Stop Blaming the Economy. Start Pulling Levers.

The Conference That Sparked This

Last week, I had the opportunity to keynote at the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP) Conference.

And honestly?

It was so epic… I had to write about it again.

I actually spoke twice. Built on the first session. Stacked it. Pushed people a little. Made some people uncomfortable. (In a good way.)

One of the main ideas I focused on was this:

Leverage in your business.

Because I’m going to be honest…

I get tired of the excuses.

• “The economy changed.”

• “You can’t hire good people anymore.”

• “Not in my market.”

• “It’s just different now.”

No.

The Guy from South Dakota

I met a contractor at the conference — Andy — from South Dakota.

South. Dakota.

If anyone in the room is “allowed” to complain about market size or limited opportunity… it’s probably him.

And guess what?

He’s not complaining.

He’s building.
He’s executing.
He’s pulling levers.

That’s the difference.

Control the Controllables

One of my early sales trainers drilled this into me:

Control the controllables.

You can’t control:

• The weather

• The news

• Interest rates

• Elections

• The economy

But you can control:

• Your attitude

• Your pricing

• Your sales process

• Your follow-up

• Your marketing

• Your systems

That’s where leverage lives.

What Is Leverage? (Caveman Version)

Someone came up to me after the talk and said:

“Hey, I liked it… but can you explain leverage a little more?”

There are no dumb questions. If you’re thinking it, someone else is too.

So here’s the caveman explanation:

Leverage is minimizing inputs while maximizing outputs.

Imagine a 300-pound boulder.

You could:

• Train for a year

• Get stronger

• Try to muscle it

Or…

You grab a 10-foot bar and use it as a lever.

Same result.
Way less effort.

That’s leverage.

And that’s how you scale a business without just “working harder.”

A Simple Automation Example

Let’s say you build one automation:

When a client pays their final invoice, it automatically sends a text:

“Thank you so much for trusting us. Would you mind leaving us a 5-star Google review? Here’s the link.”

You build it once.

It works forever.

That’s leverage.

Leveraging Debt (The Smart Way)

Leverage isn’t just about time — it can also apply to money.

If you borrow at 10%
But deploy it in a way that earns 30%

That’s leverage.

If you borrow recklessly and don’t produce a return?

That’s not leverage.

That’s stupidity.

Big difference.

My Favorite Lever: Pricing

This is where most business owners are asleep.

Let’s say you do $1,000,000 in revenue at 20% net profit.

That’s $200,000 profit.

Now raise your prices by just 10%.

Nothing else changes:

• Same leads

• Same close rate

• Same overhead

Now you do $1.1M.

Expenses stay mostly the same.

That extra $100K?

Mostly profit.

You just went from $200K to roughly $300K profit.

That’s a 50% increase in profit from a 10% price increase.

Read that again.

You didn’t:

• Work more hours

• Hire more people

• Get more leads

• Add more stress

You pulled one lever.

That is leverage.

Stop Trying to Outwork the Game

When you’re starting out, yes — you grind.

But grinding doesn’t scale.

Leverage scales.

• Information is leverage.

• Systems are leverage.

• Automation is leverage.

• Pricing is leverage.

• Targeting is leverage.

If you want to create your own economy instead of blaming the current one…

Start pulling levers.

The Real Question

Inside Landscape Lighting Secrets, this is what we constantly evaluate:

• Which lever are you ignoring?

• Where are you working too hard?

• Where are you underpricing?

• Where are you overcomplicating?

You don’t need to work harder.

You need better leverage.

So here’s your question:

👉 What lever are you not pulling right now?

• Pricing?

• Sales process?

• Follow-up?

• Marketing investment?

• Systems?

Pick one.

Pull it.

And stop blaming the economy.

Keep moving forward.

— Ryan Lee

# business leverage, pricing strategy, profit growth, business systems, automation, scaling a business, contractor marketing, outdoor lighting business, sales process improvement, entrepreneurial mindset #