Lighting for Profits - Episode 156

This week on the show we welcome Phillip Ambrose, from installing Directv to washing houses, he found his true calling in Christmas light installation, which led to a successful career in landscape lighting. His earnings soared from $65k in the first year to over $500k by the third year. Beyond financial success, he cherishes illuminating homes and sharing his faith journey with others.

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Episode Transcript

We discussed everything you need to know to start and grow a successful landscape lighting business

Welcome to lighting for profits.

All Light, All Light. All Light.

Powered by Emery Allen.

Get rid of your excuses.

Your number one source for all things landscape lighting. That's where the magic can happen.

You can really scale a business.

We really had to show up for each other from lighting design, install, sales and marketing. You're a scaredy cat salesman, Kirk. We discussed everything you need to know to start and grow a successful landscape lighting business. What do you think a hippo has to do with your business, Ryan?

Usually it's some weird childhood thing.

Bully kicks your butt.

I think the key factor here is trust.

Ryan Lee is the host of lighting for profits

Here is your host, Ryan Lee. All, light.

All light. All, light. Oh, man, I'm so excited, you guys. We got an awesome show lined up. I love, love doing this show. I get to talk to some amazing people, and today is no different. my name is Ryan Lee. I'm the host of lighting for profits, powered by Emery Allen. And, we are the number one landscape lighting show in Vanceboro, North Carolina. I know a lot of people want to go there. It's a destination. It's going to be after this show. And I, just want to thank you guys for your support. Don't, forget. Go give us one of those five star reviews. Say something nice on podcast or on podcast on, Apple or Spotify, and, would appreciate it. We're always trying to get reviews and, try to get the word out. So thank you for everyone who's done that so far. We're already up to, 60, which is kind of cool.

We got mister Philip Ambrose on this episode. And I'm excited to have him on

And, today, you guys, we got an awesome show. We got mister Philip Ambrose. And, he is the owner, the founder, the CEO, the chief lighting designer, and, he is the, of Ambrose lighting. So I'm excited, guys, I met Philip a couple years ago, and, you're going to see, like, you're going to learn a lot from this episode. he has not been doing this for decades, but he's only been doing a few years. And he's had some amazing success. He's had some ups, he's had some downs. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about his journey. And I. Someone who I really, really look up to. and he's. He's in. He's in our coaching program. But, like, like, I learn a lot from him, so I'm excited to have him on. So make sure you guys stick around. As a reminder, secret summit getting closer. Coming up this summer, kind of summer. It's, September 9 and 10th in, Park City, Utah. So it's coming up here soon. Want to remind you guys, if you are in the program, like, get your tickets now so we can plan accordingly. And, if not, if you're not in secrets, but you're like, yeah, I kind of want to be. This is the time to join because we're releasing a bunch of new stuff. We got 2.0 coming out. And, that secret summit is a great in person event to, to get to know everyone and hang out. And, and there's, you know, landscape lighting secrets is mostly online, right? We have zoom meetings and stuff like that. But the thing is, in person is kind of where it's at. It's really, really cool. So I can't imagine a landscape lighting secrets without an in person meetup. So hope to see you guys there. And, of course, I want to thank, Emery Allen, for their, support over the, over the years now, we've been working together.

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What's the best way to stand out of the crowd? Well, being different. So set yourself apart from others in the lighting industry and impress your customers by installing Emory Allen lamps. On your next project, you'll discover a higher level of quality across the board, from the lamps themselves to the top tier customer support you can expect to get. If you have any issues or questions, they have great support. Right now is the best time to make a switch. Just email tom g@emoryallen. com. and he'll get you, hooked up, get your account set up and everything. Again, all you got to do is email tom gallen. com, introduce yourself, tell you, tell him you heard about him here on lighting for profits. And he'll get you that best price. And I'm telling you, it's a really good price. So all you gotta do is email tom g@emoryallen. com. they got some great lamps. That single source led is kind of where it's at. Alright, guys, so in just a minute, we got Mister Philip Ambrose, ambrose lighting coming on from Vansboro, North Carolina. And, I'm telling you, you're gonna want to stick around for this one. It's really, really good. I'm excited.

I'm trying to get my priorities straight with family and work

Before I have him on, I want to just share something real quick. Was, mountain biking the other day and, to be honest, I'm like, yeah, mountain bike season. I'm going to mountain bike every week, and I've only been a few times, so I'm kind of disappointed in myself because I've gotten overwhelmed at work, and I'm, trying to get my priorities straight with my family and work and myself and fun and all this stuff. So I do have a goal to be out in the mountains more than I currently have been. But I was riding my mountain bike, and I. And I get so much clarity. I love getting out in the mountains. You guys especially, kind of. I was by myself. I kind of like being by myself. And, I made a list in my head. Okay. And then I wrote it down after of nine things you didn't know could grow your lighting business that you can only learn while mountain biking. So that might be the longest title for anything ever, but it's nine things you didn't know. You could grow your lighting business that you can only learn while mountain biking.

There are three things you can learn while mountain biking to grow your business

Okay, so the first number one is momentum. Okay? So, you know, people know what momentum is, right? Like, you get speed and then you let off the gas, but you're still going without actually, you know, pushing the gas down. That's momentum. And so it makes sense when you're going downhill because you have this momentum, right? And then when you're mountain biking, it's not just, like, up or down. Like, some of the trails are up and down. You know, just depend. Like, you could be crossing a creek, you could be going up, and then also you're going down and, you know, downhill momentum, a lot of people know what that is. So, like, if you're going down and then there's, like, a. An uphill after, like, the more momentum you have going down, the higher you're going to reach that hill going up. Right. A lot of people hit the brakes, okay? They're. They're go so slow down because they're nervous. They're scared that they're gonna fall. Okay? They're not. They're not as willing to take risk, and so they're going so slow that they have no momentum when they approach the bottom. And they're going now they gotta go up the hill. Right. So sometimes the economy feels easy. We're kind of coasting, and then it gets challenging. And the good companies that have so much momentum, they make it so much higher on the mountain without even pedaling because they have so much momentum that carries them up that mountain, right. And so if you're nervous, if you're scared, if you're, like, you know, still got the brakes on a little bit, you're going to have less momentum, and it's going to be harder for you to. For you to approach that mountain a lot of people understand that, right? A lot of people don't know what uphill momentum is, okay. Uphill momentum is different. And so when you're riding uphill, yes, there is momentum. And the number two thing is kind of describing what that momentum is, is grind when it's hard. Okay? This is the second thing you didn't know could grow your lighting business that you can only learn while mountain biking. Grind when it's hard. So this is where uphold uphill momentum is created. Like, if you just go slow, it's so much harder. Cause you hit, like, little roots that are coming out of the ground, rocks, different things. And they can actually cause you to, like, stop and even roll backward. Right? But if you can keep your speed up and grind when it's hard, okay, grind when it's hard, not when it's easy, you're gonna find yourself getting momentum, and it's actually easier to make it in that uphill climb. Now, a lot of people have heard me refer to, like, rainmakers and grinders and say not to be a grinder. Okay, you wanna. You wanna be a rainmaker. Right. But the thing is, not all advice is created equally. Okay? So what I mean by that is sometimes, like, you got to be careful, the advice you're hearing, because I might be saying something today that maybe doesn't apply to you today. Maybe it applies to you 30 days from now or, or, a, year from now. Right? So just be careful because, yeah, there are times where you got to grind, okay? Especially as an entrepreneur like you, there's no book that shows you exactly what to do, and everything's easy. There's a time to grind, and I suggest you grind when it's hard. The third thing is lots of shifting, okay? The rookies, they just stay in one gear. Okay? And then what they. What you find is if you're in one gear, which is usually an easier gear, okay? You, again, you. You'll miss out on some of that momentum, because if you go to just at one harder gear, you can go faster uphill, and it actually is easier even though you're in the harder gear. Right? And same thing with when you're going downhill. Like, if you just stay in that gear, you're pedaling so fast and you can't gain more speed. So don't stay in one gear. Number four, don't look down. Okay? There's some steep cliffs in Utah you do not want to look down, and in business, you don't want to look down. Okay? Stop asking questions to people behind you. Okay. Yeah. You know, a lot of people are asking questions to people behind them and they're getting advice and it's causing them to fall off track. They're looking down, they're losing focus. They're, they're, they're losing the trajectory that they were intended to be on.

There's many options to ride on a single track trail

number five, I think we're on number five is, There's many options to ride on a single track trail. So even though it's a single track trail, it's only, I don't know, twelve to 18 inches wide, 2ft wide. Whatever it is, you think it's single track, like, just go down the middle. But that's not true. Sometimes you want to be to the left, sometimes you want to be to the right. There's a lot of different, options and you don't want to necessarily stay in the middle because that's the. Yeah, that's the safest right. But sometimes it's easier to go to the left. Sometimes it's easier to go to the right. And sometimes the easier route is closer to the edge. Okay. So you got to be willing to take risks. the easier route might be closer to the cliff, but you'll find yourself having more energy later on because you took that easier route and you took a risk getting closer to the edge. I don't even know what number we're on. Maybe this is ten things, maybe it's eight things. That's probably like number six, five. Who knows?

In business and on a mountain bike, you make nearsighted mistakes

The next one. Look ahead. So a lot of people will look directly in front of them. In business and on a mountain bike. Okay. You know what happens when that happens on a bike, a car? You make nearsighted mistakes. Okay. You're kind of going left and right and left and right and you're exuding more energy. It's a smoother ride when you look out toward the horizon. Same is true with business. When you look out further, you're not going to make those short term decisions. And the, problem is you make so many little short term, nearsighted decisions, it screws up your trajectory and it throws you off path and you don't end up arriving at the destination that you planned on. So look out. Look out ahead of you. The next one. Do hard things. Yes, do hard things. you know what? You get stronger every, every season that I start riding mountain bikes, I don't ride for like six months, seven months, whatever. And then I get on the mountain bike, I'm exhausted. Like, it's really hard to go up these trails and, everything's aching the next day and all that stuff. But you know what? It gets easier over time because my body gets adjusted to it, and I get, and I get stronger. Right? And if you want to get to the top, which most of these, most of us do, if you're an entrepreneur, you're not settling for mediocrity. If you want to get to the top, you must be willing to work. You must be willing to do hard things. So put in the time, do the work, and you'll see that over time, it gets easier. The first time you do it, it sucks. It's hard. It doesn't go as planned. It's not, doesn't feel as rewarding. But the second, the third, the fourth, the 10th, 100th time, it starts to become rewarding. So most entrepreneurs give up, and they'll make it halfway up. They just turn around and coast down and go back to the truck and go home. Right. And that's not what we want to do. We want, we got to be willing to grind. We got to be willing to do hard things if we want to make it to the summit. Next one, competing against yourself. So I get to the top, and where, where I go is just, like, right by my house here. You like, right up, and then there's a couple of dedicated downhills. So you can, like, rip it. And you're not worried about people coming uphill. They're just one way routes. And, we get, I get up there, and I'm just, like, getting tons of water and getting rested and stuff before I go down. And, there was a kid who was not. He was out of place. I mean, he was on a fairly, I don't know, not super technical, but you could tell he's. Now, he's not been around bikes very much, and, his friends just, like, take off, and then he goes after him. Well, this kid ended up crashing in the third turn on this downhill, trying to keep up. Right. And, don't, don't compete against others. Like, don't worry about others. Like, go at your own pace. Don't worry about them, you know, because they're further along than you, they're stronger than you, they're better than you. Like, that's okay. That doesn't mean they're always gonna be better than you. It's just that they know they have more skill, you know what I mean? And so just compete with yourself. Like, every time you get out there, every time you go do a design every time you go do an install, whatever. Just get a little bit better. Like, don't. Don't worry about everyone else. Put the blinders on. Focus on you. The last thing you want to do is crash in the third turn because you still got to make it all the way down the mountainous. Right? So that's my second to last one, and then my last one, and then I promise, we got Philip coming on, you guys.

My last one is follow the proven path. And there's a lot of different examples of this

My last one is follow the proven path. Okay? Learn from people with more experience. And there's a lot of different examples of this, but one, there's already a path. Like, there's already a route. Like, I'm not. I'm not just, like, riding up some random mountain. There's already a trail there, right? But what I found also is I'll look at. At, tire. Tire routes, right? And I'll see different routes. So I'm like, I could stay in the middle, but I'll follow the proven path. Like, ooh, that's kind of cool. I'm going to try that. I'm going to try this line. I'm going to try this jump over here. I'm going to try this angle going around a berm, right? And I'll follow the proven path. I'll see what has worked for others. So don't feel like you're copying others. It's not that. It's not that. Like, I can't go that route just because someone's already done that. It's called, learning, right? And you see what other people did, and you try it out, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, like, whoever did that was a rookie. Like, I should not have done that route, right? But then other times, I'm like, ooh, that felt really good. That that actually was smooth. It was fast. I really liked it. And so followed the proven path. There's tons of people out there that have already done what you're trying to do, and, just do that. Just model what works. So, that's my last one. I don't know if it was eight. I don't know if it was nine. I don't know if it was ten or eleven. But I. That. That is my nine things you didn't know could grow your lighting business that you can only learn while mountain biking.

Philip Ambrose is an entrepreneur who does Christmas lights for a living

All right, guys, enough of that. I'm excited to get my guest on. If you guys are ready for Philip, let me know. I know. I sure am. Let's get the music going. Let's get them coming. What is up. What is up, Mister Philip Ambrose, man, it's good to see you, brother.

Thanks, good to see you too, man.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your day. I really appreciate you coming on here. I was like, wait, is this your first time? Like why have we not done this before? So I'm excited to have you on the we've known each other for a couple years now and I guess as we get started, maybe you want to just do like a quick introduction of yourself and who you are and where you're from.

Quick intro, I'm just a nobody trying to be a somebody, whatever.

That is not true.

so quick intro, which is never really quick. I'm from a small town where I live in a small town, Vance borough. It's about 6000 people, somewhere between four and six. We're sandwiched about 30 minutes, from three or four other larger towns. But I started off, we're doing DirecTv, right? The technician installing DirecTV 1099. If I was hitting the gross of 50,000 that year, that was like the biggest money I'd ever made. It was amazing. I had all my own expenses, was really only making probably about 30 to 35. started to moonlight doing soft washing. So I was poaching the DirecTV customers, trying to, you know, hey, now that you got your tv and you know, your house pretty nasty, I can come back this afternoon, wash it for $200.

That's awesome.

that, that got me rekindled into the entrepreneurship because even when I was a little kid I was entrepreneur. Like I would make paper airplanes. When I was in the third grade, I remember making paper airplanes during class and selling them for $0.10 apiece.

No way.

So I remember taking a lunch box full of gumballs and just going out and selling gumballs to people for like $0.50 apiece. Just, just, I always wanted to make money and but anyways, started doing soft washing and found a couple people online found Jason Gaiman and ah, different ones that did soft wash and the Christmas lights and started really actually pay attention, started listening. It's like, man, there's something about this Christmas lights. Well, I didn't pull the trigger on it one year, the next year I was doing soft washing, house washing. And but that died down because I had, you know, I wasn't very, I wasn't really pushing it like a lot of people do. And so I've made enough to get by, but it died down and I'm like, dang, you know, I gotta make some money. So I went back into the workforce and, was working at a mine as a haul truck driver for a month. That didn't work. Went to California to work on, digging whales over there in the, the, was it the bort mine, I think. And, so that place, y'all need some water bad. It is just brown over there. It's real brown. Oh, it's brown over here right now. We're in a drought. But that didn't work. I did that for a month and I found out. I just, I just don't like working for other people. And, so I come back and me and my wife had a deal. I either had to stay doing that until march when I can go back to softwashing or I had to do one rotation, quick, come back and get into the Christmas lights.

Donovan got into Christmas lights without knowing anything about them

Okay.

So I came back and I got into Christmas lights and, started off, you know, Amazon bulbs. 1st, 1st house was glass bulbs and didn't realize it until I dropped one and it broke. And I was done with that house and I said, oh, no, I threw all of them away. I ordered more bulbs. Oh, that was just a big mistake.

But hey, that's just how it used to be, by the way, we would take down incandescents and you whip them out or whatever, it's like they just all go. You're like, oh, man, I took, look.

I took a tarp out and on, that year for take down, he was my pastor's house. He did it for free to just figure it out. And I took a tarp out there and had people holding the tarp so I could pull it all down just so the glass wouldn't break.

So that, that was what? And this was your first year? You didn't know anything about anything, had.

No nothing, didn't go to training? I watched a couple videos. I think I paid. I was. I'm cheap, man. I paid for Jason Guyman's, you know, membership for, one month, like a watched I all the videos, every single video you had on Christmas lights and then cancel my membership. So I was like, I am not paying for coaching. $100 a month. Who's got that kind of. That's stupid.

Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, so now you're a pro. You paid the 97, you've downloaded all the videos into your mind, you know, everything.

so that year, what really got me Washington, I got a phone and, you know, I decided to do a free promotion through one of the local christian radio stations. And, they said, hey, we'll do free 30 days. Do like, four ads a day for 30 days. And I was like, yeah, why not? It's free, dude. This is just how God works. I. They got a call from the wife of the owner to four Zaxby restaurants around here, and they got in touch with me through them, and I closed them. And just them four jobs is what really sealed the deal for me that I knew. Christmas, there's something. Just Christmas lights.

So just to, just to clarify, because a lot of people are like, well, I don't know how to get jobs, and I don't. I can't go do Zaxby's. I don't even know what I'm doing. But you landed the Zaxby's contract without knowing what you're doing yet.

Yeah, yeah. I've done, like, a few other. A couple houses, sold a couple houses, you know, $800. This was when we were all done. This was a. This was $26,000 between four locations. in which, by the way, those locations this year, we got them up to 10,000 per location, and that's. They already have permanent life. So that's 10,000 in bushes and trees.

Wow.

So what was,

So if that was 26, what year was this, by the way? That would have been 21, 2021. So, I mean, just that that one relationship has been worth over $100,000 or.

So by far, because I. He's led into. He's built it, you know, he's led into somebody else who's got several stores that we do. That was in year two, and that one, relationships, probably 200,000.

That's so cool.

Off of a. Free. Off of a free radio ADHD and just,

Yeah, so that year, you knew. Okay. I'm glad. I'm glad I'm doing this and not working for someone. didn't make. Didn't make a fortune. But, I mean, heck, compared to what you were making.

Yeah, we did. We did 62 grand in our first year and a half months with me and a $15 or $10 an hour helper. And, I walked away with probably 25, 30 paid out to me. So that was a fortune to me.

Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome, dude. Okay, that's sweet. Oh, it's so good. So. And then that. That was 2021. When did, and then, obviously. So then what were you thinking you were going to do till next year? Just wait till next year and make more money?

No, I, I actually got. I actually had to sit down with Donovan.

Okay.

Over at, nc. Christmas lights and Christmas on contractors. And, I, had to sit down with him and I, asked him if I could buy him lunch one day and talk. And he's like, yeah, man. Cause I started buying materials from ClC on my first year. I found out that Amazon stuff is garbage.

You got hooked on landscape lighting after cleaning gutters

And, I was told him I was thinking about going back doing DirecTV for a few days a week because the guy, oh, my old manager had called me, wanted to know if I want to come back. And, he told me. He pretty much sat down and told me, like, dude, you're stupid if you do that. It's like you're limiting yourself if you do that. He says, you can go clean gutters and get by until Christmas. Worse come worse.

Yeah.

So that's what I started doing. I started cleaning gutters and doing. And I hate gutters. I hate gutters with a passion. yeah. And, I did that. Did gutter clean, did some house washing, and then you, y'all, between you and them, they had the lighting accelerator. And I was like, man, it was like $2,500 or something other for three days. I'm like, that's a lot of money. You know, I wasn't wanting to spend $99 a month. And I'm about to drop this. I said, you know what? There's going to be some figures there. I got to get there. Well, I went there for the advanced Christmas lights, and that's when I met you. And that's. I remember when you were talking numbers on landscape lighting. I looked like a kid looking at a candy score. My eyes were glazed over. I was just like, I want this. I want this. Yeah, get like, give me, give me, give me. And, when, and I'm fiddled around with electrical stuff. It's common sense to me. It's really easy to. I mean, you're splicing and crimping stuff together. And I was like, bro, I'm already digging, digging trenches, burying Directv.

I'm used to splicing stuff with direct. I was like, this is nothing. It wasn't. And, that's when I got hooked on lighting. On landscape lighting.

That's cool.

My first year, landscape lighting, 2022. That might be the next question. Yeah, I did, a hundred thousand. My first year in landscape lighting, like 96. 98.

Yeah. That's so cool. I remember that. And I remember you because you were engaged. I mean, you go to those events and you think everyone's gonna be engaged? Especially. It wasn't cheap. I remember we. We were like, what should we charge? And, you know, like, I had. I was doing my own events at that time. They were doing their own. I was like, well, if we do it, we're gonna have to charge as much money. And. And we had a. Had a good turnout, but normally when you pay that kind of money, you're like, like, you taking notes, like, engaged. But not, not everyone was like that. And, Plus you had the beard. I was like, man, like, you can't forget Philip Ambrose. Like, it's. That needs to be, like, your brand or something, because, like, you just. You can't forget you. But I remember also thinking, like, man, you know, like, I think about this after every event is like, who's going to be the one? Like, who's going to be the people that actually take this serious, that. That implement the stuff? Because it's easy to just check a box and be like, yeah, I paid the money and I went to the training and, like, I did my part, but as, you know, like, that's the easy part. You know, coming up with the money. Yeah, it, hurts or whatever, but, like, that, honestly, is the easiest part. The hardest part is doing what you did, where you actually go back and, like, get uncomfortable and implement stuff and try things, and it doesn't work. You change it and reiterate and do all that stuff. So, That's amazing, man. I think you. You've had a great start. I guess.

You got into landscape lighting after your first job was $1900

Talk to us now. So that was 22. we, we. I got you into landscape lighting. Those guys had already gotten you up to holiday lighting, but now you're doing both, right under Ambrose lighting. Talk, to us about, I guess, up from that point, you had, like, the. It's like the honeymoon, right? Everything's awesome, you know, look, the honeymoon.

That you kept figuring out, you got extra stuff. Every, you know, every. Every day of the honeymoon, there was something different, because my first job, I didn't do like I was supposed to do. It was a learning experience. I just want to cut my teeth. It was like a $1900 job for five lights. And it was like, all over the house. And they wanted, with their, ah, harbor freight color changing lights at the bottom, and they wanted this. And I'm sitting here trying to be like, I'm the best you're gonna get. And I'm doing. Yeah, that. So I don't even claim that job. I didn't put signs up around that job, I didn't, nothing. I just, like, disown that job. But, the next, very next job was, is in a golf course, and it was a $4500 job. So that was a really good one to really start figuring things out as a much better interaction with me and my customers, a more ideal customer. And so that was going, that went great. Well, the next one, I was like, okay, I know it might be close about five grand, but I was like, okay, so that's awesome. All right, well, it got up. Well, let's see, maybe the next one will be even more. Well, the next one was going to be, I think I went and talked to the guy and we were going to do phases, and the first phase was going to be like nine grand or something other seven, eight or nine grand. The second phase was going to be like five or six grand. well, what ended up is he ended up just calling me back that night and said, you know what, I'm just going to go ahead. I thought about it. I'm just going to go ahead and do it all. So 17 grandd. So it went from two to five to 17. And then the very. Cause I'll never forget you said, I remember you saying these things. It's like, you'll be surprised how often these people are like, oh, wait a minute, I forgot. I'm rich. Hey, let's do it all. And it's like, I'm like, holy cow. That tall, skinny joker was not lying. They really say that. They just say, I'm rich. Let's get it all. So the very next, very next job, I'm like, okay, God, and if those who don't know, I give all glory to God for everything. It's all on him as I'm here to serve. And he just continues to bless because I continue to serve. but I was like, I told him, I said, okay, God, I know you can do it. I know you can do anything. Let's see that next job be just a little bit bigger. He pretty much rolled up his sleeve and said, hold my holy water. And next thing you know, that, that next job, I went there and she wanted color changing lights, and it was going to be like, it was going to be $60,000 for color changing lights. And she just didn't like that. And I told her, I said, look, you're wanting all this color changing like this and this and this and this. I said, for the price of your front yard color changing, I can just do the entire place in warm white, and you'll be fine with it. You'll be absolutely happy. That ended up being a $32,000 job.

Oh, my gosh. That's awesome.

That was my first year, so you can't have a lineup like that and not be basically hooked, scratching on the arm, like, where's my next one? Where's my next one?

One of the things that. That sticks out to me early about knowing, you is after the beard. Then you do notice that you always give glory to God, and, like, I've never given you a compliment. It. I've. I've never given you a compliment without you first saying, thanks. I, you know, all glory to God, you know, and, like, it's. And I really look up to that, admire that, because, like, I, like, I feel like I'm a believer. I feel like I give glory to God. But then in reality, like, I don't think I'm as converted as you are. You know? And there's other people that in my life that are like you, that give me that reminder of, like. Like, who's really in charge here. Like. Like. And it's cool because you. You're not afraid to ask God. Like, I'm not. I'm not gonna lie. Like, there's times where I'm afraid to ask God things like that, and you're not afraid. All right, God, I need another one. And it's freaking awesome. So, like, your faith is. Is incredible to me, so thank you for being an example of that.

Ryan: Having kids has changed my perspective on God having kids

Well, Ryan, I mean, and I don't know everybody's situation with their fathers, but you're a father. You're a dad, right? So if your kid, your little kid comes up to you and says, looks at you with his, you know, a face, and there's big goo goo eyes and say, dad, I want a hug, or, dad, I want something neater. Dad, I'd really like a certain toy. And he's not been bad. He's not sat there and just done super stupid, crazy things, completely denying you. He accepts you that you're his father. He knows that you're going to take care of him. That's earthly. How much more is our spiritual father going to want to take care of us?

I love it, man. That's awesome. Yeah. You know, you mentioned that, like, I've learned so much about God having kids because, like, I thought, I thought I knew God. But then, man, when you have kids, it really opens up your understanding to, like, oh, you have this loving father that's way better than you way is eternal and perfect. So it really has changed my perspective big time. And, like, I'll be forever grateful that I had kids because it did that for me.

Yeah.

okay, so awesome start.

You mentioned that you had some debt when you got married

you. You even mentioned how, like, you, you weren't making that much money, but you guys had some debt, right?

So when my wife and I got married in, let me think now, what year did we get married? This is year five. So it would have been 19.

Yeah, yeah.

2019. So in 2000. Yeah, because it was right. We got married right before everything shut down and everybody lost their minds.

so we got married in 2019, and we had bought this land that we're on now, and, we did an owner finance with, someone that we know. So total, we were in about $85,000 worth of debt between land, vehicles, small credit cards, and, you know, just small stuff like that personal loan. And, after my. That second year of Christmas lights. All right, so. And that would be 2022. We did 100 landscape lighting. That really helped get us through it. Get. Get us through the year, we started making some leeway on the debt.

because we live real, real blood our means, you know? And, that Christmas, we did 200,000 in Christmas lights. So, we tripled. Yeah, we tripled our Christmas lights. And,

That's crazy.

That just, that just let it. That's where we took our big chunk. Our big owner payout was, like, close to, like, 30,025. $30,000. And we just paid our land off and the rest of our debts, and.

We were debt free, which I freaking love, man. Like, you go from, you know, being the directv installer and then trying a couple jobs to see what you like, you find something that gets you fired up, and you find lighting you fall in love with, it helps you pay off this debt. it's just. It's just so cool to see your transformation so far. And I. And I truly say so far because I feel like you're just getting started.

Yep. Yeah.

Glory to God.

Yeah, that's right. We're excited to see where we're going to go, man. what'd you guys end up.

Where'd you guys end up doing this last year? 2023.

So this last year we did. I don't have the exact numbers, but I know the numbers that are close enough. I claim them. we ended up doing 200 and landscape lighting. 200, 202, and 300. Just over 300, in Christmas. So we broke that 500,000 mark in our year. Three of Christmas lights year two of full on lighting, no house washing, gutter cleaning, nothing.

Yeah. Well, dude, that's amazing. So 300k in holiday. The only thing we got to fix is we got to make that. The landscape lighting, like, 500. It's got to be bigger than holiday, dude. I mean, come on. Like, that's, that's the one we got to fix.

Yeah.

You have literally, like, way more working on this year. Way more time to do it.

One major struggle that all new entrepreneurs deal with is that first hire

So let's, after this, we're going to talk. tell me about some of the struggles. You know, like, you know, maybe, maybe you think you got things figured out and then you hit some hurdles or speed bombs. Like, tell me about some of the things that you've struggled with.

some of the struggles I've struggled with in the beginning was probably that, that one major struggle that all new entrepreneurs deal with is that first hire. So I'm pumped. I'm jacked. I'm waking up, drinking a cup of coffee every or a pot of coffee every morning, ready to go to work, ready to do Christmas lights, ready to dig, you know, dig those trench lines in for landscape lighting as hard as I can. So I'm ready to pass out because I'm ready to get this job done by 03:00 I don't want to come back out here tomorrow. It's profitable even more if I'm done today. Well, at that time, I wasn't hiring team members. I hired an employee. There's a difference. And the employee does not have that mind frame I have. Yeah, you can't do so much coaching and building up and impressing on them if they're just not the person to do that. Now, with that said, that person was exactly who he needed to be for me, for me to learn and for it to not be a fallout relationship because it was a friend that I had from church, and, he needed a job. I hired him, and we were working, but I always felt like he just wasn't working as hard as me. It's like, well, deep down, you weren't getting paid like I was getting paid either. You know, he wasn't the owner. I was paying him decent, but it still, I just always had that struggle. and anyways, he ended up quitting to go do his own thing, and I kind of helped him. I kind of, like, yeah, man, you should do your house washing this and whatnot, and go ahead and, like, you know, it won't bother me if you go do that, you know? So it kind of worked out. He didn't have to quit on bad terms. I didn't fire him. my next employee I got was a, And I won't do this again, but I'm very glad I did it. I hired a 15 year old to help me with lights. So I spent several months picking him up from his house to help me do work. But he's hungry, he wants it. And it's like, dude, like, this is. He is. He wants to be the manager of this company in three more years is my goal.

So he's still there?

Yeah, he's still here. He's 17 now, and he loves doing this job. He makes more money than any other 17 year old or 20 year old near. About. Around. He knows, and he loves it. He loves doing the light. He loves christmas lights. He's my roof runner now.

Do you have a driver's license?

Yes, he does have a driver's lice now. He's 17 now.

Does. So, why did you say you wouldn't do it again, but you're glad you did?

I wouldn't do it again because of the constraints it puts on you as you're trying to grow dealing with someone that, a, doesn't have their own transportation somewhere. B, he's homeschooled, but he. He's very passionate about basketball. And I'm at that point where it's like, sometimes I'm like, yeah, dude, like, I know you're passionate about this basketball, but I got these jobs that need to get put in, and I have to remember he's still trying to be a kid, even though he is taking a big jump into this adult world. And I struggle with that because I have actually relied a lot on him to do a lot of things. but that's why I say I wouldn't do it again. But I'm glad I did, because this is a lot of, A lot of learning that I'm getting out of it.

Yeah, got it. Yeah. It's hard, man. I mean, you know, you ask yourself the question, like, would I want to work for myself? You know? And a lot of the times, it's like, no. Like, the truth is no. And so it's like, well, what. What would it take? You know, what would the dream job look like? And we. We do expect people to, like, do the common sense stuff and work the extra hour or do whatever, but it's like, dude, they don't have an incentive. Do they have an incentive? Do they know the roadmap? Do they have a career here or is this a summer job, a temporary job to get them to the next thing? And, like, that's what you're saying is, like, there's a difference between having a team member and an employee. The team member knows, like, hey, we're a team, and we win together. And when I win, you win. And if you. If you keep doing this, this is your path. And you can go from junior technician to senior technician to operations manager, general manager. Like, they're like, holy cow. I could, like, be an owner without having to have the stress of an owner. That's dope.

Yeah. You know, and, I'll tell you, he had. He had to check me this past year, and I. And I commend him for that. Being a 16 year old and me being 34 years old, he checked me, and he, you know, he contacted me, and, he was like, you know, I. He, you know, he sent me a message and explained, you know, how the job is, getting to the point where he doesn't enjoy it because of the way I was handling things. I was pushing. I was this. And, there was, ah, I would make a lot of comments here and there, like, oh, you gotta have some man hands. You got to get man whatever. Well, I didn't never realize it, but I was demasculating him. And that is not something. That's something that, you know, as men, as adults, we can really hurt other people and younger men by that. Oh, you need to toughen up, grow up, get tough, whatever is, like, you. You can really mess people up. And I look back at how it was done to me and how it kind of did some damage to me that I'm having to work through.

You have one team member and yourself. What's your average client worth

But, But when he done that, it was like I sat down talking my wife about it, and some of it was Validore. Some of it was, hey, newsflash. You're in a. You got an adult job in an adult world making adult money, there's gonna be some adult strain. But on the other side, there was things that was valid, right? And, I apologize to him, and we talked and whatnot. And I'll tell you, I know I've become a better person from it. I've learned to try and not be so stressed out. Don't let things stress me out. Even in the thick of Christmas light season, it's nothing. No matter what it is. It's not so important that I have to be so stressed out that I ruin a relationship of me and a team member, because that team member, that one team member is more valuable than a customer, because that team member will make far more than what one customer will typically.

I love it. The course of it, I love it. That's something that, pretty much everyone gets wrong. I know I got it wrong that, I mean, you right now, you have one team member and yourself. So, I mean, half. Half a million bucks, that's $250,000 in revenue that you each are accountable for. You know what I mean? And, what. What's your average client worth? You know, maybe 1020 thousand, maybe lifetime value, 100,000. Like, whatever it is, it's not 250 a year, you know? And so, Yeah, I think that kids made me.

That kids made me 200, 5300 grand in the past couple years. I know.

Yep.

So, yeah. And, we did hire on another guy this. This past year to help kind of ground work, because we know he's. We've already figured out he's all, he doesn't go on a roof. but he's a good ground person, and he's very methodical once he learns that he's good. And then we actually hired his wife as my assistant.

Oh, nice.

Got a team. So we got a team. Four. Now, the assistant, this past year for Christmas. Holy cow. That just. That was amazing. I taught her how to do quotes. For the first, like, 20 quotes, she would send them to me and, And I verify. And then I found, she was like, hey, I got this quote I need you to verify. I was like, is it any different than some of the other ones you've done? No, like, just send it. Just send the quote. And so that was. That was great.

Hey, that's awesome. So, yeah, I didn't even realize you made those last couple hires.

The goal this year is 650 to 800 in revenue between two lighting companies

So what's the plan now? Do you have a goal, a number you're trying to achieve this year in revenue between the two lighting companies, or the one lighting company?

This year, the realistic goal was 650 to eight. And I, hope I'm not lowering it and lowering it just because we're getting further and not where I want to be. I want to say it's about 650 to 800 is the goal for this year. Okay, yeah, we'd like to hit that million, but what we really like to hit is, I'd rather see, I'm okay seeing another 500,000 if we're 20% profitable. Right? Like 20% owner draw profit on top of my salary. It's like, I'd be okay with that. But if we can hit 657 and still be that fifteen, eighteen to twenty percent, profitable. That's. That's our goal.

Okay.

And what are. What things are you doing? I know, I think you started. Did you start the rebranding process?

Yeah, so we actually have our rebrand. We've chosen the logo, chosen the name, they're working on their tagline, and, finalizing the vehicle wrap. And then we start working on stationary.

Sweet.

Yeah. So we did go through that with kick charge creative. one of those things. Sorry, go ahead.

When are we going to see this?

So the goal is to roll it out for Christmas.

Okay.

And, I'm hoping it doesn't hurt because, you know, just going into Christmas, we. We used to be Ambrose Christmas lights, and then it was Amber's lighting, and now it's going to be something different. And, but we're kind of. Everything is geared for landscape lighting. And when it comes Christmas lights, I don't even know if none of our, none of our brand is even going to be Christmas lights at all. Right. realistically, if we could get the Christmas lights to about 400 a year, I wouldn't even be after growing it more than that. Which.

Yeah, which are close, I think.

Yeah, depend.

It depends on who you ask. You're gonna get different answers here. But I'm just.

Yeah.

From experience, like, those holiday lighting leads are way easier to get than a, high quality landscape lighting lead. So I think it's the right choice. I mean, just target the landscape lighting you're going to get. If people just see, like, we used to do it, we were just a landscape lighting company, but we got a lot of demand for holiday lighting and we turned most of it away. But we didn't advertise, we didn't tell people, like, hey, we're a Christmas light, a holiday lighting company. So I think that's just naturally what happens. And so the challenge is, if you have, like, a heavy holiday lighting brand trying to do landscape lighting, you're just making it hard on yourself. So I think it's going to be cool to see you launch this out and see what it does, to help grow your momentum. And honestly, like, you're close to that. Like, this year, you could probably hit. Hit the 400 on holiday with some repeat, some referral, you know, and, doesn't seem like you're that far off.

Well, it's crazy. Today alone, we, we had our Zaxby locations. They all. We got him bumped up, like, close to about two grand on each location. So that's for their four locations there. We just had two chiropractic stores that went ahead and paid their deposits and I forgot I sent them the depositor of, quotes like a week ago. and I was like, what? They just like five minutes before we got up here, it come through approved. I'm just like, yeah, that's awesome.

Light it up. Let's go. I, I'm telling you though, we need to boost, we need to boost the landscape lighting because you'll see too. It's similar to holiday. Like once you get into years 2345. And just the more years you're in it, the more repeat business you have, the more referrals, like the more momentum you get. And that's like the gravy stuff. You know, the first few years is like definitely the hardest part. No one knows who you are. You're grinding, you're doing stuff that, you know, just knocking doors, all that. But, we can boost those numbers because in my opinion, dude, landscape lighting should like dwarf the holiday lighting numbers, you know, and that's not always true because there's people that are doing big, big numbers with holiday, but it should at least be bigger than, than holiday lighting, for sure.

My goal, I know my goal is my, my want, not my need. I was listening to that book again. ten x is better, is easier in two x. my want is that I step away at the end of year five of being full, full, lighting. So I think we're, I think this is year two of that, five years. So, of when I said that. So this is year two. So in order for me to be stepped away, in order to pay everything out, I've got to have, the business has got to be at a revenue, of, I want to say two and a half to somewhere between two and three, depending on different things. in order for it to pay everything, cover everything, and me still get a 10% owner draw.

Okay.

ten to 15% underdraw. And that's, that's the goal. So that's, that's what we got to get the landscape lighting up. And, if we have to do, we'd like to be able to do that in one location before we try to branch out to another location. Because you branch out to another location, that's a whole other, whole other manager, whole other sales person, whole other everything.

How far away do you guys go for holiday lighting and landscape lighting jobs

How far away do you guys go for holiday lighting jobs and landscape lighting jobs.

So holiday lighting, we try to keep it a little bit closer. We do have some that might be about an hour, 20 minutes out. We do have, we have one job that's like 3 hours out. But we literally, God has been good. We go there, we install it, we leave several things in an emergency box for the business, and then we go back on the way out of town or whatever, on a trip or whatever and take everything down. So we do, we're really, really fortunate. We've had one timer in, issue this year. And, I said, okay, I'll fix it. And I literally took a mechanical timer and set it up and put it in a box and overnighted it to them and then walked them out, plug it in, and I was like, thank God. There's a whole day's worth of trip for a timer issue.

That's awesome. I, we had it. We had a job that was like, it was pretty far. It was for landscape lighting, but, this lady really wanted us. And I was like, we don't, we don't go out there. And she's like, come on. You were referred by this, this person. And like, I don't care what it costs. And all this stuff, I'm like, it's not, it's not so much that, but like, what about when you have a light that goes out and, you know, just all the stuff, it's the maintenance. Like, we're big on service, and she's like, I don't care about that. We'll find someone else. So I, she, convinced me, you know, she convinced me to go out there. And we did. We found another layer. It was a landscaper out there. I say, can I meet you over there? I want to show you what we require for maintenance for our systems. And, and that's what we did. We just, if they, if she needed something, we'd call them and they'd go out and take care of their timer issues or if there was a light out or needed cleaning and stuff like that. So I just, I love hearing that because a lot of people will make excuses. And especially these next couple years, we're going to hear a lot of excuse makers saying all the economy and, oh, and this and that, and, like, I've just never seen that out of you. Like, I look at the circumstances that you've come from. the, like, you, you could have made a lot of excuses over these last few years, and you just make things happen, and, it's such a cool story. It's just a cool reminder. I mean, it's just a, it makes me want to do more. Makes me not want to make as many excuses because, yes, I make excuses, too, you know, so it's awesome, man.

let me ask you this.

When people start talking about the economy, I do this right here.

I know how important is. I love that you've already established, like, hey, by the year, end of year five, I need to be at two and a half because I don't want to be doing the day to day. I don't want to be torturing myself anymore. How important is that on helping you make monthly decisions, day to day? Annual. Like, how important has that been to keep you on your path?

It's very important. It's very important. But I still tend to get caught up, with the here, right, the here and now. looks like the branding, I knew that the branding was going to have to be, get, be done. And the branding is not cheap. You know, you, can go on a website and find the price. And so, I mean, $32,000 is not cheap for branding. And there's some things that you think would be included, but it's not. Is straight up. Just the design, the research and everything else. And the time that these people put into it, that's what you're paying for. And, I knew that that was going to be important, but it was very, it would have been very easy for me to like, bro, no, that's money. That's, that's my profit. Right, right. it's very easy for me to make different decisions, to be like, no, I don't, I can't do that because I've got to have this money for this. That's why it was very important that we got out of debt so that I wasn't a starving salesman, because everybody smells a starving sales, a hungry salesman a mile away. I need to make sure that even though I'm not doing the greatest, I can say, yeah, no, I don't need that. I'm not going to drop my prices anymore for you. It's like, so, it's still, it's important, but still hard to stay focused.

It is, it is, actually.

The last couple months, we've been on a dry spell. We've been dry, man. Like, my mom's redoing a house so she can move in it. And that's where my guys have been working, so they stay busy. And, because I knew it's important, I committed to them that I would provide them hours and work. So they've been ripping up floors, putting it down and this and that at the house. But, we just recently had closed a couple jobs, got a couple more referrals and it's just kind of, when it's like, it holds off, it's a drought, and then when it comes in, it just comes in and comes in and it's like, yes, thank you, Lord. And, it's still, it can still be tough, though. We got a long ways to go before, you know, Christmas gets here in October.

Your success has forced you to make decisions you might not otherwise made

Well, one thing that you're, at least up until now, you've not been afraid to do is invest, you know? And, that's definitely, a difficult thing for most people because most people are living outside their means. And you mentioned, like, no, we live within our means. It would have been really tempting for a lot of people to take that profit and not reinvest back into branding, not reinvest back into hiring someone, not reinvent. Like, you made a lot of hard decisions on paper that a lot of people are like, dude, I'm going to Disneyland. I'm going to, I want to buy a boat. I'm going to go buy a new house. I'm going to go buy, I mean, you know, your, your financial status changed, like, it feels like overnight, you know?

Oh, yeah.

So I think, I think what's cool is even though it might not, it feels difficult for you, you're like, I don't know, man. I don't know if I'm gonna hit that number. I don't. It's hard to stay focused on it. It has challenged you. It's forced you to make decisions that you might not have otherwise made. Because if you're like, well, I'm just trying to make shit ton of money, then you already did that. So just spend the money and then just go make more next month and next year. But, like, you have a real purpose, and most people don't know their purpose. They don't know what they're working for. They're just working to pay the bills, you know?

Yeah, I talked my wife. I told her, I was like, and, I've mentioned this with, around my tech technicians, too. Just kind of like joking. Not, not. Well, it's kind of joking was also kind of like, hey, make sure you keep your stuff together. I told her and I told them, I said, you know, looking at just our commercial jobs that all the material was already paid for, we could sit here and do about $150 to $180,000 just in Christmas lights on the commercial only. And I could do that all by myself with one helper. And, and I told my wife was like, yeah, like, but that does, I.

Said, I know, tempting.

If I break a leg, if I break a leg, that's it, right? But, I've joked about joke like that around the guys. I look, I was like, you know, I can do all this Christmas with $115 an hour cash helper and, uh-huh. I could sit around for the rest of the year. it's easy to do stuff.

It's definitely tempting. That's why I, like, I say, do hard things because most people, I'm telling you, philip, they're going to do that. Like, that's just the easy choice. Like, you, it's almost like you'd be dumb not to. Like what I'm hearing you say that, like, dude, just do that.

You know, like, anybody right by and just about would say, I will take that 180, pay taxes on it, straight up, end up with 120 and be happy.

Right?

Literally worked three months.

That's what I'm saying. Like, the hard thing is to do what you did is like, no, you've got a plan. You know, you've got it. You want to be out of this business in five years. So. Ah, very, very commendable. It's, it's just so cool. Like, I'm like, I can't believe this. Just a couple years ago, we met. You're in the classroom, this eager, bright eyed guy with a beard, you know, have no idea who you are now. You've had all this success. you're hanging out with donovan. We were talking about some stuff you guys are working on together. You, you went and spoke. You're like a public figure now. You spoke at one of Donovan's events. Tell me about that.

So, yeah, we, we had the lighting launch at the end of February this year. They did a lighting launch and, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and they're going to be doing another one next year as well. and, he wanted me to come in and talk about landscape lighting and this and that. And, I've told him, I've told Jason, told you, I've told you, I said, look, you need to accept this. If you put me in front of a podium, it's like, I'm going to give glory to God. I'm going to tell my story how I used to be an alcoholic and I was a drug user and pornography, you know, addicted to pornography. And God has delivered me from that, and he's put me in the place of an entrepreneur to serve people and to provide jobs for, you know, for employees and team members. Like, there's, there's a purpose I said, it ain't about that dollar. There's a lot more purpose. I said, I'm going to say that. And his dog was like, dude, that's what we want.

Exactly.

So it was like, I just spent like 1015 minutes, ended up crying and talking about my wife. My wife was there with me as first event. She went with me and, ended up crying. This man just got back on it and, had a lot of, it was really fun. I really enjoyed talking to people, because I've talked, like, at church, give my testimony, done little small lessons here and there, but, I just, I really enjoy it. And, I know it's a lot easier when something you're passionate about, and I feel like climbing out of that hole and trying to get something that nobody's ever had in your family is something I'm passionate about. there's like nobody, nobody in my family has ever, like, gone down this route and done this, this kind of thing. We've, you know, my mom was an entrepreneur, but she ran the hair shop. But it wasn't, it was a different level than what I'm trying to achieve. And, but, yeah, I enjoy talking about, the feedback was really great.

Mandy, your potential as a photographer is enormous

we did have a lot of people who was like, man, I thought there was going to be more landscape lighting. I wanted to know this and that. We're like, it was just a taste, but, but I had a lot of feedback where people didn't even want to talk about landscape lighting. They're like, dude, your story just touched us. Your, your everything. It was, it was more of that than anything else. I'm like, okay, lord, this, this is like, I need to be, I need to be speaking. I need to get the story out about where you've brought me from where I believe you're going to take me and what I'm going through on the trip, because, you know, it ain't, it ain't. Once you get saved and get things cleaned up, it ain't an easy ride. It's not easy getting to that top of that mountain on that bike. It might seem easy you're, you know, it takes ten years to be an overnight success. It might seem easy when you're doing that straight shot down, but I'm telling you, it's a hard ride going up there, especially if you ain't done it before.

I love it, man. I, I heard a lot of good feedback, about you specifically at that event. I saw some highlights in the video reel or whatever, and I was like, man. Like, I couldn't go, and I. And I had foMo. I was like, dang, dude, I wish I could have seen Philip in that light, man. And, I just appreciate you. I know that you change lives at that event. I know that you're going to change lives from just coming on our show today because you. You speak your. The truth, you speak your heart, and people feel that. And, man, it's just. I'm just grateful to know you, to be honest. Like, I just think it's. You're such a good person. You deserve everything that you've gotten so far and more, and I just can't wait to see where you take this thing because you've got so much, like, you've already done a ton, so you should, like, he's super stoked, but I'm just telling you, like, your potential is. Is enormous. So happy to know you, man.

Good know you, too, Mandy.

All right, guys, well, that's pretty much it. Um, Philip, I appreciate you coming on here

All right, guys, well, that's pretty much it. Philip, I appreciate you coming on here, sharing your story. you're an inspiration to me, and, I know you changed somebody's life today, and that's what we're going for. and, want to thank you for being on here. And everybody else, hopefully, you took some notes. Hopefully, you drew from, some inspiration from Philip. And, just know that you, too, can do hard things. So thanks, Philip. Appreciate you, man. Amen.

Later.

All right, guys, have an awesome week. We'll see you next week. Don't forget, keep moving forward.