Latest / Big Talk About Small Business / Disrupting the Trades: Building the Uber of Lawn Care with Quinn Childress

Transcript

Disrupting the Trades: Building the Uber of Lawn Care with Quinn Childress · Big Talk About Small Business

0:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm weeding out there in 100 degree weather by myself, and I have no one else other than me.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: And I would just stop and just say, Man, am I done?
0:08
SPEAKER_01: Am I am I gonna give up?
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Is this it?
0:12
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I've debated it time after time after time, but there's nothing more beautiful than uh compound interests in your business.
0:30
SPEAKER_04: Hey, we are back in the studio, the beautiful studio provided to us by our primary sponsor.
0:38
SPEAKER_04: That is that's fair.
0:39
SPEAKER_04: Podcastvideos.com.
0:41
SPEAKER_04: That is fair.
0:42
SPEAKER_04: Um, if you want to do a podcast, folks, this is the place to do it because they make everything so easy.
0:48
SPEAKER_04: Turnkey, easy.
0:49
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we showed up today.
0:51
SPEAKER_04: Our guest has been all arranged for us by people.
0:54
SPEAKER_04: We sit down, we've got crib notes here in front of us.
0:58
SPEAKER_04: We got this beautiful studio, the AC's turned down, the bathrooms are clean, and the people are friendly.
1:04
SPEAKER_03: They are.
1:05
SPEAKER_03: And we get to do the show and we just walk out and go back to business.
1:09
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I see your signs.
1:10
SPEAKER_04: Well, I haven't seen them lately.
1:12
SPEAKER_04: Maybe you slow down on your job site signage.
1:15
SPEAKER_04: But gosh, I saw those Willow Street lawn signs everywhere in town.
1:19
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's like you guys dominate, and you're now working in what?
1:23
SPEAKER_04: How many different states?
1:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh 20 plus states.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: And we're in great Montreal.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Montreal as well.
1:30
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
1:31
SPEAKER_04: I love Montreal.
1:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:33
SPEAKER_04: It's Montreal is gorgeous.
1:35
SPEAKER_04: It is.
1:36
SPEAKER_04: And and Quebec City and all that.
1:38
SPEAKER_04: I love the whole area up there.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: You probably um you probably don't see the signs because the sun over there is burning, burning them down, you know, from the heat and everything with fucking grass.
1:50
SPEAKER_04: That's the truth.
1:51
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we don't need to cut our grass right now.
1:53
SPEAKER_04: It's just all dead.
1:54
SPEAKER_04: I think last couple weeks have been pretty brutal.
1:58
SPEAKER_04: So, Quinn, tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.
2:02
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you've had an unbelievable uh success and growth in this in this business of yours.
2:08
SPEAKER_04: Tell us about it.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, well, so just a little bit about myself.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I grew up in Fayetteville and uh grew up at Willa Heights um in the projects.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we uh didn't have a lot a lot of resources and um and so growing up in in that environment, you know, I'd walk to school with no shoes and we didn't have a vehicle, so I walked over the city of Fayetteville.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, my my biological mom, um, she was uh abusive, and you know, I'm severely allergic to peanut butter.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: And you know, at the age of five, she would smear peanut butter in my face and inside my mouth.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: And that was my reality check of being a man, and uh so I I had no childhood.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: And so when I turned 15, I was kicked out um on Willow Street, and a family took me in, and then um they ended up adopting me, and that's when I started Willow Street Lawns.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: So that's been a 16-year journey.
3:11
SPEAKER_04: I wish I would have adopted you.
3:13
SPEAKER_04: I don't have any kids that are as successful as you are, so that would have been good.
3:17
SPEAKER_04: Maybe there'd be somebody to take care of me when I get all that.
3:21
SPEAKER_04: I I I shouldn't say that all my kids are really successful, but but no, that's terrible.
3:26
SPEAKER_04: That's a that's a terrible story.
3:28
SPEAKER_04: I'm sorry to hear that.
3:29
SPEAKER_04: But I guess you know it seems like the people I know who've been through similar things, it either ruins them and makes them into what they came from, or they're do the exact opposite.
3:40
SPEAKER_04: It sounds like you did the opposite, it made you stronger.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: I did, and um, you know, I give credit to my my appearance, uh, and I had that ambition to go out there and go get it, like like you, Mark.
3:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, I don't I I'm hungry and I'm still ambitious and still working, just like my buddy Eric over here.
3:58
SPEAKER_04: We can't help it.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: No, you know, well, well, uh, so I I need to get some tips from you guys, you know.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, maybe sometime I can uh pick y'all's brain.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Anytime, man.
4:09
SPEAKER_03: Anytime.
4:10
SPEAKER_03: Hey Quinn, tell g give a little bit more credit to your uh to your parents.
4:14
SPEAKER_03: I mean, what you know, what was it that inspired you?
4:18
SPEAKER_03: How did you kind of start picking up on your vision with all this?
4:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I just knew that I wanted to uh you know uh be more than what I was what where I was at, and I didn't let the situation um define me in that moment.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: Um and they really saw more than me at that time because um, you know, like living in that moment, you know, you know, living in poverty, you think second by second.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: You don't have time to think, you know, every you know, next week or next month or one year from now.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: And so they've really poured love into me to be able to surround me with um, you know, opportunities.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I took advantage of the opportunities, but it's uh it's you know, they this is why I'm so big on the community and why I give back to the community because um, you know, we we uh we see I felt the impact of what community did that impacted me.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Um and this is why my parents are my parents, and uh this is uh how they saved my life.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: And so they gave me that shot, and you know, I'm just motivated not to ruin it.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: And so I feel like this is my second chance in life, even though, you know, at the beginning of my life I didn't feel like I deserved it, but it was a lesson for me to use that those lessons into my next phase of my life and apply it and share my story and maybe make an impact with other people who who may be going through the similar things.
5:48
SPEAKER_04: Wow, you're making me tear up, man.
5:50
SPEAKER_04: So um, how did you start your business?
5:54
SPEAKER_04: You started it in 2018.
5:55
SPEAKER_04: Did you graduate high school?
5:57
SPEAKER_04: Did you go to college?
5:58
SPEAKER_04: What's your educational background?
6:00
SPEAKER_01: I actually I officially started in 2018, but I started back in 2010.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: And essentially, you know, I was so poverty struck that I had this desire to go to college at the U of A.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: And so um as soon as they adopted me, um my dad let me borrow his push mower.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: And so I would walk door to door, knock on the door, and just ask if I can push mow for like 20, 25 bucks.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: And I started doing that, and uh people started giving me opportunities, and um I just showed up every single time.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know how to run a business, but I just knew I didn't want to be poor.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: So um they more and more people, you know, word of mouth spread, and um and so um they the business just kept growing.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: And and so then whenever I was in college, um, I was paying my way through school.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, then um, you know, I took a little extra time because I saw that you know my business was growing and this is something that I want to do long term versus what I was pursuing, which was computer engineering.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: Um and I finished I finished the computer engineering route and I applied the technology uh that I learned from my education into our software company called Lawnly.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: And so um, so yeah, so that's how you know Lawnley was created.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: I was partnered with uh Josh Smith, who owns Mitoba, and uh we we partnered together and then Chris came on board as our CTO um to execute on Lawnlin.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: So we're building a uh you know roundhouse and trying to disrupt the lawn care industry with our with our technology and with our traditional uh business.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: So we have a lot we have a lot of good things cooking.
7:49
SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm uh you know, quent on your story about like starting a business.
7:56
SPEAKER_03: Like, I mean, you you said you officially launched in 18, but you actually started in 2010, or right, is what you're as a kid.
8:02
SPEAKER_03: As a kid, yeah.
8:04
SPEAKER_03: But so many people have this this um this fallacy in their mind that you can just start a business and it grows real quick and all of a sudden everything's great.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: But the reality is is there's usually a lot of background to that, right?
8:16
SPEAKER_03: Like it's an like what Sam Walton said, an overnight success, you know, 20 years in the bacon.
8:22
SPEAKER_03: Exactly, you know?
8:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
8:23
SPEAKER_03: And so I mean, like you would you would and and then if but if we get down to the raw roots of what really kind of started establishing your your foundation was the door-to-door knocking.
8:33
SPEAKER_03: Like you had an you had a purpose and reason to go knock, and that forced you through that uncomfortable scenario.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: And uh, if you don't mind me sharing the revolution of the mission, well, just with Will Street Lawns, for example.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Will Street Lawns had this revolution um and of um first of all, it started out, you know, hey, poor college student trying to pay his way through school.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: And that was like the mission that we were doing, and or I was doing.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, and so then I got in into school, started paying my way through school, and then you know, it it became, you know, hey, like I had to hire other people.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: And so then I had to start thinking about other people other than myself in the business.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: And so the mission was tailored towards that, and then it evolved into this uh my ultimate mission, um, which uh is tailored towards everything I do in my life, which is planting seeds of hope.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: Planting seeds of hope is uh, you know, our core mission um in everything that we do in each business.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: And um, and so I'll give you an example.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Um so Willow Street Lawns, we hire we've hired um, you know, we're the we're the team that goes on those corners and you the people holding the signs, we tell them to get in the truck and say, hey, we'll pay you for the day.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we need to do.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it worked, sometimes we didn't.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: We partner with Seven Hills.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: We go down there, you know, uh pick people up for the day.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: Um sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we partner with New Beginnings.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: We had a lot of stories where we've hired schizophrenic people, you know, we've hired uh prior drug addicts, we've you know hired, you know, people who are chronically homeless.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: And this is tailored towards that mission with planting season hope.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: And there was a lot of pushback um from that internally.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'll give you an example that was revealed to me, how I think that the beauty of attracting things versus forcing and hustling.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: And that is um, you know, we recently hired a guy and we get a call from our storage unit, and he said he said, Hey, we saw someone that came in with the vehicle, you know, at 9:30 um at night, and uh, you know, he was thinking, you know, they would uh drop off the equipment, everything, and then he searched up the code after 10 o'clock because that after 10 it you know it closes, you can't come in, can't come out.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: And so um then from there um he realized that the guy actually was sleeping in our storage unit.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: And so so, but this is a guy that has been coming in and he's been mowing and mowing and mowing.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: And I call him up and I'm like, hey, you know, this is the situation.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: Why are you you know staying in our storage unit?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: And he revealed to me that he was homeless.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: And this actually happened this week.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: And this is a guy who put in 174 hours in our business to make it out, no excuses, just coming in, doing everything that we're asking him to do.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: And that just like moved me, and it really inspired me because this is what we're talking about with planting seeds of hope.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: So I called him up, I was like, hey, um, come out to Atlanta.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, we're gonna have you, you know, because we're expanding in Atlanta, so we're gonna have you come out to Atlanta and um, you know, we're going to have you mow some of these lawns that we have going on.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna go have you talk to some of these clients, but we're gonna put you in housing, you know, for the next uh couple weeks so that you can build your money up, so that you can, you know, at least have something that you can put down on the down deposit and pay bill, or you know, we can help you get you in a different situation.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: And the reason why we're doing that is because of planning seeds of hope.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: And that's just something that really moves me.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to continue to inspire the community to do the same thing in their business and you know, the next man down because you know, there's a lot of people that are struggling out there that don't want to put it on people, and then there are people who are like that.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: But people are like that who don't say anything and they have no choice but to reveal their struggles to you.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, these are the people that we plant seeds of hope in.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, this is what motivates us.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to say that that's a great story.
13:08
SPEAKER_04: It's just so serious today, isn't it?
13:10
SPEAKER_04: I know like normally.
13:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we're normally goofing off, Quinn.
13:15
SPEAKER_04: But that's some powerful stuff, Quinn.
13:18
SPEAKER_04: But tell me now, I mean, how many lawns are you all doing now?
13:22
SPEAKER_04: And how big is this company?
13:24
SPEAKER_04: And how can you involve yourself in every little thing like this?
13:29
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you've got quite a business at this point, and then you've got the software company on top of it and other things besides that.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so our software company, Lawnly, is like the Uber of Lawn Care.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: So any jobs that we get in other areas, we we uh we upload our own jobs into Lawnley to feed the software for then other lawn care providers to go out and execute.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: So if you think of like Uber concept, but for lawn care, any jobs are getting all the way out there.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: Any jobs we're getting all the way out there because the thing is that a lot of lawn care businesses are stuck.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: And so they're stuck because of their physical location.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: So here's how we figured it out.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: We figured it out by creating the software not only to help us, but to help other lawn care businesses.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: There's so many lawn care businesses out there who's struggling to um, you know, they're struggling with employees, they're struggling with hiring people.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: They have all these systems that they haven't figured out yet.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: And I and I call contact them and I say, you know, you can actually start making passive income and just focus on getting your clientele up if you just upload your business into our platform, and our platform will ensure that though these lawns will be done for you, and you just get that passive income to where you don't have to hire employees anymore.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: It's as simple as that.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we we have that you know tech tech advantage, um, but that's applying um you know this concept.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: But we have a great team surrounding us uh on the Willow Street Lawn side and on the Lawnley side.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: So and Chris Chris has been a um game changer for us um as the CTO and you know my business partner along with Josh Smith, who's also been a game changer, who's uh who's also phenomenal.
15:22
SPEAKER_03: So So who who actually employs these you know the lawn care folks?
15:28
SPEAKER_03: Like I mean the provider, the actual the actual lawn care company has them.
15:33
SPEAKER_03: So when you say Uber, like the you might have a business that's in Rogers, Arkansas that is a lawn care, they have their employees, they upload to your system and they're basically getting more jobs out of the result, kind of like the Uber concept.
15:48
SPEAKER_03: I mean, is that how that's working?
15:50
SPEAKER_01: So say that you have a lawn care business and you're done mowing lawns, you upload it into our network, and then we find the people who are wanting more lawns to go execute, but they are executing at a profit for you.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: And so then if you no longer want to mow any more lawns, but you just want to focus on you know shaking hands and marketing, then you can just grow your business.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: And so you have 50 clients, and then our platform helps you get to the hundred and then 150.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: And then on the other side of it, which is what we call the tier two, is a lot of lawn care companies, they struggle to collect their money.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: So when they perform a service, they're waiting for their money.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: So you know, our platform automates all the scheduling all the way down to quoting, and as soon as they complete the job, the money is collected from the client, and then uh the the dollars is in your account the next day.
16:45
SPEAKER_04: How do you deal with quality on that deal, Quinn?
16:49
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I would think that's one of the concerns.
16:51
SPEAKER_04: It's like, you know, if it's if I'm giving my customers up to somebody else to do that I don't know, is there a rating of where the customer gets to rate their quality of what they did?
17:04
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we we we uh put it in containers of where we know that there's gonna be great quality.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: We do not accept uh certain jobs at certain specific locations unless if we know that you know these are vetted people that are going to do what they say.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: And so that's how we contain the amount of uh service area that we're doing in specific locations.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: And so with our partnership with Wheel Street Lawns into Lawnley, is Willow Street Lawns help helps facilitate that because we have people on boots on the ground to help that um as well.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: So there's technological advantage along with you know partnership advantage with that to ensure the quality is there.
17:47
SPEAKER_03: So on Willow Street Lawns, so that's uh that is your lawn company that you own, and and you have a force out there that's providing lawn services.
17:57
SPEAKER_03: And how many people, how big's that business?
17:59
SPEAKER_03: How many people are employed with that?
18:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh we we have about uh 10 people plus.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Um as far as like the people on the ground, um, you know, we we like to leverage our own business and uh hire the contractors through Lonely, you know.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: Um that that really helps us take our physical um cap in a region and be able to be out into Montreal or be out all the way to Hawaii.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to have a physical presence there because we have other people who have their uh physical equipment there already.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of people are trapped in the city or region that they're in.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: And if they were to use Lawnley, they can literally get into all 50 states.
18:48
SPEAKER_04: You're like a distribution channel, period, for these lawn cutting businesses, for lack of a better term.
18:54
SPEAKER_03: Yes, sir.
18:56
SPEAKER_03: And Willow Creek's kind of like a general contractor working with subcontractor, Willow Street, excuse me.
19:01
SPEAKER_03: Uh Willow Street working with uh subcontractors across the nation, validating them, ensuring their quality to your question, right?
19:09
SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
19:10
SPEAKER_03: So what's the ownership of your business, Gwen?
19:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh so it's uh 100% for Will Street Lawns, um, and then uh 50-50 for um Josh and I, and then Chris has come on as a equity owner as well.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Um he's earned his stripes, and now he now he has his slice and into Lawnley.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: And so, and that's you know, one of the reasons why I believe he reached out because we're gonna have a huge event um September 20th, um, 2026 at New Beginnings.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the mayor's gonna be out there.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Mark and Eric, I would love to invite you all as judges, by the way, if if you have time.
19:53
SPEAKER_04: Chris already asked me.
19:54
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately, I'm gonna be gone that whole weekend.
19:56
SPEAKER_04: That's the Janice owners rally.
19:58
SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay.
19:59
SPEAKER_04: So I gotta be in Indiana, but I love this idea.
20:02
SPEAKER_04: I wish I was gonna be there.
20:05
SPEAKER_04: Sounds like a blast.
20:06
SPEAKER_04: Um, what's what's the idea?
20:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, what is what are you what is this?
20:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, so this is um gluing everything together of what we're doing.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we're creating a blue ocean, which I'm sure y'all are aware of blue ocean.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, blue ocean versus like red ocean, where a lot of people are competing the same thing about pricing, all this stuff.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: But we're creating our blue ocean um with our software company, and we're creating the first ever Lawn Care Olympics.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: And not only are we creating the lawn first ever lawn care Olympics, um, we're having this as an annual event.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: And what we're doing is we're setting up local competitions all over the nation.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: Then we're gonna set up our regionals, and then we're gonna set up our nationals.
20:51
SPEAKER_01: So, what we're doing is we're hosting the first ever Lawn Care Olympics in Fayetteville, Arkansas at New Beginnings, which we're partnered with New Beginnings, and we're doing a fundraiser for them.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, 50% of the emission is going straight to New Beginnings to solve chronic homelessness.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: And um, and so we're uh we're gonna have the mayor out, city council members, uh, people running uh for office, uh, school board members, Dr.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Colbert as judges, um, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: And then we're inviting out our lawn care distribution network to this event to compete to see who's gonna be the first ever lawn care champion and to see who's the best.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: And so when I'm when I'm calling these, you know, people, you know, I don't know if y'all have ever um heard of WWE or like ever watched it.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: So so you know, when I'm cold calling them, I'm like, hey, you have anything you want us to promote for you to talk trash to see if you're the best and you're gonna win the WWE t title, but for long care Olympics and they just start laughing.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: So they get they get it.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: So what are the what are the games?
22:03
SPEAKER_03: Like are you gonna have little games at these at this Olympics or what?
22:06
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we are.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Um so we're gonna have five to six events.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: So uh we're gonna have who can uh string the weirder the fastest, who can um do a weeder uh weeder accuracy, who can uh blow uh uh use the blower accuracy.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: We'll have a zero turn obstacle course and get this one.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Get this one.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna are the last challenge is going to be the scythe challenge.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: The what challenge?
22:37
SPEAKER_01: Scythe challenge.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: You know, like the Grim Reaper.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh the scythe.
22:44
SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
22:46
SPEAKER_04: I love that.
22:46
SPEAKER_04: I mean, just talking about um trimmer um line.
22:50
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know about you, but I've got a really good one.
22:54
SPEAKER_04: I got a good steel that Sonia bought me, you know, professional model.
22:58
SPEAKER_04: And every damn time I'm out there, I'm fighting with that line.
23:02
SPEAKER_04: Are you really?
23:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
23:03
SPEAKER_04: I just bought one of those wire wheels the other day, Chris.
23:06
SPEAKER_04: I put it on yesterday.
23:08
SPEAKER_04: Those wire brush wheels, have you seen those?
23:10
SPEAKER_04: So you don't have to change it.
23:12
SPEAKER_04: And it's great if you want to like saw down trees or something, like going up against my metal fence, like peeling the paint off.
23:21
SPEAKER_04: It's not exactly not ideal, but I love all this.
23:25
SPEAKER_04: Like, I am a lawn care freak, okay?
23:27
SPEAKER_04: I love doing lawns, I get so gratified from it.
23:31
SPEAKER_04: I want everything, I like my lines to be done right.
23:34
SPEAKER_04: I don't want to see any piles of dead grass out there done.
23:37
SPEAKER_04: It's unacceptable.
23:38
SPEAKER_04: I can't stand it when the lawnmower, the blade's dull, or they're going too fast and it pushes the grass down.
23:44
SPEAKER_04: I can't stand it when I see like trimming that needs to be done or grass growing out in the curb.
23:50
SPEAKER_04: That's my biggest thing.
23:51
SPEAKER_04: Curb and gutter.
23:53
SPEAKER_04: It's like, why can't you take your weed whacker and get that out?
23:57
SPEAKER_04: You cut everything or the people who blow it out in the street.
24:00
SPEAKER_04: Don't you hate that, Chris, Quinn?
24:02
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's just terrible.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you know, it's funny because I said that, hey, you're we're inviting lawn care companies to compete, but we're also inviting homeowners who think they can know better than lawn care companies.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:18
SPEAKER_03: I'm not the end on this.
24:19
SPEAKER_03: I mean, the zero-turn obstacle course.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're good with it.
24:23
SPEAKER_03: I'm good with the zero-turn, bro.
24:25
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm not going to come out and show Do you have to do you have to bring your own or is it supplied to you?
24:31
SPEAKER_03: We're supplying the equipment.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: So, because it would be a logistical nightmare.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: And you know, everyone has their thing.
24:39
SPEAKER_04: So I I told Quinn or Quinn, I told Chris that he should call Travis Feltner.
24:46
SPEAKER_04: Remember we had Travis on our show?
24:49
SPEAKER_04: We did you?
24:50
SPEAKER_04: We talked to him.
24:50
SPEAKER_04: Okay, good.
24:51
SPEAKER_04: We did is Travis gonna be in on this deal?
24:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, he is he is a maybe.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: He's a maybe, so I'll probably call him after this podcast.
24:59
SPEAKER_04: Well, I know he's fussy about all this stuff, so he's very passionate.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you're competing, if if you're competing, it's all five events.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's not just one.
25:12
SPEAKER_03: It's all it's all five events because you know your dual school um trimmer line.
25:19
SPEAKER_03: What kind of trimmer line?
25:20
SPEAKER_03: I mean, is it ones that you you feed on the one side and pull down the other, or is this like old school, legit like weed eater feeding?
25:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, I can't, I can't re I can't reveal it.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: I can't.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: I've already I've already shared a lot a lot of info, you know, but you know, you can't give you that advantage, you know what I mean?
25:40
SPEAKER_01: That's fair.
25:41
SPEAKER_04: That's fair.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think it's a brilliant idea.
25:44
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I hope you guys are promoting the hell out of it.
25:46
SPEAKER_04: I saw I did see it somewhere in the local media here in the last couple weeks.
25:51
SPEAKER_04: I mentioned about it.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, we we are promoting it.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh it's only gonna be promoted even more.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, shout out to our sponsors.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh we have a lot of sponsors, Startup Junkie, Experience, Fayeville, uh, WT Equipment, Communities Unlimited.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we have quite a bit of sponsors, um, equity business.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm, you know, I'm curious if y'all would be sponsors, but we can talk about that later.
26:20
SPEAKER_04: We're looking for sponsors.
26:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, run the good.
26:23
SPEAKER_04: Hey, man.
26:25
SPEAKER_04: We need to have whoever's selling your sponsorships working for us.
26:29
SPEAKER_04: Hell yeah.
26:31
SPEAKER_04: I mean, look at all this.
26:32
SPEAKER_04: These guys just started.
26:34
SPEAKER_04: We've been toiling away over here for how long now?
26:38
SPEAKER_03: Why don't you get your sponsors and tell them that they get a uh a shout-out in Big Talk and then you send us some money for the shout-out?
26:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
26:47
SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm thinking.
26:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we're still trying to figure this out.
26:50
SPEAKER_03: You guys are doing a better job than we are, that's for sure.
26:54
SPEAKER_03: So, Quinn, with all that going on, man, that's I think that's a that's a great idea.
26:59
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, uh, and but kind of going back, I mean, what do you what kind of advice would you have for the entrepreneurs that are listening or aspiring ones, right?
27:07
SPEAKER_03: I mean, like what have been some of your lessons learned throughout the years?
27:11
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're it sounds like you're in on it for about a decade now or a little bit more on your experience as an entrepreneur.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so my advice, I'm this is year 16 for me.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: So I'm I just turned 31, so I've been doing it at this point for more than most of my life.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think most people can say that.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm proud to share that, you know, because I've I paid the price.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: And there's been so many times where, you know, I'm waiting out there in 100 degree weather by myself and I have no one else other than me, and I would just stop and just say, Man, am I done?
27:51
SPEAKER_01: Am I am I gonna give up?
27:53
SPEAKER_01: Is this it?
27:54
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I've debated it time after time after time, but there's nothing more beautiful than uh compound interests in your business.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure you guys are very familiar with that feeling and that experience because uh, you know, fortunately I didn't realize, you know, 16 years ago uh when starting with just a push mower, um, how important a brand awareness is so valuable, you know, 15 years later, 16 years later, when people are just now starting their business or they're getting out, or you know, like they start it for three years and then they stop.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: So my biggest advice is the cliche is never stop.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: But the biggest thing is persistence, persistence, persistence.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's what I would say for sure.
28:42
SPEAKER_03: Well, the compounding interest statement, right?
28:45
SPEAKER_03: I mean, we're not talking about you know, literally financial, but although that does have some application.
28:49
SPEAKER_03: But this is really like you the first time you take your pushmail route, you you're the one that makes the no the door knock, you make the deal in exchange the money, but then you go out and you do a great job at what you do.
29:05
SPEAKER_03: You take pride in the work that you do, and then you collect your money, but and and like that you start at that level, and then you know your business, and then it takes time, it takes years, and then you learn more, right?
29:17
SPEAKER_03: But then those people, the first client that you have is a resource reference and word of mouth referral for you.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: And so over time it just kind of keeps bellowing up, right?
29:28
SPEAKER_03: I mean, is that kind of what you're what you mean by the compound interest?
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and absolutely, and and um, and then compound interest and relationships.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, Mark, we we talked about Noah Master.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh I you know, I have great relationship with uh my my director of operation, Franklin Macintosh and his family.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: He's been so phenomenal um with us, but uh Noah Master is an example of that where uh met him and Dylan Treschell.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: You remember him?
30:00
SPEAKER_04: Oh, Dylan, great guy, lives up in Providence now.
30:04
SPEAKER_04: I still talk with him every so often.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Dylan, Dylan, uh he was someone that really motivated me because I I saw because we were out in Star Up Village, and uh he uh he was grinding away at his business, uh, and then he moved away, got married.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: But um, but he and I we consulted a little bit because that was that's another beauty beautiful thing is when you consult with other businesses, whether it's just a small thing or a big thing, you never know where that goes.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: But you know, Noah was someone that I consulted with and continue to consult with, and I'm just consulting, I just talked to him yesterday, and he he is just moving the needle forward, not just for Willistry Loans, but for all the work, you know, production work that he's doing and all the great work that he does um as as uh you know as a uh director of uh creative and uh and so I just want to give him a shout out.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: But the compound interests of relationships is something that is so effective.
31:03
SPEAKER_04: That's a good point.
31:04
SPEAKER_04: Those are both former students of mine.
31:05
SPEAKER_04: I love doing this.
31:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, seeing these guys be successful and helping out people like Glenn here.
31:12
SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's fantastic.
31:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, that but that is like I don't, you know he's right about this.
31:17
SPEAKER_03: No, you're totally right about that, especially on the you know, on the relationship part.
31:21
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think that that's it's it's kind of mysterious, you know.
31:24
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm like at my age, at the ripe age of almost 50, right?
31:28
SPEAKER_03: But I mean, there's like 30 years of business in the past.
31:33
SPEAKER_03: And you know, and I think that um you know, I've often said, you know, I'm not necessarily a big believer in karma, but there is something very real about business.
31:41
SPEAKER_03: It's true.
31:43
SPEAKER_03: You know, where and like this is with that point with those relationships.
31:46
SPEAKER_03: I mean, when I look back, I mean, I can say that I have tried my best to uphold my word and when I say something, you know, but it and then my relational value, like if I meet Mark, right?
31:59
SPEAKER_03: Or I'm meeting Quinn right now for the first time, like to me, like they're you know, this the relationship is actually really important to me, you know, intuitively.
32:10
SPEAKER_04: Right.
32:10
SPEAKER_04: And it's not transactional.
32:12
SPEAKER_04: No, I mean that's the thing, it's just because that's what you do.
32:16
SPEAKER_04: And you know, I we w I was just talking with somebody about this this morning, and uh my experience is if I just ask people if I can help you, yeah, let me know.
32:27
SPEAKER_04: And it makes such a difference.
32:28
SPEAKER_04: I mean, what's that worth?
32:30
SPEAKER_04: Like I saw one of my students this morning who's got a business, and after I left on the way up here, and he was just telling me about his struggles, and don't tell my wife this, but I called him up from the car and I said, Look, dude, you need me to spot you some money for the short term.
32:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, I don't expect anything from this guy.
32:48
SPEAKER_04: But I mean, what does that mean to somebody who's got their little business?
32:52
SPEAKER_04: And and somebody, I mean, he was a student of mine.
32:54
SPEAKER_04: We've we've, you know, he's been to my house multiple times.
32:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
32:58
SPEAKER_04: And it's just like, you never know when that's gonna come back to you, though.
33:01
SPEAKER_04: You know, you don't.
33:02
SPEAKER_04: God knows when he's gonna be able to help me.
33:05
SPEAKER_04: I told you a couple of weeks ago, I by somebody I help out.
33:08
SPEAKER_04: Um, I don't know if I even said it on this show, but uh I have never expected anything from this person at all.
33:14
SPEAKER_04: I've sent him a number of employees that he's hired who are students and others, and he just volunteered to fly me in his jet to his private beach house and give us this beach house for a week.
33:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, out of the blue.
33:27
SPEAKER_04: I never expected anything from him.
33:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I had no, I uh no expectation and no particular desire to get anything.
33:35
SPEAKER_04: To me, I'm just helping out the people that I'm getting jobs for.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: You're planting you're planting that seed of hope.
33:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's a big thing.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: That's a beautiful thing.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: It is.
33:45
SPEAKER_04: So I think you really make a good point, though, Quinn, about the compounding of the the uh of the business and investing in that over time and then the relationship compounding.
33:56
SPEAKER_04: But the first thing you said I want to come back to, and that is just the persistence and not giving up.
34:01
SPEAKER_04: Because I tell you, I was I was hoping we'd get a chance to talk about that on the show today.
34:07
SPEAKER_04: It's just in my mind all the time, all right.
34:11
SPEAKER_04: My experience is this, Quinn, and you can tell me if it's yours as well, and I know it's Eric's.
34:16
SPEAKER_04: Just don't give up.
34:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
34:19
SPEAKER_04: And keep working, though.
34:21
SPEAKER_04: It doesn't mean that you do nothing in the meantime.
34:24
SPEAKER_04: There's all kinds of bad shit happening.
34:26
SPEAKER_04: You don't know how you're gonna get out of the hole you're in, but just keep working at it, keep trying new things, don't give up, and eventually something good happens every single time.
34:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, doesn't it?
34:37
SPEAKER_04: It's true.
34:38
SPEAKER_04: It just and we've both been there.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: And I I don't want to add to that.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'll give you an example just more recently.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: I can just share a lot, but um, you know, as as you know, as a small business, you're wearing all these different hats.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: You know, I my hat right now is not as cool as y'all's hat, so please excuse me, as I didn't know that I had to wear hat.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: But I'm putting on my small business cap hat, my imaginary one here.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: But you know, you have marketing, you have sales, you have uh operations, you have financials, you have uh, you know, so many different realms as a small business owner that you have to fill the gap.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, starting with just a push mower that led to us being able to, you know, cultivate a team to fill these other hats, uh, is so powerful.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: So then you can focus on what you're really good at.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: And one thing that uh people say I'm great at, I'm not saying I'm great at it, but people say I'm great at is cold call sales.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I've been doing, and this is what I had to be doing for the long care Olympics.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: So I've had a lot of uh people that uh have hung up on me, who've cussed me out, who, you know, who said this, they call me that, blah, blah, blah.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: But you know, I've reversed my mentality in this because I I think in myself, I instead of me going for the yeses, I'm trying to get to a hundred no's.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: And I know it sounds counterintuitive.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: It sounds kind of crazy, but it is a numbers game, and this is just from experience.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: And so, like, I'm like, okay, how many no's can I get until I get this one?
36:16
SPEAKER_01: And then if somebody rejects me, then what else can how can I call this person back to then say, oh, well, you know, if you were, you know, I'm not saying this directly, but if you're rejecting me now, how about you compete next year, or how about you sponsor the event and you just keep you just keep going and you stay persistent, and you know, like at some point they're either gonna really hate you or they're gonna be like, damn, like you're so persistent that I can't do nothing but to respect you and I'm gonna do business with you.
36:46
SPEAKER_04: And that's happened.
36:47
SPEAKER_04: It's true.
36:48
SPEAKER_04: So I yeah, you're that whole idea of knowing how many no's before you get to a yes is really a pivotal way to think about it.
36:55
SPEAKER_03: I have a uh an insurance guy, right, that I did life insurance with five, six years ago.
37:02
SPEAKER_03: And I've canceled it, you know, three years relentless.
37:07
SPEAKER_03: Like I have screened him hundreds of times.
37:12
SPEAKER_03: And then a situation came up where I had to reach out to him about my old policy.
37:17
SPEAKER_03: And then I love this.
37:18
SPEAKER_03: And so yesterday I'm talking to him, and in and like I texted him about this issue, and he responded, he tried to call me, and I screen him again.
37:26
SPEAKER_03: I'm just like, just answer my question, right?
37:28
SPEAKER_03: Right, this is old news.
37:29
SPEAKER_03: I don't want a new policy, so I'm ignoring it.
37:31
SPEAKER_03: But then he calls me yesterday, and I'm just need I'm needing this answer.
37:35
SPEAKER_03: So I take the phone call real quick and I talk to him, and he tells me all about the the deal.
37:40
SPEAKER_03: He's like, it's all settled, all good.
37:41
SPEAKER_04: Then he tried to sell you.
37:42
SPEAKER_03: He goes, it was beautiful.
37:45
SPEAKER_03: But to Glenn's point, he goes, So um, um, so you, you know, I'm sure like if you don't have this policy, then then I mean, surely you have something, right?
37:55
SPEAKER_03: Or you need something.
37:56
SPEAKER_03: And I go, I go, God dang it.
38:00
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I'm stuck.
38:01
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, man, you know, you just helped me out.
38:03
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm then thinking about that.
38:06
SPEAKER_03: I mean, uh, maybe still he's like, well, how about I, you know, let's let's talk.
38:09
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you want to talk tomorrow?
38:10
SPEAKER_03: You want to talk about and like, man, I'm so busy.
38:13
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, and then he's like, well, how about how about October?
38:15
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, there's no way.
38:16
SPEAKER_03: I'm like moon into a house, like in November.
38:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay, yeah, shit.
38:24
SPEAKER_03: You're real in it.
38:26
SPEAKER_03: He's like, I'm gonna see an email now, get an invite to you, and so we're set up.
38:29
SPEAKER_03: But I was like, but I'm quite point in my brain.
38:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I go, I hung up going like, you know what?
38:36
SPEAKER_03: I respect the hell out of him.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: And I'm probably gonna godstang do business with him because I respect him so much.
38:42
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
38:43
SPEAKER_03: I it's so true.
38:44
SPEAKER_04: You know, I the other thing that I think the other thing that I think is important, guys, when it comes to selling like that is I don't feel like I mean, I'm doing them a favor.
38:57
SPEAKER_04: I don't look at it like they're doing me a favor if they buy.
39:00
SPEAKER_04: I'm trying to help them.
39:01
SPEAKER_04: If they can't see that, that's their problem.
39:04
SPEAKER_04: That's right.
39:04
SPEAKER_03: Okay, that's the way I always look at it.
39:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you're you're contributing, you're rendering service first.
39:10
SPEAKER_03: Like you genuinely care.
39:12
SPEAKER_03: And like it, you know, you got to punch through all the distractions in their life because everybody else is taking from them.
39:18
SPEAKER_03: You're trying to give.
39:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
39:19
SPEAKER_04: That's I always go with that, and that's not hard for me to think like that.
39:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, yeah.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I agree.
39:27
SPEAKER_01: That's my mentality too.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: Because seriously, like, yeah, they say this is why you're a salesman.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what?
39:35
SPEAKER_01: I don't see myself as a salesman, I see myself as giving them an opportunity, and maybe that could be another thing in small businesses that we could just be delusional, but at the same time, you are really like you've got giving them yeah.
39:53
SPEAKER_03: You're Santa Claus, man.
39:55
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
39:55
SPEAKER_03: You're just going around trying to get clean.
40:02
SPEAKER_04: I mean, when this guy over here could sell snowballs to Eskimos, I mean, he understands to Eric, it's just all about solving your problem.
40:10
SPEAKER_04: I mean, take that off your back.
40:12
SPEAKER_03: Whatever it is, we'll take it off your back.
40:13
SPEAKER_03: I literally look at it's such a great approach.
40:16
SPEAKER_03: Well, if I look at the industry, like I think maybe to Clinton, your point too, the industry is actually suffering.
40:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:23
SPEAKER_03: And somebody needs to help out.
40:25
SPEAKER_03: Bad providers.
40:26
SPEAKER_03: Bad providers are paying the answer reputation.
40:29
SPEAKER_03: I'm helping out the entire ecosystem.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: And along the way, I'm helping out individuals.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: Eric, I need your service right now, man.
40:37
SPEAKER_01: I need you to sell the rain to the grass right now because it is dead at the moment.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: And I really would appreciate your service, and I'll pay you what you need.
40:46
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: That steps into like physics and shit.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: Physics needs help.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: The universal laws.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if someone pays me to do the rain dance, I don't mind.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll solve the problem if I need to do it.
41:00
SPEAKER_03: Actually, this is no bullshit.
41:02
SPEAKER_03: Like, I literally back in high school, I was known as the rain dancer.
41:07
SPEAKER_03: Because it's like we'd be yeah, no, for real.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: Like this is this is deep.
41:11
SPEAKER_03: Like I'd be in football.
41:13
SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
41:13
SPEAKER_04: And you know, it's like uh You have like a really good team you're playing, and you wanted the game to get rained out.
41:20
SPEAKER_03: And literally, I would do this rain dance.
41:23
SPEAKER_03: And every single time it worked.
41:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
41:26
SPEAKER_03: They would have like the entire team and have me do the rain dance.
41:29
SPEAKER_03: Well, and I would do it and we'd get rained out.
41:31
SPEAKER_03: So I mean, maybe I can do that for you, Clint.
41:34
SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
41:35
SPEAKER_03: That uh I'm not surprised.
41:37
SPEAKER_04: You got a lot of power, man, to make things a lot of power to make things happen.
41:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and now you've learned that I have a rain dance.
41:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I can but it's funny you say elevate the whole industry.
41:50
SPEAKER_04: You know, that's the mission of Zwag Group is to elevate the industry.
41:54
SPEAKER_04: And and you know, even though it may sound like a cliche today, but it's like there's so many different ways you can do that to enhance the the industry that you're part of.
42:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, make it better, show what's possible.
42:09
SPEAKER_03: You have to, you know, that's what makes everything move things ahead.
42:13
SPEAKER_03: That's the compound, I think that's the compounding of society.
42:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, if you look back in history, like you know, we have nice coffee, you know, in coffee shops all over the place, and you go get you a cup of coffee, it's always available.
42:25
SPEAKER_03: There's food always available, there's all these things that resources to us.
42:29
SPEAKER_03: That's not by accident and passivity and people wanting to just make money.
42:33
SPEAKER_03: Right.
42:33
SPEAKER_03: It's by somebody, and I mean in almost in all cases, by some entrepreneur that saw that this needs to improve, and they tried to help an industry, they tried to help pushed it along because they pushed it and pushed it and pushed it, and we're just kind of staying on top of those shoulders.
42:50
SPEAKER_04: And that's what Quinn's doing over there.
42:51
SPEAKER_03: 100%.
42:52
SPEAKER_03: I mean, uh, it's fantastic.
42:53
SPEAKER_03: I love the idea.
42:54
SPEAKER_03: What I like about your model too, Quinn, is that you figured out a way to help other lawn care companies improve their business.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
43:05
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: And one thing that I also didn't mention is our platform can help convert someone who's homeless into a business owner.
43:15
SPEAKER_01: And so that the thing is that I wanted to ask you guys a question if you don't mind me asking.
43:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you sure if you streamline um, you know, like we're in small business talk, and I have an argument here that is to me, I've been really pondering on because I always think, why does the rich get richer, poor get poorer?
43:37
SPEAKER_01: And you know, people will will make the statement and argument, yes, we have unlimited printing, so as much as we're able to unlimit it print, blah blah blah, we can go on the economics of all that, and you know, you know, and then the dollars is allocated to the people at the top, blah blah blah, all that stuff.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: But I have this uh philosophy or you know, a theory, I I I guess we should say.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Which is um the the people who are, you know, have the money, they're the ones that have assets, that established assets, that have businesses that generated them cash flow to then invest and then get more assets, and then they continuously compound an interest for their dollars.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, a lot of people are more ingrained, and this could be an educational piece, um, and this uh there's a lot of layers to it, but a lot of people are ingrained to go work a job, work for somebody, work for a salary.
44:34
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, how can you accelerate your asset compounding if you're capped at the amount of money that you're making, and and in uh parallel with the twit um with the inflation that's rising while the salary isn't rising?
44:49
SPEAKER_01: And so my question to you guys uh with that background information is do you think it's possible for um you know the average Joe to become a small business owner and and you know major not just one person but the majority of people because I think if we have more small business owners, then this is how we can truly solve in this system of capitalism, how we can um lower this wealth gap.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: And so if we had more small business owners, this this corporation up here making$2 million is now making eight billion, but this these people are making you know a billion amongst all of these people.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: So curious to know if you you know what y'all think um about that and if if it's possible and what you what your wisdom is on that.
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45:56
SPEAKER_03: 100%.
45:56
SPEAKER_03: That's what we're all.
46:02
SPEAKER_04: You go for it.
46:03
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you've said this before.
46:04
SPEAKER_04: Like if you go back in history, everybody was self-employed.
46:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, everybody was.
46:08
SPEAKER_04: The employment thing is a recent phenomenon, really.
46:10
SPEAKER_04: It is totally in the scheme of man.
46:15
SPEAKER_03: It totally is.
46:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh, hypnotic rhythm.
46:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm familiar with it.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: I know a book too.
46:33
SPEAKER_01: What is it?
46:34
SPEAKER_01: Outwitting the devil.
46:36
SPEAKER_03: God dang, Quinn.
46:38
SPEAKER_03: We gotta we gotta hang out, man.
46:41
SPEAKER_03: I think it's hypnotic rhythm, right?
46:44
SPEAKER_03: Because the pet this passivity, like man, too many people were kind of waiting on somebody else.
46:49
SPEAKER_03: And that's actually been designed by these corporations, yeah, rewinding 80, 100 years ago.
46:54
SPEAKER_03: Oh no, you're right.
46:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, dependence, yeah, dependence of the system.
47:00
SPEAKER_03: So now we education system has put it into it.
47:04
SPEAKER_03: It's like sure do X and you get Y, but only but Y is your ceiling, yeah.
47:09
SPEAKER_03: And yeah, and then there's all these expectations being set.
47:13
SPEAKER_03: You know, like the whole system's not designed for economic and you know, empowerment for the individual, it's designed for the few.
47:23
SPEAKER_04: But but Eric, uh yesterday I made the mistake of getting on Glassdoor and reading some of these comments from employees.
47:30
SPEAKER_04: And it's like, my boss wanted me to have a call at 10 o'clock last night, and I just said no, and I'm not gonna do that.
47:37
SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, Yeah, and there's just so many, and they're all just chiming at, yeah, it's not worth it.
47:41
SPEAKER_04: Don't do it, you know.
47:43
SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, you are losers, bro.
47:46
SPEAKER_04: You are you talk about tapping yourself out, dude.
47:50
SPEAKER_04: Dude, I mean, you can get ahead even in corporate America if you freaking do more before you expect to get paid more.
47:59
SPEAKER_03: I spend all my energy fighting against this passivity mindset.
48:04
SPEAKER_03: They don't, yeah.
48:05
SPEAKER_03: It's not about me.
48:06
SPEAKER_03: No, it's about them individually in their role.
48:09
SPEAKER_03: It's frustrating.
48:10
SPEAKER_03: It's so frustrating, it's so it's demoralizing, but they're but they're caught in this trap.
48:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that trap has been set since the age of two or whatever, all throughout life.
48:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
48:21
SPEAKER_03: Going into college, going, and it's all the systematized education, it's the freaking bureaucracies, it's the you know, it's it's the culture, the cult, overall culture.
48:31
SPEAKER_04: And you know, like at U of A, we know that something like 60 plus percent of our students are first-time college um uh you know, students, their families.
48:42
SPEAKER_04: Their families, if if they went through and got a four-year degree in business, Quinn, and they told their mom and dad they're gonna start a lawn care company, okay, they would be pissed off, disappointed.
48:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you should get a good job.
48:56
SPEAKER_04: You'd be a doctor, a lawyer, a corporate lawyer.
49:00
SPEAKER_04: Right, corporate America's, yeah.
49:02
SPEAKER_04: And and so that is the opposite of the community.
49:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's the it's the culture, but you know, I think we can sum up a lot of this stupid device right here, and I'm trying to tell my daughters this.
49:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
49:13
SPEAKER_03: This thing right here is one of two, this is a great example of hypnotic rhythm.
49:18
SPEAKER_03: You can take this device and distract yourself into never never land of shit that gives no compounding interest in your life.
49:27
SPEAKER_03: It actually degrades you down, but it entertains you.
49:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you have distracted your emotions and your reasoning and all the things in your soul into this hellhole and be part of the trend culture.
49:40
SPEAKER_03: Or, Bennett, my daughter, Kellen, Lyndon, my daughters, right?
49:44
SPEAKER_03: Or you can take this device and you have every bit of power of information at your finger.
49:51
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
49:51
SPEAKER_03: That's what I was gonna say.
49:52
SPEAKER_03: I look at it the opposite.
49:53
SPEAKER_03: I do.
49:54
SPEAKER_04: That's how I look, that's how we look at it.
49:56
SPEAKER_04: I just reached out to an old client of mine I hadn't talked to in five years today.
50:00
SPEAKER_04: And it was just great reconnecting with him.
50:03
SPEAKER_04: Okay, it was I mean just chat.
50:05
SPEAKER_04: You can talk to him, you can text him, I can find search shit.
50:08
SPEAKER_04: I threw a contract in here on Friday and it and it in AI, and it really gave me the info I needed constantly.
50:15
SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, it's a great tool, or I could sit there and be on dead, you know, Facebook, just roll uh look at videos all freaking day.
50:24
SPEAKER_03: But to kind of go to your question, Quinn, it's like the individual person that's out there, the people like the the people that that are without means can at I would say the majority of everybody has one of these damn things, right?
50:40
SPEAKER_03: And have and has the has the ability.
50:42
SPEAKER_03: If you have this thing, it's the mindset of is this a tool, yeah, or is this and or is this uh pleasure?
50:52
SPEAKER_03: And if and and that's the problem we have, and nobody Man, it's so true.
50:57
SPEAKER_03: Nobody is is is being told and and and and when you start using it as one or the other, that's the hypnotic rhythm that starts getting into that.
51:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm in the rhythm of using it for good.
51:07
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
51:08
SPEAKER_03: Using it for for for improvement and compounding interest, but the majority, 90% of them are using it the opposite way, including a lot of my team.
51:17
SPEAKER_03: And then here's the problem.
51:19
SPEAKER_03: Even if you're in the positive hypnotic rhythm rhythm state of usefulness, you get pulled into distracting instantly.
51:28
SPEAKER_03: The world is trying to pull you in, that force this world.
51:31
SPEAKER_03: That's that's what the problem is with America.
51:33
SPEAKER_03: Right there.
51:34
SPEAKER_03: This damn thing, 90% the waste ratio of people using it for passivity is greater than the ratio using it for usefulness.
51:42
SPEAKER_03: No, you're right.
51:43
SPEAKER_01: I um I make this argument, and I and I would love to hear what you guys think, and this could be controversial, I don't know, but I think we're living in the best time uh and ever in history.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: And I know that you brought uh you brought up history and stuff, uh, brought this up to some other people, and you'd just be aware of you'd be so you'd be so surprised at how the reaction is, and they would make these arguments.
52:08
SPEAKER_01: But I'm curious to know what y'all think.
52:10
SPEAKER_04: Agree.
52:11
SPEAKER_04: Most opportunity we've ever had.
52:13
SPEAKER_03: It's always it's it's it's uh it's compounding interest, it's the compounding opportunity.
52:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
52:19
SPEAKER_03: Like, I mean, as it gets as we're standing on the shoulders of people that were freaking figuring out how coke could turn into freaking steel, yeah.
52:28
SPEAKER_03: And they invented, but what all do you have out of steel?
52:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, millions and millions of products.
52:34
SPEAKER_03: Same thing with with electricity, same thing with with ships and freight, it just compounds.
52:40
SPEAKER_04: But I but I think you know I'm sorry, Quinn.
52:43
SPEAKER_04: I I just wanted to get one point out though.
52:46
SPEAKER_04: I we all want to talk all the time, sorry.
52:49
SPEAKER_04: But no, I I think what you have done though is what I keep trying to get my students to understand.
52:56
SPEAKER_04: You can take any mature, fragmented industry.
53:01
SPEAKER_04: I mean, what lawn care, lawn cutting.
53:04
SPEAKER_04: I mean, come on, all right.
53:06
SPEAKER_04: It doesn't cost much to go in that business, let's be honest, all right?
53:11
SPEAKER_04: And yet you can take that and you can make something completely different out of it that turns into this unbelievable entrepreneurial opportunity that creates employment, it advances the industry, all this stuff from the standpoint of a boring, mature, not technologically driven uh uh business where there's one million people out there doing it or whatever.
53:37
SPEAKER_03: The keyword to it all is you can't sit there and daydream just freaking start working like Quinn.
53:44
SPEAKER_03: Don't knock on the freaking ass door and mow the damn yard yard, and then grow.
53:50
SPEAKER_04: But it takes time and work.
53:52
SPEAKER_04: I don't need to invent anything new.
53:53
SPEAKER_04: Now, yeah, I mean, eventually Quinn did invent something new.
53:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but it's because he's got the platform and the perspective that came from the work that allowed him to identify the problem that he had solved.
54:07
SPEAKER_03: That one hot day because he freaking got scared.
54:10
SPEAKER_03: We all get scared, yeah.
54:11
SPEAKER_03: We all worry, we all kind of make mistakes, which is a good thing.
54:14
SPEAKER_04: It's a beautiful thing, baby.
54:16
SPEAKER_04: It's a beautiful thing, Quinn.
54:18
SPEAKER_01: And that's uh that's uh you know, we were talking about the hypnotic rhythm.
54:23
SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I think there's a lack of awareness of the opportunity of you being bored in this world and you have the opportunity to manage yourself and you have the opportunity to think your one your own thoughts.
54:35
SPEAKER_01: And you know I I I I love I love history myself, you know.
54:42
SPEAKER_01: Um I take advantage of this moment in time because if you read history, like for example, um, you know, like 18, you know, around 1865, that's when uh Lincoln was assassinated, but before that he was traveling through train.
54:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, their their speed in time was you know 20 miles per hour with the train.
55:02
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, they had the horses with that.
55:05
SPEAKER_01: And then, and then, you know, like you know, if you accelerate from you know, Abraham Lincoln and in between when the first car arrived, you know, wealthy people were paying lots of money just to travel 30 miles down the down the rope, and so people were stuck in their town, and it's like then you think you know, you go reverse all the way, even before, you know, America was started.
55:30
SPEAKER_01: You had people coming here and then they're living in tents or they're living outside and they're living in nature.
55:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if y'all ever go out on you know, travel out in hikes and all that stuff, and you just sit there and you're like, I'm sitting there as a someone who didn't, you know, wasn't thinking when I was younger, but I'm like, why is why is it why does this place close when it goes dark?
55:51
SPEAKER_01: And I'm asking myself, but then I'm like, oh, okay, so like all you know, whole matter of life just changes whenever, you know, we get you know, we get to go home to house, shelter, all that stuff, electricity, that was another thing, you know, they had candles back then, but it makes you when you start learning that stuff, it makes you value every single moment and every single second of your time and to focus on what you get to choose.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: And all these things, uh, you know, as a small business owner, people, you know, they hear about some of these struggles, and I and I remind them, I say, this is all a choice, you know.
56:27
SPEAKER_01: Like I get to choose this, and if I don't want to do it, I'm not gonna do it.
56:31
SPEAKER_01: This is probably why I don't have a job, and I've never worked a job, but I get this choice, and I get the choice to think my own thoughts and break out of my own hypnotic rhythm, and you know, and then I get to choose what I want to do in the next action.
56:47
SPEAKER_01: And if I'm bitching about the heat, then I can just go and keep going, you know.
56:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I don't know, it's just like my thought process.
56:56
SPEAKER_03: What do y'all think?
56:57
SPEAKER_03: That's great.
56:58
SPEAKER_03: No, I love it, man.
56:59
SPEAKER_03: And and I think that one thing I got out of the outwitting the devil book is that uh if you in in Quinn's mentioned think your own thoughts, it's when we uh allow there to be space of not thinking and doing is where the devil's playground is.
57:17
SPEAKER_03: Boy, it's so true, isn't it?
57:18
SPEAKER_03: Bro, it he will murder you.
57:22
SPEAKER_03: The passivity, the complacency, the doubts, the fears, all those things enter in.
57:27
SPEAKER_03: And I and it's and it's not like you figure it out and you never deal with it again.
57:31
SPEAKER_03: It's a never-ending cycle.
57:33
SPEAKER_03: Because Mark, I know even from recent experiences, being put in situations and you can either persevere and fight your way through and not give up, or you take the flag, you know.
57:47
SPEAKER_03: And if you start, if you don't think about constantly fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, you're gonna, then something's gonna fight and beat your ass.
57:55
SPEAKER_03: And so, I mean, that's just the reality of it.
57:56
SPEAKER_03: I'm always in a fight.
57:57
SPEAKER_03: It's a battle for survival.
57:59
SPEAKER_03: You're out your boxer, man.
58:01
SPEAKER_04: It's it's just that's that's the way I mean, yeah, that's who you are, but that's why you overcome and win.
58:07
SPEAKER_04: That's that's I mean, that's it.
58:08
SPEAKER_04: But you know, in the whole entrepreneurship world, the thing that bothers me the most, and it and and really it's it's you know, this whole conversation, it just points out again how there's incredible opportunities in the most mundane things.
58:24
SPEAKER_04: Yes, it doesn't take it, it doesn't take a lot of capital.
58:28
SPEAKER_04: No, it does you don't have to go out and freaking do a complex business plan and raise equity and all the rest of the bullshit that you're taught.
58:37
SPEAKER_04: Get out, do something where you're selling it and you're getting paid for it.
58:41
SPEAKER_04: Easiest way to get started.
58:43
SPEAKER_04: God knows where it could take.
58:45
SPEAKER_03: And don't worry about the frontier models like OpenAI and Google and all the people.
58:50
SPEAKER_03: Don't leave that to you guys, really smart guys like you.
58:53
SPEAKER_03: Just let them build their shit and spend all that money, and then you just tap into it.
58:58
SPEAKER_03: It's a whole nother technology opportunity, just like the freaking internet and everything else.
59:02
SPEAKER_03: Don't overcomplicate it when you're afraid that all the jobs in the world are gonna disappear because you heard Elon say something two years ago.
59:11
SPEAKER_03: Exactly what it was.
59:13
SPEAKER_03: That's moving atoms, he said.
59:15
SPEAKER_03: A job is at risk.
59:16
SPEAKER_03: Okay, exactly.
59:18
SPEAKER_03: It's called a fear.
59:19
SPEAKER_03: And if you don't think for yourself and work and do, yeah, then that fear is gonna eat your ass, and you're gonna compound with other people that are all scared, and then you're gonna be afraid to make a move when you always just need to go out, knock on the guy's name door, get your money and work and work and work, and things will develop with you.
59:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
59:38
SPEAKER_03: Compounding interest.
59:39
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
59:40
SPEAKER_03: All right, we we gotta end the show.
59:42
SPEAKER_03: We do.
59:42
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's Sam.
59:44
SPEAKER_03: Why are you asking his questions at this in his office morning?
59:46
SPEAKER_04: Gwynn is like a neck, he's like a Yoda over here.
59:49
SPEAKER_04: He is a Yoda philosophical Yoda.
59:52
SPEAKER_04: Okay, a small bit.
59:55
SPEAKER_01: Y'all probably weren't expecting it, I guess, maybe.
59:57
SPEAKER_01: But we didn't know.
59:58
SPEAKER_01: We knew you were a long time, though.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we didn't know you were a Yoda.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_04: We didn't know you were a Yoda for couple checks.
1:00:05
unknown: Okay.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_04: Well, hey, this has been great.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_04: And and Quinn, we wish you success in in your endeavor here and hope the Lawn Care Olympics is successful.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and how do people get a hold of you, Quinn, or your business?
1:00:19
SPEAKER_01: Um people can get a hold of me um at uh Quinn Childress or Quinn at lawnly.com.
1:00:29
SPEAKER_01: Um and they can just email me or you know, my phone number is 479-799-6935.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, like my my line's open and so love to collaborate.
1:00:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, I really appreciate you guys having me on here, and uh really appreciate you guys planting that seed and hope and these these people um that you guys do.
1:00:52
SPEAKER_01: And uh I acknowledge that because that I it's happened to me several times, and that goes a long way without it being said.
1:00:59
SPEAKER_01: So I really had the honor um to uh be a part of this, and I just really appreciate my team as well uh that supports me, and um, and so thank you for y'all's time.
1:01:10
SPEAKER_03: You're welcome.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you.
1:01:12
SPEAKER_03: Get ready for your freaking phone to blow up.
1:01:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're used we're on the biggest ass episode or talk show of all time for business.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's gonna we rule it.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_03: Don't blame us for all the attention you're gonna get.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_03: This has been another fantastic episode of Big Talk About Small Business.
1:01:41
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Big Talk About Small Business.
1:01:45
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1:01:59
SPEAKER_02: Stay connected with us on LinkedIn at Big Talk About Small Business.
1:02:03
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