Lighting for Profits - Episode 233

Step into the highlights of the Light It Up Expo! from inspiring talks to unforgettable experiences, we break down the moments that left everyone energized and ready to level up. Don’t miss the recap that captures the excitement and the impact of the event.

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Episode Transcript

Welcome to Lighting for Profits powered by EmeryAllen

Welcome to Lighting for Profits.

All Light, All Light, All Light powered by EmeryAllen

Here is your host, Ryan Lee.

Oh, light. All light, all light. We got an awesome show lined up. I'm Ryan Lee, your host of Lighting for Profits powered by Emery Allen. Today we're doing an awesome recap. We're doing a recap of Light It Up Expo which just happened, just finished up this last week in Orlando, Florida. So I guess that makes us the number one landscape lighting show in Orlando. I think it does. So by the way, just want to do a quick shout out to you. Thank you guys so much for stepping up. I've been begging for reviews for a long ass time now and we were at like 90 something a week or two ago and we, we passed 100, we got to 102. So that's pretty cool. I just want to celebrate. Pause for a second and thank you guys for for the reviews. It it's a, it's a milestone I've been wanting to get to for a while. I don't know that it changes anything, but it feels cool. So thank you. we're up to 102 and doesn't mean that if you haven't left one, I'm still not gonna ask one. So let's get to 110, let's get to 150, let's, let's keep moving. So, but seriously, thank you guys so much for your support. finished with Light It Up Expo and I've got a panel of people that are going to join me today to kind of recap the good, the bad, the ugly, the late nights, the early mornings, whatever it was. And we're going to talk about their favorite parts of Light It Up Expo. So if you missed out, this is a good episode for you and if you were a part of it, it's still going to be an awesome episode for you because you might be reminded of some things that happened or maybe that you didn't know happened, late at night maybe. So we'll be introducing our guests here shortly. but before I have them on, just I want to take just a couple minutes.

The theme of Light It Up Expo this year was whatever it takes

I'm not going to do my, my normal monologue but the theme of Light It Up Expo this year was whatever it takes. And it was a theme because a lot of people are held back by their existing circumstance. And really one thing that I really wanted everyone in attendance to realize that whatever got you here, the thought Processes the decisions, like, all those things, the way you hire, the way you speak, the way you think, the way you take action, what got you here will not usually get you there, meaning where you want to go. And so there was a quote shared by Brandon Vaughn, and I think the quote, I'm not sure exactly who it was from, but I think it was from Thomas Jefferson, that said, if you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done. Right? And that was a really profound quote because it's just true, right? And so in, in life, one of the things that you need to do is recognize that you have patterns. And your patterns are, have existed for a long, long time. but identifying that pattern in your life, that is, you know, it's good, like, be grateful for it. But it's only gotten you here. And if you're wondering, like, why can't I get to the next step? What's wrong with me? It's just because you haven't identified your pattern. And once you identify a pattern, you can break it. And when you break your existing pattern, you can create a new one. So, this means, like, thinking differently. It means speaking differently, making decisions differently, and finally acting differently. And so, honestly, like, most people don't get what they want in life, mainly because they just stay the same person that they are today. And so in order to become that person that you really want to be, then you need to start acting differently. You need to start making decisions differently. And it, can be, it can be challenging at first. one thing I wish someone would have told me years ago is price, like, who you want to be. Okay? And I feel like a lot of people, a lot of the speakers at Expo hit on different elements of this, but I always wondered, like, how can I, like, how can I grow into this company? Like, how do these bigger companies do it? They have salespeople and they have a maintenance truck, and they have all these different things. And it was like, well, duh, like they were acting differently. And so I started to price, like, who I wanted to be. I charged extra money, and suddenly I had an extra 50, 60, 100k in my bank account. And now I could afford to hire and build, build a team, right? And so, again, it's challenging because at first it feels like imposter syndrome. You're acting like someone that you're not today, like, who you want to be. But honestly, you have to do this. You have to rewire your belief system. And, you need to Reinvent yourself. You need to build this new identity and make decisions from the place of your future self. Right? So again, kind of like my pricing example. Like, if you price, like who you want to be, then suddenly you can afford to build the team that you know you should be. Right? And so you got to start making decisions differently. Differently and realize that whatever got you here will not get you there, meaning where you want to go. So, and then the last piece is really just like, whatever it takes. Like, you're going to have to do something different. And don't give yourself a backup plan. Like there is no plan B because you're going to make plan A work. Cut off all existing options, burn the boats. you know, I just see in so many people's lives and in their businesses that comfort, comfort is secretly killing their business and their dreams. And so I want to encourage all of you guys to get uncomfortable. Like, do the hard thing. And if it feels, unnatural, like that's your indicator. If it feels uncomfortable, if you have fear, like you know you're doing something right because you're moving into this new identity, instead of letting fear hold you back, use it as an indicator to know you're on the right track. So that's really all I wanted to share with you real quick because we got an awesome show lined up. We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Is it five? Yeah, five amazing guests going to join me today. So, before we have them on, where's my, Oh, there it is. Here we go. If you like callbacks, angry clients, and project do overs, then, hey, by all means skip Emory Allen. But if you want your installs to look like a million bucks so that you can make a million bucks, well, then you know what to do. 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. All you need to do is reach out to jackson l@emeralen. com to learn more and take advantage of their contractor pricing. And that's a new email. Tom Garber is, retired. He's probably on a boat somewhere. Don't email Tom. Email Jackson L. com and, don't forget to mention that you heard about him here on Lighting for Profits. And get that discounted contractor pricing a new email. Don't forget Jackson lry Allen dot com. Thank you, Emory Allen.

Light It Up Expo was awesome last week. The vendors were top notch

Okay, guys, like I said, today we're going to talk all things Light It Up Expo. And, and, it was just such an awesome awesome experience last week. The attendees that showed up, they were vulnerable. They were ready to learn. The vendors. The vendors were top notch. I mean, I had attendees walking up to me like, man, these vendors are amazing. Like, this is everyone I need to help me grow my business. And I was like, yeah, duh. But they were awesome. Awesome. the educators, the trainers, the people who taught our pre, show classes, the speakers, we had a panel, an expert panel. We had our expert roundtables all around. Just such a good experience.

Let's get our intro music on here and welcome our guests

So, let's get our, intro music on here and, welcome our guests. What do you guys think? Should we do it? Even if you don't think we should, we're going to, because that's the show. Let's get them in the show here. Where are they at? Here we go. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Who do we have here? Let me see. I gotta change my screen. We're gonna do stuff, do some things. Hold on one second. All right, guys, welcome. Kenny Kaufman. Joel Mitchell. Kathleen Scheidel. I don't know how to say your last name. Kathleen. Was that close?

Chitel. Close enough.

Chaitel. Just like I was saying, Tom. Garber Jackson.

I'm, not retired.

And, Jimmy Tompkins. What's up, guys?

What's up, Brian?

What's up?

Emery Allen and Omni stepping up as platinum sponsors of Light it Up Expo

All right.

Really excited to have you guys on M. The reason I. I selected you guys was because you guys are the platinum sponsors and the gold sponsors of Light it Up Expo. So first I got to give some love to Tom, Garber, to Emory Allen. They've basically sponsored everything since I was born. so thank you guys for stepping up and, being a platinum sponsor. Thank you, Emery Allen. Appreciate you guys.

Yeah.

But thank you. Appreciate you and your whole team. And it was a great event last week.

Awesome. And, also Jimmy, thank you so much. Lights for decorators. Omni stepping up as a platinum sponsor as well. Really appreciate you.

Absolutely. It was, ah, it surpassed, I think, everybody's expectations. I know everybody here has that, ah, we all have high expectations of you, Ryan. We have very high expectations. Very high, delivered.

So that's good.

Absolutely.

Pretty impressive. I don't know if Kenny is going to be happy or not, but, you know, it is Kenny, so he's hard to please.

Yeah. Hey, someone. Someone's got someone in their background speaking. I don't know who it is.

Yeah, it's Kathleen.

That's me.

Sorry.

You're in New York. Tell them to shut up. I'm always.

I'm always in trouble. It was always quiet. There was no one up here. It was quiet. I thought everybody left and I don't know where they came from. They're all coming out of the woodwork.

Tell him to leave. You're in New York. You can be. You could tell them things like this.

You gotta get out. He's on the phone. I don't know what he's talking about. I have to relocate. I'll mute myself.

And then we've got Redwoods, Landscape lighting. We got Lighting boss, and we got Thunder Lighting. Stepping up as gold sponsors. So listen, I really appreciate all of you guys.

Thank you.

Yeah, man, appreciate you.

Honestly, I don't. I don't know from a, like, from an attendee standpoint, like, I was busy working a lot of stuff behind the scenes, so I didn't get to enjoy it. Like, I would have wanted to, let's say that. But I will say this. Like, I don't think attendees realize, like, how much impact every single one of you that's. That's on this right now had on this experience. Because these shows cost a lot of money. And, like, there's just no way we could have pulled off, what we did if we didn't have your support. So honestly, like, from the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate you guys stepping up. it just made the. The experience so much easier for us to. To over deliver and honestly kept the prices down for attendees because we would have had to charge a lot of money per person if you guys didn't step up. So. Thank you guys so much.

Yeah, man, you're welcome. We support it.

I love it. It's so cool. you know, basically I had this idea years ago because I saw, wow, the landscape lighting industry is cool. It's my favorite one. Sorry, Jimmy. Sorry, Kathleen. sorry, everybody else who you're coming around.

It's okay. We forgive you.

Doesn't know the true light of landscape lighting, you know, but I saw this opportunity because a lot of people were coming from holiday lighting, and then permanent lighting's blown up, and it's like, wait, why wouldn't you just have a business that does all three? Right, right. And so it was really hard. If you just. If you wanted training, like, you could go to a specific manufacturer, you could go to a distributor, whatever it was, but it just wasn't the same because you just got the one thing. So it was really cool to see, all three of these industries really collide and see how people responded. See how, again, like, the manufacturers, the distributors how you guys are stepping up so all around. Really, really cool.

Light It Up in Jackson had more attendees than originally planned

I guess we'll start with, I don't have an order here. Tom. Tom Garber, we'll start with you, in Jackson. What, what was your experience like at Light It Up? What were some of your. What's. What were some of your highlights?

You know, we've been to, an awful lot of events over the years, but I gotta say that this was probably one of the strongest events that were put on just from, not only all of the vendors that were there, quality vendors, but, of the attendees as well. great group of attendees. it wasn't, you know, there was a lot of fresh new people, there, I think. Ryan, you said that one of the intro to landscape lighting, there was like over 100 people in the classroom. So, so great qualified people. lots to learn, lots to take in, you know, all the new technology and there is, you know, and all of the attendees were there just trying to soak up as much information as possible.

Yeah, very cool. Yeah, I was starting to get worried because, well, a few months ago I was like, well, I don't even know if we're going to like, sell this thing out, you know, like, what if we don't? Can you imagine, like, setting up the, the vendor booth space, but then only half the vendors show up? Like, I didn't really have a, a backup plan, you know, and so, I was like, all right, better. Better make some more phone calls. Right? but then all of a sudden, like, it started to catch fire and like, people, you know, people like to procrastinate and get their tickets at the end. So, like, those show, the, the pre show classes filled up. Jimmy, you were doing the permanent one, that one, you know, I think you told me originally, like, let's keep it around 25. And then I was like, can we do 30? Can we do 35? Can we do 40?

And the air conditioner didn't work today. It got hot in there. Literally, it was hot.

Yeah, we packed, we packed it in though.

it worked. It worked.

So that that got pulled the wires

before you got in there.

Yeah, there was definitely some sabotage going on. Yeah, because that's weird. The landscape lighting class was just cool as ever, you know, just breezy. 66 degrees in there. I started telling people, they're like, well, you think I can squeeze in? Because we were going to stop that one at 50. And then we went to 60 and then to 70. And I was like, I don't I don't know guys. I don't know how many we. I don't know if this is going to work. I said show up and if we'll get you in. And I think people actually showed up that didn't talk. They were just like, I heard it sold out so I'm just going to show up. And there was literally standing room only and then there's people sitting on the floor. So you got more chairs. And there was yeah, literally over 100 people in that landscape lighting one and then in the the advanced holiday lighting one, Luke Jensen, JC Chinowski were leading that off. It's just so cool. Like every class had more people in it than, than we originally even planned for. So that was cool to see everyone's desire to to level up, get there a day early, not make excuses of like, well, if I go to that I can't do this job or whatever. Like most people stayed all four days, which was pretty impressive. How about you, Jimmy? What what was, what was maybe something that was surprised you or big takeaway for you?

my big takeaway. Well, not so much to take away was just a reminder of how awesome our industry is and the people. you know, we're vendors, we're competitors, right. We hate each other's guts is what's painted on the outside. but it's, it's, it's cool. You get the right people with the right passion that share the same inspiration of why we do what we get to do and why we get paid to light stuff up. And it's truly a blessing, honestly. I, love these people. I love the industry, I love the youth, I love the old vets, sharing their wealth of knowledge. I love people that have hit it at high levels. People are aspiring to be, to be the next big thing. But what's really cool is it is truly a community, of like minded people who have a passion of winning and success and motivation. And I can't get enough of it. I mean I learned so much being at these events myself, just hearing what other people are doing and the obstacles. I mean we're all fighting the same battles. We all might have a different house, a different car, a different product, a different this or fighting the same battles. And when we come together and you put a room of a bunch of winners together, collaborating, talking, networking, you know, we have fun and that, that's contagious. And I come back from stuff like that just as motivated as, as the attendees. and, and I. People on this call right now, right. Look up to these people and value their, their relationships. And, couldn't say I'm prouder to be part of this amazing industry and the people that we got. So. I love it. Absolutely love it.

Awesome, man. I mean, the energy was just freaking insane and, and having amazing discussions

Awesome, man. Yeah, the, I don't know.

There's.

There's. There's a lot of stuff we planned for. You know, it's like we choreographed, like, okay, we want this to happen, and then we want this speaker to talk on this. And like, there was, there was a lot of behind the scenes, like I said, choreography. But there's certain things you just can't make happen. There's certain things you just can't force. And like, when. When we kicked that thing off at like, it was supposed to start at two the first day, people were already going around booths. They weren't even like, set up yet at, like, noon. I mean, the energy was just freaking insane and, and having just such amazing discussions. And I don't know that that stuff, I, I couldn't have. Couldn't have planned that at all. So that. That was you guys showing up and injecting that energy and the attendees as well. So that was, that was killer.

It's the people, though. Seriously. Like, they. Everybody's hungry. Everybody wants to be great. And I think that that's, that's what's so cool about these events. Yeah, the vendor time's good. Yeah, the speakers are great, but, man, just being able to just chit chat and talk off the. You know, it's amazing. I mean, stand around the bar, the table, wherever you're at, you know, the fake Starbucks, whatever that place was like, what? Crazy good conversations pop up no matter where you're at. I mean, it's, it's awesome. So, yeah, kudos to everybody making it a success.

Kathleen: It's always dead quiet here at this hour

All right, Kathleen, how about you? Did we get him to get off the phone yet?

Not yet. And I'm texting him, like, are you almost done? It sounds like he's wrapping up, but,

there are no other phone in New York. Like, that's the only phone he can get on.

It's so funny. It's always dead quiet here at this hour. I was here till 9:30 last night. Not a sound from anyone. I don't know. So I don't know if you want to skip me and come back to me or if you want me to just talk with my loud New York voice.

Yeah, talk with your loud New York voice.

Ryan: It was a great event. Everyone played their part very well

All right. I agree a lot with what Jimmy said, honestly, Ryan, thank you for having us this year. It was a lot of fun, walking that floor. You just see so many people who are excited about the same things you do. You come back from a show like that, completely pumped about what you do for a living, and you just, you can't wait to, you know, interact with these people when you get back. I love the people that come find me that I've spoken to on the phone. And you get to put that, you know, face to a name and make that introduction and absolutely walking around everywhere. You're in the elevator, the conversation is geared towards lighting. You're standing at the fake Starbucks, like Jimmy said, conversations geared towards, like, it could be 4 o' clock in the morning over a beer and you're still talking about lighting. So I was definitely there for that. And, it's a good time. I love it. So many people to learn from. I always say, if I don't have the answer, you know, to a question, somebody asks me, look at all these resources that I have, all these people.

I'm looking at the group right now. I'm like, I think so. Everyone kind of had their role to play. I, I kicked the event off. Jimmy, you know, just gave a bunch of knowledge. Joel was basically like everyone's best friend. You know, Tom basically just paid for the event. You know, he financed. And then, and then at the end of the night, like, Kenny, like, took everyone out for beers and then Kathleen, like, took over for like. It wasn't just like the late night crews, like the graveyard shift. Everyone played their part very well here.

It was always professional promise.

But Joel's got all the diplomas. Just saying, just saying.

Well, let's, let's go to Joel. Joel, how about you, man?

Selfishly, I love these events because my territory is so large, you know, from basically Delaware down to Florida, that anytime I can get there and see just a large number of my customers, it's always awesome to, to be able to extend those relationships and build on those relationships. But then like Jimmy said, you've got the other vendors in the room. It's nice to kind of go around and see what else is out there. Because I think in my breakout session, I told them, you know, you might not sell a particular product, but you better know enough about it to sell against it. So to be educated on all the things that are out there. and then like Tom M. Said, there was a bunch of just new guys that came up and said, I've never put a fixture in the ground. Don't know what I'm doing. Well that's okay. Come on in. You're at the right place. Let's talk about what fixtures you can use. And now let's set up a time to where maybe we could come out and meet you on site, do some walkthroughs and maybe help you on the install. I've already got two on site visits for installs scheduled. Trying to get a third, out in Oklahoma. We just sold $6,000 worth of product yesterday to a new guy that has never done lights before. So we're gonna, we're gonna make it happen. And those are just great things that come out of this event that wouldn't happen otherwise. So it was it was a really nice event. I enjoyed it. Like everybody says, the, the best conversations are always the ones at the bar because they just lead into, to everything. And you're throwing out tips and tricks and everybody's chiming in the guy that's not even in the con away. Oh well, you need to try this, you know, so it's it's a great time and always a good learning experience for everyone no matter what your experience level.

So after hours at the bar, you guys are still talking business, still talking lighting 100.

I was chewing a guy down because he refused to do maintenance programs. And I mean he was getting the business because, because he's just, Leaving money out there.

One in the morning. You're verbally abusing people, Kathleen.

It was like 11:30. My, I got a bedtime.

I was in bed by 11:30 every night.

Yeah, we have a tracker, we have a GPS tracker on you now.

That's 11, 30am is what she said.

None of our stuff got stolen at this lighting event, I expect

All right, Kenny, how about you? Last but not least.

Yeah, no, I mean I think everybody said it, you know this, I really love these types of meetings. and I said in my, in one of my, you know, speeches or classes that, you know, I'd already been to five, five lighting events this year. this was my fifth anyway. And and this was the best one I've been to as far as the group of people. The vendors, like no other event had gone to, had had the who's who of landscape, lighting vendors in the room. and then you've got such an eclectic group of landscape lighting guys, guys you wouldn't even know. Like you walk around, this guy's doing a couple million bucks a year, this guy's doing, you know, just getting in, but has great potential. It just Runs the. The gambit. And, I just can't get enough. Like, I spend no time in my room. I feel guilty. Like, if I'm not down there talking to everybody, networking, learning, helping. And, dude, I still got the. The, the talk at. At one in the morning, you know, some guy walks up and asking me a question. I'm like, are you sure, dude? I am. 10 Tequila Steve. And he's like, yeah, let's do this. I'm like, all right, we're doing it. You know, and so, no, I loved it. You know, and. And the vendors, you know, the people think that, you know, we wouldn't get along and that sort of thing. I had dinner with Kathleen one night. Had dinner with Joel one night. Jimmy blew me off the entire time we were there. But that's fine. I still love him.

That's not true. Picnic with you and you didn't want to go.

No, that. Okay, that is true. That's not actually not true, but semi, I think.

Look at Ryan using his chapstick.

These guys just play hard to get with each other, you know, it's like, let's do lunch. Oh, I'm busy. Let's do dinner. Oh, I'm busy. You know?

Yeah.

You even bought a transformer from me while we were there.

I stole it first. I stole it first, but then I did go back and pay for it. Yeah, right. Thing doesn't matter what you do. It matters, you know, how you handle

it later and leave an iou.

That transform was missing for a minute, though.

It was missing the whole second day.

We did. We did have some theft. It started off with a transformer that we later found out was not stolen. It was borrowed, out of the, the lighting boss booth. I started thinking, man, what kind of crowd did we invite? I will say we did get. We do have one projector. I bought a brand new projector. I bought four brand new projectors for those breakout rooms, and one, of them did walk off. So really, someone in the lighting community is a terrible person.

Kenny's bag before he left. Yeah.

I did not steal a projector. I promise. I did not steal a projector.

He's got, like, his suitcase, and, like, everything's normal, and then there's just, like, a square on the top of it.

Did the easel find a home? Yeah, I was worried about the easel.

No, we always. I buy one of those for every event, whether we use it or not, and then we give it away to whoever is standing around at the giveaway time.

I Expected some light fixtures to get stolen because we had some left on a table, and, none of our stuff got stolen, I expect. I guess it was because I was the only one stealing stuff.

How many fixtures did you steal from lighting boss? How many did they. You got a transformer and what else?

That's,

All I got was a transformer. I did pay for it.

He did pay for it. He got the bill.

Well, I don't know. I hadn't checked.

The invoice.

Bill is paid.

This card doesn't always work. Just saying.

One in the morning when somebody's got to pay the bar bill, that's the only time it has to work.

Well, should we. We should make people sign waivers. Like you said, if you're, like, 10 tequilas deep. I don't know that I want to have liability on, like, how you're telling them how to wire a transformer or

do whatever pilot,

old systems. I mean, that might be an improvement still, too.

People take what they're learning in the classes and instantly applying it

Jimmy, you shared something. I, Might have been today. Yesterday, the day before, you had someone come to your class and shared a text with you or something like that. it was some type of win, or they sold a job or went and installed a job already right after your permanent class.

Yeah, we actually. Today there's another three. So it's. People take what they're learning in the classes and instantly applying it, and you're seeing that success, right? It's. It's. It's the application of what these people learn. And some people were like, oh, that's a cool idea. I'll think on it. And then some people, like, that's a great idea. I'm gonna do it right now. And they're finding the win. So, yeah, I mean, you got. You got guys out there, like, you know, Ramon out there, absolutely motivated, going out there selling 30 days in a row without spending a dollar. Marketing. Right. Kind of doing stuff like that. So it's really cool when people, you know, it's about effort, you know, And I think a lot of people get in this industry and think it's glamorous and it's glitzy and it's beautiful and it's sexy and, like, oh, work's just gonna come to me because I'm really good. And then it doesn't work that way. You got to go get to work, and you got to bring this opportunity to your client. So people that are taking that initiative and understanding and taking bias act just to do it, and they're winning. So I think, from the class last week, I've already heard of four jobs that are sold. actually no, that's five jobs that are sold because there's two yesterday. Two yesterday and three today

people,

coming back and applying it. So, you know, gotta start somewhere.

Cool.

That's what's so cool about everybody. Like on this call right now is everyone here sells something, but they're, but they're giving so much more than that product, right? Everyone on this call is giving away a massive amount of knowledge helpful beyond their product line and that sort of thing. Like that's one of the things about our industry that I don't think is like every other industry is education past what we're selling. and I think it's super cool. Everybody on this call does some sort of education past what they're selling.

You're right. And you go to events like this and you level up. I do. I come back from these events and especially this one. It really was awesome, I have to say, Ryan. So you do you level up. You learn so much.

I didn't hear you say it. What'd you say,

Ryan?

I think it's cool to to really see people taking that action. Because you think about, I mean, we had awesome attendance. I don't know what the exact number we had over like 270 people buy tickets. I don't know how many people showed up. There's still people that like, they'll pay like for a full price ticket. They just don't show up. So I don't know how many like actually showed up. Right? We had leftover badges. I'm like, what's going on here? But, you think about how many people didn't show up. You know, I mean when you look at the percentage of the people in that room, like they're, they're like the 1 percenters, right? But then you go a next level to those people who actually are just like, oh, that was cool, I feel good, I feel inspired. But then they go home and just kind of maybe they think a little bit differently, maybe they level up a little bit. But the 1% of the 1% are those people that have already sold a job, they've already put out a job posting, they've already done some more interviews, they've already followed up with their existing clientele, they've already taken some type of action. And that's how you get the most out of this.

How do you guys recommend people take that information and actually apply it

Is there any other, I guess, what advice do you guys have for people that showed up? there was speakers, there was Roundtables, there was expert panel. I mean we had plenty of content, plenty of information. How do you guys recommend people take that information and actually apply it?

Don't be afraid of what you don't know. I mean you can look at it right here. There's plenty of people to fall back on. There was plenty of other people, that are in the business that were there that you can find as like a mentor or something like that. But I had a guy call me yesterday, he turned down a, ah, a wedding venue to do a bid because he didn't know how to do the cafe bistro lights. I was like, call them back right now. Call them back. Tell them we're going to bid it out. If we need to go there together, we'll bid it out. But yeah, there's a certain level of confidence that you have to have and the new guys into the industry just don't have that confidence yet. But you don't need it. Let somebody else have the confidence for you. Kenny's best saying was sell it and we'll figure it out. And I think it's a great thing to, to live by in business.

Absolutely.

Yeah. For me, one of the things like you see these guys and especially some of them new into the, in the lighting industry and they are eyes glazed over, they got 17 pages of notes, right? And when I, if I could just grab that guy and say, listen, you've got 50 action items there. I need you to pare it down to three or maybe even one to go like have take one and build that one thing perfectly or implement that one thing into your business perfectly and then go to the next one. Or even better, what I used to do is build a calendar. So I would take the 20 things out of one of these and then I would build a calendar and I'd give myself a deadline on all those. So I had a 10 day or 20 day or 50 day window to complete this task. And if you try to go back and do everything all at once, you'll do nothing. Like there's just no way you can do it. Take the one thing that's most important that you took, implement that first and then, and then move from there.

Yeah, I agree with that completely. But I think the key there is the intention behind it.

So one thing that I'll add, ah, is that, you know, this is a real.

Sure, Tom, this is your show.

Jimmy, were you talking. I'm sorry, no, you or Kathleen, go ahead, go ahead.

Let her rest.

Stop. Okay.

No, you go

Tom. you're good, Jimmy. Doesn't matter. He. You. You paid more for the show than Jimmy.

Yeah.

So this is a, tight industry. The lighting industry is a very tight industry. you learn based on relationships. Where else are you going to get those relationships other than events like this? And, you know, it's like, you know, we have competitors come in and all of that. The boxing gloves come off at the door, and everybody's in there trying to do, you know, their best, helping people out. And I do believe that, you know, whether your competitors, you know, selling landscape, lighting systems, you know, or. Or your vendors or whatever, you know, we're there to help each other out, you know, not going to certainly disclose any, you know, secrets or whatever, but if somebody had a question about, you know, something technical or something about hanging fixtures or putting them in the ground or whatever, I mean, I really think that people miss out by not taking advantage of everybody that's there.

So.

Great event.

Love it. Thanks, Tom.

Okay, Jimmy. I'm sorry.

Yeah.

No, so that was much more well said that what I was gonna say anyway, so. But anyway, no, I was gonna say was what. What Kenny was talking about, right? Take three things, apply, and put them on a schedule. It's exactly what I used to do. But my problem was sometimes my schedule would be a little bit more ambitious than the reality, and I would get to 90 or 92 and not get to 100. So one thing is get over that. That hurdle, and then the other thing is be super intentional with why you're doing what you're doing. What? Like, you know, one thing I see is people go for these really lofty ambitions right off the gate, and they don't worry about their core business. They don't worry about, am I being profitable? Am I bidding my jobs right? Do I know what my overheads are? I mean, in my. My spiel there, I asked, you know, how many people in here know what your burn is or know what your overheads are? And I literally think I. I couldn't really see, to be honest. Those lights were a bit bright. however, I believe there was like, five people that raised their hands. Right? You're not going to be able to. All these things are awesome. But if you don't take care of the foundation and then that of your business, you know, you're gambling. Right? So understand and get that foundation firm and build on that. Don't build on this dream of I want to hit $10 million. I want to hit $10 million with a 50 profit or 30 profit. Right. Understand what those, those goals are and really make sure there's intention behind what you're doing and why you're doing it and there's a desired outcome in a result from that decision.

So, um, the application side of it's huge. And I, I used to be the guy that would take notes on it

So, the application side of it's huge.

That's huge. And I, I used to be the guy that would be taking 17 pages of notes and be like, oh my gosh, this is all like such gold, I can't believe this. And then literally you get home and you open it up and you're like, like, where do I start? Right. So your, your guys advice is, is definitely on point. Well, I think it was, I think I talked about this at the Expo. I don't know, it was so long ago. It was last week.

There's always one constraint that's holding you back really to get to next level

But talking about your constraints and we all, in our personal lives and in our businesses, we all have a lot of different constraints, but there's. It always, if you unpack it and you start like digging it and pulling back, there's always one constraint that's holding you back really to get to the next level. And so, you know, my example I use is like, people will be like, oh, I need more leads, I need more leads. Well, this is kind of a unique one because of course we all want more leads. But if you actually get what you want and get more leads, it could actually sabotage your entire business. Because now, like now you're busier and less productive. Whereas what if your constraint is actually you just don't know how to close or actually you know how to close, but you're not pricing where you need to be. So to talk to your point, Jimmy, about profitability, like it feels good to sell a million dollars. It feels good to get to 2 million, right? But if you're not making any money, then why are you, why do you want more leads? Why do you want to get to 3 million if you're not making any money at 2, if you're not m making any million or any money at one? And so what, what we often think our constraint is actually ends up sabotaging us and actually makes it worse. So it's really important for people to like go through those notes, spend some time to, to cipher through and be like, okay, what is my top five? And then you know, I'm going to go down to top three. And then what's the one thing? If I, if I solve this one thing, this is going to make the entire Expo worth it. It's going to make my entire year worth it. And again, don't get 90% done with number one. You have to complete number one. Whatever that number one constraint you have to master. You have to be, they check it off before you can go on to number two, before you can go on to number three.

Ryan Lee says Light It Up Expo blew it out of the water this year

So what's your constraint, Ryan Lee?

My constraint in life, I just got to be.

Yeah. So many birthdays.

Yeah, I think I had like four birthdays last week. well in business I, I need to hire, so I need to hire, multiple positions. and that's, that's my constraint. I need to hire because we have, we have an awesome team. But like you know, when we, when we put on Light It Up Expo, that means that we're doing that, which means we're not doing something else. And so I've got like all these things mapped out that we want to get done with landscape, lighting, secrets. Well they're not going to get done if we're focused on Light It Up Expo. You know, they might get done but it might be a year from now instead of next month. So that's it's been fun, it's been fun running a lean team. but it's it's go time and we've got a lot of, a lot of the pieces of the puzzle figured out. But now I need to just hire more, more people that are better and smarter than me at certain positions.

Yeah.

Ah, your team killed it though, man. Putting on that size is not easy. There were a ton of moving parts, things going on at the same time. It's not easy to put on an event like that. your team did a great job.

It did. I agree. Great communication all around.

Thank you guys. I, I seriously, I appreciate you guys saying that. They, they honestly killed it, you know, like, and that was our goal. It was like, okay, no matter what. And I told him like, I don't care about money. Okay, now we're finding out this week how much I care about money. Right. but I was like, listen, we have to over deliver. Like this is such a new show. Yeah, it's the second year. But like we can't afford to burn a bridge. We can't afford to give someone a bad experience. So I said, I don't care how many people we, we get as many people as we need. We, we need whatever the spend is for the, the experience. Let's over communicate. If anything, I want a vendor coming to us saying yeah, maybe you shouldn't have sent so many emails or texts or phone calls. Right. Same thing with Attendees, like, let's just make sure that we over deliver for all the vendors, all the attendees. And beyond that, you know, the, the financials won't matter. So I appreciate you guys saying that because they, they, they, they went all in and they were exhausted. I mean it was early mornings, late nights, just making sure that everything was queued up. We had a lot of, as you guys know, moving pieces, converting this room to a four, a bigger room back to a smaller one, to projectors here, to round tables, to expo, all the different things. So yeah, they were, they were phenomenal.

And you guys did deliver because last year there were a few things, right, that you. Some constructive criticism from all of us. And I don't know, I feel like it was just. You guys blew it out of the water definitely for a second year. It was really. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Well, and we want, we want all the feedback. Of course it feels good to like get compliments, right? But if, even if there's just small things, like last year it was hard because we partnered with the, another show. We were partnered with like Home Service Workshop. And there was just lots of things that we didn't have control over. Whether it was certain decisions or, or we had involvement in a decision, but then not the execution or whatever it was. And so this year was like our first year to be like, no, this is all us. like good, bad, ugly, 100 accountability. If something goes wrong, when it goes wrong, that was on, that was on me, you know. And so, that's really what it's all about. We want feedback from everybody, all the attendees, all the vendors, pick it apart, you know, like, honestly, because that, that's how we level up. That's how we get better too.

You know, it seemed like you really checked all the boxes when it came to not just putting everything together, but to the to the level that you did, right down to the name tags. I mean, the cards, you know, you didn't say hello, my name is or anything like that. Those, those printed cards were great. It was a great idea to have the QR code on the back of it. So there's a lot of thought that went into, you know, every little detail, which I think made all the difference in the world.

Absolutely.

I did like the bingo card. I thought that was a good idea.

I agree. I thought that was great. Everyone kind of had to combine

what's

that it was good.

Something on the shelf rather than a

card you'll throw away afterwards.

Some of you will Remember?

How about the, how about those swag bags? What'd you guys think of those swag bags? I mean, tool, tool kit carriers, whatever you want to call those, you know,

we got more comments on the,

where is the bucket bag? Than anything they wanted. Using the bucket bag for a while.

I love that bucket bag.

The swag bags were dope. My mom literally is still talking about those, Tom. Gosh, did you see these? These are crazy.

Like, candy was great.

Those were like the coolest thing ever. I will say, you guys, the first event I ever did was a landscape lighting live, and it did not go like this. Okay? We didn't have name tags. I was like, oh, yeah, we gotta run to get name tags.

Tom and I need swag bags for our birthday celebration

And we pick those up at like Walgreens and you just like sticker to your shirt. And then Tom's like, what about, I brought swag. Where are the swag bags? I'm like, swag bags? We need swag bags. And he went, he went, where'd you go? You went to Walgreens too, didn't you?

I think I went to Target and I bought happy birthday bags. We've come a long way.

Yeah. Ah, come a long, really long way.

McRichie did a great job managing the crowd during the show

what'd you guys think about the, mc Richie. Richie, T is on here.

I don't know how you do that job, but he did it well. Very well.

I don't know how you do it for multiple days.

I was way back in the corner. I couldn't hear.

he brought, he brought the energy. And last year I did it myself. And I was like, okay, that's not happening again. And, so Richie was great. He got, super involved. He was always making sure that the, the crowd was hyped and everything else.

Um, what did you guys think about the, uh, vendor breakouts

what did you guys think about the, vendor breakouts? That was, you know, every year I think we're going to try something and if it works, we'll keep doing it. If it doesn't work, we take it away. not everyone had a chance to do a vendor breakout because we only had limited, time and space. but, for those of you that did a vendor breakout, what do you think of that? Was it worth it? Should we, should we keep doing it?

can we work around lunch next time? Mine was right when they started lunch, so you can bring your food.

It's fine.

Yeah, time out. Didn't you choose your spot?

I didn't choose anything.

Well, Ryan, Ryan didn't want you to eat.

Don't worry, I ate.

Hi, listen you could have, you know, up to the food. You could have been like, do you want Ryan's boring food or do you want lighting boss food? You know, I was just gonna push

one of the, stations into the room.

That's. There you go. Start thinking outside the box. So not during lunch or you guys step up and just do a better lunch.

Lunch was pretty. The food was pretty good, though. Yeah, I like to eat, so that was, that was. Food was impressive.

Food was good. But.

Did you guys like what the vendor breakouts were this year

But did you guys like what the vendor breakouts. It wasn't during the lunch hour.

Yeah, yeah, I thought mine was. Mine, was pretty good. We had like 30 people in there, but we could have done. Gone a little longer. I think I picked a topic that really wasn't like 45 minute breakout. Okay, could have gone. Could have gone a little longer. But I'll tell you, I did not get, the One Love Social. Apparently hers went great because all I'm seeing on Facebook is all the people that were in her, in her class tagging her kind of stuff. So I'm like, man, maybe my class sucked.

No, I think she might have geared people to do that because they all said the same thing. So I saw that too, as I'm scrolling through, and I was like, she must have been like, you should do

this in a competition. And look at she. She's the real winner. Someone else won, but she really won.

Well, you know, so that was, that was not a vendor breakout. That was during her speaking spot. And, and she's teaching people on, like, how you are your brand. Like, you need, you need to be the face of it. Like, don't be afraid to post because your competition is going to pass you up in this. Right? So she made it. she's like, hey, pull out your cameras. Get someone next to you for confidence. Like, give each other a, hug, whatever. Here's what to post to make it easy for them. And did. Gave them like a template. Like, this is it. This is all you got to do. And so obviously, you know, they got exposure, but you guys saw, so did Cheese. So not a bad way, to hack that for you, for you next year, guys.

Yeah, so maybe we're just not as smart as her.

Exactly.

What did you guys think of the expert panel? It's very good

so we had the vendor breakouts. We had, the expert, panel. What'd you guys think of the expert panel?

It's very good.

Great. I like that.

I love town hall panels. I love this stuff.

Questions coming from all that. Yeah, I think I want to do. I, I was like, man, I Think that the expert panel was good. I feel like we almost need to do, like, another one of those somewhere. maybe one each day or something like that.

Yeah, definitely.

The only thing about the expert panel, sometimes you had a really good mix of people. and not everybody has to answer every question. You can pick the right person to answer that question because of their background. Like, you know, and so when. When you can, you can fire off a lot more questions when you don't have everybody answer that question. I think that might be something we could take back from that.

Yep, that makes sense. and then the, round tables. That was a little bit of a gamble. I was like, I think this is going to be awesome. I'm always worried, like, as soon as we start selling tickets, people are like, well, where's the agenda? What time does it end on Friday? They always want to, like, get out of there. And I'm like, it ends when it ends. Like, you can't leave that day. You know, like, if it ends on a Friday, you gotta leave Saturday. And people like, I know, I know, but what time can I leave Friday? And I'm like, you don't. Because you still are going out to dinner with everyone, and you're still gonna go party with Kathleen. Like, that's part of the experience. You got to go get egg rolls at 2am and you're not gonna get egg rolls at 2am if. If you leave.

It's true. A lot of people stayed till Saturday.

The, the round tables, though. So I had a round table. So I couldn't again. I. Mike, why do I work so much? I want to go enjoy. I want to be an attendee. One year, guys.

People were three and four back around your tables. It was cool to see.

I got a glimpse. I was looking around my. Dude, this is awesome. There was people sitting, and then all of a sudden, there was people standing.

Standing. Yeah, it was good.

I thought. I thought the round tables were. Were definitely good. We got to do those again, right?

Roundtables are always definitely good.

Yeah. And I think put them at the end was a good. Was a good idea. It's kind of like a wrap up because guys took questions to the round table. They've been grabbing the whole week.

Yep.

which was really good. Not pushing the round tables later. they were two hours, which I did not realize, and I walked to my table. Having to pee. That was painful.

Hey, it's all about whatever it takes, Kenny.

I know. You know, suffer through that one.

I have to go now.

No, you Don't. You're gonna do hard things.

I was like, I have to wait until this is over. I can't leave.

We're definitely going long now.

Oh, man.

Two hour show today.

Let's go.

Trevor: Where do you guys want it next year

All right, what else? Anything else that you guys want to share about, you know, your experience or, any other wins or people that you met or surprises, anything like that? Before we wrap up, I'm curious to

know where it is next year. Vegas. Not Vegas. Vegas. Vegas.

I heard it was Key West.

Where do you guys want it?

Oh, my goodness.

Hard to throw an event in a, large event in a lot of places. Orlando's so easy, but, like, you're not gonna be able to Utah for that, right?

Orlando, Nashville, Vegas. Easiest, cheapest places to get to with all the meeting space in the world.

Wherever you decide, we'll be there.

I, love it. I wanted. I don't know. Like, the truth is, we don't have it picked out yet, so, like, you

need a minute to breathe after that, there's no.

Well, yeah, we were trying to get it. One day, when we grow up, we're gonna be able to plan two events so that we can, like, tell people, like, the last part of the last day. Like, look, it's in. Wherever it is, I can pretty much tell you it's not going to be in Los Angeles.

Love you.

Bye. Sorry, Ryan.

The Line of Palooza venue wasn't that bad.

It was.

Yeah, it's pretty good. I mean, it's a good venue.

Yeah. So, yeah, that was Austin. I, did throw out a Scottsdale Phoenix play. Look, at people are like, oh, yeah. Hey, Trevor. Oh, how about Myrtle Beach? They don't have to travel anywhere. That's weird.

Yeah, Myrtle beach would be fine with me.

He's not very commented.

We are not doing Myrtle Beach. Come on.

I feel like everything closes at nine,

in Myrtle Beach.

I don't know.

We have to do something where you guys can stay out to at least four, maybe five. I mean, that's the only way to put on a successful show.

The Scottsdale was fun, when we were at OLP a few years ago. So that was.

Scottsdale's. Great.

Yeah. Someone told me they go, I gotta reach out to this guy. He's like an event planner. I'm like, all right, I think we're hiring you. but he lives in Scottsdale. He's like, yeah, it's gonna be more money, though, you know, like, the hotels were only, like, 150 or 180 a night or something like that in Orlando. And we, we definitely think of that because the last thing we want, someone buys a ticket, they're like, damn, I didn't know it was 400 a night for the hotel at this really cool place. But most people don't want to spend that.

You know, that's the problem with Nashville, too. Like, I love Nashville for a conference, but 350 a night kind of situation.

You know what wasn't bad is, was Indy. That was pretty fun.

Andy was great.

And really?

Yeah, it was,

They got scooters.

Yeah, they do.

Everybody wrecked.

Kenny, what's the extent of your, drive with the.

The trailer? How many hours until you cut it off, bro?

I'll put that trailer wherever we go. I'm bringing the house.

It just needs to be somewhere warm in February, early March.

Agreed.

Get it right between Christmas takedown before spring rush hits

All right, so it's not Utah,

not New York.

What do you guys think of the time of the year is. Is, is end of February, early March. Is that. Is that the time to do it?

Works for us.

The best time to do it.

Yeah. It could even be a little earlier if you want.

Yeah. I say get it right between that Christmas takedown before spring rush hits.

It's perfect.

Like first week of February, last week

of January 2nd, third week in. In February, maybe February was good.

February, March.

The challenge is there's lots of other shows we're trying to plan around.

Yes. Last year, I think you collided with something.

Every show possible was happening on the exact same. It was.

It really was last year.

Yeah.

It's been a rough five weeks.

I tell you, that you're not wrong.

I don't think I've been home at all.

Yeah. Because we got it. You know, obviously we have, like, okay, we want to make sure, like, attendees are going to show up. But you know, you guys, like you said, it's been a rough five weeks. So we want to make sure that we're doing it at a time where the vendors are going to show up and, and, want to over deliver too. So this was perfect.

Yeah, but we know that's the time. I mean, if you do it in, I'd rather have the attendees show up and us just force ourselves to be there than be the other way around. And the attendees can't show up because it's. It's the business.

Yeah, agreed.

I mean, we'll make it happen.

Yeah. Plus, by the time I get to your event, I'm in fighting shape, baby. Ready to roll. Like, I've already done this for five weeks. I'm, I'm in good shape. I need to, I need some of the other events, to test my skills, you know.

We'll decide in the next 11 months where it's going to be

All right, so, yeah, we don't know. We'll decide here in the next 11 months where it's going to be and what the date is going to be.

Don't do that. See how that goes over with some people.

Really?

What, Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day weekend every week.

Divorce rate spike.

Hey, some of the best marriages need a break every once in a while, you know. Now it's going to be, we, we will of course pick a, a good location where we think we're going to get the most amount of people. I, I am leaning to want to, want to do something different than Orlando just because we did that last couple years. But at the same time it, you know, like you said, flights, hotels, it's kind of, it's kind of easy to do. So not ruling anything out, it is hard because, you know, when you go to plan these things, some of the hotels, like when you go to book a hotel, they'll be booked out like three years in advance. But, then if we pick a date and then you're waiting on another event to like Transworld last year, we, we didn't even know their dates until we'd already locked ours in. You know, like, you do kind of roll the dice, sometimes because they're not, they haven't announced all their dates yet. So we'll do our best. Hopefully we don't overlap, any other shows so people don't have to decide one over the other. But if they do, we know there's one that you want to choose, right?

We had so many epic vendors, so many amazing sponsors

All right, guys, well, I think we'll wrap it up there. really appreciate you guys. Seriously, like so much. I appreciate everybody. We had so many epic vendors, so many amazing sponsors. The, the teachers, the educators, the coaches, the round tables. you guys were our top sponsors. So seriously, I appreciate you guys stepping up in a major, major way. Not just for, for me, not just for Light Up Expo, but really what you're doing is stepping up for the community. And I can just tell you, like, we heard so many positive things about this event. We, all of us are changing lives. Like, we're literally changing. Like John Van said on one of the videos, I think you'll see this testimonial come out soon where he's like, man, it not only changed my life and my kids lives, but I'm, I think it changed my, my grandkids lives. And so it's. It kind of sounds like. Well, I thought we were talking lighting, talking outdoor lighting and design and install and all this stuff and, you know, cri, whatever. Like now, like, we're literally changing people's lives, giving them opportunities to make more money, make more impact, and that's what this is about. So, like I said from the bottom of my heart, I extremely, I'm just extremely grateful for everyone for, really going all in, being vulnerable, putting it all out there. I mean, you guys went hard every single day past midnight into the. The wee hours and still showed up bright and early every single day over delivered for everybody. So thank you guys so much. I appreciate it.

Thank you, man.

Thank you.

We appreciate you. I like how you spend your time evenly across all your vendors and stuff too. You definitely make sure you, you know, get in front of everybody and it's cool. So see you everywhere.

You know, trying to. All right, guys, have an awesome week. And, we'll be announcing soon, within the next 11 months, when the next Light It Up Expo is. Thank you, guys. Appreciate you. All right, thank you. All right, guys, take it easy.

Have a good one.

We'll see you next week later.