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In our first podcast episode, Dana and I decided to start off by introducing Dana and shedding some light on his background.
Dana is a successful entrepreneur. He started his business, Turf Plus Lawn Care 36 years ago, and he has loved owning and running this business.
They say that super wise people learn from others’ experiences, so let’s dive into the key takeaways from the episode and see what we can learn from Dana and his story.
See the opportunity and jump on it
Dana’s entrepreneurial journey started when he was working for a lawn care company. Through his experience at this job, he was able to see that there was a need that wasn’t being met - the industry, at least in his area, needed a good, honest company to take care of people's lawns.
There are too many companies out there doing what they do for the wrong reasons and Dana saw that the customer needed to be taken care of a lot better than they were. They also needed to have great quality work done on their lawn for a better price.
Dana, after gaining experience in the company where he worked, decided he could start his own business. So, he decided to go for it, and he approached what would be his first customer - an ex-customer of that other company that was not happy about their price or service. Dana knew he could do better, and his theory was proven to be true.
Start lean
Too many people think they need to go all in on a business, and this can be very wasteful in a lot of ways. Dana’s approach is the lean approach. He knew that in order to get started and take care of his first customer, he needed a truck, a hose, small engine, tank, and chemicals. He went out and bought those things and got going.
As you can see from Dana’s story, he didn’t start by getting a fleet of trucks or by getting an office building or something big and unpractical for a business just starting out. He only got what he needed to make the customer happy and went from there. I also love how he had the idea and didn’t waste too much time on the details.
Have a healthy relationship with debt
Dana didn’t have enough money in the beginning to get all of the things listed above for him to get started. He knew he could be successful with the business because he saw it work, so he knew he would make enough money to pay off any expenses.
Armed with this knowledge and confidence, Dana bought his truck and other materials with a loan. He knew that without the loan, he would not be able to start the business when he did. He would have to save up to get started and he knew he needed to start soon. He leveraged his debt to turn his company into the great business it is today.
He says in the interview that he hates debt. So, you can tell it was a very tough decision for him to make to get into debt. He had to do a lot of due diligence as I mentioned before. Because of his healthy “hate” for debt, he was able to pay off his debt quickly and not have that hanging over his head, but remember, it was just the thing he needed to get the business started.
Debt is not always a bad thing. It can be helpful, but only if one uses it wisely. Debt becomes a bad thing when it becomes too much for the debtor to pay off. It is too easy to go way too far into debt because you may think you “need” stuff, but too many people don’t do their due diligence to know this for sure. So, do your due diligence and be smart so you can use debt to your advantage and not to your detriment.
Find Help
In the beginning of Dana’s career, he was alone. His business grew and he quickly realized he couldn’t do it all on his own. He could see that he would need to get some help in order to keep his customers happy and keep the business growing. He also could see that he needed help to keep him from getting overwhelmed and keep him motivated.
There are many ways one could get this help. They could get a mentor, hire some employees, get a partner, outsource etc. Dana decided he would bring on his brother as a partner. His brother is a very hard worker, which compliments Dana’s work ethic as well. Together, they made a great team. Dana was great at making the work happen while his brother was great with the office work.
When Dana got overwhelmed or discouraged, his brother was there to keep him going and the same was true in reverse. When one was down, the other was working hard and keeping the business moving, which helped the discouraged or overwhelmed one keep moving and get out of his rut. It also kept the business moving and growing and the customers happy.
Work Hard and Stay Motivated
Dana was raised to have a very healthy work ethic. And like I said in the section above, he made the wise decision to get help to keep him motivated, but there is something else that has helped him stay motivated and work hard: He loves what he is doing.
Dana has a passion for making customers happy. He loves tweaking things to make sure his customers are getting what they want and need. He is always looking for ways to improve his business and that is what keeps him going.
Dana was able to find his passion in what he was doing, which his passion wasn’t necessarily taking care of lawns. He saw his passion in the day to day work that his business had for him.
Too many of us entrepreneurs take too much time worrying about what kind of business we will start because we want to do what we love. That is totally fine, but what if your passion simply lies in owning and running a business? You will never know unless you act, and that is exactly what Dana did.
Create Great Value for Your Customer
Lawn care companies are very popular here in Utah. This was true even 36 years ago. Getting into the industry, Dana took on the challenge of finding what the market lacked and providing it for his customers. He has spent his career making sure the customer is receiving the best value he, his business, and the industry can provide.
In the interview, Dana points out that most of his customers come from word of mouth. This doesn’t just happen. This can only happen when a customer is so happy with a company that they need to share it with others. Also, because of the nature of the business, if they did a great job for someone and their lawn looked great, others in the area would notice and ask about Turf Plus and want them to take care of their lawn as well.
Taking care of your customers and doing an excellent job definitely has its rewards.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed this interview and that you learned a lot from Dana and his story! If you would like to know more about Turf Plus and what Dana is doing here in Utah, you can visit their website at www.turfplusutah.com.
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