Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Preventative Turf Care Beats Chasing Weeds Every Spring with Yoel Clark, Pittsburgh Turf & Fertilizing

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Preventative Turf Care Beats Chasing Weeds Every Spring with Yoel Clark, Pittsburgh Turf & Fertilizing · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: All right everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I am Cliff McCray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm excited to be joined by Yoel Clark with Pittsburgh Turf and Fertilizing.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yoel, how are you doing today?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Very excited to have you here.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, a little bit about Yo Clark.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's, you know, owns a company, Verona-based lawn healthcare company, whose license team helps property owners improve turf through fertilization, weed and pest control, aeration, seeding, soil amendments, and seasonally time treatment programs.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, y'all, we're very excited to have you.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't mind, let's go ahead and jump right into it.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: So y'all, a lot of homeowners think a green lawn is simply about adding fertilizer.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: What is really happening below the surface?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a fertilizer, a lawn fertilizer really consists of three parts.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember back to chemistry class, it's NPK N is nitrogen, P is phosphorus, and K is potassium.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And those are the three main nutrients that are going to make your plants grow.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The nitrogen, keeping it very, very simple.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: The nitrogen kind of makes the top stuff grow, the green stuff that you see.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: The phosphorus helps the seeds, you know, sprout.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the K, the potassium, helps the roots get stronger.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's, you know, it's a lot more complicated than that.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: But to break it, to make it as straightforward as possible, that's what that's what's going on.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So then you need a healthy balance of all three of those things to have a healthy lawn.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's other other things you can add as well.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's certain micronutrients and beneficial bacterias and and stuff and that kind of stuff.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: But the NPK, the number you see on the bag is the backbone.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what did your path look like before Pittsburgh turf and fertilizing?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: What pushed you towards business ownership?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a lot of dead ends companies in the Pittsburgh area in the plant health care field.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: I did I did lawn work, I did uh tree work, I worked for Bartlett Tree Experts for a bit.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I tried getting out of the green industry for almost three years, actually.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I started a joint kind of project with a caterer, got into food for a while.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: That was a whole whirlwind.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But eventually I came back to what I know best, and I started Pittsburgh Durf and Furt about three years ago now.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, was there a specific moment where you knew you were all in and you were ready to take on this business ownership?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I should be clear, like I I am an in an entrepreneurial position, but I'm I'm part of a a greater company.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not I don't own the the division myself.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean what what really I mean I was I was already in a in a very kind of independent managerial position in my uh in the food industry and just for various other reasons that just wasn't I wasn't working out.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really see a future in that.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: But I really liked the kind of entrepreneurial side of it.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had it is something that I had grown from, literally just myself in a in a little food truck, like a one-room thing with, you know, a you know, a stove and an oven and some hot plates and stuff.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I grew it in a few years into a big commissary with a bunch of different stations, and I had a staff of you know, over five people.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that was what I what I liked.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I I basically was able to arrange a very a similar kind of partnership with a with a landscape company where they they wanted to start a chemical division, fertilizer and pesticides, and I'm licensed in that.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's I have a lot of experience in that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I said, hey, like, you know, I I got this food business, you know, off the ground.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I can get your your your f fertilizing and pesticide business off the ground.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: So Okay, okay.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now what are the main services or solutions Pittsburgh Turf and Fertilizer provides today?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And who's the best best fit customer?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Our flagship uh product is uh a six-step a six-step lawn care program, which is your basic weed and feed, keep the weeds down, keep the grass growing.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Along with that, we also offer basically anything else your lawn might need.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: If there's a pH imbalance, we can do lime treatments.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: If there's a grub problem, we can do both curative and preventative grub control.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um if there's a fungal problem, which we've been seeing a lot more of that lately here in the Pittsburgh area.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: These really hot and uh muggy summers have just been brutal for fungal activity in the lawns.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: We do that as well.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: As far as our ideal customer profile, I'd say right now our sweet spot is homeowners with between, I'd say, five to fifty thousand square feet of grass, you know, people mostly mostly suburban, mostly dual income.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Almost all of them at least have a pet or two, kids, probably.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's really our sweet spot right now.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: But in terms of where we'd like to get into more, we have a few, uh, we have a few commercial customers, but we're very interested in getting more into the commercial space.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we're really really looking to talk to property managers, basically.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody managing uh whether it's a you know a set of properties, you know, like res like places where people live, or you know, something like a large institution, like an office park or I don't know, like a hospital or a I can't, I mean that we're looking to talk to property managers who might be looking for, you know, a multi-year contract for their long care.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, and kind of follow up on that a little bit, you know, your program is built around treatments across the seasons, right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: How do you explain the value of the full plan to someone who only calls when weeds appear?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I tried first I try to address, you know, the problem as it stands.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if they call me in like whatever it is, I mean June is already pretty late, but there's a lot there's plenty of people who you know don't even think about their lawn until May or May is probably the the average.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the that's when they start seeing seeing the weeds and the crabgrass and all that.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So the I mean the first thing I do is I I tell them what I can do now, you know, because there are things that can be done, you know, more or less right in the moment.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: But what I try to basically how I how I try to talk about my services is I call it plant healthcare or lawn healthcare, and that's pretty standard in the industry now.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And just like the best healthcare is preventative and not, you know, uh what's the word?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like inter, not you know, interventions.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: You would you basically like the if you eat right and you exercise and you you know take your vitamins and you sleep enough and all that kind of stuff is is like the best thing for your body.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I basically try to view the what I do because like they only they don't they see me only like you know a handful of times a year.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of I try to view I try to communicate what I do is kind of that kind of thing.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm feeding your lawn, I'm I'm giving it the good food, I'm giving it a little, you know, a little boost here and there when it needs it.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: But the real benefits you see yeah, across across the seasons, and especially, you know, it can depending on the condition of the lawn, you can you really start to see the benefits as much as you know 12 months to 18 months later.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, yo, so Pittsburgh weather can change quickly, you know.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: So how do you plan routes and applications when the weather refuses to cooperate?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the you always have to be prepared for rain.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's the main that's the main thing.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a whole lot you can do in the rain, unfortunately.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: I basically catch up on backlogged and office work when it's raining too hard for me to go out.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's always you always need to do that.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: But kind of more big picture things like, you know, say spring starts late.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like this year we had a fairly late spring.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: At least there was, you know, there was we had late snowfalls in March.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that can set your your your schedule, your plans for the whole year, but you can you can kind of just throw everything off.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if you if you stick to your original plan too hard, you're at you're not gonna be delivering the same results that you want to your customers.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean by that is like your pre-emergence are going down later, you're you're gonna be going into your uh, you know, your next, your your steps, your your progressive steps basically later than you were anticipating.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So when say if you know if you're if you're putting down a a chemical that has a let's say targets crabgrass, like in the first or second tiller stage, if you're if you don't incorporate that into an earlier step and you just wait to do it at the step you were planning on it, you're just you're you're gonna have crabgrass problems.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you say I uh I use some chemicals that have a bit of a hot chemistry in them in the spring, uh, because they're a little more effective against certain weeds.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm if I'm getting a late start because of you know Pittsburgh weather, then if I don't switch out those hot chemistries at the right time, I I'm in significant risk of actually causing damage to the to the uh to the lawn.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to I'll have to switch out those chemistries a little earlier.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you just have to know what you're doing.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: You have to really know your products and really know your equipment.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, because like you said, you have to you never know what the weather's gonna throw you.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can get all seasons in one day here.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's kind of how it is.
• 13:18
  unknown: Right.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: So and and now for the answer to this next question, I'll need you to be kind of a little bit vulnerable, but you know, yo, what would you say is the biggest challenge the business is facing right now?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest challenge.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: I would say marketing and more specifically referrals.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: I I know that I need to be chasing down referrals like you know, like anything.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's the it's the best way to you know to boost SEO, word of mouth, all that kind of stuff.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: I am you, I mean, you asked me to be vulnerable.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: It just makes me nervous.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I it's something that I I put off.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do I don't spend as much time on it as I should and seeking referrals and that and that that well, it's not like we don't have any any word of mouth, like you know, the phone is still ringing, but to really supercharge my business, I need to get over that anxiety about really asking my customers, you know, how this last year went, what they feel about the service, and and asking and asking for referrals, asking them to tell, you know, tell the world about my about my service because I'm just so you know, even if you know 90, 90 are having a great time, I'm just afraid of that 10%, you know, that's gonna say something critical, you know.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you honestly believe is preventing the business from reaching its next level and its full potential?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, besides what what I mentioned, I mean getting to getting to the next stage involves involves hiring a basically hiring my first employee.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's been a challenge.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's no one like right to hand that uh that really fits that role.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And uh just just you know, finding the the right time to like pull the trigger on that is a big challenge as well.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: You you want to have the book of business and and all that, you know, to justify hiring a hiring a worker, but you know, but also you there's a lot that you know that that I can't do, you know, just because my hands are tied, you know, with all the uh with all the work I have to do in the truck and stuff.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh it's uh it's a balance, but yeah, that's also a that's also a big a big barrier, I'd say.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what are the biggest frustrations you have at your business right now?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, kind of things that are consistently making ownership harder than it should be.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'd I'll just say equipment.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's kind of a kind of a classic and you know not an excuse, obviously, for things not working well, but equip, but equipment is it's always a frustration for any for any uh entrepreneur in the in the skilled skilled service field.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And but I think me and me me and my business in particular, just because I'm a plant guy.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a plant, I'm a biology chemistry kind of guy.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not really an equipment guy.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't come to this from construction.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't get into this because you know, I like you know, riding around in machines and you know, big big machines and stuff.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like some guys, like that's half the like half the fun of the job, you know, it's like big trucks and big big machines and stuff.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just I'm just not that's just not me, you know.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So like obviously I uh I uh I've learned uh you know everything I need to learn for for safety and optimal uh optimal uh operation and all that kind of stuff to be able to manage and maintain my equipment.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: But bec because I just there's there's just gaps in my knowledge, just because I don't have the background and I don't have kind of the the same kind of interest in it.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: So there's uh there's definitely you know gaps in in my in my knowledge about my equipment and my and just my frankly my my willingness to put in the kind of time that you need to make sure the equip the uh you get the the right equipment and that's maintained properly at the right times and all that kind of stuff.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, we've I've had some equipment frustrations this year.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, and this question is another kind of vulnerability question a little bit, but is there something you've had to change personally or about your personality type to help your business at all?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Have you had to change something about you personally to help your business grow?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: I like I mentioned, I'm a like I'm a I'm a biology chemistry guy.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: So like I will I like developing programs and like you know, getting the most efficient program for the for the cost of material and the the figuring out the precise, you know, targeting the right pests at the right time and all that kind of stuff.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like I will do that all day long.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm very good at that.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I enjoy that kind of work.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: The the interpersonal stuff just doesn't come as naturally to me, you know, like uh it was it was a struggle for me to you know to just figure out how to do basic, you know, sales calls, you know.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that was something I not only had to learn how to do, but actually learn how to enjoy it, you know, because I it's a such an important big part of my job.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And now I actually I actually enjoy doing talking to new customers, walking properties with them, talking about solutions to their problems and pricing and all that kind of stuff.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something that I out of necessity had to change.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm actually glad that I that I've that I've been able to do that.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And now I actually it's actually something I enjoy.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, yo, how how about how many hours a week are you working in and out of a business right now?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Between 50 and 60.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not too crazy.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot, but it's not a it's not consuming my whole my my whole life.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I do have a a family and a life outside of work, so.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now, do you, you know, now getting into that a little bit more, like you said, you got a family.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do you do you ever have to miss stuff because of work, because of working too much, or are you able to still do things?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do there are things that I have to that I have to miss.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: I am extremely grateful for my wonderful wife who's very supportive and handles the kids, you know, from 7 a.m.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: until basically dinner time.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I am fairly lucky that I work with people and I work in an industry where there is a fair amount of respect for family time.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: So there I do, you know, obviously work late work evenings when it's when it's necessary, and even we weekend hours uh on occasion when it's necessary.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: But in general, you know, home, home for dinner with the family and you know, weekends with the family if you're a family man is something that more often than not I do maintain.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: So now, what is it?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I know this is tough because I know you know obviously you have to you have to look from the outside in, but what would you say is your greatest strength as a business owner?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: My greatest strength as a business owner.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I know it's always tough to rate yourself.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: I hate trying to compliment myself, but um I'd say uh I'd say my my ability to think systemically, I think that is a strength that I have.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm able to see the greater picture in things.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm able to see how how a business, you know, is like a machine, you know, where the there's a lead that goes in in one end of the funnel and you know, out pops, you know, invoices and money on the other side, you know, and like and just being able to see all the moving parts and how if there's a problem, you know, at one end of the machine, or if there there's some there's some some of uh let's say let's call it a frustration.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's some there's something.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's not some outcome that we don't like that's that's going on in one one part of this machine that I call a business, whether it's, you know, there's a there's a customer that's not happy, or there's there's a plan for a job that, you know, that wasn't that's the crew's tr having trouble following, or there's, you know, there's a there's an invoice or something that's not getting paid.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, whatever it is.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's some issue, it's somewhere along the line.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's often there's a there's some kind of there's some kind of problem in in somewhere else in the machine, in the business, that's actually that's causing that bad outcome.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's very rarely like, oh, you know, so and so dropped the ball and that's the problem, or oh, they were just they're they're just not a good customer, whatever.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, they never paid their bills.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that it's it's very rarely like the the immediate problem that's the real problem, you know.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think I'm pretty good at at look at zooming out and looking at a bigger picture and trying to identify more like systemic problems that can be fixed.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's let's go to the flip side of that.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what is one leadership or business skill you know you still need to improve on?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say I'd say communication just across the board, uh communicating with those above me, communicating with my peers, communicating with those who who report to me or someday will report to me, recommunicating with customers.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not and not because, you know, I'm uh I'm not articulate.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've like I think I'm fairly, you know, smart and I like I know what I'm it's not like I don't know what I'm talking about or don't know how to, you know, don't have the words for it.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's with me, it's like uh how do I what am I trying to get to?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's really really getting to the point of things and communicating clearly and a hundred percent honestly with whoever I'm talking about, not not trying to sugarcoat things, not trying to talk around things, not trying to tell somebody what they want to hear, but which I just because of my personality is it's easy for me to do that, to fall into that habit.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: And as a leader, you have to call it, you have to tell it like it is, you have to tell people, you know, truths, even if they're they're difficult to hear or difficult for me to say.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I would just say, but yeah, those kind of communication skills are what I still need to work on.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now, where do most of your customers come from today?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're mostly customers that the comp the the bigger company I'm part of also does maintenance for.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're they're mostly located in Oakmont and Fox Chapel, so kind of uh north north uh east of the city of Pittsburgh.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, let's say let's say you get a qualified lead, somebody calls in a qualified lead, right?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: How confident are you that it becomes an actual customer?
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: If they're really a good lead, I am I'm pretty confident at this point that I can land a good a good lead.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Most of most I've I've done a lot of work, I should say, in get in getting good at qualifying leads and and really identifying is is this a person that that I can serve you know at on in with their budget and what they're looking for?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or is this somebody that I can I can pass on to another to another person that might be able to really get them what they want?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: But if if someone really is a good really is a good lead, I'd say, I don't know, I don't want to get I don't know if you can put percentages on it, but I'd say if a good lead, I I have I'd say I have an 80% chance of of getting it at this point.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've gotten pretty good at if it's a if it's really a good lead, I've gotten pretty good at at making making sure it turns into a sale.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what are you doing?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of, you know, let's talk about your competition a little bit.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: What what would you say is kind of giving you guys kind of an unfair advantage versus your competition?
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: What are you doing differently than your competitors out there?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: We really like to push the uh the kind of family business uh end of things, you know?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people go with bigger franchises like the names you hear around, like blonde man and caps, and I think uh true green is probably the biggest one in North America.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: And those names will always they'll always be able to outcompete us on price.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: But we like to push the, you know, we're a local family-owned Pittsburgh company.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can pick up the phone, you'll you'll talk to a real person.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: More more often than not, you know, it's the actual person who's you know gonna come service your property.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because like if you need to get a hold of me, I'm available.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and that plus just just real expertise, like like from start to finish, from the products we choose to who's operating the equipment, to you know, who's actually talking to you about the look look putting eyes on your property and talking to you about the issues in your lawn, uh, you're gonna get someone who uh has real expertise in the real expertise in what they're talking about.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, can you tell us a little bit about the team that's supporting your business today?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's my the owner of Recupero Inc., Dave Recupero.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: He supports all of us.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's the he's the fearless leader.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a good office staff that helps me with all the financials, invoicing, vetting calls that come in, and that's mainly done by uh Haley is our office manager, and John is our GM.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: He just started this year, and he's great as well.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, good deal.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, now we're gonna head into what's called the the this or that round.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, how this works is I'm gonna give you two options and I want you to choose one of them and just tell me why.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's a good way to kind of learn your personal side a little bit more.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Most of these most yeah, most of these are kind of personal based.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: A couple of them are business, but it's mostly personal based.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Just kind of know know a little bit about you and kind of what you got going on in your personal life.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: So Netflix or YouTube and why?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say YouTube.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: I really haven't been on Netflix in a long time.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm not a big just like TV movie guy, but yeah, like YouTube, I can really get sucked into like like sort of educational or quasi-educational stuff on YouTube, you know, like learning, learning about different things, either how to do things, or just like a little like, you know, video essay on something interesting.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I that can really fascinate me.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: And also just my my kids are are kind of like this.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: They they don't really go on on Netflix anymore.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: They they like to play computer games and they like to watch YouTube.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if I like to watch YouTube with my kids as well.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've noticed a trend here with this question.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: I noticed the guys like to say YouTube and women like to say Netflix.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of uh interesting.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's what we've noticed so far.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it's mostly because, you know, I think women usually like to watch shows.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: They like reality TV, true crime, documentaries.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: So they rather watch something on they rather watch something long form rather than guys.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: We like we like to learn stuff.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of like to get sucked in on learning things on YouTube.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's interesting.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: Beach or mountains.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, beach or mountains.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's a hard one.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I have to say mountains, although I I do love the beach.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: The beach is really special.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I grew up in California, so I got a lot of both growing up, but I I I think I if I had to, if I if I had to have only one, I think it would be mountains.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: I uh I love hiking, I like camping.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've hiked over two oh, how much is it?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like about 500 miles of the Appalachian Trail in my life.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd like to I'd like to do more of that.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: I like telling my wife that when I retire, I'm just gonna put on a backpack and just finish the Appalachian Trail.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I just love that forested environment, you know, mountains, forests, trails, all that kind of stuff.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean the beach is so much fun, but like I don't know, that's the the the water can be scary and uh you know it's hot.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think I have to go with mountains.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're right, you're right.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: The beach water can be can be scary.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, we hear about all the shark bites and stuff, and it's like I don't know.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I and I know in mountains you can get attacked by a bear, right?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: But if you got bear bells, there's ways there's ways to get around it a little bit, yeah.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I saw I remember seeing some baby black bears in the mountains in uh in in Yosemite once, and that was that was scary because if you see the babies, then the mama's not so far away.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we gotta be careful.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Coffee or tea?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh I have to say tea, although I've been drinking more coffee lately, but I have to say tea.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: I really love tea.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: My my wife's the coffee gal, and I'm the tea guy.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, if I had to, if I had to choose only one, I would, I would stick with tea.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Early bird or night owl?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's easy.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely an early bird.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: I am an early, I am an early riser.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: I always have been.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: I get it from my dad.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: My dad, you know, woke up at you know 4 30 in the morning every day and went to work real real early.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: And not that I don't enjoy, you know, staying up late, and especially if it's you know, like hanging out with with people, you know, drinks and you know, whatever stuff like that.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: But in general, yeah, exactly.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but but in general, you know, uh day in, day out, I'm an early to bed, early to rise kind of person.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: Sweet or salty.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Man.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't like to admit it, but I have to say sweet.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I I have uh a bit of a sweet tooth, and I eat, you know, two more sweets than I should.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like and it's not that I don't like salty stuff and you know, salty snacks or whatever stuff like that, but what when when it comes down to you know what has more power over me, it's uh it's the sweets they'll get me every time.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: Dogs or cats.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know these are tougher than they sound, right?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have to say cats.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say cats.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mostly hear dogs, mostly hear dogs, but yeah.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dogs are dogs are wonderful.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're like uh they're such great pets, you know, and there's so much like uh it's hard for me to say cats because I can like I can see the advantages of dogs over cats, you know, that they're like they're kind of more yeah, they're like they're more interactive, they're more like I don't know if they're smarter, like that's I'll probably you know get in trouble for saying something like that.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I really don't know, but like I don't know, dogs are just like they just seem like such better companions than cats, but just me in for me personally, like I've I've had lots of like bad experiences with like poorly trained dogs, you know.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: So like I kind of like I I I'm a I'm a little bit afraid of dogs at this point, and I don't know, cats are just they're just they're so low maintenance and and fluffy, and I don't know.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think I have to go with cats.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Summer or winter, summer or winter, huh?
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think I have to say summer.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like summer.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't mind winter, obviously, because I'm a Californian who lives in Pittsburgh, so if I minded winter, I wouldn't be living here.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't be living here.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I don't mind winter, but I wouldn't say I like I prefer winter.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely prefer summer.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'd I like I like uh I'd rather be hot than cold.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as long as I have sunscreen, I like being out in the I don't mind being out in the hot weather, and and yeah, with I wouldn't be doing the kind of work I'm doing if I if I didn't enjoy, you know, the summer outdoors with some degree, you know.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, summer.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect lawn or perfect landscaping?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna play to type and say perfect lawn.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Just because, I mean, obviously because, you know, if you want a perfect lawn, give me a call.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: But but also just uh, I don't know.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's some I I really think I really think that there is something like ingrained in us as humans that we just like, we just like the the just broad pasture.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about a lawn that just you know makes us feel good.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: The the way it looks, the way it feels under our feet, you know, there's there's something about that kind of like grass.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's you know from our you know ancestors on the savannah or whatnot, but like I really think there's just something very kind of inviting about a really nice lawn, you know, just the the green, the color, and the and the texture of it.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, there really is something very fundamentally nice about a perfect lawn.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect yard but ugly house, or beautiful house with an awful lawn.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: It plays right into you, what you guys do.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna say beautiful house with ugly lawn or ugly landscaping because because if you are somebody who's got a very nice house and your landscaping or your lawn is not living up to your house, that is, I mean, that's just the that's that's that's what that's what I want.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's that's the that's the that's the golden goose.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like the person who's got the beautiful house and just like and just doesn't realize how much better their house can look and how their how much, you know, how much they can add to their property value just from a little bit of decent landscaping, you know.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, totally ugly house.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: I sorry, beautiful house, but ugly landscape, yeah.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that tie-in.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Give them a call if that's the case, you know.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like you say.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: Love that tie-in.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's a nice sales pitch.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and then the last one is dream vacation or dream home.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, dream home.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Dream home for sure.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: I I wouldn't say I'm a workaholic, but I'm I don't take a whole lot of vacations.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't like traveling that much.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the kind of person who like like a vacation for me is like, you know, uh hiking up a mountain for a day and a half, you know, and like sleeping on the ground.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's the kind of person I am.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: But like, yeah, I I have a wife who's a bit of a homebody.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: We have five children, so she does a lot of stuff at home.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: And just the the idea of having like a beautiful house, you know, with as much space and stuff and you know, all the all the things that you know she wants and the kids wants, like that, that that really like that's a that's a dream for me.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you getting through that this or that.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, a couple last things.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you added twice as many customers, let's say hypothetically next season, let's say, what would be the hardest thing or what would be the first thing that would break and would need to be fixed in your company?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, what would be the first thing that would break?
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh if we had twice as many customers.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I think I would say space, space.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like the the way things are, we're like I'm already, I'm just, I mean, like physically, I already have to like fight for corners of you know the lot and the and the uh and the garage for materials and you know places to store chemicals and fertilizer and bags and all that kind of stuff.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because it's the the nature of what I do, like you you it's it's a lot of stuff.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're putting these, putting a lot of, you know, granules and seed and like all this kind of stuff on on lawns.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: And already being pinched for space, like I would have to, I would have to come up with a solution for that problem, like tomorrow, if if I had if I had twice as many customers.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what's next for Pittsburgh Turf and Fertilizing?
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: What should people be excited about coming up in the near future?
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: We I mean, obviously the you know, the seasonal stuff is always right on the menu.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: As we get to the end of August and things start to cool down, this is the perfect time to reseed a thin lawn, to aerate a compacted lawn, all those kind of kind of things you don't want to you don't want to do multiple times a year, but are good to do once a year or every other year.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do the we're coming up onto the time to do those things.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: But in terms of things that are more interesting, I am getting more into like insect pest control.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Very there's there's various different services for that.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's your standard like MFT flea and tick treatments for the lawn, but I'm also offering now perimeter sprays, which are kind of a supplement, supplement to that, to kind of protect the insects from coming into the property in the first place.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I just uh started offering a new kind of mosquito treatment that's a mosquito trap.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh it's a very, very cool technology.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's based on stuff they actually use in in places around the world where malaria is a big problem.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: They use this uh technology to trap and get rid of mosquitoes.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm offering that now to my customers as well.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh the last thing now, you know, final question.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to be kind of as as transparent as you can.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: But let's say, you know, if there was one thing you could change about your business in the next 90 days, and you know, 90 days at this point, we're recording this at the beginning of August, would be around Halloween.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say if there was one thing you could change about your business by Halloween of this year coming up, what would it be and why?
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: What would it be?
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: It would be I would have a solid, reliable sales and marketing funnel.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: I thank God I I it's the the phone is ringing and we do have we do have customers mostly through word of mouth.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm gonna get to the next level, I need to have a systemic way of just bringing in more leads and a foolproof planned out well not foolproof's not the right word, but just a a trained system for for getting sales and getting leads and translating them into sales and into into customers that I uh I've developed a lot of the skills in myself necessary to make those things happen.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I that's not the same thing as having like as having like a real robust system in place with you know a website and a ref, you know, a system for collecting referrals and and you know, I don't know, Facebook ads, things like that.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I would I think that's what I would what I would like to change, yeah.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, does that is that, you know, because there's a difference between you know what you actually want, what you actually want to change in the business within 90 days, and what actually can happen now that you'd have identified that.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say we talk on Halloween.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Will you have fixed that problem or or what do you think will actually happen by Halloween?
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of a different question.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that will be completely fixed by Halloween, to be honest.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: I I I think I um will have at least addressed the referral issue by then.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I've I've been saying for long enough, and I uh I have some uh I have some plans and I have some some people who are gonna help me with it, but I and I I think that I think that's gonna be that's gonna be nipped in the bud by then.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect, perfect.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well, I appreciate that.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, y'all, thank you for uh joining us again and for sharing your real behind-the-scenes story of Pittsburgh Turf and Fertilizing, kind of building that business.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: To everyone listening, be sure to connect with our guests using the information shared today and follow all of our social media, which will be in the description, Epic Entrepreneurs for more conversations uh with people building businesses and communities every day.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, before we go, any last words for our audience?
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Not really.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: Just thank you to you and thank you to everyone for listening.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can look us up on Facebook or you can find us at PGH turf and furt.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's A N D spelled out the word.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: PGH turfandfert.com.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect, perfect.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well, again, y'all, it's been great having you on.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: And uh thank you again for coming.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was really, really a pleasure to have you on and speak with you about your business.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is Cliff McCray with ActionCoach Business Growth Partners.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next time.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thanks.