« Side Hustle School

#123 - “Uber for Lawn Care” Mows Down the Competition

2017-05-03

Four friends take a whack at the lawn care industry’s weeds and find ways to better connect vendors and customers.

Side Hustle School features a new story EVERY DAY of someone who started a hustle without quitting their job. You’ll learn how they got the idea, how they overcame challenges along the way, and what the results are. You need a hustle!

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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Welcome back to side all school. My name is preschool about Albion. Joy. Should a story about Bruno's Barkin biscuits. The homemade dog treat hustle, I sign up from somebody online. He said dog is so awesome. I threw a stick and he brought it back from miles away, another sounds a little far fetched, but I suppose any things possible. Speaking of anything being possible. Today you gonna hear about a seven figure. Aside, hustle, you shall have one about once a week, or at least every ten days or so love featuring projects that may five hundred dollars a month or a thousand dollars a month or whatever the number is, but it's also pretty cool. What else aside hustle can do now is was reviewing the notes for today story and writing is jugs Making of sounds more like a startup story, which is not the point of cider school aside. Hustle is why different from a traditional start up, but then
realized that even on this project has grown tremendously agile. Here, it's they still being mostly run by a guy with a regular full time, job, at least for now. So it does in fact qualify and I'll bring that story to you right after this Jeanne Caballero is no stranger to hard work. He spends to this day, working as a corporate sales coach for a fortune, fifty company, but when he isn't in the corporate world, building an empire of his own for at least three of his friends, revolutionizing the lawn care industry. Few years ago, means childhood friend, Brian approached him with an idea I had been in the landscaping business, his entire life. So with more lines in high school and over the course of fifteen years he had grown is best into a large landscape, construction company and then come
It was acquired by national organization when brain, let that company here two way with a thorough understanding of the ins and outs of the industry. And he also knew what could be improved the poor. Just for a lot of people, was inconvenient for both homeowners and vendors each day worked alongside multiple hardworking long care professionals, but he recognised that they never turned to market themselves or complete the bookkeeping and consumer outreach that was required for them to be successful in the industry and meanwhile for homeowners it was just a challenging If you wanted to have your line mode are needed, some landscaping service, you have to call around and leave a bunch of voice, males wait for somebody to call you back. The end of the day, and even if you are a fish in this process. It still might take a week or more to get quotes, and it's not just that how do you know you're, actually getting the best price and the best quality possible. You really have no idea and so forth. Of homeowners. It's really kind of like taking a blind leap of faith, the analogue cry says that a long care provider is problematic and Brian
It can be solved by technology. He noticed the crowd sourcing, led by urban be was working well, they thought a similar type of platform could solve many problems. He'd observed every day in the launcher industry, especially smaller providers, Brian wanted to create a website that would easily allow homeowners to post their job details and then from a list of trusted vendors, to find a fit that was best for all. Parties involved, not only with customers. I have to call around and spend time researching vendor would no longer have to go door to door seeking out business. Jean Brian could bridge the gap and customers and vendors without all that hassle. Unfortunately, neither had not a website before so I decided to hire another company to build it for them this. Being one of the biggest mistakes they made along the way they ended up paying way too much money for customize website that was barely usable and a studio that It also ended up going out of business, so they went back to the drawing board,
side of what they really need to do was bring someone in who could build a website and manage it as a co founder. So they brought onto other team members, this newly formed quartet decided to call their service green pow. They ended up helping both a website animal app and while the new We are working on that gene I got to work finding benders to feature on it. They started in there town of National Tennessee and they personally met any vendor who is interested in participating, it was nine to be somewhat exclusive, not just anyone. The green power vendor there isn't it you process potential applicants had to have come here. A great equipment in good condition, positive references from previous customers and current insurance, network operates by letting vendors set the prices of their services. However, they see fit when a homeowner signs up those vendors any info that the homeowner provides, as well as images from Google MAPS, including aerial and street views of their property, that where the vendor can provide a good quote without actually be
inside the homeowner than receives a series of bids from the vendors in their area and their free to pick whoever they like to work with. Based on the ratings reviews and prices. This practice encourages there is to do as good a job as possible in order to keep their ratings up and be competitive within their market, and it also brings them a lot more business Green power started with a small team offenders and twenty thirteen, but their numbers now grown to include almost six hundred vendors over the past four years. They ve also- bandit beyond Nashville to five other cities, they're keeping white lists for life other cities once they're ready to introduce the platform there? So how does? they'll make money, while the service charges a five percent fee from everything that goes to their platform and with six hundred lenders and lots of customers. That percentage really adds up Twenty sixteen, the service brought in more than a million dollars and Jean predicts that the growth are experiencing pretty much three percent every year will more than triple that number. By the end of twenty seventeen. So even though Gene
been working on this project on the side, while working as full time job for the past four years, probably be his last year at that corporate job. Since the growth trend, shows no sign of slowing he's thinking at some point and he's gonna go all in. Naturally, the extra come has been awesome for gene and the other three guys. It's a lot of extra income. Of course they ve worked hard for it. Also very for failing to see how their vendors lives have been positively affected. Jean says they regularly get email tax from vendors saying they burn it, to hire more people by better equipment, take their families on vacation and help pay their more just throw. It truly is a win win for everyone involved, the vendors, the homeowners and, of course, green power It is sometimes said that the grass is always greener on the other side, but for green power. They, like the view right where they are congratulations, green pow, wait a modem competition, as I said, it it is a win win for everyone,
So many of our stories their sight us, which is now getting quite large, all comes from finding a problem and thinking what might be a good solution for it when you think about a big problem like this there, essentially, two different ways to solve it, and one is focused. Hyper locally in saying. Ok, since my market, this town city whatever it is, and an ominous a lawn care business and provide much better service than everybody else solve this problem of voice mail and calling people back and not having accountability. And a few weeks ago, to this episode, number eighty seven with a young graduate name Christopher who making twenty thousand dollars a month, cleaning houses and he also set out saudi similar problem, as when we heard the story. But he's focusing his local market, the Potomac area, Washington DC and his I ve been very successful that, while the green pound I have a similar origin but a different approach. The origin is the price
one in four their solution. They have the intent to not just work in one area but create this. Technology that will work throughout the United States in May even beyond at some point, so they are, of course, very successful too, and you might wonder why doesn't everyone do it that way What's all necessarily that one way is better than the other, because today, but this way is a lot more expensive, it requires partnership, likely on the story, require a certain amount of start up capital or investment to build that technology? In speaking it? dodgy. It's just a much more technologically intensive approach. So, if you have those skills or if you have the money to pay for those skills. That's great, but a lot of us. Don't, which is why you could do nothing like what Christopher Debt an episode, eighty seven and still create a tremendous success for yourself, so different approaches. There's always pros and cons to everything, but it also when you have an intention, and of course, when you get to work joy, the story today. Inspiration is good, but inspiration combat action is so much better show
Today, our at sight of soul, school dotcom, slash one two: three! That's for episode, hundred and twenty three you can also send me a note from there, for you can leave a boy now for the shop, and we won't call you back Your quote on aligned, but we might use, I'm in a question on a shelf. Thank you for listening, I'm here he'll about this site. Also school.
Transcript generated on 2020-08-06.