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It's clear Mike has never been really depressed. This man needs counseling. He is begging for somebody to acknowledge that and prescribe it. More business pressure and you'll lose him.
@@kylehausner2685 well he isn't even good at being undercover nevermind a therapist or social worker that would be more compelled to handle or intervene in mental distress
What a genuine dude! I am so serious, that guy is saying what people are thinking in a very transparent way. I love that he was so candid and honest because that helps everyone who is struggling. Great job man!
Ive been where he is mentally, I actually closed my company down and got a job. Took a year off and came back and started over from scratch. That was a few years ago. You can learn ALOT from failure. Sometimes you just have to have time to think about your lessons and you can’t do that when you’re in the fire getting burned everyday. Good luck brother!
I have my own company and let me tell you it beats you down. I was doing great had 7 employees and turning money then out of nowhere work dried up in the area for my industry. Its showing signs of slowly coming back but I had to down size to me and one employee and I don’t take a pay check many weeks. It sucks but I will keep pushing.
I’m going through the same thing, not landscaping but welding and steel erection, but all the information from his videos is about the same across the board for any kind of construction or service trade with maybe a few tweaks, owned my company for 5 years and burnt myself out realizing something wasn’t working when I gross $700k and end the year with nothing, been about a year and I’m starting to get everything restarted after spending a year reflecting and learning how to change and fix everything that i did wrong, hope things have gone well for you after restarting your company
It's definitely doable for people like this they just have to eventually get to the point where they can hire somebody to actually run the business while he works it as basically an employee. So he owns it and others run it. It's not an easy thing to do but it's definitely doable for the type of person that is like this.
There are companies out there where the owner refuses to be the CEO/president because they know they are not good at that part. This guy just needs a sales guy, who focus on sales with some side work. This guy can just do what he's good at, cut
Mike is freaking awesome. This will be my 4th year in business, I’ve known of Mike Andes for a while but I’m sad I never got into the videos until now: I could’ve learned a lot from him them, but I picked up a lot of stuff on my own and Mike has confirmed and expanded on almost every thing I’ve come to understand about the industry in the 20ish videos I’ve watched. Wow.
Here is the thing if you cant handle it to bad. Not everyone has the motivation and desire to go out there and sell. This is what it takes to grow a business. This ramp thing is just an exuse to keep putting off tomorrow what needs to be done today. What stops people from going out there and doing it is fear. You are afraid to put yourself out there and do it. No one likes rejection. How you overcome fear of rejection is when you know that you are the best at what you do. I dont do lawn care i do commercial floor waxing. I know i am the best at what I do. Took 30 years but I am now there. I no longer fear going to new customers and selling myself. Its all in your mind. Get your mind right and you can succeed at anything.
Ken is like me. Im my own worst sabotager and problem. Ken you got this man. For me it is always easy to supoort and push someone else and then fail to do it ourselves. Though was hoping to see a more successful 1 month later catch up.
I get the vibe ken isn’t really into making his biz successful and isn’t planning on taking any massive action towards making his situation better. He’d rather waste time chit chatting about seriously unimportant details
I encourage him to shut down this hobby that he thinks is his business to get a steady job so he can focus on being an effective father & husband. FYI I’ve been self employed home remodeler/real estate investor since 1999, my entire adult life
Would you advise someone who doesn’t know how to swim to jump into the middle of of the ocean? Thats basically what your saying here. If you actually watched the entire video and experienced mental health issues you might have concluded that this thing he calls his ‘business’ is NOT making profit and it’s damaging his family relations
This is me just a younger version. You got this Ken but you for sure need to push harder. Was hoping for a better 1 month update. But you got this and hustle and grind man. We are our own worst enemy at things. Being vulnerable and taking action of accountability is always the first step to depression and anxiety. Keep pushing you got this.
I've been in that position a couple years ago I almost closed down and started driving trucks but after taking a break I came back and started up again and things have been going great ever since everything is a learning experience when I realized that everything changed
Rooting for you Ken. I feel I have a lot in common with you when it comes to our business outlook. Try eating as healthy as you can and take a lot of long walks. It eill do wonders for your mental (and physical) energy level!
SUGGESTION: I wonder if your Lowest Revenue Location has considered the following? If he is going to start his work day at 10am... Spend early morning hours (ie 8am-9am) doing business administrative tasks, business meetings, training, and/or equiptment maintenance. And 9am-9:45am canvasing for new nearby customers either by mail, or door hangers, and returning calls for prospective customers? Each door hanger should provide an individual quote for any work that appears to need attention. Avoid burn-out. If you can only hang 20-doorhangers, in 45-minutes, that ok... At least you are making an effort. ALSO, don't try to sell services that you aren't confident to do because you lack the equiptment or you are nervous that the equiptment will fail while on the job. Also, Finnish your last yard for the day with a 30-minute wash down, and 5-15-minutes of relax or meditation (reflecting on each lawn that was done that day). The goal is to not get burned-out, to accelerate time management/efficiency, and to grow the customer base. Worse case scenario, he refers excess jobs to a competitor until he is capable to expand.
Existing long term customer referrals are the best. I have a policy of you get me a new yard to sign up, next cut is on me. Randoms and walk ups are the most difficult to keep happy. Free cut referrals that also get free cuts for neighbor referrals that stick with you are hands down the best and worked for me.
Can I ask how you track the fact that your new customer came from a referral? Can I also ask approximately what percent of existing customers get you new customers?
This video brings up a perfect question to ask: Are door hangers permitted in a “No Solicitation” notice? I’ve seen people state that it’s not but then there’s people who say it is.
Dude is resisting the fact that his business has to work on him before it works for him. He's just not ready for the next level. He needs a few more tools in the mental tool box before he's ready.
It’s definitely doable! I think a different winter service could help boost his moral by having a less stressful service that can still make him more money. Christmas lights, window washing, etc.
Communicate. And have more confidence in yourself and what you’re selling. After a job put out door hangers in that neighborhood. Knock on doors in those areas. Get 5-10 on one block. Pull up. Unload once. Mow 5. Easy work man
Try to find you some Apt complexes Ken , I have 4 that pay me on a monthly agreement on a yearly contract! So regardless I have 10k in the winter months! Keep your head up my friend
People who use the word TRY, are very telling. Ken is expert at concocting excuses for his inaction. He’s not able to focus on what’s actually important. He does not appear to have the necessary commitment to make the business successful. Instead of cheering him on to keep ‘trying’ and don’t give up and all that, my advice is either commit 100% or get a job & focus on your mental health & spending time with your family.
Those ramps sell for $5,089.99 online, the out-of-stock sport series is only $3.119.99. Plus the guy is out of date b/c 'galvanized' is being discontinued & converted to mass powder-coating b/c of the lower cancer risks. Powder-coat companies are everywhere with those large-ovens. You probably need a crew-cab for that weighted overhang, some States banned squatting-trucks.
I'm completely baffled as to what is wrong with a trailer? Sure it's nice to have an enclosed one, but even an open one can be had for that money. And driving or backing the mower up into a 3/4 ton 10 times a day in the rain sounds fun.
@@zepar221 They're trying to mow 10+ tiny 0.10 acre properties per day so in those situations you must park in the street but with all the driveways & cars you can't get a trailer in there. If you want to expand that model to hire a low-wage-worker then training them to trailer around equipment using insurance could cost tens of thousands of dollars in accidents.
Only thing I can say about Ken is.. he's not 20.. he's not even 35 he's a little older... ken knows what Ken has to do to get it going and what he's gotta accomplish to make money to provide for his family.... he's gotta put his head down and just do it..u gotta put the work in to reap any rewards..thats life.. Ken knows
Man ! it' crazy how much him and I think alike. From being ok with dying to wanting to live off grid . That could be why i am struggling so much . Great vid tho !
Dude wants to be an inventor not a landscaper. He needs to be honest with himself. Or prioritize things over his passions. Hes gotta stop making excuses and just get after it regardless.
@@SullivansLawnCare Yeah that’s pretty wild I don’t know many people willing to spend $500 a month on lawn care , where I’m at it’s about 50 bucks a month lol and it’s not a poor area either the houses are 250 K to 300K 😩
Ken needs to seek help for his mental health issues so he can get well and focus on his business. Until he does that, he will just be treading water on the business front. Mental health issues can have a substantial impact on his reputation in the community. I wish him all the best 🍀
@augustalawncareoffenton1461 I've been where you are know and I've been the complete opposite. I really think you should look into some therapy. I started listening to the John delony podcast and eventually used better help for therapy. I got past all of those issues. I was once a failing lawn care guy and now we have 30 employees very stress free in a different industry. Whatever you do, i wish you the best and hope you succeed! Maybe therapy isn't what you need. But start searching and you'll find improvement along the way. I still see my therapy just to bounce ideas off of and share my wins.
Edit: comment relevant to the video: This guy is an inventor. I think that he needs to scale up and have an operations manager under him who leads the core movement of getting things done. His ramp is beautiful. He needs to be able to tinker and build these useful pieces of equipment to help with the jobs. Basically, he needs to become a warrant officer within his own section of the company. Assess your skills just like you would any of your own employees and put them to use. Entropy, by the way, is not a gradual decline into disorder. It's actually just the fact that there's more possible states for something to be in when there is more volume. This is why there is confusion about the universe freezing over. It's not increasing in volume necessarily but rather then same volume just stretching. The measurements of lightspeed, time and space are adjusting but the volume is the same means the number of possible states defining order stays the same. Reversible physics. That's why animals and humans reproduce and maintain order by creating more copies of themselves. That's the opposite of decay.
And another thing people don't worry about the corporate structure or the LLC just do it as a sole proprietor to start with don't worry about all the b******* don't worry about Facebook ads Google ads all that stuff is just going to wreck your brain and you're not going to be able to put out door hangers cuz you think all these magical jobs are going to come from online and yes they will if you spend enough money on them you'll get customers for $100 to $200 each you will get customers but isn't it better to get the customer for a buck or two
I often wonder after starting to watch these videos how this would help me. I work full time as a firefighter and mow on my days off. I subcontract to two other companies and do well. I just wonder if Mikes methods would work for me to get that extra level. I would ultimately like to be having my equipment make money while I’m at the fire station. Eventually would love to get into the brush cutting game but that requires lots of capital.
You gotta say screw it and truck on man. This dude is letting the bad be an excuse and not a motivation. Get pissed and go work. Getting things accomplished will help your mood
What I love about my door hangers is no Google getting money from me no thumbtack no paying SEO companies none of that b******* everything you do online is full of advertisements everybody just clicks off of it think of how few flyers are at your door everyday and I get excited when I find one for pizza half off or paint your house 50% off I love flyers not everybody's going to love flyers some people love online some people hate online I just think online is too saturated with everything remember the old days just 10-15 years ago you would have 510 flyers at your house a week now you barely see one a month that's what makes them so strong and the beautiful thing is you can get 15,000 flyers for about 2k... If you don't like putting out flyers just find somebody you can definitely trust and have them put the flyers out it's way cheaper than every door through the post office
Lowballers are what's killing me lately. Got like 3 good customers and a bunch that want the yard to look great but dont want service til it looks really bad haha
People dont have extra money anymore. Wages haven't went up much but inflation has almost doubled the cost of living. I cant blame them and you shouldn't either. They're trying.
he just needs 3 workers to use those machines and ken should just be focusing on gaining customers , all the equipment is their and so are the customers
There’s no shame in getting a job my man. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone and that’s ok. You are driving yourself crazy and would be happier elsewhere.
$500,000 for his 7 acres? Yeah if he wants to maybe pay it off. You don't buy acreage in the city buy it out in the country where it's cheap and not many neighbors.
1. Get this guy some PROFESSIONAL help to deal with his depression. 2. Help this guy hire an individual who will do "Face to Face" Marketing/Sales and Social Media (paid by percentage of customer acquired).
As a small business owner, I can understand the difficulty you really need to get excited about the work you're doing and the direction you're going. Otherwise, it's very hard to take that next step. I hope you're in a better place and continuing to push for that next step, even if it's as simple as doing something Ken
Sometimes when I'm really in a rut and there's a million things that I know I need to do and I'm still struggling ng to do any of them. I will literally just pick the one that I can do, the one that I could do right now. Even if it is the least important thing on the whole list, getting that momentum going is really helpful.
To have a 2 and 4 year old at home and NO drive tells me that there are serious problems behind the scenes. And to only have a couple thousand in the bank is a real concern. I mean this guy can’t afford a repair to his truck or equipment. Why is he self employed?
Woe is me mentality Loves his misery it seems Wants things done for him to make it successful Seems like a nice guy but just needs to overcome the other stuff
Congratulation you invented the $2,500 one. And how much did it cost you to make in your time and your labor? See nobody ever includes what their opportunity cost was. Could you have been out making money? Could you have been out doing a door hangers getting new customers? Probably. Unfortunately you spent it on a $2,500 tailgate but didn't include it in the cost of the tailgate.
You need an AI that can take the most recent Google or government eagle-view images(they do it annually in some areas) to print out hangers with estimates on your door hangers that are more accurate. There might also be an AI that can take a curbside photo & popup images of landscape options, like bushes/privacy or flower themes to meet the climate of the operation.
@augustalawncareoffenton1461Ken, if you need help to try and get customers let me know what i can do. I’m nowhere NEAR MI, but if you have any leads that need to be contacted or your local facebook promoting- i could probably help. when i worked at my local pest control(i know not lawn care) i was in the office for a good bit and send out emails, called peopled back, answered the phone for new leads, texted out who would be on schedule, hand wrote letters and sent them out to existing customer thanking them for having us as their choice company, priced them accordingly, etc. i hope you’re doing well, and best of luck!
ken is doing what is known as over toying the business... hes doing a lot of whats called busy idiot work... obsessing over an invention,spending money and time on it ,not even as the fabricator, thats totally fruitless. just get a dang mow trailer, sell the junky overly fancy three mowers and buy two ferris hydrowalks, one big one and one small one. push mow the smaller ones. ive run crews, and had my own accounts, making money in mowing is all about simplifying, and routine. hes way over toying the business. he needs to just do it as a hobby, and go get a job to fund it and pay his bills.
Forget permits.... Put the door hangers on it's canvassing it's totally legal and do it on garbage day when you can drive on your scooter or your car and just put them out you can put out $200 to 250 with a vehicle via scooter or car
Yard care business is tough. Convince me who is a home owner. Owners my equipment to keep up good enough on yard maintenance and snow removal. Sell me a contract that will be worth me selling my stuff and allowing you to do the work.
But Getting more, and bigger toys is the fun part of owning a business. You only live once, why not get the newest and best toy, you might not be alive tomorrow...
That drone shot at 1:15 in the video is of Fenton? Where? Never seen any houses on hills like that around Fenton. Kinda annoying to announce "Fenton" then show somewhere else in the world. You were a block from downtown too.
And don't get me wrong if somebody's got one foot tall grass just forget it but if it's a normal one and they want service they're not happy with their service provider or they just want to have somebody do their lawn I don't know figure a 1% response rate from the flyers put out about a thousand every two days okay there's 10 20 people mow their lawns for free one time if you keep half of them that's 5 to 10 people for me it's usually about 8:00 and I'm not the cheapest guy it's 59 bucks a week if they want it bagged if they want it mulched it's 45 and I pray they want mulch I hate begging anything and I keep it simple all I do is law and aerations in the spring and lawn aerations in the fall personally that's all I do and put out flyers and I have four crews that go out each day and do 15 to 20 lawns each 2 man crews... Oh yeah and another thing of people want service done they prepay each month or for 3 months or for 6 months but we don't do the work and then build them and then hope that 90% will pay 100% of our people pay
I got a facebook business page and a couple groups for my business but i need to advertise better ive lacking tools i do need on my small engine side of my business and im doing my business with little to know budget to start with im plus i need projects on the small engine side cause i havent worked on small engines in awhile and need to probably refresh my skills on that part of my business and i need to work out my price quotes for both sides
Why not buy a trailer for $2500 ??? The truck gate thing makes no sense to me and I haul all kinds of crap in my truck using ramps and a dolly. Cant imagine driving a 60" zero turn up that in the rain...lol. Kidding aside I have never used a stand up ride on. We use trucks and open/enclosed trailers to haul exmarks. The video is tempting me to start my own franchise. No mention of franchise fees though. Kinda like Ken, I dont want to learn to plow snow either. We went out way more than 3 events last winter for commercial and residential.
I bought the very Bare Bones equipment, push mower, weed eater and blower. Now all I need is the accounts. Can’t do door hangers in my area so only able to do advertising from word of mouth, work ethic and one 3x6 banner
the soliciting thing, it varies by area, my city will fine you into the ground for doorhangers, the ordnance is written that any form of advertising taking place on property you dont own is soliciting. I get most my business off local facebook groups. Im in a FB group for each borough and a smaller group for the little rural town I service and I hit 75% capacity off those alone. The rest I get just off brand recognition from my truck being about an about. what kills me, systems. I am absolutely horriable at using things like lawn buddy, jobber. I hate em, I cant bring myself to use em. I'd rather spend time going bonkers in MS word playing with my quote/ estimate document manually doing all kinda of tedious stuff and filing cabinets to the moon than force myself to use something that automates alot of it for me. I cut out snow removal entirely from my model, my storage area turns into a repair facility in the winter. I fix mowers, snowblowers weedwackers for ppl all winter. I did all my repairs, why not make money off it in the winter, way less stress than wondering if and when the next snowfall is gonna happen. stuff always breaks, but it dont always snow.
In Fenton you have to register with the city and police and get a picture badge and pay something to solicit. I dont think the cost is that high. I had weird "college painter" girls show up at my place in the winter to quote my vinyl sided house? They refused to identify themselves. I asked one if they wanted in my home to case my place so they could rob me later. Told her I was calling the cops and she hustled to her car parked down the block and fled. The best one was the guy who drove around town throwing zip lock bags with some rocks and a printed sheet with his phone number on it in everyone's front yard. Super professional littering. If some one came by every 5 minutes and knocked on my door, papered my place with hangers, or threw zip lock bags of rocks in my front yard, what would my house and life be like?
Is your business struggling? Apply to be on the show! I would love to come and help turnaround the business! Submit application at MikeAndes.com/turnaround
It's clear Mike has never been really depressed. This man needs counseling. He is begging for somebody to acknowledge that and prescribe it. More business pressure and you'll lose him.
@@kylehausner2685 well he isn't even good at being undercover nevermind a therapist or social worker that would be more compelled to handle or intervene in mental distress
How much does he have to pay you to run his franchise?
NO WAY you guys snuck in a shot from epic gardening to reference his homestead lol
We are all behind you, Ken! Put your head down, block out ALL the outside noise, and put in the work. You got this brother! 💪
We're not ...we do know you but good luck anyway we will say a prayer for you!
What a genuine dude! I am so serious, that guy is saying what people are thinking in a very transparent way. I love that he was so candid and honest because that helps everyone who is struggling. Great job man!
Ive been where he is mentally, I actually closed my company down and got a job. Took a year off and came back and started over from scratch. That was a few years ago. You can learn ALOT from failure. Sometimes you just have to have time to think about your lessons and you can’t do that when you’re in the fire getting burned everyday. Good luck brother!
I have my own company and let me tell you it beats you down. I was doing great had 7 employees and turning money then out of nowhere work dried up in the area for my industry. Its showing signs of slowly coming back but I had to down size to me and one employee and I don’t take a pay check many weeks. It sucks but I will keep pushing.
I totally agree man hope you're doing better been through that 10 times in my life...lol...ugggghhhh
I’m going through the same thing, not landscaping but welding and steel erection, but all the information from his videos is about the same across the board for any kind of construction or service trade with maybe a few tweaks, owned my company for 5 years and burnt myself out realizing something wasn’t working when I gross $700k and end the year with nothing, been about a year and I’m starting to get everything restarted after spending a year reflecting and learning how to change and fix everything that i did wrong, hope things have gone well for you after restarting your company
This guy is proof right here that owning a business is not for everyone
Hes the type that needs a Boss.
Facts
It's definitely doable for people like this they just have to eventually get to the point where they can hire somebody to actually run the business while he works it as basically an employee. So he owns it and others run it. It's not an easy thing to do but it's definitely doable for the type of person that is like this.
There are companies out there where the owner refuses to be the CEO/president because they know they are not good at that part.
This guy just needs a sales guy, who focus on sales with some side work. This guy can just do what he's good at, cut
Same. I would rather focus on the creative aspect and not get bogged down on the business end.
These turn arounds are the best. As a lawn business owner I can’t believe we get this kind of content. Gets me motivated!
i remember when i sold Ken my 36 grandstand. super nice dude wish him the best
@augustalawncareoffenton1461 That drone shot at 1:15 in the video is of Fenton? Where? Never seen any houses on hills like that around Fenton.
@augustalawncareoffenton1461 how much have you payed your fabricator so far to build what he has?
Mike is freaking awesome. This will be my 4th year in business, I’ve known of Mike Andes for a while but I’m sad I never got into the videos until now: I could’ve learned a lot from him them, but I picked up a lot of stuff on my own and Mike has confirmed and expanded on almost every thing I’ve come to understand about the industry in the 20ish videos I’ve watched. Wow.
Here is the thing if you cant handle it to bad. Not everyone has the motivation and desire to go out there and sell. This is what it takes to grow a business. This ramp thing is just an exuse to keep putting off tomorrow what needs to be done today.
What stops people from going out there and doing it is fear. You are afraid to put yourself out there and do it. No one likes rejection. How you overcome fear of rejection is when you know that you are the best at what you do. I dont do lawn care i do commercial floor waxing. I know i am the best at what I do. Took 30 years but I am now there. I no longer fear going to new customers and selling myself.
Its all in your mind. Get your mind right and you can succeed at anything.
Ken is like me. Im my own worst sabotager and problem. Ken you got this man. For me it is always easy to supoort and push someone else and then fail to do it ourselves. Though was hoping to see a more successful 1 month later catch up.
I like the way you just film your work mentoring your franchisees and have made it into a successful youtube channel that helps thousands of people
We all need to come together and encourage him. He can do it. We have all had our confidence shaken.
I get the vibe ken isn’t really into making his biz successful and isn’t planning on taking any massive action towards making his situation better. He’d rather waste time chit chatting about seriously unimportant details
I encourage him to shut down this hobby that he thinks is his business to get a steady job so he can focus on being an effective father & husband. FYI I’ve been self employed home remodeler/real estate investor since 1999, my entire adult life
@@HouseFlipHandyman you are entitled to your opinion..
Observations not opinion. Have a good day
Would you advise someone who doesn’t know how to swim to jump into the middle of of the ocean? Thats basically what your saying here. If you actually watched the entire video and experienced mental health issues you might have concluded that this thing he calls his ‘business’ is NOT making profit and it’s damaging his family relations
This is me just a younger version. You got this Ken but you for sure need to push harder. Was hoping for a better 1 month update. But you got this and hustle and grind man. We are our own worst enemy at things. Being vulnerable and taking action of accountability is always the first step to depression and anxiety. Keep pushing you got this.
I've been in that position a couple years ago I almost closed down and started driving trucks but after taking a break I came back and started up again and things have been going great ever since everything is a learning experience when I realized that everything changed
I liked that a lot “people are like water, they sink to their lowest point unless under pressure”.
Rooting for you Ken. I feel I have a lot in common with you when it comes to our business outlook. Try eating as healthy as you can and take a lot of long walks. It eill do wonders for your mental (and physical) energy level!
SUGGESTION: I wonder if your Lowest Revenue Location has considered the following? If he is going to start his work day at 10am... Spend early morning hours (ie 8am-9am) doing business administrative tasks, business meetings, training, and/or equiptment maintenance. And 9am-9:45am canvasing for new nearby customers either by mail, or door hangers, and returning calls for prospective customers? Each door hanger should provide an individual quote for any work that appears to need attention. Avoid burn-out. If you can only hang 20-doorhangers, in 45-minutes, that ok... At least you are making an effort. ALSO, don't try to sell services that you aren't confident to do because you lack the equiptment or you are nervous that the equiptment will fail while on the job. Also, Finnish your last yard for the day with a 30-minute wash down, and 5-15-minutes of relax or meditation (reflecting on each lawn that was done that day). The goal is to not get burned-out, to accelerate time management/efficiency, and to grow the customer base. Worse case scenario, he refers excess jobs to a competitor until he is capable to expand.
Existing long term customer referrals are the best. I have a policy of you get me a new yard to sign up, next cut is on me. Randoms and walk ups are the most difficult to keep happy. Free cut referrals that also get free cuts for neighbor referrals that stick with you are hands down the best and worked for me.
LETS GOOOOO!
Can I ask how you track the fact that your new customer came from a referral?
Can I also ask approximately what percent of existing customers get you new customers?
This video brings up a perfect question to ask: Are door hangers permitted in a “No Solicitation” notice? I’ve seen people state that it’s not but then there’s people who say it is.
Why not mail post cards?
look at your local laws. i'm not a lawyer but i wouldn't hang anything on the door if "no solicitation" was posted.
Look good when you’re working. Know people are watching. And make them want to buy your work just by your performance
Dude is resisting the fact that his business has to work on him before it works for him. He's just not ready for the next level. He needs a few more tools in the mental tool box before he's ready.
It’s definitely doable! I think a different winter service could help boost his moral by having a less stressful service that can still make him more money. Christmas lights, window washing, etc.
can we compliment mike andes for helping this man. great job mike
Communicate. And have more confidence in yourself and what you’re selling. After a job put out door hangers in that neighborhood. Knock on doors in those areas. Get 5-10 on one block. Pull up. Unload once. Mow 5. Easy work man
Hang in there Ken! Keep pushing.
Try to find you some Apt complexes Ken , I have 4 that pay me on a monthly agreement on a yearly contract! So regardless I have 10k in the winter months! Keep your head up my friend
People who use the word TRY, are very telling. Ken is expert at concocting excuses for his inaction. He’s not able to focus on what’s actually important. He does not appear to have the necessary commitment to make the business successful. Instead of cheering him on to keep ‘trying’ and don’t give up and all that, my advice is either commit 100% or get a job & focus on your mental health & spending time with your family.
He makes better money than most people who watched the video
There is no try, only do or do not.
We love you ken ❤️ you will do it
I’ve seen this guy yipping at people on facebook forums. glad he is humbling himself and starting fresh
Those ramps sell for $5,089.99 online, the out-of-stock sport series is only $3.119.99. Plus the guy is out of date b/c 'galvanized' is being discontinued & converted to mass powder-coating b/c of the lower cancer risks. Powder-coat companies are everywhere with those large-ovens. You probably need a crew-cab for that weighted overhang, some States banned squatting-trucks.
I'm completely baffled as to what is wrong with a trailer? Sure it's nice to have an enclosed one, but even an open one can be had for that money. And driving or backing the mower up into a 3/4 ton 10 times a day in the rain sounds fun.
@@zepar221 They're trying to mow 10+ tiny 0.10 acre properties per day so in those situations you must park in the street but with all the driveways & cars you can't get a trailer in there. If you want to expand that model to hire a low-wage-worker then training them to trailer around equipment using insurance could cost tens of thousands of dollars in accidents.
@@SlackerU Thanks. I watched some more videos of those ramps and I wish I had them on my trucks just to load stuff.
@@zepar221 There are YT channels that use flat-beds on their trucks with ramps that come out to the side, perfect for small acreage neighborhoods.
this page is easily going to have 1mill+ subs
Man I needed to watch this one ❤
Only thing I can say about Ken is.. he's not 20.. he's not even 35 he's a little older... ken knows what Ken has to do to get it going and what he's gotta accomplish to make money to provide for his family.... he's gotta put his head down and just do it..u gotta put the work in to reap any rewards..thats life.. Ken knows
Man ! it' crazy how much him and I think alike. From being ok with dying to wanting to live off grid . That could be why i am struggling so much . Great vid tho !
@augustalawncareoffenton1461 xD Hope youre doing well, time will tell if i end p being homeless or being able to afford to live off grid.
Dude wants to be an inventor not a landscaper. He needs to be honest with himself. Or prioritize things over his passions. Hes gotta stop making excuses and just get after it regardless.
Damn he actually pressed you lol^
@augustalawncareoffenton1461 are u gonna make any videos on your channel buddy
I have 15 customers, a vacation rental home bringing in just 20k, i’m expecting to bring in 90k this year… what is this dude doing?
What area are you in if you dont mind me asking ? Sounds like you are killing it 💪😎
@@d-boyzeighteenhundred north carolina, wilmington area
@@SullivansLawnCare Yeah that’s pretty wild I don’t know many people willing to spend $500 a month on lawn care , where I’m at it’s about 50 bucks a month lol and it’s not a poor area either the houses are 250 K to 300K 😩
@@d-boyzeighteenhundred my clients pay around 100-150 a month, i have a few that around 250-300 a month though. I offer fertilization packages etc.
Ken needs to seek help for his mental health issues so he can get well and focus on his business.
Until he does that, he will just be treading water on the business front. Mental health issues can have a substantial impact on his reputation in the community.
I wish him all the best 🍀
@augustalawncareoffenton1461
I've been where you are know and I've been the complete opposite. I really think you should look into some therapy. I started listening to the John delony podcast and eventually used better help for therapy. I got past all of those issues. I was once a failing lawn care guy and now we have 30 employees very stress free in a different industry.
Whatever you do, i wish you the best and hope you succeed!
Maybe therapy isn't what you need. But start searching and you'll find improvement along the way. I still see my therapy just to bounce ideas off of and share my wins.
I agree. My experience tells me it will be impossible for him or anyone like him to succeed with his current mindset
The Bradley looks amazing.😄
Edit: comment relevant to the video: This guy is an inventor. I think that he needs to scale up and have an operations manager under him who leads the core movement of getting things done. His ramp is beautiful. He needs to be able to tinker and build these useful pieces of equipment to help with the jobs. Basically, he needs to become a warrant officer within his own section of the company. Assess your skills just like you would any of your own employees and put them to use.
Entropy, by the way, is not a gradual decline into disorder. It's actually just the fact that there's more possible states for something to be in when there is more volume. This is why there is confusion about the universe freezing over. It's not increasing in volume necessarily but rather then same volume just stretching. The measurements of lightspeed, time and space are adjusting but the volume is the same means the number of possible states defining order stays the same. Reversible physics. That's why animals and humans reproduce and maintain order by creating more copies of themselves. That's the opposite of decay.
He is Tired, time to train someone else or pack it in.....
And another thing people don't worry about the corporate structure or the LLC just do it as a sole proprietor to start with don't worry about all the b******* don't worry about Facebook ads Google ads all that stuff is just going to wreck your brain and you're not going to be able to put out door hangers cuz you think all these magical jobs are going to come from online and yes they will if you spend enough money on them you'll get customers for $100 to $200 each you will get customers but isn't it better to get the customer for a buck or two
We need an update on this guy
I'm itching for an update as well
Fenton is my hometown! I see him around every now and then. I would love to help him
Recognize that drone shot at 1:15 as being homes in Fenton? Looks like stock footage of some other location to me.
I'm looking forward to the update!
Keep grinding. You got this.
My start time is between 10-1pm 😅. I still managed to close out $50k in my first season
We did an undercover boss video too! Great work!
I often wonder after starting to watch these videos how this would help me. I work full time as a firefighter and mow on my days off. I subcontract to two other companies and do well. I just wonder if Mikes methods would work for me to get that extra level. I would ultimately like to be having my equipment make money while I’m at the fire station. Eventually would love to get into the brush cutting game but that requires lots of capital.
You gotta say screw it and truck on man. This dude is letting the bad be an excuse and not a motivation. Get pissed and go work. Getting things accomplished will help your mood
What I love about my door hangers is no Google getting money from me no thumbtack no paying SEO companies none of that b******* everything you do online is full of advertisements everybody just clicks off of it think of how few flyers are at your door everyday and I get excited when I find one for pizza half off or paint your house 50% off I love flyers not everybody's going to love flyers some people love online some people hate online I just think online is too saturated with everything remember the old days just 10-15 years ago you would have 510 flyers at your house a week now you barely see one a month that's what makes them so strong and the beautiful thing is you can get 15,000 flyers for about 2k... If you don't like putting out flyers just find somebody you can definitely trust and have them put the flyers out it's way cheaper than every door through the post office
Lowballers are what's killing me lately. Got like 3 good customers and a bunch that want the yard to look great but dont want service til it looks really bad haha
Lot of people in my town are like that
People dont have extra money anymore. Wages haven't went up much but inflation has almost doubled the cost of living. I cant blame them and you shouldn't either. They're trying.
he just needs 3 workers to use those machines and ken should just be focusing on gaining customers , all the equipment is their and so are the customers
There’s no shame in getting a job my man. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone and that’s ok. You are driving yourself crazy and would be happier elsewhere.
$500,000 for his 7 acres? Yeah if he wants to maybe pay it off. You don't buy acreage in the city buy it out in the country where it's cheap and not many neighbors.
Fenton is the country 😂
Might have ADD and need some adderal or vyvanesse.
I was thinking the same thing
To build confidence, you need to take action!
This boy has good drive. He would benefit from going to work for someone for 5 years and then start again.
Common brother you can do it !
This guy! "I know what I am doing, BUT I don't want to do it."
This guy just wants to THE Boss.
Less talk, More action!
1. Get this guy some PROFESSIONAL help to deal with his depression.
2. Help this guy hire an individual who will do "Face to Face" Marketing/Sales and Social Media (paid by percentage of customer acquired).
As a small business owner, I can understand the difficulty you really need to get excited about the work you're doing and the direction you're going. Otherwise, it's very hard to take that next step. I hope you're in a better place and continuing to push for that next step, even if it's as simple as doing something Ken
Sometimes when I'm really in a rut and there's a million things that I know I need to do and I'm still struggling ng to do any of them. I will literally just pick the one that I can do, the one that I could do right now. Even if it is the least important thing on the whole list, getting that momentum going is really helpful.
Do all the thinking you want about inventions as you put out 500 flyers a day and get five new customers a day
To have a 2 and 4 year old at home and NO drive tells me that there are serious problems behind the scenes. And to only have a couple thousand in the bank is a real concern. I mean this guy can’t afford a repair to his truck or equipment. Why is he self employed?
@augustalawncareoffenton1461 I hope , because we’re going into a Great Depression. Hope your ready ?
And get rid of the 10% bad customers right away you're never going to make nut jobs happy
how high dues the customers want the grass to be??
Paralysis analysis…. I know it well!
Direction and focus my guy! 👊
Woe is me mentality
Loves his misery it seems
Wants things done for him to make it successful
Seems like a nice guy but just needs to overcome the other stuff
Mike flew across the country to tell this guy to do the basics SMH
What are you doing for your franchisees?
Scale brings complexity, the basics are hard enough. Most of us need to be reminded more than we need to be taught!
Congratulation you invented the $2,500 one. And how much did it cost you to make in your time and your labor? See nobody ever includes what their opportunity cost was. Could you have been out making money? Could you have been out doing a door hangers getting new customers? Probably. Unfortunately you spent it on a $2,500 tailgate but didn't include it in the cost of the tailgate.
I think it'd be a cool video for Mike to talk about who he has as mentors to HIM!
You need an AI that can take the most recent Google or government eagle-view images(they do it annually in some areas) to print out hangers with estimates on your door hangers that are more accurate. There might also be an AI that can take a curbside photo & popup images of landscape options, like bushes/privacy or flower themes to meet the climate of the operation.
he’s by himself idk if he can handle more work
And I'm assuming Fenton is a small town which typically means bigger properties and 40-50 decent size lawns per week is plenty for 1 guy
Ken needed to secure cusomers in march not may
@augustalawncareoffenton1461Ken, if you need help to try and get customers let me know what i can do. I’m nowhere NEAR MI, but if you have any leads that need to be contacted or your local facebook promoting- i could probably help.
when i worked at my local pest control(i know not lawn care) i was in the office for a good bit and send out emails, called peopled back, answered the phone for new leads, texted out who would be on schedule, hand wrote letters and sent them out to existing customer thanking them for having us as their choice company, priced them accordingly, etc.
i hope you’re doing well, and best of luck!
Dudes the definition of a BSer he just cant hack it makes excuses.
ken is doing what is known as over toying the business... hes doing a lot of whats called busy idiot work... obsessing over an invention,spending money and time on it ,not even as the fabricator, thats totally fruitless. just get a dang mow trailer, sell the junky overly fancy three mowers and buy two ferris hydrowalks, one big one and one small one. push mow the smaller ones. ive run crews, and had my own accounts, making money in mowing is all about simplifying, and routine. hes way over toying the business. he needs to just do it as a hobby, and go get a job to fund it and pay his bills.
Forget permits.... Put the door hangers on it's canvassing it's totally legal and do it on garbage day when you can drive on your scooter or your car and just put them out you can put out $200 to 250 with a vehicle via scooter or car
Yard care business is tough. Convince me who is a home owner. Owners my equipment to keep up good enough on yard maintenance and snow removal. Sell me a contract that will be worth me selling my stuff and allowing you to do the work.
But Getting more, and bigger toys is the fun part of owning a business. You only live once, why not get the newest and best toy, you might not be alive tomorrow...
He needs serious mental help.
Most of the lawns he is doing look like shit for a customer to be picky
Wonder if a therapist would be beneficial here. Seems like a good dude just in a rut. Sometimes that stuff helps.
May not work but it can't hurt to give it a shot
That drone shot at 1:15 in the video is of Fenton? Where? Never seen any houses on hills like that around Fenton. Kinda annoying to announce "Fenton" then show somewhere else in the world. You were a block from downtown too.
And don't get me wrong if somebody's got one foot tall grass just forget it but if it's a normal one and they want service they're not happy with their service provider or they just want to have somebody do their lawn I don't know figure a 1% response rate from the flyers put out about a thousand every two days okay there's 10 20 people mow their lawns for free one time if you keep half of them that's 5 to 10 people for me it's usually about 8:00 and I'm not the cheapest guy it's 59 bucks a week if they want it bagged if they want it mulched it's 45 and I pray they want mulch I hate begging anything and I keep it simple all I do is law and aerations in the spring and lawn aerations in the fall personally that's all I do and put out flyers and I have four crews that go out each day and do 15 to 20 lawns each 2 man crews... Oh yeah and another thing of people want service done they prepay each month or for 3 months or for 6 months but we don't do the work and then build them and then hope that 90% will pay 100% of our people pay
Funniest guy 😂you would ever meet...
I got a facebook business page and a couple groups for my business but i need to advertise better ive lacking tools i do need on my small engine side of my business and im doing my business with little to know budget to start with im plus i need projects on the small engine side cause i havent worked on small engines in awhile and need to probably refresh my skills on that part of my business and i need to work out my price quotes for both sides
He's good at feeling bad for himself lol
Ken is just not a business owner type personality. Either Ken’s going to have to get very serious and adjust his thinking or move on
Rooting for you Ken!
Lol can't pass out 100 hangers but thinks he can run a a fulltime farm? Baby steps ken, baby steps.
you can lead a horse to water....
Undercover boss? It seems like he knows right away
sell quick snow removal spray that is organic that melts the snow instead of shoving and that has natural anti icing char
characteristic
and implement the grass health into the anti ICE thing
Why not buy a trailer for $2500 ??? The truck gate thing makes no sense to me and I haul all kinds of crap in my truck using ramps and a dolly. Cant imagine driving a 60" zero turn up that in the rain...lol. Kidding aside I have never used a stand up ride on. We use trucks and open/enclosed trailers to haul exmarks. The video is tempting me to start my own franchise. No mention of franchise fees though. Kinda like Ken, I dont want to learn to plow snow either. We went out way more than 3 events last winter for commercial and residential.
I bought the very Bare Bones equipment, push mower, weed eater and blower. Now all I need is the accounts. Can’t do door hangers in my area so only able to do advertising from word of mouth, work ethic and one 3x6 banner
LETS GOOOOO!
Forget all the big equipment and expensive everything we use two Honda push mowers and edger and leaf blower that is it no expensive equipment
This guy is way to emotional for business. You need to just not care what anyone thinks and push through
How is this “UNDERCOVER BOSS”, if the employee knows it’s the boss working with him?
Yea, not everyone Is a business owner bro. “I’ll rule the world” ok…
the soliciting thing, it varies by area, my city will fine you into the ground for doorhangers, the ordnance is written that any form of advertising taking place on property you dont own is soliciting. I get most my business off local facebook groups. Im in a FB group for each borough and a smaller group for the little rural town I service and I hit 75% capacity off those alone. The rest I get just off brand recognition from my truck being about an about. what kills me, systems. I am absolutely horriable at using things like lawn buddy, jobber. I hate em, I cant bring myself to use em. I'd rather spend time going bonkers in MS word playing with my quote/ estimate document manually doing all kinda of tedious stuff and filing cabinets to the moon than force myself to use something that automates alot of it for me. I cut out snow removal entirely from my model, my storage area turns into a repair facility in the winter. I fix mowers, snowblowers weedwackers for ppl all winter. I did all my repairs, why not make money off it in the winter, way less stress than wondering if and when the next snowfall is gonna happen. stuff always breaks, but it dont always snow.
think of the opportunity cost of not using efficient systems.
If you hate the CRM so much it might be better to hire someone to do that for you.
In Fenton you have to register with the city and police and get a picture badge and pay something to solicit. I dont think the cost is that high. I had weird "college painter" girls show up at my place in the winter to quote my vinyl sided house? They refused to identify themselves. I asked one if they wanted in my home to case my place so they could rob me later. Told her I was calling the cops and she hustled to her car parked down the block and fled. The best one was the guy who drove around town throwing zip lock bags with some rocks and a printed sheet with his phone number on it in everyone's front yard. Super professional littering. If some one came by every 5 minutes and knocked on my door, papered my place with hangers, or threw zip lock bags of rocks in my front yard, what would my house and life be like?