On this episode of the Profit Roadmap, we welcome back Naylor Taliaferro to the podcast! Plus, Bear Duplisea (an original Profit Roadmap co-host) RETURNS as a guest co-host, alongside co-host Bekah Spencer.
At Service Edge Conference 2023, we covered some great topics including:
- How to find work-life balance
- Community importance
- Pressing the hard reset
- Finding flow states
- And more!
How Naylor Got Started in Lawn Care
Naylor talks about how he got his start in the lawn care industry. Even before owning a business, he was always a homeowner with a love of lawn care for his own personal benefit.
Since there was no YouTube when he first started his business, Naylor went through a lot of trials and tribulations. He would buy books from big box stores and then trial and error. Through all these hardships and troubleshooting, he just really fell in love with lawn care.
Also, during that time he was in retail management, which lasted for about 15 years. By the end of it, he really wanted a different path in life because it was consuming everything about his life—even going as far as to change his personality.
He wasn’t as calm and enjoyable to be around. He was grumpy, depressed, tired, and sick all the time because he was overworked and burned out. To top it all off, he wasn’t spending the time he wanted with his young kids and wife.
Due to all of these struggles and hardships, Naylor had to press the hard reset button on his life in order to drastically change gears—starting his own lawn care business.
During all of this time, YouTube was quickly growing, which was how he found Jonathan Pototschnik, founder of the Lawn Care Millionaire YouTube channel and co-founder of Service Autopilot.
At first, Naylor began as a part-time lawn care business because he was still full-time in retail management. For about a year, he was mowing 7-8 lawns with his push mower, big box store trimmer, and a super low-key hand blower.
Also, he didn’t have a truck; just a Jeep Compass. He literally went to work with a change of clothes. And after a 12-hour day, if there was still some daylight, he would mow as many yards as he could until dark.
Mental Health and Work-Life Balance
Shortly after starting his part-time lawn care business, Naylor went from being sick all of the time to feeling more like himself. He largely attributes this to the stress relief and mental clarity that he gained from being outside as well as being able to be his own boss with his own schedule.
During that time, Naylor was rebuilding himself by listening to self-help books, motivation, business, podcasts, and audiobooks.
Due to his career in retail management, he developed all of these terrible physical manifestations from the stress he was immersing himself in.
After getting married and having kids, Naylor quickly realized that his life was going one way, while retail was going another.
As a result, Naylor was forced to take a step back, rethink things, and press the hard reset button. He didn’t like who he was becoming. He was edgy, sarcastic, resentful, and spiteful.
Making the switch to lawn care gave Naylor the freedom and peace of mind he’d been longing for all of those years. Also, it allowed him to access so many opportunities that he never knew existed before.
Every time he’d listen to an audiobook or a podcast where someone said something, it would unlock something else in his mind—instantly changing his mindset. Naylor believes if you think it, you can make it, create it, and conquer all.
Managing Lawn Care, Podcasting, and Speaking Opportunities
Naylor compares mowing lawns to a meditation he does while also trying to grow his network on YouTube, where he connects with more people. However, he admits it’s hard to do both.
He says it’s hard to have his lawn care business at the capacity that he wants it to be without the right people to run it. Plus, being able to continue putting on these events, creating the content, and doing all of the stuff that he truly loves is a constant balancing act. He likes mowing lawns, but he also loves connecting with the lawn and landscape community—hanging out with everyone here and telling stories like this as well as sharing and helping everyone grow.
He can impact thousands (versus hundreds) of lawn care and landscape clients. He wants to help them get their minds in that flow state… Which he believes unlocks something in your mind, not your brain. Your brain is the muscle. Your mind is your consciousness, everything that makes you.
The Mind and Flow States
Naylor says the mind is a term for us. Think of it as your spirit, all these things to talk about who you are, and you need to unlock that. When your brain, just like any other muscle that’s fatigued, if you fatigue your arm muscles, you can’t lift things or push things as well.
Your brain is the same way. You can overwork your brain, and then you’re not thinking so well. You’re not thinking clearly, you’re foggy, you’re not able to come up with good ideas, you’re tripping, you’re stumbling, and maybe you’re extra sarcastic and edgy with people. It’s because you’re overworking your brain.
He says you can unlock that, be free, and exercise your mind. Just like you exercise the rest of your body at the gym or outside to get stronger physically, you will get stronger mentally. Then, you can all of a sudden start thinking of all these crazy ideas with big events.
Naylor talks about how he gets into flow states by doing things that are repetitive and don’t require a lot of critical thinking—walking, mowing, running, etc.
But as soon as you’re doing something new and have to pay attention, you’re not in that flow state anymore because your mind is focusing on different things. Your brain is doing more work than your mind.
Common Misconceptions About Mental Health and Getting Help
Every content creator has a different group of people. Naylor says everyone who talks to him always thanks him for the content he creates. He focuses a lot on the mental aspect and shares the ups and downs on his podcast and social media. It’s not all highlight reels; he tries to be as transparent as possible
The Journey Leading Naylor from Lawn Care to Podcasting and Speaking
Naylor talks about how he’s had this realization that he believes comes from being an only child.
His mother worked multiple jobs to support them, and they still relied on government assistance. His father was not in the picture and Naylor was home alone a lot. His extended family was not close either.
Naylor had a few close best friends over the years of growing up. He had lots of acquaintances too, but he always had this deep desire for community. He wanted to feel like he had a family.
He wanted to be a part of a family in that sense of community because, at the core, he believes that’s what we all want as human beings. We’re not meant to be isolated.
Even when he was in retail, he was around a lot of people, which made him feel a little bit better. However, the stressful environment took a lot away from all of that.
When he made the jump to lawn care, the online lawn care community was just getting started. He was glad to be part of that growth from the very beginning. And now, that’s the driving factor for Naylor. It is his desire to be a part of something bigger and part of a family.
This is where Naylor just keeps pushing hard to continually grow the community.
Closing Thoughts
Naylor believes not everything can be solved by an audiobook or a podcast, but getting your mind right is where it all starts. These are the things that changed everything for him.
While he admits his life isn’t perfect, his goal has been to try to live as long of a life as possible after all the stress that he put himself through in retail management. Naylor doesn’t want to cut my life short by being so stressed out.
He wants to do everything that gives him energy and positivity. He wants to fill himself with all the good stuff, good vibes, and healing. Naylor’s goal is to impact as many people as he can while he’s here.
Want to learn more about Naylor? Check out his links below:
Related: Growing Your Brand on Social Media With Naylor Taliaferro
Published Nov 10, 2023 XX:XX XM
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Summon the Rawk by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4434-summon-the-rawk
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
