Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene

Leadership Through Liquid Innovation: Jeremy Kirkham's Journey at Clintar

• Jay Rotonnelli • Season 1

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Jeremy Kirkham shares his 20+ year journey in the snow and ice management industry, from starting with a small landscape company to his current role at Clinntar Commercial Services where he's pioneering liquid applications and leadership development.

• Started in the industry over 20 years ago, buying his first plow truck without telling his pregnant wife
• Joined Clintar Commercial Services after being recruited to run a 34-acre campus contract
• Prioritizes hands-on leadership and knowledge sharing between team members regardless of experience level
• Implemented liquid applications at Clintar, using approximately 9,000 gallons throughout the winter season
• Emphasizes the importance of educating clients and team members about new technologies and methods
• Discusses Clintar's commitment to training through Landscape Ontario certifications and internal programs
• Highlights the company's sustainability initiatives including three Ford Lightning electric trucks
• Addresses economic challenges including rising equipment costs and exchange rate issues with U.S. suppliers
• Recommends newcomers join industry organizations and build their professional network on LinkedIn
• Reminds listeners that snow professionals are "the first responders for the first responders"

To connect with Jeremy, find him on LinkedIn as Jeremy Kirkham, on Instagram @jkirkham78, or email jeremykirkham@clintar.com.


Speaker 1:

Welcome to Blizzard and Bloom, the podcast where we navigate the storms and celebrate the triumphs in business and entrepreneurship. Join us as we dive into stories, insights and strategies from top professionals to help you thrive in today's evolving landscape. And now here is your host, jay Rotinelli. Here is your host, jay.

Speaker 2:

Rotinelli. Hello folks, good afternoon, good morning, whatever time it might be. Jay, welcome you back to Blizzard and Blue. We've got a great guest on today, somebody I've been trying to get on the show for a bit but it's just kind of a recap. We spoke to Dave Gallagher the last episode and talked about the Simon Foundation and what we can do to help support that and the importance of the education in the industry and how we share that knowledge with others.

Speaker 2:

So it's more than just folks in a pickup truck or with a self-spreader. So today we have Jeremy Kirkham from Klyntar Commercial Services. I'm sure a lot of you folks are familiar with them up in the Canadian region. Anybody that's in snow or grounds I'm sure recognizes that name. It's been around a long time. A lot of respect for those folks. I know you have several branches. So I want to take a minute here and introduce Jeremy. Thanks for making the show and if you could give us a little bit of background, just a little bit of kind, of who you are and how you got into the industry and how you ended up with Klyntar.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, first off, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. It's a pretty small world, even though we live in different countries, right?

Speaker 3:

yes, absolutely so I got in the industry. Geez, a little over 20 years ago now, a friend of mine had a landscape company a smaller one and we'd started with his dad. He was always looking for people so I thought I'd give it a try. I had a baby on the way, needed to make some money Right away. I knew it was something that I'd be passionate about. Then winter rolled around and he threw me in a pickup truck and I started plowing snow. And then I actually bought my own plow truck without telling my then pregnant wife. That didn't go over so well. I bought it for about five thousand dollars. It was about 20 years old when I bought it. It was a rust bucket but made it through two winters, made some good money with it and right away I was kind of and I've been doing it pretty much my whole life. The only other thing I've done is some pest control, which is also a service industry.

Speaker 3:

And then to get over to Clintire Commercial Outdoor Services, it'd been an idea I'd banded around with Chris who's one of the owners here, chris Burns. He's been with Clintire for a long time. He started a franchise up ottawa about 17 years ago now and a few times we went back and forth on me coming over just was never the right fit for him or for me. And then about a year and a half ago it was the right fit for both of us. They'd landed a huge campus contract and he thought I'd be the guy to run it for him. So hit the ground running with that and we've been doing it ever since and started off strictly operations and then last summer I moved into a business development role with them and now this summer I'm moving into more of an account manager role and in the winter I'll go back and take care of that campus.

Speaker 3:

It's about 34 acres and it's our first big property that we've brought liquids into. I was fortunate enough to meet with Jordan Smith a few times, who kind of got the liquid bug for me. We met with some guys who were close with Jordan in Canada bought a bunch of the stuff. This year we went through about 9,000 gallons on a week to 10 day basis all winter long. So we went through quite a bit. It's just been rolling since and we're just always expanding and looking into new revenue streams and I think we're going to start making our own bride eventually. And yeah, it's been quite a ride and it's been good, awesome.

Speaker 2:

I'll tell you I've I think you and I probably met through, I'm guessing, Th Thane. I think maybe through his platform, coffee on the Peak, thane's become a good friend to me as well and somebody that I got a lot of respect for in the industry. He's got a lot of knowledge.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I met Thane through Coffee on the Peaks. I'd met Scott before and he introduced me to Thane. And Rob Miller is the one I know. You know him from the Tuesday Nights group and he's the one who introduced me to basically most of the people I know in the States. To be honest, I just happened to meet him at an East Coast Facilities event about not last December December 2023. He started introducing me to people, told them I wanted to learn about liquids, and I woke up the next day with about 60 more LinkedIn followers. So yeah, Great.

Speaker 2:

You know you always say you want to surround yourself with people that are good people and knowledgeable people. Right, that will share that knowledge. And there's two great people right there. You've kept around a few names and all great folks, whether it's jordan or rob miller. That guy's a class act. He um really a great guy. Uh, here at lindsey, you're doing some great things.

Speaker 2:

I was uh fortunate enough to go to a retreat uh back in january, february, and it was uh, myself and thane and rob and martin, toronto, and it was really impactful and it was powerful. But really just getting to know one another and then kind of seeing the passion that was in the room for the industries, and not even so much for just the industries, but like the passion for their people, whether it was Martin with the team at Simon or Rob with his team, the things that he and Lindsay are doing, thayne and the impact that he's had are doing Fain and the impact you know that he's had on, you know, kirk or whoever might be. So you know, and then again, that's how I got to really know you when I started following you and I got to be honest with you. You have made some really big impacts. I think in the industry people are paying attention to what you're doing. I love to hear I know we, you know leaders, building leaders.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes you know we jump on that and I've listened to some of the things you talk about and then how it's real world stuff right, like when it snows and a salters broke down, or you need it, like sometimes it's one in the morning, one in the afternoon. You don't know what it is, but you had mentioned a few times about trying to show others because you can't always be the one to do it right. So can you talk to us a little bit like what's your approach when you know you're working through that? How do you get others? How do you mentor and coach some of those others so that they can get and rise to the level, uh, that you know that you are?

Speaker 3:

yeah, um, I'm pretty hands-on as a leader. I think really I started at the bottom right. I started out my buddy's company. Like I said, I ended up on what was called the last chance. There was a bunch of guys. He didn't know if they'd make it or not. Some of us are still in the industry, some aren't. None of us work for him anymore because we've all went on to different companies.

Speaker 3:

But his dad took me under his wing. His dad's the one who started the company and he told me like, if you're willing to try and you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach you, but the minute that you stop investing in yourself, then I'm not going to invest in you anymore. And that's that's how I take it with my team too. Right, this isn't for everyone. The ones who are passionate about it are going to make a career out of it, because you can't make a good living, right for sure. But some of them it's just a job and that's fine. You know they're here in the wintertime. They got other jobs in the summertime. But as long as someone's willing to learn and willing to listen, and I'm willing to tell them everything I know, and they can tell me what they know because you know, even though I've been doing it 20 years, got a young 19 year old kid who works for me who showed me some stuff. You know he's new to the industry but he's he's knows a lot because he works in the summertime driving the skid steer. He's taught me a lot about driving a skid steer, even though I've been doing it a lot longer than him. I think that's what we need to do as leaders, like we can't just beat it into people that I've been doing this 20 years. I know more than you. There's always something you can learn from everyone that you meet and I think that's one of the biggest things in our industry that's changing.

Speaker 3:

It wasn't always like this. It used to, especially in Canada. Anywhere in Ottawa it was a very quiet market. Nobody talked to anybody. You know you were the competition, but they're not really the competition. Maybe we see them at the sites. The only real competition is yourself. You know you do what you do, do it better than them and maybe you're going to be higher price, but people are going to see your quality. That's what I try to instill in in my workers like if you work hard, you're willing to learn, you're going to go places in life. You know it. It's not always about who's the best today, it's who's going to be the best five years from now. And if you're not going to learn or invest in yourself, you're not going to be the best in five years, because people are going to pass you by Well said, yeah, well said, I think there's an old adage of you know, something of the fact is, what if I train them and then they leave?

Speaker 2:

And that's like, well, what if? What if you, if you don't train them and they stay? Exactly Like, so, uh, there, there, you know you, you can't be in that fear. Two things that, um, you know.

Speaker 2:

One one thing in particular that you brought up was the fact of sometimes in this industry, or or up until just recently, it's been very protective and a lot of people didn't want to share information as to, you know, kind of best management practices on things. And certainly when you look at it from a smaller level, a state level or regional, it's very protective. But lately, you know, I see the likes of folks doing different things, whether it's Gene Stork or you know, we have the Green Snow Pro Certification Program here in New Hampshire and that's really where people are starting to exchange information and starting to feel less fearful. And I'm not sure how or why it got to that point, but the fact of the matter is people are starting to share more information and I think I know, like when we send, you know, team members to some of these training events, I'm like absorb all you can and listen and talk to others.

Speaker 2:

It's okay to talk to the competition, you know we're not going to share proprietary information, you know. But if people have something that works, you know that's great and we ought to be taking a look at it too. And then you know, to your other point, it's okay if somebody's younger, I learn stuff every day. That Somebody's younger, I learn stuff every day. That's what I love about this business. I've been doing it 36 years and I always learn something from somebody.

Speaker 2:

And I think that's the best part of it. Young, old or different, it doesn't matter. We don't know everything and sometimes others can provide some really solid input. So, again, I've seen you doing some of that through your LinkedIn posts, social media, and then talking about it. What are some of the things Clintar's doing as far as that, from a leadership, training, coaching, mentoring and I say we all started somewhere right. We're all started at the bottom, we're working our way up through and we're all making careers, but how does Clintar look at that? What are some of the processes that you folks often.

Speaker 3:

Clintar is very big on educating our staff, not just me. I get to go to a lot of the conventions and that, which is great. That's part of my job. But then I bring that information back and we go over with not just key people. I'll share the information with anyone who wants to learn right and we take a lot of um like Simon does a lot of great online stuff, so we use that. And then up here we've got Landscape Ontario. They have a monthly chapter meeting because province is so big you know, it's like the size of five or six states, like probably the whole eastern seaboard for you guys fits into ontario. So we have different chapters and they have a chapter meeting every month. We're encouraged to go to it. I tell people about it and we've also. Last month we hosted in Landscape Ontario in conjunction with ASIC, which is kind of like what they're doing in New Hampshire with the snow and ice. So they're trying to take some of the responsibility and liability off of the contractors and back onto the property management. They're working with Simon that they've got a task force.

Speaker 3:

So we held one of the first certifications in Ontario at our shop and we invited our quote-unquote competitors. They could come. It wasn't just proprietary to us because it's through Landscape Ontario and anyone say someone like me or yourself who's been in the industry a long time you do the test, you do the day training, you get grandfathered in so you won't have to write the test ever again. But then to take it to the next level, you can do what's called train the trainer. So we took part in that and now we can train our own guys. Like you know, shovel crew comes and goes, but we can train them all to be level one, certified snow removal people, which is basically shoveling, and now they're rolling out level two, level three. There's going to be like your salters, your loader operators, things like that. So so ClientCard took the lead in Ottawa by hosting the event. I think we had 11 people turn up altogether. We'll probably do another one. We've told Landscape Ontario we're open to that. We always do the kickoffs, like everyone else, and we do the whimmies, we do the rodeos, all that kind of stuff, and we also invest in, like we've got a gentleman who works for Miles so we've been paying for him to go to school for three years to get his red seal and oar. That's through Landscape Ontario and Algonquin College Our mechanic. They're always giving him training.

Speaker 3:

We train people on liquids because it was new. Some people were a little hesitant. I was hesitant when I first heard about liquids because we'd never seen it right. We were always told that it wouldn't work. But that gets back to talking to people in our industry. Minnesota is just as cold as Ottawa Works in Minnesota. Why won't it work in Ottawa?

Speaker 3:

So Clintart is very good and because we've got a national brand like we're the biggest Canadian snow company if you take the whole franchise system together we pool a lot of our resources. Like the ownership group meets with other owners and bring stuff back. Hey, calgary's doing this or Kitchener's doing that or Moncton's doing this, why don't we try that with our guys? And we do a lot of incentives for the team too. Like we'll have the barbecues, team meetings, we do the holiday party, the spring kickoff, winter kickoff. We've also just started a thing where we did a qr code where any of the employees give the qr code out to someone. That person contacts us, the leads come to me or trevor. That person automatically gets a gift card because you know it's not part of their job. But they went above and beyond Sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a great idea.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and we work with the teams too, like we. We know winter can be tough, so you know we do some guaranteed hours for people, things like that, to keep them around. We have branded uniforms that we give out to people, proper PPE. We've got our own health and safety committee that they can join so they can learn more, and anything that we learn we'll pass on to them, like I've told them all about, like the online sima training, all that stuff, and if they want to do it, we're more than willing to let them do it. So yeah clint are.

Speaker 2:

you know, you talk about some of that stuff that you get to go to, right, and not everybody gets to, but it's not so much that you get to go, nobody else can. It's obviously we can't take everybody out of the company and send them to, you know, to these things, but it's it's all about how you introduce it back to your team and then take that knowledge because, essentially, you've become the sponge. Right, you're going to go back and bring out, bring it out and share it with the rest of the team. So I love to hear that stuff when that goes on. We talk about introducing new things like the liquids. That's just a hot topic, right, it continues to be a hot topic and folks like Jordan and Steve, like those guys, are doing a fantastic job really promoting it but, more importantly, educating people. That's right, and they're willing to share. How has your team adapted to that with the liquids and that? How have you gone about trading and getting the buy-in from them?

Speaker 3:

yep, so when we first rolled it out I won't lie, people were very hesitant, right, because we've got some people in this industry, you know 30 years. They they'd never even really heard of liquids because no one in auto was doing it. So they like how does that work? So I gave them the spiel that Jordan gave me, shared everything with them that Jordan gave me, all the education, and they're like oh, so it is just like salt, but where it's faster, I'm like yeah, we're just skipping.

Speaker 3:

One chemical process is all we're doing. Essentially it's different equipment, same thing. And then what I would do is I'd bring them over to my site. I ran the brine truck quite a bit when we first got it and some of it we would do with salt. And then we do a lot beside with liquid. I'd be like look, the proof is right there. And then I taught them how to use it and and really, like we use the vsi stuff. We do have some SnowX stuff, but our big spreader is a VSI and they've made it so user-friendly, like it's just an app on your phone and five minutes and anyone can be doing it.

Speaker 2:

And once they do it, once they're like, wow, why didn't we use this like five years ago? That's the thing I guess is getting the buy-in and trying to get folks to understand that, hey, that's the way you know. Get away from well, this is the way we've always done it, and it's like there's innovation. And I think about you and your team and Quintar and how you've taken that and really are innovative on whether you're looking at your website or talking to you or seeing LinkedIn posts or others Like I think that's really cool that you know you guys are embracing the innovation and trying new things and then helping educate the others so that you have that buy-in and people believe in you. Sometimes it's a trial and error type of thing. Right, it takes a few times to try it and get it dialed in, but you got to stick with it. It's something you can't do and then get frustrated and say, ah, I'm not going to bother, it takes. I mean, you really got to take some time right To get invested into the thing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's like that with any new equipment, right, like if you just dip your toe in and you're like, oh, that's not how I've always done it. Well, nothing's going to kill your company faster than that's not how we do it. We've always done it this way. Well, there was a time when nobody owned a cell phone. Now we all have one or two. You know I've never heard of iPads. Now everyone has an iPad. You know, like we've invested all the owners have invested in a lot Like we run metal plus blades, which we all know aren't the cheapest on the market, but they do an amazing job. We've tried out the Top Gun back blades, tried out the liquids. We're willing to try anything that's going to give us a competitive edge and a better product to the end user, which is our clients. The better we can do for them. Then we can secure more contracts and we can keep the contracts we have now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's promoting that value from right, from from within too, that you know, educating the clients, you know what are they really, what are they valuing. And then how do you present that? Because we talk about, we talk about so much. We talk about the slip and falls, we talk about janitorial expenses right, that track it's salt in or sand or and then what that does to not only your facility and from a cleanliness standpoint, presentation, but what it does to the environment as well. So it really does take a lot of bite.

Speaker 3:

Now that you mentioned environment, that's one thing very big focus for our branch anyway of CleanTar. We've got three Ford Lightning trucks in our fleet now. We've got one crew that's completely electric. We've got another crew. We're probably switching to electric. We've looked at robotic mowers, like anything that's going to be sustainable and deliver a better product to our client and a more efficient job for our company, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, that's great. And I do think there's something to be said about the companies. It goes back to what you said you can't just dip your toe and fry it right. If it doesn't feel right then you jump away, even like the Ford Lightning trucks. I think that's fantastic.

Speaker 2:

Or some of the battery operated equipment. I see Justin White over at KND Landscaping over on the West Coast, california and they switched to, you know, completely switched to battery powered equipment and it was. It had some pain points, I think, at first just trying to kind of retraining the mind, right, but I guess it's been super successful to them. And when you look at even the auto mowers and some of the battery equipment, it's come a long ways just in three or four years. So it only continues to get better.

Speaker 2:

And you know you kind of hit it on the head before If you don't pace yourself and stay in line with innovation and learning and educating, then others are going to pass you by. So if you want to be a leader in the industry, I think it's super important to stay ahead of it. It's been having some conversations lately with folks about kind of the economics, certainly here in the States, and where are people cutting and cost cut measures, and are you seeing any of that in Canada looking ahead to 2025? And if so, what's your approach on working through some of those challenges?

Speaker 3:

Definitely seeing a lot of change. It's all over the news, not just at the gas, like fuel, it's a huge cost, right like summertime we're probably running a dollar fifty a liter, which is almost six dollars a gallon, you know, which is quite expensive. So not just us, any of the leading companies had to tighten up our roots, you know, be a little more choosy about contracts, and pricing's obviously changed a lot and unfortunately that goes down to the end user, right. So clients, I'm sure down there too, they're like well, why am I going up 15%? Well, my loader went up 25%, my trucks went up this much. I don't deal with a lot of that stuff, but I see it in our managers meetings.

Speaker 3:

It's going to be interesting the next four years to see what happens. You just all went through an election. We're going through an election in April. We just had a provincial election. Same party got back in, so we'll see what happens with the federal election. And then COVID too, right, like COVID really sent everything for a loop and I think we're still spiraling from that. To be honest, our labor force has gotten a little more stable. There is a big Hispanic labor force in Canada, believe it or not, I know it's a long way from Mexico, but there's a lot of Hispanic workers that we use, Just like.

Speaker 3:

I hear you guys talking about the H2B.

Speaker 2:

Sure, oh yeah, yeah, workers that we use, just like. I hear you guys talking about the h2b. Sure, oh, yeah, yeah, that's just all.

Speaker 3:

We have programs similar, I think it's called lmias, where you can sponsor people to come over. They can stay for up to two years, but you got to house them, put them in vehicles, and people are like, oh, it's cheap labor, it's not by the time you add everything else into it, right? So every company not just us, but we're always looking for ways to there's only so much you can control, right, like your labor, your material, your equipment. But the price of everything and a lot of the stuff that we do use is manufactured south of the border, like whether it be in the States or Mexico. So the tariffs are scary. We'll see what happens.

Speaker 3:

But not only that, but if we buy something out of the U S, we're working out a 45 cent on the dollar deficit, right Cause it's about a dollar 45 exchange right now. So we've got to factor all that in as well, same as travel. I'm fortunate I get to go to Simon, stuff like that. But it's also a big investment going south of the border, because if it's a hotel it's $100. It's really $145 to me. Yeah, sure.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we've definitely just been working on controlling the controllables, I guess, and unfortunately, some stuff isn't controllable. If CAT decides that they want a 25% increase on their loaders, well, we're all paying it right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and to your point, you can only cut so much right. You can only cut so much right. You can only cut so much fat off the, off the bone, I mean, and then at the end of the day, it is what it is. And then, you know, trying to, you know, get people to understand that value that you bring, and we go through it here. And you brought up a really good point covid. Covid falsified everything, covid, just it falsified decision making. It falsified the economics. You, we think about it now and you know, for us here, the Prescottic, we had a lot of folks that were due during COVID, that were staying home and they were doing smaller, you know, $10,000 or $15,000 projects up to 2025. Those don't really seem to be there anymore. They're fading away because that disposable income isn't there and you know they're not at home.

Speaker 2:

Times have changed and COVID was fake. It was. It really had an adversary effect on us and I know for us, seeing it through the commercial sector and industrial is a little scary right now. Same thing we're talking, you know they're talking about that the cuts, the job cuts. It was interesting I was looking for some sales professionals over in our Portland main market and the applications.

Speaker 2:

I had nine one day and they were folks that were either in like banking, finance, manufacturing or health insurance. Like it was interesting to see that people you know with high level professional like MBAs and you know real, you know high level degrees and thinking boy, you're overqualified for this work. But that's, that's the economic times changing Right. So we also tend to. We have a large sector of our business that does high end residential market work on the seacoast of Maine and New Hampshire, northern Massachusetts, and then also the Lakes region of New Hampshire where there's second and third and fourth homes. So we're pretty diversified in that sense. But from a commercial standpoint, even for us it can be a little sticky. They're trying to justify it they don't have the office, buildings aren't filled still. So they're like you know we're not having that revenue right, we're not leasing it out and so we don't have.

Speaker 3:

You know, we got to cut from somewhere Parking spaces aren't being filled up, so they don't need as much haulage anymore, you know, because they're only using half of the parking.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, and I'm sure I know you folks think you do pavement marking and stuff like that or pavement maintenance.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we offer that service. We have a good sub that will do it for us, but a lot of people just aren't spending on that kind of stuff anymore. You know, and I don't know about like in the States, but in Canada the entire like housing market went crazy. Like people were spending a lot of money, at first in the price of their house, and then they had to redo their mortgages. The interest rate was crazy Even for myself. I went from 2.5.2 to the exact same house, but now my payment is $300 more a month.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's tough. It's tough to adapt to that.

Speaker 3:

You feel it everywhere because people don't have the money to spend, but yet the manufacturers need the money. So they got to jack their prices up on all the equipment that we use like we're. We're not really running around in 20 year old pickup trucks like our fleet's basically all brand new. Every year we turn it over, you know, and you have to, because, yeah, new stuff does break, but not as much as 10 year old stuff, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah I had a client say to me it was last fall sometime like well, you must be expensive because all your stuff's new. And I was like, well, no time out, think about this for a minute, because if I had old junk stuff that never ran, you cost me more because, number one, I can't get to to you, I can't get out as many hours, billable hours, and get the you know, the team out there, the guys and gals. So now I'm finding out different solutions. We're far less efficient, you know. Then we're having problems with leaking oil in your driveway, and I said that. And then when they, when you start to put it in that perspective with people you know, just real world stuff, they're like, okay, I get you, that makes sense. So we, you know, we want our trucks on the road and we want them to be safe for our teams, because we want everybody to come in every day and go home to their families every day, and it costs money to do that. But it probably costs more money when you can't keep things rolling.

Speaker 3:

So and when you're, your stuff's constantly in the shop being fixed. It's costing you more than when it's out on the road.

Speaker 2:

It's actually making you some money right, absolutely. Let me ask you this If you had some advice for some folks that were? Well, let me back up a step. I was talking with Martin about this. There's a lot of younger, new folks getting into the industry and there's a lot more to the point that we talked before. There's a lot more educational opportunities, because 20 years ago there wasn't right, like we said, people didn't want to share information. There wasn't a lot of that. But now we have CYMA, you have Landscape Ontario, we have New Hampshire Green Snow Pro, all these different organizations that are sharing. If there was some younger folks, smaller side, what's some of some advice you'd give to them as they're starting in the industry, so they can maybe become more successful, maybe skip a few of the hurdles that you and I had to had to jump over?

Speaker 3:

so the biggest thing and I was late to the game there's so much education out there and there's funding for this education. Like sima, you can apply for the alan steinman scholarship, you know, and they'll help fund to get you there and you can meet so many people there that are going to change your life and they've done what you're going to do and a lot of them are willing to talk to you about it and point you in the right direction. That's something I've found out in the last you know. Five Big thing get on LinkedIn. My kids are just turned 20 and soon to be 16. They're both on LinkedIn, not to the same extent as me, but my 20-year-old has a pretty good following and her university program makes them join LinkedIn to build their network before they graduate.

Speaker 3:

Right, get out there, do that. Get on the Landscape Ontario or New Hampshire, maine, whatever state you're in. Get on the landscape ontario or new hampshire, maine, whatever state you're gonna. Get on their website. See what they're offering, see if there's get togethers. Just go meet people, get your name out there, get your face out there.

Speaker 3:

Like if you would have asked me a year ago I was going to be on a podcast, I'd be like no, and now I'm like four of them, right, like probably same thing for you. We're that age group. We didn't know what podcasts were. But one big advice that I would have for people I'm guilty of this. I try not to be, but I definitely am and I post some stuff that isn't all puppy dogs and rainbows, because I think some of these kids are on Instagram and whatnot and they see people making hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. All the cool touching tip videos, all the cool Leroux Blower videos, all that, yeah, you can get there if you put in the hard work, but it ain't going to happen overnight. And for every awesome video you're seeing, there's guys like me and you with a broken down plow in the middle of a snowstorm just trying to make it through. Right, that's the real life, snow.

Speaker 2:

Frozen hands and frozen ears. Yeah, I appreciate you talking about that because, quite honestly, jeremy, like that's why I started this podcast was to talk about real life stuff. And you see some some really big companies out there and their marketing is incredible, but at the end of the day, they have the same challenges that you have, the same challenges that I have our companies. Right, nobody is nobody's above it, nobody's different. So I think it's important, like you said, to share these stories and people are proud and more passionate about this industry. Now.

Speaker 2:

I think in particularly, and I think people need to just say you know what? I'm going to leave my ego at the door. I'm going to leave my and I'm going to go in and meet somebody. There's a networking event going on. I'm going to leave my ego at the door, I'm going to leave my and I'm going to go in and meet somebody. There's a networking event going on. I'm going to go and I'm going to learn. Nobody's going to look down on me because I don't do $10 million in revenue of that or I don't have this brand new thing, but if you have that open mind, I feel like you can get a ton of information and I feel like there's value there, because it's Billy Butts. The ships rise with the tide right, and when you align yourself with others that are successful, wanting to learn and passionate about it, then you're going to rise too. So really, two great points. You nailed it there.

Speaker 2:

Get out there so many good people in our industry.

Speaker 3:

Like, really, in the big scheme of things, I'm really a nobody in this industry. I don't own a multimillion-dollar company. I work for a company.

Speaker 3:

I drive a company truck you know, but you know you can be at a table at Simon or even, like next month, storks plows I'm driving seven hours to go there. There's going to be multimillion dollar people in that room, but they're going to treat you like a human, just like everyone else, cause they know you're out there struggling at times. You know, like there's so many people, even though I'm hours away, totally different country, I can pick up my phone and call them and be like hey, steve, I'm going through this man. Have you ever had this happen? Yeah, I had this happen. Try this, you know. Sure enough, it works. He's been doing it 30 years. He's been through it, you know. And that's what this industry is all about, in my opinion. And it's getting better because we're all talking. Yeah, we're not giving away proprietary stuff, but you know we're there to pick each other up when you know, like I remember I'm not perfect I opened up the wrong valve on a liquid sprayer.

Speaker 3:

I took a nice salt brine bath. Was that fun? Nope, did I post about that? Nope, I talked with you guys. I'm like oh yeah, that happened to me. Like my third time I ever used one. Like, don't, don't feel stupid, it's happened to us all. You know it's the real life, real people that we have in this industry and for the most part, nobody's flaunting in your face that, hey, I'm a multi-millionaire driving a porsche and you're just some truck in a truck. You know they're there to help you and that's what the young people or anyone in this industry needs is to build their network, meet good people, and they also have to be a good person too. You can't keep all your parts to your vest and expect everyone else to show you some parts, right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well said, yeah Well said. That's awesome. I think just these last two minutes of what you said are so powerful, because that's only going to help us get better with the industry and I think it's going to bring more professional image to the industry as well, which it lacks sometimes. Right, we don't get that respect that I feel like we should, sometimes offering a risk-free or risk litigation business where we're reducing people's liability. So I think it's important to do that and to network with others and to not be afraid to fail, because we've all been there.

Speaker 2:

You and I have all learned from somebody and worked our way up through. We continue to work our way up through and continue to learn. So I appreciate you sharing that. You're a pretty modest guy because you're doing honestly I couldn't. You're a pretty modest guy because you're doing a lot of great stuff and people are paying attention to it and like it. Um. I know for myself. I like to be shoulder to shoulder with guys like you that are um, are passionate about it and like to share information. So I appreciate to applaud you for that for helping others in the industry as well.

Speaker 3:

I appreciate what you're doing with starting the podcast and showing up Tuesday nights and that it just it makes it more enjoyable lifestyle. It's not a glamorous lifestyle by any means, but it's an honest lifestyle. You know, I remember years ago I was at a little barbecue in the backyard with some friends. I knew some of them, not some of the other ones and this guy you know, he's high tech, he had a nice BMW and whatnot. You know he had money. Obviously he's like, whose truck is that in the driveway? And I'm like, oh, it's mine. And the guy's like, oh, it's kind of crappy. Another guy I know is like you know, his so-called crappy truck is worth about three times as much as your BMW. And I'm like, yeah, and I don't pay for it either. That's right.

Speaker 3:

I did a talk at a local college there a few months ago. Now Started a snow season, people looking for a new career. What I tried to instill in them is your friends are going to say, oh, you're out shoveling snow for a living. No, you're not. You're out keeping the community safe. That old man in the wheelchair, that old lady with a walker without you they're homebound all winter long. Yeah, well said, we're the first responders for the first responders. Without us police, fire, ambulance they can't get where they need to go. So I'm very passionate about this and I like it that there's more people out there that I've met who take such pride in what we do because, like I said, it's not glamorous, but yeah, it's a great career it's fulfilling, it's fulfilling at the end of the day.

Speaker 2:

Yeah well, thank you very much for for being on. I want to catch up with you again for another episode. Maybe we get into the summer here. But if, uh, folks want to reach out to you to maybe run something by you or have some questions or some input, how would they get a hold of you?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I'm on LinkedIn just Jeremy Kirkham. I'm on Instagram a bit, not that much. It's just jkirkham78 or jeremykirkham at clintarcom. Feel free to reach out to me anyway. Or if you see me at any of the shows, like, feel free to come up, we can have a pop or a beer, whatever you're drinking, and we can just talk shop and not just shop. Tell me about what's your passionate outside of life, like I've got two kids and I work.

Speaker 2:

I love seeing the stuff you post on that too. It's just your daughter's birthday, I think the other day. Yeah, it was, yeah, your daughter's birthday I think the other day. Yeah, it was yeah. So that's great and really good point. Right Like you got to find some balance with work too. So really good stuff. So well, thanks again, Jeremy. I appreciate your time and being on the show and we'll look forward to catching up with you next time.

Speaker 3:

All right, thanks for having me. I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, folks, we'll be looking forward to the next one, the next one we've got Thayne Isaacs coming on board. We're going to talk about some leadership forums and retreats and what we can do as individuals to kind of to Jeremy's point to align ourselves with a network of folks that are passionate about what they do. So thanks again, have a good day.

Speaker 3:

Jay, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to Blizzard and Bloom with Jay Rotinelli. We hope you feel inspired and empowered. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Join us next week for more insights and stories to help you bloom in your business journey.