Pod Insights Green Industry Podcast Mastering Business Finance for Landscaping Entrepreneurs About this episode Join Megan and Joey Coberly of Landscaping Bookkeeper and lawn care business expert Kevin Salters in a dynamic Q&A session, answering your questions on business finance, growth strategies, and key financial decisions to elevate your landscaping business. 📚 Level Up Your Money (New Release) 👉 Get Your Copy! 🎟️ Equip Expo 2025 👉 Save 50% off Equip Expo Ticket w/ Promo Code PAUL: Register Here 📲 Connect with Paul - Visit Official Website 🎟️ LCR Summit Louisville - Click Here 🛠️ Paul's Recommended Tools & Professionals 💻 Horizon360 – All-in-one contractor business software: gethorizon360.com 📞 CallRail – Track where your leads are coming from: callrail.com 📚 The Landscaping Bookkeeper – Know your numbers, stress less: thelandscapingbookkeeper.com 📈 Lawn Care Launch: Click Here (new program for business owners) 🌐 Footbridge Media – Get a pro lawn care website: footbridgemedia.com 🎬 VIP On-Demand: Lawn Care Life Conference 🎥 Watch All Replays Now — Includes Brandon Gray, Andy Mulder, Jason Creel, Paul Jamison & more. Learn pricing, profit, burnout prevention, and how to scale smart. 📦 Business-Building Resources by Paul Price Increase Letter Template Contract Templates Know Your Numbers 📚 Paul's Most Popular Business Books How to Build a Thriving Lawn Care Business: Buy on Amazon Cut That Grass and Make That Cash: Buy on Amazon Level Up Your Money (New Release): Buy Now 🌿 Paul's Online Banking Recommendation Relay's Online Banking: Open an Account
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0:31 Speaker 01 Hello and welcome to the Green Industry Podcast, your go-to guide for building a more profitable and thriving lawn care and landscaping business. Your host, Paul Jameson, is the author of five bestselling books, including Cut That Grass and Make That Cash, and his latest, Level Up Your Money, all available on Amazon and Audible. Now get ready for more expert insights and practical strategies to boost your business and level up your life. Here's Paul Jamison.
1:06 Speaker 00 Hello and welcome to today's program on the Green Industry Podcast. Today, we're going to do something we've never done before. So coming up here, I have a call with my bookkeepers, Megan and Joey Coberly, some of their other clients, where we just basically ask Megan and Joey and their team questions about our business financials. And so I'm going to take you behind the curtain today, behind the scenes, and let you be kind of, I don't want to call you a fly, but you heard that phrase, fly on the wall. Basically, you're, you're in the room, but nobody really knows you're in the room. That's kind of the vibe for today's program. We're going to have this raw, organic conversation with my personal bookkeepers. Now, you may say, who's Megan and Joey Coberly? Well, I started my lawn care business, and I'll explain who they are.
1:51 Speaker 00 But I started my lawn care business back in 2011, and I had a couple good accountants, but they just basically took my receipts, they took my QuickBooks, they put everything in the proper categories, and they're like, hey, you owe the state of Georgia this amount, and you owe the Internal Revenue Service this amount. You know, here's your estimated quarterly taxes for next year. You know, call me if you need anything, kind of, kind of vibe. They did it, they did what I paid them to do, but they didn't like break down for me. Business decisions. Should I buy this new lawnmower? Can I afford this truck? How much truck can I afford? Should I buy this new trailer? Can I afford a new employee? How much money can I spend on marketing?
2:35 Speaker 00 Like, I had all these questions that I was willy-nilly, you know, making the decisions on and many times made the wrong decisions. Then in 2020, my friend Jason Creel had an event called the Lawn Care Life Conference. I attended that and Megan and Joey Coburn Lee were there and I got to meet them. And I was like, man, these guys are very, they're like teachers. They were bookkeepers, but they like wanted to help people understand what a profit and loss statement is and what a statement of cash flows is and what a balance sheet is and how to actually make smart decisions as we're growing our business based off of the facts of the numbers. And so I personally hired them in 2020.
3:17 Speaker 00 And long story short, over 90%, and Joey's probably listening to this and he can tell you I'm telling you the truth. Since starting that in 2020, over 90% of the months I've been profitable. Meaning my income has been greater than my expenses. Let's say a given year's 12 months usually, or yeah, always. Oh man, I think I need a cup of coffee. But 11 out of those 12 months, I'm profitable. And then for the year, I'm definitely profitable. And so a big reason of that is Megan and Joey have helped me. They've helped me to learn to say no to a lot of when we're growing these businesses.
4:00 Speaker 00 It's so easy to say, I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that. But we don't have finite money. So we need to know when to hold them and when to fold them, right? We need to know when to say yes and when to say, I'm going to have to save up a little bit money for that. And when to just straight up say, no, I can't afford that and things of that nature. So anyway, on the call today, I have no idea who's going to show up. I have no idea what questions they're going to ask. We're going to kind of figure this out on the fly here. But it's going to be a lot of fun. And then if you want to hire Megan and Joey as your bookkeepers and you want to be a part of these calls and everything like that, I'll put their information in the show notes. Cause this is, they do this quite frequently and it's very helpful. So I see that everything is getting ready here.
4:45 Speaker 00 So we're going to go ahead and tune on into the Zoom meeting here.
4:52 Speaker 02 All right, question number one.
4:53 Speaker 03 Benjamin? Did you screen share? Yeah, yeah.
4:56 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's sharing on here. Should I pay off the balance of my auto loan or continue monthly payments? For context, so we're gonna try to answer that question specifically. For context, though, it is a loan for my dad. He's got 7,300 remaining. No monthly payment amount has been agreed upon with the dad. Benjamin, are you still in? I don't, oh, there you are. All right, you go ahead and unmute.
5:21 Speaker 03 Yeah, here.
5:22 Speaker 02 Hi, Ben, welcome.
5:24 Speaker 03 Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.
5:27 Speaker 02 Thank you for the question. And honestly, our second submission is very similar. And I love how these conversations between you and him will agree and how they might be a little bit different based on what we go through tonight chatting with you.
5:40 Speaker 03 Cool.
5:41 Speaker 02 So I always like to start with.
5:47 Speaker 02 Anytime there's a conversation about loans or debt, I know most of the time, the first thing, because it's a grow your numbers Q and A, we come at it from number standpoint. But with the two of you tonight, due to the fact that you're newer clients and we don't exactly have a perfect set of books to be reviewing or managing or analyzing, I want to come at it from a psychology conversation, maybe more so, whatever you want to call it, than numbers. So let me start there with
6:19 Speaker 02 my first psychology question, if you will, how comfortable with debt are you? What's your ideas around debt that we should be aware of as we're trying to help you think through this question?
6:29 Speaker 03 Right. Um, I, I prefer not to have debt. Like, my wife and I don't really use credit cards at all. Um, we usually pay anything like bigger purchases, like a vehicle in cash.
6:46 Speaker 03 When, when I purchased the truck, I just didn't have the finances to cover the total purchase in the business. And so that's where my dad came in and loaned me the money.
6:59 Speaker 03 And yeah, I've done that with him before for personal vehicles when I was younger, but.
7:06 Speaker 03 Yeah, so I tend to avoid debt as much as I can, but I think, I guess, some more context to it is,
7:17 Speaker 03 he has some house projects, like he needs to get a roof. So he's like, hey, I could really use that cash if you can pay me back now. So I think there's also a little bit of incentive for me to pay him back as soon as I can. Yeah.
7:36 Speaker 02 That was gonna be my first question. How has the loan between you and Dad worked in the past? Meaning, has it been successful? Did you guys get anything on paper in the past? Or was it more of somewhat awkward sense now that you're feeling of, well, let me pay him back because I know he wants this, which is all part of family dynamics, right?
7:56 Speaker 03 Yeah.
7:58 Speaker 03 Yeah, before I was unmarried and making more money than I actually do now at a previous job. So I was just like dumping money at the loan before. This time where I'm like, yeah, I have people depending on me and trying to kind of navigate like, what's a little bit more healthy instead of just throwing all my money at it all at once? I guess is, I think where I'm trying to approach it from now.
8:33 Speaker 02 Okay, is he requesting any principal? I don't think I saw context. I mean, any interest, I'm sorry, any interest?
8:39 Speaker 03 No.
8:41 Speaker 02 So just a $7,300 payment would solidify that between you and your dad? Okay. How do you feel about winter coming?
8:50 Speaker 03 Um, I think this year I feel more confident than I have in the past years, past seasons, last two years, I've either, yeah, just worked for someone else.
9:09 Speaker 03 Just because I didn't have work for myself. This year I'm trying to do Christmas lights. So that's my plan, but also I think that was, yeah. I think that's the context in which I'm also asking this is, is this wise to just?
9:32 Speaker 03 Put all the money towards this and then try and bank on having winter work. Um, yeah, I think that's where I'm just like, I maybe not a little unsure as in regards to winter approaching.
9:49 Speaker 02 Okay. Do you have any contracts in place currently for Christmas lights? Or is that a new thing you're ramping up and nothing?
9:56 Speaker 03 Yeah, no, I don't have any contracts in place. It's it would be a new service. Um, I tried last year with some of my clients, but it's just the the main area that I service with mowing isn't really the prime area for that. So I have to kind of go to an area where I have less clients existing already. So, um, yeah, like last year, I didn't do any advertising for it. I just kind of emailed my existing client list. Uh, I'm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
10:31 Speaker 02 Awesome. So he's answering the question that popped up. So for those of you who just joined, we've got a question from Benjamin and you go by Benjamin, right? Not Ben?
10:39 Speaker 03 Yes.
10:40 Speaker 02 Perfect. Should I pay off the balance of my auto loan? He currently owns 7,300 to his dad and he wants to know whether or not he should pay that off in full or just continue with some monthly payments. From what I've gathered so far, so tell me if I'm right and summarizing, you feel a little better about this winter, although there's no solid plan in place for winter. Assuming that's true of your business or even between you and your wife. Uh, in the past, you've done loans via dad. They've worked out fine, but there's a little added pressure on this one right now due to him wanting to roof his house. And so he seems to be at least had mentioned to you, he'd like that money. And you do have Christmas lights. So that's a little bit of context, too. You have that as a new service you want to provide.
11:25 Speaker 02 No contracts currently in place, so no revenue as of yet for that, but it might be a part of your winter plan.
11:31 Speaker 03 Correct.
11:32 Speaker 02 Okay, sweet. Kevin?
11:35 Speaker 04 Thank you. Good evening, Ben. Um, a couple of things. One, we have the psychological part of owning your your dad money, which it's tough. It's, you know, if it was a bank, there's some division between, but now we have some relationships in there.
11:51 Speaker 04 Being that you're newer to our, our system and we don't have a lot of backdrop on your financials and only say what we're comfortable saying. Where does this position yourself right now? Want to pay it off as soon as you can, make larger payments, you know, where are you physically in your business to of comfortability?
12:12 Speaker 03 I, maybe I'm not understanding the question. Could you rephrase that?
12:17 Speaker 04 Sure. I mean, when you say you want to try to pay this off as fast as possible, how is that going to harm you and your security of the business? Forward and providing for your family? And what type of revenue are you seeing or projecting over the next? Three and a half months, four months before winter comes in that we can work backwards and come up with a plan to pay this down as fast as possible, but still be able to build you. What you need to move forward through the winter?
12:42 Speaker 03 Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. So. Yeah. This year, we're right now, there's a bit of a drought. So August is not looking so great for. Me financially with the business.
12:59 Speaker 03 Then, yeah, last year, like September, October. Were really good months for me, just doing a lot of. Cleanups in addition to mowing.
13:12 Speaker 03 So I, again, this year I'm. I'm, I'm projecting that like those are going to be good months again, especially if I'm. Doing more advertising, which I didn't really do last year. I was just. You know, making sure I was optimizing.
13:30 Speaker 03 Services for all of my existing clients.
13:35 Speaker 03 But then the, then, yeah, just from based off of the last couple of years with winter work is. I, I worked for my wife's uncle. He has.
13:47 Speaker 03 Like a construction business. And then last year I worked at Amazon.
13:52 Speaker 03 To cover the bills, but so that's, this would be the first year that I'm. Actively trying to work for myself throughout the winter. So I think there's a little bit of. Fear and insecurity there. Based off of the finances of like, well. Like Megan asked, like, I don't have any guaranteed contracts in place as of yet. So I think there's that, that component to it, at least financially.
14:19 Speaker 04 So what are you comfortable with in a repayment program with your dad?
14:25 Speaker 03 Um, I, I think, and this is what my plan was like last year was like, yeah, during the, like, the main bulk of the season, like, April through October, really, to be like, paying as much as I can. And then in the winter where things are a bit more leaning, to kind of pull back a little bit. Um, but then that has just not been the case. And then right now, I've just been kind of like, putting that all on pause because I'm trying to, I, I was wanting to like, know my numbers a little bit better before just,
15:07 Speaker 03 here's $7,000, dad, like, you know, um, so I, I think, yeah, I, I guess I would be comfortable with like a more, I guess, normal vehicle payment, um, just so that I'm paying that down. Um, if it would make more sense to do a monthly payment versus, yeah, just paying it all off at once. But like, I've never had a vehicle loan other than for my dad, so I don't know what a normal amount is.
15:44 Speaker 04 So you haven't had a, what an average amount that you've given him monthly, bi-monthly? How, how are the payments been going now?
15:51 Speaker 03 Yeah. So initially I was giving him like $500 a month. And then I stopped, that was like last winter. And then this year I was just starting off with giving him like 150 a month. Like I was just trying to be more consistent with that. Um, But like I'm I'm comfortable to give him more monthly if that would be the best route to go.
16:20 Speaker 04 So not knowing your revenue and what you have set up and we could even do a sidebar other than this meeting to dive a little bit deeper in it. I think what you really have to do is have a conversation with your dad and really see what is of his expectations. How soon does he is he looking for that? And then, you know, if he says, well, geez, I gave money this many months, years ago, I need it paid by this, then you can come to me and we can have a better conversation of putting a plan in action. And once we see what your revenue stream is going to be because one, you don't want to hurt your relationship with your dad. Two,
16:54 Speaker 03 Right.
16:55 Speaker 04 bankrupt on the other side. So you kind of try to find that happy medium. And I think what we need to look forward right now is of being that we're being in September, what steps and action plans can we take to start finding some more guaranteed revenue coming in for the rest of the season? Like value added on services to your clients right now. Every client you have, you should be able to find some additional service that you can offer them to get more revenue. It's dry right now. And Christmas lights, if you're looking for Christmas lights, you need to be doing that advertisement now. And two,
17:26 Speaker 03 Okay.
17:26 Speaker 04 there's winter pruning, there's dormant pruning, there's stuff that you can be advertising to your clients right now to prep them, whether it's via email or social media blitz, to get some of that additional work kind of on your books. So you feel a little bit more comfortable of staying in your company instead of working for someone else during the winter. And then that can project out some revenue of paying your dad back as well, maybe in a faster rate of pace.
17:52 Speaker 03 Okay.
17:54 Speaker 03 Yeah, I like that. So often when we work with like family members, there's never any terms or like boundaries attached to it. And that's half the time where the problems come from. Like my cousin just had his uh mom move in with them and they eventually started complaining about it, but they had moved her in basically indefinitely because they never said, you know, hey, a year or two because she needed to get back on her feet. But now she's there basically indefinitely because, you know, they never set any boundaries to begin with. And, you know, that's, that's half the problem is expectations versus reality, right? Like, um, just getting something out there, you know, I mean, he might, does he have a leaky roof or does he, is it just a feeling he wants to replace his roof? Is he trying to sell the house or replace the roof? Like, there's a bunch of different contextual
18:38 Speaker 03 things there. And yeah, you know, some are Emergencies and some are not, so.
18:42 Speaker 02 Yeah, and form the questions around. The pressure you might be putting on yourself just having heard that about your dad. I mean, you might be making up stories about your dad and his roof without really having asked any pointed questions about. When would you like to fix your roof? Like by when? What date? What month? Maybe what year? And um. If if you want it soon, then let's come to terms with what a month, a healthy monthly amount. Sounds like you're the avenue you'd like to take is a monthly payment. Until maybe this new winter. Uh, Christmas lights, you've you've sort of sat through that type of winter for a given a given year. Because you've not done this type of winter before where you're hoping to just be able to.
19:26 Speaker 02 Um, support yourself via business.
19:28 Speaker 03 Yeah.
19:29 Speaker 02 So I would certainly, yeah, go with him with a little more of a more pointed conversation about. Doing monthly and what his expectations, like the story he might, you know, ask him, hey, dad, the story I'm telling myself is I need to pay this month. This amount back right now, today, because you really want your roof and you're gonna be mad if you don't get it back and slowly get resentful of me. What?
19:50 Speaker 03 Yeah.
19:50 Speaker 02 What are the actual expectations of me?
19:52 Speaker 03 And let him know your situation too.
19:54 Speaker 02 Yeah, absolutely. It is my first winter, you know, it sounds like if you've loaned money from him before, this is. These can just be added to the conversation this time.
20:04 Speaker 03 Yeah.
20:06 Speaker 02 Um, when you paid those, you said April through June or whatever your heavy seasons were this summer, you would, you were trying to pay him five hundred a month.
20:15 Speaker 03 Mm hmm.
20:15 Speaker 02 How comfortable was that for you? In your business?
20:18 Speaker 03 Yeah, so that the five hundred a month was last year. This year it was one fifty a month. Um. And I I was, I mean, I was. Probably more comfortable with the five hundred than I realized, especially this year, cuz. I got like twenty five new clients, so I was. I had a lot more work and a lot more cash flow coming in this year than as opposed to last year. Um, but I think when. I started doing that, I wasn't exactly sure what what the season was gonna look like, so I was just continuing.
20:55 Speaker 03 What I would had already been doing.
20:57 Speaker 02 Okay. If I, if I can ask this, got coffee stuck in my throat. If I can ask this and only tell me what you're comfortable with, what kind of pressure from your wife? Knowing you guys both don't really like debt, is there like, hey, let's, your dad paid back, you know, I don't, I want good standing with them. We love them. They live close to us. What sort of pressure might be there as well?
21:19 Speaker 03 Um, I don't think she has any pressure for me to repay it. Um, I think more is just our student loans personally is where we're like, we want to put money towards that to get those paid off is the only pressure that there is there from my wife. Um, so yeah, as far as the business goes, she's a bit more hands off. She doesn't, she's like, you know, just let me know what's happening. Kind of take on the business.
21:52 Speaker 02 Okay, likely higher interest on the, the student loan side.
21:56 Speaker 03 Yeah.
21:58 Speaker 02 Makes sense. All right. So I think maybe our answer, if you will, to you today would be, you know, go back to your dad and just try to get a few expectations in place for yourself as well as relay your situation to him. New winter for you.
22:13 Speaker 02 Something about your cash flow seems tighter and then let's have that question again in maybe a month because then more of your numbers will be, will be situated um, according to our own cleanup and the foundations we've set and you're both keeping.
22:27 Speaker 03 Okay. Awesome.
22:29 Speaker 02 Any follow up questions? We still have a few minutes for you.
22:32 Speaker 03 Um, yeah, not that I can think of.
22:36 Speaker 02 Nothing, right? Okay. Maybe, maybe at the end, um, once we hit Andrew's question next.
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24:14 Speaker 02 Awesome. All right, Andrew, let's get to your question, which, like I previewed, it's very similar, so I'm kind of excited about that. Oh, we skipped too far in all this.
24:25 Speaker 02 Let's just skip right to the end. Cool. All right, question number two from Andrew. Should I be saving all my spare or extra cash now for the winter, or throw it all at debt, or maybe a hybrid solution? Context for Andrew's question, lots of higher profit margin fall jobs coming in right now. I have some high interest bad debt, as well as some low interest, low principal remaining good debt. Should I pay them off and not carry payments through the winter, or saving for winter and make small payments until spring gets rolling? I also have some reserves left over from last year in a high-yield savings account. Should I draw from that at all? All right, I'm gonna start with the first question that I asked Ben,
25:06 Speaker 02 Andrew, in terms of sort of the psychology, since we can't rely on your numbers just yet, just about a month under our belts with you. So with that being said, what are you comfortable with in terms of debt levels? And this could be between you and your wife, or maybe just you?
25:21 Speaker 06 We're both used to having debt, unfortunately. We both have been on a Dave Ramsey kick a little bit, so we like the idea of debt-free.
25:34 Speaker 02 Where does the kick come from? What's, what was the impetus? Or, you know, in terms of Benjamin's situation, it was, hey, I need a roof. And so it got him to thinking about that. But what, what might have been the impetus for really looking at the Dave Ramsey program?
25:52 Speaker 06 Uh, Mr. Paul Jamison.
25:54 Speaker 02 Ah, shout out to Paul. Good thing he joined.
25:58 Speaker 06 Surprise celebrity. But yeah, and just hear about how he was, cause I mean, like him and Kevin and Joey I'll talk about for those who don't know me. Uh, I financed everything to get started. So, and then I had a few big projects fall through with, uh, some economic downturns. And I'm in St. Louis and so labor is pretty expensive here. From my understanding, it's one of the highest in the nation. And I had four guys. Now I'm down to me and one guy. We're running lean and mean for the rest of the year. And I want to try and get rid of some of this debt.
26:35 Speaker 06 So I was trying to figure out what's the smart way to do it.
26:37 Speaker 02 Awesome. So we have like, I can see some messages popping up. So number one, you're not alone. Many guys financed everything from the start.
26:44 Speaker 06 Pretty normal.
26:45 Speaker 02 But we also, yeah, very normal. But we also have some, but some people at the end of your journey. Uh, River said he just, just went debt free and, uh, on his journey as well. So, and Paul, once again, I know he did that debt free scream a while back. So all that to say, I think debt, it's more of a psychology question. And then, once you are like intense about like, I don't want this anymore. Um, due to what it does to me, how it stresses me out, how it makes me hire fast, you know, how I chase jobs and feel desperate about things. All of that to say, that's all psychology. And then the, putting the plan in place really isn't as complicated.
27:27 Speaker 02 Once you just have a goal, okay, let's just get rid of this stuff and try not to do anymore. Or have a very strict boundary, clear boundary of when I would allow debt. Um, and that obviously is a different conversation. So, maybe my next question for you, and I didn't, I didn't ask this to Benjamin. I think it would have helped me as I was thinking through. In terms of just your bank balance, as well as your upcoming winter.
27:54 Speaker 02 Where are you situated? What's a goal possibly for your winter fund? Have you reached that goal? How are you feeling about winter is my next question?
28:04 Speaker 06 So it's gonna be a long-winded answer. Originally, my, my plan was the Andy Mulder plan. I think somebody else does this too. I heard Paul talk about on his podcast. I have a fully funded winter account by Labor Day, which was yesterday. My winter account has 1,700 bucks in it, so it had quite a bit more. And I had knee surgery in June and I drained all my reserves when I was laid up on the couch for five weeks.
28:34 Speaker 04 Jeez.
28:35 Speaker 06 So, uh, to be comfortable over winter, so my wife works. She's a PRN in the medical industry, so if I play Mr. Mom, she works and we can float our bills and everything on our personal side just fine. So I won't take a paycheck over the winter if I don't need to.
29:01 Speaker 06 It's not ideal. I'm a worker, but so for my business payments, I need about 4,500 a month to make all my notes, my shop, my elements, subscription, all that jazz.
29:21 Speaker 06 I have some work coming up,
29:25 Speaker 06 which is where the answer for this question came from. That could really beef that number up from 1,700.
29:37 Speaker 04 What, what's, what's the amount of jobs sold, Andrew?
29:40 Speaker 06 Uh, well, do you want all the air? Do you want to like, I lump all the aeration overseas together? So do you want like numbers on that or numbers of profit?
29:51 Speaker 04 Nope, nope, gross numbers.
29:55 Speaker 06 Like of actual individuals or of money?
29:58 Speaker 04 No, of jobs you've sold. You said you got a couple of big jobs that sold out?
30:02 Speaker 06 I got two big jobs that sold out. I have one that I'm about to close this week. I have another one I'm in the bid for. I got one that I called today that called today that I haven't even looked at yet, uh, which I got four calls today. And that's what I've been averaging about two to three a day lately.
30:22 Speaker 06 I got another one that I haven't got to estimate out yet.
30:25 Speaker 04 Sold work right, sold work right now ballpark.
30:33 Speaker 06 Three, seven, five to thirty. Now that includes aeration overseas.
30:39 Speaker 04 And then you still have your weekly revenue coming in.
30:43 Speaker 06 Yes, like the weekly, mowing, yeah.
30:51 Speaker 04 You're going to get in a column, schedule another coaching call with me, aren't you? Because I want to, I want to break this down more than we're going to do right here, but, um, you know, what months are considered your winter months where this forty five hundred is going to take a hit without revenue coming in? November, December, January, February?
31:09 Speaker 06 March.
31:10 Speaker 04 March. So you've got five solid months.
31:13 Speaker 06 Yep.
31:15 Speaker 06 The non-mowing months.
31:17 Speaker 04 What are you comfortable with needing for a winter reserve to pay your bills and not draw a salary? If you want to do the, the Mr. Mom thing and, and I want you to think about this, we're not going to answer this tonight, but I want you to go through this process of two different projects. One is with your overhead that you have to pay and then you taking some type of a paycheck weekly. That goal and then that next goal of just covering your overhead expenses in the business, playing Mr. Mom and starting to work on your business this winter instead of in the business. And, and those two models, then we can have a much deeper call and breaking down more of a strategic plan going back.
32:00 Speaker 04 And we came up with that plan from you to go from one fifty to two hundred. And now you're telling us you're going to kick that can possibly down, down the road to even higher, which is great. And then when we have some harder numbers, we can see what we need to pay off here first. And, you know, this is a great question. We do need a little bit more information, like we have some high interest, bad debt. That's going to be our first main focus, but the first main focus is protecting you, your wife and your kids so that we can get through the winter time and the business is sustainable. And then these other people that have money that you owe, they're used to that. And if we can lessen that, that's going to be a bonus. And that's more money in your pocket on bottom line if we can lessen that.
32:44 Speaker 04 But we have to protect the nest right now and make sure your business is going to be sustainable to start back up in the springtime.
32:51 Speaker 06 Sure. And I guess I got a curve ball to throw you. I also need to purchase a plow and salt spreader because I do have snow contracts. So I guess priority would be to go get those.
33:06 Speaker 04 Yes. Yes. Because snow in St. Louis, it was September, but we could have snow end of October, beginning of November out there if something wild goes crazy.
33:16 Speaker 06 That was last year.
33:17 Speaker 04 Yeah, so we have to be prepared for that because now you have signed contracts, you are responsible, and it's not always the fiduciary. Now you are risk management. So we have to mitigate any possible slip and falls injuries. That's all going to come onto you. So this is more than just a financial piece that we're looking at with the plows and Sanders. Not to scare you and I don't want you to be sleepless at night, but I want you to start looking for the best possible way of ramping up your vehicle to be ready for that service.
33:45 Speaker 06 Okay. And then I guess this question also stems from the debt avalanche versus the debt snowball. Because the avalanche tells me pay off the high interest credit cards and the snowball tells me pay off my 1% interest mower.
34:03 Speaker 04 Well, that's just going to go down to amounts of money you have available to put down on certain things. You know, I think again, the avalanche of snowball, I agree with that, but maybe if you have some extra funds and you can kick smaller balance of something just out of your way. So it's less to deal with every month. Great. But it sounds like we need to get some funds in Noah's Ark ready for the winter time. We have to get that truck prepared for the winter, which is super important because now you are responsible for that and you can't walk away from that contract. They do. Your name's going to be mud in that area. And then it's also revenue that's going to be coming in when it does snow and you have to be ready for that as well.
34:45 Speaker 06 So plow and spreader, then just save and we'll, we'll come back to the drawing board when we have a big lump sum.
34:54 Speaker 04 Well, it's not even a big lump sum. You know, key hitting us up in the messenger on these jobs that you close and let's see what that total is going to be because if we have signed contracts for upsell work that you have, you know, we can renegotiate where we're going to be putting money, knowing that we have it. You, you said you have roughly 25 to 30, but then you said you have other hopefuls that are out there. Let, let, once those are secure, we can talk about them. I love hearing you have the prospects out there and I want you to go out and sell and close a deal and hopefully your guy is out mowing when you're up selling work like we talked on last coaching call when you can and lock these up because that's just going to build your path to freedom so much faster.
35:37 Speaker 07 Yeah, well, here, you know, people talk about the Ramsey point. A lot of times he's talking to people that have sort of a fixed income or nine to five. Like you, you have total control over the size of your shovel is basically what Kevin's saying. You can make a bigger shovel because you are a business owner. And so it's a little bit different context when you own a business and you can control the size of the shovel.
35:57 Speaker 07 Okay.
35:58 Speaker 02 Yeah, Andrew. So from my perspective, it might be a matter of shaving off a small percentage of these every month, just to feel like you're doing something. But I don't think after talking with you, that's even a priority. I think it is what Kevin said. Let's make sure your risk management and your assets are all up to par, your labor in terms of your snow contracts. And so is a promise. And, and also, what was number two? Um, yeah, seeing if any of these other projects you land, because it sounds like the 25K to 30K, some of that free cash, if you will, or additional cash is going to go to assets that you need for the snow contracts. That seems like number one priority. And then getting through winter successfully by keeping your wife and kids protected.
36:42 Speaker 07 Yeah.
36:43 Speaker 02 So it is, that is the framework, too. You got to think about like Dave Ramsey is, you know, he's talking to people who have a lot less control over the amount of the shovel they're using.
36:55 Speaker 07 And River just pointed that out in the chat, too. I haven't listened to the entree leadership one, but um, River's basically saying that the Ramsey plan is different for the personal finance or the entree leadership.
37:07 Speaker 02 I guess entree leadership, maybe he goes into a
37:09 Speaker 07 I think that's the business, that's the business pod, right?
37:11 Speaker 02 It is, it's business pod. Maybe he talks about that differently.
37:14 Speaker 07 I've only listened to the personal finance one.
37:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, I know a lot about the um, financial piece. I'm not as familiar with any sort of debt on the business side of things with Ramsey. But I'm sure he has plenty of podcasts out there about it.
37:27 Speaker 07 Yeah.
37:28 Speaker 02 Or, or catch up with River after this. He might know way more than I do.
37:32 Speaker 03 I could, I could pop in real quick.
37:34 Speaker 07 Sure.
37:35 Speaker 03 Um, it's essentially the same principles and foundations being debt free, but running your ultimately having a vision for your business and how you want to run it is at the core of it. And then moving forward from there, once you have a vision of and understanding how and what you want to do with your business finances, those are also separate from your personal finances. So um, he still recommends no debt, but there's the principle, the foundation of just making sure you're having those separated. And what is the, what does your family need first? And how can your business provide that? And what like, kind of what Kevin was talking about, how much of a draw do you want each week from your business? But then what does your business need to be healthy after that? And so it's just making sure you have a separate
38:20 Speaker 03 vision for your personal life and then a separate vision for your business, separating the two, because they're not the same entity. And then the baby steps are for the personal finances. Entree leadership is for the business finances on the on the side. And it's the same thing. It's kind of just a system or a process on how to grow the business step by step.
38:41 Speaker 02 Thanks, River. Really appreciate that. And with your coaching calls every Tuesday, Andrew, that's that's the type of stuff we can bring out of you, which is what River's saying is basically Dave wants you to apply a vision to your business. You know, marry it a little bit to your personal in the terms of what do we need in order to stay healthy? But then what are we comfortable with? And all of that is, to me, it's psychology and vision based more so than numbers. You eventually get to that because you have to plan inside of of the logistics. But I think right now you should, a lot of this winter, if if this is, you know, one of those winters, once again, you're slowly going to be moving through and hoping things, you know, pan out exactly how you planned them.
39:21 Speaker 02 Then a lot of that psychology is going to come out of this winter in in terms of, you know, you're going home. And, you know, once again, it's like, well, this was a rough day. I really wish I could be doing this. And I I just think a lot of it will come out of a winter like this. But priorities to me, snow contracts and your winter with making sure wife and kids are good.
39:42 Speaker 07 And I love the vision piece, but a lot of times when you're you kind of mess up in the beginning, you put yourself into survival mode and it takes a lot of your creative prowess out. So you kind of just get your back up against the wall and you can't think rationally. And then a lot of the vision is hard to craft when your back's up against the wall. So and that's a lot of guys, you know, I think Mulder always has done no debt. But, you know, a lot of guys will start off with debt because they're comparing themselves to some big dog on the internet. And that person knows how to use debt because they've been in business for 10 years. You know, if they are a successful business owner, whereas people that just start out, they're experimenting with other people's money before they have a vision and all that other stuff. If you don't have a vision, you're experimenting with money or with other people's money.
40:25 Speaker 07 A lot of times that's where the problem comes in is lack of goal, lack of vision. Your personal and your business aren't separate. There's a lot of that stuff that goes into it. But yeah, I mean, once we start getting this debt out of the way, I think the vision will even be a lot more clear.
40:43 Speaker 06 Okay. Yeah, thank you.
40:45 Speaker 02 So with that being said, Andrew, I think Tuesday, if you want to schedule a Tuesday coaching call, let's make the focus of that a plan. I know Kevin already and you have already talked about the beginning plan, but we could bring some more numbers into it. I think at that point.
40:59 Speaker 06 Yeah, I Kevin asked me to project round five and six revenues and stuff too. So I'll have those next Tuesday.
41:07 Speaker 04 We good. And you have, and we can break it down in the coaching call because we know the aeration overseeing is going to be a higher margin job compared to the last wall job that we reviewed. And I'm not going to say the margin on that on here, but we, you and I know what that is. And we can take that blended number and see, we will definitely have a higher margin, which is going to help you prepare for the winter even more, which is good.
41:29 Speaker 06 Awesome.
41:30 Speaker 02 And come with the numbers on your loans. So how much principal? What's the interest? That will be really helpful to me.
41:34 Speaker 06 Yeah, for sure. Okay.
41:38 Speaker 00 Well, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I do. Just being in the room and hearing other people's questions, you, we just kind of absorb this information and over time, we can make smarter decisions where I don't necessarily have to ask Joey or Megan. I just already know the principal and I'm like, okay, I can move forward with this or you know what? I need to pause on this or I need to say no to this. And I'm just feeling more and more confident running my business. But at the end of the day, I believe it's in proverbs. It says in the multitude of counselors, there's safety, meaning if I just make a hundred percent of the decisions for my business, I will likely make a lot of mistakes just because I don't have enough foresight and
42:22 Speaker 00 knowledge and discernment, wisdom to, you know, run my business at its full potential. But when I have someone like a Kevin Salters or Joey Coburn or Megan Coburn. Filling, you know, the gaps there and then helping me understand, hey, here's the pros and cons to that decision. Here's the, here's the thought process on that. There's a certified financial planner that, that we work with called Sheila Chaplin. She's way more in tune with tax law than I am. And so she can share with me, hey, pardon me, I meant to say, hey, and here at the same time, and that didn't quite come out right, but she can say, hey, Paul, here's
43:02 Speaker 00 the consequences, ramifications, you know, whatever word you want to fill in the blank there for of if you make this investment or this purchase or this decision, here's how it affects the tax bill. Here's how it affects the long-term financial goals that we have and things of that nature. So in the multitude of counselors, their safety and the next step of that process is get, pardon me, getting the right counselors in place. And so thank God that in my life, I feel like the, um, the proper people are being aligned. It's really helping me level up. And I'm very thankful for Kevin Salters, Joey Cobra Lee,
43:47 Speaker 00 Megan Cobra Lee specifically, as we heard him on the call today, because they're helping a lot more people than just me. So if you want to join everything the landscaping bookkeeper has going on, they have their lawn care life, uh, lawn care life. I think that's what it's called, something like that lawn care, something lawn care launch. Thank you, Mr. Producer Lawn Care Launch. Um, Mr. Producer on the other side of that takeout window, Cornell Mac.
44:14 Speaker 00 Cornell always gives me a hard time when we, when you chime in there, Mr. Producer, but they have all, they have all kinds of different ways that they can help your business based on the size of your business and what you need done in your business and all of this. So, so, um, reaching out to them is going to be a lot more efficient than me explaining it all. All I'm testifying is I started working with Megan and Joey in 2020 and my business and my net worth and my investments and my decision-making, it's all increasing and improving and getting better and better because they're teaching me. The, the business financials to where I actually understand what's going on financially
44:56 Speaker 00 in my business and making appropriate decisions and at the end of the day, really trying to serve my customers at the highest level with consistently consistency to really earn as much as I can. And then as I earn that money by serving people well, making sure I'm multiplying that money with proper investments, both back into my business as well as into the stock market and things of that nature. So, and eventually one day more real estate. I haven't really got into that world yet, but I've been investing into my business and into the stock market, but definitely want, you know, want their help when I'm ready to get real estate sooner than later. But anyway, I digress. I gotta get out to
45:41 Speaker 00 the golf course. So, see ya on the next one. We will, yes, thanks, Mr. Producer. We'll have a part two of this Zoom call on probably tomorrow's program. I'm not sure tomorrow's program. Yeah. So part two coming up soon.
46:09 Speaker 01 Hey, it's Marty, producer of the Green Industry Podcast. This episode is over, but check the episode notes for links to products and services that you heard about during the episode. And thanks for listening.
Previous Landscaping's Big Show: Previewing Equip 2025 with Kris Kiser Next Debt-Free Landscaping Success and Q&A with the Experts Page updated November 10, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
