Questions from a fellow tradesperson

Questions from a fellow tradesperson

By Mike Gambino,

From time to time I am asked by fellow trade pros for my opinion and what I did or still do regarding my landscape lighting business. I am happy to share this with you. My responses are in bold print.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today.

My pleasure

I did have a few questions and it caught me off guard today when you called back so I apologize for being so disoriented. I should start with my background. I have been an electrician for 20 years and self employed electrician for 11 years. I was at a Lutron lighting controls class when one of my classmates suggested I take a look at Jan Moyers Landscape Lighting Institute. I had been doing a little landscape lighting and I enjoyed it. I had been to the ½ day seminars put on at supply houses and saw the same dog and pony show a half dozen times. Jan’s class was naturally something else. This made me understand the difference between art and contracting. I was hooked. As this past year proved to be a good one in terms of doing more outdoor lighting than straight out electrical work, I found myself more and more passionate about this field. I am now trying to make a break from electrical contracting. I may consider taking on a journeyman to do the day to day electrical work if I can find a way to gradually move myself to strictly landscape lighting. I have heard your name time and again and figured I would check it out. I was surprised to see that it sounds as if you are a one man shop.

I was a one man shop until 3 yrs ago. I have 2 employees and myself now . I am still on every project site 100% of the time but I  need to update the website to reflect that change.

I really like the way that you promote that in your website as opposed to trying to hide it. This is the position I am in and something I have wrestled with for years, the idea of taking on employees. I did say I had questions that I hoped you can help me with  so I guess the questions are:

-How did you promote yourself and the craft when you first started? (I assume what you did then, you no longer have to do)-

Promotion never stops even for established businesses. I tried everything like most everybody else does just starting out-direct mail, trade shows, newspaper, magazine ads etc. None was particularly successful. I was an overnight sensation about 7 years in the making. I wish I could tell you of one magic bullet that worked and that’s all there was too it but that’s just not the case. What has been my greatest success is with networking with fellow local trade professionals. High end custom home builders, landscape architects and designers . Currently I am working on several large projects that came to me from my fellow trade partners. I also had a conversation today with a landscape designer who I work with who is bidding a large 2.5 acre project that if he gets it will be a 6 figure project for me. My website and networking are about the only forms of promotion I do anymore. I don’t advertise and 100% of my work is by referral.

-Do you see yourself continuing to do this line of work (installation) in 10 years? I ask this because I am in my early 40’s and after 20 years of construction, the body ain’t as good as it used to be.

I know what you mean. I  recently turned 46 yrs old and I have slowed a little but I’m as passionate as ever about what I do. I am in the field 6 days a week and hiring my two employees was the smartest thing I ever did 3 yrs ago. I should have done that 10 years ago and maybe my body would be in a bit better shape but I have no regrets. Once I hired the guys we began installing cable on all of our projects 6-8” deep in the ground and inside rigid PVC conduit. It has added slightly to the cost of our projects but I haven’t found many who have balked at it. In fact I have landed many jobs as a result because my competitors are not willing to go through the extra work and expense it requires to do it. My slogan is landscape lighting systems designed and built to last and exposed cable was once potentially the weakest part of my system but no more. The short answer to your question is yes. God willing I will still be doing this work 10 years from now.

-If you were to do this on the east coast (specifically swamp yankee Connecticut) would you market differently?

I operated a landscape business on Long island NY for several years in my youth before re-locating to Southern California in 1990. Although I never did lighting there looking back I believe that the market for what I do would be or could be huge there. I have never spent much time in Connecticut although my best friend growing up went to college at Fairfield University and dormed there.  I did visit a few times and from what I observed the homes appeared to be very large , old and very well maintained. It didn’t appear that the owners wanted anything flashy or dramatic added to their landscape so any lighting offered I would think would have to be down played and discrete. If that is opposite of your design style then I’d recommend  focusing on areas where upscale younger people live and farm that territory and make it your own. As for marketing differently I think that a website is your single greatest asset and your trade network a close second so I would have to say that my marketing would be much the same as it is here.

-I am going to be doing a Flower and Garden trade show, I was wondering if you have ever done any of these and if so did it work?

I haven’t done a show in at least 10 years that’s not to say that they can’t be a good use of your time and a good ROI. I have done flower, garden and home improvement shows in the distant past with mixed results. Garden specific shows are always better than general home improvement shows. Shows are a lot of work but a good way to get out and meet new prospects and trade professionals alike. I did meet a few key clients and I always at the very least broke even on my investment.

-Reading some of the articles you have , I wondered how you got around to having them published. I always thought this would be great PR for myself and therefore my business.

I started writing the articles and posting them about 10 years ago and recently got into blogging. Writing doesn’t come naturally to me so it requires an extra effort on my part and a drain on my free time which I already have very little of. I never started writing to get attention but it did work out that way. I began writing about lighting because it did and still does consume my thoughts every waking hour. If I’m not actually doing it or writing about it I’m certainly thinking about it so why not put thoughts to print if it can help someone else. I was one of the first that I know of to post articles on landscape lighting for both the trade and homeowners to read and people noticed. All of the opportunities that I’ve gotten to write magazine articles for have come to me via my website. I don’t know how many actual projects the articles have brought me but I do know that the photo gallery is the focal point of the site and what I’m most proud of. What is up there is only a fraction of what I’ve done. In fact the photos got scaled way back after we did a recent freshening up of the site. My webmaster thought that the qty of photos were getting to the point of being overwhelming and that people would not spend the amount of time required to click through them.

Thanks again, for calling today and offering to help. I look forward to talking again at some point. Lastly, are you going to the AOLP conference?

I am not going to the conference and am not a member

I would really like to see those transformers of yours in real life.

If you are interested you can purchase one and try it for yourself. I am sure you won’t be disappointed.

Take it easy,

keep in touch

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