Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene
Welcome to Blizzard and Bloom, the podcast where the green meets the white! Hosted by Jay Rotonnelli, a seasoned expert with over 36 years in the landscape and snow removal industries, this show dives deep into the business, operations, and stories behind both blooming landscapes and blizzard battles.
Whether you’re a property manager, business owner, snow fighter, or landscape professional, you’ll find valuable insights, industry trends, and real-world advice. Expect candid conversations with industry leaders, tips for growing your business, and even a few wild stories from the field.
It’s informative, it’s fun, and it’s designed to help you thrive—whether the ground is covered in grass or snow.
New episodes every other week. Subscribe now to stay ahead in the green and snow game!
Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene
Beyond the Green: Uniting an Industry of Specialists
Ever wonder why the people who design our outdoor spaces, build our patios, and maintain our landscapes rarely talk to each other? Angelique Robb did, and she decided to do something about it.
The founder of Synkd magazine joins Jay Rotonnelli to share her fascinating journey from petroleum engineering on oil rigs to revolutionizing how outdoor living professionals connect across specialized disciplines. Her unique background gave her perspective on an industry problem hiding in plain sight: fragmentation.
"We have all these silos," Angelique explains. "Landscape architecture is one, but erosion control is a whole discipline... green infrastructure... there are a lot of linkages, but we have all these different niches." This disconnection prevents professionals from delivering their best work and elevates those rare companies that can provide comprehensive solutions.
With 86% of landscape businesses having fewer than nine employees, most struggle to stay innovative while managing daily operations. These small companies rarely have time to attend conferences or research industry advancements. Synced aims to meet these professionals where they are—whether through print publications, digital content, podcasts, or regional events—to facilitate knowledge sharing across disciplines.
The conversation highlights how COVID accelerated consumer interest in outdoor living, creating opportunities for professionals who understand the difference between customer service and customer experience. "Now we talk about customer experience more than customer service because they're two different things," Jay notes. This evolution requires breaking down walls between specialists to deliver cohesive outdoor environments.
Angelique shares exciting news about Synkd's expansion plans, including events in New Orleans and Scottsdale in 2026, and invites listeners to connect directly with feedback about what would best serve their professional development. After all, as she puts it, "If we don't force ourselves together, we'll never come together naturally."
Ready to expand your professional network beyond your specialty? Connect with Angelique on LinkedIn or visit synkd.io to join a movement that's elevating the entire outdoor living industry through cross-disciplinary collaboration.
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 everyone, welcome back to another episode of Blizzard Bloom. The last episode, we spoke with Brian Horn from Lawn Landscape magazine about some of the technologies and industry insights of where things are in 2025 and where they're going, and today I'm really fortunate to have Angelique Robb on the episode today. I've been super excited to get her on here Someone that's really turning the industry around and just thought it made sense to have her on and share a little bit about what she's doing. So, without further ado, angelique, welcome and thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3:Thanks, jay, so much for having me on. I appreciate it and, yeah, looking forward to this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you've started a publication called Synced, and what's really cool is not that it's just. It's another outlet and another way of information for folks. But talk to us a little bit about how you got started and where you came from prior to starting Synced.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, I can talk on this for a while, so you might need to cut me off at some point. It's kind of a roundabout way, I guess, like a lot of people like we were talking about earlier. It's just I didn't know about the industry really. I went to LSU, which is well known for landscape architecture, and it's funny because I remember going interested in architecture but not enough to major in it, and everybody says to go in engineering. So I'm just going to go in engineering and I didn't know what that meant. What does engineering even mean?
Speaker 3:you know, as a career and kind of fumbled my way into okay, well, what do I want to do with my life? And I got in. Well, what do I want to do with my life? And I got in. It's interesting because I went in petroleum engineering and first off I got a scholarship because they had more money than the other engineering groups and I didn't. I was paying for my own university time and I was like a bit stressed about getting into debt and stuff like that. So at first it was due to that, but then I was like, oh wow, this is like it's. You know, engineering is usually to the fourth decimal point, you know, and that's not the kind of person I am.
Speaker 3:And petroleum engineering was about. It was like the most creative engineering and the most and what connects to where I ended up or where you know later you'll see but it was about like using the clues that you get to visualize what's happening below the surface of the earth. And because I was a drilling engineer and operational and operational, and so I had to. And it's a multidisciplinary field where, as a drilling engineer, I really had to learn a lot from all the specialists. So I had a mud engineer and I had to understand enough about mud engineering to make decisions and I had to know enough about drill string dynamics and the metallurgy and enough and to know the experts to call if I had a concern. I had to know about geology, because that's what mother nature put in place, and I'm going to have to deal with the and learn to the signs to make decisions.
Speaker 3:So I was the one making decisions, so I got the. You know the operational adrenaline going of like okay, you set out a plan. It never goes to plan and you're going to be on site or either on the rig site or in the office talking to all your specialists going okay, that's happening and that's happening. What decision do I make to move the ball forward? You know so and anybody listening to this that's in the landscape industry will recognize this. You know it's like doing a plan, a hardscaping, softscaping plan for all these reasons, but at least you can see the earth. But you still have to dig into the earth and there's always surprises.
Speaker 2:A lot of unknowns.
Speaker 3:A lot of unknowns and we have mother nature, you know, from a weather point of view. So you know you make a plan. It never goes to plan. Every day you're making decisions to move the ball forward, like you know, with all these things thrown at you. Operationally there's a lot of you know when people go oil industry to landscape industry and I'm like there's a lot more similarities than you think. You know I was drilling through sandstone and shale. Now I pick beautiful sandstone to lay, yeah, slate paths.
Speaker 2:You know, think about it like how many people you needed to be involved right in that process. And you're right. I think it correlates pretty well with with, you know, not only the landscape but the service industry sometimes and the fact that it takes multiple people right one who can collect the vision and, and you know, put it on paper. Somebody else who's going to be able to help say does this work or doesn't it work, and then can actually implement it and execute on it. Collect the vision and and you know, put it on paper. Somebody else who's going to be able to help say does this work or doesn't it work, and then can actually implement it and execute on it. Somebody that can continue to help educate the client.
Speaker 3:Well, and this is what is. You know, some of the the the thinking behind Sync is what my experience is in the oil industry, because I went through, you know, multiple reorganizations of companies and trends in the industry where they would change how the company was organized. It was by discipline and then it was by asset and I don't. You know, you may not understand what that means, but it's whether it's multidisciplinary teams or whether it's one discipline and you meet occasionally and that's really what I think that our industry and I don't even like to call it the green industry anymore, because I've had too many people say, well, I do hardscaping, I'm not in the green industry anymore, because I've had too many people say, well, I do hardscaping, I'm not in the green industry and I'm like, yes, you are, yeah and so, and I've had landscape architects go green industry I've never heard it described that way but yeah, I get that, but then, but really, like we have all these silos. Landscape architecture is one but, but erosion control is a whole discipline that I think if you don't know anything about erosion control and you're in our industry, you need to learn green infrastructure. You know so kind of. You know there are a lot of linkages but. But there is an erosion control conference and there's a erosion control newsletter and you know.
Speaker 3:But we have all these different niches and you need those niches, like every discipline, needs their strength in talking to their own people to get into the nitty gritty really deeply. We need that. You know, every association that we have as an industry is needed. But what we want to add to the table is that red thread that ties every, that educates or inspires or at least introduces everybody to everybody else. Yeah, sure, and so, yeah, there's just, there's the concrete industry, there's masonry, there's decking, there's outdoor lighting. There, you know, all these things matter. And whether you are only in maintenance, only in design, only in construction, the only way you can deliver better service to your, whether you're B2B, b2c, whoever your audience is, you cannot deliver the best service in our industry unless you know a little bit of what's going on in all of the other silos. And so you know, I've had some pushback on from some associations saying you're trying to, you know, undermine what we're doing. No, no, we need all of the experts.
Speaker 2:We need all those people.
Speaker 3:We need a way, because I'm talking about a step change, a leapfrog in professionalism in our industry, and you cannot get that if you don't get out of your comfort zone and if you don't talk to all the experts. And that's what every time I we get some feedback like my mind was blown when I went to Sync Live 2025. I thought we were. You know, nobody was talking to each other, but at Sync Live they are, but we're still such a small part of what's happening in the industry. So we're trying to and I'm see how I go off topic, so you have to keep me. You have to keep me in line.
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say it's really interesting because in our business right, I kind of consider it, I kind of look at as outdoor living, right, because there are so many components and I say to them, I say to, when we meet with clients, the folks that come do your gardening, your fine gardening, aren't going to be the ones going to come do your hardscape, your patio, your outdoor.
Speaker 3:No, it's totally different.
Speaker 2:It's separate disciplines and the people that we have in those spots are well-trained and carry those skill sets that are required because, again, you don't want same folks doing the same thing. However, it is good to train and learn across those disciplines, but I think there's something to be said when we talk about the professionalism which has really been through my 36 years. It's really bothered me that sometimes we don't get the respect in this industry that I think it deserves.
Speaker 3:So that's a great point and, you know, what I'm doing is as part of Sync, as part of our mission is understanding the industry here in the US, Because my, you know, I started my business in the UK and the UK is different, but there's also a lot of similarities. When I look at the numbers in our industry and it's like 660,000 landscape businesses in the USA I think that's very, that's low. I think the real number is a lot bigger because there are people that consider themselves, you know, hardscapers and maybe they are labeled as a construction company. You know, it's all about the codes that you use and stuff like that. I think there's a lot more companies than that, but 86% of them have nine employees or less.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I've had a company in that size and you are, you're distracted by the weather, by employees not showing up or clients, you know, calling you every night and every weekend and you know that is the hardest. It's actually easier if it's only two of you, almost, you know, in the company than when you're at nine employees. And I feel like our industry we have a lot of big companies that are, you know, doing some great work and then we have, you know, private equity happening, but we have a hole in our industry in between that, you know nine employees is not many, and then you have the thousands of employees. So how can those eight, that 86%? That is, that's a lot of our industry. So how can they be more professional? Well, we want to have an, you know, help them. But then again, those are the that's the percentage of like how many go out of business every year, you know, because they don't know how to be more professional or they don't know where to start with calculating their costs or their overheads or you know they're good at they're.
Speaker 3:they're good at the skills, the technical skills in the work culture or masonry world or whatever that is, but they don't even have time to stay on top of the better ways of doing things Like, do they have time to go to conferences? And you know, and really you don't have time to look around you and learn how to do things better. So I really feel for that side of the industry because I know how hard it is. So I really feel for that side of the industry because I know how hard it is and you know what, what you know. I feel like Sync.
Speaker 3:We are, you know, just on the start of our journey, but we want those companies that you know have the time and the resources to join our membership or to come to our events so they can share, you know, the lessons that they've learned. And that's what we try to do in our articles and our publication and our podcast and the event, so that the companies that you know and we're trying to meet them where they are, whether it's maybe they only have time to listen to our podcast, maybe they only have time to look at our publication, maybe they only have time to come to one event every five years time to look at our publication, maybe they only have time to come to one event every five years, but hopefully we're giving them the connections and the education and the inspiration to learn from others that are willing to share, because not everybody's willing to share either.
Speaker 2:So that's another thing. We have a good point right. So when we talk about associations or networking events at a local level, regional level, national level, they're different. Every single one of those is different, and what we what we find is an industry is on a real small local level is not a lot of sharing, because people feel it's competition in the whole competition Instead of being secure with what they have.
Speaker 2:They haven't gotten to that level where they feel it's okay to share you know, I'm not I'm not saying you know share all your business information, proprietary information, but you know different processes that help us get better at what we do. But when we look at larger things that are happening, like Sync and what you folks are doing, like that's where I think there's really great collaboration and it's a matter of drilling it down to those folks because I think, as we spoke earlier, if you can get it to that level, they'll start to see the value and the professionalism in this industry. But when you look at it at a local level, it's really tough. There's some barriers there. Interesting to see how Sync, you know, is looking at it and kind of what your roadmap looks like for the next one to three years and how you're going about it.
Speaker 3:Well. So I've always thought that sharing, I mean, it's not down to every little detail. But again we have a labor shortage and we have too much work, and you know, I think that there's a lot of work out there and we need more people to help us do that. That should tell us that you know there's enough work for everybody. If you're doing things better, you're at the right way. If you're doing things better, You're at the right way.
Speaker 2:You're doing things better.
Speaker 3:The race to the bottom will always be there and it'll always be tempting to fall in that trap. But that's the start of the end. Numbers say that as well, that if you do things high quality, you'll always you know find work and find people. I would even push back at the local level to not share because you know, but anyway, that's my opinion. Sure, sure, we are a disjointed industry, because I researched this for a landscape architect presentation and I looked at all the codes that are in our industry we are like a fraction of many industries. We're a fraction. If you're a landscape architect, you're actually not in, you're in an architect column. We're a fraction of that. If you're a contractor, you're in the construction column, you know. If you're main maintenance, you're in the services column, you know. But then there's there's lots of others, but we have, we're just a portion of lots of industries. We don't have our own industry of lots of industries. We don't have our own industry. So if we don't force ourselves together, we'll never come together. Naturally, we are trying to organically reach out to businesses that we think are doing things innovatively and meeting with them one-on-one or getting them to come to our event or podcast, you know, to try to get some some gel together and some momentum. We've in our our issue that's just going out. We will now be in 52 States, so we've been trying to organically, you know, see who's interested. So you're on the list and and make sure that you know.
Speaker 3:What my original idea was is that the States is too big to have one publication, and I saw that there's a lot of national publications. So we're going to have these regions and we're still going to separate them digitally on our website. But it just got cost prohibitive to do the regional publication and we finally made the decision OK, we have a lot of people in the Midwest and Northeast that are already getting our publication. And we finally made the decision okay, we have a lot of people in the Midwest and Northeast that are already getting our publication. I mean, which one do you send them? The South or the West, or I don't know, it just got. And then we had great stories in the West that were like, can we really put them in the Southeast? I don't know it. Just it actually became more complex and and I don't know, I had people going well, I want to see what's going on across the country too, and and and it got. You know, the costs have gone up every year to print, paper costs, mailing costs, and we're a very small team, like there's two of us full time and lots of part-timers and freelancers, you know. So we just made the decision for our winter issue. Okay, we can't afford to go this way, and it's complicated and the time it takes to do all the different regions. Anyway, we're on top of the economy. So we have gone into a national distribution and we've increased by, I believe, 35%, something like that this year recently, and so we're looking to expand. So if you're not getting the publication in print and you want it, everybody can access it digitally.
Speaker 3:But the other thing that's been a challenge is, you know, getting the advertising buy-in, because we're we're spread across all these disciplines, you know. So, and I see their point, I can put myself in other people's shoes and like, okay, if you only sell mowers or you only sell, you know, design software to landscape architects, you know. You know it's hard to justify an audience, that we have lots of different audience members. Maybe they don't do design now but they want to in the future. Well, how do you prove to the advertiser that it's worth advertising with us. So so we've been.
Speaker 3:We've been getting feedback all the time from the people that love what we're doing and that say Sync has impacted my business positively and it's made a difference. And we try to go okay, how and how can we do that better? And we had business owners that were like you're sending out this beautiful publication that I love getting for free, I'll pay for it. You're like, okay, you know. But you know we want to go okay, but we don't want to stop giving it for free because there are businesses that maybe get it that you know, maybe can't, you know, join as a member or pay for it. And so we're like, okay, let's give more value, deeper connections, more, more service to those people who are members. So, like I have people reach out to me and go, hey, can you connect me? I saw this, I met this person at your event two years ago, but I can't remember their name and I can't remember the company name and I want you to connect me, you know. So we want to give that kind of, you know, white glove service. You know, okay, you want us to host a lunch and learn for you. You want us to. You know, just whatever we want to.
Speaker 3:My goal, our goal, with with everybody in Saint um, is that we want to help the industry and we know a lot about what's going on in lots of different parts of the industry. But everybody needs something different or at a different time in your company. You need something different or a different time in your career and we want to build, you know, a hub. You know I love the name landscape hub, but Lisa Fury and her team had that ages ago but I was like that would have been kind of my, you know. But then again I've gone away from using the word landscape. We actually recently changed our tagline. It was landscape, design, build and maintain all on the same page for our magazine and all under the same roof for our event.
Speaker 3:But the word landscape is something that in Europe it's interpreted a lot differently than here. It's interpreted a lot differently than here, and I've had so much confusion on that word that we recently were like well, you know what is our mission and really we want to be talking about doing things a step change better, whether that's through innovation, change better, whether that's through innovation, through technology, through simple products. You know it doesn't have to be high-tech products sustainable products, you know, or services or systems, or you know like a league better, and those people and companies that are ready to embrace them. They're going to be companies that go hey, we have a formula that works, we don't want to touch it, that's fine. You know, I'm not offended. You know, and maybe you don't want our publication because that Maybe you don't want to come to our event, that is fine. That maybe you don't want to come to our event, that is fine. I think that you know we're for those people that go.
Speaker 3:Man, I just don't have time to look up all this stuff. I need, you know, cause? Cause I'm too small, or I'm too busy, or I'm too distracted, or or whatever. You know, I feel like my time in the UK has given me a glimpse of nature-based solutions that don't exist here, or just landing here, and I've been using them for 20 years, you know. So I feel like the US is is slow just because there's such, a such a big country with so many localities, you know, and and and almost like 50 different States, you know, and time zones and climates and all this. But the things that we've been doing in Europe are starting to come here and I've been looking for them since I moved here five years ago. But they're only just starting to come, and so it gives me a bit of a head start to talk about these things. But those companies aren't always the ones that can advertise because they're new in the States or they, you know, finding their feet. So I want to talk about, you know, the next few years and how we can help people do things differently.
Speaker 3:Okay, you have a project, you know, again for our members, I'm like send us a project. We'll get some feedback from companies that have resources to help. Okay, I'll pass it by a few. You know, I think this would work. Let me pass it by that company that has a product that might work for it. Let me, let me get some solutions for you and present them to you.
Speaker 3:You know, I think there's a lot of help out there in our industry from a business point of view, but it's usually from, you know, a group that do things a certain way and that group does things a certain way. I want to be brand agnostic. I want to, I want to I, and I keep saying I. I mean be and I. I need to stop saying I, because I have ideas, but like I say them to my team and they're like yeah, and and and they have ideas and so I'm finally have have a finally have a strong industry experience team that are helping me with this, because it is a daunting task but we want to. Our industry, unfortunately, is not thought of as highly as it needs to be for lots of different reasons, but we can change that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think we are, and I think we are, I think we are.
Speaker 2:I think about to your point right. I look at what you're talking about Innovation and sustainability for outdoor living, professional right Is what SYNC really represents. And when I think about, and I tell my team this whole time and I tell other peers in the industry, if you're not staying up with technology or you're not, you've already fallen behind. So you need to stay innovative, you need to stay up with technology and sustainability. To stay up with technology and sustainability and those things, I think when we stay up with them kind of like you know, all ships rise in the tide. And I think when you really you know, harbor that some of those emotions, some of those skills and you really start to focus on the business and not in the business really makes a big difference. But you know, you hit it earlier.
Speaker 2:Change is hard. Change is hard for Americans. Change is hard. Change is hard for Americans. Change is hard for people in general. So when you take somebody that's we've always done it this way, right, and you try to help, guide, implement, coach, it takes time and people don't embrace it as quickly as others Me myself. Sure, I've done things a lot, the same ways, but I love new advancements and I think you know what you bring into the table with your team is exactly what we're talking about and what the industry needs, because there's several as we said earlier several different disciplines involved in our outdoor living space and it takes everyone to be a part of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and I think that there's there's so much because it's a big country that they might be doing and only the big cities. You know how do we get the word out about these. You know these different ways of working. You know it could be different. You know as simple as a different way of working or a different philosophy or different mindset or different product or service. It's a challenge to find that information. You have to know what you're looking for. So we're trying to demystify all that.
Speaker 2:I mean what you're doing with your podcast and with SYNCT and really what I've been trying to do with Blizzard and Bloom is to really bring the real world to the folks that are out there in these trades, because people want to hear from real people. They don't want all the hoopla of you know, oh, it could be this or something great. Or, you know, if you're a small company, that's okay too. And if you align yourself with folks like yourself you know myself, others, you know professionals in the industry it's amazing what you can learn free of charge, right, and the information can be shared. It's only going to help make you better at what you do. So I really again, the reason I started this podcast was really to bring some of that just kind of down and dirty of what everybody's doing. And you know I had a few folks on. I had Jeremy on a few weeks ago and you know he shared some terrible things that are happening, but it made them better at what they're doing Right.
Speaker 3:So sometimes Failures are, they happen. That's the only time If things are going well. You don't actually. You don't learn enough, sure. So I do think you know, if we don't talk, if we always say everything's great, then we don't share enough for others to learn from our mistakes too. I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you said it earlier, you got to put yourself in an uncomfortable position sometimes to be able to get better.
Speaker 3:Yeah. At that you know, whatever that is whatever that discipline is or taft, so Well, and it's hard to reach out to.
Speaker 3:You know, like I said, I try to put myself in people's shoes and when, when you're all about, let's say, hardscaping, it's uncomfortable to go talk to somebody who is a design person or a maintenance person or a horticulturist, or you know, it's uncomfortable Cause you're like what, well, I only you know what I talk to people about is hardscaping, so you have to learn. It's almost another language you know, so, like, but I do think what I've seen since I moved here late 2019. So, right before COVID, I was planning on launching the publication in 2020 and was like, okay, no, well, and I didn't say this, but I should have. I actually licensed a brand from the UK when I first came here, because it wasn't my idea to launch a publication and event company in the US, but I knew the company from the UK because I had received their publication and gone to their events when I was in the UK. So I spent a few weeks in January 2020 at their office in London learning how they did things. The name of the publication was Pro Landscaper and Futurescape was the event, and so that's what I launched in 2021.
Speaker 3:But it's funny how, just a few months in I realized the name, just saying I'm from Pro Landscaper, usa, like I got so many rebuttals or I'm not a landscaper, I'm a landscape architect, I'm a deck builder, I'm a this, I'm a that, and I was like, oh geez, this is dividing people more than it's bringing people together. So I knew early on that isn't working. But then, you know, I also, you know, saw it as a challenge. So again, you could say that was, you know, a bit of a failure. Or you know to, to start with not failure, not, but like it was a setback. And I was like, okay, I need to figure out something. And the funniest story is I had a guy that was in a nursing home call me and say you know, I've been getting pro landscaper for 20 years. I had this business and it stopped coming. And, you know, can you start sending it to me? And I was like I'm so sorry, sir, this is a new. You know, I don't know what you used to get, but it's my goodness, we're even getting confused with a publication from a long time ago that I don't even know what it is.
Speaker 3:The other thing is we were getting people. We're in Lafayette, louisiana. I was getting people from all over Louisiana calling us to quote on doing work for them. And so, like, those three things together made me go we need a name. That is totally weird.
Speaker 3:Well, are different, and we're not going to look like a landscape company. We're not going to look like a publication from years ago. We're not going to get pigeonholed into being, you know, only in the landscape industry and not connecting horticulturalists, maintenance companies, commercial or residential. You know, we wanted to be agnostic in the industry and connect lots of dots, because if you don't connect lots of dots, we're not doing our job To your point.
Speaker 3:Outdoor living. And so that we've even, you know, with the name synced, short for synchronized, getting everybody, you know, on the same footing. We realized that even having landscape design, build and maintain was doing that, and so we were able to change our tagline to outdoor living professionals, because, really, like, adding outdoor accessories and furniture to your patios can be a very profitable. You know, talking about the race to the bottom. If you are only delivering the same patio for the same client, the client shows up with this catalog and says I want this in, let's say, bell Guard catalog, I want this patio there.
Speaker 3:Well then you get caught up in the race to the bottom because everybody's doing the same product, the same. You need to offer a more, you know, give, inspire your client, sure. Need to offer a more, you know, give, inspire your client, sure. Well, instead of that patio, I could deliver this with built-in seating, the you know an arbor, yeah, whatever, um, I can also furnish it with this. You know furniture that you can't get at cost or anywhere else, and it comes with a warranty of 10 year warranty to not fade, to not you know break in the heat or the you know the frost here frost thaw cycles there's the patio itself could be a slippery slope to the race to the bottom could be a slippery slope to the race to the bottom. However, upselling an experience and a full package that other companies aren't thinking of or aren't willing to think of, and sell your clients a bigger picture than they think, is possible, yeah, we just rebranded or not rebranded.
Speaker 2:We had to come up with a new tagline for our company called One Call, one Company. And really, because in years past and this goes back to what we're talking about change years past we had folks like, oh, we only do this, so we only do that. So then it came to a point where the client's like well, I want it all, I don't want to have to deal with six different people. So now we talk about customer experience more than we talk about customer service, because they're two different things, and we really ensure that we're providing a good customer experience. From the moment somebody reaches out whether it's a web inquiry or a phone call to the office, it's handled by a human. We answer, we talk and then you know, we take them through this process so that they feel important. And it's a good experience because at the end of the day, sure, you can deliver a patio and the guy down the street can deliver a patio. But was it a good experience, you know? Did you have to fight time with them? Did you not get what you wanted? Did they show up one day and didn't come back for four days? You know there's there's all those different pieces to it. So you know that customer experience is a big thing and when you can be there, kind of one-stop solution, even if you don't operate in house, but if you help guide them and say, hey, we don't do it in house, but let me I have a really great contact channel partner who does that Let me connect you with them, I'll make the introduction and then, if you're comfortable, you can move forward, and if not, then then we'll find a difference.
Speaker 2:You know, but it's taking more of that, I think, nowadays to really deliver a great experience. And, to your point, it's not just landscaping, it's creating a really great outdoor solution or solutions for people and how they use the property, and you know who they're going to be entertaining and you know their children and so forth. And I think, as time has developed, covid really helped with that. It did, and I used COVID for things, but it really did some crazy things across many industries, right, some good, some bad. But one of them, I will say, is people spent more time at home and we started talking more about how they're going to use the property. And, to your point, when we start to bring all these disciplines together, that's where it makes sense, and that's where you can provide really good value to these folks.
Speaker 3:And a full yeah, a full complement of services. And I think you know what you're saying is, you're more like a. You can be more like a GC, a general contractor of the outdoor space, and you don't have to do it all in house. But you might want to form like partnerships or alliances that you can. You can develop a plan and that person does this part. I mean, that's what we do often with like outdoor lighting.
Speaker 3:Or you know you, you have a sub that comes in and does this part. I mean that's what we do often with like outdoor lighting. Or you know you, you have a sub that comes in and does a part. It's just expanding that out a bit more and finding people that that do good quality work and, yeah, and charging appropriately for it I don't think we charge appropriately for it and then we can't afford to hire the best people, and then you know that goes on and on and we can't afford to hire the best people, and then you know that goes on and on and we can't afford to work on the business because we're working in it all the time.
Speaker 2:And that's where some of the newer companies and newer folks in the industry can really take advantage of, you know, creating some relationships with some other folks that have been in it a long time and they can learn what's worked and what hasn't and then build that professionalism. So I really think it's great what you're doing with Sync Super excited, I know, to be a part of it. Unfortunately, I missed the 2025 event, but I can only assume that 2026 will happen.
Speaker 3:Yes, definitely.
Speaker 2:Even better than it was? Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3:Even better than it was. Well, and we're going to have two events in 2026, and we're working on it right now to make a big announcement. So we've got. The first location will be in New Orleans, louisiana, so close to my hometown, and we've been hearing this all along. We need some destination locations and you know, again, we had enough on our plate just keeping it in atlanta for a few years and now we're taking the leap of faith to move things around. So we're gonna, we're looking for locations in scottsdale, arizona as well. So to have later in 2026.
Speaker 3:You know, we're hearing from people that, like you know, inspire me and I will be back for every event and make it in some cool locations, move it around the country. So we're not, you know, just East Coast, we're moving around. We want to have, you know, keep that, that regional layout that we had the original for the publications, but but do the events in regional locations. So we want to have four events a year so that, if you're in the Midwest, but do the events in regional locations, so we want to have four events a year so that if you're in the Midwest, northeast, you're not being left out. You know, you don't have to travel as far, but also we have some people that are going. You know, this is the only time I work on my business when I take time out and go to these events. So you know, the more value we bring, the more people will come to every event. And but you don't have to come to every event.
Speaker 3:You know, we're going to make sure that we keep people inspired in lots of different ways. So low cost and high cost travel is high cost. You know, high time away from the job, but if we can bring it to, you know, bring you the highlights in different ways, that you can experience it from home, you know things like that. So we're we want to meet people where they are and help where we can. So the one thing I would say is we never get enough feedback from people. So you know, jay, you now have some copies of our publication. You're going to get it regularly. I want, I want how, what do you want? What does Jay want? What you know, what does everybody need from us? And and let us see if we can deliver. That's, that's our goal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll tell you thank you for these issues because they've been great. I've been going through them and all our listeners. You know this is something that, like I said earlier, if you don't get in now, it's almost like you've fallen behind. And when you look at like what you're doing here, angelique, it's really great to see there's younger professionals that are kind of just getting into it, that are being successful, and there's some that are older than that.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's a really good mix and it really, from my perspective, is helping to raise the bar on the professionalism of the industry. Again, this carries information on many different disciplines of the industry of outdoor living, so I'm super excited. I can't thank you enough for being a part of this today. I'm definitely going to be at least one or two of those synced events next year. Awesome, great. Continue to help to promote this, and the folks that I have spoken to that have been involved with it have really enjoyed it. The Jayworth, justin Weitz and people are really finding some value with it. So I encourage everybody to do, you know, to get a, be a part of it and reach out. What is the best way that they can find synced or find yourself reach out what is the best way that they can find Sync or find yourself.
Speaker 3:Well, you can go on our website, synkdio, and you can sign up for our e-newsletters there. My email address is there. I believe all of the team's email addresses are there. I'll go and check that after this. I know it was there, but you know how you don't look at your own website.
Speaker 2:sometimes I know I get it, I get it.
Speaker 3:But also I really, you know, like to talk about things on LinkedIn, so please link in with me. Angelique Robb. My email address is just Angelique A-N-G-E-L-I-Q-U-E at S-Y-N-K-D dot I-O. You know, yeah, any of those methods, any of the team would be happy to hear from you as well. So, yeah, just reach out and engage with us. We love talking to people and learning from people.
Speaker 2:You like the feedback, right? You want to hear what we want feedback.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:You know, encourage everyone to, to reach out and be a part of it.
Speaker 3:So Well, great, anyway. Well, thanks, Jay. I don't know if we answered half of the questions on your list, you know what I really was looking.
Speaker 2:I've had some people reach out to me about synced and say have you heard of that? Like what, what's going on with that? And you know, I've really just kind of followed you through LinkedIn and then you know touch base with Jay Worth and been, you know, touch base with Jay Wirth, and you know Justin White and I have been communicating and just some other folks that you know were part of it, yeah, and I just think it's gaining some really good traction and it's doing great things for the industry.
Speaker 2:So I know for us that you obviously have a great passion for it, and when we you know ourselves align ourselves with folks like you, it only is going to help the cream rise to the top right and it helps us get better at what we do, and not only can we give back right to some of the folks that are in the industry, but we can also gain some knowledge at the same time.
Speaker 3:Every generation has their own way of doing things, and it's really exciting to learn from the younger generation, too, and hear their perspective on the industry. Right, we'll catch up for another one learn from the younger generation, too, and hear their perspective on the industry.
Speaker 2:So you're then, right, and we'll catch up for another one yes, because I'm sure there'll probably be some forwarding questions. So thank you, angelique, for being on the show and thank you everyone for listening. Uh, next week we have let me just think about that uh, we have a gentleman that is from site one. The senior vp Northeast for SiteOne is Greg, so he'll be on our show. So thanks everyone for listening.
Speaker 1:Enjoy the rest of your day, 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.