Lawn Care Blueprint w/ Dominick Wynn: Lawn Care Career Transition to Year-Round Income

Ezra McCarthy

Hello and welcome back to the Lawn Care Blueprint. Today we are joined by Dominic Wynn from Your Total Lawns and Your Bright Holiday Lights. And we’re going to be diving into his story, why he added in Christmas lights, and how that’s going for him. So Dominic, glad to have you here today.

Dominick Wynn

Thank you.

Ezra McCarthy

Let’s start with your story. So I know your story a little bit. You didn’t start out as a lawn care individual. You actually were a desk jockey. So do you want to tell us about your job there and why in the world you changed from sitting at a desk to sweating it out there in the hot and humid Kansas.

Dominick Wynn

Yeah, I can take it back a little bit. Back when I was a younger fella, I moved up here to the Kansas City area to live with my dad. And at that time, he had sort of gotten his life together and purchased his lawn care business from his boss. So for probably about two or three years there on and off, I was helping him in his lawn care business.

One of the things that I didn’t quite understand at the time is how to start a business, how to grow a business. So I didn’t see that the lawn care business life was for me.

Additionally, my dad was a solo guy. He’s a diehard solo guy. So he never had anything good to say about growing a crew, growing multiple routes. It’s like, that’s too hard. You can’t do that.

Ezra McCarthy

Why? Why did he have that mindset? Did he have a bad experience?

Dominick Wynn

I don’t know. He still has that mindset.

Fast forward, he didn’t think I could do one hundred K my first year, or one hundred K period. I don’t think he realizes I could by myself do one hundred fifty K a year between lawn care and Christmas lights. He doesn’t see money in it. He’s done it, but he doesn’t see money in it. He doesn’t see it as a career.

So fast forward, when I kind of got my life together and decided I was going to go to college, one of the thoughts for me was that I would rather use my mind over my body. I had looked at my dad, knee pain, back pain, hip pain. He’s already had a knee replacement and probably needs another. The college route was for me. Going and learning how to use my mind over my body was something that was my goal.

However, once I graduated college and got my desk job, one of the things that I realized was you’re sitting all day and your weight just goes up and up and up and up. Especially when you have kids and you’ve got a demanding job, it’s kind of hard to get into the gym. And then YouTube came along.

So one of the first people I really saw on YouTube was Johnny from Blades of Grass. And it so happens he does lawn care in the area I grew up in. He primarily operates in Savannah, Georgia. I grew up in Hinesville, which is probably about thirty minutes southeast of Savannah. And I was like, man, somebody down in Savannah can have a successful lawn care company. Why can’t I. And just watching those videos, people outside having fun, being happy, change of scenery, that got me thinking that I could possibly start a lawn care company.

Fast forward a couple more years, my dad decided to move from Kansas City to Ohio. And as part of that, he was getting rid of the mower he’d started his company with, the mower I learned how to cut grass with when he upgraded from that to another. So I kind of got it running. I wouldn’t necessarily restore it, but I got it running. I had it sitting outside for the past twelve years, twelve or thirteen years. So it was a thirty six inch Lesco belt drive walk behind. I believe I got that running in the summer of twenty twenty two and cut my lawn the whole year with it.

And then the summer of twenty twenty three, I figured out my plan for marketing or trying to get the business started. So in twenty twenty three, it was a proof of concept. So I started with my thirty six inch belt drive walk behind that by this time is a quarter century old. I got a Harbor Freight trailer, one that you buy in a box and you put together. And then I got some five hundred door hangers and then two magnets off of VistaPrint. And that year we roughly did about ten grand. So that helped me build some confidence with my wife that we can build a business.

So the next year, I already made ten grand gross. So I decided that I was going to step up and I was going to buy a stand on a mower. So I went out and got a used V Ride two fifty two inch that helped propel my business from ten to twenty grand. And then later in twenty twenty four, we decided to add Christmas lights because lawn care here in Kansas only really takes you for about six months out of the year. We do get some snow, but it’s very spotty snow.

So last year by this time there were plenty of people out plowing snow that were making well into six figures. However, this year we’ve had one snow event that hasn’t been that great. So Christmas lights were that bridge to kind of help me get through the winter. We did pretty well for what I thought, working a full time job. And then my brother in law and I hang Christmas lights literally at night. We would show up to people’s houses at five thirty, six thirty. And then sometimes we would get one job done and then start another job at nine thirty, ten o’clock at night.

Ezra McCarthy

Did the customers say anything about that? Because I can only imagine nine o’clock at night, here comes this guy rolling up for Christmas lights.

Dominick Wynn

When it’s twenty or thirty degrees out and you’re getting up on a ladder hanging those Christmas lights, they’re very appreciative. So we didn’t have anybody that was mad at us.

We did have one guy that had taken off the whole day from his job to wait for us to come install Christmas lights and we didn’t show up until later that evening. And he was like, I wasted a whole day. And I’m like, buddy, we didn’t give you a time when we would be here. I just said we’d be there in the evening. And he took that as we’d come sometime that day.

We did Christmas lights and we did pre-wired Christmas lights and that kind of gave me the proof of concept on that. And then rolling into twenty twenty five, I got my LLC, got a website started, and then set up local service ads or Google Guaranteed.

Ezra McCarthy

LSA.

Dominick Wynn

The conversation then began with, well let me back up a bit. There was some tension at home because I was working eight, nine, ten hours a day at my accounting job. And then I would leave at four o’clock in the afternoon to go cut grass. And then I was getting home at nine o’clock. So that did create some tension. I didn’t have one, barely had any free time throughout the week, nor on the weekends.

So that began the conversation to leave my full time job to step into lawn care. And we had gotten probably about seventy percent of the way there with gross revenue versus what I was making yearly at the accounting firm. And we had some money saved up and we said it was time to make the jump. Hindsight looking back on it, I wish I would have made the jump in April versus middle of June.

However, I don’t really regret making that jump. I’m a lot happier. I get more face to face interaction with people than I did at the accounting firm. More in person interactions, even with being a solo guy.

Ezra McCarthy

So I’ve got to ask you, being an accountant, how are your books?

Dominick Wynn

So working two jobs last year, they weren’t very organized.

Ezra McCarthy

The cobbler with no shoes.

Dominick Wynn

I didn’t have time, zero time, to get any of that done. So luckily last year probably around September or October, I downloaded QuickBooks or got my QuickBooks subscription. Ever since then I’ve been connecting both my bank accounts to QuickBooks and then I’ve been doing a better job at keeping up with getting receipts entered, taking a look at things a little bit quicker, going in and classifying transactions, and getting the accounts set up and getting those right.

So that’s a goal of mine in twenty twenty six, becoming better organized, not only on the accounting front, but also on the Google front, staying on top of getting reviews, and then also my follow up process. So once I give a quote, what is my follow up process after that quote, which I’m still trying to figure out.

Ezra McCarthy

So where did you find in the first kind of full year of business, where did you find most of your customers came from?

Dominick Wynn

I did door hangers for lawn care. I didn’t do that many because I was working the two jobs, but I got a fair amount of customers off of that. And then the Google local service ads really helped out for the most part. I’d say half of my new customers this year came from door hangers. The other half came from local service ads.

And then one of our biggest new customers that we gained this year came from coaching or assistant coaching flag football. Here in the town I live in, the associate pastor at the Baptist church here in town. When he first came, our son was put on his team for flag football. I assistant coached with him for two years. And in the second year, I got in the groove of talking about my business. Everybody I know, I tell them about my business.

Last year, one of the biggest things I did, I always had my hat on, always had a company shirt on. I vinyled my truck and my trailer so that way people knew who was running around town. That relationship I built with that associate pastor landed us our biggest account of the year.

Ezra McCarthy

Was it the church or is it something else.

Okay. I want to highlight one thing you said there. A lot of people are looking for clients next week from their marketing dollars. When you mentioned vinyling your truck and trailer and also the uniforms, that may not get you five clients next week. But literally, if you’re spending forty plus hours driving around town, the amount of impressions of people seeing your brand is invaluable.

If it’s a janky trailer with one wheel hanging off and you’re cutting someone off, you’re building a brand, just not one you want.

Dominick Wynn

Last year in twenty twenty three, we had the Harbor Freight trailer. In twenty twenty four, we upgraded to a Tractor Supply trailer. It was a Caravane nine and a half foot long with a dovetail. I could get both my V Ride and my walk behind there.

And then at the end of twenty twenty four for the twenty twenty five season, we upgraded to a seven by fourteen enclosed trailer. That way it cut down on bringing tools inside at night and possibly forgetting tools. And then I’ve got a seven by fourteen billboard rolling around town.

This year I’ve been told by a couple of customers, man, you’re all over town. I see your truck and trailer everywhere. And my second biggest customer that I got last year, which I never thought I would be charging somebody over a hundred bucks to mow his lawn, had gotten a hold of me off local service ads. He talked to his buddy that still lives in town and asked if he knew me. And he mentioned that shiny bright red trailer I was pulling around. So that reinforced the brand aspect.

Ezra McCarthy

I think it’s really underrated and very valuable.

Dominick Wynn

One last thing. Here in Kansas, once you logo your business and you’re pulling a trailer or hauling equipment, you have some state regulations you have to follow. For intrastate commerce, you have to follow USDOT regulations.

I was very lucky I didn’t get pulled over last year without my DOT numbers. Once I registered, I got multiple phone calls a day from companies trying to help navigate regulations. For me, I don’t need that. I just need annual inspections, a medical card, vinyl on the truck, and a driver file.

My advice is make sure you comply with your state commercial motor vehicle laws when you logo up, or you could get yourself in hot water.

Ezra McCarthy

One thing you do really well is the sandwich board. You did it for Christmas lights and now lawn care. You’d put it out front with your information and phone number. And you said you’d get one or two inquiries per job.

Dominick Wynn

Yes. That’s something I got off YouTube. Putting the A frame out there in traffic like a cone. Most of the time we’d get one, two, or three people stopping by asking about Christmas lights.

Ezra McCarthy

I’ve never seen anyone do that before.

Dominick Wynn

It cost me between two hundred seventy five and three hundred dollars through a local sign shop. I didn’t want to risk making mistakes online. Going local also led me to learn about DOT requirements from someone else’s experience.

Ezra McCarthy

That’s nuts.

Dominick Wynn

That shows you how sophisticated a lot of people in home services are. Stepping up your level of sophistication is the difference between staying solo and building a business that changes lives.

Ezra McCarthy

There’s a lot of opportunity if people are willing to learn and ask questions.

Dominick Wynn

With the amount of information online, there are no excuses. Right now I’m focusing on organization, knowing my numbers, and marketing. Writing articles, posting them across platforms, and educating customers to build trust.

Ezra McCarthy

This has been great. If someone’s interested in finding you, where’s the best place to reach out?

Dominick Wynn

You can reach me at www.yourtotallawn.com for lawn care and www.yourbrightholidaylights.com for Christmas lights.

Ezra McCarthy

Thank each one for listening in. Be sure to hit that subscribe button and we’ll catch you on the next one.