TGS POD EP57 Post event chat, Heatwave, Facebook Branding.

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Gardener Shed podcast.

[00:00:05]This one is episode 57.

[00:00:08]So much to talk about in this one. As usual, I'm coming postvent sort of uh you know tear down talk about. I'll talk about that in a little bit because today guys was the first SGM gardener shed podcast meetup. So, I'll talk about a little bit because I was honestly super super excited. Uh, I am going to do a little video about it. I filmed it, edited it, and I'm going to get that up on Wednesday evening, probably about 5 6:00ish.

[00:00:41]So, if you're wondering or you're thinking, "Oh, you know, what's he on about?" Cuz I did try and promote it.

[00:00:46]Uh, you'll see. You'll see what it's all about. So, I won't talk too much about it, but I will say it was fantastic.

[00:00:54]Everybody I spoke to had a really good time. It was well worth it for him.

[00:01:02]Everybody learned something, laughed about something, had a good time. You know, in a weird sort of way, I'm hoping sort of friendships are to be made. Even if it's not in person friendships, is you you'll see them all the time. I'm hoping people will keep in touch or like people's stuff. You know, I saw people swapping Instagram handles and stuff like that. I'm hoping in a weird sort of way, it's influenced people to sort of keep posting, keep talking, keep showing the work. I'm hoping it's given people ideas on, you know, how to strengthen and broaden their business. And most importantly, I hope people have had a full day, and I genuinely believe they am. I will give a couple of quick shoutouts. Thank you to Buckston's for letting us use the car park and tolerating us in the shop and stuff like that.

[00:01:52]Couldn't have done it without you. This is the thing. It's I said this in the video. I am marred by time availability and ability, budget constraints, you know, finding a venue that's fine with us, that's okay with us. Finding a venue that's sort of central, that's open on a Saturday and with, you know, facilities, toilet facilities and food facilities.

[00:02:14]the cafe next door outdoor herself. You know, this lass, she I I told her I was coming, but I didn't tell her what time we were coming. So, you know, I did tell her, you know, we're here, but I don't know when we're coming, you know. So, poor L. She had like 15 people sort of piling in. Uh, but you know what? She did outstanding. Everybody did. I am.

[00:02:34]So, and and I mean this I I don't I'm hoping if you've watched this channel for a while, I don't [ __ ] I don't blow smoke up people's asses. I try and be as genuine as possible. And you know what? I really, really do. You know, I'm not one of them people to sort of, you know, blob and cry on here and break down. But I really, really am so happy with everybody who's turned up. And you know what? There there wasn't a minute where people there wasn't an awkward silence. There wasn't a minute where people were staring and feeling left out. You know, I'm hoping everybody felt like they were part of it. And you know, my commitment to you and promise to you guys is there will be another one next year. So, if you've missed this one or you've been to this one, you want to go again. There will be one next year. I'm hoping to make it bigger and better and I'm hoping to make it part of a calendar basically that this happens. You know, there's no structure to it. I don't think there ever will be. I think it will be worth you know you want to hang out with other people in your situation and laugh learn you know find something new that'll be for you guys you know and it'll be a regular thing like I said once a year probably similar time similar place and yeah that's it really so what we're talking about in this episode oh and I will say as well to every single person that's came that's traveled whether it's down the road an hour half an hour four 5 hours. Believe you me, some people did that.

[00:04:04]Give you honestly so much love from me.

[00:04:06]Thank you guys. It really, really means a lot. Stuff like this, you know, is, you know, they live or die by turnout.

[00:04:15]And I was I've always said that, you know, if one person turns up, I'll be happy. But you don't want that. You want people to turn up. You want your fruits that you put in to flourish and to be successful. But I was happy. Couldn't have wished for more. I really, really couldn't. So, yeah, ears to bigger and better. Ears to getting it to where, you know, people who because I'll always, you know, I wanted to keep it to you guys and it'll always will be. It'll always be promoted to you guys. You know, anybody who watches a channel or listens to the channel, it'll always be promoted to you. I want it to be, you know, a you thing where, you know, you feel in on it and you are a part of it.

[00:04:54]And that's what I'll always do. So anyway, May good month. It's, you know, I think we got one more day of May and yeah, it's just been a really, really good month that I can't say anything, you know, I can't not do this podcast and not talk about the heatwave this week. Oh my, honestly, the tan that I am sporting, I'll put a picture up on the socials and I will just give a quick shout out to this. I'll always post podcasts on the podcast pages and all that, but I have got a Facebook and Instagram page where I try and post every single day. I try and post some stories, some behind the scenes sort of stuff. So, yeah, just check it out, guys. Uh, you don't even have to like and well, I'd like you to like and subscribe, but yeah, like I said, so I tried to post pictures every day and oh, it's just been so hot this week has just been ridiculous. It's But the whole country has known it, you So, it's not like it's just me. It's been so hot, so sweaty, so sticky. You know, dare us dare I go on really. Uh, but as quick as it came, it's as quickly as it's gone. I think next week it's going to be raining. The good thing for us guys is this sort of erratic weather means that it's going to keep things growing. And things are growing. If a customer said to me, "Sam, I don't think the lawn's grown this week. Could you leave it?" I would probably like blue light her to theos or him to the hospital and say look this lady's suffering here doll you know she she's thinking the grass isn't growing because every single lawn that I am doing at this point in time is just growing like the clappers. It's it's having all the sun it needs all the water it needs. It's going nuts.

[00:06:40]Absolutely bananas. It really really is.

[00:06:44]I can't do this without, you know, giving a shout out to the channel sponsor, which is Crest. The tools have coped excellently with this heat. I've had no issues with batteries overheating. I have I have cracked on and worked normally during the bank holiday. Well, during the heat wave basically, I've had no issues. I've had no issues with any of the batteries from Crest or the tools. They have just plotted on brilliantly and just it's done everything I've wanted it to basically literally everything. Uh we've had no end of hedge jobs and I I don't know if I mentioned this in one of the videos, but this time of the year I'm get a lot of people saying to me, "Oh, uh could you do the hedges at some point?" Or next time you come, can you do the hedges? And me being me, I'm like, "Yeah, I'll do it next time I come for you." And I do that a couple of times.

[00:07:37]cuz I can normally fit in an extra hedge because most of my properties are small.

[00:07:41]But when you got two or three to fit in on a day, it's meant that I've had late evenings. And trust me on this, like, as much as I love doing seven day week, I hate doing late evenings, it bugs me. I like me routine and it disrupts my routine. But yeah, we've had late evenings this week. Couple of like six, seven:00 finishes. And I know that's nothing to some people, but to me it's a big thing.

[00:08:04]So yeah, hedges galore. But and like I said, the kit has just coped really well. Uh bearing in mind it's shaft driven on a long reach hedge trimmer.

[00:08:13]The tool itself, like the shaft was getting bloody hot. It really was. Like you you could hold it, but you couldn't hold it for like more than 10 seconds.

[00:08:22]It was getting blowing hot. But you know what? Bless it socks. It's cracked on really. So yeah, that's the little plug over. I don't want to push everything on to you and keep blacking on about it, but credit where credit's due. I'll always say this. So, yeah, smashed it out the park. Really, like I said, lawns, everything is just growing like bananas. It really is. I think we got a week of or a bad week next week.

[00:08:48]So, yeah. Next week, guys, I've got my appointment with the accountant. So, I'm doing my books from last April to this April. So, this submission.

[00:09:00]And I think we're going to be doing the first make tax digital submission. I I don't know. I think so. I will let you guys know on how it went because this is the first one for me. I am still having pro. Well, it's just a learning curve. I think I've got it to link up to make tax digital on the Zoo software. I've just got to confirm this and then hopefully I have and I can do the submissions myself. But who knows? This this is the thing. Who knows at all. Uh, also I will know a rough idea on how much tax I owe, which means I can then start because I've been throwing as much money into the tax part as possible. So once I know what I need for this year's tax, I can start taking a foot off pedal and then start putting more money into the winter pot. The goal for the next couple of months, I'm a big believer in goal setting.

[00:09:55]So, I want to get the SAM tank parts and constituent parts. So, this week, this month, I'm going to be ordering the MPPPT controller, which turns the sunlight energy into a usable energy, which you can then charge the battery. And I want to order the the touchscreen for it, which gives like the diagnosis and all the like the thing.

[00:10:21]Basically, if people if you're thinking of doing a solar setup, it's like Lego.

[00:10:26]This bit does this. This bit helps this bit. This bit makes this bit work. So, it's nice and simple, hopefully, he says. So, I'm hoping to get half of the Victron stuff this month. And then I'm hoping to get the Well, I'm hoping to get the big thing, which is the inverter. That's £1,000 on its own. I'm hoping to get that in August.

[00:10:50]And then I'm hoping by the end of August I've got it ready because winter will be winding down. I'm also hoping to get more solar added onto the container roof. My plan is is to get if possible um 1.5 kowatt of solar on the roof which I'll be honest with you that is way overkill for summer. That will keep me in more than enough electric due like the power banks at the moment to keeping up with it. But with as once you get past summer into autumn, after autumn, the solar starts dropping off. So I'm hoping it extends my usable capabilities. Let's just say during summer and winter where I'm hoping I can get enough to sort of scrape through autumn, early winter, and then as the sun really starts dropping, I'm hoping I'm hoping to have a fighting chance over winter, basically.

[00:11:48]But we'll see. I know I won't be able to rely fully on solar.

[00:11:53]I have got backup where I can plug the SAM tank because there will be a capability where I can plug that into a generator and charge it up. But because the batteries are so huge, it's probably going to take about a full day to charge each battery cuz there going to be there's one at the moment, but there is eventually going to be two. So, there's going to be like nearly 3 kW of [ __ ] storage. Like I said, it's going to be overboard, but I want that. Um, but the most efficient way will be to take it to my parents house and charge each battery up one at a time. That's why there's two batteries so I've got redundancy.

[00:12:27]And also my power consumption does drop down quite a lot over the winter months.

[00:12:32]And if I've got me OP in winter, it will drop down majorly. So I might even be able to scrape by the the thought of running all of my tools for free. Well, all the majority of tools for free is really what keeps me going. So yeah, as I said, Sam tank construction underway.

[00:12:48]I also want to get winter money put aside in July and August. I want to get it done. Basically, I want to get winter cracked. So the tax should be sorted by then. July, August, I want to get the winter pot done and dusted. And then hopefully when we get into September and October and November, I want to start looking at upgrade, not upgrading the kit, but maybe buying a couple of little bits here and there.

[00:13:14]And this is the thing, you you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't. If you don't spend any money on your business, you spend a lot of money on tax. If you spend money on your business, and you don't, you know, you can end up with ornaments. I don't want ornaments, but I think I'm going to be buying some things to make my life that little bit easier, you know, for the business. So, maybe upgrade the trailer.

[00:13:35]I think I am going to upgrade the trailer. Probably go up a little bit bigger size. Um, upgrade the trailer, maybe get a couple more new tools. I've seen something um that I might get just to help with other jobs.

[00:13:50]So, yeah, like I said, I don't I don't want to, you know, I'm a big believer in investing into your business. So, yeah, we'll have to see on that really.

[00:14:00]the diary. Talking about the diary, oh my god, I am full. You know, I was talking to the gardeners today at this meetup and this is the good thing. You know, everyone I spoke to has got work and I was speaking to a chap where, you know, he's went self-employed and he's took that gamble and it's working out for him and I was so happy. I really am.

[00:14:19]And somebody asked me why I do this and it genuinely is with the idea of helping you guys grow your business or cheering you guys up or taking your mind off something to then you can help your business. Not me though. I can't help it directly but indirectly maybe I'll shoot for indirect but yeah and honestly when I hear success stories from people and one of the things we're talking about today so we're saying about the right there's more job and knockers this year there's more [ __ ] customers this year but actually people are busier than ever so maybe it's a good thing. It's just it's just one of them at the end of the day.

[00:15:00]It really really is. So yeah, like I said, diary is just absolutely chocker. I I've got to ring up a customer and I think she's going to book up the last of my space. Um I spoke to the solicitor. So little bit of update on the hoarder house. She's managed I don't think I mentioned it. I don't know if I did or didn't. the hoarder house. I was told by the next door neighbor that he's got shipping containers and he's got off-site storage. So, I let the solicitor know about it and apparently she's found one and I've had an email saying that he's got a 60 foot um storage room basically. And my on email it said it's an 8 foot by 8 foot by 60 foot. Now, my container is 20 foot. I know they do 40 foot containers. I don't know if they did a 60 foot container.

[00:16:03]So, I'm hoping the the best case out of this cuz it did say container, but I don't know. It's at a storage yard, so maybe they've got a root. I I don't know. And looking at the rest of the house with how much [ __ ] there is and how full it was, I've got a feeling that that could be like that. So, it's either going to be trauma or it's not going to be traumatic. It's going to be you'll open it up. Best case scenario is I'll open it up. The best case scenario is there's been a misprint and it's say 60 60 foot capacity or something as in that's like all the space added up and it's not actually that bad.

[00:16:50]or but but you know you can get 60t square foot containers which are 8 by 8 by 8 but I I don't know honestly I'm I'm not worried about it cuz whatever happens it will happen at the end of the day it is what it is but at the same time you know best case scenario there's been a misprint and it's a little wardrobe container and it's sorted you know it's an 8 by8 by8 worst case scenario it's a 60ft container that's just completely and utterly full of crap, you know, and the best case out of that is that it's full of furniture and I can deal with furniture. If it's good furniture, I can find charities to have it. If it's junk furniture, I'll just smash it all up and I'll put it in a skip uh and flat pack it and it's gone, isn't it? But if it's full of newspaper and tea bags and every single pair of underwear he's owned in his entire life, then it's going to be problematic. But this is it. I'm a big believer. It's testing. You know, things happen and you just get it sorted really. And and that's genuinely all you can do. When the [ __ ] sandwich is placed in front of you, you just got to eat it and smile and say it was lovely and hope you don't get another one. But it is what it is at the end of the day. So yeah, get the uh get the sand tank ready by August, start of September. Get the winter fund topped up as well. The good thing is is I am waiting on a couple of big invoices from the solicitor. So that that will be put straight into those pots. So I've not really got to work work work work for it. It's already what's owing. So maybe in a way I'm in a bit of a late payer is a good thing, you know. And I'm not moaning that she's late paying by the way. It's I know it is what it is. So I mentioned ages ago about this bloody timewasting woman, this timewasting customer. Bless her.

[00:18:47]I think when I posted about it, I mentioned the fact that she just always cancels and she's a very unreliable customer. And as usual, there was good advice, but a lot of people were like, "Well, you just cancel it. Tally can't, you know." And I did try I think I tried to cover this, but it's impossible. You know, if you say to somebody who routinely lets you down, but ultimately she just wants five minutes of your time and you were working at the next door's property, it's a very hard excuse to say to this lady, "Oh, I can't stop for 5 minutes to talk to you because I'm too busy." Cuz she'll just be like, "Oh," and I do have to be careful because I work for, you know, two people on her neighbors who she gets on quite well with. So, I do have to be a bit careful.

[00:19:35]And you know what people are like.

[00:19:38]They can be quite funny about that.

[00:19:40]That's me battery finished charging, by the way. It's not me flatlining.

[00:19:44]So, uh yeah, she she she rung up ages ago. I went around to property, quoted.

[00:19:51]I wasted about 15 minutes of my life.

[00:19:54]And then I says to her, "Look, I can get to you in a couple of days." All fantastic. She did cancel the night before. But she's never cancelled on a day, but she cancelled. That's the pattern. So I just I just said to her, "Look, give me a call when you want it doing, but please give me as much notice as possible." And I left it at that. I had a phone call or offer on like Friday at literally like I missed a call, so it went straight to voicemail about half 11 in the day. Hi Sam. Uh that job that we were talking about a bit back, I really need it doing. Could you come today for it?

[00:20:31]And I might absolutely [ __ ] not.

[00:20:33]There's no way. I just finished. I was talking to somebody about how busy I am at the moment and me diary is nearly full. And so that was fresh in me mind.

[00:20:44]So I just rung her straight back.

[00:20:45]Luckily it went to voicemail and I just said to him, "Look, there's no chance I can get to you today. I really, really, really need more notice than than just now, basically." Um, and you got to be careful how you say it. to her says to her, "Luke, I I didn't say Luke, but you know, that's a natural pause. I just said to her that I've had a look at me diary for you to see if I can fit you in, but I have got no availability for June at all, which is technically true.

[00:21:16]I have got little bits of spaces here and there, but the towards the end of the month, I've also got to factor in this maybe huge container and I've also got to book in somebody. So time is very very precious.

[00:21:31]But you know answer yourself this. Would you give a very very precious time slot to a customer which historically has always cancelled the day before? And then what do you do? You're hooped, aren't you? So I just said to her, look, we're booked up fully for June. I says, please give me more. I said, I always say this to you. I need as much notice as possible off you. Um, and I had a text message off her. She was very nice about it. She said, "Oh, that's no problem. I do understand you're busy, but if you have a cancellation, please let me know."

[00:22:07]So, yeah, it like I said, it it you know, I keep saying this, it is what it is. You try your best with people, but I genuinely do believe that some people just do not understand how it works.

[00:22:21]that we've got customers, we've got people, we can't just drop everything at all. You know, it's it very much is what it is. So, this month's been a good month in terms of productivity turnover.

[00:22:35]Uh I've got two calendars now. I've got a personal calendar and I've also got a business calendar. And I'm looking at my personal one. I managed to get away on holiday. So, I went away for four days.

[00:22:48]So I had four days off for my birthday.

[00:22:52]I went up to Fley and Bmpton and all that jazz. Looked at Puffins and ice cream and fish and well chips and sausage. Uh I've been to the cinema one, two, three, four, five times this month. I've got a film booked in for tomorrow as well. So, I would have been the cinema six times. I love the cinema, by the way. I think I've mentioned this.

[00:23:22]Uh, I will give a quick shout out.

[00:23:24]Obsession. Really good film. Very, very close to the knuckle. And I'm going to watch Back Rooms tomorrow, which apparently is being met with rave reviews. I did watch The Mandalorian and Grou film. I liked it. I think you can't go wrong. You genuinely can't go wrong with a Star Wars film. It's like Marvel films. They're always watchable. They're always enjoyable to a certain aspect.

[00:23:51]I can't really understand why they chose to focus on that when they could have wrapped it up in a two-part TV series.

[00:23:57]But you know what? I enjoyed it. I pay a flat rate for Odon. So, if I see I think it's 20 pound a month. So, if I see one film a month, it's 20 quid. If I see six films, it's 20 quid. So, realistically, you know, it I got I get me money's worth out of it. I have this month anyway. So, yeah, really, really good.

[00:24:17]Really, really enjoyed it. I think it was this month that Crest sent out um basically the the rest of the tools that I'll need to be to be fully crested up.

[00:24:31]So, backpack blower, they sent out the little proumer professional grade mower, which is actually a really nice little thing. There's one issue that just niggles me, but it niggles other people as well. So, and I don't know why it's like that, but it is what it is. But I can put up with it. Sent out the backpack blower, which is fantastic.

[00:24:51]Like I said, I don't want to talk too much about it. Uh, but credit where credit's due. It's really, really good stuff. They sent out a little Cyberite charger thing. Um, not the the Cyber Tank, but the little one that they do.

[00:25:05]So, there'll be there'll be a video coming out soon. I don't want to spam the channel with it because people ask me all the time about it. I get like at least two or three messages a week asking how the Crest stuff is.

[00:25:17]And I always say to them, it's working out fine so far. It's been really good, but there will be a long-term review.

[00:25:23]And I will post videos from time to time on it to give the feedback.

[00:25:29]We have picked up quite a few, well, we picked up quite a few one-off jobs this month as well. And one of the main sort of topics and I'll talk about that a little bit is Facebook work and branding. So I'm going to talk about branding now because I think it's very important.

[00:25:49]So I'm going to say some I don't want to be up I don't want to like upset anybody but I will say it and I'm not calling anybody out by the way. you see probably once a month or you'll see it quite often people will say is branding and is a Facebook presence important for my gardening business or a self-employed gardener or is it worth doing and you will undoubtedly see people saying yes it is no it isn't but you will quite often see the common not common answer but you'll see the same answer whether it's the same bloke doing it and I'm missing But it's normally a few different versions of this thing. So it's normally a few people.

[00:26:32]So they say I talk about this Facebooky one now. The common response back is I've been in this industry 30 plus years and I've never needed to do anything like that. I rely solely on word of mouth. That's all you need in this industry to a version like that. So let's just pick it apart. I'm not trying to blast anybody at all, but let's just pick it apart. So, that's very good, but you've got 30 years experience. You got 30 years in the game.

[00:27:07]30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, you're probably thinking, "Oh, not that long ago." I would honestly say before COVID, and after CO is so much different. You It's a different time. It's almost like we're in a different different century in terms of, you know, look how much food's gone up since CO, you know, before CO, look how much food, everything's gone up. Look at fuel, everything. Don't get me wrong, stuff's always, you know, fuel's always gone up and down. Fuel strike, stuff like that. You know, when I you go Morrison's and the fish might go up a quid because of some fish disaster. But it's everything. It's not just one thing. It's everything now. But the big ones, look at people's attitudes. Look at the state of the world. I hate saying it, but look at how things are since co things have really, really, really hit the fan. And this isn't my op, this is my opinion. This is Sam's opinion, but I ask this question a lot as things changed for the worse since CO.

[00:28:15]Are we in a worse state after CO? Are we in a different sort of almost [ __ ] time, you know, like before and after co and everybody agrees to a certain expect with what I've just said. It's nuts how things have changed. It really really is.

[00:28:33]I remember before co when I so I set my business up properly properly towards the end of the first lockdown, but I used to do bits of gardening beforehand to get myself a little bit of customer base and experience.

[00:28:48]And honestly, I think the customers were different back then. Yes, we still had mooney customers and time wasties, but it was like it was different. The world was different. When I first started, there was local papers that I could advertise. And so, in my ecosphere, Facebook was a thing, but it wasn't a big a big thing at all. Yes, people were posting on it, but typically people would do other things. You know, did it didn't seem that there was many gardeners. So I remember when I first started advertising local rag, there was there was tree blo, gardener blo and there was exterior cleaning companies and like landscapers and stuff like that. And then as things started getting a bit worse and worse and worse. So during co the local paper the adverts started merging. So the tree surgeon started offering grass cutting. The hard landscaper offered garden maintenance, the power washer guys offered, you know, everybody started blurring into one. The gardeners offered power washing, etc., etc., and it all started to blur into one. But then the the big shift that happened as the local papers went.

[00:30:03]So what used to be, you know, and I'll talk about this now. Word of mouth went before CO people I honestly I I'll die on the hill over this. I think people before CO were more sociable, more talkative. I used to go and if I was in a queue, somebody would start talking to me. Somebody turn around and have a chat. Somebody behind me would start talking. You talk to people in queues.

[00:30:28]You talk to people in pubs leaning against the bar. you were talk you know people were talkative more talkative so as such I believed that there was more word of mouth or more chances of recommendations don't get me wrong they're still about but after co it's different people are more closed in more insular more sheltered the local papers went that's one of my biggest mistakes in business is not taking more advantage of a local paper that went and in its place Facebook is arisen.

[00:31:03]So there's no local paper in my area. So instead, people have to Facebook. I've got customers that you would never believe were on Facebook and you know, they're in the 70s or in the 80s, you know, late 80s and they're on Facebook.

[00:31:19]And I said, "Oh, I said, you know, no offense, but I didn't think that interest you." She said, "Well, how am I going to know what's going on in the local area? They're all joined up to these like spotted groups and local groups and this is groups because that's their only way of keeping in touch.

[00:31:36]People don't seem to talk as much anymore. People don't seem to talk in the cues, you know, and as well people, as horrible as it sounds, as people get aged, people die around them, you know, it's like links get closed, let's just say. So word of mouth is shrinking. It's still there and it'll always be there.

[00:31:56]And in a weird sort of way, it is the best way of getting a customer to an extent. But I think as a gardener, we need to do other things. And one of my common retorts back is you've got 30 years experience, you know, you've never done Facebook, you've never done anything like that, you've never needed to. Well, my standard one is is well, what happens if you did? What happens if you did advertise? Where do you think your business would be now?

[00:32:27]And my advice is just try it. So I was talking to a chap today about this.

[00:32:33]Get the work. Look for the work that you want to get. So I'll give you some tips now on how I sort of see Facebook.

[00:32:42]Take before and after pictures of jobs, good jobs.

[00:32:48]Try and collect as many as you can. And what I've started doing on my gardening page is at the end of the week, I will go through all the pictures I've took and I will put 10 pictures up, the best 10 best before and afters or the best 10 lawns, the best 10 jobs that I've done.

[00:33:06]And I'll put a little post up because I think people some people still read.

[00:33:11]Some people might think, "Oh, 10 pictures too much." Some people might look through 10 pictures, but people still read. People are still interested.

[00:33:18]And what I'll do is I'll just put hi, you know, another hot week this week, another scorcher, you know, but don't worry, we've carried on working. I did it last week when it was rain said, you know, we had a pouring down miserable rain, but don't worry, it's not stopped play. We've still carried on. And in a weird way, you're keeping people informed. If people are picking you up off these Facebook posts and they're reading that the gardeners turned up in the rain and then you know turned up when it's wet and then they say to you, "Oh yeah, I got you from that Facebook post." And then two months later they're cancelling cuz it's drizzling. In a weird way, you've got a way back of saying, "Well, actually, it's fine to work. I'm fine. I'm happy with it." But you know that I work in all weather.

[00:34:02]I've talked about this on my Facebook.

[00:34:05]or maybe it'll stick in subconsciously and they'll think, "Oh yeah, the garden will work in the rain. It's fine. The gardener will come when it's a bit miserable. It's fine. I'm happy with that."

[00:34:15]So yeah, I put a little bit, you know, super busy week this week. We've been smashing lawns off. We've had plenty of work. We've done a bit of this, bit of that. Just to put a little bit of character. I always sign off with, you know, thank you for reading or thank you for listening or thank you for watching or, you know, if you want to call, give me a call, Sam. And I always put my name on it. I always put my phone number and you know the best 10 p best 10 pictures you can and if you you if you look at it and you can't see what the difference is or you look at it and there's anything slightly wrong like I said you want to be trying to get as many pictures as you can and then put 10 up and then do the same every single week and then you've got things to post to but then you're building content you might not be able to you know post the same 10 pictures every single time to local groups But as more local groups join up, you can send old stuff to them. And after five weeks, you can then start using the first set of pictures. You can use last year's pictures. So if all the pictures of beautiful sun and you're saying about the heatwave, you could use that last 10 pictures from this time last year. Even if the rain has been absolutely pouring down, you've done booger all you can make light of a situation. Oh, a quick flashback to, you know, 28th of May 2026 where we had a beautiful heat wave. Look at the weather we've had now. I wish this weather was like that. And I think that's it. You've got to build a little bit of sort of thing with customers. I used to have a very lovehate relationship with Facebook, but I find now Facebook is very good for cataloging.

[00:35:52]It's, let's face it, it's not going to go anywhere. It might get to a point where it changes. It might get to a point where it'll charge you and I can see that in in my lifetime, you know, but realistically if you're posting up, I'm having all of my pictures and all of my highs and lows. So on YouTube, I post all of my highs and low. I've got a digital record of this. You know, if I'm if I'm in me 80s and I'm riddled or adultled with memory loss or, you know, I hit my head when I'm in my 40s and lose my memory, I can look back and look at what I've achieved and look at what I've done and the highs and the low of the business.

[00:36:28]Just the same with Facebook, you know, I can see the and that's one thing I wish I' done. I wish I done this when I first started so I can see the jobs, see the types of work that I was doing. you know. So, as I said, don't sleep on it at all. Even if you just post on it, because one of the things that I think will come and provide the best value and the best service and it will be the best thing that you will ever do for your business is so I use AI ever so often in little things like normally to like generate an image or a background, but I try not to use much of it. It's not that I don't agree with it. I just think that my brain is already shrinking enough by other things making my life easier. So, I try and still challenge myself and to think up things.

[00:37:23]But, and I've got nothing I'm not, you know, bashing anybody. I've got nothing against anybody using these AI logos.

[00:37:31]They look smart, but they're all the same shield with like, you know, lawn care and a spade sticking out and a mower. I'm not bashing anybody. Don't think I am at all. But you've got how I see this. This is my opinion and also by the fact of the podcast opinion. But put yourself in a look of a customer. I think with AI getting more and more prevalent, AI can create a website in 2 minutes. AI can furnish profile pictures. AI can do a description. AI can even do reviews. It can it's going to get to a point where somebody can set up a gardening business, use AI to set up everything and come across as a convincing and professional person. It will get to a point where they you'll be able to create before and after pictures. It will and people won't notice and I think people will start mistrusting things. I think people will start looking at facts. People will start looking at things. And you might be thinking, well, what you talking about here, Sam? If you've been posting regularly for three years, two years, five years, and there's a new bloke who's just tipped up with all flashy people. Not everybody does this, but I think the majority of people do this.

[00:38:44]They look at it logically and they'll think, well, you know what? I don't want a bloke who's just started. I don't want a bloke who's just, you know, created that. I want I want a bloke who's 10 years in the game, 15 years, 5 years, three years even. I tell people ask me how long I've been in business. I'm like six years. It's my sixth year this year.

[00:39:03]Blow me now. You've been doing it ages.

[00:39:05]And they talk about it like, you know, it's been my life. Technically, it has, but you get what I mean. So, I think people do look at things like that. And people do look, people will see, people will notice. Oh, he's been posting, you know, regular. Oh, he's got loads of pictures up and people like it. And this is it. Pick your best 10 pictures, your best five pictures. Put a post up. Put a picture of you pushing your mower. put a picture of you, you know, like a a YouTube short, a Facebook reel. People like it. Am I trying to make you all into content creators? Not necessarily.

[00:39:41]But, you know, am I trying to make you into, you know, using, let's face it, it's maximum. It's little input for maximum output. You can take pictures.

[00:39:52]Yes, it's a ball late to remember to take them, but once you get into the habit of your habit, you get into it, and then you sit on your ass, you get yourself a nice drink. I'm not talking down to you, by the way. But, you know, you get yourself comfy and you go from, you know, you look at your last week's pictures, and you pick 10, put a little bit of bump, talk about the week, talk about the heat, click post, done. And that's all you need to do. Now, if it is that you, you know, you have friends on there, they might share it for you a couple of times or you can go on to local community groups and share it to there on a Sunday or a Wednesday evening, wherever you can post. And what's that giving you? You're sharing one picture or 10 pictures to a group that might have 10,000 members. I've seen some of these groups have like 20,000 members on them.

[00:40:43]It's not You will not get free ad. you will not get a free advertising. If a company says, "Oh, you know, we'll give you 10,000 views." It won't be for free and you're doing that for nothing. Yeah, it might get looped. It might get washed away with the rest of the posts. I've noticed in my area that, you know, every single gardener post on a Sunday. It is what it is.

[00:41:09]But if there's 10,000 people, you're not banking on 10,000 people seeing it at the same time. You're banking on one person, two people, 10, 100, a thousand, whatever, looking at it. Then you're banking on a part of them going, "Oh, I might click on that. Oh, I might like that. I might jot that number down." So, do not underestimate it that, you know, the power what Facebook has. And it is, as things are dying off, it's going to get more and more popular. So, my advice to you is, you know, move with the times basically. And as I said, it's it's little input for maximum output. You don't even need to share. You know, I'm pretty sure you could create a page, post to it, and hide it if you're worried. And then just and then just flick it on when you need to basically unhide it or show it. And then it's all there ready for you. And as I said, it will be the best thing you can do. It'll be I'm not saying it'll be a tangible asset, but you know, you imagine if you do this for five year, you got five years of before and afters, five years of reviews, five years, five years of, you know, some form of content that you can share. You know, as I said, it is a powerful tool. It really, really is. I don't want to bang any more on about it.

[00:42:27]I tell you what I had this week, which was very interesting.

[00:42:31]I always always say people always say about advertising and I'll always try and pick a curveball with anything that I do and one of my curve balls in advertising is business cards. Get a stack of business cards, leave them at a laundroette, leave them at a takeaway, leave them at a shop, leave them absolutely anywhere.

[00:42:49]I had a phone call off a guy today. Uh not today, this week. I I've never heard off him to be fair, but the point's not that.

[00:42:57]um went to him, quoted for a Gosopet facial clean and um I said to him at the end I says uh how did you have my number? Oh, I've got one of your cards here. So, I've got two business cards.

[00:43:10]Got a card for the gutter sophets and faces and I call the business name your gutters. Uh and I've got a business card for the the garden business. He pulled out one of your gutters ones and I only remember delivering like probably a box like 250 around the local area but that was years ago.

[00:43:35]Absolutely like two or three it was when I first started the exterior cleaning business like two or three years ago and this booger has kept it in his wallet cuz it looked bit battered. I could not believe it. So this is it. Do not underestimate or sleep on these advertising tricks, you know, and it's nothing. Pack of business cards, pence.

[00:43:59]It says Facebook time. Nothing. You can do it while you're in a tub. You do it while you're on a [ __ ] You can do it while you're at home. As I said, just as long as you remember to take the pictures.

[00:44:10]That's all you need to do. That's the hardest part. And trust me on that. So, branding. Is branding important for your business? I think it is 100% important. I was talking to Reese today at the meetup. Kilted Gardener. He won't mind me saying this. He wears a kilt.

[00:44:27]It's his brand. It's his Luke. He says that he gets people stopping him in supermarkets in his local area and they know him as the culted gardener.

[00:44:37]Branding is so important. It really, really is. I've always I always thought I had a uniform cuz I wore a I bought a load of these long sleeve shirts. Do a green. I always assumed but I've got branded uniform now and it's night and day. I had a walk up inquiry the other day. Chap was walking past well motoring past on a mobility scooter said to me, he said, "Oh, you are you a gardener, are you or you just, you know, do you live here?" I said, "No, no, I'm just gardener." Oh, brilliant. He says, "I've been let down by another gardener. He's just not turned up. Could you come could you come and give me a quote? £450 job just off that. Just off the uniform now." He could have stopped if I had a shirt on. He couldn't have stopped.

[00:45:26]Do not underestimate, you know, a uniform.

[00:45:30]It helps that all of the park services and council workers wear green shirts.

[00:45:35]So it it tells people already subconsciously that that's what a outdoor worker will wear. The logo for me, and as I said, I've got nothing against these AI shield logos, whatever they are. I'm not bashing them at all.

[00:45:48]Trust me on that. Uh for me, I use uh I can't think the color, but it's a lime green. It's same as my van. I think it's Kawasaki green or something. Uh, I use League of Spartan, uh, font and I just have SGM, Garden Maintenance. I have the SGM nice and big and garden maintenance sitting below it in the same font all in blocks. And I think that's all you need.

[00:46:13]I think something punchy. You want you you want your logo that if somebody's driving past at 50 mph and you're parked up, they they know what you are or they can work it out or they can piece it together. So yeah, as I said, I think branding is hugely important. The branding fits within my business. I use the logo on all the stuff. I need to get something set up where I can create a watermark and put my logo onto each picture. Uh I'm not necessarily worried about people stealing and using them, but I'm more sort of thinking if people see SGM and then see it on my shirt, it's creating subconscious points of contact people's head. And that's the thing you want to crack. This is why people, you know, get a takeaway when they don't need one. This is why people get a Mackis when they don't want one.

[00:47:03]This is people they'll watch a film or they'll do a certain thing and go on holiday, you know, not holiday, but you get all these little things. Companies are very, very good at, you know, leaving subconscious things lying around, little taglines, little songs, you know. It's like the Mackey's like is that Mackey's? You know, it's where people thingy. You know, you can whistle that and people know it's a McDonald's advert. You know, it's all branding is so important. Look at what big companies do and try and apply it to you. That's why I've started including the van in the pictures. So, if you look at my pictures, the van's in the background at least two or three times. I've got a very distinctive Well, everyone's like, I've never seen a green van. There's three of the boogers in my town, but there's only three. So people will see that they'll see me driving it. And like I said, I am a big believer in it. I really am. I genuinely think there is work out there for everybody.

[00:48:03]Work from time to time it will walk up and approach you, but at the same time you need to put things into place to get that. You need to work hard. You can't take things for granted in this industry. You've got to be willing to put the effort in the graft in. But if you do that, you'll get it and you'll reap the reward. And it's so important.

[00:48:23]It really is. Talking to all these BS today, that reaffirms it to me. You know, there is enough work out there.

[00:48:31]Everybody I spoke to is busy. There is enough work out there. There's people there that haven't done Facebook but are thinking about it. There's people there that are busy enough and it's not on their radar. Then there's people who are growing businesses on Facebook. Like I said, Facebook's the biggest, you know, and the good thing is is I don't believe personally Instagram's the way to go for getting work, but at the same time when you share to Facebook, you can also click to share to your Facebook page as well. So again, it's not costing you any more time. So yeah, I will leave that here. Now, I did talk a little bit about movies earlier.

[00:49:10]Uh, so I don't really think I don't think there's any sort of personal chat really other than yeah, just keep getting cracking on really keep plotting on with things. The uh meeting video that'll be up this week and then next week I think I've got a vloggy video if I can get it all strung together in time. Uh, and that's the thing. This is, you know, I know quite a few other content creators that they're struggling at this time of the year because they're just so busy. Bas basically so busy and it is I'm I'm lucky or unlucky depending how you look at it. I've not got kids or a partner, you know, not you know, I've got all the time in the world. But even though I do feel it, you know, I get home at 6:00, get home at half five. I have my routine where I get the batteries on charge, get them all set up, get the van swapped over, 6:00, do the paperwork, faf around, having a cup of half six, cook your tea, 7:00, you know, every time I've watched tally and got all the stuff done or spoke to people or done things, it's clocking off bloody bedtime. So yeah, take time guys, look after yourself and as usual, have a good day and keep on gardening, guys.