Stan: When I was asked to do a review of the Stihl battery-powered equipment, I said, "Let me think about it." And I didn't get back to them right away, but last year at about this time, I was loading chainsaws and blowers and gear up into one of my employee's brand new Jeep. It's brand spanking new. He just pulled it off the lot, drove it out to the job site and the gas spilt all over.

Stan: I mean, it soaked the back-end of his Jeep, and it was just the worst thing ever. Then, I remembered that Stihl has been asking me to do a review of their equipment, and I thought, "Well, what the heck? It can't be worse than dumping gasoline all over the back of a brand new Jeep." I figured I'd give it a review, and get back to you guys and let you guys know what I think of it. 

Stan: But, it's not just what I think of it. I've actually put it into the hands of the guys that have to work with it every single day, and I got their opinion as well. Let's see how this turns out. 

Stan:...

Stan: Four. For 33 years, I thought that there were four basic pieces of equipment, that as long as any landscape company owned, they could tackle just about any project. Then three years ago, on a pure whim, I picked up what's going to turn out to be number five. It didn't become number five right away. In fact, it didn't become number five until I noticed that on every single one of our projects, the crews would eventually bring it out and put it to work. Sometimes, they would put it to work every single day in the project. Other times, they would only bring it out until the very end of the job. Nevertheless, it always went out on every single one of our jobs.

Stan: Now, when some of you guys find out what this tool is, you're gonna go, no way, no how. That's fine. I don't care, because I would have said the same thing four years ago before I owned one. I would have never guessed that this thing would become such an asset to our company, so I don't blame you for not believing me....

Stan: One of my newer guys screwed up on a sod job today, and it wasn't his fault at all. It was my fault for not giving him a clear enough sense of direction on what not to do while I was busy explaining all of those little details that make for a successful sod installation. So today we're gonna cover the best time of the year to lay sod, what not to do, and the things that you need to get ready so you can have a perfect lawn. So without wasting any more time, let's get into it.

Stan: Problems started when I went out to the job site and noticed that some of the sod had been laid on top of existing turf. Now you can lay sod over existing turf, and it will grow. This is the freshly laid sod before we did the repair, and this is the same spot after, it looks almost identical, and the customer didn't have a problem, and didn't know there was an issue. But it's not the recommended way to do it, and it's not the way I'm gonna leave one of my job sites.

Stan: To correct this specific...

Check out our course: How to Get Started In Snow Plowing

Just trying to get started in snowplowing, this program's going to teach you the entry level ropes. I do these things because I wish somebody had done them for me.

My very first year in snow plowing I got screwed out of 10 thousand dollars by a contractor because I didn't know better. Then I thought I had figured out the system and how to protect myself. I went to work for managerial companies directly.

Five years later, I got screwed out of 12 thousand dollars because I didn't know better. Now, 30 some plus years of snow plowing have taught me the ins, the tricks of the trade, where the real profits lie when you're snow plowing and a guy named [Goggin 00:00:46] called me up and said, "Teach me everything you got, Stanley. Are driveways a good way to go?" Heck yeah, but they're also a managerial nightmare. You do a hundred driveways on your account. Well, guess what. You have to invoice 100 people. There's a way around that so...

We’re going to do a review of this Echo PB-77H Backpack Blower. Now the first thing I can tell you about this blower, in my opinion. I’ve used it for quite a few hours, and is this thing is a beast. When I use this thing, I can actually feel the torque.  When I trottle it up, I can feel it shifting my body back.  So, if you guys are going to be using a machine like this, synch the padded straps tight.  Don't leave them loose hanging on and then throttle it all at once. Can you actually feel it?  Yeah. It pulls me back.  I've noticed that I have to have the straps tight, and when I throttle it up it pulls me back.  Which is not back, because when you're buying a blower, you want power. You've used this blower more than anybody else.  What are your thoughts?  Works good. Runs good. I mean, it has a lot of power.  In can clean out rock beds and grass and all that stuff. You've run this thing over and over again, day after day,...

Stan:  In one hour, I'm going to hopefully teach you something that will change your life forever. I'm going to show you three simple rules that will potentially double your profits from this year forward for the rest of your life. It’s the three percent rule, the five percent rule and the 10 percent rule. Now at the end of this video some of you are going to say the ten percent rule is not achievable and for you it isn't, so congratulations you're right. You see for me I don't live by the 10 percent rule, I've upped that ante a decade ago. I've made the 10 percent rule be my 40 percent rule, to be my 50 percent rule, to be my 60 percent rule. If I can do it, then I know you guys can do it. One of the things I want you to focus on in this next hour, is to understand the effect of scarcity. At the end of this video, I'm going to give you some actual examples of how very common businesses can have very scarce services. So make sure you stay tuned all the way to the end.

...

ExMark Walk Behind vs Grandstand?

All right, a walk behind or a Grandstand, which mower is right for you? We have three simple criteria today. Number one: versatility; one lawn mower, can you do everything you need it to do on your accounts? Number two: operator comfort; at the end of the day are you ready to go again or do you just feel like you've been in a boxing match? Criteria number three is growth; eventually, as an owner or operator you‘re going to move out of that stage and you are going to hire someone to run your lawn mower. Which mower are you more comfortable putting a potentially inexperienced operator behind? Let's get started. Let's talk about versatility, I have found that the walk behind mower can do just about everything that a Grandstand can do, but it conquers the slope. They absolutely master the slope in comparison to a Grandstand. Now, what you're going to see in this clip is I'm going to be mowing about a twelve to maybe fifteen percent slope. I can do...

Sod Basics

It's all about the sod today. We're going to talk about what it takes to have a successful, instant green backyard. We are going to go over grading, we're going to go over the depth of black dirt and to dispel a few myths there. We're going to talk about the watering schedule; when to water, and how much. We're also going to go over when you can mow the sod. We're going to teach you how to peel back the sod and determine how healthy your sod is and then the scourge of sod, fighting the Japanese beetles. What to look for, so you can cut them off before they become problematic, so let's get into it. The first thing I want to do is to dispel a myth that you've got to have four inches of pulverized screen black dirt. If you actually put that much black dirt on top of your subgrade, this soil, this black dirt is going to compress and cause uneven waves in your sod. The four inches isn't necessary and sometimes incorporating it can be a little difficult like tilling your entire...

I'm meeting with Brian right now. We are going to be re-landscaping, and so I make sure we are on the same page.  What we’re going to be doing is we will be getting rid of these trees and bushes. I’m going to cut all of the bushes down.  We’re going to haul that out.

Think Outside the Box

If you guys cut grass, I want you to start thinking a little bit outside the box and expanding your services.  I’m going to take you step by step through this $2,400 dollar job. It took us two days to complete with two guys and a minimal amount of materials.  Now you see me running a skid loader right here. You don’t need a skid loader to pop trees on the ground. Keith Kalfas has an amazing video where he shows doing the exact same work with a pickup truck. But I want you to understand that this project was done in two days.

2 days = 60 Lawns

It would be equal to cutting 60 lawns over the course of a summer. The profits are immense because of the...