Lighting for Profits - Episode 168

This week, Andy Schwindler, co-owner of Sandy Beach Outdoor Lighting and Design, alongside his wife, Michelle. Driven by a passion for creating beautiful outdoor spaces, they aim to enhance their community's outdoor experiences. Andy is also the new salesperson for Landscape Lighting Secrets, excited about this role's potential to grow his business while allowing Sandy Beach to flourish. When he’s not working, Andy loves spending time outdoors with family, cooking, traveling, and discovering new eateries.

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Ryan Lee discusses everything you need to know to start and grow a successful landscape business

Welcome to lighting for profits.

All Light, All Light, All Light.

Powered by Emery Allen.

Get rid of your excuses.

Your number one source for all things landscape lighting. That's where the magic can happen. You can really scale a business.

We really had to show up for.

Each other from lighting design, install, sales and marketing. You're a scaredy cat salesman, Kurt. We discussed everything you need to know to start and grow a successful landscape lighting business.

What do you think a hippo has.

To do with your business, Ryan?

Usually it's some weird childhood thing.

Bully kicked your butt. I think the key factor here is trust. Here is your host, Ryan Lee.

What is up? What is up? Welcome, welcome. Welcome to the number one. It's the number one landscape lighting show in Lafayette, Indiana. Let's go. We are changing lives one small town at a time. Guys, I'm super excited to hang, out with you today. Got a great show lined up for you. by the way, I'm Ryan Lee, your host of the number one landscape lighting podcast, lighting for profits, powered by Emery Allen. Thank you, Emery Allen, for your support. we are broadcasting from lehigh, utah. And, we had a group of people, about 25 people at my house here not too long ago doing some omni permanent training. That was a blast. listen, if you're looking to start or grow your landscape lighting business, you're definitely in the right place. We are here to serve you. We're here to educate and motivate to help you dominate. So, we got an awesome show lined up. We got the one only, mister andy schwindler with sandy beach lighting and design coming on the show. He's been here before, but we got some exciting news, some exciting updates, and we're going to talk about his journey and, some of the things that he's done over the past little bit since he's been here. So, stick around. You're not going to want to miss this again. We got Andy schwindler, sandy beach lighting and design, and I, got some new, exciting announcements to, to go over. Hey, by the way, if you have not done this, guys, I'm telling you, we launched our 2.0, and it's like the. We were already adding, like, massive value to people's lives, but now we just ten x it. So don't miss out on this. Our prices are still super affordable. I'm just telling you, go to landscape lighting secrets .com, click start now and watch that case study. You can schedule a call and get your, strategy session. People, listen. People, walk away. From these strategy sessions, like making thousands of dollars after this phone call. So, don't miss out. Go to landscape lighting secrets .com. click start here. You'll see, like, one of the big buttons right at the top and just go through that process and, we'll see on the strategy session call.

Emery Allen believes every lighting professional should have access to a

Hey, by the way, I want to thank, emery Allen. They've been a, great partner of ours. I think tom would love that. Music. listen, Emery Allen has been a great partner. And you know this, guys, a fixture is only as good as a source of light inside it. And, Tom came up with the saying that, it's what's on the inside that counts. So, you know, that light source is what your customers and future customers will ultimately see at night. This is going to result in thousands of dollars in return business for you, along with glowing referrals. That's how you grow a business referral. So remember, Emery Allen believes every lighting professional should have access to a light source engineered from the ground up, dedicated to high performance when you need it the most. At the end of the day, it's what's on the inside that counts. So take advantage of Emery Allen's world class customer service. Get your account set up today. I'm telling you, a ton of people have already changed. But if you haven't, check them out. All you got to do, guys, I'm telling you, some people tell me, oh, I went to the website. I didn't want to pay those prices. Well, it's because you don't listen. Right now is when you need to listen. Email. Write this down. Tom g@emoryallen .com. tom g@emoryallen .com. he will hook you up. Just say, hey, Ryan said, I'm going to get the hookup, lighting for profits, blah, blah, blah. He's going to get you that discounted contractor pricing. And, you're going to start being able to use their single source led, which is a really nice product, high cri, really good stuff. Just email Tom g@emoryallen .com. dot all right, so, in just a minute, guys. You know, we've got, Andy Schwindler coming on Sandy beach lighting and design.

Landscape lighting community is helping those affected by Hurricane Harvey

before we have him, come on, I want to talk about a couple of things. Number one, I know, man. You know, we've got a ton of, lighting friends, in the, zone of destruction that the hurricane caused. So we're thinking about them, we're praying about them. It's going to be a long time till these people get on their feet and I don't really know what to do. and so, you know, I'm just thinking, like, you know, the lighting community is strong and, even if it's like temporary relocation or you need work for a period of time or whatever, like, I'm sure we can help out again. I don't, I don't have all the answers, but reach out. Let's, let's come up with something. Let's see what we can do. if anyone has any links, go to the Facebook group landscape lighting secrets, just to share any, donation links or anything like that. But if you need, like, direct, if you're like, well, we don't have income, well, like, we will find someone to temporary relocate you people, people are willing to help. So we were here for you. We're praying for you. and again, I kind of feel helpless, but I'm thinking about these people every day. the only way I know to help is the way I know how to help. So I want to serve you guys in the business community and help you guys, make more money so that you can afford to help more people and help yourselves and all this stuff. So we're going to do that on this podcast.

Path to freedom is the way to get freedom from your business

one of the things that I want to share real quick, before we have Andy, come on, is with the launch of 2.0, we decided to get super intentional. Okay. And, we. I basically got my reps in. Okay, I'm going to consider myself an expert coach now because I have the time. You know, you need 10,000 hours, be classified as an expert or someone said that, and I don't think I'm the best expert, but I feel like, you know what? I know enough to, like, have confidence now to be like, this is what needs to happen, and this is what needs to happen and stop doing this. Right. And so I created this document. It's called the path to freedom. And if you're in landscape lighting secrets, you have access to this inside our new power vault. Our power vault has like a ton of downloads. And we're going to keep adding more into there that are blueprints, templates, kind, of quick sheets and fast passes to win. But this path to freedom document is the key to success. And, I'm going to just kind of go over it real quick. we don't have any way to share it right now, but it's. If you're in secrets, it's in the content portal. Path to freedom and it's really help, meant to help you do the right thing at the right time. And, the reason this is important is because some people come in and they're there. Maybe they're doing a few hundred thousand in landscape lighting, and they hear about someone doing a million and 2 million, and they're like, oh, I'm going to do what they're doing because that's what I want to be like, well, the problem is they're working on higher level stuff. That is actually, it's a good thing, but it's a good distraction. They're working on things that they don't need to work on right now. And in reality, if you're, you know, between zero and 500,000 in revenue, your number one problem is revenue. Like, you just need to make massive, massive amounts of cash and, of course, profit. But we'll talk about profit in a second. You need revenue, and the revenue is going to be able to fund your growth. And so I see a lot of people getting distracted. They're like, oh, man. Ryan said Illy was good, so I'm going to go to Ily. And I'm like, well, you know, Ily is great, but there's a time and a place for it. Okay. Like, I would never tell someone if they wanted to go to university to start with their master degree. I just wouldn't. I would tell them to start with the fundamentals and work their way up. You can't pass certain classes if you don't understand the basics. And so what we did was we put together this path to freedom so that people could see holistically. This is the way to win. This is the way to get freedom from your business. So number one is going to be creating tons of revenue. I'm talking, like, get booked out three weeks. Until you're booked out three weeks, you don't get to focus on anything else. You don't get to go work on lighting design. Well, what do you mean? Does that mean lighting design is not important? That's not what I said. It's just, not the important thing right now. Okay. And so the problem is people get distracted and they're like, oh, I'm going to go to this convention. Oh, I'm going to go to this training. I'm going to go get certified on design. That's great. But not right now because you don't have enough money to go take a week off from your business and go do these things. Okay, so there is a proven track record on what you guys need to do so.

There's a principle called 1080 ten that you need to apply in your business

Number one, make a lot of money. Hire your first installer. Now when you hire that first installer, there's a principle called 1080 ten that you need to apply. And this is the principle you need to delegate. Now most of us, especially for entrepreneurs, we suck at delegating, we suck at letting go because no one's going to do it as good as us cells answering the phone. Installs, design. We're the best, right? Well, that's not true. We just think we are. And so the 1080 ten principle will allow you to let go faster than ever before. And how that works is let's use installation. For example, you hire your installer, you're like, well, dude, this guy, I can't leave him. Every time I leave, he screws something up. Well, that's part of your training process. And the problem is not a them problem, it's a you problem. And if it is a them problem, you hire the wrong person. So it's still your problem, right? So it's always going to come back to you and you have to hold it yourself accountable. So let's just assume that you have the right person. How do you frickin leave them? How do you trust them? Well, it's the 1080 ten, so 10% of a project, let's say this is an installation, but if you wanted to do anything, it could be a design. doesn't really matter. Whatever the project is, 1080 ten, you start by doing the first 10% of the project. So maybe you get the wires laid out, you get the fixtures placed, you get the transformer mounted. Now you can leave the project while they do 80% and they do the manual labor and the burying the wire and doing all this stuff, right. And then you come back and put your finishing touches on it. Angle those fixtures, make sure it's just right for that last 10%. That's the 1080 ten. That's how you delegate, that's how you free up time. Because if you could, could you imagine if you had 80% of your time back to now? Go focus on the real problems in your business. If you needed more leads, you needed more sales, you needed more recruiting, whatever you need more sops, whatever it is, right? So 1080 ten, you guys. And here's, here's the difference between winners and losers. I'll tell you right now, 1080 ten. Most people do 1080 ten. And guess what? It doesn't work. It's, it's a lie. It's not 1080 ten. It's like ten, and then they do 20, and then you have 70 left, but you have to do, like, 100 still because you have to fix their 20 so the numbers don't match up. And you're like, Ryan said, 1080 ten. Well, that sucks. It was like, ten. 2862. Like, I had to do everything twice. Well, quitters, losers, quit. Right? Losers quit. Winners win because they don't stop and they go, well, why was it like that? Oh, because I didn't explain good enough. What he needs to do, what she needs to do. Right. So the key is to not give up. It might be ten, and then it might be 40, and then it might be you coming back with the last 50 or 60. Right. But don't give up and know over time, it will get to 1080 ten. That's a huge principle, guys. I really want you guys to, like, spend some time thinking about all the different areas of your business that you can apply. The 1080 ten principle.

Invest in marketing and advertising to generate leads, and it costs money

the last or the last couple things at the zero to is, number one, invest in marketing and advertising. Everybody wants leads right now. And then when I get into the details, well, how much are you spending? Okay, well, if you want to do a, five, if you want to be a $500,000 business, do you know how much you need to spend each year to generate 500k? Because especially if you're new, you don't have repeat business, you don't have a lot of referrals. Okay. When I sold my business in 2019, we had $600,000 in repeat business alone. $600,000 in repeat business. That's free money. That's easy. That's gravy, that's momentum that's built over time that you don't have when you're only doing zero to 500k. So you've got to generate those leads, and it costs money. It's an investment. So you need to be spending three to $6,000 a month to generate five hundred k. And if you go, well, I don't have. I don't have $6,000. Okay? That's about 15% of revenue. Well, then maybe you shouldn't be in business. Like, I hate to be the one to tell you that, but if you want success, it's not just thinking, oh, I can be successful. No, you can't. You have to take action. Are you willing to invest 15%? Are you willing to invest six grand, not just this month, but next month and next month and next month. And know that the first three months, you might not get a return. The first is the worst with advertising. You send out, direct mail, postcard, you may not even get a phone call, and it might feel like you just burned $5,000 on fire. And if you stop right there, you might as well. If, you might as well film yourself, put it on YouTube, lit on fire. Cause you get a better return doing that. Okay? You have to keep investing in advertising. 60 00. 60 00. 60 00. And if you're not willing to do that, you probably don't have the heart for it. You probably don't have the tenacity, the grit. You have to be willing to risk, okay? And it's calculated risk. It's not like, oh, I'm just gonna go throw six grand at, Facebook ads. Facebook ads for landscape lighting, especially right now, election time. I wouldn't be spending a dime. I, was talking to a marketing company the other day. They told me that Facebook, ads are through the roof right now. Election years. Kamala Harris is spending $25 million a week on Facebook ads. So I wouldn't be spending money on Facebook ads, part as part of that six k, right? But I would be spending on direct mail, I would be spending on Google Ads, and I would be spending on referral partners. How do I get in front of these people? Right? So spend that three to six grand. If you do those things for a year and they don't work, you now have access to complain, but you don't get to complain about, oh, man, the phones are just slow. I don't know what it is. Well, you're not spending any money. You're not doing anything to generate phone calls. So shame on you. Not shame on anyone else. Now is when you want to get backed out. booked out about six weeks. When you're booked out six weeks, you hire a second installer, and that's the zero to 500k. Now go it, go into secrets, download the rest, because then we map out, okay, five hundred k to a million. Million to one point five. One point five to two. Two to five. All those things. There's more in there, but I just want to give you guys a glimpse. This is how you win. You have to be strategic about it. Define your focal point, define your trajectory. Here's where I'm going. And then map it out. How to get there. So, it's a high level one. We have some more detailed ones in there, too. But, I'm telling you guys, I. If I was to start a lighting business right now and I was in this range, these are the things I do. So that's my rant. I got it out of my system now. Let's get to our guest.

Andy Schwindler founded Sandy beach lighting and design in 2021

All right. find the music producer, or is it maybe. Hello. There it is. Welcome. Welcome to the show, Mister Andy Schwindler.

Hey. Hey, how are you?

Ryan, man, I'm excited. I get fired up, man. These, these shows. I love doing this show. I love helping people. And, you know, I turned on Ryan Lee 2.0, so I'm doing great.

Yeah. You forget me fired up. I was in the background. Good. Yeah. Don't skip the steps.

That's awesome, man. Well, I'm excited to have you on. you know, we've, been. We've been spent. I mean, you've been in Utah twice now in the last, like, month. So are you looking at getting your second home here?

I mean, it's a nice place to visit.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Well, I'm excited to have you on. Maybe just do a quick introduction for those that don't know you that are new to the show, who is Andy Schwindler?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm Andy Schwindler. I'm, based out of Lafayette, Indiana. I'm from the Indianapolis area, but I have a dedicated lighting company, Sandy beach lighting and design. we focus on landscape lighting, architectural lighting, some holiday lighting, and some permanent roofline type of lighting. Just all your outdoor lighting solutions.

Very cool. So. And how long has Sandy beach been around?

we started Sandy beach in 2021. and, ultimately just hit the ground running. well, you know, I joined secrets soon after I started, and, it's kind of helped get me to where I am today.

Let's talk about that process a little bit, and then we've got some exciting news I want to share, but I I want to talk about kind of that process of startup and maybe what, maybe what some of your, you know, like, some of your desires were some things that you thought were going to be easier, that were harder. I know, literally, dude, when I. When I started, I was like, I'm going to do a million dollars my first year because I was so ignorant. I didn't know anything about anything. But I was just like, why not? But talk through that process a little bit. What, what were you most excited about? What did you think was going to be, you know, easier? What did you expect to be harder? Like, let's talk about some of those challenges.

Yeah, no, those are great questions. you know, I've been in the outdoor industry, almost 30 years now. It's hard to believe, you're getting old. I'm getting old, right. But I've always had a passion for the design side. My wife and I, Michelle, ran, a design build firm where we designed and built outdoor kitchens for about a dozen years. We had a little barbecue store where we sold the big green egg. And there was just a lot of moving parts. I mean, you know, with a business, I mean, there's just a lot going on. And we decided to kind of streamline our lives a little bit and dedicate ourselves to just a singular focus, which was lighting. We felt like it had the most impact and it was the most underserved portion of the outdoor industry. so we, we decided to jump in, both feet.

Nice.

So when you started it, did you have a goal for, like, sales

So when you started it, did you have a goal for, like, sales, your first year, or number of clients or anything like that?

You know, when I think when you first get started, you're kind of like, okay, you know, we built the outdoor kitchen company pretty big, but, you know, it got out of hand quickly, right? We didn't have a roadmap. We were learning things as we go. So when I, when I started the lighting, I was like, okay, I can sell so much per week. I can install so much per week. Hey, I can make a pretty good living, right? And I'm like. And that's kind of, that was kind of our path forward. Michelle was going to answer the phones. I was going to sell a couple days, install a couple days, and then you realize that you really do love this, but you can't do all the things and serve the people the way that you want to. and so in the meantime, I'm listening to your podcast, right? You've got all the guys on. You got Tommy heron, you got Nels Peterson, and you got all these guys. And I'm thinking to myself, man, this guy has the roadmap. I'm going to call Ryan anyway and just see what it's all about. And I guess they say the rest is history.

That's awesome. Well, it's been cool, man. I mean, I think we were talking the other day, there was like, you've been at almost all the events we've done, and, you know, you, you came to landscape, lighting live, which was the very first one. And, that was West Palm beach at Greg Matthews. I didn't even know Greg. I mean, we had never met in person. We talked on the phone or whatever, but we, we kind of put that thing together in conjunction with each other. And I was epic, man. That's gonna. It's gonna just be remembered forever. But I remember thinking, man, like, should, like, you bought a ticket. You bought not just two tickets, you bought three tickets. And I was like, Andy, are you sure you want to go? Like, you're already in landscape lighting secrets. it's kind of for newbies. And you're like, no, I want to bring everyone down. Why. Why do you believe in that? Like, why do you believe in bringing your team to these things and going to events where a lot of people would say, well, I already know that, or I don't. I don't need to go to. And, we don't have to talk about just my events. There's Aolp, there's Ilyde. There's a lot of really good events out there, but people justify why not to go. Why do you justify to be at these places?

Yeah, those are. Those are great questions, I guess, you know, let's.

So, I had signed up for secrets in December

We'll talk about live. So, I had signed up for secrets in December. and I jumped in the portal, and I went in, you know, all in. And so I'm absorbing all this information, and I'm going to talk to my team. I'm talking to Michelle, you know, I'm talking to my son, Will, and I'm like, we're doing this, and this is great, you know, watch this with me. and then the live thing came, and it was an opportunity to get them involved, get them excited about the same things that I was excited about. Right. And then we could hit the season, with the, you know, hit the ground running. And that's really what it did, was not only did it put me in a position to where I got a deeper understanding. Cause I had watched it through the portal, and I met you in person, got to ask some of the questions. but my people, too, now we're talking about the same things. And then, not only that, we're immersed around other people who love it as much as we do, and they've done some things, and they're doing some things like this, and guess what they're doing and who they know. And once I realized that it was really the connections of all the people that I got to meet in these relationships that have carried on even since that first live. I'm friends with Greg now. Right. That was the first time I had met him, too. the first time I'd ever seen was on your podcast. But the biggest thing is the. The network of people that are within secrets and really just the lighting community. That's what, that's what sends me to all the events.

Very cool.

Landscape lighting is a little bit harder to get leads than holiday lighting

What's, what's been the most challenging thing? you know, you had previous business experience, but you know, landscape lighting is a different beast. we, we get people that come into this industry from holiday lighting and, you know, they think it's going to be something that's different. It's a little bit harder to get leads than it is holiday lighting. What, what was, what was for you one of the most challenging things to get to where you're at now?

you know, the most challenging thing for me was kind of getting out of my own head on things. Right. You know, thinking that you have to be able to help everybody all the time. Once I, once I realized who I was really good at helping as far as my client goes and got really focused. Focused, everything became a lot clearer because the path of least resistance, when you're working with the people that want to work with you. So we been able to dial in our message, and get to the people that need us the most. and a lot of that is just through getting your reps in. I think you talked about that earlier. We got our reps in, but we weren't getting bad reps in. We were getting the good reps in.

Because we followed the system, man. We, you know, one of the new things that we did in 2.0 is, I mean, even, even a brand new person, they have. I want to make sure I get the numbers right. You have access to nine live calls a month, and some of our advanced members have access to more. But nine is plenty for a newbie around ones, around sales ones, around marketing ones, around lighting design ones, around install ones. I mean, all these different topics. we were talking on the sales one recently about ideal client avatar. And what we're doing is we're going back and we're reviewing the fundamentals. Even if people have already done this, it's like, this is crucial. And the more I thought about it, I was like, man, you know, if there's so many different ways to win in business, but if you really want to like, get focused, especially in the economy we're in now, it's not like it was in the COVID days where just leads are flowing and people are spending, you're gonna have to like your marketing dollars. They really, oh my gosh, it matters so much. This is why your sales game has to be on point too. Because if you get leads and you're not closing them. You don't get the return on your investment. But if you're wasting. You know, if you're just targeting people that aren't gonna buy from you, you're wasting time, which is. Happens to be our number one resource in the world. It's worth more than money, right? And so if you're wasting time on. On proposals, you shouldn't be on the. You're losing money.

Being intentional with your market is a challenge for most business owners

So, man, we just, like, we just had this conversation about Avatar, and it was just eye opening to me to kind of remind people, like, listen, if. Have you ever heard a message from me on the podcast or gotten an email or watched one of my videos and thought, what the hell? This guy's, like, talking right to me. Like he's in my head. I'm like, yeah, I am in your head. You know why? Because I filled out this sheet of, ideal client avatar, and I know exactly what you're thinking because I've answered these questions. And so everybody should do this for whatever product or service you're selling, you should get in their heads. And so when they read the blog post or they see the message or whatever, they're like, oh, my gosh, he's talking to me. It's like he knows what we're thinking. And if you have those experiences, you. Your closing rate goes up, you see less people because you don't. You know, when you're. When you're young and poor and you don't have leads, you're like, dude, I'll take anything. I just need to feel busy. But then you find you're not productive, so. Yeah, dude, I'm glad you brought that up, because I think that's a challenge for most. Everyone will just take the leads instead of, like, pre qualifying and identifying their. Their ideal client avatar.

Yeah, it's been really good for us again, not just for me, though, but for my office gal that answers the phone, you know, for Michelle when she's taken her sales calls. I mean, we know how to had to ask the right questions a lot of times to be able to help, because, again, our goal is to always help the client, and sometimes we're the best fit, and sometimes we're not. It's a, It's. It. But it's a good conversation to have.

Yeah, well, you know, like, it's crazy to think, like, everyone's. When you're. When you're below a million, the goal is to do a million a year. Like, that's every business owner's dream. And even if they're like, well, not really. I don't care about money. Like bull crap. You. You're trying to get to a million. Everybody is. So, it's like, with lighting, we're so blessed because we see, like, when. When we flip the lights on, people's reaction there. It's so funny because they're like, I can't believe this is the best investment I've ever made. And it. It. That may or may not be true, but the reason why they think it's true is because it was instantaneous. Yesterday, their house looked like a cemetery. Today it looks like paradise. When you build a pool or remodel a kitchen, it takes weeks, months, years, right? This is, like, instant. And they're like, oh, my gosh. So that initial hit, and then we're blessed because it's high ticket, average job, ten k. So if you can, like, raise your price, close more deals on this. But all the stuff that we preach, if you actually only need 50 people to give you $20,000 and you made a million dollars, so, like, why not, instead of take all the $3,000 jobs, spend that time and focus on where are you going to get 50 people to give you 20k in exchange for a badass lighting system? Seems easier.

Yeah. Again, breaking it down into small bites. And you mentioned intentional. Right. Being intentional with your market. And. And now you have the metrics on how much you actually have to do so you don't feel like you always have to be throwing everything at everything all the time. You get to kind of pace yourself and. And do the things you like to do along the way.

Ryan Miller is the newest business development coach for landscape lighting secrets

All right, well, it's announcement time. So, man, we, we say we're on 2.0, but, you know, we've. We've thrown so many things at the wall. We've tried, we've added things. We take things away with landscape, lighting live. We introduced mentors. We had you down as one of our mentors teaching. And, that was such a cool experience because, number one, it wasn't me up there teaching for two days. I was like, whoo, I can catch a breath. and then I'm sitting there and I'm watching you up there teach, and I'm like, dude, this guy. This is cool. Like, it wasn't like you were teaching my content. Like, you were teaching your experience. And I think that's what a good teacher is, is they're able to share, their experience and get people to resonate with it. So that was cool. And then, you know you, man. You've been in a lot of our stuff. You've had a lot of success with things. It hasn't always been easy. Not everything's worked on the first try. We've had. We've had monthly calls for almost, I don't know if it was two or three years, but a long time. And I know some of this stuff. We're like, oh, man, last month was so good. This month, what are we going to do? I mean, there's ups and downs. It's entrepreneurship. but, most people know recently, I'm like, I really need, a salesperson, and I need a new coach. I need someone that can help facilitate and do these things. So you've been an accountability coach with us now for over a year, helped a ton of people. They're able to get on one on ones with you, and it's just. It's so powerful to hear their experiences. and I did an ad, and I was like, hey, I'm looking for an a player. If. If you don't make over 100k, if any, for in the first year, you're fired. I mean, it was pretty direct on who I'm looking for. And we had so many good applicants. I mean, we really had like 15 or 20 people apply. we had Jerrika kind of weed of most of them out. We got down to the last few, and I go, you know what? I. I didn't even talk to those people. I didn't even interview them. And I said, I told Lindsey, I'm like, I know who this person needs to be, and I don't need to call these other people. I called you, Andy. I said, andy, I don't even know if you know what we're doing, but we're hiring this role, and I need you to take it. And, it was. I don't know if it was quite that same conversation, but something similar. And over the next few weeks, we went back and forth, made some plans, made some decisions, and I'm proud to announce you as our newest member of landscape lighting secrets, our newest business development coach, in addition to accountability coach. So, yeah.

Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. Well, I'll tell you, I can't. I can't tell you how excited I am. but just to continue to be a part of the program, right. That's why I did the accountability coaching. That's why I stayed in the program. not only has it helped me grow my business, but I. It's helped my family. Right. Michelle's such a big part of secrets now, too. and so for me to be able to give back through the accountability has been big. But for me to get the word out just how powerful this is and the fact that we are changing lives, it gets me pretty. It gets me pretty excited.

Your name kept coming up in my mind when launching the accountability coach program

We talked about, not getting teared up, but it means a lot because I really appreciate you, allowing me the opportunity to help people now.

It's cool, man. I. So, you know, your. Your name kept coming up in my mind for several reasons. but you are, you are a servant. I mean, you have that attitude of, like, here to serve, you know? Like, what do you mean? You're paying me to be an accountability coach. I was gonna do it for free. You know, I'm like, shoot, maybe we should have not paid them. and we have several like that. Patrick Carter's is a new, he teaches our lighting design classes twice a month. And he sent me a text the other day. What, why would I. You guys are paying me. And I'm like, hell, yeah, we're paying you. So, like, I think it's just so cool that you meet people like that, cuz, yeah, this is a business I want you guys to. This is part of my dream, is to help support your dream. but you've got that right attitude. You've had success in the program, and you know what works, you know, what doesn't. You've seen people come in and out of the program, too, that are, like, it didn't work for me. And, like, you know, this hurts to talk about for me, because I, I think I can help everybody, and I want to have a hundred percent. I want to get up to bat and hit a home run every time. But, there's times where I strike out. There's times where I don't even get a hit, you know, and then we get the grand slam. But you've seen all that, you know, and you have this perspective that I think is. Is even better than mine, you know? And so I'm excited because I'm like, dude, not only am I kind of, like, passing the torch here, but, like, we're going to elevate, like, talk about level up. This is how we level up, because you're going to give them a perspective. And we saw this. We've done a bunch of calls together where people go from, like, Ryan, tell me this. Tell me this to, like, Andy. Well, I want. I want to hear it from you. What did you do? And, like, that's pretty powerful.

Yeah, that's, that's when I knew that this was gonna work. again, really, the biggest thing is just getting the message out and talking to as many people as possible.

So how have you seen, you know, let's. I think some people. Well, let me say this. I think everybody thought, including myself, when I launched this. What the hell is this guy doing? There's no way it's gonna work. I've had people tell me that, and I'm like, dude, I'm not, I'm not upset right now because I didn't think it would work, right? So I think there's a lot of people are like, is it gonna work? How's it gonna work? Would it work for me? Is it just a money grab? Like, what is it? But you know how I feel on this. Like, I know we're changing lives, and so I'm willing to have those awkward conversations if someone's like, I don't know, I just want to think about it, or, you know, I don't know, like, is there a guarantee? I'm like, dude, I guarantee you're going to continue to fail doing the same things.

Talk a little bit about how we're changing lives. Well, changing lives comes in a couple ways

Talk a little bit about how we're changing lives.

Well, changing lives comes in a couple different ways, right? You know, right off the bat, we're going to give you the confidence that you're not alone. Right. Immediately you join the Facebook group. Immediately you have access to the portal where you've got all this information and content, and, but you also have the other people in the meetings, too, so you're not alone. That's probably the biggest thing. And then you have the power of all the people in the group. The coaching, the direction, and then the step by step process. We tell you where to start. When I first looked at that list, you made the list. And I looked at it, and I looked all the way down at the bottom where my goals are, and I realized that there was things that I still needed to fill in. And so we're helping people fill those in so they can create more time for themselves and their families. and if you'd like, I can talk about how, you know, being intentional about creating time for this position has actually freed up more time in my family.

Yeah, I honor. I definitely think we should talk about that.

A lot of entrepreneurs want to prove something for lots of different reasons

I want to ask you first. Like, you know, man, I literally think of myself, like, ten years ago, and I would have been like, there's a guy teaching landscape lighting secrets. Like, that's lame. I'm not, I'm not doing that. Because I want to be a lone wolf. Like, I don't want help. I mean, and I. And I've done a lot of analysis, self analysis and getting to know myself and my childhood and. And why I'm the way I am and why I'm doing these things. And, a lot of entrepreneurs want to prove something for lots of different reasons. And it's hard to ask for help. You know, it's, like, really hard, because it's like, that takes away power. That takes away, like, I don't need your help, Andy. I know what I'm doing. You know? And Lindsey will tell you, that's got to be up there with one of my top weaknesses, if not the top one, is. So, how have we, how have you seen people come in here, have kind of that similar attitude? Maybe they're not, you know, on a hundred percent of the calls, whatever. How can someone like that still win in a community? And how does community help them kind of get out of their rut and get out of their own way?

That's, that's a good question, because you're right. Not everybody loves to be in the mix with everybody. They just kind of like to check in and check out. They like to get into the portal, do some of the work. The way that they're going to win is to still do the work. You know, you really only, I mean, you could use 10% of the program and make $100,000, right. You don't have to show up to every call. Right. You could show up to one call, sit in the background, and hear one thing that makes it click for you. And that's really the big thing about coaching, is. Isdezheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh it just takes the right thing at the right time to make something click so you can get some momentum, collect your wins. Right. And keep stacking up. That's what this is. You always have somewhere to come back to to get some quick wins.

Yeah. Well said. We had a guy. I won't say his name, but after about a year, well, it was after a year of the program, then we were having our secret summit, ah, last year. And it, was around the same time. He's, like, bought a ticket to the summit. But I was like, I've never seen him on any of the calls. Like, I didn't even. I forgot he was still in the program, you know, not on the Facebook group commenting and all this. And I called him. I said, hey, are you, are you. So, are you planning on sticking around? Or, like, did you know you bought a ticket and he's like, oh, why would I not? And I'm like, well, I don't know. Because, Did you get any value? Like. Like, I'm, surprised. And he. I love the program. I'm like, really? What do you love about it? Because I never see you. Oh, dude, no, that's just me, man. I'm just a lone wolf guy. Like, I just. I just don't engage in those conversations. But trust me, dude, I watch all the recordings. I stalk everyone I like. I've gotten so much value out of this group. It's a no brainer. Stays in another year, and then. So, like, there, there's lots of different ways to win. And, I think that's important because it's not a. It doesn't fit all, per se, but it kind of does. We have a menu of things. It's like, hey, you want lone wolf? You got this. You want group coaching? We got that. You want one on ones? We got that. And what I learned over this past probably, year and a half by being in other mentorship groups is there's a, there's a process for that. And so that's why we redesigned 2.0 to be like, hey, here's. You have to learn on your own. That gives people power to be like, yeah, I'm doing this on my own. Right. But then if you can. If you can accept help from others, you'll actually go further. And sometimes it takes us a year or two to get people involved in community because they're not used to it. But we have learn on your own, learn one on one, learn in small groups, and then we have learn in big groups. So it's, it's definitely a formula, and it's not that everyone's ready for all of it at once. Sometimes it takes time.

So, let's talk about your journey. Tell us about what you've been doing

So, let's talk about your journey. Because, you know, one of my concerns was, like, I almost, I didn't even call you for probably a week because I was like, well, how would that work, like, if Andy came to work with us, you know, basically full time? I mean, I know enough about his business to know that he's not just sitting on the drink on the beach, drinking my ties right now. I mean, he still has, he still has a business that requires him. So I was like, no, I'm not going to call him. And then I'm like, and I'm going to call him. No, I'm not going to call him. And I was worried that I was going to, like, somehow, like, if I can if I was like, if I convince him to join or, you know, join our team, then is he going to have to give up on his dream or how's this going to work? That's not true. We, we wanted to support your dream. So what. Tell us about that. Tell us about what you've been doing and, and, how you're approaching this.

Yeah, that's a good question. You know, when you first called me, I obviously, first off, I was, I was thrilled, right. Just to be in that conversation. it meant a lot. It meant an awful lot to me. at first, I didn't really understand, how it would work, but I think, if you recall, I was really like, I just need some time to think about it and kind of digest it. And honestly, I wrote down my goals, and my goals are to impact as many people as possible. and lighting is kind of my instrument to do that, whether it's making homes beautiful or, you know, whether it's teaching the next, you know, batch of designers, through the cold program or, or holding people accountable so they can grow their business to become great lighting designers. Right? And so I kind of had taken all the things that you had taught me along the way. Right? We had our shop in place. I had my office person in place. I have a sales person in place. I have a, lead guy that can do all the installations with technicians. ultimately, I'm going on three to four quality consultations, per week. I'm still managing my projects in the morning, but I'm being really intentional with my time, and it's forced me to do it. And I've stretched a little bit, but I'm growing, and it feels so good. I don't know. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm just re energized. My, business is thriving, and I'm helping other people, get their business to a point where it's thriving, too. And it's, the energy and the momentum is really strong for me right now. I appreciate, I appreciate everything you've done.

Yeah, dude. I mean, it's a big move because we're not talking like, oh, andy, come just, do like a call here and there. Like, you know, we've got some massive plans, and, this is a big move, and so I want to, I want to share this. Not everyone's going to come work for landscape lighting secrets or even go do something else. But the thing is, most business owners, the reason they take forever to get to their goals is because they take forever. Like, the question that I want everyone to ask themselves is, what has to be true? Okay, so what has to be true for Andy to basically come over to landscape lighting secrets and not just survive, have his business survive, but thrive. And so we've done this. We've done this exercise. Okay, what has to be true? Well, I'd have to have this, this person would have to be doing this. I'd probably have to stop doing that. And I'm telling you, everyone can do this exercise right now, regardless of, like, okay, well, if I'm at a million and I want to get to two in the next twelve months, what has to be true? Or if I'm at 300 and I've been stuck here for the last two years and I want to get to 800 or a million, what has to be true? This is intentional design. This is intentional design of your business. And, like, it's. It sounds so simple because it is. You know what I mean? And I think I told you, I was like, dude, Andy, this is either gonna make you or break you. Like, because we are gonna get intentional and we're gonna do hard things together and you're going to have to do this, which means this is going to happen on your business. What's your plan to. To overcome that? And as long as you build these stabilizers and these plans along the way, everything's going to be fine. If you don't, you're not intentional, shit's going to fall apart. Right?

Yeah, that's it. that's it. And, I mean, just to check in, I've been with you a little over 30 days, and we've had one of our best, sales months to date.

That's crazy.

It's. It's just both things. And again, it's all that good energy we're putting out there, man.

It's like, you know, we're. We're. You and I are both big fans of Benjamin Hardy, so it's like, who not how combined with ten x is easier than two x. And it's just like, okay, again, what has to be true if I want to be able to do this?

Our mission here is all about freedom, impact and legacy

what has to be true? You know? And our, you know, our, like, our mission here is all about freedom, impact and legacy. Like, I want it. Like, we align that way. Like, I want to help. I want freedom. Like, I want to go to work when I tell everyone, go to work when you want to, not when you have to. I want that for myself. I want to be selfish. I want to go do cool shit, but I want that for our community, right? I want it for our team members. I. Okay, I want it for you as a team member, you as a client. Impact, what are we doing to impact the world? What are people going to go, man, if it wasn't for that guy, I don't know where I'd be right now. Okay? I want impact in the community or impact on my team members. I want impact with my family. Legacy, same thing. So it's. And you can't work on legacy until you have freedom. You can't really work on impact until you have freedom. And you can't have freedom until you have money. So that's why I'm always talking about money and people think I'm greedy or whatever. It's like, I'm just telling you, money's a tool and you need a lot of it, okay? You want it. You want to go help people right now, you're going to need some money because if not, you might have time, but you probably don't have time because you're busy running your business. So I think it's been cool that you accepted the challenge and you're accepting the challenge. You're, you're putting things and people in place to be like, okay, can we not just thrive but can we not just survive, but can we thrive during this difficult time?

Absolutely. And I'm, I have to say that I'm super proud of my team, too. Michelle's been, Michelle's, really stepped up, up to the plate. and my office just, everybody's really, ah, done a great job to help get me here, so.

Well, I think that's what is cool is like, this has given you a reason to do the hard things. So, like, I don't know what. What would happen if we, if we didn't do this. You might continue at the same speed that you were before. You know, and it's rit, it's still a risk. We don't know. We're having this conversation, like, totally on public forum. We don't know what the end result is going to be. Right. but I think people have to take a risk and go, something's got to change. Like, I'm, ah, going to make this decision right now and do this thing. I'm going to commit to this action. I'm going to commit to this course, I'm going to commit to these, these activities, whatever it is, and that's going to be the thing. This has given you purpose, this has given you a reason to make big moves. And I see too many people that have been in the industry 510, 1520 years. They've never had a purpose to change. And so they accept the ten to 20% growth every year, which is not amazing.

It's not fast enough, is it? no, not. Not fast enough for you, but not fast enough for your family, not fast enough for the people you have working for you that you're trying to grow. I, mean, we owe it to our people to do more.

Yeah, well, if we. If we are going to be entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders, that's something we accepted. Maybe we didn't know we accepted that, but we accepted it, right?

Absolutely.

And besides, like, again, if I'm just thinking selfish for a moment, like, it pisses me off when I see entrepreneurs working so damn hard and they lose their family. They give up on all these things, and for what? Like, just go get a job, you know? But if you're gonna be in this position, you do have the obligation to serve at the highest level. Your team members provide a good life for them, your family, your community. And that if this is the first time you're hearing it, you. That's an obligation is real, but you also have an obligation to take care of yourself and reward yourself.

Right.

Because, like, there's, there's pretty good jobs out there with pretty good benefits that end at 05:00 yeah.

I mean, if you're going to follow somebody else's system, you might as well, you know, follow. Follow this system in your own business.

Yeah.

Ah, right. Like, that's. That's. That's where I was, and it's been a good journey.

You came to my house for the omni training, which was cool

So let's talk about, you know, there's. I want to talk about some of the things that you're going to do here. you know, we were at, You came to my house for the omni training, which was cool. any. Any, takeaways there on.

Yeah, Jimmy was awesome. he's just. Just an awesome guy with tons of great information. The mouth that he gives right to help grow his business. It was, It was impressive.

Yeah. I mean, again, like, if you. If you want an example of. Of what the sacrifice that has to happen and the risk you got to take.

Yeah.

You. You look at what Jimmy's doing, I'm like, oh, my gosh, dude. I'm, like, exhausted after, like, a two day conference, you know? I'm like, oh, I need a few weeks off. He's like, oh, I'm on the next plane to Denver, and then I'm on the plane to the.

Like, he answers every text. I mean, just solid.

We sat down by the fire first night, he's like, 126 missed texts. And they just sat there and took care of all of them, you know.

Knocked him off one by one.

Hey, so that's the thing. That's what it takes, guys. Like, it takes. It's hard. It's not easy. We give you in landscape, lighting, secrets, so many freaking shortcuts. It's like going to the front of the line, but you still have to show up. You have to get up early and get to the park early and get in the line. It's still a little bit of a line. It's just a shorter line, you know? And, like, there's still work. And so the people that are willing to do it, it works, 100% of the time, and the people who aren't, it pretty much works 0% of the time, you know? So, it's. I've loved having you in the program because there's people like you that are, like, star students. I'm, like, so grateful that someone's willing to put in the work, because if not, then it's like, your program's garbage, dude. It doesn't work. But it does work, because if, you know, you guys have proven it. So I'm grateful for you and the other guys that are willing to do the hard things well.

And when. When you put in what I've put in, I mean, it's been given back tenfold. I mean, obviously, I pay to be in the program, but, I mean, the. The amount of value, I. It's hard. It's hard to even quantify. Right. I mean, the. The advice that you've given me, and just the. The friends that I've made, I'll leave it at that. I I feel really lucky.

Go, man.

What?

maybe we'll kind of, wrap up here.

Let's talk a little bit about 2.0. You've been in it for a long time

Let's talk a little bit about 2.0. I mean, you've. You've been in it for a long time, so you've seen some of the revisions and things. We've. You know, we throw some things at the wall, see what sticks, and.

Yep.

Like, oh, that's cool. Let's do that. We've added accountability, coaching. But what. What are some things in 2.0 that got you excited?

You know, right off the bat? The pathway to success. Right. I it starts off with the lighting academy. I like the idea that we talked about getting everybody on the same page. I like the idea that lighting academy gets the foundation built right from the beginning. I can have my new hires watch lighting academy and get up to speed in just a couple hours. And then when I'm explaining things, it's not the first time they've seen it, and they understand some things. So I'm really excited about lighting academy, especially as we ramp up hiring, but the pathway to success, you know, for everybody to start at a certain level and then have something to work towards as you incrementally get through the program, I just. I love it. I love the idea that as you work through it, you get more and more, and you get it when you're able to accept it. Right. I remember at the beginning, you would just give everybody everything all at the beginning, and you're like, oh, my God, that's so much. I can't even just digest it all at once. But now this, it's almost like a drip, where you still get all the information, but as you grow into your role, we start to give you a little bit more. That pushes you to stretch a little bit more so you can grow more and more. So I'm just pumped about the different levels. I think that there's a spot for everybody.

That's cool. I'm glad to hear that's. I mean, we've learned so much these last few years. you know, like, I really feel like I can help anyone again. There was a while where I was like, dang, dude, I don't know. Like, I thought it would be more common sense for this, but now we literally. I'm just like, okay. And what I did was ideal client avatar exercise. And, like, okay, who can I help and how can I help them? And if I was to start a business today, what would I do? And I. Here it is. You know, step, what is this? 29 purchase iPad for sales presentations. Because I find out, that people weren't using technology, right. Or, step 37, create a one page front and back lead behind. They weren't leaving anything behind. You know, 35 put out five yard signs each week. I, have people that say they are, but they're not. Right. Pricing, create pricing, pricing guide. Create your sales presentation, which we have that for them. But, there's all these things that you need to get done. And, my rule is you can complain after you've done the things. So if from zero to 500k, you've done all those things and what I said was going to happen didn't happen, then you can complain. But until then, you don't get to be like, man, I just don't get it. My phone's not ringing. Because if you do these things, your phone rings.

And that's what I love about the accountability meetings. You know, when I meet with people and I'm talking to them about what challenges they have, we can go right to there, and we can pick out exactly what maybe they haven't done along the way. We can get them back in there. Maybe they didn't understand something all the way. Right? And that's why they skipped it. So we can break it down. We can make sure it gets done. That way, we can stay on that path. It's, it's cool, man.

Yeah. Good. I'm glad to hear.

People have problems with certain things that aren't necessarily solvable

Well, you know, the thing, another thing I've learned is people's, like, we did our, sales call, and. And people think they have problems with certain things that, that aren't necessarily solvable. Right? Then. So I'll give an example. Someone's going, oh, I'm having a hard time, you know, closing deals. Tell me what, tell me what your process is. Like, tell me what you're saying. And their sales script is actually, they, they got it from the portal. It's like gold. I'm like, dang, dude, I don't know. It sounds really good. And like, well, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? And then they'll throw out something like, well, yeah, you know, we had to. The. I just met with the wife, and. Oh, wait. What'd you just say? Oh, you weren't meeting with both decision makers, right? Or. Well, I gave him a couple options. Say that again. You gave him how many options? Because the script says three options. So? So it's not just knowing it. It's practicing and refining it and getting comfortable with it. And it's not easy, you know, to come in and be like, man, I have to change the way I'm doing things just because Ryan said, hell, yeah, you do. Because it works. And it's gonna hurt. It's gonna, it's like if you. And if, if you hired a personal trainer today, and he goes, oh, Andy, you think you've been working out? Wait till you see what I'm gonna do. Those first few days are gonna hurt like hell. Maybe the first couple months.

Yeah.

And you're not gonna see results. you're like, why am I doing this? This is stupid. It doesn't even work. It just hurts. That's exactly how working on your business is. And it's actually even worse because sometimes it takes longer to see results. And you're like, most people just give up. That's the difference between quitters and winners, is like, no, if you don't quit, we have the proven roadmap. Go through these things. Try it on a client. Doesn't work. Doesn't mean it's not going to work. It just means it didn't work the way you did it. So find where you had a crack in your foundation. Fill it, fix it. Do the three options, not the two options. Did you price marinate? Oh, well, I forgot to. Then maybe that was it, you know? Did you pre qualify? Well, kind of. Well, that's not acceptable. Like, precision matters.

And when you can start to duplicate that repeatable process, that's when the magic happens.

Exactly. Yep. And, you know, it's like, I don't know. I started doing my push ups right years ago now, two years ago or whatever, and, like, it hurt. And what was funny is we did, like, the 20 push up challenge at summit, and everyone did them for those two days or whatever, and they were like, oh, man, I woke up. I was so sore, and I was laughing because I was like, that's funny because I do 175 a day now, and I'm not sore at all.

Not even,

It's still hard to do them. Like, I still get winded. It's not that I'm, like, this beast or anything. It's just that I don't get sore anymore. But I remember 20 push ups being. I was like, oh, dude, I'm so sore. So that's how it is, man. Growing this business is like, you grow these businesses, it hurts, and you don't see the results, and it takes two years, and then before you know it, you're like, damn. It's natural now. Like, I can. I can close people on the spot. I can get leads. This is easy. It's just. It's just we have momentum now. It's easy. that's how, like, the push ups are for me. It's like, no, it's just. It's just normal now. So now I'm good.

It feels good when you can trust the process.

Yeah. Big time. Yeah. Well, cool, man.

Ryan Lee welcomes Andy Athenae to the landscape lighting team

as we close, anything else you want to share with the, With the team?

You know, I'm just, again, happy to be a part of landscape lighting. Secrets on both. On both sides. all my friends that are in the program, all my friends that are going to be in the program. if there's anything I can ever do to help, I'm always here.

Cool. Well, if people want to get ahold of you, obviously, Facebook, you're on social media. how else can people get in touch with you?

You, can reach me at Andy Athenae, Ryan Lee coaching. com, or Andy at sandybeach outdoor .com. either one gets. Gets right to me.

Love it, man. Well, I'm, stoked to have you as part of the team. This is going to be fun. we've already had the opportunity to hang out several times. We're going to. You're going to be at a lot of the events, so you're going to be at, you know, like, a lot of manufacturers have trainings and events and stuff like that. You're going to be at AOlp. You're going to be at all the places. So make, sure, when you guys see Andy, congratulate him, and, we're just stoked to have you part of the team. Our team's growing. It feels good. Some things hurt, and I'm like, oh, but I have to give up the strategy sessions. I love this, but we're really stoked to have you on the team, man.

Thanks, Ryan. Do appreciate it.

All right, guys, go get some stuff done. 1080. Ten. Let's go.