[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Grow show, brought to you by Marty Grunder's Grow Group, where we specialize in helping landscaping companies clarify their platform, grow their people, build their processes and realize profits. Everything we teach is grounded in real experience. Our team is actively involved in the day to day operations of Southwest Ohio's Grunder Landscaping Company. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays and are made possible by the support of Aspire, Bobyard and Exmark. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Now, here's your host, Marty Grunder.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever the case may be. This is Marty Grunder from Grunder Landscaping Co. And the Grow Group. Thanks for downloading the Grow Show. Today we have Katie Rowell, senior marketing manager from Boss Snowplow. Katie, give a wave. We're going to talk snow with this snow industry superstar, folks. It's going to be a lot of fun. But first, a reminder. You can get the latest edition of the Grow show delivered to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts or Watch us on YouTube for an enhanced learning experience. The Grow show is the greatest thing since our upcoming event called Gross. No. Supported by Katie and Boss Snowplows September 22nd and 23rd right here in Dayton, Ohio, where I'm emanating from today. We're going to talk more about it later. That event is going to be a ton of fun. You're going to learn a ton. I hope to see you there. I can't wait. But let's get onto business today with Katie. Katie, welcome to the Grow Show.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me, Marty. This is a full circle. I've definitely listened to the podcast and enjoy, enjoy your episode. So thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Well, thank you. When we hang up, can you call my wife and tell her how much you like it and how great I am?
[00:01:41] Speaker A: There we go. I'll make sure I do that. And Emily.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Yes, and Emily. Well, you're going to get to meet Lisa when you, when you come down for Gross know, so I'm looking forward to that.
You know, in some ways, Katie, it probably seems odd for us to be talking about snow when my air conditioner in the studio here is blasting and it's 90 out. But that's what smart snow fighters do. They plan now. So I'm going to ask you, like, the whole focus here for the next 40 minutes is how do we prepare for a winner that we can't predict?
And just going to talk about all those things and where we go with that and how the companies that make the most money are the ones that do this planning in July and August. And so today, to have you on Katie is a blast. You work with contractors all across North America and beyond. The incredible equipment that we use of yours, the snow raiders on the sidewalks, the V boxes for de icing applications, the plows on our many trucks, and then the over 75 pusher boxes that we have of yours, countless other companies rely on Boss, tell us a little bit about Katie and Boss and just so we can kind of wake up and there'd be a reason to listen to you.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm the senior marketing manager. I've been in snow for over a decade working with Boss Snowplow. I did spend a portion of my career as well, a small few years working in the tech industry as well, supporting contractors with Verizon 360 technology through the Toro company that supports the green side and the snow side.
And so not only have I honed in and been able to watch contractors and dealers in the Snow industry for 10 years, I also have that perspective too on how technology is being integrated. And that's part of my passion project, is following all the new trends and technologies that are happening across the industry as well and watching which ones work and which ones don't and why. The best contractors, I believe, are doing the preparation work, like you're saying Marty, in July and August. And that really is setting them apart.
Whether it's prepping equipment, doing their research on their sites, training their people, setting their culture. All of that has to happen ahead of that snowstorm.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%. So let's get right into it.
And I think it's a question everybody wants to know, is it going to be a big winner? I know that you do an email that comes out weekly during the snow season, I guess, when people are actually getting snow and it has updates, it talks about, like, what percentage of the readership is getting snow, where the events were. I really enjoy it. It's very helpful. What's amazing to me is, you know, a couple your last emails, it was still snowing, like in northern Minnesota and Canada, and it was 60 degrees here in Ohio. And like Ohio is a long way from Minnesota, but it's not like it's on the other side of the world. It just kind of put it in perspective. You know, Jimmy Buffett said it's five o' clock somewhere. I guess what I'd say is it's kind of snowing someplace all the time too.
So what's the weather going to be like this winter? Like what are you seeing? And then I assume anybody can get that forecast that you put together, right?
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. So if you're interested in getting that forecast, reach out and we'll certainly get you added to that. I mean that's the number one question we're getting right now. What is the winter going to look like this upcoming year? And certainly you can subscribe to different weather forecasts or climatology report. You know we true weather is a great one that we work with with Mark Shannonberger. But what I want to frame contractors minds to thinking is not what kind of winter are we going to have but how prepared am I no matter the winter that happens.
So whether it's a banger of a year or if it's a light year, how am I spending the time right now in July and August to optimize my business?
And so certainly like we can follow all the patterns, the El Nino pattern and some cities it's, it's really straightforward. They have very small variability depending on the pattern. And then with an El Nino year and then other cities there's a lot of variability and so it's hard to predict. And so does anyone really truly know? I don't think so. But the biggest thing is that how prepared am I no matter the winter
[00:05:56] Speaker B: that happens and that makes complete sense. And we will get the sign up for getting your weekly email in the show notes so people can sign up for that.
So I guess but you know, talking about this, what mistakes do you see companies making here? Do contractors over buy equipment? Are they waiting too long? Do we need to really shake them right now? Like are your dealers stocked right now? I know snow was big last year so I'm going to guess some equipment might be kind of hard to get because people had a good year and they're optimistic. You already talked about the mindset like be prepared, you know, kind of like the boy Scouts mindset.
What other insight could you share with me on what I just asked?
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Yeah, so certainly being prepared is one thing and we know that we're hearing from our dealers right now that their schedules are getting full. I mean this is the time you can't just show up in October and November and expect that you're going to be able to get your truck in or your equipment and get that taken care of. So they're already getting full, their schedules are. And so number one is making sure that you're getting your equipment in there and doing the preventative maintenance and making sure that the equipment that you have isn't going to cause you downtime when snow hits number one. Absolutely.
And then from there, it's spending time evaluating your data. You own your data. You are the coach, you have the playbook. So look at what areas did you fall down last year? What are areas that you could improve?
Again, doesn't matter if the winter's a banger or if it's light. You have to be prepared for whatever the weather brings. And so spending the time in your data and then with your people, I mean, your people are your greatest asset. I mean, even as the equipment manufacturer, yeah, I'd love for everyone to go out and just buy more equipment, but it's not buying more equipment for the sake of buying more equipment. You have to have skilled operators, trained people who are going to operate that equipment. And. And then is the equipment what you need? Do you have the right mix for the jobs that you've taken on, or do you have a truck that didn't run as much as it should have this past winter? And if it's a banger winter, yeah, it might be running. But if it's not, do you have the right mix of equipment? Is it another sidewalk machine that's going to help push you over so you can complete that contract and have zero downtime? Or is that another area of your business where you need to be spending more time?
[00:08:21] Speaker B: You know, Katie, as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking back on our past winter, and we had numerous events that went great.
90% of them went great. We had one, it was 15 inches. It was tough, it was hard.
And I think there's a tendency, like, the farther you get from that event that was tough, you forget the sting. And so I think one of the things I would say to everybody, either watching on the YouTube version or listening, like, remember how you felt at 3 in the morning when you were losing?
And what can you do right now to maybe win that match the next time? I just think that that is so important. And even, even if you debrief and everything like the same time heals all wounds. And in some ways, you know, my mom used to say that to me. And, you know, that's. That's been around forever. And there's a lot of truth to that. But I think it's so easy just to forget how bad it was and not really dig in right now and try to make some improvements so you don't have that happen again.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Yes. And we hear so many Times from contractors that, yeah, they forgot about what happened last winter. And if they're not going back to the data or they're not going back to those storm records to say what happened at this particular customer's lot, they just say yes again or repeat the pattern. Okay, well, now we're in the same situation going into the upcoming winter and we didn't make any of those improvements or look at do we have the right customer mix or is our route optimized or, you know, do we have an area where we could capitalize on another. Another customer in that area. So those are all things like, yeah, your memory fades. We all had a great summer. Right. So now we're going into next winter. Go back to your. Go back to your.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: You know, to give a little inside baseball here at Grunder Landscaping, we have. One of the things we're doing is we're getting rid of some accounts that were a little too far away and they weren't really worth it. We're taking those pusher boxes that we had on site, we're reallocating them to new lots that we've gotten that were very close to where we had some existing clients. And we're also don't even need a machine there because I know in this one area where we're growing, you take the loader in, you run the box, you finish, you drive the loader with the bucket on it down to the next place. You drop the bucket, you put the pusher box on. So like I can say firsthand, like, that's from data analytics on us, on an opportunity for us to improve profitability, response time, service, client happiness.
You know, snow's a tough thing. Katie. I have been working hard with my sales team about stating expectations. And it just seems like clients, especially when their backs up against the wall in a snow situation, they forget everything that you told them about how this is going to work with the snow, how the worst snow that we can have is the one that starts at 5 o' clock in the morning when everyone's asleep. They wake up, they come into work at seven, they say, why is my driveway not clear? Why am I. You know, there's just all that. And as I listen to you, Katie, I think I always try to do scenario planning. So you have best case, worst case, and then what's most likely to happen?
The best case scenario. This is the world according to Marty. You can disagree with me. I don't think there's much merit in spending a tremendous amount of time on a best case scenario because like, we all know we can handle that. The scenario that I think you've got to really focus on is worst case.
Because if your worst case is you get 12 inches of snow and you don't have enough equipment and operators, you got a real problem.
And so maybe can you speak to what I'm saying there and how you maybe get to the most likely scenario? Have you ever heard anybody say it like this? And is there any, any words of wisdom you have for what I'm portraying there?
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I just want to say sometimes the best case scenario though is still really hard because that means everything's churning and everything needs to be operating at the full flywheel's gotta be moving and that always isn't. That's not easy.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: I can't argue with that.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: So certainly worst case scenario is if, well, for a snow contractor, if there's no snow and the equipment payments are still coming, insurance payments are still coming, employees are still looking at you like, look at, this is my livelihood too. Right. So that's certainly worst case scenario. Then you look at, like you mentioned, most likely, how, how many events do I have that I'm going to be able to survive with the equipment that I have? Where does downtime happen?
How many events get you to an average winter? That's another good one.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: Right? There's data on all that.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yes, yes. And then what pieces of equipment are making you money and which, what pieces of equipment are in the shop consistently that you're not even paying attention to? All those maintenance costs that add up that actually are costing you big time. And so even in a most likely in an average winter, look at, it's not just the cost of the equipment up front, it's the continuous maintenance or where they may have cost you, that piece of equipment, cost you downtime for a contract that now you've got to pull someone else or move equipment around that creates those additional headaches. And so making sure that you're prepared if this one goes down, what's my backup plan? And that's what I love about snow. That's the biggest challenge of snow compared to green. There's no opportunity for downtime. Which is also why we take it really seriously, Abbas, that you need quality, reliable equipment. That is our job.
Because you don't have that level of flexibility to say, oh, I have four hours, I can get this fixed and then come back to the site that
[00:14:09] Speaker B: doesn't exist and I'll just share something with you. So we had, we have I think 25 John Deere loaders and skid steers, they're all a year or less old.
At one time last year, three of them were down brand new machines.
Two of them were tire issues. One was the fuel got gummed up. Not anything that John Deere did wrong that's going to happen. But like those are all the things you're talking about. Like you would never think that you'd have two tires off a brand new machine down, but you did. You hit a curb and you pop it off and you're in trouble.
So those are all, I mean, what you're saying, there's super smart to think through on the redundancies and the Plan Bs that I have in case, you know, am I, am I ready? Am I prepared?
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Mm. And again, I don't want people, I don't want contractors to buy equipment for the sake of buying equipment or you're not always going to be able to have that extra piece of equipment that's just sitting around for that downtime moment. So it's making sure that you have the flexibility in your fleet that if that downtime does occur, what's my game plan to mitigate this situation and not lose this contract and keep the contract and customer happy.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: And I'm somewhat embarrassed to ask you this question but because I know like we've gotten data from sima, we've gotten data from, from talking to other contractors best practices.
Can you help us with any of this historical data? Like does boss have this stuff that can be sent out or is it on a website or something? I'm clueless. I. It just dawned on me like you might be a wonderful source for this.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So if you're, you're looking for.
Depends on what you're looking for. There are great sources out there for weather data and going back to like 15 year climatology reports. You know, I know that true weather can supply that right. For your area. So you can see what's that most likely, what's that average winter, what should I be planning for. And then certainly on the business management side, if you're not using a business management system today, I would highly encourage you to do that. You know, Horizon360 is one option that's offered by the Toro company where you can use your green and your snow equipment and have it all tracked with a CRM and scheduling and billing with QuickBooks because that, that becomes how am I looking at that data to then optimize going forward? Where are my operational efficiencies, what's my uptime and Downtime of equipment and equipment utilization, all that is visible.
You are your the best source for that information.
It's hard when you have operators right in your growing because they need to be inputting that information and your data is only as good as the information coming into it. But certainly when I talk to contractors who are growing like the risk is having all that information in your head.
And guys will start out, you know, with one truck and start building their business. And they know every customer, they know where every mailbox is, they know where every curb is.
And then they get a little bigger and they can't be in every lot anymore.
And so they are their biggest risk having that information in their head. So getting that out and on paper with business management system to help capture that and be able to go back to that data is so important.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: That's a great point on scaling. That's how the owner can get out of the seat of doing it all. And I think the problem is a lot of owners erroneously think their team doesn't want to step up and take the challenge. Yeah, they do. They have dreams and aspirations. They want to do better in their job. They know if they can do more for you, that means more money. It means the company grows. I mean, that's showing them a path to growth, isn't it?
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Absolutely. And Marty, I've heard you talk about this with your employees. Just understanding what are, what is everyone's motivations and how do we fuel that in our companies and that company culture. I mean, last week I was just at Stormfield Day and talking to Bob Marks and Jordan Smith and listening to them about raising the standard of the industry and the importance of people and culture. Because like you said, you're doing this job like no one's volunteering to wake up at 2am and to be in the freezing cold and wet boots and getting this work done.
Unless they're valued and connected to a broader vision and mission and company and people they care about who are at work.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: So. Well said. Let's talk about equipment because you know it well.
That's, you know, there's many pieces of new equipment and all this. How do you forecast the needs? Like how do you, how do you get into this and make good decisions? You know, there's, there's things that talk about, you know, like how old is your fleet, the repair history, replacement cycles, backups. Maybe if there's 12 inches or more, you've got some excavators on standby to come in and help you. Are there rental yards? I mean how do you, how do you get into this stuff? What are smart contractors doing to decide what to buy?
[00:19:07] Speaker A: Yeah. So one thing I always stress is don't just go in and say like, okay, I'm starting a snow removal company. I must buy these pieces of equipment. Like, stop there.
What kind of work are you going to be doing? What kind of contracts are you trying to win? And okay, let's take one contract that you're trying to win if you won that contract and you're going to try to replicate or this is what your portfolio is going to look like. Like, now let's look at what equipment do you need to get those jobs done?
Because I, I think so often we can fall into the trap of, oh, that's the next best cool tool. Or I, Yep, of course, I just, this is how I've always done it. I'm just going to buy another X, whatever it is. But really, is that best for the portfolio of contracts that you're winning and for that one contract, start with one contract and get that down. What is that acreage? Like, what services do you need to do? What's the best equipment mix that you need there? Get that tight. And then let's look at the rest of the jobs and build from there. And then what mix of equipment that you're going to need for that flexibility to get, get the work done.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: That makes complete sense. And I would think if you're new to the snow removal business or maybe you've been doing it a while and you've just been using V plows, you're looking to grow. I would think your local boss dealer can help you with some of these decisions, right?
[00:20:30] Speaker A: Absolutely. Your dealer is your best friend. Build that relationship. Because as much as you are out in the snowstorm and if you have that downtime moment, your dealer is your number one friend to be able to help get you back up and running. And they're there for support, they're there for business insights as you start.
Just like me, they've seen a lot of contractors, even more in most cases. Right. That they're supporting through those storms. And so they have a lot of perspective to be able to.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Well, and look at our snow fighters platform that we're working on. Come see us in Dayton on the 22nd and 23rd of September. Maybe you're not even in snow and you're thinking about doing it. Be a great place to come. Let me kind of put you on the spot because I'm sure boss is watching trends because there's things that you're innovating. I know that. What's one trend that you think everyone might be talking about five years from now?
[00:21:21] Speaker A: Oh, we're going to be talking about five years from now. I certainly see material management becoming much more automated and how we're tracking that. I mean, especially with salt shortage that we saw previously. But material management, what that means for the environment, what that means for business. Roi, how do we automate that? We're hearing a lot right now. Certainly material management being important, but now I've got operators who are getting in these trucks. How do I lock those spreaders or lock that material density, etc. So that the owner is in more control and some of that is just automated or known based on the conditions of the environment.
And you're seeing that in other industries.
I think that you're going to see more of that in the next five years across the snow industry. We'll start to see some of that automation and that data and weather information coming into play.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Is there anything new coming along the line? I know you have the snow raider in terms of sidewalk equipment. You mentioned liquid de icing. The box plows have been around a while. They're really hard to beat with that loader combination and how you can set that on a lot and have a machine that's extremely powerful and nice and warm and you can see out of it.
I think it's a great way to go. Is there anything else in equipment that we should be looking at? Talking about automation, you mentioned technology at the start where you had that background.
I know there's a new electrical system. Anything you want to talk about there?
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Yeah, certainly. So my favorite thing to talk about right now is the cold front technology electrical system. I mean, we heard from contractors for years that they were done with a 13 pin connector and for fleet flexibility. That's a really big decision as an organization to make and move away from. And so we wanted to make sure that we got that right. And then how does that support a total ecosystem of products going forward? Which is why I'm so passionate about it because I see all the opportunity that is going to come from having that, having that electrical system.
So it's a new electrical system from Boss. We got rid of the 13 pin, but that allows for material management with the VBX plus that's on a cold front electrical system. So now your plow and your spreader on the same electrical system. So you want to talk about automation and all that. The VBX plus can now be run with your PLOW hand control.
So if you buy auto spread to set the density of the material and that's on the, on the VBX plus controller. Now all your operator is doing is starting and stopping and the material density is going to adjust based on their speed, based on their spread pattern to make sure that they're only putting down the material that you specified for that particular contract.
And so there's just automation and more things to come. But that's really the backbone that's going to get, get us on that.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: That's exciting because it's like all this stuff is stressed when it gets cold. And I know that's going to be a more reliable system as well.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, and contractors have to realize too, like at boss, yeah, we manufacture the equipment, but when it's snowing and there's big snowstorms going on, this office has a different energy too because we're taking phone calls from contractors and dealers and service techs. And snow days are my favorite days to come into the office. And you know, I have friends who laugh, they're like, you know, we're all looking forward to a snow day to be able to stay at home and you can't wait to drive into the office to go in for a snow day at Boston. So really there's that extra energy of being around and making sure that our products are working for people.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: And I know you are way up in Northern Michigan, Iron Mountain, Michigan to be specific. And how many inches of snow do you get in Iron Mountain, Michigan?
[00:25:17] Speaker A: So on average we're about a 61 inch winter.
About just an hour north of us though, it goes from 200 to 300 inches. Really.
So we're in that, we're in that little bubble. So certainly like we know snow, we're dealing with it on our own personal homes and driveways. And just the environment that we live in is, is all snow, so.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: And beautiful.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: It's a great place to make snow blast.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: Very. All right, folks, now let's hear from one of our trusted partners that helps us be successful at Grunder Landscaping Co.
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[email protected] Hope to see you there.
All right, welcome back. We're with Katie, the senior marketing manager from Boss Snowplows, Iron Mountain, Michigan, having a great discussion about snow. And yes, we're recording this in early August and it's 90 degrees. We do need to be talking about snow. Katie, as you look across the industry, are there changes coming? We just talked about the cold front technology, and certainly that's a change.
But what other changes are on the horizon? And I guess the big lens that I would have here is that, you know, as the owner and the operator of a landscaping company that does a lot of snow now as well, labor shortages, I don't see any solutions in the future. And we do work with the H2B program, but those people can't help us with snow.
So, you know, I know that technology, certainly efficiencies, better equipment, operator comfort. What can you talk to us about changes on the horizon?
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So boss, yes, we're responsible for the equipment, but paying attention to the whole ecosystem that contractors and challenges that they're dealing with and labor consistently is one of them. And that's certainly the message of the snow raider and the snow raider lineup to help optimize labor and get sidewalks done more efficiently. I don't think right now that if you were in the sidewalk game that you can really do that efficiently with labor shortages without some type of sidewalk raiders.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: Katie, to digress for a moment, we estimate that they replace four people and they don't stop when they're tired. You, you can still get the snow raider moving if you're tired?
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. And so I think that lineup, having the scout just for plowing at the right point for a contractor in their business to being able to have the cab and all the bells and whistles and be able to switch from the broom and the blower and all of that. So I certainly see that continuing expand to help solve that labor shortage problem. You know, something that I'm concerned about is looking at as I'm having conversations with contractors. Yeah, they're facing labor shortages and problems, but insurance becoming more and more of their operating budget. And so as an industry, what are we doing to advocate and to support standards that are raising the bar and that help our snow and ice contractors with insurance challenges? Again, yeah, we're an equipment manufacturer, but we see the whole picture and how can we be part of more of the solution and that ultimately is going to help all of us. Right. So can our equipment provide some piece of information that's going to help them with a slip and fall or to validate that they're doing the work and that they're doing the maintenance that's required for insurance purposes? I mean, that's something that keeps me up at night thinking about how can all these puzzle pieces of the ecosystem start to come together to support the challenges of contract?
[00:29:56] Speaker B: Well, and I want to get, I mean, Katie, I don't. I've, I have seen you all over the United States. I don't know at how many events. You spend a lot of time at these events talking to contractors. I understand now why it would be exciting on a snow day. You probably even take some calls yourself because that helps you get into the mind of the people using your equipment. And anytime you can do that in any business, when you can get your mind in, into the, the one of your clients, that's how you get better, like listening to them and forming relationships. So I love listening to you because I can tell you got a very good handle on, on the snow removal industry, snow and ice industry.
[00:30:37] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, I love going to events. I enjoy them.
I'm so happy to see more and more collaboration, I feel, across the industry, across these events. I mean, we as manufacturers are coming together. We're really trying to solve the problems that our customers are facing.
And you know, whether it's storm, field day, gross, snow, I'm so excited about even going to grow and elevate, equip. Like there's so many of these great events that contractors are coming together. But I would recommend, if you are starting out in snow, seek out one of the events, those regional events, find a mentor, talk to another contractor because you're going to learn a lot and that's how that's going to help you in your.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: I think you know this about me. About 80% of my speaking is in the green industry or snow industry.
The other 20% is in all kinds of industries, housekeeping, contracting, manufacturing, banking.
And it's amazing when I go to other industries, I think there's something special that goes in, in the green and the snow industry, in Terms of sharing, there really is a lot of sharing that goes on. At least that's what I have found. And, you know, you don't have to go at this alone. I don't know that anybody would want to locally go share their biggest challenges and issues with their local competition.
But when you go out of town to an event to find a group, to find somebody you can, you know, befriend, I mean, I've just seen it in the peer groups in the community that we've created at the Grow group with our ACE peer groups, these men and women that have companies all over the country, they'll tell somebody three states away what they're dealing with. And I think part of it, Katie, to be honest with you, it's cathartic because you start talking about your problems and you leave realizing they got the same problems I do. Oh, my goodness. And now maybe we can work on some solutions.
Sorry that this sounds so bad. Instead of whining about how bad we've got it, like, there's gonna be challenges in business, and I think the sooner you can embrace them and just understand that's normal and try to work on solutions, the better off you're gonna be.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. And, Marty, you said it, though. Like, even if you're not learning from someone in snow and ice or in the green industry, which I highly recommend you do, just being in circles, whether it's other industries or other business owners, you're going to learn things for your own business as well. So constantly being a learner in this, in this industry is so important. I mean, I own my own small business as well, and I'm applying things that I learned from the snow and ice contractors and how they're running their businesses to my own business. Completely unrelated, not even close, but certainly right. Like, there are things that we can all be learning and taking from that. So investing in learning should be part of a contractor's plan. And even bringing up their employees, how do you get them involved and invested part of that culture piece to. To buy into what you're doing and why you're putting a process in place so they have perspective on why the process exists.
I was just at an event back in April, and we were all standing around talking about employees and them requesting more money and how do you set those levels and what are those expectations, and you can learn that and how to handle those situations across industries. And so, yeah, keep. Keep your ears in your eyes.
[00:34:07] Speaker B: I love what you're saying there. And it's also fun. Like, it doesn't this is work. It's a way of showing your team you believe in them. To send them to an event like this, it's building camaraderie. It's a spirit. It's them understanding they have a say in things. I mean, culturally, there's so much benefit from all that. All right, we got a little lightning round here. As we come to the end, I've got some questions I'm going to ask you and get your responses. You ready?
[00:34:30] Speaker A: Awesome. Let's do it.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: All right. Biggest mistake contractors make, not preparing for
[00:34:36] Speaker A: the winter in July and August.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Can't argue with that. One piece of equipment. Every contractor underestimates sidewalk equipment. I think that's right. I was hoping you'd say that. How early should someone order equipment?
[00:34:51] Speaker A: Oh, it's never too early.
July, August. Be talking to your dealer about what you're going to need.
[00:34:57] Speaker B: Right? Right now. Yep.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: Favorite boss innovation.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Oh, I told you already. Cold front technology. Very excited. That's the backbone.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: Most overlooked maintenance item on our equipment.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: Oh, electrical connections. Checking your electrical connections.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Sounds good. I wouldn't know that. You're ahead of me on that. That's like my kryptonite.
The most important thing to inspect before a storm.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Hydraulic hoses, electrical connections. Again, making sure you have enough material to get through the next storm.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. Best advice for someone that's just entering snow.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: Find a mentor and find one of those regional events and sign up for one.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: Love it. One habit every successful contractor shares.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: Prepare ahead of the storm.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: Prepare ahead of the storm. Okay. And then this one's a little off the wall. Favorite place to eat at in Iron Mountain, Michigan, where your office is.
[00:35:59] Speaker A: Oh, you know, I love. There's a downtown restaurant called Spiros. It's a great place. If you're in Iron Mountain, come, Come visit.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: All right, well, when I come to see you, that's where we're going, okay?
[00:36:10] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: I'll even buy. I'll bring Emily.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: There we go. I love it.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: Katie, thank you so much for spending time with us. It's a pleasure. You're a smart young lady. I. I hope everyone listening realizes something. Snow success isn't about luck, ladies and gentlemen. It's about preparation. And by the way, we don't all have this figured out. We're all learning. The companies making money this winter are making decisions today.
And if you'd like to learn more about boss equipment, visit Boss Snowplows. You can Google that. And if you'd like to see how we prepare our own snow operation, at Grundier Landscaping Co. Join us and Katie and many others at Grow Snow in Dayton, Ohio. September 21st, 22nd, 23rd kicks off a little bit there. On the night of the 21st, the 22nd and the 23rd is going to be great. You're going to see the planning that we do. Katie's going to be teaching, you're going to learn systems, you're going to see equipment. The leadership that we put on here to manage our storm systems that we have every year. We do not have it all figured out, folks. We're growing too and we're learning and I hope you'll join us. Katie, any good of the order? Anything you want to add before we wrap it up?
[00:37:15] Speaker A: Oh, this is a great, great episode. Thank you, Marty. I think that, you know, as we head into the next winter and upcoming trends between AI and automation, it's all still going to come back to good people. And so investing in good people and education is the key.
[00:37:30] Speaker B: Well, and you're a very thoughtful person. I've been around you and your team. Chuck is a dynamo. Love him. And you carry yourself like a leader should carry themselves. And I think what you said there matters because I see you doing it yourself for your own team so well.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: Thank you, Marty. I appreciate it.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: All right, folks, that's going to do it for this week's edition of the Grow Show. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to the Grow show and if you can give it a rating or share a comment, share that helps more success minded landscape professionals find us. And if you really want to help us, take your phone out right now and share this episode with your team or any landscape pro or snow pro you know. Thanks for joining us on the Grow show this week. We'll talk to you next week.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Grow show and a special thanks to Aspire, Bobyard and Exmark for making this episode possible. We'll talk to you next week.
Sam.
