38:09
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, profit, pay, running, landscaping, money, clients, people, talking, implement, companies, software, business owners, bit, vendors, percentages, prepay, landscape, implementations, landscaping business
SPEAKERS
Damon Pistulka, Adam Linnemann
Damon Pistulka 00:05
All right, everyone, Welcome once again to the faces of business. I’m Damon Pistulka your host and with me I have Adam Lindemann from the green executive and Lindemann lawncare and landscaping now I got to make sure I got that right. lawn care and landscaping. Yes, I did. Adam awesome to have you here today, man.
Adam Linnemann 00:28
Damon, thanks for having me on the show. This afternoon are actually getting close to evening for me here. I’m on central time. Yep. I really appreciate you having me on.
Damon Pistulka 00:36
Yeah, yeah, good stuff, man. Cuz I, you know, we connected through thing, Isaac’s and actually I’m we’ve probably seen him here. And when we get done here, but and then we started talking. And the thing that I really love about the green executive, and what you’re doing there is you’re using profit first. And I think we’ll talk about that a little bit. But let’s get a little bit into your background, and kind of how you got where you are today. And just give us a little idea of that. Sure.
Adam Linnemann 01:10
So I kind of grew up in a family of entrepreneurship. My grandmother who I was telling you about this a little bit ago before we went live here, she’s 90 foot old. And I don’t know the exact date, but I’m sure it was like in the late 20s, early 30s. She and her husband opened up a full service gas station that is actually still in operation today to wear a mile there and they will and they will pump your gas for you online is now being run by my grandmother who’s 94 but by my cousin who was running the gas station, so entrepreneurships always been a fad the family.
through high school, I started my business at the age of 14 years old, with a push mower riding lawnmower in a wagon and grew my business, my landscaping business to where it is today with inner inner inner peak season. We’ve had up to 25 team members working for us at one time and have been dispatching eight, nine crews on any given day to go out and service problems and do design build landscape installs.
Damon Pistulka 02:12
Wow. That’s really cool, man. That’s really cool. So did you did you get into landscaping? Kind of by accident, because you’re you’re in you’re in high school, whatever. And it was just the way it is way to make money in the summers. And you’re like, wow, maybe I can do this full time? Or what? Yeah, what really triggered that?
Adam Linnemann 02:34
You know, I think so my father had a asphalt business. So I helped him at a young age. And Gosh, I know I mean, I was probably 1112 years old, but it was definitely just getting the idea of an extra money mowing grass in the neighborhood to where I lived. And when I started realizing, hey, you know, one lawn is is 1520 bucks at the time, right? Because we’re talking 2728 years ago, yeah.
To launch FDA, if I can do four lawns in a day, it’s 100 bucks. And so it got to the point to when I was in my senior of high school, I bought my first brand new pickup truck, which is a 2003 50 paid for in CAD and was making more of an income at the time than what my father was full time. Works employ over the city of Cologne oil. Wow. Yeah, it just kind of spiraled air and grew the business up to like I mentioned, you know, eight, nine crews, and I love making money. I love being outside and talking with with clients, making them happy turning projects into reality for them.
Damon Pistulka 03:48
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think I think the one nice thing about landscaping is it is so evident when a project is done. I mean, I don’t think he can do landscaping work and not just stand back and go, Wow, that that the you know, it’s different anyway, even if you don’t like what you did, but it’s different and it’s done. Well. It’s, it is the it’s evident that something was done.
Adam Linnemann 04:12
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s something as simple as just a new mulch, you know, layer put down makes such a big difference and really sets off at a house.
Damon Pistulka 04:22
That is for sure. That is for sure. So in your business now are you doing? Do you do more commercial work than residential? Or is it a mix of both are
Adam Linnemann 04:31
most of our work is residential, I would probably say 80% residential 20% commercial mix. And the commercial work that we do performs for what I consider a smaller kind of mom and pop commercial type properties. We’ve released back in our service area over the years to try to you know, maintain our roster that being even more efficient and close.
So even though we are 11 miles south of the St. Louis arch over in Columbia, Illinois. Yeah, we’re just 10 minutes from St. Louis. But our whole county population is only 50,000 people. So we’re the dominator here in our county, stay in a small, like I said, area to try to really, you know, use that as a benefit to be profitable and be efficient and kind of where we’ve taken the business toward us today.
Damon Pistulka 05:25
Yeah, yeah, that’s cool. I know that that that has changed, I mean, just just the drive times, and things have changed a lot where or I live in other metropolitan areas where the traffic is bad, you know, it’s such a different thing, when you have people that drive times change from well used to take me 15 or 20 minutes to get someplace. And now it could be 45 if the traffic is bad, or something like that, and, and when you have crews running the time is money.
And every time you’re driving, you’re you’re you’re not making money. And that’s, that’s or not the kind of money that you really want to make where you’re making a difference in the in the appearance. So you’ve been in the business a while. And let’s let’s talk about the green executive. And where did that come from?
Adam Linnemann 06:13
Sure. So back in 2017, is when the green executive was formed and started. So I decided at that point in time that the green executive was simply going to be a kind of retirement plan, it was going to be a way to slowly transition out of running and owning a lightning business, and be able to offer services typically to some companies to help them grow and be more valuable inside their business. So yeah, back in 2017, we formed a green executive and position today is, since my wife works with me, in my own business, she also is a partner with me in the consulting firm.
And so we’re able to bring to particularly landscape business owners, which is kind of our niche focus all around the country and Canada, ways to be better business, streamline processes, and procedures, you know, bill to provide them with different types of things such as ways to be more efficient inside the office, two ways to have a good policy manual for your company, job description, so on so that was kind of our focus, and it is taken off over the last four years, like crazy. So it’s been it’s been really good.
Damon Pistulka 07:32
Well, that’s cool, because, like you said, it started off as a as a retirement plan. And it really has grown into much more than that. So what what do you think really helped in that in those efforts to really make a take off like that,
Adam Linnemann 07:48
I would say, probably out of all the landscaping consultants that are out there in the country, I would say probably what has us been as a better fit for most is that we actually boots in the ground, have real world experience of operating and still owning in we’re at pretty much a day to day operations of our landscaping business. So we know what it’s like, and we have relevant information, be able to share with them, and to be able to relate. There’s a lot out there that haven’t done this in 2030 years. And, you know, you lose that touch and you lose that understanding of what these entrepreneurs are going through businesses today.
Damon Pistulka 08:31
Yeah, that’s, that’s for sure. And I can I can appreciate that. Because now like, even if you wanted to try something new, you can try it yourself first, and and see how it works. And then apply it with your clients if if it works well, and help them to continue continue their journey and continue their improvement.
Adam Linnemann 08:50
Yeah, that’s the plan. And that’s what works out well for us.
Damon Pistulka 08:54
Yeah, yeah, we can all everyone wins,
Adam Linnemann 08:57
as one example. So we actually use a landscape industry software. It’s called lm N stands for landscape management network. And we use it in our own landscaping business and how we use that as a way to to relate to other people as we offer doing like implementations of that software because we understand it with a day to day and so right now my wife is in Virginia for a three to site visit helping a company make that software thing for them. So that’s just one way of you know, trial and error we know how to use it and we’re able to actually bring that to other landscapers that are wanting to use that as well.
Damon Pistulka 09:38
Yeah, that’s that’s a great example what I was thinking to get to because you know, you’re doing it and then you’re applying it with your customers and that, you know that that is a tremendous example because when you look at a, a business management system like that, oftentimes those things are just a money pit and it’s not never really gets operating. Right, or to the potential that it could.
Adam Linnemann 10:03
And to your to your point, most of our clients that hire us to come out to them, make the software sing for them, as we like to say, have had the software from anywhere from one to three years, and never fully implemented it to the full capacity. And so we’re able to really tie everything together and relate to them and be able to show them how we’re using it. To make us more profitable,
Damon Pistulka 10:26
and and then and then they get Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s great. Because, you know, in, in a little different setting in the manufacturing, or we’re used to actually be running the businesses I was part of, I don’t know, six, seven MRP implementations and, and it never really, they never really worked out well, until you’re in it a while and you’re refining and you’ve got, you know, sometimes a few years under your belt with, with the focus on making that thing work better, because otherwise it’s it’s, it’s it’s taken orders and it’s invoicing, we’re good, you know, are you doing the financials like you need to, and we’re good.
And they can do so much more that can help the business if you put them in, right. Sure.
Adam Linnemann 11:15
And you know, before we even implemented are using all different types of software, we were using Google Calendar, we were using Google Docs, we were using Excel spreadsheets, and now we’re we’re putting everything into one system, but you have to commit to going all in. And sometimes that even means changing the way you do things operationally to make fit for the software.
Because we often hear sometimes to this solver, whatever it is, whatever brand you’re using out there doesn’t do this for us, or doesn’t do that for us. Sometimes, you have to kind of let your guard down and be open to a little bit of change to make it work for you. Because there isn’t one out there that is 100% perfect for everybody. And we know that
Damon Pistulka 11:54
that is that is an excellent point. And if people if people didn’t hear that one more time, because the no matter what kind of business management software you have, they will not do 100% the way you’re doing it now and you do need to open your mind and go okay, if it doesn’t handle blah, blah invoicing or job scheduling or time management whatever the way you exactly want take the time to learn how it does because it could be a bet it could a be just as good solution or be be a better solution with the integration across the entire platform.
Sure, that’s a that’s a great that’s a great thing to for people to remember. So now getting into this a little bit further we we started talking about this a while ago but the the mike McHale wick is that I say his
Adam Linnemann 12:50
last name, Mike, mccalla wits,
Damon Pistulka 12:51
Calloway. There you go. I can’t say it right? For two times in a row. But he’s got a series of books. And this is what really led me to our discussion about what we’re going to talk about now and his books profit first and fix this next and some of these other things that, that the other books he’s come out with, you use these books in your practice, and you’ve gone and actually got certified in the process. Is that, is that correct?
Adam Linnemann 13:17
Yes. So I am a certified profit professional. There’s a series of programs that you can go through for certification and profit first is generally for accountants, bookkeepers, and coaches. And so you can become certified in that process, or actually a cash flow management methodology. And we teach that now to really specifically IP business owners, but it applies to all businesses, you know, across all platforms. So yeah, yeah, it’s a great platform.
I actually just got back from profit con, I was in New Jersey, back on Wednesday through Saturday. And I did not know this. But while we were there, we actually won an award. We were 2021 profit first professional Rookie of the Year. And we got this awesome, awesome award while we were there. And I guess we’re kicking butt and taking names. Oh, no, I wasn’t expecting that. So that was even better to be able to win that.
Damon Pistulka 14:19
Yeah. Yeah. So when we’re talking about profit first, and we’re talking about how, what you’re helping people implement, I guess what are some of the key things that that you’d like to share about it that you’ve learned from it that you’ve seen help business owners or really what you’d like to share about it? Sure.
Adam Linnemann 14:42
So I’m, I’m very passionate about the program because it’s changed my business as becoming certified to implement it in our own companies, as well as have beta companies, but to kind of explain a little bit more about profit first. So in the generally accepted accounting principles, terms you typically look at your finances as your sales minus your expenses equals your profit. And so what we say in profit first is why should profit be last because whatever is last typically becomes insignificant, and you don’t pay nearly as much as much attention to it as you should. So all we do is flip the ratio around or the equation around. And we look at it as sales minus profit equals expenses.
So that’s how we’re looking at it through the profit first term. And what’s really interesting is when we do a profit first and implementation for a business is we actually do a formal assessment. And what’s really interesting is, and I didn’t understand that until we went through the program and the the process of it, but when you look at a profit and loss statement, if you run one out of QuickBooks, and he look at that, it oftentimes will, it will show you a profit at the end of that statement of what you’re actually making. But when we do things in profit first terms, we actually do it on an in a accrual basis, we do it in a cash basis.
So we have p&l and the cash basis. And even though it’s still my say, You’re making a small or a good profit, that really doesn’t mean jack diddly squat, because in profit first terms, we’re looking at cash flow. So you need to also take into consideration your balance sheet. So your liabilities that are in your balance sheet, and you’re really looking at your ins and your outs of all your finances. So kind of how we add in and if I could explain with some, some props that I have here. All right, I didn’t have a silver platter to bring you today. Okay, but let’s just pretend that this baking sheet here, right thinking as a silver platter, we’re at Thanksgiving, and the turkeys on here.
All right, if everybody was to Turkey out of here and eat, they’re probably going to eat a whole lot similar to like a buffet, and they’re going to be really stuck, they’re going to gain a lot of weight. All right. So this is like how people truly run their business. They have all their money in this one platter, or as we like to say in profit person bank accounts. And we use bank accounts. And they’re paying themselves out of platter, they are taking profit out of the platter, they’re paying their taxes on the platter and they’re having all these things that are coming out of this.
Well, what we do is we take we don’t use a platter is we break things down into plates. So now in profit first is all your money goes into one bank account or one place your income. And then we take percentages, and I can share those with you. But the percentages can change based off of the size of the business. Yep. Now Now the other four plates are a profit plate. A tax plate, so you can make sure to pay Uncle Sam. Yeah, a owners plate store, you can make sure the owner is paying himself. And then the last plate is the operating expense plate.
All right. And here’s where things really get interesting. Yeah, we have this owner’s arms, our operating expense plate. And what we do is we only have a certain percentage of our income that we have inside this plate, or this bank account. And we do something or we actually talked about something is called Parkinson’s Law. And Parkinson’s Law basically says that when you have a small amount here, and you know, you can only have a small amount to work with to pay your operating expense, you become innovative, and you make you basically make it work. And the example of that really is like a tube of toothpaste.
Right? So you might be, you know, put a lot of toothpaste on your toothbrush when you have a brand new tube. But as you can still use that tube of toothpaste which might last you a month or two, you know you’re starting to roll up that tube of toothpaste, and you’re brushing your teeth, you’re becoming innovative, you’re still getting that space out of that tube. And so what we do is certified profit first professionals is we help you operate your business off of this percentage that you have in this small bank account and make sure your business is running efficiently out of that. Does that kind of make sense?
Damon Pistulka 19:31
Yeah, it does. And it actually makes a lot of sense. Because if you’re allocating all the percentages, and you’ve got a book of work to complete and you’ve got only so much money to do it and you are going to be a lot more deliberate about where you’re spending that money.
Adam Linnemann 19:49
Sure. One example since we have to implement it in our own companies have some things that we did. Some things did is you know, we work with our vendors. Right. So one of the things that we have at our consulting business is we actually hire someone to help us with our model and do our social media posts and things like that. And what we did is we actually went to our marketer and said, okay, you’re charging us X amount of dollars just for round numbers as to say at $1,000 a month.
Yeah, what would you or would you give us a discount, if we were to prepay you three months in advance and by cheque versus by credit card. And that’s just one way to be able to work with your vendors to try to earn money. And so she came back and says, we’ll give you a 10% discount off of your market. Yeah. Okay, so that’s one example on that there. Another example might be to work with your vendors. So we always take advantage at our landscaping company of early order programs. So we’re ordering our herbicides, pesticides, insecticides for next season right now at huge discounts.
And so by leveraging our vendors, and negotiating, negotiating with our vendors to allow us to, we’ll commit to the product, but we’re going to number one, get a great deal because we’re committing early and number two, they’re going to give us great terms, they’re not going to Bill us until we actually receive the product, and they’re going to give us 60 or 90 days to pay for it. Because they know that it takes us six 810 weeks to go through each application of our fertilizer program to get through all of our clients. We were able to work it that way. So those are just some examples of being innovative and using and leveraging your vendors to keep offenses under control.
Damon Pistulka 21:39
Yeah, and I bet I bet overall, if you didn’t play that you can drop your expenses by quite a bit.
Adam Linnemann 21:44
Yeah. One more example I like to like to mention would be that years and years we would always give our clients a discount for their service if they were going to prepay us at our landscaping company basically prepay in full right so like a deadline might be worth 15 that they prepay in full for their mowing or for their fertilization and we would always give them a final discount right out right away.
And so another way that we thought of of how can we save some money but still get cash flow moving in was we’re still providing that discount, but we’re providing it not initially when they pay we’re providing it back in the form of a good advocate good towards future services. Yeah. So once again, another way that we’re able to use that as upselling technique to still give them a discount and if anybody out there whether it’s a man or a woman that might have gift cards or gift certificates there probably 80% of them have never been spent and they’re still sitting inside their PR wallets right now yeah,
Damon Pistulka 22:49
yeah you know, so yeah,
Adam Linnemann 22:52
that’s another little little way that we’re gonna still provide value but but save save
Damon Pistulka 23:00
as a great example too because it’s like you said as innovative as it can it helps your customers to commit for long term and and yeah, it’s probably not used a lot of the time so it’s it’s a win for you It helps helps the long term success of the business that’s another great example Ah, good stuff. So when when you’re out helping people with their businesses now what are some of the most exciting things that you’re seeing in landscaping today where some of the things that really make you excited about the industry and what’s happening
Adam Linnemann 23:38
I would say like when I’m visiting them as a as a consultant or
Damon Pistulka 23:43
or just you as a business owner in the industry what are some of the things that you go man it’s really cool because of this now in the industry,
Adam Linnemann 23:52
I think one of the biggest things that I enjoy about running my own landscaping business and helping others as a consult is I shouldn’t I wouldn’t say I have a master but I’m pretty close is the the freedom that running a landscaping business brings so I honestly feel comfortable you know going on a two or three week vacation right now knowing that my my staff will be able to run the business without me being there wow now cool I’m gonna have some some work to do when I get back some bills and things to deal with but general
I have freedom and so I like to be able to bring that like to bill to have that and my own landscaping business and also be able to help other business owners achieve that as well as help them achieve more financial freedom with the profit first method is also part of profit first is also debt reduction.
Damon Pistulka 24:48
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s that’s something that we often talk with with our clients as well because, you know, debt debt while it doesn’t hurt you in the in the time that you operate your business. When you go to sell your business, you typically are going to be paying all your debts off and that is great because it’s in alignment with that because when you sell a business typically it will be an asset sale and there’s some differences in stock and asset so I won’t get into but typically people want to buy an asset the assets of the business so they don’t have the exposure to any past liabilities.
What that means is then as the seller of the business you’re going to you’re responsible for all of the debts and their expenses up until the day that you close the sale of that business so you deliver the business with no debt you get to keep all the cash and receivables obviously, but it has to be delivered no debt so if you’re if you’re out buying new equipment in the last couple years of owning land any kind of company really we landscaping construction manufacturing ecommerce doesn’t matter if if you’re intending and that will be sold with a business
you’re gonna have to pay that off so we really refer to the last few years of owning that business as you need to really adopt redzone thinking where Hey, it’s a great piece of equipment I don’t really just because I got the money and like the year before I decided I was gonna do this I might run out and spend the money because I can take take the the full depreciation tax deductions and some of the other things you can do it might not be that something I really want to do now that I’m getting closer because I’m going to have to pay that off before I sell and essentially it reduces the the net proceeds back to me in in a stir
Adam Linnemann 26:40
sure So and So wouldn’t it be wonderful to have some such as profit first implemented in your business for 234 years before you make the sale and have an actual history to show the potential buyer of this is exactly what we’re making this is the percentages that we’re having for owners pay we’re able to pay our taxes we were able to meet cash flow on a consistent basis or have very little debt you know, you have to have a system in place to be able to shut in and I would guess because I don’t I don’t do exit strategies like let like what you do but i would i would sure guess that that brings up that makes a business much more valuable to an investor that one has no idea and yeah,
Damon Pistulka 27:24
you’re right when you’re when well there’s two things that you touched upon while you’re here you can take a vacation and your business still runs pretty normally it’s it’s that’s a great first step into doing it and the system that you talked about with profit first is essential really to make your business very attractive because in order to do what you’re doing with profit first you do have to have a system you do have to have job descriptions you do have to have things that that Damon as the accountant knows
what they have to do that Damon as the supervisor of the landscaping crew knows what they have to do is you know as Damon the salesperson in the business knows has to know what they do for it to work right and and work together well and that’s that’s something that people can see would certainly see when they go in and go into buy a business that it’s well runs organize and and with profit first you’ve got the metrics to show how the business is running.
Adam Linnemann 28:25
Yeah absolutely and then you know my wife always says because she does a little bit of some bookkeeping and acts as like a I guess you call like a fractional CFO for a few companies in our area you No need to think about if you’re not already doing this, making sure that you’re not intermingling business finances with your personal finances it really muddies the water a lot as well.
Damon Pistulka 28:49
It does it does and that’s it that’s a great point and and now you can keep them separate too and this is something that I see some of our clients do they keep them separate it doesn’t mean you can’t deduct on your taxes at the end of the year by giving your accountant what they need to do that right at the end of the year and do it but throughout the year yeah it does. It does mess things up a bit if you’re or complicate things a little bit.
But yeah, it is. But But you make a very good point from the business standpoint, keeping that out allows you to really see what your business is doing. Because I’ve come in where where people both sides think they’re gonna they’re making way more money than they are or way less money than they are depending on how how they do that and with everything else in the in the businesses as well.
You know, because just as just as someone can can be, oh, I need to have this new all the time or that new all the time or you know, whatever else and spending that on personal things or things that they really don’t need your business which I think profit first is is awesome for that because controlling that operating expense is a lot harder to do when you’re very profitable.
Because it’s pretty easy, right? I mean, I’ve literally been with clients before that, that have what I call the equipment habit, and can’t drive back. And this is no kidding. can’t drive by a caterpillar dealership without buying a payloader, or a bulldozer or something like that. And I mean, I just thought, Oh, this is not like 10,000 $5,000, these are hundreds of 1000s of dollars. But when, when people get, it’s hard to keep that and I think profit first helps helps people keep that focus on on being reasonable and what they do and keeping their operating expenses. in check.
Adam Linnemann 30:44
They met if I could mention real quick, the three questions that I tell my audience to ask before they make a purchase. And those three questions are is this purchase on what I’m about to make good for the business? answer that question, Is this purchase purchase good for the client? And that question is Can this purchase wait? So yeah, answer those questions to yourself. And if it doesn’t pass, I guess the sniff test don’t make the purchase. Yeah.
Damon Pistulka 31:10
Hey, that’s great. That I mean, that’s that’s awesome advice. Because it is it’s like I said, it’s, it’s easy. And I like the way you’re talking about with the plates of different plates profit first, you know, if no matter how much money I make, there’s only a percentage that goes in there doesn’t mean like the bucket is huge. So that I can spend more of that bucket on what I do is like, no, the bucket may be huge here. But I only got this percentage of that bucket that I can spend. And if I stay within that, and then you ask the three questions, you said that’s even better?
That’s even better? I think because it it really keeps things clean. Good. Well, what is the one thing that you would tell someone that’s in the landscaping industry now that that is like, Man, I’m just kind of I’m a little bit I’m struggling a little bit? And what what’s one thing if they, they just don’t have snot clicking for him right now? What would you tell him to do?
Adam Linnemann 32:12
I would say, well, we talked them financially, I guess, financially doing well. Yeah, let’s
Damon Pistulka 32:19
just talk about the business is not financially doing well, they seem to have enough work, they seem to be busy, but they just aren’t really, they just aren’t really happy financially with our company.
Adam Linnemann 32:29
Sure. I think there’s a couple of things. Number one, I would recommend, if they’re looking to profit from this, they’re not going to implement it in full, especially right away, just go out and open one bank account at a profit and just put 1% away starting out. Okay, 1% away into a profit account, don’t touch it, don’t get it, put it in the bank an hour away and ignore it, right. But yeah, transfer 1% into that account regularly every time they get deposit into your income. Okay.
The other thing I would probably say, Gosh, I would say is, most of the time we are seeing landscape business owners taking draw, and paying themselves only when they have money. And I think it’s really important to know your value and your worth of you know, to yourself and to your business. Yeah. And so I know one thing that I did back, you know, years and years ago, probably 20 years ago was when I started taking my business seriously at the time was like I need to start paying myself, I know that if I go out and buy a house, buy a vehicle, they’re gonna want to see how much I actually make.
So if you’re not really paying yourself something now, go out and just start paying yourself minimum wage, you know, a salary 40 hours a week, 80 hours, weekly, whatever that is. And if that minimum wage is 1214 $15, now pay yourself that so you have a consistent, steady paycheck. I would say that’s my my, yeah, you know, some other great advice I would give is so important. And there’s still money left over. Yeah, because I’m sick, take some draws every quarter or end of the year in December before 31st. But pay yourself consistently because you’re the number one person in your business and you have to make it work. So you know, you come versus what it boils down to.
Damon Pistulka 34:23
Well, and I think that that I tell you what, that is great advice. Like I can’t say across the board, how many companies I’ve talked to you, or the owner doesn’t really take the salary that they should. And it’s not because they couldn’t, it’s because they haven’t done what they need to do in controlling costs in other areas and really thinking about their business and starting with that, with that paying themselves consistently at any level. And it is that the draw Yeah, okay, you might get a little bit of a benefit. on taxes, but but in the long run, get paying yourself consistently and building your business up. So you can make that number whatever you want is a much better strategy, I believe.
Adam Linnemann 35:12
Yeah, you know, many, many business owners and they are doing a lot of work. And if they were going to take their efforts and go work for an other, yeah, you might be getting paid 56 $80,000 a year, being a foreman or operations manager, wherever that is, you got somewhere to get yourself up to that point. If you’re running your own business and taking all the risk.
Damon Pistulka 35:31
Yeah. Yeah, that’s, that’s a great, that’s, that is something that Yeah, she’s just, I’m just thinking about that a minute. So I hope people think about that, because you know, it is really, if you could walk out, walk out the door and go work for somebody else and get the same or more money. Not saying go do that, I’m saying figure out your business a little bit better.
Because if you’re just doing it to trade into a different job, it’s probably not doing what it’s supposed to do. Because, you know, I think this is universal. When people go into business for themselves, they go on it because they want more freedom and more money. I mean, that’s my, my, my two things. I always think that to myself, that’s why people go into business. And, and if you do that, and it turns out, I’m getting paid less money, and I and I’m a slave to the business, I did the exact opposite of what I wanted.
Adam Linnemann 36:23
Sure. And, you know, running a business isn’t for everybody. No, right. You know, some people start it and, you know, they succeed. And some of them, you know, actually most of them fail. I think it’s right, but you got to set yourself up properly. And you know, if you need advice, seek advice from somebody, right? Another mentor, a business coach, you know, somebody you trust inside your community?
Damon Pistulka 36:48
Yeah, yeah. No doubt, no doubt. Well, Adam, it’s been awesome talking to you. And and I just, I, it’s so cool. Because you’re using applying your profit, the the profit first mentality and strategies to the landscaping industry, I think is is really appropriate. And I think you’re spot on with it, man, because it will help people run their businesses better.
And then to the thing that’s really cool about what you’re doing, and you and your wife running your own business for as many years and having that experience as well. You’re You’re, you’re able to test these things, real world, implement good solid practices and procedures, and then go out and that benefits all of your clients as well. So good stuff, man. Good stuff.
Adam Linnemann 37:37
I appreciate it. And thanks for having me.
Damon Pistulka 37:39
You bet. Well, thanks everyone for joining us today. Thanks Adam. Once again, for the green executive for being with us on the faces of business today. We’ll be back again actually it’s I’m taking a bit of a break because I’m I’m on a on a vacation. And so this is one of them that haven’t been on for a while, going to do that. And we’ll be back again in a couple of weeks and, and rolling with some other great episodes as well. But thanks, everyone for being here. We’ll be back again soon. Thank you.
