, 00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:11.440 maybe you need to consider raising your prices. 00:39:11.940 --> 00:39:15.039 Maybe you need to consider tightening up your 00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:19.239 screws. slowing down your expenditures, especially 00:39:19.239 --> 00:39:22.360 if you're just starting. When I was just getting 00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:24.639 started, I wouldn't buy a piece of equipment 00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:27.780 unless I was going to use it on a consistent 00:39:27.780 --> 00:39:31.920 basis. I'd rather go rent it. That also comes 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:34.360 down to the vision aspect. It's like you can 00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:36.400 only make that decision on what piece of equipment 00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:38.000 you're going to buy if you know the type of client 00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:40.559 that you want to serve. So if you haven't identified 00:39:40.889 --> 00:39:43.349 who you want to serve, you can't therefore buy 00:39:43.349 --> 00:39:44.969 the equipment that you need. And so I run into 00:39:44.969 --> 00:39:47.309 that a lot too. It's like cast the vision, who 00:39:47.309 --> 00:39:49.250 do you want to serve, and then buy the things 00:39:49.250 --> 00:39:51.670 that serves that client. And that's exactly what 00:39:51.670 --> 00:39:54.489 you're talking about. And what neighborhood do 00:39:54.489 --> 00:39:56.809 you want to work in? Right. Right. That makes 00:39:56.809 --> 00:40:01.550 a huge difference. Yeah. You know, I've got a 00:40:01.550 --> 00:40:04.510 real nice neighborhood that I've been breaking 00:40:04.510 --> 00:40:07.489 into, and now I've got several customers there. 00:40:08.349 --> 00:40:14.329 And these people have the money. So, when I give 00:40:14.329 --> 00:40:17.969 them an estimate for a mulch job, I'm not going 00:40:17.969 --> 00:40:22.550 to do it for free. I'm not going to work hard, 00:40:22.949 --> 00:40:25.630 shovel and mulch all day long and not make any 00:40:25.630 --> 00:40:30.050 money on it. That's just ludicrous. Right. So, 00:40:30.610 --> 00:40:35.650 know your value. Know the perceived outcome that 00:40:35.650 --> 00:40:40.289 your client expects. Know who your ideal customer 00:40:40.289 --> 00:40:43.570 is. who you want to work for, the neighborhoods 00:40:43.570 --> 00:40:47.829 you want to work in. And you can find out a lot 00:40:47.829 --> 00:40:50.570 about your clients by learning where do they 00:40:50.570 --> 00:40:54.809 congregate. You know, where they hang out on 00:40:54.809 --> 00:40:57.730 Facebook or they hang out on Instagram or TikTok. 00:40:59.989 --> 00:41:05.349 What are their social settings? You know, how 00:41:05.349 --> 00:41:07.389 much money do they make? Where do they work? 00:41:07.889 --> 00:41:11.380 All of these things can help you determine who 00:41:11.380 --> 00:41:13.820 your ideal customer is and where you want to 00:41:13.820 --> 00:41:17.800 work so you can start turning a profit and increasing 00:41:17.800 --> 00:41:22.019 your level of revenue. Another thing that I run 00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:23.900 into a lot, you know, we mentioned the owner's 00:41:23.900 --> 00:41:27.059 salary, just to tie this up. Many guys, when 00:41:27.059 --> 00:41:28.840 they start out, they don't realize how much overhead 00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:31.019 it costs to run a big company. And you have to 00:41:31.019 --> 00:41:34.309 factor in what it's eventually gonna cost you, 00:41:34.369 --> 00:41:36.170 because you're not gonna get past a certain point 00:41:36.170 --> 00:41:39.050 if you're not factoring in just basic percentages 00:41:39.050 --> 00:41:41.750 like depreciation, repairs and maintenance on 00:41:41.750 --> 00:41:45.010 your stuff. There's a thing called labor burden 00:41:45.010 --> 00:41:47.750 on employees that usually runs about 18, 19, 00:41:47.809 --> 00:41:51.130 20 % in addition to the hourly rate that you're 00:41:51.130 --> 00:41:54.389 paying them. And many guys under 150K don't know 00:41:54.389 --> 00:41:56.690 this and it eventually catches up to them where 00:41:56.690 --> 00:41:58.630 they're like, oh, if I need to get to the next 00:41:58.630 --> 00:42:01.329 level, I need all this factored into my pricing. 00:42:01.429 --> 00:42:03.010 Whereas before I was running a lean operation 00:42:03.010 --> 00:42:04.690 when it was just me. I didn't need all this extra 00:42:04.690 --> 00:42:06.610 stuff. And now I'm starting to realize what it 00:42:06.610 --> 00:42:09.130 takes to actually run a large scale operation. 00:42:09.250 --> 00:42:12.010 So there's like eventual overhead that comes 00:42:12.010 --> 00:42:14.769 into play that many guys overlooked in the beginning. 00:42:16.389 --> 00:42:19.889 When you had a shop. Yeah, exactly. When you 00:42:19.889 --> 00:42:23.530 had, you know, three or four, five, six mowers. 00:42:24.690 --> 00:42:27.809 You know, you go out and buy six brand new mowers. 00:42:28.750 --> 00:42:33.710 You're dropping a lot of cash. Yeah. And people 00:42:33.710 --> 00:42:36.449 get hung up on the brand. I say you need to get 00:42:36.449 --> 00:42:40.130 hung up on the dealer support. Yeah. So when 00:42:40.130 --> 00:42:44.829 the mower goes down, my dealer, I had something 00:42:44.829 --> 00:42:48.590 go wrong with my mower. I took it in. He said 00:42:48.590 --> 00:42:51.230 out at my house. He said, you know where I live. 00:42:51.429 --> 00:42:54.570 You've been there. He said by the garage is sitting 00:42:54.570 --> 00:42:57.909 a grasshopper mower. Go out there and Load the 00:42:57.909 --> 00:43:00.730 mower up and finish your route for today. He 00:43:00.730 --> 00:43:02.510 said I'll have your mower fixed by the end of 00:43:02.510 --> 00:43:06.449 the day Because you're you're making your living 00:43:06.449 --> 00:43:09.650 By this equipment. Yeah, I just mow one once 00:43:09.650 --> 00:43:12.090 a week. You're me all day. You're selling time 00:43:12.090 --> 00:43:16.130 Yeah, yeah, so that dealer support is so important 00:43:16.130 --> 00:43:19.449 Let's take another break and let's hear a word 00:43:19.449 --> 00:43:28.519 from green frog web design Does your website 00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:31.519 look like it was built in 2008? Does this sound 00:43:31.519 --> 00:43:34.500 familiar? Glurry photos, clunky button, buried 00:43:34.500 --> 00:43:38.460 phone numbers? That's costing you leaps. At Green 00:43:38.460 --> 00:43:41.480 Frog Web Design, we build sharp, modern websites 00:43:41.480 --> 00:43:44.679 built to bring your business not chasing away. 00:43:45.019 --> 00:43:47.800 Stop hiding behind that updated website. Visit 00:43:47.800 --> 00:43:51.619 greenfrogwebdesign .com and let's fix that website 00:43:51.619 --> 00:43:59.559 today. If you need a nice website, get ahold 00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:03.059 of Ezra with Green Frog Web Design. They can 00:44:03.059 --> 00:44:07.260 set you up and develop you a website that will 00:44:07.260 --> 00:44:11.219 attract clients to your business. Well, Jerry, 00:44:11.239 --> 00:44:15.099 let me ask you just a couple more questions here. 00:44:15.320 --> 00:44:18.920 I want to be mindful of your time. But what is 00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:23.059 a good healthy profit margin that you commonly 00:44:23.059 --> 00:44:28.519 see in lawn care businesses? Okay, so for starters, 00:44:28.539 --> 00:44:31.320 you always want to be above at least 5%. You 00:44:31.320 --> 00:44:33.099 start getting above below that, you're kind of 00:44:33.099 --> 00:44:36.139 running on life support based on economic cyclicality 00:44:36.139 --> 00:44:38.659 or something like that, especially when you start 00:44:38.659 --> 00:44:41.420 getting into, you know, doing more custom work, 00:44:41.639 --> 00:44:43.579 the cyclicality of the economy will really kill 00:44:43.579 --> 00:44:47.480 you quick, you know, during downturns. But for 00:44:47.480 --> 00:44:49.960 lawn maintenance, I generally say shoot for 10 00:44:49.960 --> 00:44:53.480 to 15%. Now there's commercial versus residential. 00:44:54.059 --> 00:44:58.050 So commercial, I'd say eight to 12 is really 00:44:58.050 --> 00:44:59.809 good in commercial. And then if you wanna get 00:44:59.809 --> 00:45:01.590 to residential, I'm gonna go ahead and bump that 00:45:01.590 --> 00:45:05.909 up to about 15 to 20 is excellent. Now 10 to 00:45:05.909 --> 00:45:09.909 15 is still respectable. For landscaping jobs, 00:45:10.010 --> 00:45:13.730 I like to shoot in that 15 to 20, sometimes 25 00:45:13.730 --> 00:45:16.090 % range. That's all really good. And then you 00:45:16.090 --> 00:45:18.010 start getting into really custom type of stuff. 00:45:18.759 --> 00:45:20.940 or a lawn application, you can be in the 20 to 00:45:20.940 --> 00:45:24.460 30 range. So the problems you run into, it's 00:45:24.460 --> 00:45:26.119 like, oh, a higher profit margin job. Let's get 00:45:26.119 --> 00:45:27.639 into that. Well, there's different complexities 00:45:27.639 --> 00:45:29.599 of scaling that. For example, if you do custom 00:45:29.599 --> 00:45:31.460 work, you're going to have a hard time training 00:45:31.460 --> 00:45:33.199 and building systems inside of that when every 00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:35.320 job's different. Whereas with a basic commercial 00:45:35.320 --> 00:45:37.280 job, you can plug and play people. You can build 00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:39.860 systems. You're on the property long. You don't 00:45:39.860 --> 00:45:43.559 have to build routes as tight. So, you know, 00:45:43.639 --> 00:45:46.000 there's reasons for the reasons that the profitability 00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:48.599 is different, and it doesn't mean the grass is 00:45:48.599 --> 00:45:50.400 always greener. Find what you enjoy to do and 00:45:50.400 --> 00:45:53.900 do it. And, you know, any time you're over 10%, 00:45:53.900 --> 00:45:55.579 you got a good business, man. You got a good 00:45:55.579 --> 00:46:00.440 business, so. Well, last year when I figured 00:46:00.440 --> 00:46:04.679 out what my profit margin was for the year, and 00:46:04.679 --> 00:46:09.980 remember, I had no expenses last year. No breakdowns 00:46:09.980 --> 00:46:14.000 everything went smooth all year long and I was 00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:19.619 surprised as you are but When when I feared my 00:46:19.619 --> 00:46:26.659 profit margin with my CPA We had a 23 % profit 00:46:26.659 --> 00:46:30.679 margin last year. That's excellent That's after 00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:34.480 my income. Yeah what I paid myself. That's after 00:46:34.480 --> 00:46:37.420 all of my shop expenses all of the equipment 00:46:37.420 --> 00:46:42.099 expenses, all the gas, the insurance, my license, 00:46:42.780 --> 00:46:47.679 all of those things. 23 % profit margin. That's 00:46:47.679 --> 00:46:50.460 amazing. If I can hit that again this year, I'll 00:46:50.460 --> 00:46:58.039 be really, really happy. So one more question 00:46:58.039 --> 00:47:03.760 and then we'll wrap this up. How important is 00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:07.630 separating your personal and your business finances. 00:47:08.670 --> 00:47:11.550 A lot of people don't know that. So I interviewed, 00:47:12.349 --> 00:47:13.730 I don't know if you've had him on your show, 00:47:13.789 --> 00:47:16.130 but he's one of my favorite interviews of all 00:47:16.130 --> 00:47:21.590 time, Jim the lawn boss. And he's a green industry 00:47:21.590 --> 00:47:24.050 business broker that sold over 500 green industry 00:47:24.050 --> 00:47:27.570 businesses. He will not touch a business unless 00:47:27.570 --> 00:47:29.010 it's doing over a million dollars in revenue. 00:47:29.070 --> 00:47:31.369 So this guy's dealt with some big players. He 00:47:31.369 --> 00:47:33.820 sold a lot of big businesses. And the number 00:47:33.820 --> 00:47:36.300 one thing he said in business when he looks at 00:47:36.300 --> 00:47:39.480 something is to separate the personal from the 00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:42.099 business. And so you don't have to take my word 00:47:42.099 --> 00:47:45.320 for it. You can take his word for it. He's basically 00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:46.760 saying you're not even going to be able to sell 00:47:46.760 --> 00:47:48.900 your business if you don't keep your personal 00:47:48.900 --> 00:47:52.739 and your business separate. And I will say it's 00:47:52.739 --> 00:47:54.739 not as big of a problem in the beginning. But 00:47:54.739 --> 00:47:59.079 if you want to scale. a company, you want to, 00:47:59.079 --> 00:48:01.119 you want to build habits from the beginning. 00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:03.960 You want to start small, build good habits. And 00:48:03.960 --> 00:48:06.199 that is one of the first habits that you need 00:48:06.199 --> 00:48:08.699 to build if you ever intend on actually selling 00:48:08.699 --> 00:48:09.920 your company, because nobody's going to want 00:48:09.920 --> 00:48:11.739 to touch that. If you have it all mixed in it, 00:48:11.940 --> 00:48:13.900 you know, you're doing $2 million or whatever, 00:48:13.960 --> 00:48:15.500 no one's going to touch it. It's not going to 00:48:15.500 --> 00:48:18.699 be valuable. So yeah, I would say create those 00:48:18.699 --> 00:48:21.219 habits, start as early as you can. Megan and 00:48:21.219 --> 00:48:25.099 I have always separated our personal from business 00:48:25.099 --> 00:48:27.760 from day one. And it just makes it nice and clean. 00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:29.480 We know what we're looking at. We can analyze 00:48:29.480 --> 00:48:32.059 our business, know where to make decisions inside 00:48:32.059 --> 00:48:34.760 of it. So yeah, that would be, you know, don't 00:48:34.760 --> 00:48:36.619 take my advice, take the business broker with 00:48:36.619 --> 00:48:41.260 500 business sales. Where can our listeners connect 00:48:41.260 --> 00:48:47.340 with you? How can they find you? And where do 00:48:47.340 --> 00:48:49.960 they go to schedule that 15 minute phone call 00:48:49.960 --> 00:48:52.949 with you? Yeah, so for the landscaping bookkeeper, 00:48:52.989 --> 00:48:56.650 which is bookkeeping organization and a monthly 00:48:56.650 --> 00:48:59.050 meeting with a dedicated bookkeeper, that is 00:48:59.050 --> 00:49:02.070 www .thelandscapingbookkeeper .com. Just schedule 00:49:02.070 --> 00:49:04.550 a 15 minute phone call there. If you're interested 00:49:04.550 --> 00:49:07.849 in lawn care launch, you can go to www .lawncarelaunch 00:49:07.849 --> 00:49:12.889 .com. There we have several things you can do 00:49:12.889 --> 00:49:16.170 there. You can check out our programs. We have 00:49:16.170 --> 00:49:19.739 like a scaling package. Um, for businesses, um, 00:49:19.780 --> 00:49:21.960 we're working on a, uh, a workshop package that 00:49:21.960 --> 00:49:23.199 I talked to you about earlier. That's going to 00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:25.940 be more for broad mass type of stuff, but, um, 00:49:25.940 --> 00:49:28.559 you can schedule a free coaching call with Kevin 00:49:28.559 --> 00:49:30.119 on there that we talked about. So that's really 00:49:30.119 --> 00:49:32.579 cool. And then there's also the, uh, hustlers 00:49:32.579 --> 00:49:34.719 bootcamp on there. And I'll send you a link to 00:49:34.719 --> 00:49:36.239 that too, cause I'm not quite sure if that's 00:49:36.239 --> 00:49:38.880 on our website quite yet, but, uh, yeah, the 00:49:38.880 --> 00:49:41.659 hustlers bootcamp coaching with Kevin and our 00:49:41.659 --> 00:49:45.059 scaling package all at www .theloncarelaunch 00:49:45.059 --> 00:49:48.429 .com. Well, hopefully I will see you in March. 00:49:48.809 --> 00:49:51.329 Yeah, looking forward to it. Yeah. Yes, sir. 00:49:51.630 --> 00:49:56.230 I'm excited. Yeah. I'm always willing and excited 00:49:56.230 --> 00:49:59.949 to take on a new challenge and learn something 00:49:59.949 --> 00:50:04.110 new. Me too. Funny story is I've been wanting 00:50:04.110 --> 00:50:07.010 to do a fast for a while. So Kevin had done fasting. 00:50:07.449 --> 00:50:09.650 And so we're doing a fast currently right now. 00:50:09.670 --> 00:50:11.269 So I'm on day two. I hadn't eaten anything in 00:50:11.269 --> 00:50:13.809 two days. And it's my first one. But Kevin wrote 00:50:13.809 --> 00:50:16.679 me into it. So I'm trying something new. Um, 00:50:16.679 --> 00:50:18.659 anyway, that was my, I'm trying to do a lot of 00:50:18.659 --> 00:50:19.960 things of what you're talking about this year, 00:50:20.079 --> 00:50:22.159 doing hard things, new things. And so that's 00:50:22.159 --> 00:50:24.840 what I got going on this week is, uh, the, the 00:50:24.840 --> 00:50:27.280 three day fast. So, uh, yeah, yeah. I was hoping 00:50:27.280 --> 00:50:28.599 I'd be able to do this. I'm like, I don't know 00:50:28.599 --> 00:50:30.880 if I'm gonna be, uh, too lightheaded or what's 00:50:30.880 --> 00:50:32.179 going to be going on, but I'm feeling great. 00:50:32.699 --> 00:50:35.869 So yeah. Are you drinking water? Yeah, that's 00:50:35.869 --> 00:50:38.230 it's I'm drinking three liters today. Yep. So 00:50:38.230 --> 00:50:40.570 yesterday was kind of rough. I got a I got a 00:50:40.570 --> 00:50:41.909 headache at the end of the day just because my 00:50:41.909 --> 00:50:43.750 body was acclimating to it. But today I feel 00:50:43.750 --> 00:50:45.969 pretty good. So I think about food a lot more 00:50:45.969 --> 00:50:49.949 than normal, but I feel pretty good. Yeah. Well, 00:50:50.030 --> 00:50:52.809 are we leaving anything out that you need to 00:50:52.809 --> 00:50:57.150 add? I don't think oh, my podcast, the Joey Kerberle 00:50:57.150 --> 00:51:00.469 show. If you're interested in listening to me 00:51:00.469 --> 00:51:03.539 and Kevin chat about all kinds of stuff. I have 00:51:03.539 --> 00:51:05.760 him on there on Wednesdays and I'll do a guest 00:51:05.760 --> 00:51:07.579 occasionally on a Monday. But for the most part, 00:51:07.639 --> 00:51:10.320 it's me and Kevin that do that. And right now 00:51:10.320 --> 00:51:14.260 I'm doing a series on how to have the most impact 00:51:14.260 --> 00:51:17.659 in your world through your business. So it's 00:51:17.659 --> 00:51:19.820 a series. We don't only do series type of stuff 00:51:19.820 --> 00:51:22.840 on there. I've done a scaling series and a grass 00:51:22.840 --> 00:51:24.739 series and personal development, things like 00:51:24.739 --> 00:51:27.880 that. But a lot of it is just me getting information 00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:29.929 out of Kevin. Uh, cause he knows a lot more than 00:51:29.929 --> 00:51:32.949 me. So that's, that's mainly what the show is. 00:51:32.989 --> 00:51:36.489 Well, I have listened to your podcast and I appreciate 00:51:36.489 --> 00:51:41.530 it. Very well done. Very professional and very 00:51:41.530 --> 00:51:44.630 informative. Thank you. So thank you for that. 00:51:44.789 --> 00:51:49.349 And I encourage my listeners to search the Joey 00:51:49.349 --> 00:51:54.550 Koberley show and subscribe and hit the notification 00:51:54.550 --> 00:51:57.909 button. So you don't miss an episode. You will 00:51:57.909 --> 00:52:01.699 be. better because of it. Joey, thank you again 00:52:01.699 --> 00:52:04.539 for joining the Lawn Hustle. I really appreciate 00:52:04.539 --> 00:52:08.199 you being on the show tonight. So until we talk 00:52:08.199 --> 00:52:11.300 again, God bless you and I wish you nothing but 00:52:11.300 --> 00:52:14.019 success. Thanks so much, Andy. I really appreciate 00:52:14.019 --> 00:52:15.519 you having me on. God bless you as well.