12 Exact Steps To Scale Your Landscaping Business | Interview with "Home Service CFO" Dan Platta
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Staying small as a business has its own pros and cons. Most of the time, it’s all about the absence of the need to worry about paying employees, for it is only you that’s running the business. But if we’re going to think further, scaling is far more beneficial long term. Not only would you be able to grow the business, but the business’ progression would also help you live life better.
However, people in the first phases of scaling usually tend to get cold feet and lose the drive to continue. Some get overwhelmed because they don’t even know their where-to’s. Their mindset is not in good condition. There’s no clarity on purpose. So for this episode, I invited Dan Platta over to share the 12 exact steps to successfully scale our business towards the growth we’ve always dreamt of! Sit back and relax. You’re in for a treat today!
Dan Platta, commonly known as the “The Service CFO,” runs the Best Damn Bookkeeping, where he and his team help small businesses get that on-demand scale in the service industry.
“We didn’t get into business as a charity. All of our businesses are profit businesses. We are here to make money. We want to do a lot of good, we want to help a lot of people, but at the end of the day, for us to do that, we need to be profitable, we need to be successful.”
- Dan Platta
Why do you have to listen to today’s episode.
00:54 - #1: Whatever you’re doing, as long as you’re in business, you’re playing a math game. Here, you’ll learn how to set up your business financially in five steps.
13:23 - Mindset is everything. Clarity and commitment play a huge role in your progress. Work on being able to separate your personal stuff from your business.
17:54 - #2: Why tax yourself as an S Corp and not as a sole proprietor? Understand why for two reasons.
23:54 - #3: What is bookkeeping really for? When do you need to get a bookkeeper involved in your business?
33:44 - #4: You’d never want to lose both your clients and your employees for the unequal surge of work to be done. Here’s the Magic Formula: Capacity = Demand
43:09 - #5: Let’s talk about the inflection point of scaling and why it’s a good plus for you to scale.
56:52 - #6: What’s the first thing you got to do after scaling? Do marketing. Keep in mind the importance of ROI.
1:10:45 - #7: Find more employees and invest in them. It’s just like marketing in reverse.
1:29:35 - #8: Start investing in infrastructures, in new software. Continue to upscale.
1:37:23 - #9: Receiving pay keeps employees motivated. Which suits you best - commission pay or hourly pay?
1:50:45 - #10: Why is commission pay more apt for smaller crews than bigger ones? Find the answer here.
1:59:43 - #11: Buying assets the right way is a vital move. No one wants to lose money for other business purposes over assets that aren’t properly serving the business.
2:08:03 - #12: Everybody believes that we ought to be spending lots of money at the end of the year to avoid the IRS. Legally minimize your taxes.
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Watch the most recent interview with Dan Platta Here
th-cam.com/video/Ru_RboSGGYs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9sgJKLJoD5r_FUYK
Square works magic. Payroll. Website. Online appointments. Contactless payment. Invoices. Square offers it all!
I’m glad I came across this. I’ve been telling myself everything he just said not knowing how accurate any of my thinking was. But it’s good to hear it from someone else!
Damn, this stuff makes so much sense. It’s interesting that you can know how to start and operate a business all day, but fail to recognize the kind of fundamentals spoken about in this video.
I get a Tony Robbins vibe at times.
Good stuff!
Was looking for this comment. Lol. I agree.
Hey dude where can I see images of your work hoy Ig ?
For lawn care eddm for me averages 2 seasonal clients average value 1500 annually each per 1000 pieces. So 50k pieces cost 18k to advertise yields 200 new clients 1500 each.
Keith - great video - featuring this in my Always Be Marketing TH-cam Videos of the week newsletter.
THIS IS SMALL BUSINESS GOLD...... I def need to hear all the basics of starting and getting legal etc, the basic numbers of business, how to charge, what to charge tax on labor and materials? etc....
Fantastic video. Had about the perfect drive to listen to the full thing. Inspirational and Informative.
Great to hear!
One of the best videos
I like how he started from the basics and worked his way through. More of this content please!! 🙌🙌
INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!! I will watch this over and over
Best Keith video ever made.
This is your best video. Good information.
This 2 and a half hours was literally invaluable!!
I am curently im the process of beginning to scale my small 50 account lawn service with about 120k revenue.
I wear all of the hats.
I have been running #s and seeing that doubling my accounts actually looses $ and been on the fence about making the leap.
Dan really put things into perspective for me and I am so greatful for this.
Also, getting off the truck to scale, market and get systems into place is really hard for me to wrap my head around as I love being in the field! This new role is terrifying but so exciting after 13 years of being in the business.
The value in this video is trememdous.
Thank you Keith! I just started following you and your videos are Awesome, spot on and usually have me cracking up.😂
Desiree I commend you for your dedication and perseverance I recognize the field of landscaping is not an easy one but if done right you can make a great living off it , also if you ever thought of obtaining additional capitol in order to scale your landscaping business feel free to contact me I can certainly assist
Any update?
So many incredible and practical insights in this video. So helpful. I probably learned 50 plus things in this video.
Great job Kelfas! Sky's the limit baby
You guys crushed this
Mind blown, thanks Keith and Dan!!!!!
Dude you need to do podcast interviews like this more!
Come over. You're next.
@@keith-kalfas haha you can ask me how I built a mediocre window cleaning business 😂
This was key to restructuring my business. Thank. You !
OMG THIS IS GOLD!!!! I CANT WAIT to actually be able to be at a conference with you guys!!! Gusto for payroll is awesome and a must have. I have Blueskies for my books and Gusto for payroll and Jobber for my jobs. Blue Skies is the shit when it comes to bookkeeping. I love getting my texts every week letting me know that all the accounts are looked over and accounted for. I'm definitely saving this video and keeping it in the Business Playlist. I'm sending it over to my Partner now!!! THANK YOU GUYS, This is one the best videos I've seen in awhile.
Come see us at the huge convention keithkalfas.com/events
Keith I watch all your videos and am not one to leave comments, but you doing this video and introducing us to Dan is the absolute BEST information & advice I have ever gotten from anyone's content on TH-cam. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Dan's knowledge & advice is so relevant and beneficial I almost feel like I need to send him a check for sharing it. Brother, you are killing it with these quality guest on your podcast/videos. Your content from out on site or in the field was good, but all this new content is F#*king Amazing and a whole next level. Dan, thank you for sharing your knowledge and I will be telling everyone about you and Blue Skies Services...Absolute Golden!
The man speaks the truth. Excellent
Pure gold! Thank you! Hope you are making some changes Keith.... I am based on this video.
This was the best vid hands down
Watched this video 3 times already I'm trying to resonate this in my brain 🧠 this guy is spewing real knowledge
Facebook market place and yard signs and fliers. Way better then home advisor. I spent way to much $$ on home advisor in 2018 and 2019. A little in 2020.
19:55 - S-Corp Taxing
2:01:13 - Performance Pay Setup
I needed to hear this a year ago. Thanks guys for the info
Thank you for this! Could you do a video on how to get and keep employees in a area that can’t do landscaping year round due to winter month. I live in Kentucky and hard to find employees to stick around because they know it’s only 8 months of work. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Keep the content coming you’re doing more for us than you will ever know.
Same, iowa here...
Same in CT we do some interior painting and tree work smaller scale brush and branch clearing in surrounding woods we give huge discount 35 per man hour for exciting customers.
Cheers Keith. Good listen
I find that crew members still wexpect the bonuses even if it takes longer than what you were hoping for
Thank you for this. I saw it was uploaded and deleted or something and I was hoping to finish this
There was an audio issue. Had to take the video down and fix it. All good now.
Great podcast Keith. So much knowledge being passed down. I’m a small business owner in Boston and this podcast answered so many questions I had about being a business owner and running a profitable business . Thank you 🙏
Very inspiring content. Great work.
This was sooooo good!
Great job, kalfas, aligning yourself with an accountant like this guy great interview
This is a mad video. I’ve made most of these mistakes along the way
Prayers 🙏 answered thanks guys 😊
WOW this was fantastic guys!!
Great video, this information is gold !
Glad it was helpful!
This is an absolute masterclass!
I know it's crazy how good the info is. Dan upgraded my life.
I agree and disagree, I never paid myself I just saved money buisness and personal and I now have 2 rental properties and buisness still going good. BUT this advice is good.
Knock on doors. Make a simple flyer. Hand it out as much as you can. The hard part is "selling" yourself.
Lawn Dog says "R'eah"!
I need that book keeping services & training Please!!
Wow this is good 👍🏻
Gusto is great, recommend 100%
Great video!
Also, this dude sounds like Tony Robinson! 😂
If I switch from a sole proprietor to a LLC S Corp half way through the year…will I get taxed as a sole proprietor for half of the year, or will I get taxed as an s corp for the whole year?
Nah...in my understanding..
if you file your taxes at the end of the year. You can just run the entire year taxed as an Scorp. For the annual filing.
He has the exact same voice as Tony Robbins
I'm listening while I'm raking, and if I didn't know better, I would swear I was listening to Tony, then I looked at my phone, and he actually looks like Tony Robins
thought it was just me haha
sounds great about his 5 percent debt to get 20 but it NEVER always works out according to plan all the time. i pay cash and keep my all my profits
My favorite part was where the camera randomly auto focused on the light in the back.
Dan platta is a hunk
Gold gold gold
As if an llc sole proprietor couldn't be sold? Profit is smartly reinvested to avoid tax liability, in a manner that increases profits and raising the value of the business and that is easier as an llc, then the year prior to profit taking, shift to the s corp. ??
1.1 million/14 people_80k per employee production annually
Brill Kelfas...Glenn in Australia...Hallmark Property Care...
Good video
1.1 million by 14 employees is80k annual production per employee divided by 250 working days = is $320 a day. Am I correct
Hey Ken, it's a super seasonal business. We are able to operate about 8 months out of the year, but even then some months are only about 50% of our max. We had 14 techs in June to knock out just under $200K, then July/Aug/Sep we averaged below $100K and we ran with about 8 guys to knock that work out and hired a few more into Oct/Nov. I'd say our average guy can do around $800/day cleaning windows, but we have quite a few guys that have been around for a couple years and hitting $1,000 is par for the course.
Guy sounds like Tony Robbins
My last $6000 i started and registered today let’s see this comment in the feature
Is that a tanning booth in the background 😆
"Debt is an important tool". 6:17 is when the discussion took at wrong turn. Prov 22:7: “...the borrower is slave of the lender." thousands lost their business following this advice when the pandemic hit. And in 2008. Debt is stupid and will ruin your life and your business.
Cash flowing debt at a fixed interest rate is good.
Hey is that a black walnut coffee table?
Yes
@@keith-kalfas I got a 40' black cherry log on my property about 24" to 26" diameter. I just haven't broke down and bought one of those harbor freight Alaskan saw mills. The one you attach your chain saw to. I always say I'm gonna go get one when I get a big tree removal. But you know life gets in the way and I end up needing tires or a fuel pump or it's time to renew my liability insurance.
1:35:00
If your production is 1000 a day for a man that is 150 an hour because you will have travel non billable time. Wow that is steep
we count travel time as billable, it's all billable, our employee expects to get paid even when they are driving to a job, and our vehicle expects to get gas put in it. We are probably in the 75th percentile as far as price goes. We aren't the most expensive, but I'm pretty confident we are the most productive, which means our production rates are high even if our prices aren't the highest.
25:35
You need to stop. I love you
All good until there is no cash. Walking the sheep right into a cashless system. Just saying. Be careful what you wish for.
if YOU ARE NEW PLEASE DON'T FOLLOW THIS GUY'S ADVICE. Debt will destroy you, especially those just starting
depends on the debt and how savy you are. If you don't finance your vehicle how are you going to pay for the marketing to grow your business? If you don't intend on scaling the business then I'm with you, just bootstrap it. If you plan on scaling then use debt intelligently. Rich people didn't become rich because they work harder, they became rich because they make their money work harder.
@@BlueSkiesServicesLLC marketing is free or very cheap. When I first started my business I designed a business card and had office Depot print them. I headed them out to church and knocked on doors. Then "word of mouth" marketing took over. I just concentrated on doing a great job and focused on customer service. You get non stop calls and grow your business, like a snow ball effect. This doesn't work for every person or business I admit
@@BlueSkiesServicesLLC so I believe you should only scale when you have a proven busines and have had success on a smaller scale.
Hey Eric I’d like to formally introduce myself I’m Víctor Ramirez a financial consultant who specializes in funding landscaping companies just a few days ago I helped a company obtain 300k in as little as 2 days no credit check so if you’ve ever thought of using additional capitol for the furtherance of your business feel free to contact me to ok 👍🏽
@@ericsloan858you are off the mark on this one. Debt is the fastest accelerant to business growth. Theres responsible and irresponsible ways to take on debt but to say it’s bad as a whole is just not true
30% net profit
we shoot for 15%, but that is after we pay the salary to the CEO/Operator.
Lost me on the debt thing. If anything goes wrong that affects revenue between 10-30% ,that is ALL of most businesses net profit which means the owner makes ZERO dollars but guess what… those payments are still due baby! And you’re broke AND fucked.
CAC= $150ish
Maybe $175
@@kendavisbiz yep pretty much nailed it
What’s CAC?
Nvm made it to where he explains it
Too many cameras Keith. You look unnatural with your left hand always on those buttons
Just wait a year. You'll see. Haha
Keith wants to be Dave Ramsey so bad 😆
Worth more than gold🪙🪙🪙🪙