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Gratitude As A Business Strategy with Joshua Pugliese, Grato Property Care · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: All right, everyone.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to be joined by Joshua Paglis, owner of GRADO Property Care in the Irwin and North Huntington area.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua, how are you doing today?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great, Cliff.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Really, really excited to have you.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, if you don't mind, let's go ahead and jump right into things.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Gradle is a memorable name.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It sticks in the mind.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to you and what did you want customers to feel when they heard it?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: So Grato means grateful, appreciative, thankful in Italian.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was starting the business and trying to come up with a name that meant something to us and encompassed kind of the attitude that we're aiming for, Grato certainly fit my last name, like a lot of home service businesses in my my line of work, use their last name, but my last name is hard to pronounce and is not very Google friendly.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I went outside the box there and Grato is something that we came up with and is a great fit.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it honestly resembles, you know, the attitude that that we have.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're grateful for the people that reach out to us.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we try to, you know, have that attitude both internally amongst the team and externally with all of our customers.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And who is Josh as a person?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: What do you got going on in your personal life?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Josh is in his late 30s, have four wonderful children and a beautiful wife that certainly keeps all the family stuff going ever since I started the business.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: She certainly has picked up a lot of the slack around the house.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Four kids ranging from two and a half to 20.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: They are, you know, my why.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're why I started the business.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: They're my motivation, you know, to grow this business.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, in in the very little free time that I have or every once in a while, you know, one of the perks of the business is that I do get to golf occasionally.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that's my preferred hobby.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, family, family man started the business to, you know, provide a better life for my family and maybe have an opportunity that if one of the kids in the long run are interested in the business and want to get involved, they'll have that opportunity.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Very nice.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Very nice.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what did your path look like before Grade O property care and what pushed you towards business ownership?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I started working full-time at 18.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I had my oldest daughter when I was young and had to grow up a little bit fast.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was in the restaurant world, well, fast food restaurant world for a little over a decade between being a general manager at Burger King and Five Guys, and then eventually a district manager at Five Guys.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: All the while I completed my degree online and organizational leadership and then went into staffing and worked for a very large staffing firm in recruiting and sales.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that I wanted to get out of the hustle and bustle of the restaurant world and use my degree, but turned out that corporate America and sitting behind a desk was not something that I really enjoyed.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I always found myself, you know, enjoying kind of doing projects around my house, helping out neighbors and stuff like that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, a few years ago, I guess four years ago now, I was lamenting about the desk job one day.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And my wife said to me, Josh, you've always talked about starting your own business.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I when I was in the restaurant world, I talked about like a coffee shop or a sandwich shop or something like that.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: She said, We're not getting any younger.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to do that and be happier, now's the time.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, we just, you know, did some research on what what type of opportunities were out there, what would be a good home service business to start.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we kind of took the ball and ran with it from there.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, was there a specific moment when you knew you were all into this business?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is the way to go.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing this thing.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the first year, you know, we kind of we bootstrapped everything, started out real small, mostly was just myself on nights and weekends.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I kept my corporate job.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was going out and doing quotes in the evenings and then doing you know projects when I didn't have quotes or vice versa.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then working every weekend to do that.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: The first you know season was essentially like a proof of concept to me.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure that you know it was something that I enjoyed doing in terms of the actual work itself, and then make sure that you know we had a viable business.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And going into the spring of 2024, I had enough business to to bring on somebody and also like kind of book out my schedule for almost a month.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point, you know, it was an all-in moment that we were gonna dive, you know, headfirst into this.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it's been a a ride ever since.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a lot of fun.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you offer several services that naturally fit together, you know, one way or another.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Was that bundled property care model part of the plan from day one, or did customers pull you into new services?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was all part of the plan, really.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I was looking at the home service industry and kind of trying to find a way of differentiating ourselves aside from providing great quality service and and strong communication, which my background kind of lends itself to, it was the niche that I kind of saw, or the opportunity that I saw, I guess, was providing a service that made it simpler for homeowners and business owners that they have one person that they can call and rely on for their exterior cleaning and maintenance needs, whether it's the routine stuff, such as you know, window cleaning that needs done pretty frequently, gutter cleaning that needs done annually, landscape maintenance, trimming, weeding, all of that kind of fun stuff, or bigger project stuff, power washing and landscape design and install.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the goal really is to provide you know a custom, tailored approach to each homeowner's need, whether it is just one of the one-off services or recurring services, we're happy to help with that.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then we've also something that we have developed as we've kind of gone along is like a full service property maintenance program where you know we sit down with the homeowner, kind of understand where their pain points are on their property, what their priorities are, and come up with an annual plan where, you know, we essentially come out for so many hours a month and kind of work through a calendar to make sure that their property looks great.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is taken care of from them.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And other than getting the initial setup going, you know, it kind of runs itself so that they don't have to constantly be thinking of, oh, it's you know, it's time to have the gutters cleaned or oh, that bed really needs weeded out.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: They just know that, you know, we have that on our calendar and we're gonna take care of it for them.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Josh, what would you say is the biggest challenge your business is facing right now?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: We've been rapidly growing, and you know, growth causes multiple different pain points in any kind of business.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: One, you know, the reinvesting into the equipment, the trucks, the more team members, adding benefits for the team members certainly puts a little bit of strain on cash in the business.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, also growing pains in terms of making sure that we're hiring the right people and getting them trained up and up the speed.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thankfully, over the last three years, we've we've developed some good leaders underneath me in terms of running different trucks and services, which is kind of how we have it segmented out.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: And this year, we've had a lot of success in terms of adding great team members that really embrace the kind of culture that we have and the attitude of making sure that all the customers get taken care of well and that we take a lot of pride in what we do.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's when you're rapidly growing, and to kind of put a number to that, we're we 2x from you know, 2024 to 2025, and this year we're on pace to do about the same, if not maybe even a little bit more.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: So with that type of rapid growth, you know, those I I think both cash and the right people are the two biggest pain points that any business is gonna have.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, do you uh have you noticed a problem with uh, you know, uh getting enough qualified candidates to apply, or is that uh what's your what's the issue there?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean honestly, I I think that's part of the secret sauce with my background.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Since I didn't, you know, I don't grow up, you know, I didn't work as a in my twenties as a landscaper or something like that.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I worked in running other people's businesses and then eventually as a recruiter, you know, in the restaurant world, somebody taught me at a very young age that you just never stop hiring.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, having that attitude, you know, constantly just running, we have an ongoing posting on a job board.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: We push it through our social media and also get great referrals from our guys.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So finding the right guys hasn't been, you know, so much the challenge as much as once we find them, getting them up the speed on how we do things.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: My process also is a little bit unique.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've found, you know, I'd like to talk to a candidate over the phone for 15 to 20 minutes, kind of get a feel for who they are.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: If I feel like you know, their experience and who they are is a good fit for us.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I jump straight into bringing them in for a work too, which for us, you know, we pay them whatever their hourly rate would be if they would were to come on board with us.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they go out and they work a full day with one of our teams or myself.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: It gets them, you know, in a truck with other guys, gets them to be able to meet, meet the team hands-on.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, most importantly for us is seeing how they work, you know, do they take direction well?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Do they take pride in what they're doing?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Are they detail-oriented?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you ask them to do something, do they have a smile on their face?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: As long as, you know, we're checking those boxes.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: I always say, you know, what we do isn't really rocket science, but it is hard work.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so having, you know, a good attitude and being willing to put in a good, honest day's hard work is what's most important to us.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, following up on that a little bit, do you do you believe that is what is preventing the business from reaching its next level and its top potential?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, right now I'm actually probably the biggest bottleneck of the business.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: While while we've grown the outbound team or the service team a lot, you know, to kind of handle the the growth and in customers and demand, I haven't until recently added anybody else on the back end of things.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm still in the field.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: So the biggest bottleneck oftentimes is getting quotes, quotes out.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the simpler services, you know, I have it pretty automized or, you know, have a nice spreadsheet that kind of pretty quickly can get like a gutter cleaning or window cleaning quote out.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, some of the more elaborate projects, especially on the landscape side, and I failed to mention it, but we also do Christmas lights in the in the fall and winter, those quotes tend to take, you know, a little bit more time in terms of creating a design for the the customer, try to, you know, create an image that they can see what they're gonna get.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: And those things kind of take take a little bit more time.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: So with the expanding, you know, going from two trucks last year to four trucks this year, it means a lot more quotes going out.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And with me still working in the field most days, and then also running around in the evenings to do the quotes, and then getting those quotes to customers in a timely manner is kind of where our biggest bottleneck right now is.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, got to continue to work on replacing my more of my day-to-day tasks in the field so that I can focus more on developing more relationships and providing a better experience for the customers on the front end.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what is something people assume is easy about running Great O property care type of business that is actually very difficult, would you say?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think that a lot of people are, you know, even talking to some of the guys on the team or some of the phone interviews that I've had with with other folks is they think that you can kind of start a home service business and it's gonna just, you know, be like working a job and you're gonna get, you know, you get more freedom or more control of your schedule.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and that, you know, at least in my experience to this point, is not the case.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: I I kind of came in expecting that just based on the research that I did and my experience with running other businesses in the past.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, it does, it takes a lot of work.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: You got to show up every day for the guys with the right attitude.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're just a team member somewhere, you can kind of show up and not not be chipper in the morning or kind of kind of get get by going through the motions on a day, right?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're you're the person that's running the show and and you know, leading the tempo and kind of the attitude of the team, you know, you can't you constantly have to make sure that you're bringing yourself up and you know, getting everybody else started on the right foot before, you know, you can really even do your own thing.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, like I mentioned, the bottleneck point being me still being in the field and and doing all the sales, you know, it's it's not more days than not, you know, I get started early in the morning catching up on quotes that I went out and did the night before, emails, all the admin stuff.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then I go, you know, down to the shop space, get the guys started, you know, between like 6:30, 7 o'clock, then load myself out, get out in the field, work an eight to 10 hour day, then come back, go right back out and do, you know, somewhere in between three and six quotes a night on site with customers.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, the long days, the, you know, being able to juggle multiple different things, especially now that we have like a dozen full-time employees, there's always going to be need somewhere.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody's always gonna have, you know, a small issue or need something from you, and just being able to kind of juggle those internal demands with the the needs of the customers and kind of the demand that puts on you as the owner to manage your schedule and and kind of keep yourself going.
• 15:57
  unknown: Okay.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Josh, what would you, you know, how do you turn a one-time pressure washing or cleanup customer into a long-term property care relation?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when I go out and do quotes or when I do quotes initially, my focus is always on meeting the customer's need and pay point that they have.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if I go out and somebody wants just their driveway wash, then, you know, I'm gonna get them a quote for their driveway washing.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then after we deliver, you know, on that initial need, we kind of take advantage either in person or via follow-up text or email, whatever the customer's preference is, and let them know about other things that we saw on the property that we can help with.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, through that process, oftentimes, you know, that leads to conversations about the the more reoccurring services that we do.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then one thing that we added this year is whenever we send out, you know, our invoices on the back end, there's a we add a free line item that kind of highlights the other services that we do, along with that property guard service that kind of encapsulates everything that they might need on the exterior of their home, which certainly has led to more conversations and the more frequently you work with somebody, you know, the more opportunities that you're gonna have to help them with different needs that they have.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I agree, I agree.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what is something you personally had to change for your business to grow?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have to change anything about your personality type or something in your personal life for your business to start growing?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, a couple of different things come to mind there.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Probably the the kind of the, I guess the simplest, but also one of the biggest changes is I I used to be like a little bit of a night out.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'd get the kids off the bed and stuff, and then I would, you know, spend a few hours kind of doing my own thing.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And now my own thing doesn't really come into play.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I've become an early riser.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: My alarm is normally set between like 3:30 and 4 30 in the morning.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: That way I can get up, get that computer work done.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: I've just found that I'm so much more productive on the computer with a fresh brain and a pot of coffee in the morning than you know, kind of running through the day and then trying to get onto the computer at eight or nine o'clock at night and do quotes.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just not as efficient, not as sharp.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I've kind of switched myself from a night owl to a to morning bird, I guess.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it's it's been a transition, but you know, I I certainly get more productivity that way.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, no longer, I guess, needlessly wasting time at night, you know, either watching stuff that isn't going to make an impact in my life or or my families and and stuff like that.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of making that habit switch has been probably the biggest change personally.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Any any tips for that?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I man, I'm having an issue with that.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I am a night owl thrown through.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: I just I don't know what it is once the once the sun goes down, you know how it is in the summertime.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sun doesn't go down until almost 10 o'clock at night.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I get to like the second wind, you know what I mean?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, man.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Any any tips for a night owl?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm struggling with that.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I would say two things.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: First is you almost have to have two alarms, and that's something that I picked up for Alex Ramosy.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: You you don't need to have the morning alarm to wake up, you need to have uh an evening alarm to tell yourself to like wind down and get ready to go to bed.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're staying up until midnight, you're never gonna make that you know four o'clock alarm work.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Or if you do, it's gonna catch up with you eventually.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I've I've felt that pain as I've kind of made that transition.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the second thing is just having you know a morning routine and an alarm system that works for you.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: I am a heavy sleeper, so I've actually I've had to move away from just using the the traditional like alarm on your iPhone.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: I downloaded a separate app that kind of allows you to create your own custom alarm in terms of like mine makes me get up and walk so many steps, and then I have to take a picture of my coffee maker to turn off the alarm.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: And once I get to my coffee maker, um, you know, it's kind of like, are you really, you know, that's where it's just a little bit of discipline and sometimes a little self-talk.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are you really gonna shut off this alarm by taking this picture and go lay back down?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Or like, are you gonna do what I need to do for the day?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: So a couple of habit twists and then kind of purging, you know, a little bit of technology to to get myself moving is is kind of been the thing that's helped me make that transition.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate that.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know what it is, man, but uh yeah, I'm trying to transition to that, but it's just it's been a struggle.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like I just I'll just lay in bed.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I go to bed at a decent time, I'll just lay in bed and toss and turn, and I just won't go to sleep.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I gotta figure this thing out.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because I struggled with that too.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to be exhausted.
• 20:52
  unknown: Okay.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, which isn't hard when you know I have a day in the field where you know, we're whether it's washing windows or or and up and down the ladder or doing a landscape project or whatever, you know, you put in an eight to ten hour day in the field, and then you you juggle the other things and spend a little bit of time with the family, you know, eight or nine o'clock rolls around, and and I'm normally pretty exhausted.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's been I've fallen, I've fallen asleep more times in the past, you know, two years on the couch with the kids in the evening than I probably ever have.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so just kind of getting yourself exhausted.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if depending on what your job is, if if it's not a physical job, then you know, going to the gym or walking the dog, maybe lengthening, lengthening those to kind of get yourself physically a little bit more exhausted.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: That certainly has helped me kind of wind down in the evenings a little bit more and and hit that you know, evening alarm, so to speak.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate that.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, about how many hours are you working in and on the business right now, would you say every week?
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to track that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh honest, I I I don't track it because you know it it would just be something that I think innately I would be like, oh man, that's that's a lot for for the return or whatever right now.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in it for the long game.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're you know in our fourth season of the business.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I plan on growing this thing to a fairly large size business over the next decade plus.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Josh, what is you what What'd you say is your greatest strength as a business owner right now?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think having a vision for the business and being able to kind of communicate that with the team, especially since we're we're growing and plan on continuing to grow.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing, I think I got this from Mike Andes.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, your dreams have to be big enough for the business to be able to fit everybody else's dreams inside of it if you want to be able to have a team that's going to grow with you.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: So having a vision and a dream for the business that I can have, you know, guys that were team members with me, you know, a couple of years ago and last year that are now leads for me.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: The next phase, you know, having opportunities as like an operations manager or division lead overseeing multiple trucks, you know, and eventually, you know, as we look at, you know, five plus years out and either a second location or something like that, you know, having both office and general manager opportunities.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of having a vision that is realistic and, you know, is easy to communicate with the guys so that they know that there's a future here.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if they want to just, you know, if they want to just, you know, cut grass or clean windows for 40 hours a week and and that's their thing for the rest of their life, then great.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: But if they want to be able to grow into something that they can do more and provide, you know, provide differently or better for their families, having a vision that lets all of their goals fit into it, I think is is a big strength for me.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what would you say is one leadership or business skill you you still need to improve?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Organization and delegation.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: I sometimes find myself doing, you know, on the delegating side, I find myself doing tasks that I very easily could have had somebody else do, and then free up time for myself to focus on the things that right now nobody else is trained to do.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, organization kind of feeds into that, having a better plan, not just for like the day or the week, but over the course of a month with you know, this is what I need to accomplish, this is who I can help kind of learn or train them on a new thing that they can then take over something like that.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I need to get, you know, it's not often the it's not the cliche that you hear all the time that, you know, I don't think that somebody else can do it as well as I'm gonna do it.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there probably are some tasks that that I feel like that about, but you know, it's more I I sometimes don't want to overburden the team.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, oh, I'll take that on myself, I'll take that on myself.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, my to-do list ends up being more than a page long, and then it's like, uh, you really should, you know, delegate some of this stuff, right?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I need to get better at you know identifying who can do what for me, and then you know, having the organization and the planning in place to make sure that they they have everything that they need to succeed in whatever that task may be.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's fair.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, GRADO launched in 2023, and you quickly earned you know BBB accredit accreditation in the following year.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let me let me do that again.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: That was horrible.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, give me a second.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, that was giving me a ton twist for that.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Give me a second.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let me do that.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let me make a note to edit that out.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so GRADO launched in 2023 and you learned you know triple B accreditation that then the following year.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: What did you do early that helped establish trust quickly, getting that so quickly, like you did?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, that was literally what, a year in, and you got that?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I th it's kind of a combination of a couple of things.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: First is just a focus on you know quality work, being proud of the end results of the projects that we do.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: We have a grato guarantee that is, you know, a job isn't complete until we're proud of the end result and the customer's grateful that they called us.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: So truly taking pride in what we do has certainly earned us trust with our customers.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing that helps, you know, is asking your customers to leave you feedback on Google or Facebook in terms of reviews.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: That kind of helps build a brand reputation.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then the BBB on it, I would say that was easier to get accredited than getting 100 five-star Google reviews.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as long as you have all the licenses that you're supposed to have, and you don't have you know customers that are saying that you you were gonna do something and then didn't do it for them.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: The the BBB process was fairly simple.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the foundation really is you know, taking pride in what we do, doing what we if we say something to a customer following through and doing it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, over the last you know, four seasons or three and a half seasons, whatever it's been we're not perfect.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: And when we make a mistake, you know, there's not an excuse, it's an apology, and then coming back out normally either that day or the following day to rectify the situation.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's it's I think I I say to the guys all the time, especially with my leads, you know, do the right thing.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you're on a project and you're not sure if this was included in the quote or not, but it feels like the right thing to do, do it.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if a if you're washing a house and a customer comes out, they say, you know, hey, can you hit this piece of furniture for me?
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we don't need to nickel and dime somebody for you know washing off a porch swing for 10 or 15 bucks.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Just you know, do the right thing and do it, take care of it for them.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, having that attitude of of gratitude and and doing the right thing, I think, really lays that foundation that you know ultimately got us at accreditation.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, why do customers ultimately choose you instead of another provider?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing better than your competitors?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you kind of talked about this a little bit earlier, but uh anything else you could think of?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, from the feedback that I've gotten from the customers, it's it's a few things that I I feel are are pretty basic.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe don't tell all the competitors, right?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, answering the phone, number one, returning voicemails promptly, number two, showing up when you say you're gonna show up, and you know, taking a little bit of extra time with the customer, whether that's on, you know, a quote to really get an understanding of of what their pain is and what they want, or on the you know, back end taking a few minutes to walk around with the customer at the end of a project and making sure that they're satisfied with everything.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, just some basics in terms of like communication, doing what you're saying you're gonna do, and then you know, giving the opportunity for to get to know your customer a little bit more and also for them to give you any kind of feedback to make sure that they're fully satisfied.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Josh, can you tell us a little bit, kind of give us a quick synopsis of your the team supporting you today?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: So in the field, I have um my three leads, Alan, who's been with me since day one.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: He was my first employee.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: He runs our landscape division and you know, oversees and helps out with other projects or gutter cleaning as those kind of things come up.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: I have Craig, who's been with me for 16, 18 months at this point.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: He runs our power washing and window cleaning side of the business at this point.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Both of them have young families, great guys in terms of leading their truck and the guys that are working with them.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: And both are motivated for the long run in terms of you know providing for their families.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: I have another young leader on the team, Aiden.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: He does our our mowing and maintenance route.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: He just joined us this year, but pretty quickly, you know, based on some character traits that he showed in terms of helping out another member of the team with something that they had going on, helping out the neighbor of a customer's project that we were at, that he just kind of had that it factor that he he truly cares about, you know, helping others.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And he's done a great job.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's, you know, some growing pains in terms of like learning how to lead versus being a part of the team.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: But uh the amount of growth I've seen from him in the last few months and the you know, kind of the the energy level that he brings is great.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Fortunate enough to have the support of my wife.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: She helps out with a lot of stuff, you know, kind of behind the scenes.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: She puts together, we like to give donation baskets out, you know, for community events or nonprofits when they're doing, you know, kind of things that have those gift basket giveaways.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: My wife puts together all of that stuff.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then recently we've added, we're calling her kind of a customer success and social media manager right now.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: She's helped out a tremendous amount with kind of building out some stuff on the back end of the software that we use to manage all of our customers.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: She's set up a few different automations that have made kind of my life right now a little bit easier in terms of following up with customers or communicating with customers when they're on the schedule and stuff.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then the work that she does for us, you know, with the social media and the website is great.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: She comes out, you know, films stuff with the team, kind of compiles all of that.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: I I personally, before I started the business, didn't even have, you know, a Facebook or anything like that.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not my thing.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: So once I started the business, I knew I needed that.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of muscled through it.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: And my wife was helping me out a lot with that in that first year.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: But it was definitely something that I don't really enjoy, but is a necessary thing as a local home service business.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: So now having somebody that it, you know, that's her passion, that's what she loves to do.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: And having somebody to help me out with that kind of stuff is great.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, there's ancillary members of the team.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: I have an accountant that I actually worked with in my previous career in staffing.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: I helped them find a couple of contract assignments.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: And when I started the business, she was she was very excited for me and graciously offered to kind of support the business.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: She's helped out so much on the the back end with like filing payroll taxes and keeping my books in order and stuff.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And for a long time, she she did a pro bono until I kind of said to her at some point last year, I was like, I feel guilty.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like the amount of value that you're bringing to me and as much as you do, like please let please send me an invoice.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like so, you know, it I I have a I I have to also mention just like friends and family that have supported me.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I have a a younger brother by a year that you know, he has a a business acumen that I admire.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: Having somebody like that that I can talk to on the phone and run through things is a tremendous amount of help.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then fortunate enough and and very grateful for a group of about two dozen friends from high school that I still stay in touch with.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: We have a Slack group that everybody kind of chimes in and, you know, we share personal stuff, we share business stuff.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: But having that friend group, when I was getting started, you know, the the logo that we have was made by one of those guys on that friend group.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the initial like marketing stuff that I did was help through, you know, those guys and and just the support of the business in terms of referring us to their friends and family, using us in their businesses that they work at or own at this point.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: So just you know, a tremendous amount of support, both from the the team that I've built and also just kind of a close group of friends and family, really grateful for.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like you got a great team.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, and and this next question, I want you to be as candid as you can on it because it it helps a lot of entrepreneurs that listen to our podcast.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: But what what would you say is your biggest challenge when it comes to hiring, leading, or retaining people?
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's you know, we've had a couple, even with the process that we've had, we've had a couple of I guess bad eggs, faults you know, through for a short period of time.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's the biggest thing is once and and this was uh you know something that I learned in the restaurant world, but I I didn't make the decision fast enough last year, and it caused to a little bit of an issue.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Once you realize that somebody is not the right fit, you know, kind of I it it sounds harsh, but like quickly, quickly firing or you know, moving on, whatever way you want to say it.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: If you let let somebody you know hang around too long that doesn't have the right attitude, or you know, is a cancer, so to speak, uh, from a culture standpoint, it can it can affect everybody on the team.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't just hurt, you know, the project they're on, or you know, maybe the the lead that has them on that project.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, other guys see that attitude.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: They know that that person's still getting hours.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, somebody that's a a C or a D player on your team is gonna make your A's less motivated.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a hard thing, especially like, you know, last year, the I I knew somebody that wasn't I knew somebody wasn't the right fit after probably like two months, but we were getting close to like that final stretch of the the fall season and about to transition into like kind of the winter services, and it's a tough time to try to bring on somebody else and and let them know that they're only gonna work for with you for a few months before getting like seasonally laid off or losing a lot of hours in January and February.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I tried to just hang on with them, and then you know, unfortunately ended up stealing from us via a customer handing him a payment, and that payment never came to us.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, lesson learned the hard way.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: I knew he wasn't the right fit, but I was trying to just stretch it out for a few more months, and you know, then not only did we you know lose a small amount of money, but had to I was behind the eight ball then in terms of hiring or replacement.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if if somebody's not a right fit, just you know, quickly cutting the cord, so to speak, is is probably the best thing to do.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that candid answer.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Josh, let's say, you know, and this is hypothetical, but let's say if your business doubled overnight, let's say if you were able to, you know, just get a whole bunch of qualified leads overnight.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: What is the very first thing that would break and need to be solved or be or be fixed in your business?
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: We need more trucks.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'd need more trucks and more guys.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that would be the biggest the first thing in terms of executing.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: I would I'd probably if if that much demand was there, I'd probably have to fully transition out of the field too, just to meet the demands in terms of keeping up with the the quotes and the customer service side of things.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, the the biggest constraint in terms of growing and in meeting that type of demand would just having you know more trucks and and guys.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I I feel pretty confident in in my ability to hire guys quickly.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: It would just be more getting the funds and up front to to add more trucks and equipment to get the jobs done.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, Joshua, we're gonna head into what's called the this or that round.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, how this works is you know, I'm going to give you this or that, the two things.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: You choose one, you know, whichever one that you like best, and then give me kind of a paragraph on why you chose that, if that makes sense.
• 38:49
  unknown: Okay.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: Coffee or energy drink?
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Coffee.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Hands down, do not like energy drinks.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: There, there's even like from a coffee in a can at the gas station, there's only a couple that I will drink.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't I don't drink a lot of dairy products, so trying to find something that that doesn't have that in there is kind of a thing with coffee, but I'm definitely a coffee guy.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Red bulls and and five-hour energies and stuff.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's too much caffeine too fast because I I kind of just drink coffee all day long.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the couple of times I've I've drank in those kind of things, it just makes my chest feel like it's gonna explode or chest like my chest is tight.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I am a coffee guy through and through.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Totally agree with that one.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know how people can just slam those Red Bulls and all that.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it makes me it makes my blood pressure go through the roof.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do it.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: More uh, yeah, well, you answered this one, so I can I'll probably skip it.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll still have it.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, let me go ahead and answer it anyways because I want to kind of want to know the why.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: So morning person or night owl?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: More of a morning person right now, and the why is is definitely the kind of the demands of the business.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's still not easy for me.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: I've been doing it for over a year now, and there's if I take a couple of days off or you know, during the offseason, I'll slip right back into that night owl habit.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: But need to be a morning person for the business, and and that's you know ultimately what I try to do.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Beach or mountains?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: I I think because of the family, I'll say beach.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's definitely, I think, more fun for for kids and the family side of things with the boardwalk and and the water and all that stuff.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: But if it was just Josh going away for 48 hours, give me a cabin in the middle of nowhere and just let me go on a couple of hikes or you know, sit by a fire and I'd be very happy.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: Dogs or cats?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: We've had both.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: We have two dogs currently.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I love both, but I'd have to say dogs, I guess.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they they truly are to me at least man's best friend.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, just a fun side sidebar there is there's a local animal shelter to us that is all volunteer-based, and they they take kind of the worst of the worst rescues from like the humane society.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, if a constable goes into a house and there's like a an abuse or a hoarding situation with with pets, they take them.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: We we volunteer an annual kind of spring wash to their building.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: We do their gutter cleaning in the fall, and then typically help with their spring landscape cleanup as well.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: So dogs and cats, you know, I think are both great for families, dogs for me.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can, if you can help out a local shelter, help them out.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for a pet, adopt versus buy.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'll kind of leave it at that.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Netflix or YouTube.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: I I can't stay awake for a movie, so that's easily YouTube.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, YouTube for me, I'm kind of a I'll I'll call it.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I went to Robert Morris and have a degree from them, and you know, that was a great experience and everything, I guess.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: But at least in terms of like running the business and then what I do day to day, I would say I'm like a YouTube university graduate and still student.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's just so much great information out there available for free online.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to, you know, learn something.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: There's probably a YouTube channel with somebody that does it.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, you know, I I mentioned them both, but I'll throw them back out here now.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the the content that's out there through Mike Andes and Alex Hermozzi, if you're starting a home service business or any kind of business in Alex's case, I mean, they both they both lay it all out there.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's backs, there's upsells on the back end, right, after you consume their content, but there's so much kind of gold in the free content that they put onto YouTube that it's probably worth tens of thousands of dollars in terms of an education.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: So YouTube is great, and you know, there's no excuse in in my in my world to not be educated on something because there is somebody that's an expert in it that's put it on YouTube.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: Agreed.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Phone call or text.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think both have their their purpose, but I I I think that there still can be a lot lost in translation translation or you know, emotion if a text is sent versus a call.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: So phone call then you're probably leaning towards a little bit more.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Higher for skill or higher for attitude?
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: Attitude.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Easy attitude.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: I can train, we can train, I I can get you something that can train you on, you know, pretty much anything, but I can't teach attitude.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: So attitude, hands down.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Summer or winter?
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be summer.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: One, that's you know, the the business runs off of nice weather.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: So there's that.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then two, you know, we're in the greater Pittsburgh area.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Some winters aren't too bad, but like the last last winter was harsh.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a I'm not a fan of snow, not a fan of shoveling it.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I A younger Josh that snowboarded might might have a different opinion, but at this point it it's easily summer.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: Steelers or penguins?
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, great hometown question.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um I am probably one of the rare Pittsburghers or Yenzers, as we call ourselves, that is gonna go with the penguins.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up playing a little bit of hockey.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I there is nothing like to me.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've been I've been fortunate enough to go to a bunch of different types of sporting events and and stuff, but playoff hockey, the emotion and and everything is like nothing else.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll go with the penguins.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: Permanente bros or pizza?
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: Permanente.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think I said permanente bros, I'm sorry.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: Permanent brothers or pizza, I yeah.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: I I I have to I'll I'll put it out the the kind of asterisk or the pre-qualifier that like I love a Permanti Brothers sandwich, but pizza so I mean we we do pizza all the time for for guys on projects.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: Myself and the one lead, you know, we'll we'll rank the pizzas and and and and it's a fun little game, you know.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: And plus, you know, we we work within like an hour of our home base, so to speak.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: So when we travel, and if we're gonna be at a project for all day, I'll I'll often ask, you know, the homeowner, like, hey, where's your local favorite pizza place?
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then that's what we'll we'll get for lunch.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of the variety of pizza and in the fun that we have with it.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll go pizza over permanent, although for me, a a double Capacola Permanente Brothers sandwich always hits the spot.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you getting through that uh that this or that.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: That was great.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: See, I love doing those because it shows, you know, kind of your personality and your way, you know, from the business, you know, kind of your personality a little bit.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's awesome.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: I did not expect you to stay the penguins over the Steelers.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely thought Steelers, because it seems like everybody I meet from Pittsburgh is Steelers through and through.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, definitely love the Steelers, been to been to plenty of games, enjoy football, but if I had to pick, you know, one one team to see win a championship or one one game they take my kids to, it's got to be the penguins.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and and I want you to be as can as you can on this next question, but you know, let's say a business owner is, you know, and let's say they're they're they're they're fairly new at their business, right?
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they just started in maybe 2024, let's say, let's say the end of 2024 for around you know the time that that hurricane was coming through, Hurricane Helene, I think it was, and they just got started right after that.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: They've only been in business for two years, and let's say they're just having a rough go of 2026, we're already halfway through the year.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's a piece of advice you'd give to kind of a newer business owner so they can get their feet wet?
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: What what kind of a piece of advice would you give them if they're just struggling a little bit to stay grounded?
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: One is you know, you you chose to become a business owner, nobody else is gonna do it for you.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that might seem like harsh, but like that's the self-talk that I have to have with myself, even on occasion.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's nobody you you you chose the path.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna be easy.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody that told you it was was just selling you something.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: So as long as you knew what you were signing up for, you know, I think that's that's the baseline is you have to have the right attitude about kind of the I think of it as a a pr a privilege to you know be in the position that I had the background and the support to be able to start a business.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a privilege and and you know, don't waste it.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, the other thing I would say is like, are you investing in yourself?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: Are you investing in yourself in terms of like making sure that you have the right habits, whether that's you know, what you're eating, eating and drinking during the day, what you what your sleep routine is like, which you know, when I've run into problems, it's normally one of those things.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, how are you reinvesting in yourself in terms of education?
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: What type of content are you consuming?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're we all consume content in various, you know, levels, but I certainly know that when I'm pouring into myself with, you know, like I said, Alex or Mike or podcasts like this, where you know it's other business owners that are are talking about, you know, business good, bad, ugly, right?
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: I certainly have a better perspective and a better attitude than if I, you know, went down a rabbit hole about, you know, a fun topic of, you know, are we alone in the universe?
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_01: So like, you know, it can be fun to to go down one of those rabbit holes.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're if you use that time to invest in yourself and and kind of consume the right stuff, I I think that certainly would would help anybody.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, where do you see your particular business by 2030?
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know we hear 2030 seems like a long way away, but it's actually only three and a half years away.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you see your company by then?
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, the the goal certainly is to be at like 2030 is about a year ahead of where I kind of see us getting to a crossroads of whether we're we need to grow another location or if we you know just kind of keep segmenting out different business units, so to speak.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: We'll probably have in the you know 25 to 30 employee range at that point, as long as everything follows according to plan.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll you know, we'll keep growing.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't really see us adding much in terms of different services at this point.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of I feel like we have a good foundation and we offer most of the solutions that our homeowners or our homeowners or business owners want from us.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it'll be you know kind of continuing to improve our processes and you know, just keep growing and and doing more of of what we do.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, fair.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, what's next for Grade O property care?
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: What should people be excited about coming up in the near future for your company?
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: I guess next, because of kind of the season of transition, you know, we'll keep rocking and rolling with all of our core services until weather dictates otherwise.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of my focus over the next couple of months will be on the on the lighting side of things.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_01: We've already started to kind of pre-book our renewals on the Christmas light side, getting those installation dates set.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, tomorrow going out to do a quote for a customer that we didn't work with last year.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I I really enjoy the the Christmas light service.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of fun to you know work with a homeowner, come up with a design, or you know, a business owner come up with the design that that gets them excited.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: But then, you know, the install, we we have fun with it.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we wear Christmas hats, we throw on some rock and holiday tunes.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of the services that we do, you know, it's one or two guys kind of doing a task and loud equipment, whereas Christmas lights, you know, it's kind of peaceful.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, we'll throw on some Christmas tunes and it's a lot of fun to work with the guys in that respect.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, from a customer side, you know, well when we clean somebody's gutters, you know, they they'll they'll thank you and you know, they appreciate the the service, but there's not a lot of excitement.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: But when you you finish lighting up somebody's house and they, you know, get to see it for the first time all lit up, some of the phone calls and the text messages and the excitement that they have in terms of how their home looks, you can't really replace that.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of adding some joy to to the holiday season through the Christmas light service is something that you know I'm looking forward to, and our our uh customers certainly can as well.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and the last thing is and I want you to be as honest as you can on this one here, but you know, if there was one thing you could change about your business in the next 90 days, what would it be and why?
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess that would lead us up until about Halloween.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Cliff.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, these are some great questions.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that I could change and why would be figuring out a better solution for the design side of things.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because I just mentioned Christmas lights.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've I've used a couple of pre-built apps and tools, they don't really kind of deliver the customer-facing design that I would be looking for.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've worked with a couple of different AIs, you know, that I'm not gonna promo anybody's multi-billion dollar AI company, but you know, I've I've used a couple of those.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: They're helpful, but like if if I could or if somebody out there would develop, you know, a tool where you can take a picture of somebody's house, describe what you want to light up and with what colors, and then it would spit out an image that that matched that, that would make my life so much easier over the next six months.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it would also, I think, you know, really enhance the experience further for the customers.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if I could change one thing, it would be figuring out a better way to give customers a design on the on the light side of things.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Joshua.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, man, this was this is an excellent conversation.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate you coming on, giving some really, really candid, heart-hitting answers and and you know, providing some nice light to, you know, maybe other entrepreneurs will listen.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, really appreciate you coming on and appreciate you, you know, giving us behind the scenes of building your business.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: Any last words you'd like to give the listening audience before we go ahead and sign off?
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I mentioned earlier the the grato guarantee that we have, and it's a life lesson that came from my grandfather, and I'd be remiss if I didn't bring that up.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: So when I was long story short, when I was 12 years old, my first job was helping my granddad at the local football field cleaning up the bleachers after Friday night football games.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll never forget the the first time I cleaned one of those bleachers.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I ran and got my pap and was really excited to show him that I finished the the bleachers.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he came over and he looked at it, pointed up at the bleachers, and said, What is that?
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I got all the garbage.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are you talking about the confetti?
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Are you proud of the way that looks?
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I I knew better than the say anything at that moment.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, he he took a long pause and looked at me and he said, Son, if you're gonna do something, do it so you're proud of the end result or don't do it at all.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that life lesson has been something that I think has made an impact going back to when I worked in the restaurant world, or, you know, especially with this business, you know, if you're gonna do something, do it so you're proud of the end result, or just don't do it at all.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I would leave everybody with.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I hear the dog's going crazy in the back.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's all good.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is that was that your dogs howling there?
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, an ambulance went up the street, and my husky loves to howl at the ambulances.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: So sorry about that.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're fine, you're fine.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a husky owner as well.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, how old is your husky?
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: She is gonna be five this fall.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have a seven year old Beagle Mix who also loves to howl.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one of their favorite activities.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, I get it.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: My uh my dog calls it anything.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: So but but yeah, Josh, again, thank you for coming on and sharing your behind the scenes and building your business.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_00: Wish you and great or property care continued success.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate the opportunity, Cliff.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.