Lighting for Profits - Episode 212

Rooted in business and sharpened through finance, consulting, and construction, this journey took an unexpected turn into the glow of outdoor lighting. With curiosity as the spark, bold cold calls, valuable mentors, and a commitment to learning lit the way toward building a thriving career in landscape lighting.

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Episode Transcript

Ryan Lee hosts Lighting for Profits, the number one landscape lighting show

Welcome to Lighting for Profits. Oh, no. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the number one, the number one landscape lighting show in Norwell, Massachusetts. Guys, I forgot to check everything. I'm trying to figure out, how I can do this because I don't think it played the music like I wanted it to play the music. So, I gotta figure this out. But, I am excited for the show. I already went live, so we're doing this. if you are looking to start or grow a landscape lighting business, you're definitely in the right place. I'm Ryan Lee, the host of Lighting for Profits, powered by Emory Allen. And, it would be really cool if I could figure out how to, change the settings on my computer right now. So I think we're going to do that. All right, it should be working now. So, let's just play some music to make sure. There it is. There it is. All right, we can start the show now.

Today we got an awesome show landing lined up. We got Mr. Paul Valhooli with Apollo Outdoor Lighting

Guys.

One of the greatest things about doing a live show is that you just go live and you make mistakes and you do things. The downside is you make mistakes and you do things. but I'm, I love this show. I love hanging out with you. I love talking landscape lighting. Today we got an awesome show landing lined up. We got Mr. Paul Valhooli with Apollo Outdoor Lighting. And I gotta tell you, I'm really, really excited about this show. Paul has not been in the lighting industry very long, but he's made some major, major, successes. I don't even know how to word that. He's done a lot of really good things and his story is, is truly gonna, I think help a lot of people. And it really matters because it's really, he's, he's proof that, that the right mindset, tools, actions can really accelerate your growth in this industry. And he's just done some phenomenal things. And again, he's not. Not very far along.

Landscape Lighting Secrets annual members only event takes place next week

So excited to have Paul join us in just a couple minutes. And if you made it this far, you already made it through my big snafu at the beginning. I don't know if you heard the intro music or not, as I know it was not playing in the right spot in my studio. So excited, for today's show, did you guys know that we're the number one landscape lighting show in Norwell, Massachusetts? I don't know. It's crazy. hey guys, quick reminder. Landscape Lighting Secrets, the Secret Summit, it's our annual members only event, happens next week, September 25th, through 27th. it's in West Palm Beach. It's going to be epic. I'm almost done planning it. Like I've got like a few speeches and I'm rewriting them. So I think that means I'm ready. Probably rewrite some more on the plane. but really, really excited to hang out with members of Landscape Lighting Secrets next week. And everyone's invited. Even, even if you're not a member, you're invited to the luxury illumination 10 year anniversary party on September 27th. So next Saturday, not, not next Saturday, in like 12 days, whatever that is. September 27th. come hang out. If you need information and you want to register for that, it's free. But we do need to register for a headcount. just send me a message or send me an email. Supportionlee coaching.c om Guys, thanks so much for your support. It really does mean a lot. We're up to like 80 something 5 star reviews and it's so hard to get 5 star reviews on Apple. Like there's, I can't just send links real easily and all that. So if you've gotten value out of the podcast, maybe you have a favorite episode, give that person a shout out and give me that five star review. Would really, really appreciate it.

Paul Valhooly talks about the murder of Charlie Kirk

again guys, in just a couple of minutes we got Paul Valhooly, Apollo Outdoor Lighting. so excited to have him on the show. But, but before we have him on, I want to, I want to talk about something that's on my mind. Been on my mind for about a week now. last week was tough. you know, you probably, you know, know about the, the murder of Charlie Kirk. And you know, I've, I, I've obviously heard of tragedy before. I've seen on the news before, like people die, people get murdered, whatever. And, and this one was different. my mom was there, about 30ft away, Utah, Valley University is 20 minutes away from our house. And she's like, oh yeah, I want to go. And I forgot that she said she wanted to go and I told her I couldn't go because I had to work. And so she sent me a picture about 20 minutes before, Charlie came out to the crowd. And she's. The picture I have is literally 30ft away. I'm like, holy cow. And so it's not, it's not just a headline. I mean it's, it's real, it's personal. And you know, I, again, like, I'll see a news story. And like, if there's a tragic event that happens, like, I feel sad, but it's only for like a minute, maybe two, three, four, five minutes. And I think about maybe their family, maybe say a prayer. But this is a very short term thing. But this last week was different. I mean, I, it like, like I've never met Charlie Kirk. I don't really follow him much. I, I've heard some videos and different things, but Man, I felt like I lost a friend. I felt like I lost a brother. And it just, it just has really stuck with me. And the thing that I want to point out, and I don't. I'm not even going to talk politics here, the thing that really, has caused me to take a step back is really just like, are we living our lives the way we want? Like, we're not guaranteed tomorrow? And like I said, normally I just kind of pause for 60 seconds, a couple minutes and think about what maybe what that family went through or something like that. But, this time it's definitely lingered and it's helped me kind of ask the question, like, am I living the way life I want to be? Am I prioritizing the right things? and I, I often, I, I've just taken life for granted lately and I just assume that there's going to be unlimited tomorrows. And I've got all these goals and all these things I want to do both personally and in business that like, I haven't done yet. And I'm like, yeah, but one day I'll do that, right? And you know, most of us treat success like it's this destination. Like, yeah, I'll do that tomorrow, I'll do that next year or five year planning, whatever it is. But you know, we think, ah, when I hit the magic number, I get seven figures or, so much money in my bank account or whatever it is, right? We feel like we've made it and, that's when we'll start to feel successful. But to me, to be honest, I think that's an illusion. I think none of us are promised tomorrow. None of us know if we're going to get the chance to enjoy that future moment. And, is it worth grinding for? Right? And so what if success isn't about someday? What if it's about today? you know, like, are you living aligned? Are you living aligned with your values? with what you're trying to do today? are you present with your family? Are you serving your clients well? Are you making an impact. Do you live with gratitude? Do you live with joy? And I'm just going to tell you, every day I don't. There's days I take for granted, I'm like, oh, it's okay, it's worth the grind because tomorrow I'll be better, Right? And, you know, that's what's sad for me is personally, I've already hit goals in my life. That one, like at one point, you know, 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago, like, this is the destination. Like, I already hit it, right? So then, then why, why am I not satisfied? And I don't know why I'm not satisfied. That's just part of my personality. But, you know, I reach the top of a mountain, I look and I see a taller one, so I go after that one. And so I've always got these bigger goals and I'm always reaching for that next destination. and don't get me wrong, like, I love business, but, you know, I love building, I love growth. But business is not everything. And it's just really a vehicle for us. So it's not the end in and of itself. Behind every, every business, mine included, there's a why, like, why are we doing this? And that is what you have to live out every single day. You know, freedom, impact, legacy, contribution, family, whatever. Your why is like, you have to be intentional that you're living that on a daily basis and not waiting for this level of success to happen. Because success is today. if you're present with your family at dinner tonight, like, you're successful. Okay? So instead of waiting for a big milestone, you know, seven figures, financial freedom, retirement, like, whatever your big thing is to finally feel successful. What if we just started living in success today? You know, waking up grateful. success is serving your clients really well. Success is being present at dinner with your kids. It's enjoying the journey while still climbing the mountain. Like, it doesn't. Yeah, there's hard moments, right? But, like, it's okay to enjoy the view.

Don't wait for tragedy to remind you of what matters

So here's my challenge to you. Don't wait for a wake up call. You know, Charlie's, death was a wake up call for me. And again, I don't know why, like, I've never met him. I don't, I don't have, like. It's kind of weird that I have this attachment, but it was a wake up call for me. don't wait for tragedy to, to remind you of what matters. You know, ask yourself, if this were my last day, if this were my last day. Would I be proud of how I spent it? Would I be proud of the things that I've done, the person that I've become? Am I living my why today? Or am I putting it off for someday that might never come? And ask yourself, am I reactive or am I proactive? Because there's a huge difference there. And when I ask myself those questions, I have a different perspective. And I realize some of my weaknesses, and I realize some of my strengths. And now I can adjust and I can pivot and I can go, okay, I got to do better here. Because truly, none of us know how many m. How many minutes we have left. And I, don't know about you, but I want to make sure the ones that I do have are invested in what truly matters. So just. Just want to share that perspective. I know this is lighting for profits. We're supposed to talk lighting. We're supposed to talk profits. But to me, this is why, what it's all about. Like, I want to help you guys build a profitable business so that you can do these things. And too many are putting it way too far off. Like, this doesn't need to wait five, ten years to happen. Like, we can start living our dream life right now. We can build a profitable business today.

Right?

And you're doing this for your why. Everyone's why is different. But I want you to understand what your why is and start living it today like, there's no reason to put it off anymore.

If you're aiming to elevate your outdoor installations, the Emory Allen Pro series fixtures are

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Ryan: Welcome to the show, Paul Valhooli

All right, well, now we know why you're here. Just come hang out with Paul. So let's get the music going. What do you say? Let's go. Welcome to the show, Mr. Paul Valhooli. How are you, Paul?

I'm, good, Ryan. How are you, man?

I'm excited to hang out.

It's gonna be a good hour, man. I'm. I'm happy to be here.

Yeah. Thanks for coming on the show, man. so much to get into. Really, excited that you're being willing to come on here and kind of share your journey so far. And I think people are going to have a lot to learn here because, you know, sometimes we bring people on that have been in the industry 20 years or 30 years and, you know, like, doing millions of dollars. It's like, that's awesome. Like, of course we want to learn from people that, like, we want to be like. But sometimes it's like, well, damn, like, how am I gonna make it that far? I just got to get through the next month. And so you're, I think, kind of this. This bridge in my mind of, like, hey, you know what? Like, you're fairly new in the industry, but you're getting traction and don't, have, like, this unfair advantage of, you know, your name's been around 20 years and stuff like that. So excited to have you on.

Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here.

Paul from Apollo Outdoor Lighting started in landscape lighting four years ago

well, I guess real quick, for those that don't know you could. Could you just give us a quick backstory? Like, what. What were you doing before you got into the landscape lighting industry? And. And how'd you. How are we on that? How are we in this industry together?

Yeah. So, hey, everyone. I'm Paul from Apollo Outdoor Lighting. I started, Apollo Outdoor Lighting four years ago, and I grew up in New Hampshire. and I went to school for finance and accounting. Totally different from lighting. And, I've got a bit of a unique story of how I got into where I am now, but thought I wanted to go kind of the standard corporate life. Ryan went, to school, like I said, finance and accounting.

I did consulting. Ah.

After school for a year in Boston. really hated it. I was commuting over the train every Single day from New Hampshire. It was like an hour and a half each way, and just, I was completely miserable. and then continued doing, corporate finance for a few years and just really wanted to work outside and just see my projects be tangible. and so I just made a complete change, into construction. And so I was a project manager for a large construction company in Boston. My biggest company, or, sorry, my biggest project I worked on was about 70 units. But, I love the fact that I could see a building go up. So I was in charge of managing subcontractors, buying them out for the project, overseeing the schedule, and just overseeing the entire project, managing the relationship between the developer, all that, all that fun stuff.

Right.

and I always wanted to run my own business one day. Ever since I was a kid, I've always done kind of small, side hustles, like over ebay. I used to sell clothes from savers on ebay. I would just go to thrift. Thrift shops and, and find good deals and I'd sell them on ebay. I'd do all this random stuff.

But did you learn this from Gary Vee or.

I actually watched Gary Vee quite a bit, which is pretty funny.

That's awesome.

Yeah. And, and what I realized in construction, I was working with so many business owners there, that were my subcontractors. I was like, man, if these guys can do it, if these guys are making millions of dollars and they're running crews of 20, 30 people doing concrete and drywall, I was like, if they can do it, like, I can do it. So, I really just took a. Took a crazy leap. I started off doing holiday lights, Ryan. So, while I was working there, whenever I wasn't working, I was stringing holiday lights on the weekends and I was running ads on Facebook. Just absolutely had no idea what I was doing. And after that winter had gone by, things had gone decently well. And I was like, wow. Like, this is actually. This is actually working. I looked up online, like, what is a close alternative to holiday lights? And it turned out landscape lighting was, like, an option I had never heard about in my life.

Why were you looking that? I mean, did you not like holiday lighting or, like, why were you even looking at that point?

I think, honestly, I loved the whole, process of finding a customer, doing the quoting, doing the design, doing a great job, and just seeing them really happy with the work that once it was over, I was like, man, like, what am I going to do with my time now? Like, I loved it so much that I wanted something else to do. And so if you do just holiday lights, you're not busy, you know, from from January through October. So I had to find something that was somewhat close that I could market it similarly.

And that was just Google and going down YouTube and all that.

It was just Google. Yeah, it was literally just Google and YouTube and just learning that it was an actual option.

Okay. And then you're like, hey, I guess I'll start a landscape lighting business.

That was it. I wish I had some, some crazy story, but that's, that's where it started. It started with just a curiosity of what I could, what I could get into that was close to holiday lights and and I guess building a belief in my mind that it was possible to build a business after researching other companies that do it around the country, that was like my first step.

It took me about six to nine months to quit my full time job

So how long did it take you to quit your job? You were doing, you did holiday lighting one season, figured out landscape lighting. Did you start landscape lighting that year and go get.

Yeah, I was doing it like as a side hustle at the time. So again, after work, like whenever I wasn't working, I was, I was selling landscape lighting and just starting from scratch, learning it from the ground up. It took me about probably, I'd say six to nine months to quit my full time job. It was definitely probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. And shout out to, Eric from Music City Lighting. He, he, I would probably call him once a week. I was like, I gotta quit, I gotta do this. And he, he urged me. Like, he just kind of moved me forward. He's like, you gotta do it. So I eventually trusted in him. I was calling him every single day. It was awesome. Yeah.

Paul from Apollo is a landscape lighting company based in Boston

So, and did you have a business name like when you were doing holiday lighting? Was it different?

Yeah, it was Boston Christmas Lights.

Okay, because this is what I want to ask you about. Because most people that have this journey start out with a Christmas light name and then they're like, they find out about landscape lighting. It's like, crap, what do I do? So, what did you do?

Yeah, so I, I had Boston Christmas Lights and it was just a Facebook page. It worked for that one winter. And then I needed. To your point, I needed a brand. And that's when I started thinking, I need a logo. I need all this, I need all that. And my fiance and I, we work on our logo together back when we were living in Boston and just seeing it change over Time is pretty, pretty funny. But, the landscape lighting, to your question of how I got to Apollo. Apollo. I'm Greek, and Apollo is the Greek God of sun or light. And so it was just kind of stuck. Plus, my name's Paul, so there's a little kind of play on words.

I thought. So I'm like, is that random or.

Yeah, I always get made fun of because when I call people, I'm like, oh, it's Paul from Apollo. And they're like, what'd you say?

Like, what?

Who is this?

Will you always just have someone, like, because you're going to replace yourself over the years, someone always has to say, they're Paul from Apollo. Yeah, someone there's always got to be. Paul's there.

Yeah. I actually, I had a lead come in this week and I was talking to her for a while. She needs lighting on. On some back rock, wall that she has at her. At her house. And she was like, midway through, she's like, you won't guess. You won't guess my name. I was like, what's your name? She's like, oh, my name's Lauren Apollo. So shout out to Lauren Apollo. I'll be seeing you next week. that's a done deal.

I mean, you might as well just send in the deposit check because you guys are obviously working together.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, so very cool.

So you decided, okay, I'm going to start this on the side

So you decided, okay, I'm going to start this on the side. You obviously started closing enough deals where you're like, okay, I actually have, like, a minimum viable product here. I could probably quit my job and make some money. Maybe not replace my income, but enough to where you felt comfortable letting that go. Eric talked you into it and you pulled the trigger. When was that?

That was in 2023. So that was like, early 2023 is when I officially made that jump. or maybe 2022. It was. It was three years ago, that I went full time. Full time. But the business has been around for like four years now.

Okay, that's amazing.

Yeah.

So started. It's been around four years. Apollo's been around four years.

The. The business. Yeah. Yeah. or at least the, Yeah, I guess it's been around for. I'd have to do the math. But yeah, three or four years, whatever it comes to.

How did you get your first few jobs in landscape lighting

Okay, and then how did that go? You know, you decided, hey, I'm going to start doing landscape lighting. How did you get your first few jobs? I think that's what a lot of people want to know is like, well, how do I Get started. How do I get those first few leads coming in?

Yeah, so when I first started it was I think I just used my skills from construction. I had a lot of connections from developers and landscape architects. And I've always like, I don't, I don't remember how I kind of got to this and this is something I've learned and it's really solidified from the coaching group. But I wanted to make things as system, systematized as possible. And I have really built a big belief in referral partners. So I was thinking, you know, I could go crazy on Facebook and start posting ads like I was for holiday lights. Or I could spend the same amount of time calling landscape architects, calling landscapers that actually need my services. And for each landscaper or you know, referral partner that I do close, I'll have a repeatable project, you know, lead flow that will be coming in that I can work with them on and build a long term relationship. So I kind of used my, my experience that I had in construction working with people like that and I really just, that's something I still do to this day. I'll still get on the phone, I'll call local companies and I'll work with them.

I love it. I mean it's, it's so smart because like if you go just knock a neighborhood and go knock on like a thousand doors today, you're probably going to get a job. Yeah, you probably are. But if you go knock on a thousand doors of like referral partners, it's a one to many relationship. So you're not just going to land one job, you're going to land three, four, five, ten. I mean, who knows how many over the next five or six, ten years relationship with them. So I love that.

Once you have the skill of selling, your confidence goes up across everything

What caused you to have that shift to go from like. Well I could, I could go do it like I did my Christmas light business, but I might try it different with the landscape lighting business.

I think what you just said before that sparked my memory and this will kind of parlay into, into that question. A huge belief of getting to the point where I could convince myself that I could really go full time into this, was convincing myself that if, if, if everything were to just you know, fall off and I had no leads to your point. I could just walk door by door and talk to people and cell lights. That was always like in my head that no matter what happened, I always could do that. And I still remember early, early on when I, when I started doing Landscape lighting. I did just that. I said, I'm just going to spend all day just knocking on doors and just seeing what happens. And about a couple hours in, I went to one neighborhood. I pretty much knocked on every single door. I was in my truck at the time and I, I was just mentioning, hey, have you, have you ever considered landscape lighting again? I didn't really have much of training at this point. I was just going in cold and I made a sale. I think it was like a $7,000 project. And I was freaking out. I was like, I was like, I'm only two hours in. I could theoretically do this all day. And and I learned that, that if, like I said, if anything goes wrong, you always have this, that you could fall back on. Which is, which is like a huge belief that I've, I still have right now.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Because when, when I started my lighting business, I had no lighting experience, but I had window cleaning and I started that business by. That's all we did was knock doors. And so my wife was always asking me, like, what happens if it doesn't work? And you know, what happens when everyone has lighting? I'm like, actually these are good questions. Like, I don't know, like, I don't really have a backup plan. But that was my backup plan. I was like, you know what, I could always go knock doors and clean windows and make like 700 to like, I could just go do that right now. I mean, literally. Yeah, I was always in the back of my mind and I, I never really transitioned to like, because I had success in lighting. I was never like, oh, I could always go knock doors doing landscape lighting. But that's really cool to hear your perspective on that.

I totally agree. Yeah, it's You can, you can once you learn to sell and, and this is something that I've really just gotten so much better at from the coaching program and just through talking with other business owners and networking. Just once you have the skill of selling, your confidence goes up across everything because you know at the end of the day that you could like, you just said you could go door to door, you could sell something else if you needed to, but once you find the right product to actually sell that you can really believe in, it's just, you know, it's exponential from there, basically.

That's awesome.

You've been talking to Eric Holmgren for a long time

So I'm learning some things on this that I didn't know, like dates and timelines. I have like a short term memory. I literally only remember the stuff that I Have to, like, use today to survive. But then we're talking, and I was like, wait a minute. I think I do remember some of this because I remember when you joined Landscape Lighting Secrets, and, now you're. You're filling in some of the dates. I'm like, wait a minute. You were talking to Eric for that long?

Oh, yeah, long time. Like, yeah, maybe not. Yeah, I'd have to go back and really confirm it, but it was. At least he was the first person I called. So when I still remember where I was, I, was at my fiance's dance studio, and I was in the. In the top studio, and I was just. She was working downstairs, I was working upstairs, and I was just calling landscape lighting companies, and I came across music, city outdoor lighting, who's owned by Eric, who's in the group? Eric's. Eric Holmgren. Shout out to Eric. and he just gave me, like, two hours of his time on a random afternoon. Just, just. I. I couldn't believe it. I was, like, just learning so much about how he runs his business. you know, what made him successful, how he started his growth, just everything of how he got to where he was. And compared to the numbers that I was doing at the time, I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, you know, it's. It's, you know, I can't believe he's at this level. That crushed a belief right there. Once you've learned that somebody is doing the numbers that. That you didn't think was possible, it just opens another belief. that was really what, what, what grew things early on. So, yeah, I've been talking to Eric for. For a long time.

All right, so that's cool. That's awesome.

Why did it take you so long to join Landscape Lighting Secrets

But why did it take you so long to join Landscape Lighting Secrets then?

That's a great question. I know. Yeah. I think what happened was I was after Eric, too. It was, I kept calling more and more companies, like I said. I just. I was just calling people every day, just learning more about the industry. And Keith Rosser from Utah was a huge, huge, advocate of the group. He's been in it for a while. and he told me to join. I found out that he was part of the same group that Eric was in, so that, like, just. I was like, oh, my gosh, is everyone part of this group? Like, I think I just have to, like, join this group. Then I started listening to the podcast, and, and everything just snowballed from there pretty much where I was, like, really interested. And then you and I started talking and, you know, here we are. I've been in it for about a year now.

What, what was going on in your mind when, you know, like, we had the call. And then there's that, that time where it's like, hey, put on your big boy pants, like you want to join or not. And I can't remember how much it was at the time, but, it's, it's a, it's a. For me, it's very reasonable. It's like we get, we have a, we have an ROI offer, which means like, like if you make an offer with landscape lighting, there's no monetary roi. I mean, the ROI is you feel better. And it's kind of like a health fitness offer, but like, we actually help people get their money back. So for me it's like a no brainer, but that's me. a lot of people struggle. It's like, man, I don't know, I don't have that kind of money or what if it doesn't work? What was going on in your mind?

Yeah, it was, to your point, like, I didn't have, I didn't see what you don't know. You can't see what you don't know. and so I didn't necessarily know what value I'd be getting at the time. So the price of, of joining the group, it didn't go to apples. Apples. I was like, you know, I just needed more convincing. and eventually I think you, you mentioned, you were like, you know, Paul, like, just, let's go right now. I think I told you, I'm like, you know what, like, winter's gonna slow.

Down a little bit.

I think I might join in the winter time and and I can put more time into like, focusing on it. And I think you just said, you know what, Like, I think that's an excuse. Paul, you just gotta, you just gotta join right now. And and, and you'll be thanking me later. And, and I just kind of trusted you with that. And it was like the best decision I've made by, by far. I know people are gonna think you paid me behind the scenes, but I, I tell that to people all the time. Like all I've done so far and I still have a lot to go is, I've mainly just copy and pasted what people are doing in the group and learning from other people's mistakes and I'm just implementing it on my own. And that's propelled me so much forward and I can get into some of the specifics later, but that's been a huge thing.

No, I appreciate you sharing. I mean, the thing that I'm learning from you is, like, even before our program, even before we met, you were already proactively calling people, reaching out. I mean, that's. That's what it takes. You. You were knocking doors. Like, you're. You're not waiting for someone to come save you. You're not reactive to, like. Well, you know, like, people tell me all the time, they're like, yeah, I don't know what to do. It's just slow in the economy. And. And I'm just like, well, like, I. I don't feel bad for someone until they've knocked a thousand doors. And then. Okay, let's talk, like, maybe, maybe your script is off. Maybe it is the way you look, maybe it is the way you sound, like there's something's got to give. But, like, I think that's one of my takeaways so far that I'm learning from you is, like, now you're. You're, willing to get uncomfortable. You're willing to put yourself out there, get vulnerable, ask, the hard questions, reach out to people. You have no idea who they are. They're probably going to hang up on you, and all of a sudden they open up and give you an hour or two of their time or more. Right? So, man, that's. That's huge, you know, being. Being willing to do that. I. Because, what I'm trying to do is figure out, okay, how. How can Paul have so much traction, so much success in this short, really relatively short period of time? Then there's other people that have been in the industry 10 years that haven't gotten to the level that you're at. You're like, what's the difference? You know? And I. I think you're a sponge, dude. Like, you just. You go ask all the questions, and then you don't just write down the answers. Like, you go implement the answers. So that's. That's a huge takeaway for me. Too many people are taking notes. Well, not enough people are taking notes. And then the people that are taking notes don't go back and review them. They're not really. It's like, just pick one thing and implement it this week and then go to number two and do that. And I feel like you're a really good student in that regard.

Thank you. Yeah, we were talking about this, like, another time, but I. I was saying that I. When I join a group like of this caliber, you just need to be a sponge and just squeeze every bit of value out as possible for you to get, to get, to get your value. and it will come tenfold if you put the time in.

What are some of the things that have been most valuable to you inside the group

What are some of the things that have been most valuable to you inside the group?

I would say learning the sales process, coming from like a non sales background and really mapping out and looking at things from a process standpoint. I think the, the group does a good job of like clearly explaining, you know, how you should approach, you know, as simple as how you should approach pulling up to someone's house when you're going to give a consult and then how you should approach meeting with them to talk about their property and talk about lighting for their property and how they should feel, what questions you should ask. And every single little step along the way should be evaluated. And when you do that, you're able to diagnose what's working and what's not working and you can change things out pretty easily and it lets you actually ask the right question. So if you realize that you're getting, you know, this far throughout your process and you're hitting a roadblock, just having the group to bounce ideas off of, of what to do in that instance really lets you just kind of like ab test what works and what doesn't and then that will get you one step further in that sales process or whatever process you're working with. And the cool thing like you said about the group is that there's people that have been in the industry for 10 plus years and that are like you said, they're, they're crushing it. learning from what their mistakes are and saving the time that you would have spent on that same exact mistake, like that's, that's been probably the, the by far the biggest value that I've got from the group, if that makes sense.

Yeah, that's cool. I actually like how you said like to segment every, like there's a sales process, but within the sales process there's like 52 different processes in there. And so some people will, will ask a question even, even in the, in, in the group, right outside the group, inside the group, whatever. A lot of people will ask a, questions like what do I, how do I improve my sales process? Or what do you guys do for sales? And like that's a good question, but it's just not that great because we don't know like, we don't know enough about like what, what are you Good at. And like, you could do all these things, right? You could park in the perfect spot, say the perfect thing at the beginning, do the walk around the house. But then, like, maybe didn't price marinate, or maybe you didn't allow separation, or maybe you didn't go inside. Like, I find out that some people are pitching under, not even under a tree, they're in the sun. You know, I'm like, well, that, that might be it right there. You know, it's just like these small, little things that you could say the right things and the right tonality and be there 15 minutes early, but this one little area goes off. So it's, it's not just like one sales process. It's really like questioning everything and being like, okay, even if I close the deal, like, what could I have done next time to be a little bit better?

Yeah, you're spot on. Yeah. You like what I would recommend everyone do? And we do it here at Apollo, every process we have is on a flowchart. Literally, the most minute little decision that you have to make within your process is shown on a flowchart. And you're able to see what that impacts throughout the journey of whatever you're processing. You know, what systems that we use are being triggered by certain things. And, it goes as detailed as asking a customer if they want a coffee. So, so if we have an estimate, I think we talked about this. If we do an estimate before, before 10:00am Then I'll just notate. Text the customer if they want a coffee on the way. And, I actually, I had my first customer say they wanted coffee last week. They did, yeah. Yeah, Yep. She said she wanted coffee. I brought her a black coffee. She was super excited and happy and we just enjoyed coffee together as we were looking at the quote, quote and looking at the design. So, by you understanding the process so well, you're able to build systems and, and build out a process that's as detailed as that. I think that's, that's something that we're always trying to get better at.

Did you close that deal?

I closed the Holiday Light deal on that.

They're.

They're waiting on it. It likely will. they're great people. They were referred to us. but I think we'll end up working together later in the month.

I learned. Yeah. When you told me about the coffee thing, I was like, wow. Like, does he have. Who has that much time? Like, and, and I'm not like a coffee drinker. I wouldn't even know what to order. Like, you just. Do you ask them specifics or I guess you. You've only had it once.

But, yeah, I'll. I'll just say, hey, if I stop on the way, you know, would you like coffee? we can enjoy it, you know, while we're. While we're walking. Walking the property, and that's it, you know? And most people are like, no, I'd already had some. but it's just a nice gesture, you know, it's. I think, another thing, too, that I. I want to really have Apollo be different from. We want to stand out. We don't want to be the average contractor. We, want it to stand out is somebody to remember who we are, what we. What we stand for. And little gestures like that really, really go a long way.

How are you finding the time to do this and grow your business

All right, so how are you finding the time to flowchart this? You know, to really get specific? Because this. When people ask me all the time, what are you talking. When you say work on the business, what does that mean? You know, I'm like, well, this would be a perfect example, like, to take a minute away from the business. Not in the process, not in the moment, but, like, analyze everything. And so you're essentially analyzing your workflow to say, hey, when we show up and we ask if someone. Or, when we're on the phone call and someone says, do you want a coffee? Yes or no? If they say no, then I follow this. If they say yes, then I do this. So how are you finding the time to do this and grow your business?

Yeah, good question. I think if at first, I'll answer this super quickly. The beginning is like, first, knowing that it's possible is like, half the battle. It's like, once you join the group, Kenny runs, like, an awesome systems and scaling call. So you learn that systems are actual, actually possible. So you actually have a group to talk to and discuss of how to build the infrastructure that actually allows you to do this. So knowing it's possible is, like, the first step, and believing that it's possible the second, and it's taken time to get here is. You know, we have, almost four months ago, we hired Beverly, who's our office manager, and she's just given back so much time from helping out with talking to customers, invoicing estimates, running the office, pretty much everything, from the administrative side, she handles. And so once, you have a team that actually is performing the physical work and helping out with the administrative side, you get some time back. and I know that everyone that's listening doesn't maybe have that luxury or you're building up to that luxury. but you have to realize that when you're building out that process, it's an investment that's going to pay you back just as much of it as any other investment. If you take an hour or two to invest that time into building out that flowchart and understanding what's working and what's not, that's going to allow you to get to the level of having, you know, reaching that next level where you're able to get back more of your time to make bigger decisions and bigger stuff, if that makes sense.

Yeah, well, I mean, like you said, you know, not everyone has that luxury. Well, four months ago you didn't have that luxury. Yeah, five months ago, whatever. You know, like that, that's, that's what I'm trying to plot here is like you're doing this very intentionally. And it's like you can keep doing these, putting out the fires and, you know, 10 mundane tasks every single day, or you could just take one day out of the week and be like, this is my systems day. And I'm not, I'm not going to do installs on, on Mondays or Wednesdays or Fridays, whatever. Like you're a four day a week company and those are the only days you have to generate revenue. And if you do that, I mean, you're living proof, like you get, you know, intentional on those things and start creating those things now all of a sudden, like you're preventing the fire from happening altogether. So think about how much more time you have now than you did six, eight months ago. Now you might be filling it with new things, right? But now it's higher level. You're not burying wire per se.

Yeah, yeah. You're spot on. You're absolutely spot on.

That is cool, man. This is, this is really good. So how hard was it to do that? Because I know it's not easy to pull the trigger. You're talking about investing. how do you, how did you, how'd you pull the trigger on an office manager? In a, in a, in a, in an office.

Yeah. So I think it all comes back to belief again. I think like, you need to believe that you are capable of everything were to, you know, go wrong. You can fix it. You're able to, you know, have full control over your response, of your responsibilities in the business and through the coaching group and just through, you know, your, my network and just talking about what, what constraints I Have, in the business to get to that next level. it was talking to you, it was talking to Kenny, a few other guys in the group, and again, it all goes back to the group of just, having the belief and trust that this is the next thing that you need to do. And, you know, like I said, I'm, like, the last person to take credit for a lot of the stuff that in success that we've had, a lot of it is just copy and pasting what other people do and, you know, having the risk tolerance to do it. but it came down, at least with the office manager, Beverly, which has been amazing, and the office, which is, only a few weeks we moved into our office. Now we're fully moved in, which is awesome. Nice.

Congrats, man. That's cool.

Yeah, I think last time we spoke, we didn't have any of those things, and so we've executed on both of those, and it's, again, it's just allowing us to get to that next level, just having the belief that we can keep going, and that's the right decision based off other people.

Yeah, I, know, I, I, I totally hear what you're saying, and I, I have my own coaches, you know what I mean? And I have my own, like, I'm supposed to be the leader here, but at the same time, I have my own doubts. I have my own insecurities and all that. So I have my coaches, and I have to borrow their belief. I'm like, I don't, I don't know. Can I do that? Yeah, of course you can. And they might be just, like, telling me that, you know, like, reading the lines or whatever, but, like, I believe them, you know, And I'm like, man, I believe in them more than I believe in myself. So, I think you're spot on with that. Like, it really does start with that. And when you see other people doing it and it's like, well, like, why can't I? You know, I think that's just the power of community. I, I think, you know, we're in 2025 with the access we've got to social media and groups and coaching and community, all this stuff. I, I hate to say it, but you're just dumb if you're not part of something like this, because, you're just falling behind. You're just shooting yourself in the foot. And, and I'm speaking kind of to my past self, because I'm telling you, you call me up 10 years ago, I'd be like, that sounds like a scam. Like, if that person's so good at it, why don't they just do it or whatever, you know? So, I've had to repent myself. And, it's like I now, I exercise it. I believe it myself. I. I'm in my own communities, in my own coaching and stuff like that. And so I know what you're saying. It's hard to take credit for it when you're like, no, I just did what this person told me to do. I just copied this person. But I do want to give you the credit because, you know, when you look at the success rate of really any small business, it's very, very low. And you can present this information, this community, these opportunities to, you know, a room of 100 people. And it's not going to be a hundred people that do it. So you honestly should, like, pat yourself on the back, you should pause, recognize yourself, your team, like, you guys have done a phenomenal job because not everyone's willing to do that. Not everyone's willing to listen, not everyone's willing to show up. So, honestly, you guys should give yourself a lot of credit.

Absolutely.

Without the team that we have, we wouldn't be here without

Yeah. We wouldn't be here without. Without the team that we have, and I can. It just keeps getting better. The guys are getting better every day. And, they're super happy about the office, the warehouse, and being able to, just get better and better. So, again, shout out to the team, too.

1.

You seem to be doing well with marketing. What are you doing for marketing

One of the things that I feel like everybody struggles at every level, but especially when they're getting started. Those first five years when not everyone knows you, you don't have a brand yet. you know, if you're well branded and on the news every night and whatever, it's like, you're gonna have leads. But starting a business is hard, and getting to that first seven figures is really, really hard. what have you done to grow your brand? I mean, you're. You seem to be doing well with marketing. I'm not. I'm not gonna put you on the spot for the number, but before we went live, you told me you closed three deals today. Like, yeah, that's freaking awesome. So what. What. What are you doing for marketing?

So marketing, we're doing everything. Like, I would say there's not one thing we're probably not doing. there's a lot that we have to be doing better for sure. but I would say we've done a really good job at referral partners, like I mentioned already in the podcast.

Jones: You need to squeeze the juice out of every lead

But back to my Point earlier about squeezing the juice out of the coaching program. You need to squeeze the juice out of every lead. And that's, that's something too that came from, that you've talked about before in your, in the, in the group is the marketing mix. and just maybe one specific marketing channel might not work on one customer, but once you put two or three or four or five different marketing channels together on one customer or several customers, you know, you might pay, you know, X amount of dollars for one lead on Google or whatever it might be. But why not squeeze every bit of value out of that lead in terms of, you know, asking for a review from them, going to their neighbor's house and putting a door hanger down, doing the yard sign. So I can get into specifics if you want, but that's really where I think we do a pretty good job at that. Still have to do a lot better. But I look at it like you gotta squeeze the juice out of every lead.

Yeah. I mean, do you have specific examples of that working in real time where. Because that's one thing we talk about. It's like maybe like I'll I believe in this wholeheartedly. It's still just my opinion, but I think whoever can afford to spend the most to acquire a client is going to be m the most successful business in that market. And not everyone agrees with that and that's okay. But like if I can afford to spend $1500 to acquire a $10,000 landscape lighting client, I'm going to do that all day, every day because I'm going to do the things that you're doing. What are some of these examples of ways to increase the lifetime value of that opportunity?

Yeah, so the first of all, landscape lighting is, is somewhat one time revenue in terms of other businesses are more, you know, maintenance friendly or reoccurring. You can still have maintenance contracts with landscape lighting just fine. But it goes even further, solidifies the fact that you should really be looking to expand as much as you can and build that lifetime value from each customer. So I think just, just to start. So if you have, I look at it like my hand, it's kind of a weird analogy, but let's say that you're doing a project and your project's like the palm of your hand and they have five neighbors, so five neighboring houses, you're doing a project. and so maybe the first level of the marketing mix is that they see your van that's wrapped and it's parked right out front of the house that you're doing the work, Right? So that's the first level of exposure. Maybe a couple houses might see that maybe the second channel might be part of your process or part of your system is that all of your installers have to go door by door and do a door hanger. So they have to go to all five of the neighboring houses, and they have to do a door hanger on each house. And on that door hanger has a QR code, and it goes to your website, has a little promo. That's one thing. the next might be a yard sign. So you have a yard sign at the house. and it goes further. Maybe they saw your Facebook ad that you have going. Maybe they saw your Google Ad. maybe you send them a postcard. so there's all these different marketing systems that you can build, that once you have one customer, you should really, theoretically be spreading, your name throughout that neighborhood, because you've already paid for that lead. You might as well get your name out while you're already there. and especially with softwares like Facebook, Google, where you're just kind of throwing money in the wind sometimes, and it feels like you're not super targeted with your ads, you're already in that neighborhood. And if it's already a good neighborhood that you want to do work in, and you want to provide value to the rest of the neighborhood, and you're already there, it's worth your time just to spend that extra 15 minutes to do that door hanger or whatever it might be. And like I mentioned is maybe, like, just one of those things might not work. But then maybe Ms. Jones across the street might say, you know, I saw the yard sign, and then two weeks later, I saw the Facebook ad, and it was a video instead of it being a yard sign. And that's really resonated with me. So maybe I have to give them a call now. so there's all these different things that work together, and it's maybe not just one. It's the entire brand and advertising. you have to think about it as one. One thing that you do, everything is how is how we look at it.

Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. It just goes to show you like, you. You're. You're implementing. You're not just taking notes, but you're implementing. Because again, anytime someone's struggling and we start to peel back the onion and find where the break is, a lot of. They're doing a lot of things right. But I used to get so frustrated, I would show up to my job sites and I'm like, why guys? Why is the yard sign not out? Oh, well, because we're out. I'm like, okay. I mean, good, good answer, Good answer. Probably the number one answer. But, like, we should just get more, you know. And so, like, my. My failure as a leader at that point was because I wasn't communicating the vision. I wasn't communicating, like, why it's not just to put a yard sign out. Like, this is how you guys get your paychecks.

Yeah.

If. If we don't do this, like, we all don't get paid. Like, we can. We've got enough Runway to last us a few months. But at some point, these advert, these ads aren't going to work. So when I hear people saying things like, oh, Google Ads don't work, or I don't have an ROI on this, I'm like, dude, I. There's very few things I've done from a marketing and advertising perspective that didn't work. If they didn't work, it's just because I didn't do it right. And doing it right includes these small little things. Because if they don't see the yard sign or you don't send them that direct mail that sends them to your website, and then once they go to the website now, you can retarget them with a Facebook ad, and then you could potentially email them, call them. Like, there's so many options here. Well, then no wonder your advertising dollar is not going that far, you know? So I appreciate, appreciate you sharing that.

Squeeze the juice, I always say.

Ashley from Love Social makes great analogy about what makes a martini

not I always say, but I'll take this one from, I think Ashley from one, Love Social.

Yeah, she.

She posted a video on her story maybe like a month or two, two months ago, and she was talking about, like, what. And shout out to Ashley for. For this and totally stealing her analogy. But, like, what makes a martini a martini? And she started off, she's like, you know, it's not just the vodka. You know, anyone can just take a shot of vodka and the vodka doesn't make the martini. And then she's like, is it the glass? Is it like the fancy glass and the Tito's? no, it's. It's not that. Because, you know, you can just sip just vodka out of a martini glass and, you know, it's. It's not a martini. Right? And then shocks about, is it the Oliver? Is it the olive juice that you put in the martini? You know, still no. Then it's going to be just a warm vodka drink out of a fancy glass. And you know, and then she says, oh, is it the ice? Is it like the perfect ice? And so when you put everything together, like, I think that's a great analogy of like, it's not going to work on its own. You need to do everything together at the right proportion and at the right level. and the cool thing about the group is that there's, there's probably someone in the group that's an expert at yard signs. Like, they have the perfect yard sign so you, you can build your yard sign. You know, if you, if I go back and look at like our first yard signs, I guarantee they weren't, they weren't giving, you know, giving us any leads at all. Right. They didn't catch your eye? They didn't have our phone number on there. I don't think they had like our email. I was like, I had no idea what we were doing info at. Yeah, exactly. Like someone's going to pull over and send us an email, which never going to happen. So it takes time to understand what works and what doesn't. But once you do, it just compounds more and more, which has been really helpful for us.

Another element to this is reviews. Um, and everyone knows how valuable reviews are

Well, speaking of that, another element to this is reviews. And I just pulled up your website before we were going live. I'm like, what? I didn't pull up your website. I googled your company. I wanted to check out your resume. I call it your resume Google. If you google your own company and you guys don't like what you see, then something's got to change. But I really liked what I had to see. When I googled your company, I saw 89, five star reviews. And I'm like, what? Like, I think it took me 10 years to get 89, five star reviews. what, what are you doing?

So we have, we had a software that was asking for reviews. it's, it's mostly just been like genuinely asking clients for reviews. It's been like, once we finish a job, asking them in person and having a clear, easy way for them to give us a review. and everyone knows how valuable reviews are. just like you asked for reviews for Apple on the way at the beginning of the podcast. Apples are what drives the algorithm. And so everybody should be focusing a lot of energy on getting reviews and being strategic with it. And so, we'll ask for when we finish the project. And they're super happy with the work. we have a little business card with a QR code that says that we leave on the project once we wrap up, so they can just easily scan it and it brings them right to a leave a review. They have softwares that ask for it, like Nice job or Jobber, has an integration that does it. So all different clever ways to, to ask for reviews that you should be getting.

Love it. Yeah. I mean, seriously, congrats, man. It's cool. I think again, it comes back to intentionality. Like if I wanted to get more 5 star reviews back in the day and I knew that I was competing against you, then, yeah, I would have had more than 89. But I was like, I got other stuff to do. I'm gonna go put out this fire, whatever. So it's designating that time to work on your business.

You talk about the power of one extra job. It goes back to something from your podcast

on that too. With like the way that I look at reviews and just incremental gains. It goes back to something that resonated early with me from, from your podcast is you talk about like the power of one extra job. I think about this all the time. I'm like, what would it do for our business if we just closed one extra job a month? like what, what profit would that bring to the business that we could then reinvest in more marketing or another employee to then double our business or whatever it might be? And so I look at reviews the same way. It's like, what? just by me asking a simple question to ask for a review from a client that, you know, had a good, a good experience working with us, that review could get us another job. Just someone else reading their experience with us. Same with the yard sign. One extra yard sign could lead to one extra job a month. And so it's these little things that you can be doing, that seem like they're not worth doing. But if you just get one extra job a month, it's going to change your life completely.

I love it, man. it's so true though. And the reason why that one extra one is, is so important is because it pays out. Like, like most of the time we do stuff, it pays out like zero because we have overhead, we have everything. Like the first couple jobs in a month, we actually don't get paid anything.

Yeah.

To, like pay the machine. So then the next one you're like, okay, finally, like now, now we got some breathing room. But if you can get that one, if you already have your business built and it's already cranking out, and if you can just squeeze that one extra one out now instead of paying at 20, 30%. It's paying out at like 60, 65%. So you literally like make massive gains by just doing that one extra thing. It's really, really cool.

Yeah. Makes a big difference.

You had three deals, um, closed on the spot today

So we've talked a lot about some of the good things. I mean again, so. Oh, actually I want to ask you because we're going to get to some challenges here. But today, tell us about what happened today. You had three deals, closed. One on the spot, the other two not. I'm a huge fan of closing on the spot. I think it's, you're doing an injustice to your customer if you don't. But at the end of the day, like even when we spoke, when you joined Secrets, I don't think I closed that deal on the spot. I think it was like multiple conversations. Like it's just not always a reality. Like there's, there's things that different types of buying behaviors and everything else.

Landscape lighting company closed a 60 fixture project on the spot today

So talk to us about what happened today.

Yeah, so today closed, I think it was a 60 fixture project on the spot. really, really cool customer. They have, they have really successful coffee and martini bar business, in the south shore of Mass and showed up. They have a huge Viking party themed in October. And they need some lighting just around their property. They just moved in a few months ago. So showed up and just kind of learned more about how they plan to use their property, where they spend their time in their property and talk about what the focal points are that they really want to, you know, celebrate and enjoy around their property, how they enter their, their house every night, you know, where they hang out by the pool, if they use the grill, if they do all this and that. So built the design, sat down with them and reviewed our sales presentation and, and was able to leave just with, with the check in hand and sign them up on the spot. so that was, that was a great win for the day.

Super happy with how that 60 light job done. One meeting that were, they weren't going, hey, well this sounds good. Let us think about it. Let, let's get other quotes or anything like that.

No, so the, the, the thing that, that I hear over and over again is I think people are moving more and more into specialization of who they reach out to. Like people are sick of just calling a local handyman to do everything for them and then they get burned. And like I hear all the time that people want someone that's dedicated to just landscape lighting. Like what really stood out to us was that first of all they saw us on, on Facebook or they saw like our social media and and the reviews play quite a bit. but they just love that we just only do landscape lighting. That's a huge part of our sales presentation. I say that, you know, we, we solve four main problems and one of the problems is that it's not typically. Landscape lighting isn't typically done by a pure landscape lighting installer. And so we know exactly what fixtures to use in New England, especially with all the snow. We know what connections to use, we know what wire to use, we know what transformers, we know pretty much what everything to do versus someone else that might be doing it. Excuse me. Might want to come cut a corner. or they just don't know because they don't do it all the time. But people really, it really resonates when you can really have the belief that you are the right person to help them out with their problem and you really understand what they, what their problem is and how you're going to solve it and then just basically just show proof after proof that you're the person to, to provide that service. it's easy sell once you have that. Yeah.

And they found you on social media. Was the lead source.

It was on social media. Yeah. It was on Facebook. Yeah.

An ad or organic?

It was it was organic. It was organic on Facebook.

That's awesome. I don't think I, I'm gonna have to check out your socials, after this. Are you, are you posting pretty regularly on there?

We try. Yeah, we do. Honestly we do a lot. Yeah, we do two to three posts a day on four to five platforms. So we just, we just go, just hit everything pretty much, as much as we can.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

okay, so that one closed on the spot. I think that's probably shocking. A lot of people, most people are not able to do that to just go meet with someone, sell 60 light job, in a short period of time. The other ones, were not, these were multiple, these were follow ups. These were second, third meetings. Right?

That's right. Yeah. It was gave the quote, sat down with them and they just needed time to think through it and just a matter of us following up and, and they we were able to adjust the design a bit. One thing that's helped out with us is how we approach and structure our quotes. it's very flexible for the customer to kind of pick and choose what they want. So they might not be you know, super interested right off the get go to go with everything, on, on the project. Ah, sometimes it takes people just to build the trust with you to experience just like one zone in their property. So if you do give a, a proposal for the full property and you break it down between, you know, the front yard, backyard pool area and maybe like the putting green, like all those four different numbers, maybe they just care about the front yard this year. But if you went in and you proposed one number for the entire project, then they might just say no and they'd be off to the next guy. So again this goes back to the coaching program and knowing the process. Once you know exactly what your process is, and you have a plan of what you're going to do next throughout that meeting and how they might respond to you. It allows you to get ahead of it and approach it in a way that is most valuable to the customer and make sure that they're they are flexible to work with you. That makes sense.

Yeah. Well, honestly, I think one of the easiest ways to win, and it's weird to say this because it's 2025 right now, but the easiest ways to win is to answer your phone and also follow up with people. I mean, I'm amazed how many people will go spend time putting a proposal together, a quote, whatever, and they might follow up once or twice. But to me that's not follow up, that's just like doing what you're supposed to do.

Be as organized as possible about where your leads are in their customer life cycle

What are some things that you guys are doing specifically to keep these people engaged, to remind yourself to follow up, to stay with them even though they might not say yes today?

Yeah, so we have a visual pipeline platform where we track every lead. this is probably one of the best things we did from the start is just be as organized as possible about where your leads are in their customer life cycle. So we're separating out customers that have not yet talked to us on our CRM versus customers that we're working on, a design, we're working on. We have a separate bucket for customers that are getting our, our videos, our pre sale videos. We have a different bucket for pretty much everything. And as we move forward in that customer life cycle, they get updated in our, in our visual CRM, which is, which is, it sounds maybe complicated to some folks, but really you can find it on Google. There's a million different softwares that do that. But the first step is being super organized about how many leads you have. You might, once you Grow to. Right now, you know, we have probably 50 or 60 open leads that we're actively following up with and getting them through point A to point B. so just have your list, and then once you have that list, just, you know, have a reminder or have an automated software that's following up with them. make sure you're calling them every, you know, few days to check in if they want to.

Just.

I'd say the most important thing is just to actually know who to follow up with, which sounds so stupid, but. Yeah, you need to know who you're following up with, otherwise you're not going to do it.

Well, most people aren't doing this, so that's why we're talking about. Are you. Are you personally calling them? Do you have your office manager doing that? How do you divvy that up?

I will right now. So I'm. I'm structuring it right now in a way that I'm sort of the sales, I'm kind of the sales person that's managing the, the lead. and then once. So I. Everything from getting them to assign contract, and then once that happens, I'll turn them over to Beverly, who's our office manager, who will. Who will take them from installation to completion with updates in there. And then I'll check in with them throughout the project too, just to keep my relationship with them as well.

Love it.

Yeah.

One area that we need to focus on is organization of preparing for a project

Oh, well, we've talked about a lot of really good things. I just want to ask you before we wrap up, like, what. What are some of the setbacks if you've had, you know, a job or a client that didn't go as planned or, you know, kind of what, maybe some of the harder sides of like, the hardest part of your journey so far.

Yeah, I think. I think preparing in the mornings is something that we're trying to really dial in now that we have the office. Like, it's some area that we need to focus on is just like, organization of preparing for the actual project. So like purchasing of material, stocking it in the warehouse, and getting a clear system in place where the guys can get involved to stock their own projects and manage the client once, they get to the project, if that makes sense. Like right now we could be doing a lot better job. and this falls all on me is preparing the install team for when they arrive. They knew exactly what to do. or making sure that we have inventory in stock ready for them that day. that's something that we really need to dial in Is like the inventory side, because just for instance, today, the guys had to leave, like an hour and a half early because we had a delivery that arrived at noon today. And they could have worked the full day and pretty much wrapped up the project if I had ordered it in time. But I had. I, I had not, I didn't get the inventory in time, basically. So, that's. That's a huge area of growth for us. that's gonna help us get to that next level for sure.

Yeah. It's interesting to hear you talk because I, I have all these, like, flashbacks of. I've, I've experienced all this, right? And it. When you're. And there's a reason it happens in a certain order because when you're small and you only have a handful of leads coming in it. In your mind, it doesn't matter if the project takes one day or two days, three days, because you don't have anything else scheduled anyway. So, like, worst case, we'll just come back, you know. But now that you're a little bit more advanced and now it's like, oh, no, we got, we got other jobs booked. And if we don't, like, now you understand your daily overhead rate. You understand these things. It's like, no time is money. Like, we're, we're losing money. Like, bringing them back didn't just cost like a couple hundred bucks. Like, we're out thousands of dollars just because we had to come back an hour and a half early. And so, it happens in that order of sequence for a reason, because now it actually matters. And now you're starting to get into this capacity planning and efficiency and starting to track man hours. And it's just different problems at, at different levels.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's. And this goes back to the coaching group, though. Like, you have the ability to talk about those problems with somebody else at that level. And so, you know, I don't have many people in my life that I can just go to in person just to talk about these specific problems that I have. But you. I just don't. Like, no one's gonna know what I'm talking about. So having a group that you can actually go to, and they'll be like, oh, my gosh, like, I fixed that last year. Like, just do this. And you're like, really? Like, like, I flew. Like Keith Rosser. Shout out to Keith. I flew out to Utah. He was, he was. I, was so thankful he. He. He had me. But I, I visited him for Three days earlier this year, and I got to see how he runs his warehouse, and he. He took me in under his wing just to show me all that. And we're using a lot of the ideas that he had implemented in his warehouse, in ours so far. So it's just a matter of just knowing what's possible and then just working to get there. I think so. We'll get there. It's just something we got to work on right now.

I know he's got a sweet place. I mean, I've been there several times, and it's like, oh, man, this is good. You know, just, like, the way things are organized. And like you said. You said something earlier, like, just being in part of a community is, like, seeing what's possible. Myself, I mean, I feel like I'm like, can you imagine being, like, the coach for, like, Michael Jordan or Tiger woods or just these amazing athletes? Like, I feel like that's who I am. I've become this, like, coach who hasn't done what other people are achieving, and you get kind of this, like, oh, man. Like, am I the right guy? I'm like, no, I'm the right guy. Like, Tiger Woods, Coach was the right guy. He doesn't have to have all these master champions to show these guys these different angles and stuff. Stuff. But it's. It's really cool to see because my m. My mind keeps opening up more and more. I'm like, dang. Like, I. I didn't know that was possible. I didn't know you could do that. I didn't know you could do it in this short period of time. Whatever. and that's just. That's why I love this community. It's like, we just. We just keep breaking new records, helping more people, get into the next level that much faster. So, well, I. I really want to celebrate you. I want you to take some credit for what you've done. You've got a phenomenal success record so far. Your team sounds like they're amazing. it's just cool, man. It's cool for me to, be on this side of it to. This is why. This is my why, you know, Like, I honestly feel like if I can just help one person, like, avoid probably, like, a decade of BS that I put myself through and get traction.

If someone feels stuck in their business, what would you leave them with

Like, it's this healing moment for me to be like, oh, man. Like, you're, like, frustrated on some of these things. I'm like, ah, dude, you're so far ahead of the curve. Like, it took me, like, a long time to figure that out, so really, really cool. And I appreciate you coming on here and sharing your perspective.

Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it.

Anything you want to leave people with, if you want. If someone feels stuck in their business, you know, whether that 2, 300 grand and feel stuck, like, what would you leave them with?

I would say, like, you're one call away from, like, changing your life and your business. Like, I've had so many instances where I got on the phone and just by calling a local hardscaper or landscaper, led into coffee, led into, you know, 10 to 15 jobs a year of work just by simple. Like, a simple one call. And so you're always one call away from just calling one person to then having that, like, turn into another relationship because they might introduce you to someone. And it's like, as long as you have a belief that something's possible and you're. You have the idea that something could just change at any minute just by you actually putting effort in, like, it's just gonna happen naturally. It might take some time, but just. Just, like, just. Just know that it's, like, literally one call away that you could change your life for sure. I know that sounds super corny, but it really is, like, it's so true.

I love it. Yeah, there's no such thing as corny for me. I love it, man.

All right, guys. Thanks for having me. Um, it just takes you to believe

All right, guys. Well, you're one call away. it just takes you to believe. That's one of my favorite quotes quotes from Henry Ford. Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. So why don't you start proving yourself right today? Thanks so much for all. Appreciate you coming on here.

Thanks for having me.

All right, guys, now the hard part. Just go implement. 15 deals. No problem

All right, guys, now the hard part. Just go implement. But, I mean, that was good advice at the end. Just go make a call, go get you a referral partner. 15 deals. No problem. Let's go. See you guys.