Get Job Leads and Borrow Equipment for Free

This video may sound counterintuitive, but what I'm going to tell you is extremely effective. Especially if you're just getting started in landscaping. You start trying to develop business contacts. Work with your competition. And I'm going to give you some exact examples that I want you to follow. Don't view your competition as competition. They're a source of projects. They're a source of job leave. Let me use my company as an example. We've been established for 30 years. We've been around a long time. We have more work coming in than we can ever handle. I need, and I mean I need good company.  I need to know I can feel comfortable when giving a job to another company. We must know that the customer is in good hands.

Good Companies are Hard to Find

Those are few and far between. There are not a lot of people I can do that with. Why do you think I give away? Because now that person owes me a favor. What happens when somebody owes you a favor? They want to repay it. What kind of favors do you think I can get from companies that I give business to?  They are jobs that I couldn't do anyway. In the wintertime, when I'm shorthanded in the labor snow plowing, it's midnight. I call them up and say, "hey I'm short." Those people come out on their own. They'll come out of their PJ's at midnight to give me a hand. Let's say I need a piece of equipment. I don't have it. Guess who does have it. The competition. The competition that I gave tens of thousands of dollars of jobs to. They have that piece of equipment. I call them up and say, "hey I really could use this mini excavator with the 360 degree grappling thumb. Do you happen to have anything available?" "Well golly, you know what we're currently using it, but I'll offer it up and bring it right over to you." Literally I've had that happen. I've been allowed to borrow bulldozers and all sorts of equipment. Why? Because I have reached out and established a relationship with my competition. I've established a relationship and given them things not just job leads not things like that but if they're shorthanded if they need a truck.  All they'll call me up and say, "hey I could use a truck?" I say, "Hey I got one sitting at my yard. I don't have a driver for it right now. Just go take it."

Competition is Not Competition

Now, do you see how I scratch their back? They scratch my back, and together we are better. My competition is not necessarily my competition. My competition is a resource or resource of equipment of skills of information of knowledge. They know that they can come to me. I know I can go to them. Don't view your competition as your competition and we've talked about viewing your competition is cheating as well. I want you to go back and find that video where you look at who's doing what you want to do and where you want to be. What better way than to actually be able to talk to that person. I have lunch meetings with my competition. I sit down with them and I say hey where are you guys going this year what kind of work are you looking for. And then I let them know what I'm looking for and what I need. And we just kind of refresh that relationship every spring and every so often just a simple phone call even if I don't do anything with them. But I want you to understand something. It's the job leads. They may have projects they can't do. They're going to send your way. They may have equipment that you don't have. They'll send your way.