Jack Jostes [00:00:00]:
Some of my clients are really trying to grow. They're trying to scale. They're trying to add new crews. Where are you trying to get to next?
Scott Parker [00:00:06]:
Sure. I started my business and had a deep desire to scale the business to see how large I could take the business. We developed a business plan to grow our company. As we started to grow, we lost a little bit the customer service experience, and that's where we shine, the customer service experience. As I'm getting older, it's the lean toward, yes, I have to make money and pay bills, but it's a much larger lean towards satisfying the customer.
00:35 – Meet Scott + BBQ & Studio Behind the Scenes
Jack Jostes [00:00:35]:
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to The Landscaper's Guide Podcast. Today we're in the Ramblin Jackson Video Studio in Lyons, Colorado, and I have my client, Scott Parker from Parker Landscape Design in Warren, New Jersey. He's out here. This is your second time coming out for the Landscape Executive Video Shoot. Scott, thanks for coming out to Colorado.
Scott Parker [00:00:55]:
You're welcome now. Thank you, Jack. Appreciate it.
Jack Jostes [00:00:57]:
First, we got to talk about lunch. What did we just have for lunch? We've got to tell people.
Scott Parker [00:01:02]:
One of the best barbecue places I've ever eaten at. Not just saying that. Barbecue wings were amazing, and actually spicy wings, and the potato skins were also phenomenal.
Jack Jostes [00:01:14]:
It was awesome. It was so much fun getting to hang out and do that well.
01:18 – From Family Garden Center to Design-Build Firm
Jack Jostes [00:01:18]:
So for folks who may have not seen your other episode, tell us a little about yourself. Who are you and how long have you been in business, and what do you guys do?
Scott Parker [00:01:26]:
So I've been in business. I grew up in a family business that was started in 1948. My business is now going on its 23rd year. We're a design-build company. We do design and we do construction. The construction is primarily in lighting construction, drainage construction, landscape construction, and hardscape construction, which constitutes a whole wide array of different surfaces.
Jack Jostes [00:01:58]:
Well, and one of the things that I learned about during this shoot was that you also really love plants.
Scott Parker [00:02:05]:
Love plants. Yeah. My own personal house. I. I have a lot of Japanese maple trees, different varieties that have amazing leaf color that changes all year. But I do love plants, and probably that. Excuse me. That love of plants probably started when my grandfather and father had a retail garden center, and I pretty much lived it every day.
Jack Jostes [00:02:37]:
And how far was that from where you now live in New Jersey?
Scott Parker [00:02:41]:
So that garden center was in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. I live in Warren, New Jersey, probably about 15 minutes.
Jack Jostes [00:02:48]:
Oh, so pretty close. Is that garden center still around? Does somebody else own it or?
Scott Parker [00:02:52]:
It recently was sold off and, that 16 acre facility became, I believe it's single family housing.
Jack Jostes [00:03:04]:
Oh, okay. Well, bummer. Yeah, but, but that's cool that you had that experience growing up in the garden center business.
Scott Parker [00:03:12]:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:03:13]:
And you were showing me some plants. I want you to text this to me in your own yard. You have some succulents. Because I've got some succulents here in The Studio that I was saying I've brought in. They're in planters. So we're gonna see. Let's talk in a year and see how they're doing. I know somebody here in Colorado that they have these thriving succulents and planters.
Jack Jostes [00:03:34]:
And we asked them, it's at this really cool. The Hygiene Market. We asked the, the owner like, hey, how do your, your succulents are amazing. And they bring them inside in the wintertime. So I'm attempting that this year. We'll see. Yours are just.
Scott Parker [00:03:49]:
Mine are outside.
Jack Jostes [00:03:50]:
They're outside.
Scott Parker [00:03:50]:
The, the, the risk to them, they're not the hardiest. The risk is actually too much water. So if you have really a really rainy spring, you might lose a lot of them. But succulents are in the cactus family, so they require very little water.
Jack Jostes [00:04:08]:
Well, and here in Colorado, we're in a very arid environment now. Last year was very heavy rains. It really impacted the landscape industry. We got as much rain before June as we typically do in a whole year. And I happen to be doing a landscape project with my client Alpine Gardens at my personal home. And I understood, but things kept getting moved back and moved back and the concrete people kept getting moved back and moved back and that impacted everything. But we'll see.
03:30 – NJ Weather Zones Are Changing! Here’s How That Impacts Landscaping
Jack Jostes [00:03:39]:
So speaking of plant hardiness, so one of the things we were doing is we were making a video for your social media and for you came out.
Jack Jostes [00:04:47]:
We're doing a bunch of video content for your website for social media. And one of them was about plants. And I was like, hey, let's take this script a step further and get really specific for like, what type of plants grow in New Jersey. And we realized that since we've been working together for about six years. And so during that time, some parts of New Jersey have changed zones. And so maybe I was just. I thought that was kind of fascinating today to discover that together.
Scott Parker [00:05:22]:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:05:23]:
And we updated your script.
Scott Parker [00:05:24]:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:05:24]:
And tell me more about that. What, what do you think's going on?
Scott Parker [00:05:29]:
Climate change. It's in New Jersey. We've seen crazy storms like I've never seen before windstorms, flash floods, which we've always gotten. But it definitely seems like the last couple years, it's been more prevalent, probably less snow the last couple of years than normal. Plants can be affected by temperature, by excess snowfall. So that is very important when a zone is changed. It's extremely important to pay attention to what can be used for that specific zone. And one challenge, Jack, is a lot of the nurseries and garden centers in New Jersey, they always continue selling plants that are borderline our zone or just are not hardy at all.
Jack Jostes [00:06:18]:
Well, well. And yeah, that was interesting. And so I just wanted to look it up so I was accurate. So in New Jersey, not all of the zone changed, Right?
Scott Parker [00:06:28]:
Correct.
Jack Jostes [00:06:29]:
That was the other interesting thing from a longitudinal standpoint. I mean, New Jersey is kind of a long state, and so not all parts of New Jersey changed.
Scott Parker [00:06:40]:
Correct. It seems like, from Reading, it's the farthest northern areas of New Jersey and a lot of the farthest southern areas of New Jersey.
Jack Jostes [00:06:49]:
But that also included, though, your area.
Scott Parker [00:06:53]:
Correct. There is some overlap with our area, too.
06:55 – Plants He Refuses to Use (And What He Recommends Instead)
Jack Jostes [00:06:55]:
Yeah. So I'm curious, you know, you've been in business 23 years. Are you. Are you gonna leave here and think I might need to call some clients and recommend they change their plants or their plants gonna be fine? Or, like, how does this. How does this actually impact the work you're doing?
Scott Parker [00:07:10]:
Yeah, it's really not gonna impact me that much. Because if we have a plant that is even borderline, not hardy. We won’t use it.
Jack Jostes [00:07:19]:
Yeah.
Scott Parker [00:07:19]:
And from experience. This is my 23rd year of doing landscape work. We've gotten rid of using popular items that are sold at the garden centers. I don't know why they're popular, because we didn't have good luck with them at all. And many of these were thousands upon thousands planted.
Jack Jostes [00:07:43]:
What were some of them that maybe were popular growing up, that maybe even your garden center sold back in the day, that you're now like, these plants don't make it.
Scott Parker [00:07:52]:
Sure yeah. And there's. Depending on the site conditions, there are times where we do use some of these plants. So abelia is a species of flowering shrub. Beautiful. Comes in many leaf colors and flower colors and just not very hardy. Japanese skamia, same thing. It's a broadleaf evergreen, so it keeps its foliage all year.
Scott Parker [00:08:20]:
And also not very hardy. And items that we still use, but very infrequently, depending on the site conditions. Crepe myrtle trees and shrubs, we love them. Gorgeous. But they are susceptible to winter burn. And which is the Heavy winter winds whipping and burning the leaves. So we'll only use them. They need a lot of sun.
Scott Parker [00:08:46]:
We'll only use them where there really is protection from the wind, which could be a privacy screen or, you know, houses close together. And there's a bunch more. There's a ground cover called Lithodora. Gorgeous. It's a dark green contoured foliage with a deep blue fluorescent flower. Impossible to keep alive. And we actually. With that ground cover, I actually called the number one grower in the entire country to ask them why we were having problems.
Scott Parker [00:09:22]:
And unbeknownst to, we had no idea, because the garden centers don't tell you this. It does not have a long lifespan.
Jack Jostes [00:09:32]:
Really? In general?
Scott Parker [00:09:33]:
Yeah, in general. And the center of the plant tends to die out as it matures. So live and learn. And, you know, we just. We just adjust to. And I. I use that at my house and experimented in. No luck at all.
Jack Jostes [00:09:49]:
Well, that's probably comforting to some people watching who have killed that plant.
Scott Parker [00:09:54]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:09:55]:
If you couldn't figure it out.
Scott Parker [00:09:57]:
Yeah. And our company, we average way below the industry average in the Northeast. The industry average is about 12% plant loss each year for the first year that something's planted, when it's really. Yeah, we average about two and a half percent, which is very low. And I want to say it's because we plan properly and we know what species to use.
Jack Jostes [00:10:20]:
And you guys don't do maintenance.
Scott Parker [00:10:23]:
No.
Jack Jostes [00:10:23]:
So. So you're. You're getting two and a half percent plant survival. I'm sorry, Mortality.
Scott Parker [00:10:29]:
Mortality.
Jack Jostes [00:10:30]:
Even without doing the maintenance?
Scott Parker [00:10:32]:
Even without the maintenance. Yeah. We'll do specialized pruning. We do have great companies that we recommend for lawn maintenance and.
Jack Jostes [00:10:40]:
Yeah.
Scott Parker [00:10:40]:
But a lot of the specialized pruning will do.
Jack Jostes [00:10:42]:
Would you attribute it then primarily to plant selection?
Scott Parker [00:10:46]:
No, just nature. Yeah. Just really nature. It's.
Jack Jostes [00:10:52]:
No. I mean, why do so many of your plants survive?
Scott Parker [00:10:55]:
Oh, why do they survive? Definitely the way that the nurseries were buying it in garden centers. Because there is. Absolutely. And a lot of consumers are unaware of this. There's a huge difference in how a plant is grown. You know, being that my father and grandfather grew plants, they could prop these plants up with fertilizer and have it look nice. But you have no idea that that plant is not going to have a long survival rate or it might have issues. I would say majority is where we purchase from, the quality and how we plant.
Scott Parker [00:11:37]:
So if it's a. If a plant comes out of a pot, we flip it over. It's called scoring the roots. We'll loosen the roots so that they're able to penetrate. We're heavy clay soil in New Jersey, so they're able to penetrate and take hold. And the height that we plant at, same thing. Clay soil. Plant too low or at the plain.
Scott Parker [00:11:59]:
We found in all the research with most the horticultural schools, plant high, things survive. Plant too low, things perish because the clay, the water sits in the clay. And it only takes like six to eight days for a plant to develop root rot or tree and perish.
12:18 – The Hidden Cost of Growing Too Fast
Jack Jostes [00:12:18]:
One of the things I was curious about is scaling your business. So you've been in business for 23 years and I've known from just having lunch and getting to know you through the years, like you, you enjoy the size of your company. Some of my clients are really trying to grow, they're trying to scale, they're trying to add new crews. Where are you at with, you know, in, in the history of your company and where are you trying to get to next?
Scott Parker [00:12:46]:
Yeah, it's a good question, Jack. Being that I'm very entrepreneurial, I started my business and had a deep desire to scale the business to see how large I could take the business. And, and that changed probably about, I'm going to say, seven years ago. Been doing this 23 years, maybe seven, eight years ago. We developed a business plan to grow our company. We attempted to grow, had trouble finding good people. Good, good talented people, and spend a lot of money all over the country, headhunters, trying to attract good talent. And then it dawned on us.
Scott Parker [00:13:27]:
We have so many unique aspects of our business that are competitive advantages. And we're so customer service focused. As we started to grow, we lost a little bit of the customer service experience. And that's where we shine, the customer service experience. As the owner, I am the only point of contract, the initial phone call, all the meetings with the client during the project. I am, you know, project managing and point of contact and even post project, it's me. And same day phone calls too, during business hours, which is really, really rare in any industry. But definitely construction.
Jack Jostes [00:14:16]:
Well, for sure, it's, it's unusual in construction and I think it is an advantage. And I was sharing the story of how I'm unfortunately looking for a remodeling company right now because my dishwasher blew or it leaked. It had an emergency restoration company. My client, 24-7 Restoration, was awesome. But I mean, we've contacted numerous companies that don't even reply. And then sometimes people come and they say they're going to give us a proposal and an estimate, and then we never hear from them. So the things we were working on today with your business of like, hey, I'm Scott. I'm going to be your point of contact, and I guarantee that I'm going to get back to you within the same day.
Jack Jostes [00:14:54]:
That's pretty appealing to a homeowner who's looking to have some construction work done.
Scott Parker [00:14:59]:
Yeah, I know a lot of our clients, they're busy people. Many of them have families, they have jobs, and they. They have a lot of stress and, you know, in their life. And they're really looking for someone to. That they could trust with their money, that knows what they're doing and that is gonna project, manage and really just answer their phone calls for, you know, really basic stuff. Basic stuff. And when I started in the business, my father told me, I'll never forget this. He said, you could be really successful in this industry if you just do what you say you're going to do.
Scott Parker [00:15:43]:
Respond when you tell people you're going to respond. And it was probably my 20s, and I remember thinking, duh. No, no kidding.
Jack Jostes [00:15:52]:
Yeah.
Scott Parker [00:15:53]:
And now I know why. Because the same thing that happened to you, Jack, happens to me pretty frequently at my house when we have interior projects. I've had people that, they don't give me a quote, they don't get back to me, they don't show up for the initial meeting. We had a meeting where I drove an hour and a half to the meeting. It was confirmed the day before. No show on a weekend. So it's unbelievable that. And to me, it's just very disrespectful for people's time.
16:26 – It’s Not About the Money Anymore, It’s About the Client
Jack Jostes [00:16:26]:
And I agree. Well, so you found, though, that you're happy, though, with the level of business, the amount of business you're doing, because you're able to control that quality.
Scott Parker [00:16:39]:
Absolutely. And now that I'm deeper into my career, it's not about just making money. It brings me amazing satisfaction to really make a customer, just give them an unbelievable product. The referrals are great. You get a tremendous amount of referral work. So as I'm getting older, it's the lean toward, yes, I have to make money and pay bills, but it's a much larger lean towards satisfying the customer. And if you do that and you do it all the time and try your best, you're gonna. The money will come, you'll keep getting new business and referral.
Jack Jostes [00:17:23]:
Well, I love hearing this perspective because there's so many different ways to grow your business and I think that there's certain things that you can do that bring you satisfaction from your business. And some people feel like, oh, I got to keep growing, I got to keep hiring, I got to add that other crew. And I have numerous clients. I go hunting with him on one of my clients and he, he's around the same age as you and he's, he's around the same revenue.
Scott Parker [00:17:49]:
Sure.
Jack Jostes [00:17:49]:
And we have a blast. And he's, he's like, you know what? I'm really happy running my company at this, at this mark. And many clients around your size and his size make more profit than some of the companies I know who do a higher top line revenue. But their, their overhead, their stress is much higher. They're not actually making more profit.
Scott Parker [00:18:11]:
It's a very hard industry to have your revenue curve, your, your income curve, follow your revenue curve. It's dependent on the economy. I mean, most of our services are discretionary other than probably drainage work. So bad economy that, you know, it's very labor intensive. There's a lot of regulation, especially what's happening right now with getting labor into this country that people that are willing to work and willing to educate themselves, it's very, you know, it's hard. You don't see a lot of Americans doing the kind of work out there. So there's a lot of macro events that could really affect you financially. And there's a lot of other.
Scott Parker [00:18:59]:
There's a reason why there's pretty much no publicly traded landscape companies. The publicly traded ones are the ones that have residual income. Like the brightscapes. Yeah. Large lawn maintenance, commercial lawn maintenance, sprinkler companies. Those are the companies getting bought out and.
Jack Jostes [00:19:15]:
Yeah.
Scott Parker [00:19:16]:
So very happy though, at the level we're at. You know, we try our hardest and we do a great job making our customers very happy and we do very unique work.
Jack Jostes [00:19:27]:
What's your favorite part about running the company at this, at this phase?
Scott Parker [00:19:30]:
Making customers happy? Yeah, by far. Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:19:34]:
Do you think that was a learned passion? How did you. No, how did you, how did you realize that's what makes you happy?
Scott Parker [00:19:43]:
Yeah, I always cared about people, so. And I'm a big believer, no matter what I was selling, you know, whatever service I was selling or whatever industry I was in, I would always, always give 110% to please a customer, just the way I was brought up. And it just brings me a lot of joy to see customers happy. So now it wasn't really learned, but again, I think as I've gotten older, the money is less Important to me. And just really. Because now we're seeing the fruits of our labor or competitive advantages coming to fruition. We won three recent awards this past year for our work, and that's becoming more important.
20:32 – Why He Invests in Video to Build Trust Before the Sale
Jack Jostes [00:20:32]:
So, Scott, what are you doing here in Colorado again? We just did, like, a full day of video. We shot social media. We shot website videos, and we did all of this a couple of years ago. Why? Why are you here again? What are we doing?
Scott Parker [00:20:44]:
More videos! I think videos sell. We're doing different types of videos. And I didn't tell you, Jack, but I have more that we didn't get to today that I want to eventually talk to you about. But, you know, it personalizes. Someone goes on your website. We want them to almost feel like they met me before I show up at their door. And people like to do business with people they like, and we're trying to convey that.
Jack Jostes [00:21:15]:
Yeah, I think you. I actually. That reminds me when we met in person for the first time after years of working together. I think. I think we, like, met at The Landscape New Jersey Trade Show.
Scott Parker [00:21:26]:
That's right. A week before COVID A week before COVID A couple days before COVID It.
Jack Jostes [00:21:31]:
Was literally days before COVID because I flew out there, I spoke, spoke. I went to New York City. I did all the things I wanted to. I went downtown, I rode the subway, I got Euros, I had pizza. Like, I kind of. That was, like, what I wanted.
Scott Parker [00:21:46]:
And the world went dark.
Jack Jostes [00:21:47]:
Yeah. And then I. And then I came home, and I had an employee fly out who still works with me. Rebecca was one of the last people I flew out for an interview because we used to fly people out for a final interview. We felt like we needed to do that. And I remember she was looking at her phone. She's like, some of the airports are closing. I'm like, what are you talking about? And it was like, the next day, or like, that day, Covid was starting and things were closing.
Jack Jostes [00:22:10]:
But when we met after that, years later in Colorado, you were like, oh, Jack, you know, I just remember the impact that my videos had on you. And I was like, you know, this is what happens to you when you do video is the people that you meet, if they've spent a lot of time watching your videos, when you finally do meet with them, they feel like they know you a lot better.
Scott Parker [00:22:38]:
I don't know the answer to that because I haven't really asked them. But the assumption would be they definitely would, you know.
Jack Jostes [00:22:46]:
Right.
Scott Parker [00:22:46]:
We're doing these personalized videos, and they see What I look like, they see how fast I talk, they see if educated and what I'm talking about. So it's kind of a no brainer that you know, it's definitely going to personalize the relationship before you meet. And it might also eliminate. People are not going to call 15 companies out. You know, it might put you over the top of getting your company to come out versus another company that they can't have that personal touch on the website.
Jack Jostes [00:23:19]:
Well the other thing is, you know, most landscape companies aren't doing video. So when you have video and when it's well done and it's professional, it's helpful. Like your videos today taught people a lot about plans, it taught them about mistakes, it taught them about decisions to make, about how they live, and how they're like. So you're building, you are building relationships. Everyone says, you know, it's a relationship business and it is a, it is relationship business. And part of the way people build that relationship can happen before they even meet you.
Scott Parker [00:23:51]:
Sure.
Jack Jostes [00:23:52]:
Through video, through your content, through your reviews.
Scott Parker [00:23:55]:
I remember we were looking to remodel. I was for my personal house. We went on to, we, we were looking at reviews online, got to a couple websites and one of them really stood out. Why they had an interaction with the owner, talking to the customer. And I felt like before I even met the owner I could trust him. It just was such a personal touch. Here you are hearing the feedback of a customer and the owner's interaction. So to me it's kind of a no-brainer.
Scott Parker [00:24:33]:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:24:33]:
Yeah. And some of those things are hard to quantify in marketing.
Scott Parker [00:24:37]:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:24:37]:
Unless you like interrogate your customer. Like.
Scott Parker [00:24:41]:
Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:24:41]:
Did you watch this video? Did you watch this video? Like, how did you feel while you watched the video?
24:48 – Photos Sell Projects! If You Do Them Right…
Jack Jostes [00:24:48]:
One of the other things that you guys do really well is your photography. Your photos are. I tell people all the time I'll pull up their website, and I'll pull up your website. We might have a similar design between the websites. And I'll say what do you think of these photos versus your photos? And the answer is very clearly that these look like what you're selling, which is a design, you're selling. An experience for people.
Scott Parker [00:25:13]:
Sure.
Jack Jostes [00:25:13]:
So talk to me about photos. You invest a fair amount in photography.
Scott Parker [00:25:17]:
Photos are a real pain in the butt. So I don't know, and I'm going to tell you why I shoot. So we have some professionally shot. I shoot the majority of the photos on our website and boy to get a good picture, the lighting has to be right, you know, too sunny, it doesn't come out. Good lighting too. So night shots are a whole different animal. I heard you might be getting into that or are getting into already into that. And that would be of interest as well to me because to try to do it yourself and there's opportunity, cost of time also.
Scott Parker [00:25:56]:
Yeah, it's a very hard endeavor unless you know, photography and. Yeah, so it's, it's a real pain.
Jack Jostes [00:26:02]:
Yeah. So what I found with, with photographers is there, there are people who primarily shoot people headshots, portraits, things like that, sports maybe and then there are, you know, like architecture or landscape photographers. And what I really enjoy is shooting people. And so in the last couple years I've really, I've, I've watched, I don't know, dozens of hours of videos on headshot photography. I've upgraded my cameras and what's rewarding for me? You know, one of the things you were talking about is customer satisfaction. I actually really love seeing photos of my clients online. So a lot of times clients come to me and like you, you have a photo I took of you on your website and when I look at it I'm like, oh, that's better than what he had before. But now I'm even better than, you know, two years ago.
Jack Jostes [00:26:53]:
And so the things like the lighting, we have this enormous light here. So I enjoy shooting that or the story behind the photo is fun for me. And not everyone knows it, but like one of my clients kind of Kelly Slater came out. She was one of the finalists for our Landscape Leader of the Year Contest. And part of that included me shooting headshots of everybody. So I shot headshots of Kelly, and then a month later I interviewed her because she has an employee-owned company, and she got promoted to CEO. She didn't start the company. She's, she's a, it's a larger company where she was hired as the vice president and now she's been promoted.
Jack Jostes [00:27:33]:
And then I wrote a press release for her and I sent it out to Lawn and Landscape Magazine and to the NALP and seeing her headshot that she came and shot here in print in Lawn and Landscape and on their website and stuff was, was rewarding to me.
Scott Parker [00:27:51]:
Sure.
Jack Jostes [00:27:52]:
And then we do have a landscape photographer. So we have a team of photographers who are, they're the best in the country that travel and they will geek out on all the things you're talking about of like arriving at the right time in the sun and, and all of those things and they, they aren't as into the people photographs.
Scott Parker [00:28:13]:
I just thought of something else, you know, promotion to use Jack for photography. And I'm sure you do a great job because you do a great job with everything else is the timing.
Jack Jostes [00:28:22]:
Yeah.
Scott Parker [00:28:22]:
You're in the northeast like we are. We're a seasonal business. The best times to shoot our landscape photography is May, June, when we don't have the time to dedicate to it.
Jack Jostes [00:28:34]:
Well, I agree with you on that. And especially for, for people who do landscape maintenance. Yeah, they, they often a lot of people take their photos in November or December and like there are no leaves on the trees and really May and June.
Scott Parker [00:28:50]:
Pictures look terrible.
Jack Jostes [00:28:51]:
Yeah, they look terrible.
28:53 – Pro Photography Tips from a Landscape Award-Winner
Jack Jostes [00:28:53]:
So I recently had a guest on the show, one of my clients, Aaron Wolfe from Wickenburg Landscapes in Wickenburg, Arizona. And he was a former judge, I think for one of the paver companies. So he was a photography judge. So he would. For like the awards that you won, he would evaluate photographs, and he plans his photos six to eight months in advance. And he plans the time of day based on the sun. And he's very meticulous.
Jack Jostes [00:29:22]:
He sends his crew the night before they do a tune-up there the morning of he makes. The client is their home and his photos are just ridiculous.
Scott Parker [00:29:32]:
I figured this out, that it is a lot. It's not as easy. Anyone could take pictures. You're doing yourself a disservice if you're taking bad pictures and putting them on your website. You could actually hurt yourself, hurt your company. So there's so many things I learn as to why I'd much rather pay a company to outsource it.
Jack Jostes [00:29:54]:
Yeah, I agree. And I think the number one thing, even if you are doing these photos yourself, is to stage the shot.
Scott Parker [00:30:02]:
And that takes time.
Jack Jostes [00:30:03]:
It takes time. But like a lot of times my clients bring us photos and I'm like, what are we looking at? There's leaves on the patio, the pillows on the floor. There's like a bag of Doritos on the…
Scott Parker [00:30:14]:
So I'm telling you a horror story job. I paid a fairly new photography company to do shots of my customers homes. It was in my agreement to do this, but they didn't do it. I was busy. I just assumed they were going to do it as per the contract. They were going to do drone videos and photos.
Scott Parker [00:30:42]:
The table was supposed to be set, the TV on the wall was supposed to, the outdoor TV was supposed to be uncovered and turned on, and they finished it and didn't stage anything.
Jack Jostes [00:30:56]:
Right.
Scott Parker [00:30:57]:
And, it's night and day if it was staged versus the way that it was shot.
Jack Jostes [00:31:02]:
Well, so this is, this is the landscape industry comprehension part of like did they actually know what they were photographing?
Scott Parker [00:31:10]:
Yes, you know, because I went over with them everything!
Jack Jostes [00:31:12]:
Right, okay. Well, they either didn't know or they didn't have the capacity to execute for whatever reason. I guess my point is, is like you're selling a space where people are going to have an experience. And one thing that's really best is if you took that a step further and had people in it, enjoying it, watching a game, you know, like a magazine.
Scott Parker [00:31:34]:
I have a friend who has a company and that's what he does. Again, time consuming. But he paid for a party at the customer's house and everything was interactive. A video and even better.
31:47 – Scott’s Finance Background & Why He Left Wall Street
Jack Jostes [00:31:47]:
One thing I learned about you this time is that you have a background in finance. So tell us a little bit about that and how did you kind of come back so into the green industry after?
Scott Parker [00:32:00]:
So grew up in this industry and learned a lot in my teens because my sister and I didn't get ice cream. My dad would point to plants. What's the name of it? What's the name of it? We didn't know, we didn't get ice cream. Pretty strict father. So I was a finance major at Tulane, wanted to go on Wall Street, and did. Was on the money management side. And just when I was about to make a lot of money, all my friends are day trading, making millions of dollars with their hat backwards and in shorts, starting to trade early in the morning and leaving work at 4:35 after the markets close and they do a little bit of homework after. And in New York City and everyone's having fun and seem like a grand old time.
Scott Parker [00:32:50]:
And then reality set in a couple years later, 2001, the Internet bust, technology bust. And I was making a lot of money and lost a lot of it and decided too much stress. Not, not that my industry is not stressful, but certain people were cut out for it. I was not a good trader, I'll admit it. And I just didn't, I didn't like making a lot of money one day and feeling amazing and the next day losing a lot of money. And it was just a very unstable way to feel every day.
Jack Jostes [00:33:32]:
What did you take away from that experience that's still part of your life?
Scott Parker [00:33:36]:
I'm glad, really happy I tried this because I have friends that made millions. I have one person we know that is a billionaire now from trading so I'm happy I tried it because I could say I gave it a shot over a bunch of years and wasn't for me. I think I would have regrets if I didn't. Then I again had a family as an established business went into there, turned around their landscape division was actually losing money for a multitude of reasons. Theft, caught people stealing. It was run extremely in an extremely inefficient way. Turned a profit for that division and then went on my own. I just again, very entrepreneurial.
Scott Parker [00:34:27]:
Love my dad. Hard to take orders from anyone and just my personality and his brother just I was happy to start my own business. Yeah, cool.
34:41 – Connect with Scott + RJ Video Studio
Jack Jostes [00:34:41]:
Well, Scott, we've got to go. Enjoy a cigar next.
Scott Parker [00:34:44]:
Sounds good to me, right? Yeah.
Jack Jostes [00:34:46]:
So that's going to be fun. So thanks for coming on The Landscaper's Guide for folks watching, where can we, you know, connect with you and network with you?
Scott Parker [00:34:55]:
Sure. Our website is parkerlandscapedesign.com and the bottom of our homepage you'll see our Instagram page or Facebook link to our Facebook page and other social media accounts. And thank you too, Jack. Really appreciate it.
Jack Jostes [00:35:11]:
Hey, everyone, I hope you enjoyed today's podcast, and if you did, make sure you check out parkerlandscapedesign.com. It's a website that Ramblin Jackson built for Scott, and you can connect with him there, follow him on social media, and check out the videos that we're producing for him. And hey, if you'd like to have a conversation with me and my team about how to grow your snow and landscape company, book a 15-minute Marketing Brainstorm. Call us. And at landscapersguide.com/brainstorm, we'll come prepared with ideas to help you get more of your Hell Yes Customers finding you online, leveraging our 16 years of experience in the Snow and Landscape Industry. So check out our show notes for that. I'm Jack Jostes. Thanks for tuning in.
Jack Jostes [00:35:54]:
And I will talk with you next week on The Landscaper's Guide.
Show Notes
📺 Watch the full episode + transcript:
https://landscapersguide.com/podcast
🌐 Learn more about Scott's work:
https://parkerlandscapedesign.com/
📱 Follow Parker Landscape Design:
Instagram: @parkerhomescape
Facebook: @ParkerHomescape
🧰 Get Your Marketing Toolbox + Beef Jerky:
https://landscapersguide.com/toolbox
🎯 Book a Free 15-Minute Marketing Brainstorm:
https://landscapersguide.com/brainstorm
🎥 Explore the RJ Mobile Video Studio Portfolio:
https://ramblinjackson.com/video/