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The GreenPal Lawn Care Business Growth Show features real lawn care professionals sharing how they build reliable, profitable landscaping businesses in cities across the United States.
Jump in with both feet. Don't be afraid
to take risk cuz scared money will never
make any money. You got to invest in
your business. You got to take chance
and risk.
Welcome to the GreenPal Lawn Care
Business Growth Show. My name is Gene
Caballero, one of the co-founders. On
the show, we talk to real landscaping
professionals who have grown a
profitable and reliable landscaping
business. On the show today, we have
Steve Laney with Christ-Centered Cuts
out of Waxhaw, North Carolina. Steve,
welcome to the show. Tell us a little
bit about your business in Waxhaw and
how you got started.
Ooh, well, started about 5 or 6 years
ago scrolling through my Facebook feed
and I saw the ad for GreenPal and
downloaded it. I was at a crosshairs in
my life and didn't know which way I
wanted to go, you know, after COVID and
everything has kind of messed everything
up for a while, but the good thing about
GreenPal is I never had to have any
contact with anyone. I could still keep
working. So, it was like COVID-proof. It
was very awesome. You didn't have to
chase money. Top-notch app, I can say
top-notch. The money's already there.
You just upload the picture and you're
done. And, you know, the proof is in the
pudding and the customers love it. I
think there should be maybe more
advertisement for your app in this area.
I would I would really like to see that
because the more we have people on there
that know about it, the more susceptible
they are to join, especially if they see
your your reviews and how long you've
been on the app and how long you've been
cutting, a little bit about yourself. I
I do like the intro in the GreenPal. It
kind of tells you a little bit about
yourself so they can see that, hey, I'm
a single father and this guy is he cares
about his lawns and the and the reviews
prove it and show it. So, as far as
getting started, yeah, I had a
big old F350 dually truck and a little
teeny trailer and I probably looked
funny to the most of the landscaping
guys out there, but hey, I started. I
put in the blood, sweat, and tears, and
GreenPal got me that start. That's
great. And so, today, tell us a little
bit about your revenue numbers, if you
want. How many lawns you're mowing, and
you know, how many crews, how many
employees. Tell us a little bit about
that dynamic now.
Well, I have two crews. I have two
trucks now. Starting off from the big
truck I had. Now, I have a
a blue truck, a smaller blue truck, and
then I have a F-150. And that's been
moved along because of all the the
revenue coming in. All a small side
step, shout out to Stripe. They're
really good people to work with. I just
want to put that out there. I highly
recommend that company, as well. But,
back to your question. I have squirrel
moments where I get distracted really
easily, so I apologize, right? So, um
these revenues that that's coming in, it
started out like
I think the first year I did was like
maybe 10 or 12,000.
You know, you're just starting out. And
then the next the next year it it it
doubled. And then the next year it
tripled. So, well, I mean, we're up, I
don't know, say what, 80-something
thousand
in just, you know, stuff like that. It's
It's
It just came along real quick. It didn't
really surprise me how fast you can
build your business with this app.
Because as you're out there working, you
got other people who step to you. The
funny commercials I see online or you
see some neighbor staring at you from
across the street.
And then you're like, "Oh, no. My man in
the wrong. Is he going to call the cops
on me? Am I blocking the driveway?" You
know, you got to stay out of everything.
And then all of a sudden, it's like,
"Hey, do you cut grass?"
And your first thinking your first
thought in your head is like, "No, I'm
not doing that." Yeah, I I don't cut
grass. I'm I'm just here make, you know,
doing something. But, you don't be that
way. You know, you never be that way
with customers out in the open. So, you
just come out and you just say, "Hey,
listen. With all due respect, yes, sir,
I do cut grass. But, can you give me a
like 2 seconds?" And then you put away
something. Then you Then you give them
the attention they deserve. They're
customer and a new possible customer.
It's not that I you know, you don't want
to disrespect anyone. That's Don't get
me wrong there. But, you know, they If
they stare at you for like 10 minutes,
kind of makes you feel uncomfortable cuz
you don't know
what they want. I mean, if
it could be anything when you're
especially in Charlotte, North Carolina.
You could accidentally blown grass on
their side of the yard. And they don't
like it, you know. They're People are
very finicky. Yeah, they're very finicky
about their grass. So, then you come out
and they're like, "Hey, I just want you
to cut my yard, too." So, I've done this
a couple times. Hey, I'll go ahead and
cut it. I'll cut it for free this time.
And then next time we'll talk about
pricing and And then sometimes I say,
"Hey, you can find me on the app."
You know,
like that. And they're like, "Oh, okay,
cool." Then they can see the app and I
show it to them. And they're like, "Wow,
I didn't know this existed." And they
live right next to the door to the
person
where the GreenPal app did exist. So,
they're like, "Hey, download the
GreenPal app. You can send me a direct
bid if you want to, directly to me, an
exclusive bid. And I can I can give you
a bid and we'll go from there." And
they're like, "Wow. So, this is
amazing." And then I've got another
customer. And it wouldn't have happened
without GreenPal. Yeah, well, that
that's great. So, I guess you kind of
touched on this a little bit before, but
was there a moment, you know, aside from
like GreenPal using that where your
business kind of started taking off? Was
it Did you hire someone? Was it your
pricing dynamic that changed or more
marketing or was it just like, "Hey, I I
I know I need to do the best job I
possibly can to help with word of mouth"
or or or kind of walk us through that?
Well, I'm going to say it's a little bit
of a mixture of all those things. I've
hired two more people on this year.
They're really good men. Uh it's it's
really hard to find someone consistent.
So, I do a lot of the work myself. So,
that's in any job, any place you hire.
There's always going to be somebody who
wants to call in sick or stuff like
that. So, yeah, I do have some crews out
there. I got one truck running, then I'm
in the other truck. So, and I'm
constantly asking asking how their day
is going. I do a little something
different for my guys. I pay for their
lunch.
And that's something that I never
thought possible. I was like, "Man, can
you fathom this? How is I mean, you
know, 6 7 years ago,
you know, you're thinking, 'Man, where's
the money going to come in?' You know, I
mean, how am I going to get this going?
And now you're here,
and you're like, what I'm taking care of
these guys' lunch. I could have never
And they appreciate that. And that's
something they know I don't have to do,
but I I do that out of kindness in my
heart because I want to show them
appreciation, cuz I know one thing for
sure, the companies I've worked for in
the past,
they only cared about the bottom dollar,
the black and white number that popped
out at the very bottom. But, they don't
understand, it seemed like it was a
cloud of
how you got to that number. Everything
in between was kind of a gray area, but
they saw that number. Oh, and this
number needs to be more. This number
needs to be this, that.
And what they skip and they overlook is
the value of your people.
If you take care of your people, they're
going to take care of you.
And the small things you do for them
will take care of it. And And my guys
love me to death. I don't know why. They
think I'm crazy, too, so.
Well, you kind of have to be a little
crazy getting in this industry to begin
with, so.
And be out in the sun all day. So, what
areas around Waxhaw do you specifically
service? Like, Marvin, Weddington, South
Charlotte? Like, tell us a little about
the area, the exact kind of areas where
you travel and where you do your work.
Sure. Um
Waxhaw is a good one, but I do most of
my lawns right now, Charlotte and Rock
Hill. But, I do have some Waxhaw,
Matthews, Mint Hill. I've got some up
that way. The Lancaster, South Carolina,
so that's right below me. So, that's
really like 10 mi below me. So, it's
really in the circumference
of my area. Monroe, I do some in Monroe.
The way you can put it in the app is so
convenient. You can just stretch your
bubble. You can stretch your bubble or
you can lessen it. And And that's a
great option to have. Say, "Hey, as a
business owner, you can say, 'Hey, last
year I did a little bit more traveling
and I want to shrink the base a little
bit and still make the same money.'"
So, you can do that cuz, you know, the
further you travel, the longer your day
is. So, I don't mind the travel. I could
I've had some out in towards say Mount
Holly. I've had some up that way like
north and and even some Gastonia area as
well. But, I've kind of shrunk those
down
for fuel purposes and stuff like, you
know, so a while back the fuel was
outrageous. But, you know, that's beside
the point. But, the areas that I have
are really good populated. The word is
spreading, but it doesn't seem like it's
spreading fast enough and I I maybe we
can find a way to to spread this Green
Pal app out there. Or maybe
share it on my Facebook. That's probably
what I should do is is put it out there.
Yeah.
I've got over
2,000 people in my Facebook feed, so I
can probably just download it. I mean, I
put it on Facebook and share it. I
should probably do that more often as,
you know, as myself. But, you get in the
groove of things and you're just it it
the most important thing is servicing
the customer, you know. Absolutely. Are
there certain neighborhoods or suburbs
in those areas that tend to have more
weekly or bi-weekly customers? I'm going
to say
the southeast side
and Rock Hill seem to be a lot of repeat
customers and they love the service.
It's convenient for them as well. It's
not as expensive as Well, a little quick
story. Let me tell you about that real
quick. I was cutting a yard that I just
won in Rock Hill
and it's right in the middle, I would
say, what you call the hood. And so, I'm
there and there's this another customer
who's having his grass serviced right
next door.
Right next door. And he's cutting the
grass, you know, we kind of make eye
contact and I was like, "Hey man, what's
up?" You know, and we keep mowing. And
at the end of the yard, we're blowing
off the yard together and I was like,
"Hey man, I just kind of curious, how
much you charging that lady?" He said
$90.
$90 and the yard is no bigger than the
yard that I'm cutting. And I'm doing
this for 45.
And I'm sitting there going
No, just a normal normal cut. And I
didn't do anything. I'm not vindictive
or I don't think about stuff, you know,
like those type of thoughts like, "Hey,
I'm going to go over there and steal
that business." I don't do that to
people. You know, I believe in hey,
you're going to shoot your own self in
the foot. You're going to have enough
rope, you'll hang yourself. So,
eventually, I didn't because I didn't
say anything. I prayed about it. I said,
"Lord, I'd like to have that business."
Cuz everything I do, I go to the Lord. I
go to the Lord on first, always. So, the
neighbor loves my service and the yard
I'm cutting looks two times better
than his yard. So, that neighbor ends up
calling me. Hey, you know, cuz they're
looking for the better prices. They're
always doing that. Now, I got both of
them for the same price. And now they're
repeat customers. So, all I'm just
saying is it's it's awesome and so many
people that once you do that good first
initial cut and they love it, they come
in, they see they see those stripes and
they're like, "Man, I got stripes on my
yard. How did I get that?"
Just top notch service. So, yeah, I get
sidetracked, man. I apologize. I keep
going on and on.
I mean, we're just having fun. We're
just having a conversation. But, that's
a perfect segue. So, how do you price
lawns in the Waxhaw area? Is it lot
size? Is it price per minute? Kind of
walk us through how you you price your
lawns in in all those markets that you
operate in? Well, it's pretty simple.
The GreenPal app already gives you when
you go there and you see the bid, the
bid comes through your feed and you look
at it and you're like, "Okay, the house
the lot says 20,000 square feet." So,
automatically know that's a 40 or $45
yard. But, at the bottom if you look
down scroll when you scroll down through
the GreenPal app, you'll see where it
gives you what the rough estimate is
the winning bid for that area.
So, I go off of that. So, I either go a
few dollars higher or a few dollars
lower depending on what the square
footage of the property is. Now,
anything over
40 or 50,000 square feet, of course,
you're going to be charged more. I've
got some yards in here that are $120 a
shot.
Wow. Yeah, they're $80 a pop, you know,
and I just look. And I don't just hit a
bid right away. What I do is I go look
at square footage and I tap on to the
link
and then it takes me to the actual like
Zillow or something like that and I can
see Right.
Right. I can see, "Hey, this is a big
yard." So, a $40 or $45 yard is is not
going to be sufficient. I'm going to get
out there and be like, "Wow, I should
have charged a little bit more than
this." So, I make sure I do my homework
before placing that bid. And if I lose
the yard, I lose the yard because I'm
slow on the bid, but at least pricing
where I need to be. Right. Right. So,
what do you think separates a profitable
landscaping business, a profitable lawn
mowing business from one that struggles?
I'm going to say quality because like I
have won yards behind several different
companies
and the customer showed me the picture
of the yard and how the sidewalks and
the driveway was left. And there was
grass still all over the sidewalk and
I'm like, "Did it start raining? Did
they all jump in their truck and say,
'We'll come back another time?'"
You know, what happened? I mean, I've
been in the rain finishing up a yard and
blowing off the driveway, still blowing
it off. Now, it makes it harder, but I
still blow it off. I finish that job.
So, I I quality. I think quality is what
people are looking for. You know, cuz
people always saying more bang for more
bang for their buck. So, if the yard is
not so expensive and you're getting good
quality service, it puts everybody else
behind you. Right. Okay. And when a
homeowner hires a landscaping company, a
lawn mowing company in Waxhaw, North
Carolina, what should they look for?
Ooh. The reviews.
Look for the reviews cuz I would look at
that first. I would look at the
biography, a little bit of background on
the person coming out, looking at their
pictures cuz there's pictures their
pictures are all uploaded. You can go
through there and see the history. So,
they go in they can read a little bit
about you and then they can see your
work cuz proof is in the pudding. So,
they're going to look at your work and
say, "Wow, I want my yard to look like
that." This guy knows what he's doing.
And he's not charging me an arm and a
leg, you know? So, those people are out
here charging an arm and a leg, they're
making it easier on people like me. They
can come in and say, "Hey, I got you.
Don't worry about a thing. I got you."
Got you. And what are some red flags
that a potential homeowner could look
for or avoid when they're trying to
outsource their lawn care? Well, I would
say avoid a lot of up charges
unless you've approved it. The company I
used to work for years ago, the
mentality of the district managers I
became a regional manager with this one
company and it was the mentality got
around to all the district managers it's
better to ask for forgiveness than to
ask for permission. Nice.
And I was like,
that's a
that's hard.
That's a hard thing to say.
And you're like, well,
as a person
looking at like if I was a homeowner and
I hired a service, I want you to do what
exactly what I want you to do. You know,
I'm hiring you.
I'm paying you money. You need to
service my yard as I see fit.
Now, as far as the timing, a lot of my
customers are very they're relaxed when
it comes to they know I'm going to get
to them. They know the weather's crazy
sometimes. They get they're very
understanding. But, some of the red
flags is disrespectfulness. You need to
make contact with with some of your
people. So, when you get to your yard
for the first time, make sure you shake
that hand. You look them square in the
eye. And you let them know, "Hey, I got
you. Don't worry about a thing." Now, I
would say what I meant by upcharges is
doing things
that they didn't ask for you to do.
Mhm. Like, there's a lot of things I've
done and I didn't charge them for it. A
lot of customers, especially when this
big season's beginning,
they'll have leaves all over the yard
from the wintertime. And then they're
like, "Hey, can you cut my yard?" Okay,
well, I'll explain to them, "Leaves are
different price
than the grass.
But, this is my first time coming here
after the winter. I'll take care of it
for free. Don't worry about it." And
they're looking at me like, "Wow,
thanks." You know, so taking that extra
step, doing some extra things that you
see that's messed up in their yard. One
of my customers their their black fence
was messed up from the previous
company. I guess the other company kept
smacking their fence. And, you know,
that them little black aluminum fences
are expensive. So, I went out there and
I went They didn't tell me anything.
Now, this is a small story. I apologize
for going a little longer than I needed
to.
But, I tend to do that. Um
but I went and I found an extra piece of
the black rod fence. And I went back to
their house and installed it. And they
come outside. They was like, "Why are
you here?" I said, "Man, I'm fixing your
fence."
And they're like, "Really?"
I was like, "Yeah. What's the big deal?
I It didn't cost me anything. It only
takes me 5 minutes to
to fix it." He said, "But, yeah, but you
didn't damage it." I said, "Yeah, but
why not? I mean, I'm I'm going to I'm
going to service you. And he's like,
"Well, let me pay you some cash." No,
no. I did this for free. And they're
like, "Really?" And I was like, they
made me and you got us for life. So,
going the extra mile for your customer
even on little small things like that is
monumental
to them.
They remember that stuff. Yes.
Yeah. All right, Steve. Last question.
What's one piece of advice that you
would give to someone that is looking to
start a lawn mowing business in the
Waxhaw area? The best advice I would say
is if you start your business without
GreenPal, you're crazy. Start your
business with GreenPal, jump with both
feet in. Get you some equipment. Doesn't
matter what it looks like. Get in there.
If you don't know how to cut grass,
watch some YouTube videos.
They always show you everything. You
could Well, when I was a kid, we didn't
have this stuff. We didn't have
technology like this. You didn't know
how to do it, you just didn't know how
to do it.
So, you had to call the professionals.
Yeah.
Now, they got a video on everything. You
You can be You could be your own
mechanic. So, look it up. Jump in with
both feet. Don't be afraid to take risk
cuz scared money will never make any
money. You got to invest in your
business. You got to take chance and
risk. It's a risk when you invest in
Bitcoin. It's a It's a risk when you
invest in and buy a new mower. You know,
you don't know what tomorrow is, but
what can you do about tomorrow? It's not
here yet. So, my advice to everybody
starting out, what's that guy say? Get
her done.
Get her done. Yeah, that's that's so
true.
feet.
That's true. Well, Steve, thank you so
much for for joining us on the show. Uh
all the landscaping guys out there, uh
one piece of advice that that that I
think uh Steve will cosign is just keep
going, keep mowing, and keep growing.
Until next time, we'll see you guys
soon.