Released: January 7, 2024
Russell Wood, Executive Director at the Alabama Nursery and Landscape Association, discusses his journey in the landscaping industry. Russell and the host explore challenges within the green industry and strategies for overcoming these, emphasizing the importance of strategic initiatives and workforce development.
“I don’t know that we’ll ever have good data on that to say, ‘Well, hey, what got you interested? Oh, I went to this equipment rodeo.’ Right now, all of our scholarship applicants, for example, will ask them what got them interested in horticulture.”
– Russell Wood
Here’s what we discuss in today’s episode:
- Educational Path and Industry Entry (00:31 – 01:36): Russell details his transition from obtaining a horticulture degree to influential roles in the landscaping industry.
- Addressing Industry Challenges (01:36 – 04:19): Insights into labor challenges and Russel’s strategic shifts in career to enhance industry growth and sustainability.
- Delegation and Trust for Business Scalability (04:19 – 05:37): Importance of empowering team members to facilitate business growth.
- Youth Engagement in Landscaping (07:17 – 11:47): Discussing the gear initiative and its significance in engaging the youth through hands-on experiences with landscaping equipment.
- Future of Workforce in Landscaping (11:47 – End): Strategies on attracting and educating future landscaping professionals.
Actionable Key Takeaways:
- Educational Outreach: Leverage relationships with local educational bodies like FFA to spark interest and recruit future industry professionals.
- Community Engagement: Conduct workshops and events, like equipment rodeos or design competitions, to introduce youth to the landscaping industry.
- Invest in Team Development: Utilize effective delegation to prevent bottlenecks and promote growth within your team.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Alabama Nursery and Landscape Association (ALNLA): Supports Alabama’s green industry through networking, professional development, and advocacy, contributing significantly to the state’s economy. Learn more about their impact on job creation and industry growth at MemberClicks, Plant Something Alabama.
- Horticultural Expo: (Event details)
- FFA Programs: The National FFA Organization’s educational initiatives are designed to cultivate future leaders in agriculture, covering a range from scientific advances to economic strategies. More information is available at Plant Something Alabama.
- Equipment Rodeo Initiative: Typically involves community events where participants demonstrate their skills with landscaping and agricultural equipment, promoting safe and efficient handling. Further details or specific references are needed to provide more precise information on current initiatives.
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Episode Transcript
Robert
00:00
Hi, everyone, and welcome to the I am landscape Growth podcast, where entrepreneurs help entrepreneurs grow faster, better, and stronger in the green industry, from leadership to sales to recruiting and operational excellence. We cover the topics holding entrepreneurs back and share how to get past those bottlenecks with the best in the industry. I’m your host, Rob Murray, co founder and CEO of Intrigue, a digital marketing company focused on helping landscape companies grow. So sit back and enjoy the show. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of.
Robert
00:31
The I am Landscape Growth podcast. Today I have the opportunity to have our guest, Russell Wood, on the show. Thank you, Russell, for doing this.
Russell
00:40
I look forward to being here. Thanks so much for inviting me.
Robert
00:43
Yeah, for sure, man. And Russell obviously has a very cool perspective on the green industry. Like most of our guests in this case, Russell’s actually the executive director at the Alabama Nursery and Landscape association and also the one that, like, essentially heads up the entire Gulf States horticultural expo, which is usually held in February and this year in 2020 or 2023. But in 2024, it’s going to be, what, the third week of February, something like that. January or, sorry, January what, 25 years in the industry, post secondary education, college education, and experience working with, you know, different landscape companies. So, Russell, why don’t you just give the audience a little bit of a heads up in terms of, like, how you ended up running the nursery and Landscape association.
Russell
01:36
Sure. So got a horticulture degree from Auburn University and finished up in 2002. And I went to work for some large commercial landscape companies in the southeast and spent about eight years in the Memphis market and about five years in the Atlanta markets. And, you know, the labor situation was really tough, still is today. And frankly, I just kind of got burned out of the situation and was looking for another career path. And so talked to a mentor of mine, and he told me about an opportunity with the Nursery and Landscape association, and I explored it when I came through school. They were just the nurserymen’s association. They didn’t incorporate landscapers at that point in time. So I knew of them, but wasn’t super familiar with them, but came through and met several of my old classmates from college in there.
Russell
02:27
And they knew me and trusted me and said, hey, you understand our pain points and you can advocate for us because you’ve been on the front lines of it. And so that’s essentially what the job is looking to protect and preserve landscape nursery and garden center operations and keep an eye on legislation and anything that may be coming down the pipe, you know, pest disease, whatever, that these folks know about that. They don’t have time to really dial into that every day. They’re, you know, more worried about day to day operations, you know, making sure that they’ve got sales coming in, making sure that their quality is being met and that their employees are happy and equipment’s been dealt with and, you know, all the things.
Robert
03:07
All the things, yeah, right.
Russell
03:08
But, you know, looking at those, you know, kind of secondary or third level things isn’t really high on the list. You know, if they’ve got time, great. If they don’t, you know, who’s looking out for us on that? And so, you know, they pay their dues to be a member, and the dues help, you know, fund somebody to be in this position to look out for those things. And we also organize, you know, the trade show and different events, you know, for members to help them with continuing education and making sure they have opportunities to invest in their training for their people. We also look at workforce development. What are we doing to keep the next generation of professionals coming into the marketplace or into the employment pool, rather?
Robert
03:48
Right. That’s a perfect segue without being a spoiler, because we’re going to dive into that as one of the main subjects for today’s conversation. And so, just to back up for a quick second, theme of the podcast is all around understanding the primary growth constraints that are holding entrepreneurs back in the green industry. And so, curious from your perspective, what you see as the primary growth constraint within your membership and the folks that you’re working with on a regular basis.
Russell
04:19
One of the things that comes up from time to time is delegation. People often start in this business as a small one man shop. Over time, you add two, three employees. And as you’re trying to grow into that, you know, second truck, or from a second truck into fourth or fifth or whatever, eventually you’ve got to start trusting the people that you hired to do some work while you’re not with them and trust that the quality is going to be good, that they’re not going to be, you know, asleep in the truck or whatever, that things are going to happen, you know, and so when the trust is good and then things are getting done, you know, you can continue to expand that out.
Russell
04:57
Obviously, you know, if things don’t go well, then that really limits you and makes you feel like you have to continue to be the person that does it all and you become your own bottleneck. So that’s just a little conversation that’s come up over time with some different landscapers to really think about. And over time, I’d like to get an education session on that at our trade show. I don’t have that for this upcoming year, but through my conversation, that may be something to look at next year is to have a consultant or somebody that can come in and speak on that topic.
Robertl
05:29
Yeah, super valuable. Something that a lot of people encounter. You know, some people might break right through it. Some people might struggle with it for longer.
Robert
05:37
So just quickly on that note, then.
Robert
05:39
From your perspective with regard to, you know, seeing members across, you know, multiple different businesses, dozens if not hundreds, has there been something that you’ve seen people do that helps them kind of, you know, move through that phase faster?
Russell
05:56
I don’t know anything off the top of my head other than that it’s kind of cyclical. There’s different tiers in your business where when you hit it, you know, you’re going to run into a struggle with growing. You know, you may have to bring somebody on to have the staff to push through that level. And then if you’re bringing in that overhead, maybe your profit drops that year because you got to see it as an investment of, like, I got to bring on this other guy or we’re never going to grow. And just know that, you know, in the short term, that’s going to be a pain point with your bottom line because you added that overhead, but then ideally, that guy’s bringing in more revenue. So then the next year, you know, you kind of catch it back up.
Robert
06:36
Yeah, that’s cool. So, I mean, even just this idea around finding those people and one of the initiatives that you’ve taken under your wing last year, this year and moving forward, maybe. Can you speak to this idea? Cause, like, a lot of times we hear that thing, like, even the idea of even finding somebody is difficult. And one of the primary growth constraints we hear with a lot of people on the show is that, you know, finding good, talented staff is near impossible. And so then finding, you know, good attitudes, training those people up, building workflow, workforce development programs and training programs inside the organizations seem to be one of the things that’s making successful people win.
Robert
07:17
You have a bit of a different perspective on this in terms of, like, how to go about developing, you know, workforce for the future. So can you just speak a little bit to, like, what you’ve been up to and. And what people might want to, you know, glean from that and either participate or do on their own?
Russell
07:33
Yeah. So that is definitely a pain point for our members has been labor and that’s been going on since long before COVID You know, there was a time when nurturing landscape was looked on as, you know, you guys are paying low wages and, you know, you got seasonal work. So, you know, somebody wants that 40 hours for all 52 weeks a year. So they’re not interested in those seasonal jobs. But yet, you know, the management jobs are full time. There are full time even at entry level for the right people to, like you said, have a good attitude and a good work ethic. You know, a business owner was going to prize. You know, that’s great. They’re going to really invest in those people because they want to keep them around.
Russell
08:15
And so, you know, for years, everybody’s kind of in their own sandbox trying to do their own recruiting and find people for their business and, you know, have the best company culture or whatever’s going to keep them around. I tried to take the 100,000 foot view of that with the association and say, you know, on a big scale, how do we get young people or people interested in a second career, interested in working our industry, period. And if I can get them interested in plants or find out who’s passionate about plants, some of them, you know, don’t. We’re not making them passionate. They come in with that interest from their home life. But how do we get them engaged with industry to work?
Russell
08:52
And then if I can get them here and get them curious and it’s kind of up to all the members to duke it out over who’s got the best pay, the best culture, the best coolest trucks or best equipment or whatever it is. I’m just getting them interested, period.
Robert
09:04
And so then, yeah, so walk us through some of the initiatives that you’re working on.
Russell
09:09
So last year we did a pilot program of an equipment rodeo, called it the green industry equipment rodeo or gear for short. And we brought together three FFA programs with a total of 60 students. We got together on a sod farm and I contacted some local equipment dealers. So pops and cat and several other ones brought about 15 pieces of equipment out. And it’s anything that you would find in a nursery landscape business. So we had zero turn mowers, we had walk behind mowers, we had tractors, mini excavators, bobcats, trenchers, you know, just all sorts of different things, mini loaders. And brought the kids out and let them spend about 30 hours running the equipment. We actually, you know, put them on there at what, you know, get on, honk the horn and get off. They.
Russell
09:54
They got on, they dug holes, they moved dirt, everything that you would do. And we really tried to build confidence with them that they could do this. You know, a lot of them have grown up on over why? I say a lot. Some of them have grown up on farms, and they have access to this type of equipment. They run zero turns, they run bobcats. But a lot of kids, you know, that don’t come from ag backgrounds or even the ones that don’t necessarily have somebody that has these machines readily available for them to go operate or a parent that’s gonna spend the money to go rent one and let them try using it in the backyard. You know, they just don’t have the opportunity.
Russell
10:26
And so were fortunate to find a business, Dixie side farm that was willing to let us do it at their place, and some teachers that were willing to come out and do this event without really knowing a lot about it other than this vision that we had to get kids interested. And so it went really well. We learned a few lessons, and everybody was pumped about it. Our farm bureau came. They did a four or five minute piece on it that went on to social media and RFD tv, which got nationwide coverage. That was in September last year. Then our trade show came about last January, and I had a lot of people from other states coming to me, you know, and telling me that they saw it and they were like, man, this is awesome. This is what we need in schools.
Russell
11:09
You gotta keep doing this. And so this year or this past fall, we did five events, and we held them all across the state, from north to south and east to west, and wound up with about 25 different FFA programs and close to 400 students that came through that event. And very similarly, all the kids were raving about it and excited that there were some that kind of got out of their comfort zone a little bit. Others came in and seemed like they were competent operators already before we would even get started. Hey, my dad owns a septic tank company. I’m used to running these mini x’s at night and on the weekends. And you know what? They went out there and they were great at it.
Russell
11:47
There were still a few kids that were intimidated by them, didn’t want to run them, and we didn’t make anybody do anything. But by and large, there were people that had never run these machines getting on them. We even had one of the representatives from Thompson machinery, and he came over to me. I hope I didn’t overstep here, but you got a couple of these kids out here that they run this equipment better than people I know that get paid to do this for a living, he said. So I gave him a business card and said, hey, I’ve got some people that buy equipment from me that will hire you and pay you dollar, 25 an hour once you turn 18. So here’s my card and keep it. And if you’re interested in working, give me a call once you graduate.
Russell
12:21
And so, you know, that kind of fired the kids up because then those few, you know, run around showing the car to other people and they feel important. And so, you know, everybody that’s been involved with it, from the students to the teachers to the volunteers, our members, you know, some of our landscape members have come out and our nursery members, and they’ve been really fired up about it and eager to keep it going. So we would do that for a couple hours and then, you know, give everybody a cool t shirt. You know, we’d order lunch, have a nice tent and a lunch out there for them. And so when the students will come in, you know, 1145 or noon, we’d honk a horn, bring them all in and feed them lunch.
Russell
12:55
And then about, you know, 20 minutes into that, I would start talking to them and tell them a little bit about careers. You know, you don’t want to get too deep in the weeds, but I would kind of go through from propagation at the point of the nursery where we’re creating a new plant through, you know, the sales process into, where does that plant go once it leaves the nursery? You know, it’s going to go to a garden center or it’s going to go to a re wholesaler, is going to go to a landscaper, and then they’re going to install it. And then, you know, there’s a lot of jobs associated with the growing process, with the selling process, with the installation process. We got jobs on the maintenance on the back end, you know, making sure that the plants are taken care of.
Russell
13:33
And so, you know, letting them know that even these businesses need accountants, right? All this stuff that you don’t really think of with a nursery or landscape business, but they need all, you know, the really big and successful ones need all those. They need somebody that knows marketing. You don’t have to be a plant person to know marketing. You know, designers, I talk to the kids all the time about, you know, asking them who likes to do art? And, you know, it’s not always a ton of them, but some of them do. And I’m like, well, what do you think about painting?
Russell
14:00
With plants, you know, instead of, you know, using your oils and pencils and whatever else, you know, you’ve got a plant that has a certain color when it blooms and you can paint that and it’s going to grow and change over time. No painting you’ve ever created is going to change once you hang it on the wall. But these do. And if you don’t like a piece of it, you can go back and tear it out and put something else in.
Robert
14:20
Yeah. Super cool perspective. Right? And so, I mean, this is really, I mean, I think what you said, too, at the beginning, too, about taking like this hundred thousand foot view of like looking at trying to solve an industry problem, getting ahead of it, like this isn’t, you’re not sitting there trying to say that we need to convince ten people to start working the green industry today. We’re talking about building momentum over a decade to build a workforce that’s excited to be part of the green industry. I think that’s just unbelievable. Russell. And so there’s a couple of things and just to get some clarity around it, so if from an association perspective, right? So we talk to and interview and work with associations all over Canada and the United States.
Robert
15:05
If someone’s listening to this, they’re like, oh, my God, I want to do this. What are some of the things that they need to do out of the gate to try to get this thing off the ground?
Russell
15:17
So for me, you know, and I’m not going to say that I’ve got it all figured out, but we got to work.
Robert
15:22
You did one.
Russel
15:25
Some could go sideways at any point in time, but the biggest thing for me was, number one, find a location that’s willing to do it. And, you know, the first thing a lot of them ask is, well, what if somebody has an accident? And so I talked to our insurance provider and told them what I wanted to do and ask them, you know, hey, are we covered if someone has an accident out here? And they said, yes, you’re covered under your current policy. So, you know, Auburn University was not going to let me do one here. Somebody had said, you know, hey, the lawyers are never going to let that happen. So, you know, that’s, I’m based nearby Auburn and wanted to do it there, but I haven’t really pushed it any further than that.
Russel
16:01
But I ran into the guy that owns a sod farm on a the farm bureau tour during the summer, and he was also an Auburn grad. We struck up a conversation over lunch, mentioned it to him. He let me do it. Wasn’t concerned about the risks because he’s a farm guy. He’s got kids, his own kids that run his tractors and stuff on his farms. And he’s like, I’m really just not worried about it. The ag teachers that are coming to these, they know not to bring the knuckleheads. As bad as I hate to say that the knuckleheads are probably the ones that could benefit from it the most. You know, I don’t want to bring a kid out there that’s going to try to ramp off the multiple dukes of hazard style, you know, I’m going to bring my best of the best.
Russel
16:39
Matter of fact, a lot of them were using the trip as an incentive for grades. I found out that some of the kids didn’t get to come because they didn’t have a high enough average. And I asked the teacher about it and he was like, well, you know, that’s just our policy. But he said, you’d be surprised how many of these kids worked a rear end off to get their GPA up high enough to come out here. So, you know, that was a good thought. But venue is the big limiting thing. You know, find where you can do it. And then once you get a venue, you secured, you know, talk to the local ag teachers, okay, who’s interested in coming? And for me, that was going to the state convention and kind of identifying, you know, getting contact information for those teachers.
Russel
17:17
So I had a video playing of the first one that I did, and if anybody ever wanted to borrow that, you know, there’s a link on YouTube for it. I had that playing on tv when the kids would come by and look at it, and I’d say, hey, you know, is that like something you’d want to do to run equipment? And they’re like, oh, yeah. I was like, well, go find your teacher and bring them back over here to bring the teacher back. Number two part with the teachers is get their cell phone number. Maybe it’s just an Alabama thing, but teachers seem to not be super responsive to emails, especially. They’re so busy, they just got a lot going on.
Russel
17:46
But if you get their cell number, you can get pretty good responses for them or at least text them to let them know to, hey, look for this email. So that was how I got a short list of people that were willing to come, and I would ask them how many students they thought they would bring. I capped it at around 20 just because for me, I’m doing this one to develop the workforce pipeline. But two owner develop relationships with these teachers. So by capping the event at a certain number of students, 15 or 20, it opens it up to more programs to come.
Russel
18:17
So I can connect with that teacher because I want to go to that school and talk, or I want to have that teacher’s contact information directly so that anything we do, workforce wise, I can send them because they can amplify our message directly to the students. And if they like us and they have a good experience with us, hey, they’re going to push more horticulture careers maybe than animal science or something like that. You know, that’s my view on that. So if you get the teachers, you know, that are willing to come from that area, I mean, once you got your venue, you know, you can find the teachers that are kind of a critical mass nearby that would be most likely to come. And then once you know they’re going to come, well, then you start contacting the equipment dealers in those areas.
Russel
18:59
That was a little bit of an adventure for me. I made a lot of cold calls this year. I kind of took a different approach, and I would find my members in that area. And so who do you buy equipment from? And can you call them and ask them if they would support this? And it, you know, means a lot more coming from a customer than it does for me. I’m just the guy asking for a handout. Their customers, you know, they want to keep them buying now from the dealers end of things. They want the landscapers out there because it’s not just a function for the kids, for them of future customers, you know, 1015 years down the road. They want to make a right now connection with a landscaper that might buy something from them.
Russel
19:38
That’s been a tougher one because, like I said, my landscapers have got so much going on. Not all of them are able to invest time to come out and bring equipment and put staff out there to volunteer and help with these events. So, you know, that’s something that I’m working on for the future of. How do I make it more enticing for the landscapers to come out and meet with these dealers? But the dealers have been great. They’ve done it. You know, if I can’t get the landscapers out there, I’m gonna try to find a way to get them paid through a grant or something where they can at least get something for their time.
Russel
20:10
Because I worry, you know, that if they don’t make those connections year after year, they’re gonna start saying, why are we coming out there, you know, you’re asking us to do this, we’re putting out time, putting out money, and we’re not connecting with the people that are going to get that money back to us by buying a piece of equipment, you know, this year. Right. So just a long term concern that I have for it. But like I said, you know, the teachers contact me and they’re like, the kids are still talking about this three weeks, month, two months after the event, you know, asking if we can do it again. And so I’m trying to kind of do it across the state in different areas. 5 may have been a little bit much to do in one year.
Russel
20:48
3 may be the magic number, just with the other responsibilities that I have. So I’m thinking about dialing it back to three next year and kind of do northern, central, southern areas of the state and then, you know, rotate east to west or something like that, kind of zigzag across the state. But my goal would be to not come back to an area that I’ve already done for three to four years, and that way the number the students in the FFA program will roll over. So, you know, if I go back to the same spot year after year, I’m not getting more diversity by more interest across the state, and I’m seeing the same students, maybe a few new ones as the program transitions. But that’s my thought processes. Spread it out and come back when there’s a new crop of students there.
Russel
21:33
And as I come back to these venues, everything’s going to be a lot quicker and easier on my end because I’ve already got the teacher’s contact, I’ve already got a venue that’s done it once that’s told me, everyone on has said, hey, you want to come back, you’re welcome to come back here. I’ve already got a caterer figured out that I can just easily call up. This is how many lunches I need. I’ve already got the tent rental place figured out and tables and chairs, all those logistical things of organizing event is done. So I’m looking forward to three years down the road, not trying to do this from scratch every year at a new location.
Robert
22:05
So what is the. I mean, there’s a bunch of questions, so, but just on the logistics side of things before we move on to like, another part of it, what is, like the funding model? Like, how does it get, like how do lunches get paid for, how to do kids pay anything to go? Do students pay, schools pay? Like, how does that all work?
Russel
22:25
So association pays. So we’re, you know, we have not asked anybody for any money as far as the students go. Now, the dealers, you know, we just asked them if they’ll bring equipment out. So essentially they’ve. They’ve funded the equipment, they’ve funded the fuel. You know, a few places that we’ve run out, they’re, you know, used a lot. We’ve had diesel on site and they’ve, you know, put it in there. Haven’t asked us to pay anything as far as getting, like, soil or mulch or whatever out there for the students to move around that’s been donated or has already been on site where were at. You know, that’s kind of a minimal cost anyway. But I would say, you know, between getting t shirts printed and lunches and tent table and chair rental, I’m running about $4,000 per event for around 100 students.
Robert
23:13
Epic. So then speak to me a little.
Russel
23:17
Bit about restrooms is another one. You know, if you’re out in a pasture somewhere doing this, you know, you got to get a porta John out there depending on time of year. Like I said, the tent. I mean, I want to make sure students have shade, that they’ve got plenty of water to drink. Just, you know, I’m looking at, like, every concert failure there’s ever been. What were the problems with shade and water? Right. So, you know, have the stuff there for the kids that are just not that interested. So, you know, some of them will go do 20 or 30 minutes on the machines, maybe an hour, and then they’re done. But then after 3 hours, like, you know, who the real operators are because those are the kids still out there just going hard.
Russel
23:53
I mean, trying to, you know, dig the deepest hole they can and things like that. So those are the ones we really like to connect with. Certainly the ones that stop early. You know, we can go talk to them, and that might be some of the ones that are more interested in design than equipment operation. You know, we just kind of got to talk to them and feel that out. But so far, you know, we’re fortunate with the association that we have some very generous sponsors. Matter of fact, last year we increased our sponsorship amount because I thought. I thought had been very low, but were not offering, you know, a high enough end for people to sponsor that they might do more. And we found out when we added new, higher levels that indeed that was the case.
Russel
24:35
There are people that were willing to do more. They’d just never been asked. So that put kind of a pool of money out there that we could immediately put to work on these events. And so I’ve tried to really promote on social media with pictures and our newsletters and everything. Like, here. Here’s what your dollars are going to do, and here’s the kids that we’re impacting. You know, if I had it to do all over again, I need somebody out there helping. Well, we’ll do it again next year, but I need somebody helping me. They can kind of go interview students. Like, I feel like that’s the next component is, you know, get those testimonials from the kids of, like, kind of impact did this have on you?
Robert
25:09
So that was the next question, though. Tell me about that. Like, how do you see these kids light up and, like, what does it look like from your perspective to see the impact it has on these students?
Russel
25:16
It’s awesome. I mean, you know, they sit in a classroom, you know, four walls, concrete walls every day. Maybe they’re lucky if they’ve got a small window in there. And, you know, I mean, just talking about when I went to school there weren’t, you know, big picture windows in all the rooms. Maybe some have that, but, you know, to get out and get your hands on something and use it. My wife recently went back and got her masters to become a teacher. And so, you know, I was kind of listening and looking at some of the things she was doing, and they were talking about experiential learning versus the book learning, and that kids, you know, when something means something to them, when you can relate it directly to their lives, they’re more likely to hold on to that information.
Russel
25:58
And by actually doing it, you make it relatable. And so while some of these students had run those machines before, others hadn’t. And so you kind of go into it and say, hey, you’re not going to screw this machine up. It’s tougher than you are. Just push the lever, push the button and see what it does and make it do what you want it to do. And they just build that confidence, and they kind of walk a little taller when they’re around out there. And we got a joke down south about using some of this power equipment. It’s like, hey, he means business, you know? And some of these kids, I get off that machine, and they would kind of walk around, I mean, some business now.
Robert
26:33
Goosebumps, though, man. Like, that kind of impact. You look at self esteem and, like, building kids up. Like, that’s. I mean, it’s amazing. Not to mention the fact that you are building massive interest in an industry that needs people to come in and help. So, like, have you given it any thought to, like, turn this into a full time national gig for you? Like, this seems like a huge win. We’ve. I’ve interviewed people across, you know, whatever, 20 associations. I’m not quite through all the states yet and promises in Canada, but, I mean, by this time next year, I’ll probably have made my way through the whole thing. No one’s talked about anything close to this. There’s been some competitions here and there, but nothing about, you know, green industry, equipment, rodeo.
Robert
27:13
Like, have you thought about bringing this to other associations, other states, and starting to, like, you know, make this a national focus for you?
Russel
27:21
Not necessarily for me specifically. I’m quite happy in the job that I’m in, but I’m part of the nursery and Landscape association executives group. So people that are association directors across the country and the canadian provinces are in this association, essentially. And I’ve kind of written a how to that describes everything I just told you and put it out to that group and said, hey, if you’re interested in starting one of these, here’s your considerations. Here’s the order of operations to try to do this. I know some other states have it. I’m pretty sure Texas is doing something similar. Ohio even has a landscape Olympics. That’s really cool. So if you haven’t talked to Ohio yet, because that’s kind of my next step, is, like, how do I go from just the machines into, like, installing plants and other things?
Russel
28:07
So they’re almost a miniature version of the national collegiate landscape competition that NALP does. And so I shared, I’ve been wanting to go up there and see how they do it for a couple of years now. COVID kind of threw a wrinkle in that. And then, you know, I keep thinking, well, I’ll go up there one fall. And, of course, this fall, I’m occupied with doing five of my own rodeos. And then the week after done, I saw they posted on social media that they had just had there. Missed my chance, you know, to get up there. But. But I shared it on my association Facebook and said, you know, hey, what kind of interest do we have in getting something like this going down here? And a lot of my volunteers were in the comments like, hey, yeah, let’s do it. How do.
Russel
28:45
How do we get this going? So my next steps are with our FFA. I would like to get a competition just for skid steer going with FFA. I think that’s an attainable goal. I haven’t really started a formal discussion with anybody, but my guess is that they’re going to say, well, who’s going to fund it and who’s going to judge it? And we can handle both of those with our members. We’re trying to start a conversation with SkillsUSA here about a skills tier competition as well. That’s kind of a different group. You know, a lot of the metro areas don’t necessarily have FFA programs that may be more in the rural schools. SkillsUSA, they do a lot with welding and carpentry and other skills construction trades.
Russel
29:30
NAOP has been leading an initiative to get a national competition at Skills USA, which is held in Atlanta every year. They need 15 states to get a formal competition and they’ve got eleven states doing state or doing state level competitions. If they can get 15 states, they’ll open up a national. So I’m trying to kind of put pressure on Alabama through, you know, calls and emails to try to get them going to do a state competition here. And then again, some of the NLA folks were spreading the word among our peer group, trying to cross that 15 threshold. So that would be two potential events coming at the state level. But again, as far as national goes, there are some others out there and I’ve tried to encourage my peers to get it going. Again, it’s just, it’s time and money.
Russel
30:13
You know, you’re trying to find the.
Robert
30:15
Well, it is time and money, but when, I mean, first of all, I’m going to happily advocate on behalf of, you know, this whole initiative, Russell, because we hear it time and time again, the number one primary constraint is people. And sometimes that isn’t exactly true, but for the fact is, most people perceive it to be true. And if that’s the number one issue members are facing in these associations are kind of, by definition, required to help with that problem that’s holding all these members back. So, and it’s also a ton of fun. So, I mean, as much as it takes time and money, it’s also a blast. And you’re impacting the future generation of not only the industry, but building up confidence in kids, which is amazing.
Robert
30:59
And also, I mean, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with this, but screen time is a big issue. I don’t care who you are and getting kids, you know, out of their houses and outside working with this type of stuff, I just think it’s amazing. Not to mention the fact that it’s probably really cool content. And the Ohio thing doesn’t make, it makes a ton of sense to me because I don’t. But they have the largest per capita. There’s a large lawn and landscape company per capita in all of the US in Ohio. I guess they got a lot of grasp at that’s cool. So I guess, you know, the, for, I was going to say like what is the next, you know, chapter for Russell?
Robert
31:32
And it really does seem pretty clear, like, you know, you’ve laid out the groundwork for how to operate this type of rodeo. You’re looking at advocating to get some more states. You’re getting the national competition and you’re getting one going in Alabama. I mean, this seems to be all around a really fun, engaging way to engage the future of work for the green industry. Is that just the thing that you’re going to keep pounding the rock on over the next five years?
Russel
31:59
Yeah, I mean, I’m committed to doing this, you know, for the next, you know, 5810 years. I mean, I got to see it through, you know, to a point where I start seeing some kids get old enough to kind of be in the industry. I don’t know. I don’t know that we’ll ever have good data on that to say, well, hey, what got you interested? You know? Oh, well, I went to this equipment rodeo right now. All of our scholarship applicants, for example, will ask them what got them interested in horticulture. And I mean, almost 100% its grandparents and if its not grandparents, its parents.
Russel
32:31
So somebody out there, you know, their nuclear family is promoting plants to them and thats whats getting their interest, that then, you know, we can kind of take that and say, well, if you like plants, then you can come into this industry where we work with plants a lot. You know, we grow them, we install them, we maintain them and sell them, you know, all that sort of stuff. But somebody had to create that initial interest with them. And so I’m trying to, you know, do that with these kids but even take it a step further back down the pipeline. Master gardeners. We’ve done some garden seminars because, you know, in addition to needing workers, industry needs customers, right? We got to have the customers of the future that want our products and services to keep this thing going.
Russel
33:12
So were doing some garden seminars to try and connect with the new gardeners. You know, in the pandemic, estimates are 16 to 18 million new gardeners came around because everybody was stuck at home, everybody looking at these projects that they’ve been putting off for years and all of a sudden they had time and they had stimulus money, and the garden centers were the handful of things that were open and available to go to. So, you know, boom, garden centers have record sales and you’ve got all this interest in plants. And how do we retain that, you know, as an association, we’re looking at, you know, we can’t let these people get away. We want to help them be successful. We want to help them continue buying plants. So we did these garden seminars and unfortunately, you know, everybody’s got to work.
Russel
33:51
So the retired people are a lot of the ones that were coming to these events, even if it’s on the weekend, everybody’s at the Paul field. They’re young kids, you know, so it’s the retired folks that are master gardeners that are coming. But I find out that, you know, they’re doing a lot of work at elementary schools, going and teaching kids about plants immediately, I’m like, okay, well, how can we kind of get engaged with that to help throw some grant money or something their way to help fund these, you know?
Russel
34:16
So our board of directors recently met and wanted to open up some funding opportunities, not just for them, but for some universities and junior colleges with horticulture programs as well, but to kind of start taking in applications when people, you know, are asking for a few hundred or a few thousand dollars. Where can we start putting these monies to work?
Robert
34:33
Yeah, well, and I mean, like, one of the things you said, too, is that getting members out to these types of things can be difficult. And I guess if anybody’s listening to this and you get an opportunity to do this, it’s crazy, unless you plan on closing or selling your business in the next year or two, to not engage with this type of stuff for the future of work, because even what you were saying, like, hey, Russell, I hope I’m not stepping over the bounds by giving my card to somebody who’s running this, you know, piece of machinery so well that I’d hire them today if I could, but I gotta wait till they’re 18. Like, there’s a way to build relationships with these kids, and then you’re even taking it at another level, getting the elementary schools with this gardening program.
Robert
35:10
I just, you know, to tip the cap, man. I just really appreciate what you’re doing because you really are addressing it, and pun intended, at the root cause issue, right, of trying to develop these people and develop the interest in the industry. So kind of one last thing before we kind of wrap up just at the end of time here for the podcast. But if you’re talking to a landscape contractor or nursery owner operator and they’re saying, you know, there’s no people out there right now, you know, what would you say to them in terms of what they can be doing to start engaging, you know, either the future of the industry or second career folks?
Russel
35:51
I think the biggest thing is everybody’s going to say they don’t have time. But my counter to that is you don’t have time not to have time. You know, you have to break off and go do some of these things. So engage with your local FFA. You know, my theory has been a kid that’s coming from an ag background is more likely not going to be afraid of hard working outside, working in the elements and those sorts of things. So, you know, your area FFA programs are a great place to go. They love guest speakers. They’re happy to have you there, you know, as far as how to connect with that person. If you can’t get their number off the school website, call a local county agent. County agents are in the schools. The four h people are in the schools.
Russel
36:34
They can get you connected with the right person. Go to their, you know, find out when their district meetings are to kind of get engaged.
Robert
36:43
Engage with it?
Russel
36:44
Yes, engage, engage. Like you have to go out there and put yourself out in the community. Go sponsor something. You know, they go on field trips, have them bring a field trip to your operation. You know, if you’re a nursery, they’re probably, they probably already contacted local nurseries over the years to do field trips. But a landscape operation or whatever, you know, bring them out, go on a field trip with them, chaperone, just anything involved.
Robert
37:07
How crazy simple is that, though? Just to reach out to these folks and say, hey, if you want to do a tour or a trip out to my operation, feel free. We’d love to host you. Now you’re just bringing them to you. That’s even better.
Russel
37:18
All right, well, go ahead.
Robert
37:21
No, no, you feel free. Finish it up.
Russel
37:23
No, I was just gonna say, I mean, that’s the biggest issue is just to get engaged and then also engage with your local association. You know, for people that are not members in an association, you know, get involved. A lot of things is you get out of it what you put into it. So, you know, association, we really pride ourselves on information and sharing information and passing information back and forth and trying to provide training and education opportunities to make the industry better. But you get out what you put in. So go to meetings, go to trade shows, participate, you know, help kind of keep the cycle going.
Robert
37:56
Yeah. And I mean, what do they say? It’s cliche to say, you know, be the change you want to see, but it’s not cliche to do it. You know, like, it’s really easy to sit on the sidelines and complain about stuff, but change only happens when we get involved, right? So I just think that’s a really pertinent perspective to bring to it. Russell, so thank you so much for doing this. Good luck with the show coming up in better part of a month, what, five, six weeks, I guess January 24 to 26th at the time of this recording. And then there was a resource, I think you mentioned that you put out for folks around how to do this rodeo. Is there a spot someone can get it, or should someone reach out to you?
Robert
38:35
Like, how does someone, if they want to ask you about this stuff, how do they reach out to you?
Russel
38:39
Sure, they can just contact me via my email address. Russell russellnla.org dot so that’s al for Alabama nursery, landscapebayassociation.org dot awesome.
Robert
38:53
Russell, thank you again so much for doing this. We appreciate your time, man. Rock on.
Russel
38:56
All right. Thank you.
Robert
39:00
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