Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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.
I think half half of half of the gig is
just hustling, you know, and being a
good person and treating people the way
you want to be treated. And, you know,
there's lots of opportunities out there
when you're willing to do that.
A ton of doors, you know, and people
want to hire younger kids to work. Like,
they want to
Welcome to the Green Palare business
growth show. My name is Jean Cavalero,
one of the co-founders. On the show, we
talk to real landscaping professionals
that have built profitable and reliable
businesses. On the show today, I have
Bill Pot with Pot Enterprises out of St.
Louis, Missouri. Bill, tell us a little
bit about your lawn care landscaping
business out of St. Louis and how you
got started.
Sure. Yeah, I feel like uh this will be
the third time we had some some
technical difficulties, so well worth uh
but yeah, it's opening day for Cardinals
Nation. So, shout out to uh St. those
cardinals. And yeah, Green Pal has been
really awesome to use and I'm really
happy to be here and thanks for having
me, Jean. Uh, I was thinking back just,
you know, on the process and personally,
I cut grass since I was a little bitty
kid. Always had a couple jobs here and
there. Never got really big, you know,
except in high school, I maybe got up to
like 15 or something. And then through
college, I uh started working on the
side for bigger landscaping companies
and learned how to build retaining walls
and, you know, plant trees and do kind
of bigger stuff with big machines and
that was fun. I didn't like, you know,
having somebody else as a boss and, you
know, the pay was way less. I think I
was making like the same when I was 22
running a Bobcat that I was making when
I was 14, cutting 10 yards for my
funeral. So fast forward like 15 years,
I became a full-time teacher and every
teacher I know has a little side gig at
least in Missouri. So I started doing
kind of construction work on the side
and that kind of grew into having I
don't know like 15 or 20 yards, you
know, that would just I would cut here
and there after school. And uh I
actually don't remember how I heard
about Green Pal for the first time. I
just remember catching that it was like
it was Uber for lawn care. That was
the thing I always remembered. I thought
maybe it was a little hokey, you know,
like I I would get lots of calls from
these lead generators, you know, and
they all wanted money and like I was
such a small gig, you know, like I was
like I'm never I'm just not, you know, I
just don't trust that stuff, right? You
know, I'm somewhat techsavvy. Like, you
know, I know how apps work. You know,
this was I guess maybe close to 10 years
ago now. But yeah,
but yeah, I looked up the app and gave
it a shot and uh it really fit my needs,
especially at the time because I was
just a solo operator and it was able to
I was able to like get into a market
that I would have never been able to get
into before just because it was an app
and it was techy, you know. So, I found
a little niche market in St. Louis with
doing these little city yards which, you
know, you need to do them with smaller
mowers. So a lot of the bigger companies
weren't doing them and a lot of these
professionals who are techsavvy, you
know, were on the were on Green Pal
already. So it worked out really really
great.
Yeah. And so I know you're full-time
teacher and you know this is kind of
like your side hustle, but tell us a
little bit about like your revenues or
or how many lawns you're mowing during
like the peak season and how you kind of
do that kind of when you're teaching.
Sure. I mean it's it's oscillated a bit
like there was I guess right before co
we kind of maxed out at 82 yards a week
that we were doing and that was with me
and by that point I brought on a buddy
who was like I retired and so he would
kind of cut during the day and then I
would cut whatever he didn't cut at
night after school and then on Saturdays
but we did that for like a year and by
the end of the year you know he was an
older gentleman had rheumatoid arthritis
and it just became too much and So then
we scaled way back to like 40. And then
since then my wife has come on and she
cuts while I'm at school. And then I cut
in the summer and we have four boys, two
of which are getting into like having
some yards. So we've just got back up to
like 60. But I made the decision kind of
early on that I didn't want to be
spending all my time managing people.
You know, part of the outside of the
money, part of what I like about cutting
grass, you know, I've been teaching all
day is a very social thing. You got to
interact with people and, you know,
there's a lot of talking
and it's it was just kind of nice to put
headphones on and go and not talk for,
you know, two or three hours and just
cut grass.
Yeah.
I just I just purposely stayed small and
didn't want to be running two or three
man crews like I was when I was working
for the big company in college and just
didn't want to spend Yeah. doing that.
So
80 lawns is a lot. Was there, you know,
like an inflection point or something
that you did to kind of push you in that
direction? Was it like did you do any
advertising or anything like that or was
it just kind of more word of mouth and
maybe a little bit of Green Pal's help?
I'd say it's since we've been on
Greenpal, we've been about 50/50. Like
Green Pal's about half our clients and
then the other half are kind of word of
mouth people. It's interesting, you
know, just to kind of track it over the
last eight or 10 years since I've been
on Green Pal, but it seems like a lot of
our city kind of younger professional
people tend to come off Green Panel. And
we find a lot of our kind of older, more
stable kind of out in the suburbs, at
least in St. Louis, comes more from word
of mouth and just neighbors talking and
them seeing the trucks and stuff. But
yeah, Green Pal has been really great.
And the reason why we're still with it
is cuz every year, you know, we get this
turnover with city people kind of moving
or selling or buying and young
professionals, mobile people moving
around. We get about 10% every year kind
of drops off just from natural
progression stuff. And so, and then we
picked it up, you know, so like right
now it's March. I think people are just
now realizing, oh yeah, some of these
young professionals are like, oh yeah, I
have a yard. Somebody has to call it.
Yeah.
So, we're usually maxed out by like the
first week, the first week of April, you
know, like we're we're picking up
whoever we dropped it off last. Yeah.
Wow.
It's been really good.
So, what areas around St. Louis do you
serve most? Is it like St. Charles,
Chesterfield, Ballin, Oallon, Kirkwood?
Like, let us know what neighborhoods,
what cities, what areas you do service.
I found the most success in the city in
South City. a lot of those
neighborhoods, Northampton, Southampton,
a lot of uh Maplewood, Dog Town, you
know, a little bit into the central
areas, but I've never really like in the
beginning I think we had a few clients
that were up north and like no overland
area. We found some trouble with kind of
the north city area. Just I don't know,
the yards were taller, rougher. You
know, the partner I had at the time
would get kind of nervous, you know,
going up there. It's not a place I'd
want to send my wife. So, we've always
kind of focused on South and uh they
say,
"Yeah, I mean I don't, you know, St.
Louis is a is a place, you know, that
I've never had trouble. I'm from here,
but you know, I mean, some people from
out of town get nervous."
Yeah. I think every every city has, you
know, their their parts that you should
avoid, you know, I mean, it's just just
got to be safe and and smart. Um, so how
do you typically price jobs in the St.
Louis in your markets, in the St. Louis
markets? Is it square footage? Is it,
you know, price per minute? Is it a mix?
Tell us about how you kind of price
that.
Yeah, I because of my experience with
the larger commercial company, we were a
per minute, you know, that's how we bid
jobs with them. And so I just always
kind of kept that going. Obviously, the
per minute was different starting out
and, you know, when we were just using
little push mowers, you know, now we
have better better equipment and so we
can stay a little more reasonable. And
really in the beginning with Green Pal,
I mean, you're hustling to get good
reviews. I was really blessed at the
time, you know, the founders, you and
and Brian used to like call and text uh,
you know, some of us, and say like, "We
got this."
Yeah. Yeah. Can you go do it real quick?
And and so it was great to get those
kind of reviews, you know, cuz people
were always really grateful on those
kind of jobs. So, yeah. I mean, we tried
to be a little more competitive when we
were starting, I think. And now, now
that I'm a little older, and, you know,
because it's a side gig, we can be a
little pickier and so we try to price a
little higher, I guess, than maybe I
would if I was, you know, hustling,
trying to make the rent, you know, but I
think that's it's a benefit to me to
stay small and that we really value our
clients and we want good clients and,
you know, good clients are willing to
pay for good service. So,
what are some of the common mistakes
that you see, you know, lawn care
companies make when it comes to pricing?
I think well, I experienced it at the on
the commercial end. You know, there was
when I was new with the company I was
with before, we were expanding and so we
were just gobbling up jobs, you know,
left and right and just maxing out as
much as possible. But then you kind of
suffer on the service end of things, you
know, and then you're running around
dealing with problems all the time and
uh you know, but we we had to scale, you
know, because it was a big company and
we were running four lawn crews and I
was managing two of them. So I think
that's a common problem is just getting
too big too quick. It's one of the
reasons why I decided intentionally to
stay small, all focus on neighborhoods
that I was already in. You know, I never
drive more than five minutes between
yards. I try to keep really tight routes
that way and it saves on fuel cost and
down time and I don't like sitting in
the truck, you know, and stuck in
traffic like
miserable. So,
yeah. So, I think, you know, getting too
big too quick and then, you know, not
scaling at like a sustainable rate, I
think is is pretty important.
Yeah. And so, what should homeowners
look for in a lawn care or landscaping
company when they're looking to hire
someone? What advice would you give
them? Uh I think that's one of the
another places where Green Pal comes in
kind of clutch is that you know the
reviews are all there. So like in the
beginning when clients would contact me
I would say you know look at my reviews
like you know I've been doing this I
have these many clients you know I have
this percent on time ratio and
especially for younger professionals
that are on green pal like they can look
up those numbers really quickly. As far
as people that are not on Green Pal, you
know, it's um, you know, they see the
level of your work, you know, because
they're getting references from
neighbors or friends, you know, they've
been to their houses, they see, you
know, is the edging done really tight?
Are you missing stuff? You know, are the
neighbors complaining about it? Is the
grass too tall? You know, are you
showing up when you say you show up? And
and honestly in the handyman business I
was doing before and in lawn care
landscaping I think half of it is just
showing up when you say you're going to
show up like I think especially after co
I mean you know there's so many people
that need
trades you know and people to just show
up you know that I think half the time
people are willing to pay whatever you
know if if you're just there doing what
you said you're going to do when you say
you're going to do it and showing up you
know when you say and like I said when
you got 200, 250 or 300 clients, you
know, stuff happens. It's hard to manage
all that. I think when you have 50 or
60, it's a lot easier, a lot less. So,
yeah.
What are some red flags that you would
tell homeowners to avoid when hiring a
landscaping or lawn care company?
I guess if they're newer, you know,
that's always kind of a red flag. Like
even if I hire a plumbing company, you
know, if they've only been around a
couple years, I think that's kind of a
maybe not a red flag, but a yellow flag.
Yeah.
Cutting grass. It's always one of those
interesting businesses because anybody
can show up with a a push mower, you
know, like a pickup truck, you know, Joe
Joe or, you know, some guy that maybe
looks like he, you know, he could use
some help, you know, or something. But
so yeah, I don't know that I ever warned
people about red flag. I think people
just experience that stuff. I've never
really had to had to coach clients, you
know, on what a red flag is. I know a
lot of times when we bid landscaping
jobs, I'll tell them, you know, get
multiple bids. Like, you know, if
they're an established client of mine
and they just don't want to mess with
it, you know, I tell them sometimes it's
better to get multiple bids, you know.
Yeah. Compare. Make sure you're not
getting hosed.
And honestly, it makes me look better,
you know?
Right. they get multiple bids and they
realize, oh, this guy's like pretty
average or he's in the the range, you
know,
like I'm not trying to rip them off.
Yeah, that's that's true. And so I know
you kind of talked about this a little
bit earlier. How did you find good
workers and and how do you keep them and
what makes like a a a good crew member?
Well, right now I'm really blessed that
my main employee is my wife.
Are you the employee or is she the
employee?
That's the great debate, right? you
know, we're always firing each other,
you know, basically.
But, you know, back when I worked in the
the bigger company, I mean, and I don't
I'm trying to remember, we would always
go through people, you know, cutting
grass is it's a it's a marathon, you
know, and you get
I remember getting lots of young kind of
kids who were like, I can do this and
then they zip zip zip and then the next
day they wouldn't show up because they
were tired, you know, or sore. I think
in the modern environment, you know, I
know lots of like I'm buddies with a
fair amount of other companies and guys
that run bigger crews and, you know,
they use a lot of Hispanic labor, which
is, I think, really clutch for them. You
know, they they almost all use the visa
program, you know, to get guest workers
here. But outside of that, I mean, I've
trained and taught all four of my sons
how to cut grass at this point. And, you
know, it's it's just I think it's a key
thing to start small and, you know, work
people up incrementally. And when I was
training people, the big, you know, we
just we started on on mowers and, you
know, and worked our way into trimmers,
little words from a lot of people that
they just throw the new guy on the
trimmer and make them run around. But I
found that to be so annoying because I'd
have to go fix all their trimming, you
know, crap or they would scalp stuff or
they wouldn't edge things, right? So,
yeah. So, I always trained people up on
mowers first and then trimming second.
All right. Well, last question. What
advice would you give to someone that's
looking to start a lawn care business or
a landscaping business?
That's the advice. I mean, I teach high
school and so I have lots of high school
kids every year when they find out that
I'm changing clothes, you know, to go
cut grass after school or I'm getting
ready to landscape or like the day when
I show up with a air raator in the back
of the truck, you know, because we're
airrating. They always have lots of
questions and I just, you know, these
are young people that have, you know, a
lot of the kids I work with don't have,
you know, either they don't have access
to a lawn mower or they don't, you know,
they've just never seen it done or maybe
they don't even live in a house, they in
apartments. But the main thing I tell
them is just to get out there, you know,
start knocking doors and get used to
people telling you no, you know.
Yeah, point.
Yeah. get used to selling yourself and
you know and hustling and like I think
half half of half of the gig is just
hustling you know and being a good
person and treating people the way you
want to be treated and you know there's
lots of opportunities out there when
you're willing to do that
a ton of doors you know and people want
to hire younger kids you know to work
like they want to like I had I had three
clients this season who sent me apology
texts cuz they were hiring a
neighborhood kid or maybe their kid you
know
and I told all three of them I was like
that's awesome like That's great. That's
what I want. You know, I'm happy, you
know, and keep my phone number, you
know, cuz they might not like it in
July, you know, like it's nice now.
Or when they go to school, you know,
they go to college or something, you
know, it's like, all right, who's going
to do it for the rest of the year?
Exactly. Exactly. You know, building
relationships like that always pay off
and, you know, and then they'll end up
calling us for landscaping or aation or
something. Yeah. I don't know if that
answers your question about what I
recommend to new people.
Yeah. I think just getting out there,
you knocking on doors, getting told no,
getting told yes, learning a little bit
about, you know, accounting and
accountability and uh upselling and all
that stuff. So, I I think it's uh you
know, I think it's that it's great
advice for anyone that's looking to to
get into the field, especially the when
you're young and you have the energy to
do it.
Exactly. And make mistakes early. Grew
up jobs early, you know. Yeah. So, it
gives you a chance to fix them and
you'll learn easier than
Yeah. messed up. It's going to grow
back, you know.
Exactly. Exactly. Worst worst case, you
just you replant it, you know. That's
the worst.
Yeah.
Well, Bill, thank you so much for
joining the show. I had a I had a blast.
And uh um you know, where where can
people find you? I know you don't want
to grow too big, but uh you know, tell
us your you know, if you have any social
media handles or anything like that.
We have a Facebook page, but honestly,
if you Google us, the first thing that
pops up is Green Pal. So you have Pot
Enterprises LLC. If you throw us into
Google, you'll see us on Greenpal and
feel free to there's a I think they have
a link there where they can hire just
us. So yeah, feel free to jump on there.
But again, you know, we're small and
we're blessed, you know, with all the
good clients that we have so far. So
we're not not really looking to expand
too much. So but yeah, it's been a
pleasure, Jean. I appreciate you
reaching out. It's always good to share.
All right. Well, thank you guys. Thank
you, Bill. And uh for all the
landscaping lawnmowing guys out there,
keep going, keep mowing, and keep
growing. Until next time, thanks, Bill.