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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.
Well, that $20 guy's not going to be
there the whole entire season cuz he's
not making money,
right? Not just that, but I mean $20,
what does that get you, you know? So,
you get what you pay for sometimes. So,
just keep that in mind when they when
they trying to find their right guy.
Just if he's cheap, he's probably going
to be cheap.
Welcome to the Green Pow Lawn Care
Business Growth Show. My name is Jean
Cabillo, 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 Bo Simpson with Mustang
Lawn out of Strs, Ohio. Bo, welcome to
the show. Tell us a little bit about
your landscaping business in Struts,
Ohio, and how you got started.
Well, it's kind of a funny story,
actually. Me and my partner hadn't been
together very long, and I go to a
tractor supply store and end up coming
home with a $535
used more. and she wasn't exactly
as thrilled with me as maybe I would
have hoped she would have, but it is
what it is. I came home with that and I
was like, "Well, you know, nothing else.
I can mow yards." So, I picked up a
couple yards. So, she goes and starts
doing some research and finds the
Mustang lawn, I mean the Green Pal app,
and says, "Hey." I said, "Okay." And so
we start playing with it and next thing
you know I have built in to where I've
gotten bigger and better equipment since
I I've bought new equipment. I've got
new trailer. Uh got me a new excavator
now. So I mean it's just it's just
blossom and and bloomed. I'm doing all
kinds of landscaping and lawn care due
to this app.
Oh that's great. Well, tell us a little
bit about where you are right now
roughly with revenue and how many lawns
per week are you doing? Tell us a little
bit about the current dynamic of your
business. Well, I had cut back a little
bit on the the lawns themselves of
mowing for a little bit because I had
done a a transition of going to school
and I finished school and I thought,
well, soon as school was over, then I
would be to work somewhere and that
hasn't happened. So, I've tried to pick
up my lawn clientele back up from where
I had let it drop. And so, right now,
I'm probably got 30 yards that about
half of them are every week. Uh the
other half are bi-weekly
and but then I've added the landscaping
aspect to it to where I'm widening
driveways. I'm putting in flower beds.
I'm I'm even expanded into some um
renovation work has conspired from the
lawn care because of me getting the
excavator. They want me to dig down,
waterproof the outside of the homes and
stuff like that. So, how a great debt of
gratitude to Greenpile. I really do.
Well, it wouldn't be possible if you
weren't doing quality work and doing
what you say you were going to be doing.
So, when you first brought that mower
home, how did you get those first
clients? Was it just knocking on doors?
How did you get the the first few?
Well, the first few is my partner. She
she had her own place at the time cuz we
had just started dating at the time and
I had my place. Well, my place I
automatically mowed. Well, she was
renting her place and so we all talked
to her landlord. He paid me to mow her
grass and then people would see me there
and they'd say, "Hey, would you mind
coming this far?" And and such as that.
I never really done the door to door
because I didn't have but like two maybe
three customers when Nicole found the
the app and we opened it up and then it
just it bloomed. At one point I was
working five and six days a week all day
long doing nothing but mowing grass
making as much from good grass as I was
working.
Wow. That's amazing. So, Greenpal kind
of helped with kind of like growing your
business initially, I guess. How did you
kind of keep those customers? Was it
just kind of doing the best work that
you possibly can, keeping that clear
line of communication? What kind of
helped you just kind of keep those
customers and have them be advocates for
for your business?
I try to be a man of my word. If I
quoted a price, I stick to it
irregardless of unseen
obstacles come up that I couldn't see
initially, then I still stick with what
I told them. And I've had quite a few
that has appreciated the work that I'd
done and has tipped me in such a way
that it makes up for the shortcomings of
of the price that I had quoted.
Gotcha. So instead of upselling or or
charging a little bit more, you know
that you're a man of your word. You keep
the price and you know you can make
money maybe on the upselling side or
more on the landscaping side. Is that
kind of what I'm hearing?
Yeah. Because it's like this. If you
give a person 110% for 100% in return
and you communicate, you if there is
something that comes up that's going to
push back the deadline or something like
that, you communicate. You let them know
what's going on and be upfront. I mean,
the minute that you know that there's an
issue, let them know. That goes a long
way with the customers so far that I've
seen.
Yeah. Once they trust you, they'll give
you any job that they possibly can. Huh?
Yes. The one lady that actually I got my
Trackho through her, she was a referral
from one of my Green Pal customers.
She saw the job I was doing for them on
their lawn. She wanted to know who I
was. She had her husband to contact me.
I went over there. There was like five
down trees. They had bought their house
and the property beside them where old
house had been tore down and there was
like five trees that had been cut down
and just left laying. Half of the
property couldn't even be mowed. I
quoted them in price. I went in there. I
done it and I said, "Hey, look, why
don't you just get me over here? pay me
x amount of dollars to get over here and
clean up this wood to where you got gain
access to the rest of your yard. It
makes it easier on me to mow your yard
because then I don't have near about as
much weed eating to do. It's going to
look better. You're really going to
enjoy having the rest of this yard. And
so he done it. He says, "Sounds like a
deal. When can you do it?" I said, "Soon
as I get done with my lawns today. I'll
be back and I'll start today." And I
done it. I come back and it took me
several days. I had to actually get a
log splitter for some of it just to be
able to pick it up and move it. That was
cutting firewood size chunks for the
most part. And he wanted to keep that
firewood. That stemmed into me putting
in a fire pit for him, a big huge fire
pit area, a walkway from his
ingground pool and patio area over to
the fire pit. Then he had me down some
more trees. Then she him and her split
and she hired me back in there to do
some more work, which was work that he
had said that he wanted done before they
split. So she bought the tracko. The
trackho paid for itself on that job and
give me $1,200 cash in my pocket.
Wow. So that one lawnmowing job, that
30, $40, $50 lawn mowing job turned into
another piece of equipment, cash in your
pocket, and a customer for life.
Yep. And matter of fact, she called me.
Now, I can't even get my moors in her
backyard because her gates so small.
She's ended up selling her house now,
and she's moved into another house that
she owned. And oh, the backyard, I got
the clean up on that. That was $2,400
there. and fixed the one section of
fence where it was busted. And that's
how I got my excavator in there to get
out the big rocks and the big old
bathtub full of dirt and all that. I
used that section because it wouldn't go
through her gate. So, I fixed that back.
It no longer has a gate except for that
little one. So, now all I can do is the
front yard. And it takes me about five
minutes to do this yard. And I told her
$30. I just done it yesterday and she
gave me $50 and I can't even get in the
backyard.
Talk about a customer for life, huh?
Yep. I did inside work for her at her
new place as well as her old place.
Wow.
Cuz she saw the kind of stuff that I'd
done. I showed her pictures of other
renovations jobs that I've done in the
past and she put me on that, too. So,
wow. You've got that whole house on
lock.
All right. So, what areas specifically
in the Strs area or the Struts market do
you service? What specific like uh
Boardman, Austin Town, Canfield, Poland.
Let us know what specific areas you
service.
Well, I go out like a 30 mile radius
from Strs and that's going to include
some of PA. I haven't started work over
at PA. I hadn't won a bid over there
yet, but once I do, I'll have that. But
I've been going as far south as North
Lima coming up. I've got a nice job in
Poland that I do on a every every two
week base. However, if it's as long as
what I expect it to be this time, we
might end up going to a every week base
until it gets a little der, a little
hotter, so the grass ain't growing quite
as fast. But um I go Youngstown,
Boardman, and I'm not sure. I'm I know
that ain't still Boardman. I I'm
thinking it's going to be a Canfield
area cuz it's out on Western Reserve
Road quite a piece. And when I come back
north of there, I know that's comes into
the Canfield area. And I go to War
Niles, I have Champion. So, yeah, I
service a pretty good size area.
Gotcha. And are there any specific
neighborhoods that are better for weekly
or bi-weekly customers?
Yeah, you're I don't know how do you
probably just best way to sum that up
would be your HOA places normally want
you to come every week whether the grass
needs it or not. They really want you to
come because there's there may be a
springrig or two here that's a little
too high. They don't want their
neighbors seeing that.
Yeah. They have the irrigation and all
that. They they wanted to look
Yeah. The one customer that I have in
the Austin town area. He's in one of
those communities as well. And matter of
fact, he found out about my Trackco and
he's wanting me to do some landscaping
work there, which part of it is putting
in those automatic irrigations for the
the yawn. So, only thing he's got to do
is go and flip a switch and there it is.
There's water.
Yep.
And so, are you are you solo or do you
have a crew that that you work with? Uh,
I have my neighbor that's across the
street that I I put him on to work for
me and I give him a percentage of the
yards that we we get done. And uh there
there's a little conflict with him a
little bit of sometimes of being able to
be there, you know, because he's his
wife works, his mom-in-law works, and
his brother-in-law works, and there's
got to be somebody to get the kids off
the bus. So there's there's times that
it's it's conflicting with the schedule,
but we're making it work. And I've got
another guy that I bring him on as well.
Matter of fact, I got him started doing
his own lawns and got him set up with
you guys through the app and I think
he's got something other like 60 or 70
yards now.
That's awesome.
Yeah,
that is awesome. Mhm.
I give him his his first moors and
everything. I give them to him and said,
"Hey, you can make them run. Here you
go."
That's fantastic.
That's great. And so, how do you price
jobs in Strs, Youngstown, Canfield,
Warren? Is it by the minute, by the
square foot? Like, how do you walk us
through that dynamic of of how you price
your lawns to make sure you're
profitable? I try to go as reasonable as
possible with the amount of square
footage because the square footage is
going to take me x amount of time to get
it done and I've got to pay a guy out of
that and then still have enough to pay
me to go and do it and come back. There
has been times that we've got on a job
and it's been that I actually ended up
paying those people for the privilege of
cutting their grass that time. But I
mean, it happens.
Yeah, it does. It certainly does. And
what do you think separates a profitable
landscaping business or a lawnmowing
company? What do you think separates
those from ones that make money and ones
that don't make money?
Well, you got the bigger companies that
are out there and they've got a bunch of
people that is paid by the hour most of
the time or by the day and they don't
care. It's not their business. They have
no stake in the game. And that's that's
what I tell the one guy across the
street from me. I tell him that it's
it's if we don't get extra for our work,
then it's because our work ain't good
enough. If the if the people decide that
they're not happy with the job and they
refuse the payment, it cost us. And if
it cost me, it's going to cost him
because he's getting a percentage of
what I get. So, and that makes him have
a little bit more care on some of them.
Now, some of them is just yards that the
people's like, you know what, I'm not
paying any extra for any extra stuff. I
don't want any, you know, just knock it
down and don't want the grass clippings
picked up and such as that. I'm like,
oh, okay. So, I price it accordingly.
And there we I mean he still does his
weed eating and stuff, but those are the
ones that don't get the real pristine
look as you would if you was somebody
that really appreciated the yard look.
Yeah. They just want it, you know, every
two weeks knock it down and don't put
the city on my back. Just just knock it
down. Right. And so you're you're you're
paying your workers a percentage as
opposed to some of these companies are
paying by the hour, which they don't
care how quick they can do it. They're
just like, "Hey, I'm I'm here from 8 to
5, 8 to 6. I'm getting paid x amount of
money and you're using a different
strategy where your guy has skin in the
game,
right?" He and and it makes him work
faster because and a more efficiently. I
don't want to say faster as in just run
through the job because he it's got to
pass my inspection before we call it
done because my name's attached to this.
Wow. Yeah. No, that's a that's that's a
very good strategy. So, now let's turn
the page a little bit. So, I am a
homeowner that's looking for lawnmowing
and landscaping in Strers and
Youngstown. What is something that a
homeowner should look out for when
hiring a lawnmowing company or a
landscaping company?
Well, this is something that that I
struggled with when I first started. I
was trying to under bid on all the app
leads. I was trying to under bid
everybody to get the yard. And I wasn't
getting my leads very well. I wasn't
winning the bids. The guys that was
bidding above me was getting them. And
it wasn't until my partner said, "Do you
reckon that because you're selling
yourself short that if you ain't got
faith in yourself, then they're not
going to have faith in you?" And I says,
"Well, you know what? I never even
thought of it that way." I figure
everybody's about money, you know? So,
save a buck, save a buck. In the day and
time that we live in now, we don't get
an hourly rate that coral loan coralines
with the um the inflation, you know,
everything costs way under more than
what a man can make and actually pay for
and live comfortably. So, I'm like, the
savings is always the best, but
apparently not cuz I raised my rates,
you know, of what I would charge them
and that was turning people away. Wow.
So, the homeowner the that uh that sees
that that cheap price, they may want to,
you know, like, hey, am I really gonna
get what I want at the cheapest price?
So, cheapest price may not always be the
best. Um,
not.
Yeah. So, what are some red flags that a
homeowner should probably like, hey,
this guy is, you know, his equipment
looks old. What are some red flags that
these homeowners looking to hire a
landscaping company should watch out
for?
Well, I tell you what, I'm sure glad
didn't didn't that of that
uh how would you say it?
That first impression of old stuff
really didn't matter a lot in my case.
And I'm glad that it didn't because when
I started I started with a old used
mower. And now I did have a semi nice
trailer even though it was old. But it
was only nice because I ended up putting
a wood floor where there used to be a
metal uh mash floor in it. But it was
all lumped up. It had a when I got it,
it had a sheet of aluminum in it to to
keep your moore from falling through and
all of this. And I used that for about a
year and a half before I got another
trailer. I actually replaced the floor,
like I said, with wood. And then I used
it to go to Arkansas to pick up my
Harley and bring it back. And my uncle
saw my trailer. He wanted mine, so we
traded. I brought his back. I left mine
there. and I've been using it up until
three weeks ago, two weeks ago, I bought
myself a bigger trailer.
Good for you. Good for you. Okay, so not
necessarily the equipment, but maybe
just talking to the landscaping
professional and kind of, you know,
feeling them out and obviously not
picking the lowest price because um that
just kind of seems that it's not going
to be there for a while. you know, that
$20 guy's not going to be there the
whole entire season cuz he's not making
money,
right? Not just that, but I mean, $20,
what does that get you? You know, so you
get what you pay for sometimes. So, just
keep that in mind when they when they
trying to find the right guy. Just if
he's cheap, he's probably going to be
cheap.
Yeah. In more ways than one. In more
ways than one. All right, Bo. Well, last
question.
Say, I am starting a landscaping
company. I am starting a lawnmowing
business in Strs, Ohio or Youngstown,
Ohio. Or maybe I even want to go across
the border and start something in in
Pennsylvania. What advice would you give
anyone that's looking to start a
landscaping or a lawnmowing business?
Well, if they have the means to get
really set up the way they they need to
be, then get the sizable trailer to
where you can have two or three moores
of various sizes because just like me, I
have one customer. I still get get into
his backyard with my rider unless I take
my deck off. So, I'm still thinking
about getting a walk behind just for his
backyard. But, I don't know. We'll see.
We'll see what happens. He's another one
that trusts me very well. So, I might
could end up getting a double gate there
to where I wouldn't even have to worry
about that. So, but anyway, if you're
looking to get started, buy reliable,
good equipment. If you have an issue,
make sure it's not a belt issue that
takes you out for two days. that will
cost you, that will upset your clients
that you didn't get to. And now it
rained. Now you can't get on it for
three more days. So now you're a week
behind and the grass is now from 2 weeks
to 3 weeks long. And they're not going
to be happy. You get grass that long,
most of it falls over, you're going to
have these ugly yellowy looking spots.
When you do mow it, they're going to
they're going to think that you didn't
do it right. you're going to have a very
unhappy customer. Do what you have to
do. Even if that means you have to go
and borrow a moore, rent a moore,
whatever, get it done, keep the customer
happy, and then get your stuff fixed so
it's ready for the next day.
Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. You I don't I don't
hear that a lot. I just hear, "Hey, my
mower's down. I can't mow." You know, I
think you just got to have worst case
scenario, I'll go push mow it or I'll
pay somebody to do it, you know, but
that lawn is going to get cut no matter
what. So, no, that that's great advice.
Do whatever you can to prevent that and,
you know, have a contingency plan for if
that not if, but when that does happen.
So, no, that's great advice.
That's about like was it this past
weekend or the weekend before? I think
it was this past weekend that I actually
had to have my buddy go and mow one of
the jobs I had bid and won because I won
it after I was out of town for 2 days.
So I called him up and said, "Hey, run
over and do it." And I communicated that
with the client that I'm going to have
my my worker come over and do it. Let me
know how he does. If you're unsatisfied
in anything he done, please reach out.
let me know when I get back in town on
Monday. I will come and make it right.
Wow, that
he says yes. He was satisfied with the
job. He even left us a tip. And so,
yeah,
that's awesome. That's awesome. Well,
Bo, thank you so much for for dropping
some knowledge and and and uh letting
everybody know kind of how you run your
business and you know the the things
that you've done to keep growing and to
keep making money and to keep your
customers happy. So, uh once again,
thank you so much all the landscaping
guys out there. Keep going, keep mowing,
and keep growing. Until next time, Bo.
Thank you so much, buddy. You have a
great rest day.
Yep. You too.