Overworked and Over-involved? Stephen Mazelis Finally Stepped Back—and Business Took Off

00:00
Robert Murray
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the IM Landscape Growth podcast. Today, I have a very special guest, Stephen Mazelis, who is coming to the show. Thanks so much for doing this, Stephen.

00:40
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, I’m happy to be here. I appreciate you asking me.

00:44
Robert Murray
You know, we do get an opportunity to speak to a lot of, you know, owners in the green industry, landscape entrepreneurs, and even folks who are, you know, members of their state associations and national associations. But not once have we had a guest who does both and also is a firefighter. So I’m pumped to hear about how you’ve managed all of this stuff and grown a successful business. So, thanks again for doing this. To give the audience a little bit of insight in terms of who they’re listening to in the context of where you’re coming from. Can you give us Coles notes of the last, like, whatever, a better part of 30 years in your experience in the green space?

01:20
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, so I’m gonna be turning 50 in a couple of weeks. I’ve been, you know, starting out with a lot of people in this industry mowing Lawrence at a very young age, 12, 13 years old. My. My passion growing up as a. As a teenager, believe it or not, it was actually automotive. I originally went to school for automotive. I still love building things and working on cars and motorcycles. But after going to school for automotive, I ended up going to college for horticulture. Went to a local college in Farmingdale, New York.

01:53
Robert Murray
Okay, Whoa. How do you make that switch? That’s a pretty stark contrast.

01:58
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. So my, you know, my. I have two uncles who owned it. One owned a body shop in Florida. The other one owned a. A repair shop and gas station are located on Staten Island in New York City. And I spent my summers there with my cousins working on cars. And had a blast. And I just always enjoyed building things. And I guess my uncle’s probably talk of going into that industry a little bit. And the landscaping, I was already doing it, and I was making, you know, I was. I was making a ton of money as a young kid. You know, all my friends were begging their Parents for a couple of bucks to go to the ice cream man. And I’m walking around with hundreds of dollars of bills in my pocket, buying new bicycles every couple of weeks.

02:42
Stephen Mazelis
And so the money was, you know, probably a little bit of drive. Yeah, it was a drive. So, it kind of pushed me a little bit. So you know, probably my, I think, senior year in high school, I was driving already. So, at that point, I bought a truck, a trailer, and some commercial mowers and grabbed a couple of my buddies. Actually, some of my wrestling teammates worked with me, and you know, one thing led to another, and I, you know, again I’m still passionate about turning a wrench and doing mechanical things, but I went more towards, towards the horticulture when I was in high school. In my last two years in high school, they have; I’m not sure if they have it in other states, but it’s called Boces, where it’s.

03:31
Stephen Mazelis
You leave the high school, which is about a 20-minute drive away, and it is a trade school; basically, we’d go for half the day and then come back to school. So I did that for two years. Automotive did really well, and I was actually an ASE-certified mechanic when I was 18 years old. I took all the tests, passed them, and started college. This is gonna sound crazy, but I actually started college my senior year in high school. Going at night. I took, I think, one or two classes at night. It was the last semester of my senior year in high school, and then that led to taking about two and a half years to get my full degree because I was going at night while I worked during the day.

04:11
Stephen Mazelis
I did go full-time eventually for, I guess, four classes considered full-time. And it was a lot of work. You know, I did physical labor all day long from, you know, 7:30 in the morning till 5:00, and by 5:30, I was racing down the road to get to college, which was about a 20, 30-minute ride away. In some classes, we didn’t get out till 9:30 or 10:00 at night. So I put in some long days and hours back then. Yeah, but I got my two-year degree in horticulture, and the rest is in history.

04:43
Robert Murray
So then what’s the state of the company now? Like what business like is you got, you kind of have a couple of different branches of the business. Right.

04:50
Stephen Mazelis
So we have one location and one physical branch. We’re a full-service landscape company. We do maintenance, design, and build irrigation; we’re snow contractors. About eight years ago, last month, I bought a building and a property for the landscape company. And in order to get the outdoor parking, my arm was twisted a little bit by the town to open up a nursery. So, I opened up a nursery. We have a little retail garden center here now. And you know, it kind of helps the landscape and complements the landscape company, and it kind of works hand in hand. So I’m running both those companies. But yeah, that’s, you know, we don’t have any other branches. But yeah, we were.

05:34
Robert Murray
Well, that’s what. But that’s what I mean though. Like there’s two distinct businesses.

05:37
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, yeah. And yeah, we treat my two separate completely to the two corporations. Two different sets of employees and managers. So yeah, it’s totally separate. It’s.

05:47
Robert Murray
And very complimentary, which we’ll get into in a minute.

05:49
Stephen Mazelis
And then.

05:50
Robert Murray
And then, whilst doing all of this, you decided to become a firefighter?

05:56
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. So my dad’s retired New York City firefighter. He was always pushing me, you know, most of my life to become a New York City firefighter. I did take the test. I did very well on it. I got my average with some extras. I, I was 103.5. So they called me right away. At the time, I was getting married and building a house, and business was booming. The economy was great. This was back, I don’t know, probably in the, somewhere around the early 2000s, I would think. And so the economy was great. They were building houses all over the place. We were super busy. I ended up turning it down and not taking it because I just didn’t want to do the hour-plus commute with traffic into the city a couple of days a week and back.

06:43
Stephen Mazelis
And I was a little skeptical about what kind of an impact it would have on the business. So with that, we. Where I live on Long Island, Long Island is not a paid fire department; it’s a volunteer. So, I ended up joining the volunteer fire department shortly after 9/11. And I’ve been doing that now for, I guess it’s been about 23 years. I’ve been a volunteer. Never really climbed the ladder because I just didn’t have the time to become an officer or a chief or anything like that. But I, you know, I put in, you know, as much time as I possibly can along with running around and running a business.

07:18
Robert Murray
Yeah, exactly. So, okay, that. Which then perfectly leads into the question which we ask every single person that comes on this show is, you know, what do you see as the primary growth constraint holding entrepreneurs back in the green industry? That’s.

07:35
Stephen Mazelis
It’s a complicated yet simple question. I’m going to say myself. One of the things I’ve learned in the last couple of years is I got to get out of my own way and let other people take over, which I did do. I ended up hiring somebody who had a very high-paying, great job in Manhattan, New York City, and who had an accountant and accounting background. So we, you know, I hired him. He’s basically running the entire office. I recently hired an operations manager who owned two landscape companies of his own. So, I just basically give them a little guidance. You know, we have meetings, and I let them do their thing and not try to be a control freak like I’ve always been and let them manage.

08:19
Stephen Mazelis
Along with the crews, I have great guys who will be there for a long time. We have crew leaders and, you know, crew helpers. Sometimes, you just have to not tell them what to do all the time, let them use their brain, and let them make some decisions on their own. You know they’ll make some mistakes and fail here and there. And that’s where I come in and kind of coach them. But that’s probably the best advice that I can give, which is just to take a step back and get out of everybody’s way.

08:46
Robert Murray
Well, I mean, so it’s fascinating you say that in one regard, and it’s also, you know, poignant in another one because. So, like, because I’ve asked this question to every person who’s been on the show. This is like the episode, whatever, 65 or 70. The most common answer is staff. Can’t find staff. But the most successful entrepreneurs always answer the way you did. It is the most common theme. But then, what becomes a really interesting part of the next or next part of the show is, well, what made you decide to let go? And then B, how did you do that? So, what was the catalyst for saying I am in the way? How did you figure that out?

09:31
Stephen Mazelis
I was told that by a consultant with whom I worked. And do you want to give any?

09:35
Robert Murray
Credit where credit’s due, or do you want to just leave it out?

09:37
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, we. If, if, yeah, if it’s okay to mention the name. He’s an unbelievable mentor and has become a great friend of mine. I love him dearly. Bob Mafi was up; he’s up on Cape Cod. He had his own landscape company for many years and sold it a few years back. And now I’ve been doing a lot, you know, a lot of work, consult, you know, consulting work with him. I was, I was a part of his peer group. I’m not currently a part of his peer group, but I’m working on getting back into it. But yeah, he’s basically the one who said that. And it just kind of, you know, just experience in life as I get older, you know, it’s like raising kids.

10:11
Stephen Mazelis
You know, I, I have; my youngest is 19, and sometimes you just got to take a step back and let them, you know, fail on their own and figure it out and be there to coach them and pick them up and pat them on the back and say, all right, let’s go, keep going and let’s do it again, but let’s do it this way this time. So I’m finding that seems to work the best. You know, we’ve struggled over the years with hiring people. You know, right now, the workforce isn’t too bad. It’s, you know, we’re getting people coming in, applying for jobs. Back during COVID, it was extremely difficult, but we’re past that part now. I don’t think it’s that difficult to hire good people, and we pay well. Also, we’ve upped the ante a little bit.

10:57
Stephen Mazelis
I’ve learned that if you’re not going to pay people well, you’re not going to get A-plus plays on your team.

11:04
Robert Murray
Okay, there’s a lot of what you just covered there. And I’m just going to do my best to kind of break it apart. So, you got told by somebody you respect that you need to get out of the way. And are you suggesting that the first time you heard that you agreed with it?

11:24
Stephen Mazelis
It’s not that I agreed or disagreed. It probably took me several months, maybe even a year to really grasp it and fully understand it, as silly as that might sound.

11:34
Robert Murray
No, it’s not. I think that’s what, that’s a big message to get. Like you’re the problem, the owner who created this successful business. And just to give people a sense of the size and focus of the company that you’re in.

11:45
Stephen Mazelis
So we’re about a little over two, between two and a half million dollar company. We have about a dozen or so field guys and the two managers and myself. And then we have two partners office and then the nursery has a handful of part time workers. That work there six, seven days a week.

12:06
Robert Murray
Yeah, that’s like, what, 600, 700,000, or something like that?

12:09
Stephen Mazelis
Yep, yep.

12:10
Robert Murray
Yeah. So, but 3 million all in lots going on. And firefighter, so you got told by someone you respect. So, there are lessons in the idea of mentorship that can help create some self-awareness. But then you decided that you’re gonna do something about it and actually get out of the way. So, how did you start that?

12:31
Stephen Mazelis
It takes a little time because it’s, you know, this business is my baby and I’ve grown it, I’ve taking it from infancy stage all the way up to where it is now. But I learned that you got to hire people that are smarter than you and surround yourself with people that are smarter than you and just let them, let them do their thing that they’re good at and not hold them back and not get in their way.

12:57
Robert Murray
So when you. So, you were a control freak at one point in your career?

13:00
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, I still am a little bit.

13:02
Robert Murray
But you at least fake it like you’re not, right?

13:04
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, yeah.

13:05
Robert Murray
And so, like, what’s something that you’ve done? For an audience listening to this, that’s thinking maybe I am in the way, and I do want to get out of the way. Like I, you know, this resonates for some people, and it resonates for a lot of people whenever someone speaks the way you’re speaking. But what is an actionable step they can take to get that moving?

13:23
Stephen Mazelis
So one of the things that Bob did that was enlightening for me was one of his visits here, where he basically told me to go out for an hour or two. He spent time with my staff as a group and individually and got honest feedback from them. And then he sat me down, he goes, you ready for the honest feedback? And he gave it to me and I was like, wow, it’s not what I was expecting. So, if you had, what was it? No, when you have employees giving you feedback, not that they don’t like me or anything like that, but that’s where I was. That’s one of the factors that made me learn that I was kind of getting in the way of everybody, and okay, cool. And holding them back.

14:04
Stephen Mazelis
So you for the audience, if you have a mentor or somebody that your employees would be comfortable speaking with and being, you know, brutally honest with and then having that person come back and give you some feedback on what was said, I I think that’s probably the first step you got to take. That’ll really enlighten you and make you think a little differently.

14:28
Robert Murray
That’s cool. Well, I mean, it’s tough, right? Like, we ourselves and many of our clients have asked for feedback lots, and it’s always veiled.

14:38
Stephen Mazelis
It’s got, it’s gotta be candid. You know, at the end of the day, I’m signing a check. So, of course, they’re gonna, you know, yeah. Pedestal and think I’m the. I’m the best next thing to slice bread. But, you know, in reality, it’s not always the. The truth, you know, is that you have to get that person that they trust, and no. To ask the right question. Getting open up.

14:58
Robert Murray
Right. Well, and then it literally illuminates a bright spot. It’s enlightening. Like figuratively and literally. Yeah.

15:03
Stephen Mazelis
Yes.

15:04
Robert Murray
So, so you, you’re. You make a decision that you’re going to start getting out of the way. You get some good, harsh, brutal, honest feedback to be able to deal with it. You realize that maybe you are in the way, and you start to step out of the way. You mentioned something earlier about how, you know, when you have to let people think for themselves, they’re going to make some mistakes, and they’re going to fail. You’re going to come in, you’re going to coach, you’re going to dust them off. I can’t remember the guy’s name at the leader’s forum when he was asked about how he treats people. He’s talking about kids riding a bike and how you’re always, you know when you’re on a.

15:35
Robert Murray
Teaching a kid how to ride a bike, you know, what the goal is to get down the road and not fall off, but the kid falls off nonetheless. And our job as leaders is to dust them off. We’re not going to give them grief. We’re going to say, okay, what went wrong, and how can we make it better and get them on their way again so they can get that, you know, and be successful?

15:50
Stephen Mazelis
Correct.

15:51
Robert Murray
And you alluded to that almost explicitly in the way that you talk about your team. But what do you do as a leader when the, like, how do you discern when it’s. When you would always coach to get back on the bike, and then it’s like, okay, you’re just not meant to ride a bike.

16:11
Stephen Mazelis
I think that comes out in a laundry pretty early. I mean, you Want to do all your due diligence. When you’re hiring somebody, you know, they always say, you know, be slow to hire and quick to fire. So, you have to do due diligence and make sure that you’re hiring the right person. You have to ask the right questions, you know, meet with people maybe, you know, especially if it’s a management position, you want to meet with them maybe two, three times and get the right questions and answers out there. And then once you hired them, you know, we did hire somebody last year, somebody for the office, and after a week, I just knew it wasn’t working out. And on Friday, I said, listen, thanks for coming in, but you’re not a good fit, and sent them on their way.

16:51
Stephen Mazelis
So you do need to identify that right away if they’re not a fit for your culture, if they don’t have the education that they claim that they had, not familiar with software that they claimed that they were familiar with. So you definitely need to jump on that right away if they’re not a good fit.

17:10
Robert Murray
Right. And so then once you identify they are a good fit, then you dust them off as much as you can to get them successful, essentially.

17:15
Stephen Mazelis
Correct. Right. And yeah, let them. If they’re really that good, then you don’t have to get involved that much, you know, to do. Explain what you need from them. You know, we give them deliverables up front, tell them what our expectations are, and as long as they say they know the software that we’re using, such as QuickBooks, you just. You just let them run with it and just monitor and make sure that they’re doing what’s. What’s needed.

17:39
Robert Murray
Well, and yeah, there’s all these nuggets and everything that you’re saying. I just want to make sure I come back to this one. But going back to what you said before about getting out of the way, were you more sales or more ops?

17:53
Stephen Mazelis
So, I have been doing both for many years. Up until this year, we just hired an operations manager. His name is Joe. It just began with us a couple of weeks ago. This is his first day out, really, with the cruise. So, I was doing both, which was an extremely difficult struggle. Yeah. And, you know, I do a lot in sales, too. I’m. I like to say not to pat myself on the back, but I’m a pretty likable person. I’m good at what I do. I know my business inside and out. I know horticulture. So I find that I do really well with sales, which I had another consultant probably 10, 15 years ago. Just in conversation, he said to me, he goes, look, nobody’s ever going to sell the way you are because back then I was trying to hire a salesman.

18:32
Stephen Mazelis
He said, you’re hiring the wrong person. He goes, you need to hire an operations manager. He goes, you need to go out and sell.

18:37
Robert Murray
So now it’s 15 years ago.

18:39
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, yeah. And, of course, back then, what did I do? I hired the salesperson instead. And we had an operations manager a couple of years back that was with us. Right. A year or two, but it didn’t quite work out. But now, but now that we have this guy Joe, who seems to be working out really well, it’s, you know, it’s still early, but he’s, he jumped right in. He’s got a great personality, a great attitude, and a lot of knowledge. So, hopefully, things go well with him. My goal is to focus on sales. And I got to tell you, it’s probably for the first time in 30-plus years; the pressure is on me now because, for years, we were basically an order taker. The phone would ring, might go out on a sales call, make the sale.

19:19
Stephen Mazelis
Now that I have a little extra time on my hands, I need to be a little more aggressive, and I might do a little door-knocking and pursue some additional work. And you know, we’re looking to grow the company, we’re looking to scale it also, you know, I, I, I, in my eyes, not to get sidetracked, but I probably have a good 10 years left by the time I hit 60. By then, I want to be able to take a couple of days off and take winter off.

19:42
Robert Murray
Sure. Yeah.

19:43
Stephen Mazelis
So, our goal is to really try to scale the business over the next 10 years.

19:47
Robert Murray
Well, I’m just pumped that you just said that. Like, you know, on the day of the recording of this podcast, it’s March 18, 2025, and we’re talking about the idea that we have to be a bit more aggressive and go build our pipeline and get sales. I think more people need to hear that. Like, the days of waiting for the phone to ring aren’t upon us currently. So, if there’s an actionable step, start knocking on some doors. Do you do commercial and residential stuff?

20:13
Stephen Mazelis
We do. And I’m glad you said that because when I see knocking on doors. Am I going to go knock on residential doors? Absolutely not. But, you know, going to commercial properties, it’s something that I have to strongly consider and go out knocking on doors on commercial properties and Introducing myself and trying to get my foot in the door and hoping that they give me an opportunity to bid on some projects commercially. We get a good number of people who call us every year. The physical location of our properties is at an unbelievable intersection where people are sitting at a red light staring at our property. So that also brings in a lot of work. And just from being in the community for so long, we don’t travel too far.

20:53
Stephen Mazelis
We, not that we stay within one town, but we don’t go more than probably a, I don’t know, 5, 6, 7-mile radius for the most part in Long Island, I believe, is only 15 miles wide, and we definitely stay on the one side of the island. So, we have a pretty tight-knit circumference of clientele, so people see our trucks in any but quite often.

21:19
Robert Murray
Yeah, that’s cool. And having a street presence in that kind of retail is amazing. So, going back to this idea of getting out of the way, you said two things. For one of them, you said we give them clear expectations. So here’s what’s expected of you, and then we monitor. Can you just break that down a little bit? Cause I think that’s where some people lose sight of getting out of the way because they’re like, okay, how about her? Good luck.

21:45
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, I mean, you know, just like a child, you know, you’re not just going to throw them out to the real world without, you know, teaching them and educating them along the way. So, we have deliverables where we have written out expectations of what we want them to do. And, and that’s a KPI. That’s how we measure their doing well, which always goes back to those deliverables. They can almost self; I don’t use word match self measure themselves based on the deliverables. If they’re getting, if they’re doing everything that’s expected of them. So that is not to change the topic, but that gets the raises also eventually because we go back to the deliverables and make sure that you’re doing everything you deliverables in order to even discuss getting a raise.

22:32
Stephen Mazelis
So once you get those deliverables in place and they’re well thought out and you’re giving them to prospective employees or new employees that usually helps quite a bit.

22:42
Robert Murray
And can you share an example or two just so that people can listen?

22:49
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, I could bear with me one second. I’ll pull one up.

22:52
Robert Murray
Yeah, for sure. Take Your time. Because then the monitor piece is the second one off, like, okay, so you get clarity. You have people with KPIs and deliverables. How do you go about monitoring those? Which is kind of like the natural next step in the conversation. So we’ll see what you got.

23:09
Stephen Mazelis
Right. So yeah, ultimately, we’re in business to make money. So, one of the performance deliverables for the operations manager is to achieve gross margin as outlined in our budgeted plan. It’s measured by year-to-date revenue, hours to budget, year-to-date efficiency to budget, average hourly crew age and material mockups, and profit loss statements. So that’s just one paragraph out of, you know, quite a few that.

23:37
Robert Murray
No, no, that’s. That’s perfect, though. And then. And so, what system or tools are you using to monitor that stuff?

23:44
Stephen Mazelis
There’s no, there’s not necessarily a system, but again, it goes back to. You’re looking at a P and L. So we like, are you using like?

23:54
Robert Murray
Element or Aspire or QuickBooks or what is we.

23:57
Stephen Mazelis
So we use boss. We implemented boss a little over a year ago. Yeah. And QuickBooks are the two main softwares that we use.

24:04
Robert Murray
Perfect. And that gives you the insights. You can monitor this stuff over time.

24:07
Stephen Mazelis
Correct? Yeah. So, Boss will give me the estimate; I give the estimated hours, and then the. It’s the crew’s job to make sure that they’re either meeting or beating those hours. And then, obviously, it’s the operations manager, too. To make sure that they’re successful in meeting or beating those hours. And meeting them, beating those hours determines how much or if any of a raise that they’re going to get or is there going to be any kind of disciplinary action or potentially, you know, letting them go if they’re not meeting or beating the hours that we estimate? Or does it go back to Did I make a mistake on the estimate? And then I have to look at myself and say, oh, wow, you know what, I should estimate more hours for this job. It’s my mistake, not the crew’s mistake.

24:47
Robert Murray
Sure. Yeah. And that happens. And you only get to know that, though, if you monitor and track all these things and then review them after the job is finished and see how it went. Right.

24:54
Stephen Mazelis
Correct. Yeah. It’s either better execution. You just have to figure out who might have made the mistake.

24:59
Robert Murray
Yeah. Where. Where’s the kink in the line? That’s all good. So I mean, this is when you speak about it, you speak about it really clearly and succinctly; I think A lot of people get caught up around, like, how simple it can be, right? You’re talking about hours estimated and meeting or beating those hours. Like, that’s not rocket science. But a lot of people kind of get in their way about how I create a KPI for people. So, I just love how you break it down. Pretty simple.

25:23
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. And I’ll give you an example. Like, we have like. Like what I tell my employees. A lot. I have a lot of Spanish employees, right? So a lot of them like watching soccer. I said, imagine watching your 2. 2 team; your two favorite teams play soccer. Play a game. I go. But we take the scoreboard down. Scoreboard away. I go. Now what? I go after a couple of goals; we lose track of who’s winning, who’s losing, and what the goals are. So. So we have a scorecard basically set up in our shop for the. For the maintenance crews. And we have a column that shows what. What’s budgeted? And then they have to write in with a. Either a. A red choppy, a green choppy, or a black Sharpie. Green means they beat their hours, the budgeted hours.

26:09
Stephen Mazelis
Red if they were over, and black if they were more or less spot on. Right. So. And that’s what.

26:15
Robert Murray
So you got a pretty good visual cue, even without having to look at the details.

26:19
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, yeah. And the guys are doing this in front of each other in the morning. So, you know, nobody wants to grab that red Sharpie.

26:27
Robert Murray
That’s awesome.

26:28
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. And that’s. And that’s for the crews, for the laborers. That’s how their raises are determined. That’s one of the KPIs that we use when we do their reviews.

26:39
Robert Murray
Awesome. So as a firefighter involved in the community and a member or board member of the Long Island Nursery Landscaping association.

26:51
Stephen Mazelis
So, as of a couple of weeks ago, I was president for the last two years. So my. My term was up, but I was president for the last two years. I’m still on the exec board, so I’ve. I’ve been on a board, I don’t know, probably 10-plus years, I think. Time goes by so quickly, I can’t remember, but I’ve. I’ve met some awesome people there. Some are competitors. Direct, you know, not necessarily direct competitors, but they’re. They’re friends. I can’t even call them competitors. We help each other out all the time. It’s. They. Some of them buy. Buy material from us at the garden center. You know, we’ll help each other out and ask questions on bidding jobs that we’re not familiar with.

27:30
Stephen Mazelis
So it’s just, again, as a quick side note, for anybody who’s listening, I highly suggest getting involved with your local associations and your chambers of commerce. You’re gonna meet some awesome, wonderful people. And, you know, some of these people have been friends of mine for so many years that I’ve met at organizations like this. And you’ll get, you’ll get so much out of it. You know, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

27:53
Robert Murray
Such as life, right?

27:55
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, basically.

27:56
Robert Murray
No, that’s cool. And then you’ve been going to the nap. Do you do Elevate and Leaders Forum? Have you been doing both for a while?

28:03
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, yeah, I do both. Sometimes, I’ll rotate depending on my schedule. But I, Yeah, I’ve been doing. Back when I wasn’t a member when it was Alka, not that old, but, Yeah, but when it was planted, which, I don’t know when he went from planet to NLP, he’s got to be, I don’t know, eight, nine years ago. Ten years ago.

28:23
Robert Murray
Yeah, almost 10. Yeah, I think so.

28:24
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. So I was a member of Planet for many years, so gotta be. I have been a member of Planet and NELP for probably close to 20 years. I would, I have to think.

28:35
Robert Murray
Yeah. And I mean, I think so. There are a lot of people listening who aren’t members of either, or they are members and are not taking advantage of it. Then, there are the ones who really get involved and end up on boards and leadership positions. The success rate of those folks at the board level is amazing. Like, they’re always doing well, and I can’t imagine it’s got to be, at least in part, from being around other people who are just really trying to make the industry better.

29:04
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, I agree. I mean, you’re getting knowledge kind of rubbed off by other people by being around them and talking to them. The momentum, just the excitement of being around people like this, it pushes you and drives you to do better, to, you know, be as good as them. From what I have found, people in this industry are so friendly and willing to help out.

29:27
Robert Murray
It’s awesome.

29:28
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. For many years, I’m not sure if they still do it or they, I think they, renamed it, but I was a trailblazer for A while helping, you know, pro bono consulting companies that I think were 2 million and under. And I have taken advantage of the Trailblazer system and had people mentor me, and it was great. It’s, you know, it’s, it’s all free through nelp. Again, I don’t think they call it Trailblazers anymore. They renamed it, and I’m drawing a blank on the name. But if you’re not taking advantage of that, you’re losing out correctly. The fees that you pay are pennies compared to what you’re going to get out of using something like the Trailblazer system.

30:10
Robert Murray
That’s cool. So, somebody that has inspired you, a speaker, mentor, or author, that you’d want to share with the audience, who would you say they should check out?

30:23
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, there’s so many. You know, again, Bob Mafia, who has become a close friend of mine and a mentor. He’s awesome. I’m currently. And I’m at the early stages, so I can’t. Don’t ask me too many questions about it, but I’m in the early stages of reading Traction.

30:44
Robert Murray
Oh, yeah. Epic.

30:45
Stephen Mazelis
And hoping to implement eos. And then I just got turned on. I just started reading a book last night that. That’s kind of tied in with traction a little bit. Is ten times. Ten times is easier than two times.

30:58
Robert Murray
Oh, yeah, yeah.

31:00
Stephen Mazelis
Which is. Yeah. I think his name 10x is.

31:03
Robert Murray
Yeah. Easier than 2x.

31:04
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. 10x. Yeah. And it’s Dan Sullivan, I think his name is. I might be getting his first.

31:09
Robert Murray
Yeah, it’s. It’s Hardy and Sullivan together.

31:12
Stephen Mazelis
Yes. Yes. Yep. And from what I’m told, Solomon, he’s like the real deal with coaching. He’s.

31:18
Robert Murray
He’s somebody that you want, and that is the real deal.

31:20
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. So. So, yeah.

31:21
Robert Murray
Strategic coach. Right? That’s his strategic coach.

31:24
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah. And actually a friend of mine, another business person in another industry. He belongs to a group called Strategic Coaching, and he’s. He’s going to introduce me to where I might join and travel with him to go to their events.

31:38
Robert Murray
Epic. Well, thank you for doing this, Stephen. Really appreciate it and looking forward to seeing you out and about. I don’t know if you’re going to be going to. I think it’s Phoenix elevates in Phoenix this year.

31:47
Stephen Mazelis
I believe so. Yeah. Most likely, I’ll probably go with it. With. With some of my team. I’m gonna bring it. Yeah.

31:52
Robert Murray
Okay. Well, we’re gonna organize an evening away at this bar called Buffalo Chip and great. It’s got, like, live bull riding, and it’ll be awesome. Anyway, I appreciate you so much, and thanks to everybody for listening to another episode of the I Am Landscape Growth podcast.

32:03
Stephen Mazelis
Yeah, no problem. I appreciate you asking me.