Joseph King shares his journey in the landscaping business, starting from working at a plant nursery to building his own successful company. He emphasizes the importance of knowing your goals, being passionate about what you do, and knowing your numbers to ensure profitability. Joseph also discusses the value of having a team and delegating administrative tasks to free up time for focusing on the core business. He mentions mentors like Grant Cardone, Mike Andes, and Alex Hermosillo, and highlights the importance of being genuine, present, and hardworking in both business and personal life.
Takeaways
Keywords
landscaping, business, goals, profitability, team, delegation, mentors, genuine, present, hardworking
Joseph King shares his journey in the landscaping business, starting from working at a plant nursery to building his own successful company. He emphasizes the importance of knowing your goals, being passionate about what you do, and knowing your numbers to ensure profitability. Joseph also discusses the value of having a team and delegating administrative tasks to free up time for focusing on the core business. He mentions mentors like Grant Cardone, Mike Andes, and Alex Hermosillo, and highlights the importance of being genuine, present, and hardworking in both business and personal life.
Takeaways
Keywords
landscaping, business, goals, profitability, team, delegation, mentors, genuine, present, hardworking
Enmanuel Tejada (00:01.834)
Boom, we are back. Joseph, so we were talking, you were in high school, carrying a bunch of mulch onto truck beds. And what else were we saying after that?
Joseph King (00:03.394)
We are back.
Joseph King (00:14.358)
Yeah, man, so that's when it all began. I really didn't know what I wanted to do with life. I thought I wanted to be a news anchor. And I was studying, like, man, I was studying mass comm. And I flunked out of school and I kept my steady job at Clegg's, the local nursery. And then eventually, I was like, you know what? And while I was working there, there were some guys who did landscaping on the side. I'd worked with them a little bit.
And then people would come in from time to time and want something planted. And so I would pick up little side jobs from there. And eventually, it wasn't really until I met my wife that I really was like, man, maybe I could do this. And then just seeing her and her life of having a goal at a young age of what she wanted to accomplish and her being one of the first people to really, she's really impacted me in that way. And then I started pushing myself.
to get more. And then that's when the business started growing. I went back to school, got a degree, blah, blah. Here we are. He, he, he.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:20.794)
Shit, that's awesome, man. And when did you guys meet? When you were in high school?
Joseph King (01:24.762)
No, I didn't. I actually met her doing landscaping. I met her at her house. She was a client. Yeah, that's right. And so she hired me and I just never left.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:29.71)
She was your client.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:38.794)
Wow, man, that is awesome right there. What a story.
Joseph King (01:41.982)
What a story. Yeah, so she really inspired me and helped push me. And then I from there just continue push myself. And then now just yeah. So really working at the plant nursery is where I got introduced to plants for the first time and just began being more passionate about like just driving around town and being able to identify plants was a cool thing. And then from there, just realizing that I could make money doing this.
Enmanuel Tejada (02:09.486)
That is awesome right there. And then I know that you also, you guys also over at Landscaping, you guys also do hardscaping, you guys also do patios, things like that. So how did you kind of phase into that? How did you get into that? Because of course, you know, throwing down some moat and you know, mowing somebody's lawn is completely different than putting together a retaining wall or, sorry, is it retaining wall or retainer? I sound like a fucking...
Joseph King (02:36.403)
retaining walls. So man, we do some hardscaping, but we mostly, our bread and butter is flower beds. They call them different things all over the country. Some people call them ornamental gardens. Some people call them foundational planning, but the bulk of what we do is flower beds. And within flower beds, we do landscape lighting, irrigation, drainage, and we lay sod. And all of that is really encompassed. And a lot of what we do too is just front yards where somebody just has...
Enmanuel Tejada (02:44.045)
Hmm.
Joseph King (03:04.983)
They just want the whole front yard to look totally different. We rip everything out, we start over, and that's really what we're good at, what we're profitable at, and efficient at.
Enmanuel Tejada (03:14.675)
Wow, really? And is it hard to be profitable with those kinds of jobs? I know, I hear all the time from people that handle only lawn care or just basic landscaping that it's kind of not as profitable as hardscape, right? But you said that that's your better, but that's where you guys make most of your profits. So what do you guys do to be profitable with that model?
Joseph King (03:37.399)
So what we do is we, I just confirm with my crew leaders, make sure that what I'm thinking, the estimated time is correct. And we just, we charge what we need to make what we need to per hour. And then that way we never, I mean, I'm not gonna say we're never not profitable, but for us, when we were trying to do hardscape and the guys I had at the time, we just weren't, we weren't as efficient as we could have been. And in the future,
When we have a hardscape job, we'll sub stuff out to people sometimes, but it's not what we're good at. What we're good at is putting plants in the ground, doing flower beds, and doing simple maintenance. That's where we make more money.
Enmanuel Tejada (04:19.498)
Wow, gotcha. So kind of like that ability to make more, to do more projects, right, in the same amount of time, where if you're putting up like a, some sort of patio or paver or outdoor kitchen, it might take you some days to do that, where you could have done so many lawn care projects or, you know, flower beds, things like that.
Joseph King (04:40.251)
Not even just that, it's just that we don't know how to do pavers like the guys I have. We're just not great at pavers. And so some of that is me not having the right guys for that. And we could jump into some hardscaping projects in the future. But right now, with the guys we have, the team we have, the culture we have, are what we're good at and efficient at. What I'm good at quoting is flower beds. We lay a lot of sod, we do a lot of flower beds and we do.
Enmanuel Tejada (04:48.03)
here.
Enmanuel Tejada (05:03.466)
flower guys. Boom.
Joseph King (05:06.751)
With that, we almost always do low voltage LED landscape lighting, and we always have some form of irrigation as well, whether it's micro or high pressure. We're always doing one of those. And then every flowerbed we do, we have to make sure where is the water going to go when it rains, so sometimes we'll reroute downspouts or we'll put in catch basins as well.
Enmanuel Tejada (05:27.918)
Gosh, well, there you guys have it. I mean, Joseph just proved it right there, right? The flower bed model, the lawn care model does work. You don't always have to do hardscaping if you want to make money within the landscaping arena, right? And what would you say, Joseph? What's some advice that you would give? Let's say that there's somebody out there that they have a lawn care company. You're just mowing lawns for now. What advice would you give them to be able to start scaling up a little bit to get to kind of to where the point where you are eventually?
Joseph King (05:57.663)
Yeah, I think everyone just needs to identify what their goals are. If you can clearly try to identify what you want out of your business. There's a lot of people that just cut grass and they're just happy. Just being a guy in the truck with a few other guys. The only issue with that is if you're, if you're a solopreneur and you're the only person doing the work or you're the only one that knows how to do the work, something happens to you, then you don't have a business anymore. So that's the issue with that. To somebody that wanted to get into other projects.
Sometimes it's just better to go work with somebody else and learn from other people. Sometimes it's just learning from trial and error and just figuring it out. But I'd say it's not. It just depends on what you want. There's people who just cut grass and probably make actually not just revenue number, but actually keep more money than people who are doing major projects and do a high revenue number and they're not actually making any money. So it doesn't, I don't even think the service really matters. It's just
knowing your numbers, knowing how much, and knowing your numbers, knowing how much it costs you to do what you're doing, and then just being really good at whatever it is, and then becoming, like making a name for yourself at whatever you choose to do, just being really good at it, and being really efficient at it, and promoting that service.
Enmanuel Tejada (07:16.65)
Wow, yeah, and the way that you, when I asked you the question originally, when you said, that's what we're good at, flower beds, you said it with vigor, right? You said it with confidence, 100% certainty. So you guys definitely believe in that. And when you say, for somebody that's doing lawn care, how would they start phasing in some of the things that you do, right? Such as the outdoor lighting or maybe the...
you know, something like putting in a French drain if they don't have one or something like that. How would they start phasing into that? How would you recommend going about that?
Joseph King (07:48.027)
It probably happens naturally. Like if they're cutting somebody's lawn, they're already going to, that person's gonna ask them if they can do those other things for them. It probably will start by them putting mulch out. That client.
Joseph King (08:08.661)
logging us out every time I get a call. But yeah, so I think it happens naturally. People are going to get questions about putting mulch out, pruning shrubs. There's a lot of content online that people can learn from as well. There's a lot of people on YouTube, on social media that have courses or have just helpful content that you can learn how to get into that. That would be the answer to just organically it's going to happen. And then just...
learn as much as you can and try to figure it out. And then maybe even reach out to people in your local market who are already doing it and ask them questions too.
Enmanuel Tejada (08:48.206)
Boom, that's beautiful right there. That is beautiful right there. And Joseph, for this podcast, I actually have a special quiz. I have a special quiz for you. So you know what, give me one quick second. Let me turn on my light, because it is getting dark here. So give me one second, then I'm gonna go ahead and get into that pop quiz for you here and for the audience.
Joseph King (08:57.39)
Uh oh.
Joseph King (09:06.917)
See you later.
Joseph King (09:11.909)
Pop quiz.
Joseph King (09:15.834)
Here we go.
Joseph King (09:36.269)
I think you're muted, man. There you go.
Enmanuel Tejada (09:37.01)
No, that's good. And I'm gonna go ahead and spread my screen and you'll be able to take a look at what I got for you here.
Enmanuel Tejada (09:49.607)
So let me know when you can see my screen.
Joseph King (09:52.293)
I can see it.
Enmanuel Tejada (09:53.47)
You can see it. All right. So everyone, this is the real test for here. We're going to see if Joseph King, who calls himself the King of landscaping in Louisiana, is the King of landscaping. You're ready, Joseph? Yes, sir. All right. So the first question, what plant is this, Joseph?
Joseph King (10:06.129)
Let's do it.
Joseph King (10:12.345)
Mad Drift Roses.
Enmanuel Tejada (10:14.486)
Drip roses. Are you sure about that?
Joseph King (10:17.745)
Oh yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (10:19.314)
Yup, you're correct. You're correct. All right, moving on to the next one. Moving on to the next one, guys. Let's see if he gets this one.
Joseph King (10:26.265)
Yeah, it's compact to Holly.
Enmanuel Tejada (10:28.642)
Come back to Holly, okay. Okay, now the last one might be a little bit difficult for you here. What is this?
Enmanuel Tejada (10:50.314)
Oh, I think I lost you there, Joseph. I can't hear you. I think the recording stopped a little bit there too.
Joseph King (11:01.944)
Either that or Chinxanaeuselia. I can't tell. It's either, it either looks like one mass of like vinca or it looks like one bush of Chinxanaeuselia. It's either one of those.
Enmanuel Tejada (11:05.014)
What was that?
Enmanuel Tejada (11:16.738)
All right, you gotta pick one and then I'll let you know if you're right or wrong.
Joseph King (11:20.596)
Well, I gotta zoom in, let's see.
Joseph King (11:29.688)
Yeah, I'm gonna say it's a dwarf azalea. It looks like the-
Enmanuel Tejada (11:32.73)
You're right. Yeah, it's a dwarf. That's exactly what it is. Yep. She's an Azalea. Boom guys. There we go Joseph is the king of landscape and he got three out of three correct The landscape king stands Holy shit
Joseph King (11:40.984)
The Landscape King.
Joseph King (11:47.24)
And man, I would say too man, for anybody that's in any sort of landscaping business, whether it's lawn care, flower beds, hardscape, whatever that is, just know what it is you're passionate about, know what it is you're good at, know what your team's good at, and know your numbers, know how long it takes you to execute, know what your, just know how much it costs you to make money. And then from there...
And I don't have it all figured out. I'm still figuring it out, man. I'm still, we're still learning ways to be more profitable and to keep more of the money that we make. I'd say a trap that people get caught in is just, they get caught in the top line number. And if you're just only worried about your total revenue and not how much money you're making yourself, then you're just gonna keep chasing that. I would say find a sweet spot in the middle where you wanna make a great top line revenue number, but you also need to make money yourself.
Enmanuel Tejada (12:46.43)
And what's way to go about that? Because I think when we first got on our first call, you mentioned that you had a specific number the first year, then the second year you hit that same number, but you were more profitable. So how, what are some tips that you would give around that? How do you do that? How do you go about that?
Joseph King (13:01.324)
Yeah, so it's just knowing how long it takes to do work. And if you have guys, ask your guys, include your crew leaders on those conversations of knowing how long projects are gonna take, and then estimate properly, and then audit, then go back on the jobs you've done and job costs and see how much money you actually made on those jobs instead of just looking, because if you just look at your bank account, it's gonna feel like you're making a lot of money when you may not really be making money. And I have no way...
perfected this, I'm still learning this myself, and I'm still getting better at it every day. And just know that too, that it's progress over perfection. Like you're not going to be perfect. Just make progress and find little ways to make progress.
Enmanuel Tejada (13:43.31)
Boom. Awesome. That's some great advice there. And Joseph, one more thing. So earlier, before we started the recording, you mentioned that you recently added somebody to your team that's gonna be taking care of a lot of the admin tasks. How soon, if you were to go back and do it again, how soon would you hire somebody to do that same task for you?
Joseph King (14:06.308)
Probably a lot sooner. I held onto that for a really long time. And there's different people on YouTube who say different things, but I think it's very helpful to have someone, if it's your spouse, that's great. Even if it's somebody part-time or a virtual assistant, you need somebody helping you with those admin tasks and making sure that your job costing, making sure that the phone's getting answered, making sure that...
Enmanuel Tejada (14:09.133)
Yeah.
Joseph King (14:34.104)
things are not falling through the cracks. It's very important. If you just answer the phone, you'll beat your competition. Because we're all so busy. Sometimes we get jobs just because we're the only one that showed up to the appointment. I'd say the one advice that I've gotten, somebody told me probably 10 years ago, is just do what you say you're going to do. You can actually do what you say you're going to do. You'll be better than majority of other contractors.
Enmanuel Tejada (14:40.899)
Hahaha
Enmanuel Tejada (15:02.71)
do what you say you're gonna do. Wow. Who told you that?
Joseph King (15:07.9)
A guy named Kevin Clement, a guy that had a landscape business and then he moved on and he's got another business in a different state now. But he was one of the first guys that worked.
Enmanuel Tejada (15:17.619)
Shout out to Kevin, man. Shout out to Kevin. And Joseph, let's move on to the next part of this, right? I want to ask you a couple questions around your mindset, right? So I know that we talked about some mentors that we both have in the space, but who do you look up to, right? Not necessarily look up to, but who do you gain mentorship from, right? Who do you gain wisdom from? Who is that person for you? Who are those people?
Joseph King (15:45.152)
Yeah, I mean, of course I've listened to Grant Cardone. Of course I've listened to, on the opposite end of the spectrum, someone like Mike Andes. Man, Mike Andes is very, he understands his business very well. And of course, watching videos from people like T-Gren on YouTube as well, kind of finding my sweet spot in between both of them. Other people like-
I'd say I've read a book by Gina Wickman called Traction, and that book's been really helpful in like kind of organizing the structure of the business as well. And then I've just got some local mentors of people that have been in business that I've talked to as well. But I listen to a lot of different people. I've started listening to Andy Elliott too. And then I've, yeah. And then I mean, I've kind of listened to everyone.
Enmanuel Tejada (16:35.934)
And the other is a gene.
Joseph King (16:42.232)
Like everyone that you would probably list, I've listened to, but they all, I gained something from each of them.
Enmanuel Tejada (16:49.466)
That's the beauty of it. Yeah, getting something from each of them, right? And there's some people that I don't really like their attitudes, or I don't like, you know, some of the things they say, but I still listen to it because I can still pick up on it, right? I may not like the person, but the message is true, no matter who's saying the message, right? So, yeah, definitely. And yeah, what about as far as life overall, right? Because I know you're
You're married, you've got the business. So aside from business, what are some of your values in life, right? Who do you want to be? What frame do you maintain for yourself? What values do you hold?
Joseph King (17:27.416)
Yeah, one of the things is I just, I wanna be a genuine person. And one thing I've started doing, which I've learned from, I think Andy Elliott says this is, just to be where your feet are. And so if I'm at home with my wife and kids, I wanna be there mentally. If I'm at work, I need to be there mentally. Wherever, just be where your feet are. Be, you know, and be present in that moment. And that's kind of, I've also heard the...
Maybe Jeff Bezos said this about work-life balance. It's not really a balance, it's more of a circle. And once things are taken care of in business, the better you are for your family. And the better you are for your family, the better you are for business. And it's just, it's constantly, it's never gonna be 50-50, and you're never gonna have 50-50 work-life balance, but it's just constantly.
Just being aware of really just being where you are and being present in that moment. And I've got two small kids, I've got a three-year-old son and a one-month, or a one-year-old as well. I mean, God is important to our family as well. Faith is really important to us. And then just being genuine and being a real person. Yeah. Being hardworking is one of our values for sure.
Enmanuel Tejada (18:51.11)
Dude, I love it, man. And it's funny because I was... That's cool.
Joseph King (18:56.5)
And then being passionate, obviously, being passionate about what you're doing is really important.
Enmanuel Tejada (19:04.102)
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And I definitely resonate with that. Having that I just finished reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, right? He says that the angry man is not a man to look up to, right? It's a stoic man, the person that's calm, that's able to rationalize and no matter what happens to him in the world, he understands that how he receives things is actually what it is, you know, not the action that happened to him, but how he receives it.
And I love the fact that you said right there, I haven't heard that actually about Jeff Bezos or just that saying overall about life being a circle instead of like having work-life balance, that if you're better for your business, you're better for your family. And if you're better for your family, you're better for the business. So I love that, that's very interesting right there.
Joseph King (19:48.012)
Yeah. I would say also another advice is just...
Joseph King (19:55.156)
We're always, as you're in business and as you're learning, you're always thinking someone else has the answer for you. But a lot of times you know what you need to do, you just need to do it. And so I think sometimes it's a matter of, sometimes you need to turn everything else off and just grind and just get it done. And a lot of times we already have the answer and sometimes it's just an excuse of trying to even like paying for mentorship or paying to be in a course or something.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:14.486)
Dude, yes.
Joseph King (20:24.56)
You just gotta grind and you just gotta make it happen as well. And you need to seek advice from others and guidance, but sometimes you just gotta, you know what you need to do, you just need to do it.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:35.682)
Dude, yeah, I agree with that a thousand percent. In fact, there's this, I showed you the painting already that I have, which is the million dollar broken down into month, week and days. If there's the one painting that I can buy, Alex Hermosy said a lot.
Joseph King (20:48.844)
Yeah, dude, Alex Formosia is a huge, probably my favorite person right now of who I listened to. I forgot. I don't know how I forgot about him, but I've listened to his books as well. Yeah, he's someone who's just genuine. You know, like, that's the kind of guy I want to be someone who, like, wants to help people who are very successful, very well off, but just very genuine. Comes across that way.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:51.831)
Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:56.348)
Yeah
Enmanuel Tejada (21:03.197)
It was hard to present.
Enmanuel Tejada (21:10.262)
Very genuine, yeah. And I love the fact that, and he's a multimillionaire, right? He's bound to be a billionaire, and he's the same person that he was when he first started. I fucking love seeing that. And he's an awkward guy, right? But he like embraces it. I mean, this motherfucker wears shorts everywhere he goes. He wears the sandals, but he fucking rocks it.
Joseph King (21:14.52)
Yeah.
Joseph King (21:25.668)
Yeah.
The tank tops. Yeah, it does.
Enmanuel Tejada (21:33.25)
Dude, 100%, 100%. And there's one last quote that I wanna mention here, and I know that we both have to split it off because you have some work to do, I have another podcast, is this quote that Alex Ramosi was talking a lot on the podcast. He mentioned that, there's no point in thinking about the work, there's no point in talking to somebody about the work, there's no point in journaling about doing the work, there's no point in acting like you're doing the work, there's no point in...
recording yourself and putting it on social media that you're doing the work. What matters is actually fucking doing the work. And that's the same thing that you mentioned, right? Because sometimes we do a whole bunch of shit, like, oh, I'm gonna write about it, I'm gonna read about it, I'm gonna talk to somebody about it, but you never fucking do it. So what the fuck is gonna happen if you don't do it?
Joseph King (22:07.044)
Hahaha
Joseph King (22:20.78)
Nothing. You have a whole bunch of excuses. Yeah. Exactly.
Enmanuel Tejada (22:22.146)
What's that sound?
Enmanuel Tejada (22:26.042)
Dude, 100%, 1000%. And Joseph, man, if people want to get in contact with you, what is the best way for them to reach out to you, whether they want to be a client or whether they want to follow you on your Instagram or your social media, what's the best way to get in contact with you?
Joseph King (22:39.628)
Yeah, just Instagram, man. We're just LandscapeKing, underscore Louisiana. That's it. And you find us on Facebook, we're on YouTube as well. Yeah, man, reach out. Happy to help anybody. Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (22:52.098)
Boom, let's go. There you guys have it. And by the way, guys, fun fact, Joseph has one of my favorite intros. If you ever watch his Instagram, he's, you know, his intro is, hey, Joseph will landscape king, and then he shows a flower or a plant. Dude, it's fucking epic. You guys have to check him out. Definitely go follow him right now.
Joseph King (23:06.182)
Hehehehe
that cheesiness. Yeah, man. I appreciate you having me on and absolutely anything I can do to help anybody.
Enmanuel Tejada (23:14.962)
Yes, sir. Awesome, guys. And you go give Joseph a follow. Give me a follow. And guys, keep grinding like we just talked about. There's no point in talking about doing the work. Get the fucking work done. You know, one needs to be done. So fucking do it. Joseph, thank you so much for your time. Hope you have an amazing day. Hope you keep killing it. Let's go.
Joseph King (23:35.604)
Make it happen and let's plant some plants. Alrighty, man.
Enmanuel Tejada (23:38.206)
Yes, sir.