0:00

Special thanks to

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Cleveland Clinic for helping us

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for you today's PEO leadership's

0:02

snippets podcast. Welcome to our

0:08

snippets Podcast. I'm Leon

0:08

Goren, CEO and president of PEO

0:11

leadership, North America's

0:11

premier peer to peer network and

0:14

leadership advisory firm. Today

0:14

I'm very excited to welcome

0:17

Brian Cotter, the president of

0:17

Durham artificial grass and

0:20

Lloyd's ground management

0:20

professionals. Durham's

0:23

artificial grass is family owned

0:23

and operated since 2018,

0:26

providing artificial grass and

0:26

various accessories in southern

0:29

Ontario and the GTA. Lloyd's

0:29

grand management professionals

0:33

is also a family owned and

0:33

operated business founded in

0:36

Scarborough in 1963. It started

0:36

with nothing but a lot more and

0:40

a few hand tools. Brian recently

0:40

joined PEO leadership and as a

0:44

member of Pat seven, led by

0:44

Miguel Gonzalez. He's been an

0:48

awesome addition to the group

0:48

and the larger PEO leadership

0:50

community. Brian, it's great to

0:50

have you with us here today.

0:54

Thank you, Leon.

0:54

It's nice to be here. We're

0:56

excited to share some information.

0:59

So I thought we'd

0:59

kick it off a little bit in

1:01

terms of some history. And I

1:01

know you were sharing this with

1:04

me just moments ago, but it's

1:04

too good of a story to pass

1:08

over. So how did you get in this

1:08

business? Brian?

1:11

Well, it was

1:11

interesting. I was 16 years old

1:14

in high school, you know,

1:14

thought I had the world at my

1:17

fingertips. I was dating this

1:17

beautiful girl, who actually is

1:20

my wife, currently only wife.

1:20

We've been together for many,

1:24

many years. Her dad came home

1:24

for lunch came in the backyard

1:28

and said, Who's this fellow? So

1:28

Kim introduced me and he says,

1:31

oh, nice to meet you. How come

1:31

you know? Like, I mean, like,

1:34

what are you doing? No, I'm taking the summer off and relaxing. Next thing you know,

1:36

he comes out of the house with a

1:38

purple work boots in his hand

1:38

throws them over to me and says

1:40

try these on. So I tried them

1:40

on. Yeah, they fit pretty good.

1:44

He said, Okay, good. Let's go

1:44

jump in the truck. He brought me

1:46

out in the field. At that point,

1:46

and I've been in business ever

1:51

since my parents kind of lost

1:51

their mind. Because when I got

1:54

home and told me I got a job.

1:54

And when I was doing like, you

1:56

can't do that you're allergic to

1:56

everything. fresh cut grass does

1:59

pollen, you name it. So I

1:59

started in the business. And a

2:02

year later, my allergies went away.

2:05

That's amazing. This

2:05

is a while ago. So Brian, how

2:08

many years have you been married?

2:10

We have been married, you put me on the spot here. 34 years, July 30. It'll

2:12

be 34 years.

2:17

That's awesome. So

2:17

that original business, you

2:20

obviously started your own

2:20

business and you got two

2:22

businesses going. And family

2:22

businesses, obviously your wife

2:29

everybody's involved in it. But

2:29

you mentioned also the, you

2:32

know, differences in running a

2:32

family business, some of the

2:34

challenges you had in the early

2:34

days. And maybe there's a couple

2:37

of lessons we're sharing with everybody.

2:39

Absolutely, that

2:39

in the early days, as a family

2:43

business, we didn't have

2:43

employment agreements, there was

2:46

no roles, responsibilities

2:46

results, there was really no way

2:49

of holding each other accountable to what we were supposed to be doing. We just

2:51

kind of went on the although do

2:54

their job. It's all good.

2:54

They're having a slump, a lot of

2:57

it. We didn't have budgets and

2:57

accountability meetings. The one

3:02

big thing we changed in about

3:02

2012, 2013 is we brought in

3:09

employment agreements, targets

3:09

for production targets for

3:12

sales, job descriptions for

3:12

everybody roles,

3:15

responsibilities, results. And

3:15

it really made quite a shift.

3:18

For us. One of the things we

3:18

firmly believe in the family

3:21

business is that if you're a

3:21

family member, you want to work

3:24

with us on our team, you have to

3:24

have two jobs somewhere else. It

3:27

doesn't have to be in this industry. But you have to have two jobs in another company to

3:29

understand that there is rules

3:33

and why we have to follow them.

3:33

And that somebody is not just

3:36

being a PR that day, we were

3:36

trying to make sure that we're

3:38

we're being responsible and successful.

3:41

Did you you've gone

3:41

through that process a few times

3:44

with a guess a few family

3:44

members. How does that work?

3:48

Actually have they've been

3:48

successful? It's sort of finding

3:50

those other jobs, doing the jobs

3:50

and then eventually joining it.

3:55

So I would say

3:55

yes, for the most part, actually

3:59

kind of a funny story. One of my

3:59

daughters was not allowed to

4:02

work with our family business.

4:02

She was not a cultural fit, she

4:05

did get a couple other jobs. And

4:05

then recently, as in two years

4:09

ago, she has joined the company

4:09

business, the family business,

4:12

and she's very, very successful.

4:12

She learned a lot from working

4:16

at the other companies

4:16

understanding that you have to

4:18

show up on time there is roles,

4:18

responsibilities and results.

4:22

Learn how to speak on the phone,

4:22

because believe it or not, the

4:24

younger generation has a tough

4:24

time answering phone calls and

4:27

speaking with people on the phone carrying on a conversation. She's done

4:29

wonderfully. And it's worked out

4:32

really well.

4:33

Now, the two

4:33

business and one is you know,

4:36

just just thinking about this

4:36

whole artificial grass that I'm

4:40

going to ask you the climate

4:40

change because as we're doing

4:42

this, right, you look at Europe

4:42

and what's going on the fires,

4:45

the fires out west, everything's

4:45

changing. That business must be

4:49

growing by ads, even in our

4:49

neighborhoods. I see it now

4:53

starting to pop up everywhere.

4:54

So luckily, our

4:54

artificial grass business was

4:57

registered four years ago. and

4:57

it has outgrown our business has

5:02

been around since the early 60s.

5:02

That's how popular it is right

5:05

now, for several reasons, their

5:05

environmental reasons. Number

5:08

one, the water conservation,

5:08

we're not putting nitrates on

5:12

the ground, which is from fertilizers into our water systems. We don't have a lot of

5:14

chemicals we can use, but the

5:17

ones that we do typically are

5:17

being overused the drought, so

5:21

that's coming in now July in

5:21

August, even in the GTA and

5:24

surrounding area or grasses, all

5:24

going doormen, people don't want

5:27

to see that they're having been

5:27

tracked into their house. It

5:30

really does have a big impact. I

5:30

always say that the most

5:34

unnatural natural product, we

5:34

have his grass. Everybody wants

5:37

Kentucky Bluegrass is not from

5:37

our climate. It takes so many

5:41

resources to keep that alive.

5:41

We're punishing the environment

5:45

by actually trying to keep real

5:45

grass alive. I'm a

5:47

horticulturalists certified. And

5:47

I'm putting artificial grass in

5:50

the ground. It has its place it

5:50

has its uses. It's not for

5:54

everywhere, but it's definitely

5:54

saves a lot. There's a hotels in

5:58

Las Vegas, actually, that have

5:58

nylon, artificial grass on the

6:01

roof. And it's been proven that

6:01

it slowed the fire down on the

6:04

hotel enough for the

6:04

firefighters to get up there and

6:06

put the fire out and save a good

6:06

part of the hotel.

6:10

Wow. That's amazing.

6:10

That's in the last four years

6:13

and it's grown like that. That's incredible.

6:15

It's it's a, it's

6:15

been a ride, it's definitely a

6:19

challenge to keep up to. It's

6:19

something we welcome. And it's

6:22

it's definitely grow and change

6:22

quickly, especially with the

6:26

economy we've seen in the last four years.

6:28

Yeah, it's sort of

6:28

possibly the question around

6:30

talent that because, you know, I

6:30

hear this everywhere, right?

6:33

Everyone's dealing with talent,

6:33

you got a company that's growing

6:36

at an incredible pace here. How

6:36

are you dealing with the talent?

6:39

Are you are you facing the same

6:39

issues everybody else is facing

6:43

today?

6:44

We are facing

6:44

issues with with talent, what

6:48

we're finding is, we don't stick

6:48

to our own industry to find

6:52

talent. We're hiring on

6:52

attitude, right fit to our

6:56

culture, and commitment. And we

6:56

will teach them the skills that

6:59

they need to do this job. It's

6:59

definitely challenging to find

7:03

the right fit person, it takes

7:03

quite a while, you know, the old

7:07

days used to be hire slow and

7:07

fire fast. I don't look at it

7:11

that way quite so much anymore.

7:11

We definitely have to invest

7:14

more more training into our

7:14

team, make sure they're the

7:18

right fit and invest in them as

7:18

much as they invest in us in

7:20

their time. It's a challenge as

7:20

we grow the last couple of years

7:24

has been more challenging,

7:24

especially with COVID and the

7:27

restrictions to bring people on

7:27

board. That's pretty much our

7:31

number one challenge, I would say right now.

7:34

You guys were open

7:34

probably right through COVID as

7:36

well, right?

7:37

Yeah, our grounds

7:37

maintenance company was due to

7:40

sanitary conditions, because

7:40

part of maintaining the

7:42

properties is looking after

7:42

litter. Certain buildings we

7:46

look after, are involved in the

7:46

food industry. So they have 18

7:50

to 24 inches around the

7:50

building. There's no vegetation

7:52

allowed. So help keeps rodents

7:52

and whatnot away from the

7:54

building. And then obviously,

7:54

with the snow removal, that's

7:57

number one concern for people in

7:57

the winter. So we were fortunate

8:00

we're we had about a six week

8:00

window where they shut down and

8:03

then we're allowed to open back

8:03

up again and operate.

8:08

And I know you

8:08

shared location with me because

8:11

you're not like right in the GTA

8:11

or so it's not like a pool of

8:15

talent anywhere close to you.

8:15

You're actually I'm from

8:18

recruiting from everywhere. We

8:18

are.

8:22

People pretty much

8:22

say that we're in the boonies,

8:25

we have no public transit here,

8:25

the 407 is not far from us. The

8:30

401 is about 10 minutes south of

8:30

us, we're pretty much north of

8:33

Bowmanville, north of Curtis

8:33

area. So they need their vehicle

8:36

to get here. And then in the

8:36

wintertime, even in a snowstorm

8:40

they need to be able to get to

8:40

our facility in order to get out

8:43

to work. So that definitely adds

8:43

another spin into finding some

8:47

talent that we can pull from,

8:49

I guess you're not faced with it. I want to work three days a week and two days

8:50

at home in your world.

8:54

No working from

8:54

home. Because we move around so

9:01

much, we kind of need people to

9:01

come to the yard and we pay them

9:05

from the time they leave the

9:05

yard to the time they get back

9:08

because like especially our

9:08

grounds maintenance, they might

9:10

move around from four to 12

9:10

sites a day. So we can't have

9:13

like a construction site. You go

9:13

to the same site every day for

9:16

weeks on end. That's not the way our business works.

9:18

So how are you dealing with the whole inflation element? I think your costs are

9:20

rising. Your Labor's a problem.

9:24

You know, you're trying to

9:24

recruit they're driving, you're

9:27

moving artificial grass. The gas

9:27

costs must be crazy. Yeah, what

9:33

what's life like here with?

9:35

It's interesting.

9:35

We order all of our materials

9:39

tractor trailer loads. So

9:39

typically, we have a small bulk

9:43

of time where we can lock our

9:43

prices in. And then we add that

9:46

at the time we ordered let's say

9:46

we ordered July 1, we project

9:50

we're gonna go to order the next

9:50

load and we asked our material

9:53

suppliers, what are your

9:53

projected costs going to be for

9:55

our next load? That's helped

9:55

quite a bit because what we can

9:58

do slowly Increase our prices

9:58

where we need to, to try and

10:02

keep up to it before we get hit

10:02

with an increase bills where our

10:05

clients aren't getting hit with

10:05

a with a bigger increase the

10:08

artificial grass company, we're

10:08

always selling to new clients.

10:12

It's not an ongoing contract. So

10:12

we're fortunate that way where

10:15

we can creep things up a little

10:15

bit. And with our labor, what we

10:19

did is rolled out a health care

10:19

spending account this year,

10:23

where if they have a gym

10:23

membership, prescriptions that

10:26

aren't fully covered, any of

10:26

those types of things that would

10:29

typically come out of their

10:29

pocket, they bring the receipts

10:31

in, and we have a set amount per

10:31

year where they're allowed, and

10:34

the company will pay it for

10:34

them. Of course, it's a taxable

10:37

benefit. But we will pay those

10:37

costs for them to try and help

10:41

with some of the increases. And

10:41

we also rolled out a photograph

10:45

and video competition this year,

10:45

where they have to send in the

10:50

Krewson and videos, short videos

10:50

less than a minute and pictures

10:53

to our marketing manager. And

10:53

he's going to pick the top two

10:59

victory categories and the top

10:59

two videos where we're going to

11:01

give up some monetary bonuses if

11:01

you will, to the to those people

11:06

as well. So they're not getting

11:06

cash stuffed in their pocket

11:09

just to show up to work, they

11:09

realize that there's there's

11:12

more to it than just that, you

11:12

know, put a little extra effort

11:14

in and you're gonna get a little

11:14

extra effort back to help offset

11:17

some of your costs as well. I

11:17

know some of our team members

11:20

are also carpooling to try and

11:20

absorb the costs and share it

11:24

out as well.

11:25

Do you just through

11:25

your own eyes? I mean, I'm

11:28

watching all these different

11:28

industries, you can never

11:30

predict inflation, right. But if

11:30

what you're seeing and costs

11:35

today moving forward, do you see

11:35

the same type of inflation? Or

11:40

is it starting to settle down a little bit?

11:42

To be honest with

11:42

you recently, it's starting to

11:45

settle a little bit, I hope it's

11:45

not just a blip in the map.

11:48

Because I mean, you know, since

11:48

last year, costs have escalated

11:52

more than probably anybody would

11:52

have imagined in such a short

11:54

period. For instance, like gas

11:54

and fuel. I had a funny

11:59

conversation the other day, a

11:59

couple of the team members in

12:02

the air pay only paid $1.60

12:02

Today, that's amazing. I had a

12:06

chuckle they didn't want to

12:06

wreck their their highlighter

12:09

the day when I'm thinking of

12:09

$1.68 while I remember when it's

12:12

49 Nine. What quite a difference

12:12

there. Luckily, we're seeing

12:17

some things so down a little

12:17

bit. I talk to other business

12:21

owners that are much larger than

12:21

we are and then some other

12:24

industries. They're not as

12:24

optimistic. But they also have

12:30

admitted that they've seen some

12:30

softening. So we're we're we're

12:33

staying optimistic, we obviously

12:33

have to keep our eyes open to

12:36

rising costs and trying to

12:36

absorb and mature them. But we

12:39

are seeing a little bit of softening happening, which is encouraging.

12:42

That's very insightful. And it's something actually that I've started to

12:43

hear around the different groups

12:46

to different industries.

12:46

Everybody's got their phone set,

12:49

it's actually now starting to

12:49

slow down and a buck 68 for gas.

12:53

That's actually quite a drop.

12:53

So-

12:56

Compared to six

12:56

weeks ago, that's quite a drop.

13:00

Yeah. So anyway, we

13:00

will hold our finger fingers

13:03

crossed on this stuff. Brian, I

13:03

want to thank you for joining us

13:05

today and sharing your insights

13:05

and your stories. If anybody's

13:09

looking for either some of that

13:09

management, professional

13:12

services management and or

13:12

artificial grass, you know where

13:16

to reach Brian you could do

13:16

through the Global Leadership

13:18

Exchange or you could just give

13:18

them a give Miguel a call. And

13:22

I'm sure Miguel will connect you

13:22

with Brian. So on a side note,

13:25

if you're interested in our live

13:25

webcast, the way forward live

13:28

and or any other snippets,

13:28

please take a moment and visit

13:31

us peo-leadership.com. You'll

13:31

find on our site various

13:35

previous recorded webcasts which

13:35

include guests such as Morgan

13:38

Housel, Professor Janice Stein,

13:38

Rob Chesnut, Dr. Jason Selk, the

13:44

list goes on, as we cover such

13:44

topics as mental health

13:48

leadership, the new world and a

13:48

host of others. Thank you for

13:51

joining us today and we look

13:51

forward to seeing you again

13:54

shortly.