A note from the Founder of the Elevate Profit Method, Kelsey Brace.
From time-to-time, we all get an itching to do something with our home. Whether it's a nesting instinct, restless DIY syndrome, or anything else - we all experience the itch to make changes to our homes. It was around a year ago that me and my partner decided that it was time to scratch the itch and get our garden renovated.
I'd worked in the landscaping industry as a supplier for a while so I had a few contacts that I immediately knew I should call to get a quote for our project. My partner, who doesn't particularly know the industry, was over the moon when 3 landscapers came over to quote within a week. We had 3 quotes on the table and we were deciding who we wanted to go with. Once we'd decided on or favourite - lets call him John - we gave John a call back and told him we wanted to accept their quote and this is what we heard:
"Great, I'll invoice you for the deposit and I'll book you in for the 3rd week of July...." (it was January)
My partner's positive attitude dipped a bit. They were still excited that we were getting it done, but gobsmacked with how long we were going to have to wait. Being familiar with the industry, I explained to them that this was very normal.
"These landscapers are always busy, they are always booked up months in advance as their skills are so in demand. This is normal."
So the months rolled by and it was time to start our project. It wouldn't be long and we would have the garden that we had been waiting for, for the best part of 6 months. John arrived, we armed him and his with a teas and coffees and they got straight to work. We were really impressed with how hard they worked and how immaculate the area was looking.
As a business owner myself, my guilty pleasure is talking about other people's businesses. How is it going? How are your sales? What are you finding difficult? So when John was taking a tea break one afternoon, I thought I'd strike up a conversation about how his business was going. I thought it would be a positive success story - after all we had to wait for 6 months for our project, sales must be booming - but I was very surprised by what I heard.
"Kelsey, I'm thinking of packing up and going back to work for someone else. The bills are stacking up and I'm barely getting by with what I'm able to keep for myself. I'm busy 6 days a week, working long days and coming home to a stack more paperwork to do in the evening. It's running me into the ground. It's probably easier to work for someone else."
I was blown away. I couldn't see how this could be the case for someone who's services we've just had to wait half a year for! How were they not making good money, I thought.
It got me thinking, surely there's a reason for this? And if there's a reason, then hopefully we can work out a solution. Not everyone likes finance, but I'm one of the strange people that does. So I offered John a helping hand to see if we could come up with a solution to his problem by taking a close look at his finances.
The problem stood out immediately.
John's books said he was making plenty of profit. Plenty. But when the time came to enjoy those profits, the cash that was supposed to be there for him to keep for himself just wasn't there. His business was eating his cash slowly, without him noticing, via small extra expenses. Extra fuel here, extra materials on a project there, an extra couple of days on a project that overran and so on. All these little extra expenses were eating into his cash-flow, so when he wanted to take some money for himself, it just wasn't there.
This lead to the creation of the Elevate Profit Method or EPM.
The EPM is a method of establishing healthy profit margins, setting strict budgets, ruthlessly sticking to them and - most importantly - paying yourself first.
Once I'd developed the method and spent time with John implementing it in his business. It revolutionised his business immediately. He was able to set aside money for himself at the start of every project, and then collect that money for himself at the end. He'd never experienced business in this way and it transformed the way he thought about running his own.
Long gone were the thoughts of selling up and going to work for someone else. They had been replaced by thoughts of more growth, more projects and less stress. John was now incredibly clear in how he had to run his business in a way that meant he could profit from up.
Now, John's business is becoming more profitable month-by-month. He's working less, earning more and finds his finances a pleasure, not a pain now that he understands them a little more clearly.
You too can transform your business, I promise. If the story above resonates with you, know that you are not alone, and that you are only a handful of steps away from operating a permanently profitable landscaping business.
The Elevate Profit Method is for all landscapers, regardless of size or age of the business, it will work for you and start giving you instant confidence in your finances and enable you to pay yourself each and every month.
We can help you get started! Getting set up with the EPM can take anywhere between 6-10 days, and then you can start making guaranteed profits on your very next project!