Meet Deandre West

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deandre West. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Deandre, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout

We found that having a weekday open where clients aren’t scheduled helps out so much! We chose Mondays after a good friend suggested an in office day to help us keep up with the administrative side of our small business.
Mondays, we can get family appointments done, finish estimates, equipment and truck maintenance, we can recover after inclement weather and even have date days while the kids are at school. This simple choice allows us to take care of ourselves instead of working ourselves into the ground.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

We’re a family powered and community centered landscaping company beautifying metro Atlanta one property at a time. We began part-time in 2017 and, as of 2019, offer year-round lawn maintenance, landscaping and property management.
We’ve noticed each year has gotten better despite challenges and we can’t wait to grow our business to support more landscape technicians and their families.
We currently are providing free estimates for properties willing to sign an annual agreement for the protection of the clients and our business. Whether commercial or residential, “Your lawn is our lawn.”

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

We developed the best business model for our current clients and business stage by implementing

1. Recurring invoicing to be satisfied by the 1st of the month- This way we can reschedule our weekly and bi-weekly clients for their recurring appointments each month without any guessing.

2. Learning to have all incoming clients sign an annual agreement for protection of the clients and the business.

3. Always taking a look at what can be improved. One of the benefits to being a small business is being able to adjust when a process can be more efficient. If we see something can improve the client and our experience, we can be flexible enough to move quickly in the best direction.

Having your firm foundation of what you need for your business is not a negative. It filters through the clients who may not be the best fit and helps you locate your target audience. We’ve learned through the years not to be scared of the word “no.” Whether we have to say it or hear it, it is necessary for the upward movement of the business.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

They say to “work your strengths and hire your weaknesses,” and this is true. However, education in subjects that you’re less familiar with is important for small business owners that can’t invest financially in all of the weaker areas they might have. YouTube and Udemy are great places to start to learn new skills to improve in those wanting areas.
Knowing a little about those blossoming skill sets also help you make better hiring decisions when the time comes. We love to learn new things and consider ourselves lifelong students for these reasons.

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