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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.
Two months after I started my business
in 2019, I had to have my leg amputated.
And so
Oh yeah, I know I got one leg.
For the first 3 years of my business, I
hopped around and paid everybody to do
everything.
And
honestly, it was terrible. I've gone
through 30 employees in my 6 years of
business,
and the longest I've kept been able to
keep one with my one of my best friends
for 20 years. And I paid him like godly
amounts to work with me, but it was We
did great things together.
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 that have built profitable
and reliable businesses. On the show
today, I have Jonathan Keen with Rock
Solid Lawn Care out of Mascoutah,
Illinois. Jonathan, welcome to the show.
Tell us a little bit about your business
in Mascoutah and how you got started.
How you doing today? We've been in
business for about 7 years now. We
started right before COVID happened. I
think I thought it started in August of
2019. We service everything from
Belleville and Mascoutah all the way to
Bowlin and O'Fallon, Missouri. Cutting
about 80-something yards a week. I
employ three other guys to help me. I
think I I I have like 67 or 70 customers
through just GreenPal. We do anything
and everything lawn care.
That's awesome. And so, what were you
doing before lawn care?
I've literally done lawn care since 15
years old.
Like the last 20 years.
Okay.
Just other people I worked for other
companies and then finally stepped out
and said, "You know what? I'm going to
do this." And then COVID happened where
everybody had a lot of extra money and
then it really made my company jump off.
That's awesome. So, would you say that
COVID is kind of like the time frame or
the kind of the event that kind of
pushed your business forward? Was there
anything else that you did like
marketing or
Oh, yeah. Got my marketing on.
Everything like that.
Everything on from Facebook marketing to
Uh well, when you guys upgraded a
GreenPal and made that where like it
linked straight to Google, that really
helped. My wife did flyers. I did uh
door hangers. Pretty much done it all in
the last few years.
Right. It seems like you kind of have to
do that, you know, in the beginning. You
pretty much have to get your hands dirty
and and do as much in
as you can to to kind of get the word
out there, right?
Yeah, but I mean you got to get your
name out there and that's the hardest
part of the very beginning.
Finding good customers, good reputable
customers. Everybody cuts lawn care out
here. Everybody with a long with a
tractor mower thinks they can just go
cut grass. And that isn't really the
case. I mean, you can cut grass, but how
far you going to make it? And I mean, it
does get hot here in the summers.
Yeah, yeah. No, that that's that's very
true. So, what areas do you serve the
most? Now, you're in Mascoutah, which is
east of St. Louis. Do you do Belleville,
O'Fallon? Kind of tell us a little bit
about, you know, the specific areas that
that you service.
I mean, Belleville is a big area, but
yeah, I service all Belleville,
all of O'Fallon.
I even have a couple there in Troy on
the outer edge. I mean, it goes We got
uh Swansea over here. I service that.
Got a couple in Dupo,
Columbia along the way.
And then over to like South County and
the at the right there at the JB Bridge,
Jefferson Barracks.
And then
I have some as you go up to the Mile
City. And then I don't I I started out
in northern counties, but that's not my
cup of tea. I don't like being out
there. Everybody seemed to be a problem
customer out in that way. And I mean,
you find some nice ones, but
a lot of them are problem customers.
Got you. But, you don't step into St.
Louis at all, right?
Yeah, I do. Yeah, I know. All the way
over.
Oh, we be Okay.
saying in the city. I didn't know if you
guys crossed the river.
Yeah, when I'm saying I'm trying to say
the city that is that is across over in
the South City. That is that is St.
Louis. I There There are a lot of lawns
over in and out in like 15 minutes.
Got you. Those are the Those are the
ones you make some money on.
Yes. Those are you You start with a
minimum $45 on them and you get three
neighbors and they're done in less than
an hour.
That's fantastic. So, are there any
areas that are better for weekly or
bi-weekly customers?
Uh South County, uh South County St.
Louis, the West County, those are your
prime Everybody has extra income to be
able to afford to take care of the lawn
to have weekly clients. You have some
down in like Affton. Those are upper
middle class and they have some
high-disposable income in certain areas.
Ladue, I love Ladue. It's right outside
St. Louis, but it's not quite to like
too far west yet.
It's
Play in Ladue, Brentwood, Maplewood, all
the tiny cities that are middle-age like
35 30 to the 60 and have disposable
income and really like their yard to be
nice as a neighbor.
That's great. And so, what does a
typical day look like for you?
Well, I drop my kids off at 7:00. I go
and grab my one or two guys whatever may
be in my shop. We load up. We go
depending on what day it is like I have
set routes what I do per day. Like I go
out on Monday to like Arnold in South
County and do my commercial ones in
those. Then Tuesday is That's more like
the South City and like those little
little ones along there. Some by the
arch, some relatively not close. And
then Wednesday is my Ladue route.
I start out in Ladue, just go around and
I got Creve Coeur
and I'd have to look at it. But anyway,
that area.
And then Thursday is my other set of
commercial ones. They're in the city.
I got the US Bank and a
Freddy Freddy's Steakhouse.
Like it's like a knockoff steakery.
Got you.
And then Friday is in my West County,
Baldwin, Manchester, Chesterfield.
All the overly
overly nice neighborhoods.
Okay. And so, how do you keep everything
organized and and and reliable since
you're kind of looks like you're you're
kind of everywhere. So, how do you keep
everything reliable and organized and
and all that stuff?
For a per day like I have
I'm my landlord giving me a bunch so I
keep them in one specific category and
then they're like I do per town like I
would name the up town to you. I have
them labeled in what customers I have
under that. And then just
on what day to go on.
Okay, got you. And so, how do you price
your jobs? Is it by the square footage?
Is it by the minute? Or is it just like
a flat rate? Like how would you
recommend somebody that's starting
profit?
My minimum is $45 and that's anything
less than 6,000 square feet. That's
weekly, that's what it is. 45 bucks.
And then it goes up from there. My
highest one is a commercial one that's
acre and a half. And it's think it's 375
a week. But the average one 45 like the
small the small city homes. All of them
45 dollars apiece.
And then
you can go if up to 10,000
50 to 60 bucks. Again, the neighborhood
you're in the depends on the price
you're going to you're going to be able
to get. And then like my my four acre is
120 a week.
If as long as wide open and I ain't got
nothing going on.
Like no no extra trimming.
Okay. And I I know you said you had a
couple crews. How do you find your
workers and how do you keep them? Like
that seems to be a very popular talk.
Yes, you always have people wanting to
to cut grass, but then
you have to train them because the guy
that worked for before you it may not
have the same quality you have. And so
you got to break their habits, you got
to train them to your standards, and
then you got to hope to keep them make
them make them not want to go to
somebody else.
And keeping employees really is the
hardest thing in this like I can find
jobs all day. But keeping good
hardworking
it is so hard.
If you got a scientific algorithm, let
me know, man.
Man, I think if if if we did we'd
you know, we could solve a lot of
problems, but I think in general nobody
everybody thinks they want to work
outside until they actually have to work
outside. Until it's 100° and you can't
get cold anywhere.
Yeah, no, that's one thing in like you
in spring here we you have so many
competitors get everybody wants to cut
grass in spring.
But then when it's dead summer, you have
so many people drop off and then you get
a new new customers that's wanting you
and I mean you already got a full bug.
So you got to pass them on to another
buddy you got to you know around here.
And I mean
a lot of people can't hang with that
when it gets seriously hot around here.
The humidity around in in the Midwest
it's just
too much sometimes.
Brutal.
Brutal. And in the wintertime do you do
you do snow removal as well?
I do. I actually have one contract for
the MetroLink here across St. Louis in
the metro area. I do the platforms.
And we we have a a crew of like 30
people. We go from Scott Air Force Base
down to this side of the river. So like
Emerson Park or Fifth Street, Missouri,
we don't collect the uh the river wood
there.
But, I mean, that keeps me fully busy.
But, I mean, most people don't get that.
I also tried last year expanding into
residentials.
And that just became a headache because
I got to have so many guys for that
specific job.
I can't really expand into residentials
yet.
Got you. Got you. Well, it seems like
you've got your hands full with the with
the commercial property as well, so.
And those those are great money makers,
but they also take a lot of work and a
lot of dedication to them.
Right. And so, what advice would you
give a homeowner that's in the the
Belleville area, any of those areas that
you service? What advice would you give
them, you know, if they're looking to
hire someone to mow their lawn or do any
landscaping at their house?
The cheapest is not the best, but
dedication and the quality of work
matters. A lot of people decide that
they want to cheap out on said projects
or get the cheapest mowing, and then
their lawn dies out early, or they get
somebody that doesn't finish their
always keep a job, or
does a poor quality and they have they
have to pay to get it kicked out and
restart over. They need to do their own
research and pick out good quality
vendors or companies.
Yeah, it's like the $20 mowing guy is
not going to be in business too long.
Absolutely not. I ran into a customer
last year. She tried Oh, she got screwed
out of a backyard somebody was supposed
to do,
and they charged her 21 grand.
And realistically, it was about half of
what she wanted, but she ended up having
to take them to court. She
As of a few months ago, she still hadn't
got her money. It was still being tied
up in court.
Yeah, you just got to be you got to be
careful. So, what is one red flag that
you would give any homeowner that's
looking to to hire a landscaping company
or just somebody to mow the lawn for the
summer?
Honestly, don't be If they're pushy or
like excessive. I get understanding like
cold calls, but
the pushiness, you you definitely
And then, I mean, when they show up to
your house, what type of equipment do
they have? What vehicle are they getting
out of? What their yard looks like at
after the first time? Cuz I mean, if it
looks like garbage the first time,
you're not going to want to have them
around the second time. All those things
like that.
That's a common thing I hear is, you
know, seeing what kind of equipment they
have and, you know, if they want to take
payment up front, that's kind of some
red flags that homeowners should just be
leery about, you know.
That is the absolute truth. Yep.
And so, last question for you. What
advice would you give someone that is
looking to start a landscaping or lawn
mowing business today?
Stick with it. If you're going to you're
going to go in all in,
stay with it. There's going to be tough
times. There's going to be pain, agony.
You might cry yourself to sleep a few
dozen times. It's all going to be fun.
I promise, if you stick with it and
apply yourself, it all works out.
Yeah, no, that's that's great advice.
So, 2 months after I started my business
in 2019, I had to have my leg amputated.
And so,
oh yeah, no, I got one leg.
Oh.
For the first 3 years of my business, I
hopped around and paid everybody to do
everything.
And
honestly, it was terrible. I've gone
through 30 employees in my 6 years of
business.
And the longest I've been able to keep
one with my one of my best friends for
20 years. And I paid him ungodly amounts
to work with me, but it
we did great things together.
But, finding people and finding
reliability,
that's been my biggest struggle this
whole time. Because, like I said, I hop.
So, if you imagine trying to push mow a
yard
while hopping.
Oh my.
Yes.
Oh gosh.
To me it's impossible.
Exactly. It it was to me too, but I
somehow made it.
Wow, man. That is awesome. That's
inspiring, man. That is That's insane.
Because yes, there's been a few times
that I've wanted to quit and I thought
about selling off my equipment and my
contracts.
But then the paychecks hit and it it all
even itself out. You stick with it
enough, you go to you build route
density, you build good customers. You
will have a profitable business.
Yeah, no that that's a that's a good
point, you know. If you can do it out
there, you know, with one leg and 100°
temperature, nobody else has an excuse.
Now don't get me wrong, like I did pay
guys. So it should have been a push for
a while I sit my balls out in the truck,
but
we're still here and I'm still a
company. It's It's been great. It's been
It's been so many learning experiences
because like I got friends that started
their own and like we're competitors,
but we're not We're all buddies, there's
three of us.
But there's so much drastic cut, it it's
just unreal.
But they've all chosen to stay solo and
I've chosen that I I've had to hire
people.
And they say they both takes about 40 to
50 dollars a day and they make it a good
hobby.
But I feel like I've built a company
that
hopefully my son's in a few years will
take over.
Well, that's awesome. Well, it sounds
like you've laid the groundwork for them
to carry that on when you decide to hang
them up and you know, you showed them
what hard work and determination can
turn into. So So Jonathan, thank you so
much for for sharing your story and for
being an inspiration to me and to other
people that will listen to this podcast.
So like I said, man, thank you so much
for joining us.
Everybody out there, if you're thinking
about quitting,
just think, you know,
it could always always be worse.
Yeah, pick your hard. Working for
somebody else's hard, sitting in a
cubicle is hard. Everything's hard. You
just got to pick your hard, so.
Jonathan, thank you so much. And for all
you guys out there mowing, keep going,
keep mowing, and keep growing. Until
next time, Jonathan, thank you so much,
buddy.
Thanks, sir.