Lighting for Profits - Episode 203

Meet Peter O’Flinn, the man behind Light Up Naples and Spotlight News Magazine. From decorating one home in 2018 to lighting up an entire community, Peter’s story is one of passion, partnerships, and staying rooted. Hear how a Christmas gig turned into a yearly tradition and why family and community are at the heart of everything he does.

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Episode Transcript

Welcome to Lighting for Profits. All light. Powered by EmeryAllen

Welcome to Lighting for Profits. All Light. All light. All light. Powered by EmeryAllen. Here is your host, Ryan Lee.

Ryan Lee: If you're looking to start or grow a landscape lighting business

All right, all right, all right. Let's go. It's the number one landscape lighting show in Naples, Florida. Ah, that's right. I'm Ryan Lee, your host of Lighting for Profits powered by Emory Allen. It's going to be an epic show. We know we're America's favorite. We know we're Naples favorite. Sometimes we're Canada's favorite. We don't know. look, if you're looking to start or grow a landscape lighting business, and today, let's face it, we got Peter o' Flynn coming on. So if you're looking to start a holiday, lighting, Christmas, lighting, any type of lighting business, you're definitely in the right place. We're here to educate and motivate to help you dominate. That's our goal here at Lighting for Profits. And, got an epic show lined up. Like I said, we got Peter o' Flynn coming on from Light Up Naples. he's always fun to talk with. We have, we have a lot of synergy. We, I wouldn't say we agree on everything, but we agree on a lot of the principles and stuff like that. And, he's just a good dude, good business guy, owns multiple businesses, having a lot of success out there. He actually teaches, twice a month inside Landscape Lighting Secrets, runs our marketing calls. So really, really excited to have him on.

Next week is the Light Up, Light it Up conference in Raleigh

Before we have him on, just a couple quick announcements. number one, next week, next Thursday and Friday. It actually starts Wednesday night. There's a social in Raleigh, North Carolina. Lights for decorators. It's the Light Up, Light it Up conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, Thursday and Friday, July 17th and 18th. If, you need the link, I don't know how to get it to you. Just send me a dm, I guess, on Facebook or send me an email to supportionleecoaching. com the event is free. And I'll be there speaking, leading a couple sessions. but Jimmy Tompkins puts on an amazing experience, from networking to speakers. And, this is for everybody. If you're a business owner, if you want to bring your team, if you want to bring a salesperson, a marketing person, you want to bring your. Your couple lead techs. Like, this is for anyone who's wanting to level up their business. The theme is all in. Go all in on your business. So, he does a great job putting on these events. And, I don't want you to miss It. It's free. Doesn't cost you anything. So next Thursday and Friday, July 17th and 18th, Raleigh, North Carolina, if you need the link, hit me up. Don't miss out, guys. People are asking me, where. Where are you going to be next? Well, this is it, next week, and I forgot to promote it. So, again, we got Peter o' Flynn with Light Up Naples coming on in just a few minutes.

One thing will determine whether you reach the level of success you're after

Before we have Peter, come on, this is a. This is a very important topic. I only have a few minutes, so maybe this doesn't quite do it justice. And I want you to pay attention closely. This. This might be one where you need to take notes, pause, rewind, listen to this a few times. Because I want to talk something different. Not just strategy, not just a tactic, which. Those are important. I like to give the nuts and bolts. Like, here's one thing you can implement today, right? But this is a little bit different. this is something that actually will determine whether you reach the level of success you're after. And we're all after something. We're all after, like, a higher version, a better version of ourselves. But this one thing will actually determine what, whether you achieve this level of success or not. So it's pretty dang important. And this is called an identity shift.

In marketing, it's called a pattern interrupt

Okay, so let me start with something that you probably heard of. And we're going to be talking about marketing with Peter in a few minutes. But you probably heard this. In marketing, it's called a pattern interrupt. Now, a pattern interrupt is like, have you ever been scrolling on Facebook? And, I mean, there's tons of posts, tons of ads, like, just everything on there. But what is it about that one ad that stops the scroll? usually it's someone, that's dressed weird or they're yelling at the camera, or sometimes when you start to watch a video, the camera angle, is shifted and changes every, like, two to three seconds. Well, that's called a pattern interrupt. It breaks the rhythm and it forces your brain to pay attention. And so I was thinking about marketing. I was thinking about pattern interrupts, and I was thinking about life. And I was thinking about. We're doing a lot of research internally inside Landscape Lighting Secrets right now. Like, wait, how can someone come in and just get amazing results out of the gate? I mean, we got one guy who just started his lighting company three months ago. He's already at $300,000 in sales. But then there's someone else on the other end of the spectrum who's, like, 10 months in, hasn't Sold their first job. You're, like, pulling my hair out, like, what the heck is going on? And so we're trying to study, like, the difference. Like, what. What is the difference? Like, the content's the same, the calls are the same. Like, everything's the same. And so I was thinking about this. What if. What if your life is just one big pattern? What if everything. And I'm talking the way you talk, the way you think, the way you sell, the way you handle relationships, the people that you hang around with, the decisions you make, it's just a series of automated patterns that you have created over time. Okay? So think about this and stay with me because we're going to go a little bit deep here. but this.

This is.

This one thing is going to either determine whether you get and achieve your goals and achieve your dream business or not. Okay? So part of the reason that humans are awesome is because we're biologically, like, engineered and wired for comfort. So you think about, like, I mean, avoiding threats, maximizing security, safety. Like, this was crucial for survival. I mean, it's. It's the thing that got us here, right? And think about it. Like, when we get cold, what do we do? We find a way to warm up. If we're too hot, we find a way to cool down. if we're hungry, we find food. We solve problems, all in the name of comfort. Okay? So here's the problem. Comfort's awesome. Like, it's. It's been our survival tool, but it's also. Comfort is also the enemy of progress. And if you think about it, we truly are creatures of comfort. Just think about, like, everything you do. Like, the. The people that we hang out with. We're not typically, like, looking for new types of people to hang out with. We go after the ones that we're comfortable with. once we find a genre of music, we're not like, you know what? Let me explore a different genre. Like, we just keep listening to the same type of music. We read the same stuff, or some of you don't read at all. And that's. That's your comfort. That's your habit. Right? we make the same excuses. And our life is truly made up of a bunch of predictable patterns. They become predictable over time because we keep making the same decisions over and over and over. Yet somehow we think and we expect the results somehow to just magically change. So stay with me. Let me be real with you for a minute. If the way you've been thinking, acting, making decisions, if it was enough to get you where you want to go. If it was enough to get you to your dream business, to your dream life, then you'd already be there. So I want to challenge your existing identity. I want to challenge your existing identity because don't you think it's fair to say that something has to change? Like your current systems, your current decision making process, the current people that you surround yourself with, your day to day has to change. You have to evolve into this new identity. Otherwise you're not going to get this different result. Unless you're already there, which most of us aren't, okay? So you don't need more information, you don't need a better economy. These things help from time to time, right?

What you really need though, is a pattern interrupt for your identity

What you really need though, is a pattern interrupt. And I'm not talking marketing for your business, I'm talking a pattern interrupt for your identity. So I want to call this your identity interrupt. And today's the day that you get to decide if you want to continue on the trajectory, the path of your current identity, which we kind of know is predictable at this point. We know what the end game is going to look like. Or you hit that fork in the road and you can decide if you want to shift into this new identity, okay? And it starts with intention. It starts with actually understanding that this needs to happen. So let me hit you with a metaphor real quick to help this stick. So think about a thermometer, okay? Most people live like thermometers. They're, they, they're, they're reacting to the environment. They're measuring the temperature after the fact, after an event. Well, let me measure the temperature and see what happens. If business is slow, they're slow. If it's hot, they get hot. If it's cold, they freeze. Like, they're just very reactionary. They're putting out fires because that's what they're supposed to do. But here's the difference. The successful people, they're not thermometers, they're thermostats, okay? They set the temperature, they create the environment. They don't wait to feel motivated. Okay? Like I'm, rarely motivated. Sometimes you're motivated, but that's not every day. They show up like the person they want to become before the results show up. And that's the difference. You show up like the person you want to become before the results show up. And this isn't easy, but it starts right now with the understanding, the fundamental of it.

You don't grow into a new identity after you succeed, okay?

So this brings me to the real shift. You don't grow into a New identity after you succeed. Think about this for a minute. You don't grow into a new identity after you succeed, okay? You succeed because you grow into a new identity. You succeed because you grow into a new identity. And a lot of people are waiting for the success to happen. Have you ever said like, well, yeah, when I'm rich, then I'll give to the poor and needy, or, yeah, when I make more money, then I'll give my people a raise. And if you're making excuses like that, then you're not willing to shift your identity before the success. You're waiting for the success to shape your identity. And it never works like that. It never works like that. So the reality is this. Right now, you basically have two versions of you. You got the current you, and you know what that's like. You make safe decisions. you know, we're going to be talking marketing today. Maybe you go, yeah, I don't know. That seems like 1500amonth, 3500amonth, 5000amonth. I don't know. I don't know if I can get that. Seems risky. You know, I can't afford that. Have you ever said you can't afford something? Well, sometimes you can't afford not to. Oh, landscape lighting secrets coaching program. Oh, that community. I don't know if I can afford that. Sometimes you can't afford not to. Okay, your current you delays, uncomfortable action. Kind of relates to the same thing, doesn't it? Avoids risk, prioritizes comfort, and still stuck where they were six months ago. So ask yourself, how will this version current you? How will this version of me feel six months from now if nothing changes? If I'm still in the same place, frustrated by the same problems? How is this current version of me going to feel six months from now knowing that nothing has changed? Put yourself in that mindset for a few. For a few seconds, and then you have this opportunity to become identity number two, the future you. This future you makes decisions based on where they're going, not where they are. They invest in themselves. They surround themselves with winners. They take action before they feel ready.

this is it.

This is the thing that's going to unlock everything for you guys, I'm telling you. And yes, of course, there's cells and tactics and strategies and all these different things, but it starts with an identity shift.

Ask yourself what would your future version of yourself do today

So now contrast the other question with, you know, if nothing changes, how's that person going to feel six months from now knowing nothing has changed? Now, I want your future version to say, what would that version of me do today? What would my future version of myself do today to move closer to the dream, business and life that I say I want? And then answer that question and do the thing. Because here's the reality. Like trying to grow your business without shifting your identity. It's like trying to run. I've been running a lot, you guys, and I'm not going to run a marathon. I have no goal to do a marathon. But think about if you wanted to run a marathon. Trying to run that marathon in the same old beat up shoes you've had for five years. You can't run new miles in old shoes. You can't get new results with the same mindset, the same language, the same habits. You have to develop new habits, new mindset, a shift in identity. You have to start making decisions like who you want to be, not like who you are today. So close your eyes. Now, I know a lot of people are driving. A lot of people drive and listen to the podcast. So don't close your eyes if you're driving, but if you're in a safe place, close your eyes and imagine. Imagine this. Whatever your dream version of yourself looks like. We all have this ideal version of ourselves, you know, further along, further progressed than we're at now. Whether it's from a relationship, relationships, our wealth, our health, there's a, there's a better version of ourselves out there, right? So what decisions would that person. This is, this is a crucial question. What decisions would that person make today to put themselves in the best possible position to succeed today? If you can answer that question every single day, on every single challenge that you have, from a business standpoint, a personal standpoint, relationships, whatever it is, what decisions would that person make today to put themselves in the best possible position to succeed today? You, my friend, are unlocking the key to success, the key to happiness. This is it.

The strongest force in the human personality is the need to stay consistent

So I want to leave you just with a quote. Ah. From Tony Robbins. And this is cool. This is so cool. The strongest force in the human personality is the need to stay consistent with how we define ourselves. The strongest force in the human personality is the need to stay consistent with how we define ourselves. And that's why this is so hard, because your old identity is familiar. Like it's. It's safer, it's comfortable, it's just safer and easier to just keep doing what you're doing now, like you've already figured it out. So it doesn't require change. But if comfort is your goal, growth will never be your outcome. So I Want to leave that with you guys? pick one pattern. And this is my challenge this week. Pick one pattern that you're going to interrupt. Something to shift your identity. Okay? And it can start small. Okay? One decision to make as your future self. One action to take that feels just a little bit bold. One excuse that you can retire and get over. Like, stop using that excuse. What? One belief to flip. Because the life and the business that you want, they're waiting. They're waiting on you to stop being who you've been and start being who you're meant to become. I know you guys got this. I know you can do this. So keep moving forward. Implement these things, guys. It's easy to listen to a podcast. It's hard to implement. I want you guys to do this.

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Ryan: We're excited to have Peter O' Flynn on today's show

All right, guys, it is that time. really excited to get our guests coming on here. As long as we can, get our intro music, we should be good to go. So hope you guys are ready. Let's go. Welcome to the show, Mr. M. Peter O'. Flynn.

How you doing, Ryan, Man, I'm doing great.

I, I love my life most days. Not every day.

You're always doing good.

Yeah, not always. But the thing is, like, this show puts me in such a good mood because we get to combine geeking out on lighting with geeking out on business, which is kind of the dream life, you know?

Yeah. Well, this is, I've been looking forward to this today. It's been good. We've had a lot going on, so it's nice to sit down and talk about a few.

It's funny because we always, you know, we start the show or, like, about 15 minutes before the show, we start chatting and stuff, and we have to be careful because it's like, well, hold on. This is good content. Like, let's not say too much because we want to talk about it in front of people. So, Yep, I feel like we've got about five hours worth of content. We're not going to go that long. we're not the Joe Rogan podcast yet, but, maybe one day. So thanks for coming on. I know we've had you on in the past, so I probably won't have you do, like, a full intro of, like, how you got into Christmas lighting and stuff like that, but maybe just do a quick introduction of. Of Peter and. And who you are and what you do.

Sure. So, Peter o', Flynn, I own Light Up Naples Holiday and Outdoor Lighting, along with my wife. And I also publish a community news magazine, Spotlight News magazine. So we're heading into. I think it's our seventh season, for Christmas. You could call it eight if you count one project first year. So I call it seven. and, we've been publishing our magazine for just about 15 years as well. So, they both keep me very busy. I never thought the lighting business would turn into what it is. Here it is. And, yeah, Christmas keeps us busy. We've been talking with a lot of our clients this month. Christmas in July is a big thing just to get reservations locked in. So that's kind of what we're doing.

Well, I've got on the agenda kind of a lot of different topics around. You know, just business in general, marketing, branding, stuff like that. But it's funny you mentioned, like, I never really thought lighting could do this. I still, to this day, I mean, I. I had a landscape lighting secret shirt on, and. Well, imagine that. But I was in the airport lounge the other day with Lindsay, and of course, this lady mentioned it. She was the first one that actually, most people are like, landscaping. Huh? Huh? And I'm like, what? No, we do lighting. Do you not see the lighting? It says lighting right there. Do you not see that? but, m. It's really, really hard to explain. Like, every time I try to explain people what I do, they're like, and. And like, so how do you make money? Like, how. How do you pay the. The bills? And, like, even when I had a lighting business, it was the same response. They're like, you're going to a conference for what? You know, like, people just can't imagine that you can be successful having a lighting business.

And it's, Yeah, I mean, it's. It's changing, though, that's for sure. I mean, people are, people are figuring out. I, I thought I was late to the party when we got started. With the amount of companies around here, I mean, it, it's seemingly tenfold, you know, from when we got started, in our market, you know, so people see, a good thing. That's just, it's just natural. But I mean, the whole industry is growing as a whole. Like, that conversation is going to evolve a lot in the next five years. I think that type of conversation you had at the airport.

More competition in the lighting industry has helped grow your business, you think

Well, so what's your opinion on that? Like, you know, you've got more and more competition. More people hear about it, they go to training, they are on Facebook, YouTube, whatever it is. Like, how has that affected your business? Is that. Is it like. Well, they're growing, so now I can't. Or has it actually helped you grow your business, you think?

I think it. I think it depends on who you are working with and wanting to work for. you know, there, there are, there are people that are making these purchasing decisions solely on the dollars alone. That's it. They don't care about anything else. so in that sense, if you have more people coming in, competing on that angle, well, they're gonna eat each other up. Right? They're gonna do that. we have always come in and been a different. Our differentiator is in better service, more responsive, answering the phone all the time, fixing things in a matter of hours. We promise we'll get it fixed in 24 hours. But those, those things are, I think it. To answer your question, it's kind of depends on the situation, where. I think it's more normal now. Like, people understand, like, this is something that people do when you go in a community and, you know, every fourth fist house house has professional Christmas lights on it. People understand that that's normal. Like, I didn't know this was normal before we started doing this. I didn't know people did this. And meanwhile, I drive by, you know, community after community after community, in our area in southwest Florida that all had professional decorations on it. Me just not really connecting the dots until we got into it. So I think that. I think it's a great thing for customers in terms of there's going to be more choices of better service out there. There's a lot of very fast growing companies. there's a lot of long term companies. and they have different sets of challenges. You know, like we, we've brought in a number of accounts this year going in next year of a newer company that's growing very fast. That those customers were not happy with them because of the level of service more than likely was an issue because of that. historically most of our commercial business comes over from mainly one but two companies that have been here for 20 years. People are just looking for a change. So I think that I think it's going to be an interesting year. I but I think that our biggest competitor is our calendar and our time more than all these other guys there. I mean you can sound like it's all cliche to say that, but I mean that, that's the reality. We get started a week to two weeks earlier every single year. That's how we expand our schedule. I would rather start earlier. there we guys wrapped a tree yesterday. A huge oak tree. Looks awesome. that's for an annual installation that's part of a much larger seasonal project. So we're able to get started on those things early. But we'll be going full time, you know, by. It's hard to say exactly, somewhere between like the 5th and 10th of September and then I'll bring in a little more people in November but like full crew going September, October.

Cool. Yeah, I think you know the people that have like that scarcity, there's scarcity, abundance, mindset. And then maybe, maybe a little in the middle it's like well man, there's just so many people didn't used to be crowded like this. But also they forget that they, the more people that are in there promoting Christmas light, they make it a new norm. So the market grows. Like there's also more opportunity. So it's not fair to say like there's this fixed number of buyers and now there's more suppliers. Like that's just not how it works. They, they help grow the market. And I thought you had a great answer because a lot of people confuse that with like, well you know what, just get in front of the right client. Like some people, not everyone wants just because like you know, DFW has this, this in my, my lighting business is in DFW and we didn't have a pricing problem. But people tell me, oh man, you can't, you know, it's like $3 and 50 cents a foot if you're lucky. I'm like, but I didn't, we didn't have that problem because we two companies.

In that market, they're doing over $12 a foot, you know. And I also know it's also very competitive. But those are on the lower end. But those are, those guys are serving different people and they're both making the clients they're working with happy. So it's like there's a solution for everybody.

Yeah, Love it.

What do you think most lighting business owners are getting wrong about marketing right now

well, for those that don't know, Peter, leads our marketing calls. We have, we have like different topical calls basically like three times a week. Inside Landscape Lighting Secrets. You're running our marketing calls twice per month. as you've kind of gotten to know some more people and seen what's working and not working for marketing, what do you think most lighting business owners are getting wrong about marketing right now?

That's an interesting question. pattern interrupt. I think that, yeah, I, everyone's looking for that quick fix, that magic sauce, that flip, ah, this switch. If I do this, then this happens. If I invest this five grand in SEO, my phone's never going to stop ringing if I do this. Immediate, right away, immediate satisfaction. Right. some of the best stuff is, is long term thinking, and building relationships, talking to the right people that are going to need your services but they don't need them today necessarily. You know, it's, it's letting everyone that you know what you're doing. Now I'm not saying people are necessarily getting this wrong, but it's a slow build approach. now I had the luxury to build my business this way right in terms of we have something else going and then I was able to help use that to get our message out there where we have the luxury to be very particular with who we choose to work with. And that allows us in my view to do a much better job because we're focused in on the right people. So I think that especially in landscape lighting, the digital message can be very tricky, especially for newer companies. You see our approach in much of our marketing on our Christmas side is very portfolio heavy. that establishes credibility. It looks awesome. It's showing people what we're doing. You have some very talented people, people you know that I've met in your program and outside your program that have amazing portfolios. If you look at, take a Greg Matthews portfolio or a Chris, Chris Appleset's portfolio, that that is very challenging for someone that's newer to compete with that. Right. So how do you do that? By building trust, looking people in the Eye and meeting people. And it's a slow build throughout, throughout your community.

Like specific things that you've done in terms like this long term relationship growing thing. What, what are some things that you've done?

Well, when I started my magazine and now, it was a slightly, you know, different world back then, but there's a lot of similarities. Like where we are in southwest Florida, every, most everyone's from somewhere else, so from New York. But like everyone is welcoming because most everyone that you talk to on a given day didn't grow up here. So you don't have as much of that old boys network mentality that you may have in some other areas. So what I did when I started my business, I was going to what I, I think I went to 50 ribbon cuttings for new business celebration openings in the first year that I was in business. I like now I went to all these other events. Like we were members of three different chambers of commerce, two different realtors associations. I was in, two different Rotary clubs over the course of nine to ten years. served on different volunteer boards within these realtor groups. All these ways are great ways to meet people. It takes time. But those ribbon cuttings, it was great because it was smaller groups of people, right? And you get to get more quality time. You don't want to go into a room of 100 people and try to see how many business cards you can get. You want to try to have two to three meaningful conversations over the course of two hours. something that, you know, you can really build off. At least that's the way that I believe is the best way to approach this. So with ribbon cuttings, you know, a lot of times you go to a business, there would be, only six, eight people there. And you're there with a couple other people at the chamber and the business owner's family. That leaves an impression on them. At a minimum, you're putting a smile on their face, you know, and it just, maybe that person knows someone that we can connect with. Maybe I know someone that I can help them in growing their business. of course we sell advertising, so that's a great way to meet people. but getting in front of people, you know, I started that way, what I'll call the traditional way of traditional business groups. what that's evolved into is just ways to meet people in any capacity. you know, I'm having conversations with people on the side of the soccer field. I'm talking with people when I pick up my daughters at Their activities, whatever it may be. two friends of mine that I met on the beach kiteboarding have worked for me. They're both arborists. one of my friends, is the, that I met kiteboarding when he was, I think 20 years old. You know, he's a home manager for one of my biggest clients. We were connected that way. we, decorated their boat, won the Naples Christmas boat parade. Again, this is all from, started from meeting someone on the beach, just being out there. you know, my, my grandfather sold insurance. He was out all the time, constantly. Everything he could do, every basketball game, he had the microphone. He, you know, you, you just. Insurance is a very much relationship. It's, it's, it's like the, the prime example of what I'm talking about. You just have to talk to a lot of people and slowly it grows. I mean we do great work. I believe we do the best work in this area. so I feel like that's the easy part. It's just getting people to see that we're out there doing it.

Yeah.

What are some of the short term marketing strategies you could use

So you've got this kind of long term strategy which again, I think you had a circumstance that allowed you to do that because you already had income coming in with it with your business or whatever. But still, this is, this is very, this is really good stuff. because most people aren't going to take the time because they're busy making money today. They're busy on an install. I can't go to that ribbon cutting, like, whatever it is. Like they make up excuses so they can't build relationships. So number one is getting intentional on figuring out, okay, let's have a long term strategy, let's build these relationships, let's do this networking. How about, what are some of the short term ones? If you know, you had to start a business today and you're like, well, I don't have time to build a, relationship over 18 months. Like, I literally need a job this week to keep my guys going. What are some of the more short term marketing advertising strategies?

So you're, I think we're someone who's in that short term needs to make something happen. Right now you may be in a position where you, you have more time than you have money. Right. So in a position like that, you should be canvassing the areas of, around every house you're already working on. In my opinion, those people already have a neighbor that likes you, that is already familiar with you. Quick things in terms of effectiveness. Door hangers are quick. It's not Something that I do in my market, but it's something, you know, this is all market dependent. You know, we're very gated, community heavy. But door hangers and yard signs. I've lost track of how many of my friends just absolutely crush it on yard signs. Even this time of year with Christmas stuff in my area, there's people I know that do a lot of that with landscape lighting. It gets the phone to ring. you're casting a wider net. You're not though, as, as targeted. You know, it's anybody driving by this, but it, it works, it's effective. there are people I've met through your group that are almost exclusively yard signs. And it works, in a quick way. things you could turn on today, right now, I think that when you're looking at something you can flip a switch on, you're thinking Facebook ads, Google Ads, right? You can immediately turn that on. But you have to be working with the right folks and making sure you're targeting the right areas. and if you're in a large enough population area for this to be effective. That's why those first things I touched on can work in any type of market size. You can get very specific. If you have guys you need to keep busy, they can be doing that. You can be putting a door hanger on five doors each way from the house that you just installed on. So I think those are some things that could be done tomorrow.

Yeah.

I, but I, I, you know, separate of, there's, there's these things that are. You consider advertising switches that you could flip on. I think it's really important to, to remember the people that already know like, and trust you to stay connected with them. people need think there's things that they, they, they forgot that they needed that you have. They need, to. They're doing an expansion on something on their property. They need to be reminded that you're there and that can, that we see that happen right now. I mean, we had one, project. It was that friend of mine who's the house manager, for our client, where he saw me drive by in a truck. We just got like, we had it for like three days. The logos were on it for just a couple days. Headed back to our shop from downtown Naples, and he shoots me a text. He's like, oh, the truck looks great. I think he wanted to like, buy my FJ cruiser off me because that's what he was trying to figure out if I still had it. But in a matter of hours, I don't know. That was late morning. I don't know when it was around 4 or 5 o'. Clock. His client, our mutual client, calls me, it's not a coincidence just because he happened to see me. Now it's fresh in her mind. And we just installed 30 lights at her house, recently. Nice, because that drive by. So I know that's not really answering your question in terms of like what can be done right away, but it's just, I think you never know what the thing is that's going to catch someone's attention.

Are you still seeking new leads or are you leaning into existing relationships

So at your stage in business right now, I know you've got a lot of repeat business and stuff like that, but like are you, are you still seeking new leads or is it all just reaching out to past clients and existing clients?

At this point we're absolutely, we, we want new, new business, new leads. Yes, we're looking for them. Is it mostly leaning into our existing relationships and where a lot of our growth comes from? Yes, but I want to hit it from, from both ways. I, mean I, I might have told you this about this this property manager where we did one project for her, last year, HOA entrance. She moved on from that company, went to someone else. Now they're like the in house property manager for a large national home builder. and it was so easy working with us on that one project. Now that's turned into seven projects. so you just never know. Now does that happen all the time? Of course not. You know, we've had great success, building relationships with board members. Like board members get passionate about Christmas lights.

Are you talking specifically about hoas?

Yes, I am. I'm talking specifically about hoas. So generally speaking in like HOA politics or local politics, people generally get involved when they're upset about something. Whatever that key issue is may be the people who run for the school board are generally upset about something that the school board is doing. They are not there to tell them what a great job they're doing. So that's where we've come to meet quite a few people that got on these boards because all they care about is the Christmas lights and they weren't happy with how it was in the past. So it's cool. You meet some, you meet some fun people that way because like this stuff should be fun. but this one with the back, you know, to this, this hoa, this is a little bit of a different thing where you know, this property manager understands that we make their lives easier. And now they don't need to be taking those phone calls. And the people on their team, from people that are upset about stuff not working. and it grew. It grew that way. So. But we. I really like the HOA entrance commercial work, because we can do it earlier. There's only so many weeks in the season, and it's normal to do it early. So in our market, it's been established. It's totally normal. It's written in our contracts that we can do this in September and then we come back in November to finish everything up.

Very cool.

Stay connected with people on social media and showing them what you do

so, yeah, I mean, you mentioned relationships. Like, okay, you went to the thing, you got the relationship. You got this house manager that moved from here to here or whatever. Like, what are you doing to maintain those? Because I think that's where people fall off. Like, they talked to someone one time, they felt like they had an in. You've done a really good job, like, massaging the relationship. Is there. Is there something that you're doing there that most people aren't?

Well, I think it's a lot easier today than it was 15 years ago when I got started with this strategy, with staying connected with people on social media and showing them what you're doing goes a very, very long way. you know, I've had some people reach out to me that I hadn't spoke to in several years, just, you know, in the last year, because they see we're making an effort to put a lot more stuff out there. So again, people are looking like we. Again, we were talking about this before you started the call. Just people will be looking at this stuff. They're not commenting, they're not liking it. They're not telling you that they're watching, but they're seeing it. So that's there. Now, back to the way I used to do that. It's, phone calls. I love phone calls. I'm a phone call guy. That's changed a lot. where there's some people never answer their phone for anyone, there's a lot. There's people now. It's like, you know, you gotta shoot them a text before you call them because they just don't answer. But,

Send me. Send me a text.

Yeah. So, you know, I can shoot you a text and tell you I'm going to call you in five minutes. But like, I. You say, like, what are ways to catch up with these, to stay connected? Well, in many cases, those people you're are at other events, so you got to get out to other events too. and stay consistent. You know, you go to, to, you put your own events on, but you go to other people's events too. Like you, Ryan Lee. because you're going to see some of those people multiple M times and you're going to get a nice balance. Everywhere you go, you're looking for that nice balance of people that already know me, that can essentially advocate on my behalf and people I've never met before. Like, and you want, I think it's good to have that balance in the room because I'd rather have other people talk about what a great job we do, than me. They do a better job of it.

Exactly. And typically when you have those hybrid, you have that room where you have a customer base in there and then newbies, maybe you're going talking to the newbie and like, yeah, you know, this is what we do. We do holiday lighting. We got this magazine. And then they're probably going to go over to their friend and be like, you know that Peter guy? Oh, Peter's great. Yeah. And all of a sudden the floodgates open and like, oh, they're amazing. That's way better than you saying, oh, Peter's amazing. He is the stud of the year. So that's what's great, is like, you get your clients selling for you in those environments.

Yeah. And use those opportunities in those rooms to introduce your friends and other business associates to other people in the room that they should be connected with. Like if you introduce two people in, whether it's a cocktail hour, side of a soccer field, whatever it is, and they hit it off and create a partnership and whatever that is in their businesses and like, they have you to thank in some capacity. That's a good thing for you.

Yeah.

You know what that may turn into? Who knows? But it's, it's not hurting anybody. that's such good advice. You know, it's just one of the, it's just one of those little, little things can take time. you don't necessarily know who, who that person is that you're gonna, you're gonna, you're going to see there. But at the same time, do, do your best to be, you know, intentional with how you're approaching these events and these rooms that you, that you can go to, whether it's charity events, chambers of commerce, realtors, whatever it is. And, and I know not everywhere in the country is, is so event centric. Like we are here in southwest Florida. But, you know, your, your best clients probably have a favorite charity that they're on the board of that. You can go to that annual gala to show them that you support their cause. And, maybe they'll. They'll mention what a great job you did to one of their friends in the process. So either way, good stuff.

Ryan: I started this last week. I don't know if you were listening

All right, quick pattern interrupt. We're gonna play a game. I started this last week. I don't know if you were listening, but it's called quick hit controversials. So it's basically just a lightning round. Yeah. Ask you some, quick. Yes, no, multiple choice, whatever it is really fast. So are you down to play?

Yeah, I'm ready. I. I saw you doing that with Mike last. Last week. That was, good stuff, Ryan.

All right, so this is good. Rapid, fire. One word, short answer. okay, we're gonna go. I got more than I asked Mike, so. But we're gonna go quick.

In September I love commercial and in November I love residential

All right. lease. So Christmas lights. Lease, model or sell? Model.

All inclusive service.

Nice. I think that means lease. residential or commercial?

I. I love our residential customers. Like, I just told you how much I enjoy commercial. So much. So I guess in September I love commercial and in November I love residential.

All right. Facebook ads or Google Ads?

Oof. M. I'd say Google.

Nice. branding or direct response?

Branding. It's a long term game.

Nice. Discounts to close deals. Smart or stupid?

I mean, I try not to use added value. how about that?

Added value to close deals. Smart.

There you go.

Discounts. Stupid. Should you ever show pricing on your website?

Yes.

Landscape, lighting, Cash cow or distraction?

Cash cow or distraction? It's not a distraction.

That. Is that your answer?

Yeah.

Okay. Holiday, installs before Halloween. Genius or insane?

It's necessary. It's completely necessary. even normal, it's normal. It's not residential.

Residential.

What'd you say?

Do you like residential? Like, so you take down the spider. Like you put the, put the wreath over the spider or the spider over the reef.

Well, look, I mean, every year there's like three houses that they don't care and they want the wreaths up the last few days of October. And like, I'm like, okay, your HOA is gonna call you, not me. But, we, we do. We start doing residential the second week of October. So.

Josh Latimer says everything's marketing, so lighting is marketing

All right, I can't remember what I was thinking here, but I'm just gonna ask anyway.

You.

You can only keep one. Lighting or marketing? What was I thinking? I think I was thinking like, all.

Right, well, the lighting.

Marketing.

The lighting is marketing because that's the great thing about lighting. It, Speaks for itself. It shows everybody, you know, how cool it looks on its own. I don't need any amplification. The neighbors drive by it, they see it. So lighting. We'll stick with lighting.

Yeah. So you knew what I meant. Yeah, yeah. Josh Latimer says everything's marketing, so lighting is marketing. So there you go.

There's a lot to that for sure.

email marketing. Dead or underused?

Underused.

If your brand was a car, what would it be?

probably McLaren, Rolls Royce somewhere in between those. Those are kind of different, even though they're kind of the same.

So it'd be. If McLaren and Rolls Royce had a baby.

Yeah, that'll work.

Sweet.

Peter Flynn: Over promising or underpricing can be problematic

All right, last one. What's worse, over promising or underpricing?

if you're under pricing, you're. You're not going to be around long enough to have other problems. So that's a big problem.

Okay. That's awesome. That's quick. Hit Controversials with Peter o'. Flynn. So some people are like, what does that mean that you're saying that over promising isn't bad?

Oh, man.

Controversial here. You know, I think we did it.

yeah, we moved over it real quick because, you know, real fast, fast paced. But like, you, you asked about pricing on your website. you know, that, that can be an effective way to establish the, the value that you're bringing to the table, you know, and, and, everyone wants the phone to ring, but I don't think anyone wants the phone to ring with a bunch of people looking for a handyman wanting to spend 2 to $500. So that's where publishing our minimum charge on our website, effectively slows that down, you know, and that's something I've seen even in our market. I didn't used to see as much of that, but, there's another company, they never used to publish this stuff. And I noticed in the last, like two weeks, they have a minimum, $5 cheaper than our minimum.

Sweet.

So I guess that'll make the difference. It was, it was. Gave me a little laugh.

That's awesome. Like, why would you go with them? They're $5 more than us. Like, that's ridiculous. They're.

Yeah, people off. There's somebody for everybody, so.

I want to ask you about your social media strategy

Well, we've already been talking about, like, long term. You even mentioned branding a little bit. You mentioned your truck wrap. I'm always amazed how many people don't have really solid branding and really solid truck wraps and stuff like that, because there's just so much opportunity. I guess I kind of want to specifically ask you about your social media because from the day that I met you, like, you stuck out to me. I was like, dang, this guy, this guy's doing good. Like I, your, your content's engaging. I have, I don't. I actually am intentionally not going on a lot of social media right now. So I don't see a lot of stuff. I haven't seen all this stuff lately. But like, how often are you posting? What's the strategy there? How, how much is it just branding versus call to action type stuff? Can you give us some insight on what you, what you're doing there?

A lot of what we do is projecting our portfolio is putting it out there. It's. I try to look at things in terms of like, what can we do that no one else can do? Well, it's gonna take them some time. They can do it. Anyone can copy what. I think most people could copy what we're doing, but it's gonna take them a while. That's why we got to keep getting better. Stay, stay ahead of everybody. if they're learning what we're doing. I'm looking to the next thing. But through most of the month of June, we were posting almost every day on our Facebook page. Google business profile, listing, YouTube shorts about three times a week. that's been effective. Of course. Google owns YouTube. They work together. we've started doing. I was like staying away from Instagram for a long time. I gotta figure out Instagram. So we've started posting on there almost every day for the past month. people still found us there through Instagram last year with limited posting, so I was surprised by that.

But how, how come you weren't posting the. Like, I guess I always see your.

I have no good reason for you. I have zero good reason. Like it's not, it's like Facebook is something that I've under. I would like to think I've understood well, well enough. But you know, because we're so photo heavy, like I'm very conscious of taking pictures and of, of everything I can, you know, and I, I still have a. Photos of a small fraction of all of our work. So it's something that I'm going to be taking a more aggressive, this approach. Approach this year to lean on some more people. My favorite photographer moved out of the area last year, which was a bummer. but there are a lot of great photographers. So our, I don't know If I'm answering your question.

Oh, you're not.

the volume. You know, volume is important. Quality is more important. You could say, in terms of what you're putting out there, no one has the extensive portfolio that we do in our market. There's. There are other companies that do great work. I don't think they're necessarily as good at showing that they do a great job.

yeah, I mean, this. The stuff I see you doing on Facebook is like this. This is exactly. This is like, this is exactly what you need to do to showcase your portfolio. Like, you've mastered it. But I'm just sitting here, like, I just pulled up your Instagram. I'm like, what, What? Just post the same stuff. Like. Like you already have all the content. just post it on there because you're gonna get. Even though a lot of people have both and people are on Instagram and Facebook, like, there's the way things work. Like, some people see your stuff on Facebook, some people only see it on Instagram, some people see it on TikTok, whatever it is. So I. I think it's just nice to be omnipresent. And you're gonna. You're gonna see a. You're gonna see a bump if you start putting your stuff onto Instagram. For sure.

Yeah, that's the plan. We'll see. and then my. My daughter tells me I need to figure it out for soccer too. One of her coaches tells me I need to build her, like, a YouTube page. So we'll see. I'll have to figure that out too.

Now is the time to really impact your season, um, and how much you can grow

But have you noticed, like you said, you're doing YouTube shorts. we've been doing that for, like, maybe a year. We get a ton more views on those than we do some of the other platforms. Have you noticed that?

I mean, I have a hard time figuring out why one. One video gets 400 times more views than the other. but you just hit a lot. I mean, I told you, you know, when Katie's in the video, people love Katie more than they love me when my dog Oscar is in the video. They love Oscar. Oscar. I mean, people love dogs. Like, I don't know. It's just mix it up, try different stuff. I think that though, ah, a lot of that stuff on YouTube comes up very well on Google when people are searching for us. Because, of course, Google's pushing YouTube's videos out there. So that's been. That's another piece of that puzzle. It's. It's not just people are, like, within the YouTube world, they're in Google and then they see it there, they're quickly connected to it. So the time we've invested in putting in all this YouTube stuff has been very effective. we gotta get back to the way I used to do things, which is just make, you know, two months worth of content and just have it sitting in the can and now it's ready to go. Probably only have everything planned out like a week and a half right now. So now's the time to do that, like before everything really, really gets going. But I, I say before everything gets going. I enjoy the busyness of our season. There's a simplicity in it. the time to make things happen is now. Ah, the time to, to really impact your season, and how much you can grow and how you're prepared for that. Now's the time for that. It's that first eight months of the year. that is what's going to enable you to do more. so we've learned that the work of the installation we're good at. We know how to do it. it's very straightforward. It's a lot of work. But it's abundantly clear what you need to do come October and November. Right now, it's not as clear what the priority is for in all types of companies should, you know, how do I follow my customers? What's the right way to do this, what am I investing to build new business, referral programs, all that stuff. That's what I mean by once you get later in the year, you can get caught up in the busyness of everything.

Yeah, well, because you got these number of installs and they all need to get done by this date. So you pretty much have your marching orders. I guess that kind of relates to.

Ryan says landscape lighting has helped him tremendously during the Christmas off season

What I want to transition to, is the discussion of bolting on landscape lighting. for me, I'm wondering, and it was kind of interesting because I asked you, is it a cash cow or a distraction? And you're like, not a distraction. I guess. What are some of the biggest hurdles you faced adding landscape lighting to your already, you know, successful holiday lighting business?

Well, the seasonal fluctuations of our specific market are tricky. So, you know, we here, we're in southwest Florida. I'm right here in our, our warehouse in Venice Springs, just north of Naples, where 90% of our customers are. it is a very seasonal area. But flowers are already seasonal. We're mega seasonal, like our puppy. Our population double. You could. It's probably closer to triples or More, there are houses on streets we work on. You know, there's only 1 out of 10 occupied. So that is tricky where we have a blitz of time after the Christmas season. I mean, and during the season is when we're promoting landscape lighting for sure, during the Christmas season where you've got until Easter, shortly thereafter, and then a lot of people are not here. So that's a real condensed selling window. But there's those tight selling windows in all markets. They're just different. I mean, we don't have to deal with snow. We, you know, we, that's not an issue either. We don't have to deal with the ground being frozen. We can install lights every month of the year. So, I think that that is one piece because like, landscape lighting has been a phenomenal bridge for my team during the Christmas off season. it's allowed me to keep two guys pretty busy this year, last year, all throughout. And that makes everything smoother that you. If you want to talk about the key to success in the Christmas business, it's about having a team back that knows what they're doing. I mean, and that goes for most businesses, but so many people just start from scratch every year. it happens. You know, things happen and you, and you have to. But if you're able to have the right guys that are coming back that are crew leads, it's easier for them. They can, they help train your team. That's, that's a key piece here and that's what landscape lighting has helped us with for sure.

Yeah, I, that's what I've seen is a lot of people are attracted to it because of that. It's like, well, it helps us avoid the seasonal hiring. Maybe not 100%, but you can keep your main guys. and, and that's huge. So.

But it's not the only reason we're doing this. Like, we, like, like it is, we know how to make houses look good and it's fun, you know, and I, I wish we could be doing a new project every single day of the week. but it, it doesn't work that way all the time. So, it is, you know, we, we've met some very smart people. you know, as we've learned through your program, you know, my mentor and Chris has been incredibly helpful, because we needed to figure this stuff out really quick. Ryan. Like, like we've, we have years long relationship with our Christmas clients that expect the best from us, that we provide. We had to get there really quickly. We had to get there very quickly. I couldn't figure this out over the course of several years, you know, so it's it's been very, a very good direction for us definitely.

Do you think if you had a slow Christmas light season, you would have the gas

Do you think that like, like I imagine these two scenarios like a struggling Christmas light company starting out first, second year, they don't kill it. So but they good enough to like, they need to keep the guys busy, right? So they start a lighting business but they, they're broke enough where they're like no, we actually need to have like some thirty thousand dollar months, forty thousand, fifty thousand dollar months or whatever. Then I contrast that with your company where like, and maybe I'm making some assumptions but maybe you don't need to have those months as this as consistently. Do you think if you like was, was in that situation where you had a slow Christmas light season, you would have the gas more on the landscape lighting cells?

That's an interesting question because what you're basically talking about is like does the reality of that, of that pressure and that weight of I, have to be able to provide for my family, how does that make this happen? And I think you need to try to look at it that way all the time, you know, because you talk about did I, did I have to do this right? I, I analyzed bringing and bolting on landscape lighting for years. I didn't want to do it, I didn't think we needed to do it. And then when I, when the path became very clear to me initially that this was going to help everything else be easier, then it's very important. Like just, I can't, I can't over like, I can't exaggerate how important it is to be able to have a team that you don't have to retrain constantly. You know, it is just so much time and investment in your own personal resources that like if you weren't doing that, you could be doing anything else. And anything else is better than doing the same thing over and over and over again with no progress. So yeah, this is the direction we're going to keep pushing. Very, very heavy and we've gotten very good at it. And it, it's something that is kind of refreshing to install projects outside of Christmas season that aren't like with this real looming deadline that's right there. You know, it's like, okay, it's raining. It'll be okay if this doesn't, if this gets done tomorrow. Exactly. You know, like Santa's not coming. Now granted, some of these projects are, you know, Wedding deadline pressure. And we got to get everything lit up in time for that too, too. And that's fine. but it's nice to just have a different, different pace to things. That's for sure.

I know that's. That it honestly is one of the things that there's a ton of reasons why I freaking love landscape lighting. And, and that's one of them is like, the Christmas lights, like, stress me out. You know, it's like there is that real deadline. Like, what if it does rain for a week? Like, there's real consequences here. and then escape lighting. Like, you said that it does happen, but it's just. It's not even close to being the same, you know, like, it's just. It just seems like a more enjoyable process.

You know, I, I actually love rain. Have, I ever told you this about rain in the Christmas season?

I don't know.

I love rained. So the difference between us and other people is noticeable more clearly to many customers when it's raining, because our stuff is just tighter. It's not tripping, it's not failing. it's installed in the best way possible. and even like right now, during this little squall line monsoon lines that come through where it's just blasting like a fire hose for five minutes out of the sky, you can drive by. Like, several of our communities have lights up year round. They're running through all that. So there's a lot of things that we've learned over the years of how to keep it working. But I've noticed that, you know, the less experienced guys in town, they can't keep it working. and that causes issues. I mean, the meeting I have tomorrow with four car dealerships is because of what we're talking about right now. because it was tripping last year, and we had a really relatively dry December last year. But the December before that, we had like a summer December. Like, in terms of rain wise. Like, I. It was somewhere between like 12 to 15 inches of rain, which is a big rainy August July month. But that was in December when all the lights are out. So, like, that we got a lot of new business in in January and February because it was fresh in those people's minds that they weren't happy with how it went. So they contacted us. So, yeah, there's a nice balance. I'm not saying I need it raining all the time, but I think that can help. it helps our clients and potential clients see who they're working with for sure.

Cool, man. Well, you know, I, I can't wait to see, what your business does over the next few years. Christmas lights, you already got that down. I'm confident you can grow that as big as you want or you can maintain it the size you want. Like, I feel like you've, You've, You've kind of got your, Your, Your vision behind that landscape lighting. I feel like you've got so much potential still, so I'm excited to see where you take that, and, and kind of experience, the growth within that portion of the industry. I guess. Yeah. Thanks for coming on.

Ryan: I highly recommend joining a program to learn about landscape lighting

Is there anything that you want to. Any final advice, any words of wisdom, anything you want to share or people want to reach out to you and get a hold of you before we wrap up?

yeah, I mean, hit me up on Facebook if you got any questions. I like talking with people.

not Instagram.

And, But, yeah, like, I, I love. You know, you mentioned earlier, I, I get to lead these calls, in your, in your program twice a month. And, you know, you say I'm, like, teaching the group. It's like everyone's. I'm learning a lot from these groups too, you know, and it is, It's. I like talking about all this stuff because, like, teaching helps you understand things. That's. That's how I gain more of an understanding for, keeps me fresh. It's good. It's really good stuff. So.

Yeah. Well, I highly recommend whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, seriously, like, join a program. Hopefully it's landscape lighting secrets, but if not, seriously, join something, learn enough, and then go teach, like, accelerate yourself, like Peter has, where he's a facilitator, he's leading these things. because I'm telling you, I, I learned the same thing these past five, six years. I've learned so much more than probably anybody else. I'm sitting here taking notes every week on my own podcast because it's just so valuable. Like, it's crazy. So anytime you get to, be a facilitator, like, it's uncomfortable. You feel like you're not fit. Like, take the position if someone asks you to do it, or you, if, even if they haven't asked, say, hey, when. When can I be ready? Because it's such a powerful. It's the literally final phase of learning is. Is actually teaching. So for sure, I appreciate you, Peter. you are doing great in business. And like I said, I just can't wait to see what, what happens with the, with the landscape lighting segment of your business, but really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule today. Appreciate you also doing that every month for us. I mean, twice a month Inside Landscape Lighting Secrets, leading these marketing calls. You're a huge asset for us, and, really appreciate you.

Thanks, Ryan. Thanks for having me.

Just go do everything Peter said, and you'll be fine

All right, guys, now the hard part. Go implement. Just go do everything Peter said, and you'll be fine. Your wildest dreams come true. See y'. All.