Building a Profitable Service Business Without Employees

In this episode, I sit down with Joseph Bushman of Bushman Landscaping to discuss what it really takes to run a profitable service business as a solo operator.

What We Cover

• Why Joseph chose to stay a one-man operation instead of hiring employees
• How going solo allowed him to significantly increase his income
• Avoiding the headaches of managing employees in the trades
• Staying fully booked through word-of-mouth and Google reviews
• The labor challenges facing service businesses today
• Trade-offs of staying small vs. scaling with a team
• What aspiring business owners should understand before leaving a W-2 job

About Joseph Bushman

Joseph runs Bushman Landscaping, a successful one-man landscaping operation that proves you don’t need employees to build a thriving, profitable business.

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Transcript

Kevin Wilson: I’m really excited today. Our guest joining us is Joseph Bushman from Bushman Landscaping. And Joseph, why don’t you tell us just a little bit about your background? How did you get into landscaping?

Joseph Bushman: It was the plan. I went to college, got a degree in horticulture with emphasis in landscape design and then a business minor.

Kevin Wilson: Awesome. And so you got out of college and then did you immediately start your own business or did you work for someone else?

Joseph Bushman: I worked for others and I was kind of pushed into starting my own business because of heartaches or struggles that I wasn’t aware of in the industry. So a lot of employers in labor pay under the table or hire illegals. So coming out of college with a degree, I was valued under the table and illegals. That was my competition. So coming out of college with a four-year degree, it was good, but it wasn’t profitable if I stayed working for others.

Kevin Wilson: So my first job after college, I remember being interviewed and the guy said, well, normally we start people at $8 an hour, but since you have a college degree, we’re going to start you off at $9 an hour. And I remember thinking like, oh yeah, that four years of tuition are really paying off.

Joseph Bushman: That’s kind of ridiculous. All those songs that talk about working for the boss are kind of true. Not taking advantage of things.

Kevin Wilson: They come from somewhere, right? There has to be some truth in them. So what type of work were you doing for these companies?

Joseph Bushman: Landscape installations. So the labor and leading crews.

Kevin Wilson: How large were your crews typically?

Joseph Bushman: It depended, but from like two to five or so. And that’s a sore topic. A lot of companies have really taken advantage of me. Where they’ve promised to make me a crew manager so I’d be over multiple crews, but then I just become a glorified laborer. In the end they don’t let me lead out and use my knowledge and ability to shoot grades and different things, but then just still pay me. They agree to a certain wage, but then it’s always come down to laying me off in the winter or not paying as much as they said.

Kevin Wilson: I imagine landscaping is a highly seasonal industry.

Joseph Bushman: Yeah, it is.

Kevin Wilson: Now that you are out on your own, how do you handle that seasonality?

Joseph Bushman: So I’m a one-man show now because of the same struggles. I’m not willing to pay under the table and not willing to hire illegals. So the pool of employing people isn’t super great, so I’ve given up. All the things I’ve tried, I’ve just given up by now and accept that the way I’m willing to do it renders me doing it myself.

Kevin Wilson: Really? So you’re doing all of the labor yourself.

Joseph Bushman: Yeah. But I’ve hit a cap in what I can do as profitability because there’s only so much one person can do, but it’s three, four times what I was being paid by employers. So as long as my body can keep up and keep it going, then it’s the way I’ll go.

Kevin Wilson: That’s awesome. Yeah, and there’s a lot to say about not having to worry about managing people. That can be a major headache to a lot of business owners.

Joseph Bushman: Yeah. At some point, as I get older and my body’s not keeping up anymore, I’ll probably try the… I’ve looked into H2B visas for seasonal employment labor. And for right now, it seems too much of a gamble. I can make a decent living. But with H2B visas, it’s like a lottery. And I’m not sure how much of it’s a lottery because the huge businesses always seem to get what they need. And I don’t know what they would do if they couldn’t. They’d have all these contracts that they can’t perform. They’d be in big trouble. So at some point, I’ll try it when I get older, but haven’t been willing to gamble on that yet.

Kevin Wilson: Would you say that the hiring component has been the biggest hurdle for your business so far?

Joseph Bushman: Yeah.

Kevin Wilson: All right. Well, when you decided to go off on your own, how did you get your first client, your first customer?

Joseph Bushman: That was tough. I did booths at home and garden shows and door to door leaving pamphlets. But a lot of that didn’t turn a lot of business. It wasn’t until I started trying things like online lead generation companies like Houzz.com and HomeAdvisor.

Kevin Wilson: Oh, okay. Or Thumbtack.

Joseph Bushman: Yeah. Different things like that. Problem is their leads are so expensive and they can throw lots at you and you can be spending. So I turn the leads on and off so I’m not getting overwhelmed. And a lot of the times the leads aren’t very good. So you spend $30, $50 on a lead that goes nowhere. But anyhow, got some traction doing that way. And to be able to get reviews, setting up a website. But one of the biggest online things and everything else that I’ve done for online, like setting up a website, being on BBB or having a presence on all these lead generation places, that helps have traction on the internet. But the Google My Business page, that’s something relatively easy to manage on your own.

Kevin Wilson: And would you say that, like, what percentage of your business now comes from lead gen sites? And what comes from people finding you online because of your Google reviews and things like that?

Joseph Bushman: So I don’t pay for any leads to be sent to me from lead generation sites. I’m on their platforms and have a presence that way. I don’t know if anybody’s seeing me there and then finding my contact otherwise and calling, but I believe most of it, if not all, is mostly through the Google My Business. People searching for local landscapers.

Kevin Wilson: So it sounds like what you’re saying is these lead gen websites, they’re a great way to get your foot in the door. But then once you’ve built up a reputation, you have reviews on Google, then the majority of your work can come from just people finding your business organically on Google. And that way you don’t have to pay for your leads. Am I summarizing that pretty well?

Joseph Bushman: Yep. And you can be ranked fairly high on Google without even paying for Google ads. If you just keep up your content and if you post some things regularly. What was a pain though, last year, Google’s like an entity that you can’t even contact hardly. And they disabled my page and I was like, oh man, I don’t know what to do. They weren’t responding. So I have a marketing company that I pay to keep up with marketing on the BBB and keeping my website running smooth. But I contacted them and asked them if they were also a Google partner and if they could help me out with resolving whatever issue Google had with me. And I don’t know that they ever came up with a reason, but they were able to help get that going along and get me back active.

But yeah, that’s pretty key to my business now. It brings in leads and I get enough phone calls that I let my answering machine be my secretary. I don’t even have the time to give people the bids. I’m busy with enough work that I let them tell me the spiel on the answering machine and I choose the ones I want to respond to, the ones that sound worthwhile.

Kevin Wilson: Wow, that’s awesome. Do you think that that’s just because there’s not very much competition in the area or because you’ve built up a pretty good reputation?

Joseph Bushman: I think there’s plenty of competition. But I don’t know. I think the need outpaces the people in the industry to get there as fast as people would like. So it’s some of both. I have lots of reviews and high ratings. And that brings a lot of trust for people.

Kevin Wilson: One of the things that I noticed about your website is you have some beautiful images of the work that you’ve accomplished. Are you also sharing your previous work on social media or is it all 100% just from your website?

Joseph Bushman: I have in the past on Facebook. I just don’t like how social media consumes my life. It gets me trapped. So I stopped doing that just because it’s a dark hole. It sucks me in.

Kevin Wilson: Yeah. I think that’s something a lot of people can relate to. Okay. So we talked a little bit about your hiring problems, that it’s difficult to find good employees that can check all of the boxes, which means that you’ve been doing a lot of the work. Did you have to build up certain skills to get into the industry? Or would you say the majority of those you learned on the job?

Joseph Bushman: So I learned things through my degree, more technical things, but a lot is what I have learned by working for others in the industry as well. Utah, I’m not sure what the current regulations or codes are, but Utah, when I started the business, they required two years experience working under a licensed professional in the industry. And had to pass a test. They made that test pretty rigorous actually too. A lot of technical things. So when I came in, there were more safeguards for the industry and requirements. You have to be licensed, not just a city license, business license, or setting up your tax EIN numbers and business accounts and everything. Also, as almost every industry, I suppose, there’s the Department of Professional Licensing. They require you to do continuing education, keep your professionalism.

Kevin Wilson: Yeah. Okay. So if someone like, let’s say your son came to you and said, “Hey dad, I’d like to own my own landscaping business.” What’s the path that you would recommend they take to get into the industry?

Joseph Bushman: I’m not sure. I don’t necessarily think that a degree is needed or too much experience. You have to jump the hurdles that the state requires, but a lot of it you can learn just by doing and learning yourself, doing the research and learning yourself before you do it. Not just throwing out crummy work, but actually knowing before you do it. But there’s nothing too hard. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you just get the ball rolling. It snowballs and it’s surprising what a person can do. They just get started.

Kevin Wilson: Yeah. The power of momentum.

Joseph Bushman: Yep. Whatever their weakness, like there’s natural abilities. For me, I’m good as a laborer and I’m good at bids and being methodical and organizing, which is good since I have to do it all on my own. But maybe what I should do is hire somebody that can do the hiring for me, someone that’s a better people person or someone with HR hiring experience.

Kevin Wilson: Yeah. So what are some of the business lessons that might not be unique to the landscaping industry, but things that you’ve found out through your own trial and error?

Joseph Bushman: That it’s partly trial and error. You have to learn from what you’re doing and take risks. It’s not all fun and games, but the potential for greater rewards is there. You have to be committed. And you might have to be a little crazy. Because I’ve stuck through working for people for a long time. There’s been a lot of headaches. I could have just thrown my hands up and went and did some other kind of career. But stick with it and there’s roadblocks, but do the best you can.

A big thing is to be smart. I think with being frugal too. Not as an individual, but as a business, do without the best equipment or do without hiring more people.

Kevin Wilson: There’s a fantastic book called The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. And it sounds a little crass, but he basically describes being an entrepreneur as being on the toilet and you discover that you only have one square of toilet paper. And just how diligent you become in making the most out of that one square of toilet paper. That’s the same level of diligence needed to start your own business because you have to watch your finances that closely.

Joseph Bushman: Yep. I think that kind of ties to… I see that with, if I could find employees in the first place, but if you can put your personnel, anybody that’s working with you, you can create skin in the game for them. They’ll be a lot better employee. Because as a business owner, you’re in it and you’re committed and you’re not sitting there being lazy and you’re a lot more profitable just because you have skin in it. As soon as you get an employee and they just feel like not appreciated or don’t have input to grow themselves or to have some autonomy within it themselves. But if they can grow and see perks or blessings come because they’re putting effort in, they’ll keep it up. But if you don’t give them any length to their rope, they’ll stay put and not try much. And for some labor industries, like having an extra employee, if they’re not really putting in effort, they’re not bringing you any extra profit anyway. It’s dead weight.

Kevin Wilson: Yeah. So what do you think are some of the best ways to allow an employee to have skin in the game? What have you observed from your time managing crews and working for other companies?

Joseph Bushman: I’m not sure that I’ve seen too much in the employers I’ve worked for, but they’ve done simple things like Christmas bonuses or take people out to dinner or provide snacks or drinks or things at times, but those are pretty minimal. I don’t think those really have the effect. So I don’t know. You can provide health insurance. I know a lot of companies do that. You can do profit sharing or you can pay a person by more of a task instead of hourly. You can provide help with health insurance or give them responsibilities. Those are the biggest, then let them do it. Kind of stand out of the picture as much as you can. I think that’s the biggest. People like to feel needed and the ability to progress and grow in their own lives. So give them a task and trust them enough.

Don’t completely take off. I had one employer that did just sit me on a job before I knew how to perform some tasks. And this guy, good luck, throw you to the wolves. So I learned a lot doing that way, but it wasn’t very beneficial to the company. So there’s something to that, you can’t do that either. A lot of people would be like, oh, it’s too stressful. I’m giving up. You’ve got to have some input, but get out of the way as much as you can so they can grow and ease the load for you as much as can happen. If you’re managing them too much, then you’re creating work for yourself. Let them do what they’re hired for.

Kevin Wilson: Yeah, sounds like a big emphasis on providing autonomy and ownership for just getting the job done goes a long way.

Joseph Bushman: Yeah.

Kevin Wilson: If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing that would make your entrepreneurial journey easier, what would that be?

Joseph Bushman: I’m not sure. You have to go into it. Not completely blind. But there’s lots of things you just don’t know until you get started. So I would encourage anybody to not let it be like a honeymoon kind of state where you’re blinded or infatuated with any kind of thoughts that this is going to just work out. And to look for pitfalls in whatever kind of industry or market that you’re looking to get into. Look for pitfalls or headaches or struggles that that industry has, and then ask yourself if you’re willing to deal with that.

Because for me, not realizing, even getting the degree, not realizing that trade in the labor industries are so rough for employing people. That may have dissuaded me, but probably not because I still love hands-on work and being active physically in a job. So I probably still would have taken the route, but I think that’s important. Just to not go in blind and saying, oh, that’s not really a big deal. And letting infatuation on a thought carry you through. And then once you’re really in it, giving up. You have to realize what you’re truly getting into and choose to be committed to it. Or else you will end up giving up. There’s lots of companies that only survive, don’t pass five years. It’s probably just because they face the challenges that they’re not willing to deal with. Not that they can’t be profitable and make it work. It’s just there are struggles you have to deal with in every industry, I suppose.

Kevin Wilson: And where do you feel like the industry is going? Where do you think the landscaping industry is going to be in 10 to 15 years from now? Do you foresee any major changes?

Joseph Bushman: No. I think it’s always going to be needed. I think if there continues to be… no administration’s taken care of… there’s lots of problems with immigration and different things and workforce problems created because of it. But there’s some big changes now that may limit the amount of labor in the industry. So it may drive the cost of these kind of labor industries up for the consumer just because more demand, less laborers to do it.

Kevin Wilson: Awesome. And what about your company? Where do you see your company in 10 to 15 years?

Joseph Bushman: 10, 15 years will probably be my breaking point on my body. I don’t know if my body will keep up even to then. So by then I’ll probably try the H2B visas. And if I can get that to go and that works then, I can see the business growing fast. I can see multiple crews and then being able to sit back and watch more. But if it doesn’t work, I think I’m fine with that too. By then I’ll be able to, I’ve prepared and saved for my needs fairly well and fall back on some other industry or job that I can go and be employed.

I don’t know that I’d go work for somebody in the same industry. Now that I’ve been a business owner, I don’t think I’d go work for somebody in the same industry. I think it would drive me crazy because I wouldn’t have enough control. I’d know everything in there and be frustrated by the way they’re doing things. So probably maybe start a different business by then. One that’s not so physically demanding on my body.

Kevin Wilson: So what are the words of encouragement that you would give to someone who’s thinking about taking the plunge and leaving their safe W2 job to go out on their own and start their own business? What would you say to that young, wide-eyed, bushy-tailed version of yourself just a few years ago?

Joseph Bushman: In many ways, it can give you lots of freedom having your own business. So that’s what we all seek for, to be able to have the freedom of choice and ability to do what we want to do. Being a business owner, you still have to meet the demands of your clients and the needs of your family and things, but you have the ability to shape it and to have more freedom, I think. And there’s a lot of joy. The growth you experience by learning and proving to yourself that you can accomplish and do well in things, it’s really rewarding.

But you can’t expect all that extra joy without a little more struggle. W2 job is nice. There’s a lot less pressures as well, but the potential… there’s an opposite in everything. A lot less pressure under the W-2, but there’s a lot less opportunity for reward and joy. As you’re doing everything on your own, there can be a lot more pressure on you as a business owner, but the reward and enjoyment out of it can be a lot greater.

Kevin Wilson: Awesome. Joseph, thank you so much for your time and distilling a little bit of wisdom on all of us. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day and recording this with me. It’s been a pleasure and you’ve given a lot of great advice for me to think about and I think will help a lot of people.

Joseph Bushman: Sounds good. Well, thank you.

Kevin Wilson: All right, okay, take care, goodbye.