Lighting for Profits - Episode 232

When companies believe in the mission, they don’t just show up - they step up.

In this episode, we talk with EmeryAllen about why they went Platinum at Light It Up Expo and why they’re committed to helping lighting contractors grow, win, and build better businesses.

This is about more than products. It’s about pushing the industry forward

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Episode Transcript

Welcome to Lighting for Profits. Here is your host, Ryan Lee

Welcome to Lighting for Profits. All light, All light, All light

Powered by EmeryAllen.

Here is your host, Ryan Lee. All right, all light, all light. Let's go.

We have over 160 people registered for our pre show classes

Happy Tuesday, guys. We are a week, officially a week away from starting Light it Up Expo. It was supposed to start on Wednesday, but we decided to announce some pre show classes next Tuesday. By the way, don't, don't fret if you missed out on the pre show classes. It's still going to be an awesome show. It was supposed to only be a three day show. We turned it into four. We have over 160 people registered for our pre show classes, which is insane to me. I didn't know there was gonna be that much demand. we got landscape lighting, holiday advanced holiday lighting, permanent lighting, and then a late edition outdoor audio. So four classes again. If you miss those, don't, don't worry. Gonna have an amazing expo on next Wednesday. We're gonna have an amazing lineup, of speakers, breaker, breakouts, round tables. we got a panel, we got lots of cool stuff the next two days. So, so don't worry. You're going to get the value. Don't worry. And sometimes it's not even the agenda, sometimes it's just one conversation in the hallway that literally changes the trajectory of your business. You find your future business partner or come up with an idea that's going to change everything. So looking forward to hanging out with y' all in Orlando next week for Light it Up Expo. I don't know if you guys know this, but, the results just came in. We're the number one landscape lighting show in Charleston, South Carolina. We're going to prove that today. If, you're looking to start or grow a landscape lighting business, this is your lucky day. You're in the right place. We're here to educate and motivate to help you dominate.

Tom Garber and Jackson Lebrech with Emory Allen on podcast

Today we got this. The legend, Tom Garber with Emory Allen and the upand comer, Jackson Lebrech with Emory Allen. So by the way, I'll be giving out his email momentarily. So excited to be joined by Tom and Jackson with Emory Allen. they've been a huge supporter of ours for several years now. I mean, honestly, ever since we launched the podcast, I had an awkward conversation with Tom about trying to steal the name of his podcast. And, we've been good friends ever since. So, really excited to have Emory Allen on. They've really made a, a stamp in the industry and carved, out a solid name in the exterior illumination industry.

We're at 94 reviews on Apple and we want to get to 100

So, before we have them on a couple things. Number one, thank you guys so much for your support. Thank you, thank you, thank you. it's so cool. I've been, I've been like wanting to get to a hundred reviews on Apple and we're at 94. So I'm like, don't I have like friends that can make fake accounts? Like, this shouldn't be that hard. But here's what's crazy. The other day I had like 91 and then I saw that I got a new review. Like it, it literally like came in and. But it stayed at 91. And so I'm like, something's, something weird's going on. I think someone went to give me a five star review and they erased their five star review because you can actually do that on Apple. It's kind of weird. So maybe someone went to like add one but then they clicked it and it and it went away. So, maybe I'm asking for reviews. Maybe that's not a good thing. I don't know. but thank, you guys so much for your support. Even if you don't give me a five star review on Apple, I do appreciate it. it's just been so fun doing this show. Amazing guests, amazing experiences. And then again, we got lighted up expo happening next week. We literally I think have like four tickets left. So, that's awesome. I'm super excited it's happening next week. Lightitup expo. com. if you haven't heard about it, I'm pretty sure you have by now if you're a fan of the show. But if not, go get your ticket now. It's gonna be in Orlando. It's gonna be epic. okay, so again in just a few minutes we're gonna have Tom Garber and Jackson Lebrecht with Emory Allen on the show. We're gonna be talking about, some industry trends and some things that are coming up on the horizon with Emory Allen before we have them on.

If you're not using social media on the Daily to grow your audience

Ah, I do want to talk about something that I was thinking about today. I'm like, I don't know why I should probably share this story. social media. If you're not using social media on the Daily to grow your audience and to expand your business, you are missing out. And, up until six years ago, it was literally 2020. January 2020 was the first time I started actively posting on social media with any type of intent. Before that, it was just a annual family photo at best. I mean, I literally was. I did, I just didn't use social media. And I was at a conference, I was at Funnel Hacking Live. if you guys are a fan of the show and you listen to Russell Brunson, when I had him on the show, amazing, guy, and he had, he has this conference where he had it every year called Funnel Hiking Live. I'm in the conference and he, he challenges everybody. Hey, you should, you should build an audience and, and you should start talking even if you don't have anything to sell. And I was like, I don't have anything to sell. Like, I don't know what I want to do with my life. I just sold my lighting business. But I was trying to figure things out. And he did a 30 day challenge. Just do a Facebook Live for 30 days in a row and start getting your message out. I was like, I don't even know what my message is. And I remember being in that hotel room that night. I like, I didn't even, like there was people walking around the hallways like filming themselves and, and they were very comfortable on camera and they, some of them even had camera crews following them around. I was not comfortable. So I hid in my room and I was like shaking, like physically shaking doing this Facebook Live. But I decided, you know, I'm going to commit. Like, he seems to be very successful. I'm just gonna like, worst case, I just look stupid, on camera. And I didn't have that many friends or family or like, I didn't have a following anyway, you know what I mean? So I was like, I did that and I committed to 30 days and I did it every single day. I went live on Facebook and then I did 60 days and then I did 90 days and I just kept going. And I want to encourage you guys to do this very same thing. So even if you don't know what to say, you don't know what your offer is. You don't even know why you're doing it. I just want you to commit and going live isn't the same as it used to be. But it doesn't matter if it's a live video or you just record a 30 second video or a 90 second video or whatever and upload it. I want you to guys to do this every single day, okay? And do this and start speaking to your ideal client avatar. Start speaking to your audience like, who are you really trying to serve? Right? And don't have any expectations of anything in return because honestly, you're probably not going to get anything in return at First. And, that's what happened to me. I literally just was speaking to a camera, and I would get nervous if, like, more than two people, like, you could see the. The person icon. I'm like, oh, crap, who's on there? You know, usually it was one, and it was my mom, and I'm like, oh, you know, it's her. I could talk to her. but then if it got to 2, 3, 4, 5, I was like, crap, who are these people? Right? And then someone would comment. You're like, oh, what? So it's weird because you want people there, but then when they show up, you're like, why are you here? Hang up. but I want to encourage you to do this because most people are on social media today not to create, but to consume. You see, most people are on there just to scroll because their. Their minds have been conditioned that you got to check to see what everyone's up to. And I want to see if. If their life is good or bad. And it's weird. I don't even understand why. But most people are. Are on there consuming. They're not creating. And I want to challenge you to actually consume less and create more. And you can measure, like, if social media is okay by, are you consuming more than you're creating? And I can tell you this after five full years. Okay? Five full years of nothing but organic. And I haven't posted every day, but it's been pretty dang close. Okay, we finally decided to turn on ads. And so I'll talk about the dynamic and the relationship between, like, organic posts and ads, and maybe what you should be talking about on, each of those. But what you'll find, if you can identify who it is that you're really trying to serve, it might not be the person that, like. Like, if you're. If you're in, showing up and you're doing $5,000 jobs today, but you want to do $10,000 jobs, or you want to do $20,000 jobs, talk to that person, right? And then what I want you to do is think about just one person. Try not to think of an audience. Just try to think of one person and how you're going to change their life with offering outdoor lighting, right? And think about those positive experiences where people are, like, begging you, like, oh, my gosh, like, you're the best person I've ever worked with. And, like, what can we do to help you? And, like, we just love it so much. We're able to sit back there with our family or whatever. You guys have these, these customer experiences, right? And you're like, how do I get more of them? You're going to speak to that very person. So think about what questions do these people have, what objections did they have? When you get to the end of the sales process, what are some reasons why people told you, hey, we're not going to go with you, we're going to go with someone else. And this is the content that you're going to use in your social media strategy. Okay? And you're again, you're not thinking of like, okay, how much money am I going to make if I, if I record a two minute video? Like that doesn't even matter. You're just serving at this point. And when you do this over and over and over every single day for the next number of years, whatever that is, one day you will be able to cash in on the goodwill that you have built. Okay? And I'm just telling you this because I don't have like a formula, I don't have a framework. I didn't throw this into chat GPT, I got nothing. I'm just telling you what I have done and how social media has completely changed my life.

You need to post consistently on social media because it's consistency that matters

I mean completely. And there's times where I'm like, oh my gosh, I hate social media because I hate the consuming. I'm guilty of it too. Where you just all of a sudden I go to post something and I'm like, I've been scrolling for 15 minutes, what am I doing? I don't even know what I'm doing. I'm just sitting here, right? Okay, so there's days where I hate social media, but then most of the time I'm super grateful because I've been able to connect with so many people all over the world just because I've been consistent. And I've seen where other people have tried to be consistent. They'll have a good run at it and they'll do it for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, maybe even a year. But then all of a sudden something comes up and then it ends and it's gonna, it's, this is the long game, this is the long game. You have to be willing to continue to show up every single day because it's consistency that matters. That consistency that built you, the goodwill can disappear like that. Literally. If you stop showing up, people are gonna forget about you because there's how many other people on social media posting content, right? So it's really, really important that you're consistent with this. If you just post when you feel like it. If you just post every once in a while. And you wonder why, does social media work for some people but not for me, is probably because of that you need to post consistently on, like actual post. You need to post your stories, right? And my strategy on that normally is my, my posts are like real value. Like, here's how to make money, more money in your business. Here's, something that helped me with recruiting. Here's something that helped me build my business. This one thing will help you make extra $10,000, whatever it is, right? Like, just give away real value. And some people, like, why would you give that away? Like, why wouldn't you make people pay for that? Well, because, number one, most people actually don't implement stuff. So I can tell you all day till you're blue in the face. Most people don't implement, but the ones who do go, wow, like, that guy was willing to help me for free. what would he do for me if I was willing to pay him some, right? So you can borrow this exact same framework I use in your business, in your lighting business to grow it all the time. So you might teach someone how to do maintenance on their own landscape lighting system. And you might be like, some people are like, I'm not going to teach that because then they'll just do it themselves. And some people might. But some people might hire you because of the value and the relationship that you've built. See, social media is about building trust. It's not trying to just land customers. There's, a, there's a funnel, there's top of funnel, which is like at the very top, where you're just educating, just informing, just getting your name out there. And that's what social media is. Most people don't go on to social media to find an outdoor lighting expert, right? People don't go onto social media to find a guy who helps people grow landscape lighting businesses. But once you add enough value out there, then they're going to continue to pay attention. And then that's when you can start to make offers and that's when you can start to cash in on the goodwill that you built. And so you want your organic posts every single day to build value. And then the stories, I like to go, and that's what I'm like, hey, here's me skiing with my son. Hey, here's me on a trip with my kids. Here's me just doing something dumb at dinner. Whatever it is, that's like the real you that's just like the behind the scenes. Okay? Your stories are like the behind the scenes. Doesn't have to be anything formal, nothing polished. In fact, if it's polished, it's going to make you look more fake. You want to be authentic. Okay. And so don't worry about, like, having the right script and editing and all that stuff. Yes, you can do that. And there's certain videos that you'll want to at least add some captions so people can read it. Because most people aren't watching videos and listening to them. They're reading the captions because they're like at dinner with their significant other and they can't turn it on and listen. So they're like pretending to have a conversation and they're reading the captions. Right. That's sad, but true. So there's times where you need that for sure. But get your message out there. Be consistent, build trust. And then when you turn on your ads, your ads can be a call to action. Your ads can be like, don't be left in the dark. Schedule your free demo. You know, your ads can be like, get your free design consultation today. Whatever your call to action is, you can go for it. And then what happens is when you get some people, you talk about this funnel, right? The top of funnel. A lot of people are just going in there. Some people, you get lucky and they go onto social media and they scroll and they're like, oh, yeah, that's crazy. I want landscape lighting. And maybe it's because you did retargeting and I can go do a whole webinar on this. But you will find some people lower in the funnel. And so you'll do a call to action and ads, and they'll be like, yes, I want that. Fill out the form. Come, come sell me lights. I'm ready to go. Right? But then other people won't be ready. They'll be like, call to action. I don't want to quote. Right, but now they're in your system. So, like, that's why you want them to follow you. When they follow you now, all of a sudden, they. They're going to keep seeing your organic. You're not. Your ads, your organic content. That's building trust, building authority, building a relationship. So that is like the, that's the framework that I built, I'm telling you. And it's changed my life completely.

There's a phrase I love called marry the process, divorce the results

So you don't need a massive following. Don't pay for followers. That has nothing to do with anything. Okay. a lot of people are worried, like, well, what if no one's watching? It doesn't matter. Don't worry. There's a. There's a phrase I love called marry the process, divorce the results. And that's exactly what social media is. What that means is you don't care about the outcome, okay? You're married to the process. The process is showing up every day, building a relationship, overcoming objections, overcoming false beliefs. What things do they think about? Landscape lighting. So maybe you do a video on, why the solar lights at the big box stores aren't the best thing for you. Or maybe why you should. Maybe you do the opposite and do a negative hook and you're like, why you should probably consider solar lights from Costco. Maybe more people would watch that. Right? And you're going to talk about all the reasons you shouldn't buy those lights. Of course. But marry the process. Divorce the results. Because most people get married to the results. And what. What happens if you get married to the results? You're like, I'm gonna put all these videos and, oh, no one's called me. Oh, I only got two views. Well, that's depressing. That sucks. But if you marry the process and you just keep doing the thing over and over and over, that's a win. And you're like, I'm gonna only measure the success of this if I show up. If I post a video every day, I'm a winner. Doesn't matter what the result was. Okay. I mean, I think even today I have, like, 2,200 followers on Instagram. You don't need a massive following to make a lot of money. all right, I think that's it. So, hopefully that helps someone. If you guys have questions, reach out.

Happy?

to help you, give you any insight on. On how things have. How I've done things. I'm no expert. There's people that probably are way more successful online than me. But I'm just telling you, like, social media has completely changed my life, and I want that for you guys, too. So make sure you're, you know, learning from others. That's. That's what I do. I'm always in a mastermind. I'm always having a coach. I'm always looking for the next thing that's going to help me get more traction in my business. All, right, listen, friends don't let friends install garbage lamps. If you want less callbacks and more referrals and repeat business, stick with Emory Allen. Emory Allen makes premium LED lamps for lighting professionals who demand the best. Don't Settle for less. Upgrade your designs and installations today with Emory Allen. Reach out. Get ready for this. Reach out to jackson l. @emryallen. com to learn more and take advantage of their contractor pricing. That's right. We got a new email address. Reach out to jacksonlryallen. com. move over Tom Garber, because Jackson Lebrech is taken over. Just email Jackson l. @emory allen. com. oh, and don't forget to mention that you heard about him here on Lighting for Profits. Jackson. They're going to be mentioning that, so don't forget to hook them up with that discounted contractor pricing.

All right, guys, I think it's time. Let's get the guests on. So where's our music

All right, guys, I think it's time. I think it's time. Let's get the, our guests on. That's why you guys came here. Anyway, I like doing my, Ryan's rants or whatever we want to call it, because I, just have these things I got to get off my chest, and I have so much that I just want to help you guys with. And it's like, listen, if I can do it, you guys can do it. But, I love. I love this show because of the guests and because of the things I get to learn on here. So where's our music? Let's go.

Tom Garber and Jackson Lebrecht discuss their lighting company Emory Allen

Welcome to the show. Tom Garber and Jackson Lebrecht. What's up, guys?

Ryan, how are you? I feel like I just got demoted. Huh? I feel like I just got demoted.

You did. You just fired yourself. That's what we're talking about on the show all the time.

I have to admit, that was, like, kind of crazy hearing that. That was like, you know, Tom G.

I'm, I'm leaving.

Yes. In real time. Tom has replaced himself. I love it. Well, I. I think it's time, you know, I was like, why. Why, Tom? Why do you want everyone coming to you? You're the. You're the president. You're the CEO. You're the. The visionary. So I think it's time. Let's. Let's fire him. Let's get him out of there. Jackson, let's roll with it.

Let's roll with it.

I'm, 100 fine with it. More time on the boat.

Exactly. That's how you measure your success. It's like how. How successful, Jackson is. And the more successful he is, the more time you're on the boat.

That's right. That's right.

We'll get you taken care of.

So.

Well, you know, Tom, you've been on several times. Jackson, I think you've Been on one, maybe two times.

it was this time last year almost.

Okay, cool. Well, just do a quick intro. Tom, we'll start with you. Who is Tom Garber? Who is Emory Allen? And then we'll. And then we'll have Jackson go,

Tom Garber is this guy that's been in the lighting industry for. Seems like ever. Lighting industry was one of the last things that I thought I was gonna do. but I started, 1988 with Kichler Lighting. Developed their landscape lighting system for them. Worked there for eight years until I got tired of the Cleveland winters, moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Worked for a company here, lighting company Quizzell. as their director of engineering for 15 years, monkeyed around in Florida for a couple of years and, got this idea about starting Emory Allen. Right. At almost 11 years ago, we started, Emory Allen and haven't looked back since. So it's been a lot of fun. It's been great having the whole family involved. We've grown from a, garage shop to a, real business with 16 employees. And, Yeah. So, contrary to popular belief, you know, we are the family members, myself included, are pushing a lot of our responsibilities off on our, our employees. So.

What do you mean? One trader popular belief, my belief. No, it's. It's good to see you guys grow. And like you said, it's like, I, I love your story because it didn't start as, like, this massive empire. and now you're. You are like, you went from a garage to a real business, I think was how you worded it. 16 employees. And I, I just love that. I love the fact that, ah, here we get to do that. We get to say, you know, I got an idea. And then, like, you created your own economy. Yeah, like, that's just. That's special. That's cool.

No, it's pretty crazy. And, you know, whenever I tell the story, you know, I've always told people that I give all the glory to God because I'm not smart enough to do any of this. You know, I was an engineer, you know, all my life. Didn't know nothing about sales. Somewhat of an introvert. Didn't like talking to people and all of that. You got to kind of crawl out of your shell and do all of this. And, good Lord said that there need to be a better LED lighting company out there. And he picked, our family to run it. So.

That's sweet. I love it.

Jackson is sales manager with EmeryAllen

All right. And nice, shirt, by the way. Tom, you look good.

Yeah, thanks. I'm looking forward to getting some more next week. Ryan.

Oh, yeah, we got the swag is. The swag is en route.

It's.

It's going to be on, so.

Good deal. Good deal. Darcy didn't, disclose any swag that we were sending down, did she?

No, I. I'm. I have no idea.

Okay. Okay. I told her to keep it in highest confidence until. Until you saw that next week.

Oh, you told her?

You showed her? Darcy and I talk on a daily basis.

That, that's not. I don't know if that's part of her job description. I'm gonna have to talk.

We, we talk after hours. That's all right.

No wonder she can't keep up. She's talking to you all day. No, I'm excited. you always show up strong for our events. and, and we'll talk about that. Actually, that's one of my questions. but before we do, Jackson, do a quick intro of yourself.

I'm Jackson. I am sales manager with Emory Allen and still, you know, learning the whole lighting industry going into my third year here with Emory Allen. And you know, you talk about seeing growth. I mean, even When I started two years ago, I think it was what, 12 people in the office. So, ah, maybe even that. So even in that short time, it's been a crazy, change. you know, more customers and more light bulbs going out the door. And, have been fortunate enough to have a great, teacher of everything with Tom here. And yeah, I mean, so that's kind of the start here.

And I think one of the things that makes it the most fun for all of us are all of the challenges that we face on a day to day basis. Whether it's with a type of product or it's an installation or, you know, will this work there? Or, you know, the whole retrofit from incandescent to leds to special jobs. I've told you about our Carnegie hall thing that we did last year where we outfitted all of Carnegie hall. And you know, that was no, easy task. Jackson here had to, take care of the lighting designer. And I don't know how long that lasted. It was several months long. But, you know, it's those challenges and product development and all of that that really keeps us going. Servicing customers and servicing the customers and all that. And that's what makes it fun. That's what makes it energetic and good to get up and every day. And at the end of the day, you. You know, when you. When you go to sleep, you thank the good Lord what you. The opportunities that you had and, the people that you were able to help.

Darcy: You've been supporting us for several years now

Yeah.

All right. Darcy's on here. She said she's team song over there.

I can keep a secret. I love it. Darcy.

I thought we had loyalty, Darcy. I mean, you were supposed to show me. I m. Guess that's not one of our core values. We'll have to add it. Yeah. Well, certainly looking, forward to next week. You guys are a big part of it. And to be honest, I was doing some reflecting today, and I was like, you know what? Like, I don't know how many light bulbs Emory Allen has to sell to make this worth it, because you've been supporting us for several years now. like I said, when we started the show, I tried to rip off your name for our podcast. had to call you and tell you about that. And then we've been friends ever since. And you've always wanted to support us. You've always wanted to support the industry. And I have to think, and I have to wonder, if you didn't jump in, maybe others wouldn't have. You know what I mean? And so I really attribute a lot of our growth and a lot of success and Light It Up Expo to. To really what you've done for us, what you've done for the industry. someone. Someone's got to be the first one. You know what I mean? Like, someone has to. In order for a movement to start. Like, someone's got to start it.

Sure.

And, yeah, I feel like I'm doing that, but it's, It's. It's. I mean, we're hand in hand doing this stuff. So, where does that cut. Where does that drive come from for you to really want to get behind what we're doing over here?

I mean, the first time, after our initial phone call and the first time I watched, you know, your podcast, I sat down with, my son and my wife, who are also owners in Emory Allen, and I said, you know, I want to make stand here and I want to get behind this guy, because I think that, this is really going to take off, and we need to support Ryan Lee and laying for profits. And the biggest thing is if we didn't, somebody else would. And I want to have that opportunity. And, they saw it. They saw the, value in doing this. And, you know, I made so many great friends, through, you know, playing for Profits that illy and AOLP and all of that. And to me, that's. That's the most important thing are all the relationships and. And all that. But, you know, we really, you know, you know, love supporting you and your organization and Darcy and Jerika and all of that, and coming up with different types of swag bags every year. And, you know, it's just. It's just a lot of fun. You know, it's. It's not a job. it's just, you know, we're having fun at what we do. It's just too bad that it took so long in our life to get to that point. And I wish I could have done it 10 years earlier, but wouldn't be in the place that we are if we started 10 years earlier. So, anyway.

Yeah, I hear you. Well, it's funny you mentioned, like, it's not a job. It's kind of ironic because, you know, I preach pretty much on the daily, like, hey, replace yourself and go from operator to owner. And then I look at my own business and I'm like, how much of my business is a business versus a job? It's like, if I don't, if I decide not to show up for a month, what's going to happen? Right? And we actually have, like, pretty dang good people and systems into place where, like, I think I could do a month. I probably couldn't take a year off. so I do have a job here, but it's like, I just don't view it like that at all. I'm not like, ah, damn it. Like, I have to go to work today.

Sure.

Like, what we do is just so awesome. So I'm glad we. Glad we share the same perspective. I, I think it's funny to reflect when you were talking about when we first started talking, and you're talking to your son and your wife, and it's like, I think we should do this. But I remember, I think it was your son, asking, because, again, I was new to podcasting, and he's like, how much do you charge per impression? And, like, remember there was some, like, technical questions. I'm like, dude, I don't even know how to tell how many listeners I have. It might be like, 5. Are you sure you want to do this? because there is. There is some data out there that, like, the big, big podcast, like, if you're going to be an advertiser, it's thousand dollars per impression or whatever it is, you know, but we didn't do that at all. We were just like, I don't know. What do you think? Yeah, I'll try this. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. So, I knew we'd be, good partners because we make decisions the same way. You try it and see if it works, and if not, you stop doing it.

You know, no red tape involved. It's just, do it till it, you know, it feels good. And, you know, that's great.

Light It Up Expo has 40 or 41 vendors coming this year

Well, I remember the first event I ever did was. It was called Lighting Mastermind. It was here in Park City, Utah, and it was only for members. I was like, hey, we got to do a members event because we were meeting on Zoom and we were getting pretty good traction, but people wanted to meet in person. And I, I had called a few, like, vendors that I knew. you guys got behind it, you sponsored it, and there was a couple others. But then, even then, you're like, hey, do you need any more? And he started calling people that I didn't know, you know, and I knew maybe who they were, but I didn't have relationships with them. And literally, you got so much stuff donated for that thing, that our members were like, they were complaining, like, stuff cost, me 150 to ship this swag home. And, you know, like. And it's kind of funny because even then I think we had, you know, five or six or maybe seven or something like that vendors. now we've got. I mean, we got. I think we have 40 or 41 vendors coming to Light It Up Expo.

Is it that many now?

Yeah, it's crazy. So, just really cool to see. And at the beginning of the show, I was talking about how if you just keep showing up consistently, you build up goodwill. And I think that's what we've done. We. We've built up goodwill in the industry, and we're able to cash in on that and say, invite people, hey, do you want to be part of this Expo? And they're like, oh, of course. You know, it's. It's not even a. It's not even a question, why would we not want to? And I, And I hope people will. Will infuse that into their business. Just keep putting value out there, value out there. So that when you do ask someone like, hey, would you want to work with us? Would you want to. Maybe it's a home builder, a pool builder, a landscape architect, whatever it is, an interior designer. If you keep adding value to them and helping them build their business. When, when you do have that, ask they're gonna be like, of course. What, what can we do? Let us know how we can help. And it's, it's not a sell. It's just a, it's a relationship.

Right.

Jackson: We're at 246 outdoor lighting attendees according to last I checked

What's the, what's the final number of attendees or where are you at now?

We're at like, we're so we're, we figured out at first, at first I was like, you know what? We're gonna get 200. And then we passed that and so we rearranged the room and figured some things out. So now then it was 250. And so I think we're at 246 is the last I checked.

So that's great.

Yeah.

And you know, I think what's important about that number, and you know, I guess I don't care if that number is 150 or 200 or 250, but it's all people that are dedicated to this industry. You don't have people that are, you know, just cutting grass or, you know, you, you've got people that, you know, this is their interest, this is how they're growing their existing business or their, the next step to building their business is right here. So you've got good qualified attendees that are coming. And you know, that's, that's great.

Yeah, I mean, that's, that's honestly why we put it together was because up until now there wasn't a place to go and nerd out on all things outdoor lighting. There just really wasn't. I mean, you know, there's, like you said, there's landscaping shows and there's places you can go where you, you can meet with vendors, but then that's kind of where it ends. You know, there's, there's not much training, there's not much networking. It's, it's kind of like a side, a side hustle, like, oh, yeah. Lighting. And it's like, no, no, like there's plenty of opportunity for someone to start, and really build a multi million dollar outdoor lighting business, with any one of the three, honestly, landscape lighting, holiday lighting, or permanent lighting. But I think where people are getting traction is combining at least two, if not all three of them.

Sure, sure. No, you're absolutely right. we attend quite a few shows. It seems like this year one of our biggest years. in six months we're going to be in six different shows. We've been invited to, Lead Education in New York City. Huge, event for the LED industry. we're Going out to HD Expo, which is in Las Vegas. That is for the interiors, market as well. But you know, just kind of funny, funny story, you know, last month we were at AOLP and we had, you know, how we travel with our big crate and we have all this stuff that we throw on it and all the swag and our little house goes in it and the whole nine yard. Well, Jax and I had packed up our last one at AOLP and. And, we're out Carlsbad, and covered it up. Guy came, picked it up and whatnot. And we put, we put air tags in all of our stuff that travels just so we can track what, you know, where stuff is and all that. So big clue for everybody who sends stuff across the country of any value. Buy some air tags and put it in. So we're tracking the stuff all the way to Carlsbad. It's in California. Okay, we're there. we know where it's at. Unwrap everything. The, show's over with Jackson. I tear everything down, put everything back. Guy comes to pick it up. And so we're tracking it, coming back, and we see that it's in Hanahan, South Carolina. Well, we see that it's in Texas, and then we see that it's in Hanahan, South Carolina, which is right down the road for us, like 20 minutes or something like that. The next time we look, it's in Frankfurt, Germany.

What.

Wait a minute. What are you doing in Frankfurt, Germany? I mean, this is the same crate that we've got to take and repack and get it ready for your event in Florida. So, so we call up the place that's taking care of all the shipping, and we say, hey, you know, where's our crate and all that supposed to be delivered and all that? He says, yeah, we can't find it right now. Let me give you a hint. let me give you a hint. We have air tags in this thing and it says that it's in Frankfurt, Germany. And dead silence on the phone. You know, it's just like, okay, let's get back to you. So probably later on that day or the next day, the lady in charge of the whole transportation says, yeah, unfortunately, I got put on a, plane with somebody else's product, and it's in Frankfurt, Germany right now.

Surprise.

you know, long story short, we got it redirected, went to Amsterdam. It must have been having a heck of a good time. Frankfurt, Germany. Amsterdam. Now it's come. Now it's back In Atlanta.

And, it got drunk in Germany, did all the drugs, sex and drugs in Amsterdam, and it's time to come back.

I have no idea what's going to be in this crate.

Emory Allen's shipment from Germany and Amsterdam has been held by customs

Here's another thing about Emory Allen is we do not travel light when we go to these shows. So this crate was, you know, it was a heavy.

How much did that cost? Probably 12 to 1500 pounds. That they're air freighting over there. They're air freighting back on their nickel. And then now they asked for a bill of lading because it's got to clear customs back in the United States.

I was gonna say. Ah, yeah. Doesn't that require like a passport or something to get to.

If you know anything about the tariffs and the customs and all this crap that's going on right now, we've got a bill of lading that we came up with about 23, $24,000 worth of stuff that's inside this crate.

You better be careful. We don't know who watches the number one lighting podcast in the world right now.

They're in South Carolina. So, we, we have no idea. We could have just a banner and all of our catalogs and a few bulbs.

You still don't have it?

Well, it's got a clear customs, and it's been sitting in customs for two days and haven't gotten out yet. who knows what they put in it in Germany and Amsterdam. but now it's supposed to go from Atlanta whenever it gets clear, clear directly to, Orlando. So we're hoping that it shows up this week, Monday, Tuesday, next week. But we're driving down, we have an extra banner that we're going to put up in this 10 foot by 20 foot booth that we rented. And, you know, we're gonna have a bunch of light bulbs over there, you know, so.

Oh, my goodness.

That's.

I mean, that's been like. So it's been gone for.

Was that.

That was almost a month ago.

Yeah, yeah, it's been, it's been pretty nuts. So fortunately, I have a big car and we can load it up with a bunch of stuff, but there's some pretty important things in there. that, we need the booth.

Yeah. Because I, I want to see if there's any special surprises from Germany or Amsterdam.

We'll do a case opening on what, Wednesday morning, something like that.

So, you know, if there's a lesson learned from anybody who's doing shipping of products and all of that, put air tags in. Because the, Logistics company clearly doesn't have a clue where your stuff is at, so.

Man. So what's. What does that mean? Like, are you, are you. You're not guaranteed at this point. They're not telling you anything. It's like, yeah, we'll, we'll have customs take a look at it when they can.

It's at U.S. customs, in, in their custody and it's, it's completely up to them. And we've had product held by customs for, weeks, going through some red tape and all of that.

So you think they'd step up and like, say, listen, this wasn't even supposed to be sent, you know, go to bat for you.

Yeah, I think you need to, If Darcy's still watching, I think you

need to warn her that the stuff

that you're surprised is not a part of that shipment.

Yeah. So all the stuff that we had for Darcy and for you and you know, Light It Up Expo, we obviously didn't ship to aolp. We still have it here and is shipping and is leaving tomorrow morning for, for Orlando. So Darcy's gonna have her stuff. We're just not going to.

We don't know if we're gonna have. Yeah, 20. 20 foot booth, one of the biggest ones there. And then it'll just be a ten foot banner.

Yeah. But, you know, what are you gonna do? You can't get upset about it or anything like that. You know, you make do with what you got and, everything will turn out just fine.

Well, praying for that for sure, because we do appreciate your support and the last thing we want is you to have a bunch of stress and headache right up until it.

Emory Allen's Instagram account recently had 2.5 million views

So, I want to talk about what's new with Emory Allen. I saw this video the other day on Instagram and it was, I think the show. I meant to write it, write it down, but it was like, Will it light? I think was the name. Will it Lamp? I was like. It was hundreds of thousands or millions of views. I couldn't remember.

0.5 million views. It was their largest. It was their largest Instagram, for them since they started this whole thing. So there's this, What does Darcy say? Team Tom Cousin. I love it.

I think I might lose Darcy at the show. I think you guys are. This is. How. Is this how it happens all of a sudden? She's working for you in March.

So, anyway, you know, people have to realize that landscape lighting is just a portion of our overall business. A. Ah, much larger part of that has to do with different types of light bulbs, interior, exterior, OEMs, and all of that. So, I could go down the whole social media thing that you were talking about, because, you know, my son's all over that like, like, like crazy. And all we spend on social, media every month, and the return is just unbelievable. But anyway, he, he. It's either him or his wife saw this couple, and they're from someplace in Vermont and that they started this podcast thing about Will It Lamp. And they go around to thrift stores and all of that, antique stores, and buying these, all these components and building different types of lighting products, whether it's a chandelier or table lamp or whatever. So, Matt contacted them late last year or something like that. We put together a deal, where we sent them out, a ton of different light bulbs. And they're all really unusual light bulbs and do unusual things. Stem to warm, special porcelain paint, all of that. And, you know, didn't hear anything. And then all of a sudden we see this, this video on their, their podcast show of what's It Lamp? And these people look like they're really getting excited a lot more than we are about our light bulbs, from these little C6 bulb to the tall T10. And, you know, they've made some, some, some crazy things with it. But yeah, 2.5 million views. and I'll have to tell you, once that hit Instagram, our Instagram went absolutely nuts with all the people following us and, and all of that. So it's, it's kind of like, addictive when you, you hit the right, you know, group of people over here and they have a strong following. And, you know, now all of their following is watching you and all of that. And I can probably say that sales picked up a little bit, you know, during that month as well, so who knows?

No, it was cool. It was cool to see because I don't, I don't even think I saw it on your channel. I think I was just scrolling and I saw this Will It Lamp. And they were, I mean, they were just raving, oh, my gosh, we love these Emory Allen lamps and look how cool this one is. And, and I watched that, like, little episode of them picking out something at the thrift store. And, and they do a great job. They, they really do. And, And I'm already following you, but I could see why people would want to follow you after be like, oh, man, like, am I missing something? Like, should I be using these at my house? You know, so very, very well done.

A lot of people look at landscape lighting like it's too small

Congrats on that. I do think it's important that people know that you don't just do landscape lighting. I think it's awesome that you do, because I think a lot of people, when I meet a lot of outsider, I go to all these different industry events, and I think a lot of people look at landscape lighting like, oh, yeah, it's too small and just not a lot of opportunity there. And in a lot of cases, they're right. There's just a lot of struggling people here. But they're my people. I identify with these guys. I care for them so much. So I love it when people are willing to serve this smaller audience. That might not be the right financial move. You could go sell into this other industry or do this other market. But, I guess the point I'm making is thank you for serving the landscape lighting industry. But I also think it's important, like, if someone were to want to, like, do other types of lighting, like, you could go re lamp someone's entire house with Emory Allen lamps.

You know, I feel like for the landscape guys, you're starting to hear a lot more of them. Like, you know, and you see it on the Facebook pages, and you see it at some of the classes where they're looking from the inside out and seeing what the view is, and then they're starting to, you know, take pictures and they're wanting the. The Kelvin temperatures to match or, you know, when you're taking those photos. So I feel like even the landscape lighting contractors are, you know, getting to that interior side a little bit now, too.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, even at a minimum, they should be re lamping the front door, the front porch, the sconces around the garage, like all those which you guys have all the 120 volt stuff. And then I just started thinking, well, everybody in the north, if you're in a market that gets cold and snowy and you're like, crap, no one wants any work, how do I generate money? Why not just go replace light bulbs in people's houses for a few months? I mean, such a huge opportunity there.

Yeah, no, it's huge. And, you know, I. I highly recommend, you know, people to jump on our Instagram page. and it's not stuff that we have just created about us, but it's. It's our product that has made it to our customers or the consumers. And all of the photos and beautiful pictures of landscape or interiors or restaurants or things like that inside of casinos and ballparks. It's, you know, our stuff really is all over the place. And it's a great opportunity when somebody is putting in landscape lighting, like you mentioned, to go on and change out, you know, different things throughout somebody's house as well.

Heard it, Heard it quite a few times, especially recently with people seeing that there's that, you know, extra step where they look inside from working outside. They see all the different mismatched Kelvin temperatures or stuff like that. You know, it's like let it all flow and let it all, you know, be something that people are happy to see from the inside and out.

Yeah. You know, because you go to, you know, you go to a big box store and buy light bulbs, let's say, for your house. And they're calling colors, all different types of things. Cool white, warm white, cold white, you, know, sunlight. It's absolutely crazy. And it's just like I look at the box, I. And I want to know what the color temperature is. And I'm sitting there for about 10 minutes looking, and I can't find it. It's like, what the hell is this? So it's like, they need to. Need to get off of that. That bandwagon, call it what it is as far as color temperature. So at least you can match something in your house that, you know, you're changing a bulb or changing a bunch of bulbs so they look all the same. But now it's. It's a real mess and quite an opportunity there as well.

That's it. If people don't. If people are listening to this and they're in a northern market where it gets cold, and they're like, I don't know what to do. This is it. Like, this is such an easy thing to do. And you could say, well, people wouldn't pay for that. Well, yeah, they would, because you're going to show them what's possible. And even I'm thinking of my house now. Like, I need to put in an order because I have mismatched stuff in my own house. And I also, I. So I just installed this dimmer my. In my kid's bathroom. Like, Millie wanted it really bright so she could do makeup and all that stuff. Right. Well, these things in the morning, it's like, I don't know how bright it is, but it's way too bright. So I put this dimmer in, and then I found out these demo bowl bulbs are not dimmable the way they're supposed to be. Like, yes, they do dim, but it's like flashes on and then goes down and then he's like, you know, strobing or whatever. So buy those bulbs, Ryan, not Emory Allen. Like, that's what I'm saying. I'm asking, I'm asking for forgiveness here. I don't know where. I mean, probably Amazon. Probably before I knew you.

Yeah, okay, good.

Yeah, it was definitely.

Good catch.

Definitely before I knew you. Because my, my, was it my. It was my freezer bulb that went out a few years ago. I, I got that from you. And that thing's, that thing's perfect.

That's a great temperature in your freezer right there, you know, so never gets hot.

The thermal management is not needed on that one.

Not at all. Not at all.

What trends are you guys seeing in the outdoor lighting space

So what, what's going on at Emoryon? What, what trends are you guys seeing in the outdoor lighting space? Is there any new technology? Is there any new trends, that you think are, are coming up on the horizon? Is AI changing anything? Like, what does that look like in the light bulb space?

There's a lot going on right now. but what is all going to shake out at the end of this? I'm not really sure. there's a couple of new technologies that I alluded to, at AOLP. One of it has to do with, LEDs, the actual LED chips, and how that technology is changing a little bit. and you know, we introduced earlier this year our 8 watt, Mr. 16 that produces 850 lumens. That wasn't possible just two years ago because of, you know, the advancements in the chip technology and all of that. You know, we're able to, to get there. We're well over 100 lumens per watt. the thermals are, are working, you know, in our favor. I don't see it being too much longer where, where we'll be able to get, you know, a thousand lumens out of a, out of an Mr. 16. we've actually done some things that I think we're up around 11, 1200 lumens. but, you know, that's all, you know, still. So, you know, the LED chip technology is changing, pretty dramatically over the last year or so. and now through testing, like the 8 watt bulb that, you know, I showed you here, we tested this for well over a year in a very tight, confined, thick walled, solid brass, fixture in a heat chamber turned up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, and it went all the way through the, through the year without any problem. At all.

so you had that, you had that going like 247 for a year.

247 for a year, that's right. And I have, ah, I always wondered

that because like in the past it would be like, oh, this LED is rated for whatever. And it was based on like an assumption because like, hey, we ran it for this and then if you times it by this many hours, it should last this long. But I mean, I don't know of many people that are actually putting something to the test for that long. Usually it's like I'll put it to the test for a few weeks and then times it by 20 or whatever, you know.

so little, little trick or whatever testimonial about that whole thing with led. A lot of people go out there and they'll say, yep, our chips are guaranteed for 50,000 hours or our fixtures or bulbs or whatever. Well, what type of tests really are behind that? I know that for us to meet California's regulation that our bulbs have to go through a certain type of test for a certain period of time and in order to meet L70 regulations. And I don't want to get into all of that, it's 36,000 hours. I mean our bulb has gone through that type of time and temperature and all of that in order to meet that requirement. The 50,000 hour thing is based on a lot of chips. And what the chip manufacturers will do is they'll put chips all up, on a board and they will test their chips and their chips will meet that 50,000 hour window, but no telling what its performance is like going to be inside of a product. And that's what it really boils down to is how are the thermals of the product working? And you know, is it going to last in that type of environment? What's going to happen and all of that. So unless somebody's going to show you, you know, that type of a test, report that their product has gone through it, I'd be a little bit suspect.

Yeah. And let me just clarify for those listening in, like what Tom's talking about is that there's the LED chip, but then he's talking with the product as like Emory Allen manufacturing, making that Mr. 16 bulb, the housing, all the engineering, all the thermal management behind it, because it's not a lie that that that diode is tested and rated for 50, 000 hours, but that's just a diode on its own. You put it in inside of a housing, that changes everything. And that's where like heat will end up killing a lot of these LEDs. And you could say 50, 000 hours. But that's why you, if you go buy a cheap Mr. And it goes out in six months, don't be surprised because it's still going to last 50,000 hours until you put in that housing.

That's right. so there's a lot of things that, you know, goes on, but what we try to do is we like to test all of our products, you know, in use and all of that so that we can give actual and factual test results, test information for people.

Yeah, I got a question is it's on binning. So I remember doing this my test myself. I went and bought like a bunch of cheap Mr. 16s. This had to been like 10 years ago. Went and got them online because people were like, yeah, well we bought these online and like, what's the difference? And I turned, I got like 20 in the same box and they all had a slightly different color temperature, but they were all 3k. You know what I mean? Is it true or did I make this up in my mind? That binning, that if you want that tight bin, it costs you more to buy that as opposed to just buying like the random like peripheral ones where they're not as consistent in terms of that, that color temperature.

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, just think of it, in terms of anybody's familiar with manufacturing or whatever, your price is based on your yield, the, the amount of products that you can get that are good for what you have spent, for all the raw materials and all of that. So you start off with a, let's just say a silicon disc that's about this big, that gets cut up and whatever. And within that disc you have different bins of LEDs. So if you want things that are much tighter in a binning, you might have of that big chip, you might have 15% that has a binning of, let's say, a three step binning or less, which is, which is pretty, which is a very good standard for our type of product. then you get to the five step or seven step and there's many more in that silicone disc. And then, then you'll have a nine step or whatever. Well, they don't throw away all of those other chips. Where do they go in? They go in all this cheap stuff. They go in flashlights, they go in things that the color temperature doesn't matter. What matters for us is that standard deviation of less than three or your binning of three. so that your color consistency is something that the human eye cannot detect.

And that's huge. I'm glad that I'm. I just realized maybe I was teaching people wrong for the last six years, but I feel like this is good news. it's huge because, like, where this can matter to the designer, to the contractor is you can go put in a light bulb, a lamp, a fixture today, and then let's say it goes out five years later and you go back to replace it from the same manufacturer and you think it's going to look the same and you go, why does that look a little bit different? Right? And it looks different because it came from a different bin. It came from. And then that. Usually because someone's trying to cut a corner, trying to save money, whatever. And so I've. At least that's in my experience. I've seen that. I mean, I've seen that and I've, like I said, I've even done the small test. You can go buy a bunch of the same product, even on Amazon, in the same box, and they'll look different. And that's wild in and of itself, but you'll see where, especially over time, certain manufacturers, it'll look, It'll look different. And it's. I don't know if that's the only reason, but I know that's one reason why it could look different is because the binning. And you can buy those, those peripheral ones, like you said, if you're willing to go out five, seven, nine standard deviations, you could buy those for pennies on the dollar, comparatively. And so it makes sense. And that's why, like, if someone buys a flashlight and it's a little bit different color temperature than the next flashlight, no one, someone actually getting there.

Compare.

It doesn't matter, right?

No, it doesn't. But when color matters with LEDs, then, you know, that's all that matters, is keeping that binning as close to that as possible.

With LEDs, they start to degrade the moment you turn them on

So the other point that. Let me just bring up real quick, I know we're running a little on time here, but, people have to understand with LEDs in general, the moment you turn them on, they start to degrade the. Based on the quality of your led, you don't want them to degrade more than 15%. till you get to that L70 or it's 70% lumen depreciation. You, you don't want them to degrade more than like 15%. If they do it's a cheaper type of product and all that. So the, you know, you'll have lumen depreciation certainly, but then your colors will kind of be, fading away a little bit. So let's say you had a three light bath light in your house and, and one bulb went out after four years and you went to replace it, you're replacing it maybe with the same quality, but those other two lights have depreciated as well. So sometimes, whether it's in landscape lighting, whether it's in your bathroom or whatever, when you replace, you know, one light, you should replace all of them. And I even know for our, ourselves, one of our practices with our warranty, if a customer calls and say, hey, one of my lights went out on my bath light and, it's a three light bath light, we will replace all three lights.

Wow.

Because we want, we don't want the customer to experience what's going to happen when you have three lights that went on at different times. So we'll replace all three of them, so that they have, you know, a good lighting experience.

Oh, that's good stuff. And forward thinking. Because honestly, if, if you're not educating the client at least to say, like, hey, here's what can happen, you, you already know, you're preventing that phone call from happening to say, hey, thanks for sending this, but it's a lot brighter than the other two. Did you send me the right one?

Yeah. And you know, you know, other companies could sit back and say, you know, you know, that's what happens when you buy an old. To put an old and a new you, you buy. We warranty that one. You know, buy two more and they all look the same. You know, you had one that went out on us, it's on us. Here's three new ones to start fresh.

That's, that's pretty rare. I mean, that's very rare.

It's the Emory Allen difference. You know, that's what we've talked about in the past. But, you know, it's all about customer service. You know, we want to take care of people best way we possibly can.

That's huge. I know. in the, in the, in the outdoor lighting world historically, you'll see this on the Facebook groups where people say, you know, hey, they start using someone and then all of a sudden later on it's like, oh, yeah, it must have been installed wrong. Or it goes from like, hey, we got your back to you know what, maybe we don't have your back as much so it's refreshing to hear that. And I'm sure that's one of the reasons why you guys are getting such traction in this industry is not just the quality product, and education and showing up at the events and doing all this stuff, but building those relationships, but standing behind it, I mean, that's huge because it's one thing for, you know, if someone had to buy a new Mr. 16 or whatever, it's not going to put them. Put them back. But they do have to go back and they. They do have to spend their time, which is worth more than the, materials in a lot of cases to go do that. So that's cool.

Sure.

Emory Allen hopes and pray that his crate gets to Orlando this week

Well, as we wrap up, is there anything that we. That you guys wanted to talk about that I. That we didn't get to.

No, I. I don't think so. we just hope and pray that our crate gets to Orlando, this week, huh? And breakfast sausage. And, Yeah, we're just, you know, we're looking forward to that and we'll make do with whatever comes our way, so.

That's awesome. Well, it's gonna be.

Bags will be there.

Yeah. It'll be a surprise either way because we're either going to not have a very cool Emory Allen booth, or it might be the coolest one ever because it went to Germany and Amsterdam. So we'll see what happens.

That's right.

Love it. Well, thanks so much, guys. Appreciate your time today.

Emory Allen: Thank you so much for your support and encouragement

Jumping on here. as always, thank you so much to, you know, Emory Allen, the whole team, the family, the, like, the whole crew. we appreciate it so much. It's. It's honestly allowed us to do so much, so far in the lighting industry. And to be honest, I feel like we're just getting started. A lot of people are like, oh, my gosh, this is so awesome. You got, you know, 40 vendors and 250 attendees. But I'm like, no, no, guys, we got. This is just the start. So, the. The vision is way bigger than where we're at, and I just know that, I. Like I said, I don't think we'd be here if we didn't have your support. So it really means a lot. I really appreciate it so much.

Absolutely. And thank you for everything that you've done for us. So, you know, if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't be here. A great time. You got a great team. Like I said, you know, you. Your family, you know, Darcy, Jerrica, it's, always look forward to getting together with your whole crew.

It's gonna be a great week. Next week, guys, if you're, if you're. If you're on the fence, there's literally, I think, four tickets left. and if you already are coming, I mean, the best advice I can tell you is go all in. Don't make excuses. Don't go hide in your room. Come out, introduce yourself. there's so much value waiting, for you there. Make sure you're introducing yourself to new people every single day. No fake phone calls. like, just be there, be present. Turn off your phone. Your family's gonna be okay. They'll still be there when you get back. go all in and be present in the. In the moment. So we'll see everyone next week in Orlando. Thanks, guys.

All right. Thank you. See y' all later.

Okay, See ya.