Kelly Slater [00:00:00]:
We're just doing a phantom stock program right now. We decided, I think two years ago that we were taking our profits from that year and reinvesting it into doing some green cards for some of our H2B employees. And that was a decision our shareholders made.
Jack Jostes [00:00:12]:
You seem really excited about the company being employee owned.
Kelly Slater [00:00:17]:
All of the people that helped get us to where we are today and where we're going to be in the future, those are the people that are so invested. They deserve that ownership. They're the ones that care. They're the ones that gave back versus, you know, an investment firm just showing up and shelling out money. It's the blood, sweat and tears that went into this growth over the last 30 plus years and the next 30 years. Those are the people that deserve to have that ownership because they care. And caring really makes a difference in good business decisions.
00:49 - From VP to CEO: Meet Kelly Slater
Jack Jostes [00:00:49]:
Hey, everyone. I'm here with Kelly Slater from Pleasant Landscapes and. And Kelly, I've worked with you for about five years. Today you're wearing the Ramblin Jackson shirt. Thank you. You've been working at our booth giving out jerky. You were ringing the bell. It's been super fun.
Jack Jostes [00:01:05]:
And for the time that I've worked with you for the last five years or so, you've been the vice president. But I just learned a couple weeks ago you've been promoted to the CEO.
Kelly Slater [00:01:13]:
CEO now. Yes.
Jack Jostes [00:01:15]:
So congratulations. And I wanted to hear, you know, we've had some conversations about leadership. What are you doing to lead your team in a new way? And what does this promotion actually mean?
Kelly Slater [00:01:24]:
Well, it's really just. It gives me a new way of leading my team. So we're now creating a leadership team and then a junior leadership team beyond that. So it's really kind of getting everybody to see the big picture and help us move forward. And it kind of puts me at the, at the front of all that.
Jack Jostes [00:01:41]:
So how many people will be on the leadership team?
Kelly Slater [00:01:44]:
We've started with two. We're going to grow that each year and add to that each year kind of as the business grows. But it's more focused towards that junior leadership team and seeing who the next up and coming leaders are going to be and where their capabilities are and where they need to learn to be able to lead.
Jack Jostes [00:02:00]:
And so for folks listening or watching how many people work at Pleasant Landscapes.
Kelly Slater [00:02:04]:
We are right around 56 employees right now.
02:07 - Building Leadership at Every Level
Jack Jostes [00:02:07]:
Okay, so there's a leadership team with you and two other people, and then there's a junior leadership team. And how many people will be on that?
Kelly Slater [00:02:15]:
We are forming that right now as we speak, because the CEO title's new still, but we're looking to have about six to eight people between three different divisions total.
Jack Jostes [00:02:26]:
And so will they have management responsibilities or is it different that they're on the leadership team? Or how is that different at your company?
Kelly Slater [00:02:34]:
Yeah, so we don't really use the term management as much because it makes them feel like they have to come constantly watch and oversee where I like the term leadership more and leading because it's getting everybody excited to follow you. Whether it's following you into an exciting job that we're doing or maintenance or changing softwares, whatever it may be, it's teaching the junior leaders how to get their team excited to follow them.
Jack Jostes [00:03:01]:
And so what are some of the things that you're excited for for them to share the excitement about within the next year? What are some of the things that you're working on? Like in 2025?
Kelly Slater [00:03:11]:
Yeah, so growing our design build division is always at the forefront and I think that's going to be a lot easier as this leadership team grows is just going to make the sales that much easier because it's not just the sales team now, it's everybody from senior management all the way down to labor. So growing our design build division, increasing the maintenance accounts that we have. So we have another ring the bell moment to share with you guys administratively getting our admin staff to automate as much as possible, use more AI where we can, and kind of unroll and do all of that in 2025.
03:48 - Using AI to Train and Simplify Operations
Jack Jostes [00:03:48]:
Tell me more about how you envision using AI at your landscape company.
Kelly Slater [00:03:52]:
I think that I learned a lot actually at this conference on how ChatGPT can do role playing. So in training with the sales team, the AI can help you with role playing when a client says no, or why a client is opposing something that you want to sell. The automation allows you to kind of role play to help your team learn how to deal with that and how to overcome that. Creating emails to a client that you may not be real happy with the way they are acting, but saying something in a nice way. And then also it can help you identify problems within your financials. You can upload your financials or how your teams are doing and it'll identify for you what needs to get better automatically.
Jack Jostes [00:04:39]:
Yeah, it's pretty amazing. And role playing. Or sometimes I'll write a really blunt email and I'll be like, hey, ChatGPT, can you like tone it down a bit?
Kelly Slater [00:04:50]:
Yes, now that's. And that's where. So in residential work, when a client gets really upset, it makes us upset. So you can't really go right back at them with something that sounds defensive or aggressive. And that's where ChatGPT makes it really nice.
Jack Jostes [00:05:04]:
Well, it does, but it's also a good time to call people.
Kelly Slater [00:05:07]:
Correct.
Jack Jostes [00:05:08]:
You know, so if I get an emotional email from people, my first inclination is I'm just gonna call them and be like, hey, I got your email, like, what's going on? Tell me more. And then sometimes they don't answer and you do need to reply via email or you may need to follow up via email. And that's where. Yeah, ChatGPT can just cool it down a bit for you, right?
Kelly Slater [00:05:29]:
Yeah. No, and you end up, I mean you can train it to where you have a little jack. It learns how to respond like you.
Jack Jostes [00:05:35]:
Yeah. So Jessica at Ramblin Jackson created the Jack Jostes ChatGPT with my book and all my content and it helps me write stuff like me faster. It's never perfect. I always need to like edit it and change it and tweak it, but it helps me like formulate ideas. So that's cool that you're doing that with your landscape team.
Kelly Slater [00:05:55]:
Yes. Yeah, that's something we're really excited to do coming into this next season and grow.
06:01 - Staying Independent: Focusing on Employee Ownership
Jack Jostes [00:06:01]:
There's a lot of private equity in the landscape industry. Right. And so I was talking to you, I'm like, well, what's your goal? Is it to sell? Is it to get bought up by private equity? And you're like, no, absolutely not. So tell me like what are you doing over here?
Kelly Slater [00:06:15]:
Yeah, so we've been around since 1991. We will never sell our company, especially to these private equity firms. There's just been too much blood, sweat and tears that have gone into growing it to what we are today and continue to grow it. So we actually started about 10 years ago now. Phantom stock. So it's an employee stock option. So once an employee hits about five years of full time employment, regardless of what level they are in the business, from the laborers on up, they get stock shares within the company. We do quarterly meetings where we discuss what's going on, the state of the company, where to invest or reinvest profits for each year.
Kelly Slater [00:06:52]:
And the long term goal is for those phantom stocks to roll into being a completely employee owned company.
Jack Jostes [00:07:00]:
So what does that mean? So what, what percentage of the company is employee owned versus are there shareholders or what's it, what's it like currently?
Kelly Slater [00:07:09]:
So currently it's completely privately owned. So we're just doing a phantom stock program right now. So they're not, no one's claiming ownership when they do their taxes, things like that. It's really more for personal ownership. We've got shareholders that have phantom stocks throughout our company. There's probably about 11 of us now. We get together quarterly and we discuss what's going on and how to do different things, what to do with our profits. We decided I think two years ago that we were taking our profits from that year and reinvesting it into doing some green cards for some of our H2B employees.
Kelly Slater [00:07:43]:
And that was a decision our shareholders made. Again, it's phantom stock. So once we grow to where we're happy and we want to be, that's when the business will become 100% employee owned.
Jack Jostes [00:07:54]:
Wow. Cool. And so how many other companies are involved though? Because aren't there multiple companies under the umbrella?
Kelly Slater [00:08:04]:
So we've just got Pleasant Landscapes is completely independent, 100% operation by itself. But I either own or manage. Currently 11 businesses, all service based. But the land.
Jack Jostes [00:08:17]:
So there's holiday lighting, there's… Is it painting? Or pest control. What else?
Kelly Slater [00:08:23]:
Pallet and waste wood recycling, vacation management. We do property management for vacation rentals. We've got a non profit that helps with housing and employment. There's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot. Tax season's exciting.
08:40 - Why Employee Ownership Matters
Jack Jostes [00:08:40]:
What you seem really excited about the company being employee owned. Why?
Kelly Slater [00:08:47]:
All of the people that helped get us to where we are today and where we're going to be in the future, those are the people that are so invested. They deserve that ownership. They're the ones that care, they're the ones that gave back versus, you know, an investment firm just showing up and shelling out money. It's the blood, sweat and tears that went into this growth over the last 30 plus years and the next 30 years, those are the people that deserve to have that ownership because they care. And caring really makes a difference in good business decisions. Cool.
09:19 - Kelly Rings the Bell! Reflections on Landscape Leader of the Year
Jack Jostes [00:09:19]:
Well, Kelly, this, this promotion to CEO, what you're doing with your leadership team and your junior leadership team in particular, I found very interesting. I think this is a ring the bell moment. So you brought a belt. Go grab it. All right, here is Kelly Slater ringing the bell again. So Kelly, this is, I mean, we've done numerous ring the bell videos with you through the years because you continually set goals, reach them and crush them and then pick a new one.
Jack Jostes [00:09:52]:
And so you were a finalist this year at landscape leader of the year. How was that?
Kelly Slater [00:09:57]:
It was exciting. It was exciting to meet the other finalists, participate in it, and share with the other landscaping companies out there what's working for us.
Jack Jostes [00:10:07]:
You shared a lot about radio and how radio ads are working for you. They were funny, they were effective. You have ways of tracking them. Thank you for sharing that. You know, you continually come on the podcast and on our webinars and things and share with the industry. So thank you.
10:22 - Collaboration and Competition in Landscaping
Kelly Slater [00:10:22]:
Yeah, no, absolutely. That's what's great about this industry is everybody is so welcoming and open, and although we compete amongst each other and amongst ourselves, everybody is still so welcoming. So that's why I'm always happy to share what works for us, because when I do need help, I know there's other companies out there I can reach out to.
Jack Jostes [00:10:40]:
So you are both very generous with all of these ideas and also very competitive.
Kelly Slater [00:10:47]:
I am. I am, yes. Yes.
Jack Jostes [00:10:49]:
So I'm not gonna say who they are, but one of your competitors came by our booth, and that was fun to hear. You talk about the rivalry that you have.
Kelly Slater [00:10:58]:
Yes. Yeah. I smiled the whole time. Yeah. Well. And I did say, in our market, there's enough landscaping to go around.
Jack Jostes [00:11:07]:
So that's. I brought that up because you are both generous with these ideas. You're always helping and asking when you need help, but also very competitive, and I believe you can. You can do both now.
Kelly Slater [00:11:20]:
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, when you look at, we. We are currently the largest residential landscaper in our market, and we've got a .02% market share. .02! Not even one whole percent. There's so much business to go around, so it makes it easy to be giving and welcoming.
Jack Jostes [00:11:37]:
So that's a stat that you've shared with me a number of times. How do you. I'm just partly curious. How do you know that number? What is that number, and how do you figure it out?
Kelly Slater [00:11:45]:
Yeah. So we look at the three counties that we service and the number of single family homes, because that's what our clients are. The number of single family homes in the market and the number of single family homes we currently service on a regular basis for our maintenance account. And that's where that number comes from.
Jack Jostes [00:12:00]:
Cool. So what percentage do you want to have, like, 10 years from now?
Kelly Slater [00:12:04]:
I'd be happy with 1%, honestly.
Jack Jostes [00:12:08]:
All right, well, let's do it.
Kelly Slater [00:12:09]:
Yeah.
12:09 - Wrapping Up: Takeaways for Landscaping Leaders
Jack Jostes [00:12:09]:
All right. Well, Kelly, thanks for coming back on the show, and congrats again on everything you're doing.
Kelly Slater [00:12:13]:
Thank you. Appreciate it.
Jack Jostes [00:12:15]:
Hey, it's Jack Jostes, and you've been listening to the Landscaper's Guide Podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, make sure you give us a Five Star Rating and share it with somebody in the industry. And make sure you subscribe at landscapersguide.com/podcast where I'll instantly send you our top three episodes plus invitations to our upcoming live and virtual events. I hope to see you at one of them. Again, it's Jack Jostes. Thanks for listening and I look forward to talking to you next week on The Landscaper's Guide.
Show Notes:
Watch the full episode + see the transcript at: landscapersguide.com/podcast
Tell us where to send your beef jerky: landscapersguide.com/toolbox
🔗 Connect with Kelly Slater: www.linkedin.com/in/thekellyslater
🌐 Learn more about Pleasant Landscapes: www.pleasantlandscapes.com
🌿 Connect with Jack Jostes: www.linkedin.com/in/jackjostes
📅 Catch us at an upcoming event: landscapersguide.com/events