Building Holiday Magic One Season at a Time | DJ Smith — Holiday & Harvest Tree Farm | AO 45

DJ Smith runs a business built on a single truth: you only get one shot a year to get it right. As the founder of Holiday & Harvest Tree Farm in Austin, he operates in a world where Christmas isn’t a season — it’s a high-stakes sprint that determines the entire year.

DJ Talks About:
🔴 Running a seasonal, zero-margin-for-error business where one weekend can make or break everything.
🔴 How growing up between entertainment and education shaped his work ethic and creativity.
🔴 Starting at the bottom in his father’s business — and learning nothing is handed to you.
🔴 Door-to-door sales in 116° heat and the humility and grit it taught him.
🔴 Building a Christmas tree lot focused on experience, loyalty, and family magic.
🔴 The behind-the-scenes reality of flying in trees, forecasting demand, and surviving seasonal pressure.
🔴 Using the business as a way to give back — because holidays are joyful for some and painful for others.

Real stories. Real ownership. Real lessons from the field.
This is American Operator.

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Transcript

00:00:00:09 - 00:00:17:07
Unknown
All right, y'all, we just sat down with DJ Smith, founder of Holiday and Harvest Tree Farm right here in Austin, Texas. This is a seasonal business. He's got a short amount of time to make all the money you need for the rest of the year, and we're talking pumpkin patches, live Christmas trees, Easter egg drops out of helicopters.

00:00:17:09 - 00:00:27:21
Unknown
It's a fascinating business that he has to execute in a short amount of time. He's really the heart of what we think about his Christmas and what a business owner can do during that time to lift up the holidays. Let's jump right in.

00:00:27:21 - 00:00:42:02
Unknown
All right, team, we are here with D.J. Smith. Man, talk about a business that is not something you see every day. Christmas spirit, but also highly seasonal. You know, they kind of doing a lot of their work here in a very short amount of time.

00:00:42:04 - 00:00:55:05
Unknown
But also somebody come from a path that many of you probably are currently in. And so we're going to get into all there. But man, DJ so good to have you in today. Oh, I appreciate you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk a little bit about holiday and harvest seasonal business, but also just kind of how I got here.

00:00:55:10 - 00:01:12:09
Unknown
Yeah. Me well, I think that's where I want to start, man. I did want to start with before you, before DJ, the entrepreneur, the DJ, the operator, the owner, what was left? I mean, talk to him about growing up first. Where did you grow up? And then what were kind of the initial professional, chapters of your life?

00:01:12:11 - 00:01:36:01
Unknown
Yeah. So I grew up in California, Southern California, a little town called Agoura Hills. Relatively kind of secluded, small town in Los Angeles. But, just had, you know, kind of a wealth of experience with, you know, friends and family members and kind of people closest to me that were either operators or owners of businesses, big and small.

00:01:36:03 - 00:02:00:20
Unknown
Oh, you had that around you, Oh, yeah. I mean, I would say, like. I mean, my dad's a my my father's a, an entrepreneur. I saw a lot of my friends, you know, have parents that, you know, from either a successful or either a struggle standpoint, or business owners. And so I always had this kind of curiosity of like, yeah, my dad's a business owner, and he has this type of lifestyle, but like all the other people and their parents, like, had this curiosity.

00:02:00:20 - 00:02:19:22
Unknown
What's that look like? What's that type of business ownership look like? What does that lifestyle provide? I'm sorry. What a dad do. So my dad's an entertainment. He does, super niche business. He does market research and consulting for TV shows, sort of pilots and launches them, which I mean, provided a wealth of cool experiences for me.

00:02:19:22 - 00:02:40:13
Unknown
Is like a college kid. Like I remember like getting sort of the opportunity to intern at Jimmy Kimmel Live or, you know, just these really cool, unique experiences. So, also, I think that was a big player for me. Like, my dad owned a business that like, I got to see and visualize that sort of was like, felt cool or felt unique or differentiated.

00:02:40:13 - 00:02:58:11
Unknown
So, there's a big influence there on, on sort of I think, you know, what kind of business my dad had started. But also, yeah, we lived in LA. So what, you know, what better industry for your dad to be in that entertainment? That's good. I can imagine that being, that's something that's probably, you know, we never really talked about it on the show.

00:02:58:11 - 00:03:14:07
Unknown
I think, like, as a little we talked about folks who were influenced by their parents, but less about the, I think it just comes to me right now. A lot of the normal 9 to 5 is the parents are kind of just a way. And then they come back and you must have no understanding of what they did when they're, you know, they're working.

00:03:14:10 - 00:03:35:01
Unknown
Sure. Whereas the entrepreneur parents, the owner operators, there's like no line of demarcation. Their life and their work is all together. So the kids always seem to understand better what their folks do. Does that kind of resonate 100%? I remember like, I mean big athletics. So like, my dad would always, you know, be pushing me for athletics. But I remember like the drives to and from a game or to practice.

00:03:35:01 - 00:03:54:14
Unknown
Like I got sort of like this inside peak into sort of high level business discussions or even like coaching discussions with, you know, maybe somebody who is talent on a TV show. And I would kind of just sit there and like, I mean, honestly, like, you know, put down all the distractions and sort of like, you know, lean in a little bit and try to try to understand a little bit more.

00:03:54:17 - 00:04:18:05
Unknown
And then I would try to apply it. So like I'd be watching TV, I would have heard a conversation that my dad may have had. And then I'd see it play out kind of in TV, or I'd see that differentiation from show to show. And I think that was a big theme for me, was always trying to find, like, I saw my dad trying to coach folks on what it was that sort of made them unique or made them different than their competitor.

00:04:18:05 - 00:04:37:00
Unknown
And so I always was applying differentiation to kind of whatever it was that I was doing. But, those little like moments in the car again, just even like a sick day, like throw up my dad throw me in the car and take me to work. Those those were really important days for me. I feel like in this entrepreneurial journey that I've sort of manifested.

00:04:37:00 - 00:04:53:16
Unknown
Yeah. Did you know that growing up in LA, you kind of watched dad do this? Mom, was mom working at all? Mom's a teacher. So, you know, I had the beauty of, again, kind of having like a good instructor, a good, good resource at home. And her hours reflected sort of the hours that I was kind of gone as well.

00:04:53:16 - 00:05:11:10
Unknown
So I had great, like, home care. But also, being able to be inspired I think was really important from, you know, an entrepreneurial father. And then the some of both of those became, I think, you know, a really stable and blessed of, you know, kind of a stable childhood. And, I learned a lot through both parents.

00:05:11:12 - 00:05:17:23
Unknown
But, yeah, both, both working parents. So that's good work ethic. It was always like, you know, something I knew I had to have.

00:05:17:23 - 00:05:38:03
Unknown
Hey, y'all. Quick break. Here at American Operator, we believe that small business is the backbone of this country. But more and more Main Street getting swallowed up by big corporations, wall Street or some of them are just shutting down. If you've ever thought about building something of your own, or just being a part of saving the American dream head on over to American operator.com.

00:05:38:05 - 00:05:48:07
Unknown
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00:05:48:07 - 00:06:00:02
Unknown
can only imagine. That's good balance that I can imagine just kind of having a, entertainment kind of gunslinging mentality and then a lot more grounded instructional. I can see that being a good recipe for where you're at now.

00:06:00:02 - 00:06:16:07
Unknown
Totally did that. What was the was any of those fields, what you pursued right after college or whatever you did or where did where did life land you total like honestly, I thought I was going to be an entertainment and I didn't know. Okay. Yeah, I really you know, I had like I had so much exposure to it.

00:06:16:09 - 00:06:34:09
Unknown
And I think I also saw like from a mentorship standpoint, I look up to my dad and I saw again just the potential of being able to kind of replicate something. And so if anything, I kind of leaned in that direction. Went to college, I went to University of Missouri, and ended up kind of focusing on entertainment there.

00:06:34:09 - 00:07:07:05
Unknown
They have a huge journalism school, highly competitive journalism school as well. But it was focus on news, and I kind of wanted more of an entertainment focus. So, I ended up kind of selecting, I would say like the most media type of, major that I could, which was communications. And, in that communications degree, you know, I tried to just apply more or less the logic of selling or communicating or marketing to, again, kind of a basic knowledge that I could take into any scope.

00:07:07:05 - 00:07:35:15
Unknown
I didn't know what part of entertainment I really wanted to get into. So again, just kind of serving like a broad, kind of overarching, college focus on communication to help me, I think spur an opportunity into, media. I actually joined my dad's company after graduation. I did, I did, so yeah, to even further understand that I did, I did, which I think was maybe one of the best, the most pivotal moments in my professional career.

00:07:35:15 - 00:08:03:17
Unknown
And there's a couple reasons why is, one, I got even a better insight into how great of an operator business owner my father is and how much respect and how great of a business he had he had built over the years. But, I also felt the pressure of, being the owner son and also feeling like, you know, inevitably I had to be one of the sharpest, most polished people at age 22, and I was nowhere near being like I was the opposite, literally.

00:08:03:20 - 00:08:36:13
Unknown
So, the daily struggle for me was real. It was super humbling to kind of again, see your father run a business and everybody around, you know, the business, respect him. But like, feel almost like you're starting at the bottom. My dad definitely had the theory of, there's there's no hand out. So like, you're going to come in and earn and so starting at the bottom there and really kind of visualizing the path to potentially ownership, I just I realistically was like, I think, I think for me I'd like do something different.

00:08:36:15 - 00:08:57:12
Unknown
I actually enjoyed the like my dad's sales team was awesome. Funny. The guys were likable and I kind of was like, if maybe, like, I could do anything. I could probably do do that at a high level. So, kind of piqued my interest. So I'm grateful for that opportunity because it did it kind of created this opportunity for me to be a sales guy.

00:08:57:12 - 00:09:14:21
Unknown
And the product my dad sells was nothing that, you know, anyone would be buying from a 24 year old. So I would have had to cut my teeth in that career elsewhere. So, created a little bit of a diversion for me to go out and do sales, but, it was great. Like, again, learned so much from from my dad's company called Smith.

00:09:14:21 - 00:09:35:03
Unknown
Geiger. I learned so much from them and, the people there, but was able to transition into a more sales driven career with a fortune 500 company and really focused more on, like, corporate driven, yeah, like growth and sort of development, more or less going back to media for a second when you daydreamed about it, when that was kind of like, this is what I want to do.

00:09:35:03 - 00:10:01:19
Unknown
I'm curious, without knowing fully, did you have any kind of gut checks on, like what your daydream might be in media? What is it? Yeah, honestly, it's so funny because I, you know, again, I like heard all these cool, high level conversations with my dad, and I didn't realize what it took for my dad to get there. So, like, I think is as any young person or even like somebody who's thinking about entrepreneurship, like being able to understand the whole entire system, that's sort of operating.

00:10:01:19 - 00:10:26:09
Unknown
So like you'll see one at one aspect might be the owner, you might see, you know, a delivery person for a business, right. But like being able to understand that those aren't the only two individuals. Right. And so I think kind of getting that insight and having gone into Smith, Geiger and seeing all of that, I personally I really kind of realized like the scope of knowledge that my dad had was accumulated in his 20s, 30s, 40s.

00:10:26:09 - 00:10:41:15
Unknown
And then he kind of started his business, you know, in his late 40s. So, I think I missed all, I missed a lot. And so that was a wow eye opening moment where I was like, oh, I've got to go experience so much. My dad was a local news guy for a while. He did this for a while.

00:10:41:15 - 00:11:07:09
Unknown
He worked for Corporation for a while. And so the sum of all of that, I think, aggregated for me, as a life lesson that, like, I don't have all the answers and I need to go get them, which I probably needed to do outside of this Smith Geiger company. And so, was there a specific moment that you remember going, that is like something your dad said or did that made you go, that's like 30 years to get that answer?

00:11:07:09 - 00:11:26:13
Unknown
Oh, man, there's like 100%, I can tell you the moment and like still almost just hits me right in the face. Like, oh yeah. Because it's just such a funny eye opening experience where, I kind of got my first, like, tap on the shoulder from the company to go do something, important where, like, you know, I mean, I had responsibility.

00:11:26:13 - 00:12:00:00
Unknown
I didn't just have, like, I wasn't just shadowing somebody or doing anything like that. I was truly having to go do some work for the company that was going to be reflective and important for the, you know, for the entire organization. And I was asked to go run a focus group for a new show, and they were running a focus group in Chicago and in these focus groups, a lot of the time, what they'll do is they'll get, you know, maybe 20 people in a room, they'll show them a TV show, and then they'll open it up and sort of ask questions, qualitative questions to sort of get, responses that they can kind

00:12:00:00 - 00:12:28:02
Unknown
of understand to see what the audience gauge is, whether they like it or they don't, or they should do this or do that or, anything like that. So the preparedness was very important. Obviously, the execution during the during the actual like show viewing was very important. And then having, having to compile everything so that everybody back home who wasn't there could understand what happened in the focus group was sort of my responsibility.

00:12:28:02 - 00:12:45:20
Unknown
And I'll be honest with you. I mean, I thought, you know, I was coming in just like, kind of hot headed man. Like I was like, I've got a plan. I've got like, you know, I had like a binder. You know, we're in the era of, like, technological era, and I'm like, walking in with like, like it's like the first day of school, you know?

00:12:45:22 - 00:13:05:16
Unknown
And so I like, just really struggled to keep up with, like, everybody was talking, I was jotting notes and, you know, just sort of like was overwhelmed in the moment. Realistically, I just probably like I kind of caved, you know, and I was like, man, I'm I'm falling behind. I'm not keeping up with these, these responses from people or anything.

00:13:05:18 - 00:13:30:18
Unknown
And I truly felt like I needed like three of me or four of me. And I was watching other people who I respected at the company to do this for a living by themselves, you know? And I was like, I realistically know nothing. And it was a very humbling experience because I remember jumping on the plane on the way home and I was compiling all the notes and like, could barely even read my I was so nervous that I could barely even read my own chicken scratch, you know?

00:13:30:18 - 00:14:00:17
Unknown
And so, that realization for me came because I was like, I was probably hoping that I could overachieve, and I realistically wasn't there yet, like interpersonally, work ethic wise, mentally, I just was not there. I had a lot of growing up to do, so I'd say that I was like the moment that happened and that in that moment I would say the the lesson that was learned was that from a fundamental standpoint, I have a lot of work to do.

00:14:00:19 - 00:14:26:10
Unknown
You know, whether that was from a personal standpoint, just showing up to the job to understand what the job requirement was to actually being able to deliver, to deliver a product that was, you know, I mean, good, was a struggle for me at age 23 or 24. So, I'd say that was the moment, like the moment where I kind of again had to kind of go out and and live the real world a little bit on my own.

00:14:26:10 - 00:14:48:00
Unknown
Yeah. You getting get your hand burned on the stove. There is just it's part of the but it's part of the forging process. What. So you get into, sounds like you do that for a little while, and then you get into this, kind of more corporate setting. Are you doing that for quite some time? Yeah. So I ended up, kind of, you know, following the lead, I had, a couple buddies of mine I always recommend, like, I'm a big mentorship guy.

00:14:48:01 - 00:15:08:01
Unknown
Like, I've always seemed to have found my way through mentorship. Like, I can draw a finish line on a piece of paper, but, like, I cannot get there on my own. I have to have guidance, and I have to have people trusted people too, right? Not just anybody, but trusted people to help me kind of get to that finish line.

00:15:08:01 - 00:15:27:23
Unknown
And I'd say one of my biggest character flaws is like, I operate that way. So I kind of operate finish line first, and then I kind of have to draw the playbook and I kind of have to learn hard lessons and all that. But, having that kind of notion, I reached out to a buddy that had the earning earning her income that I kind of wanted at that age.

00:15:27:23 - 00:15:43:14
Unknown
It was a focus of mine to be able to provide on my own and kind of move out of roommate situations and sort of be a big boy and, you know, kind of pull myself up by my bootstraps and hopefully again, not, you know, work for dad's company, but be able to kind of, again, work on my own and provide at a high level.

00:15:43:14 - 00:16:01:05
Unknown
And so friend of mine was working in medical device job with a reputable company making great money. And I asked him, how do I get your job? And he said, there's no way you can get my job without having to become an associate at first. Like, you'd have to come in and you'd work under someone like me, and then you could potentially have my job.

00:16:01:08 - 00:16:19:05
Unknown
I said, oh, that sounds like a lot. How how long does that take? Two years. All right. Well, is there any way you can do that any faster? You know, it's like, can I please expedite? And he's like, no, but what you could do is like, my boss and my boss's boss both sold payroll. This company called ADP, and they're highly respected.

00:16:19:05 - 00:16:37:06
Unknown
And they do these really great, great trainings where, you know, if you can kind of prove yourself there, you're sort of the top 10%. And that's sort of who we look for as a, as a, as a company. And so I said, all right, well ask him. That's a ask him if I make Presidents Club, will you hire me.

00:16:37:08 - 00:17:00:22
Unknown
You know, just and it doesn't have to be written or anything, but I just want to make sure you're right, you know, and so he calls me like, the next day, he's like, yeah, if you go out and you make Presidents Club, he's like, you could probably not only get this job, but you get a job probably anywhere, you know, and, and with that kind of with that kind of like, when he, when he told me that, I kind of, like, took the weight and I was like, well, I'm going to go do that.

00:17:00:23 - 00:17:16:08
Unknown
Like, I kind of like I felt it and I was kind of like, well, it sounds like that's what I got to go do, you know? And so I started my sales career at ADP, some in payroll, door to door. I was in California. I was actually selling in the Woodland Hills area. It's like the valley.

00:17:16:08 - 00:17:45:17
Unknown
It's 116 degrees during the, during the summer. And your door to door. So, from a from a learning perspective, like, learned a lot fast doing that. Also learned a lot about sales, like I learned about the humility in the sales process. I feel like a lot of people are misguided when it comes to sales. And I sort of learned in niche, like I would again prospect in 116 degree heat, and I'd come in sweaty and a lot of the time, like people would ask me like, oh my gosh, do you need water?

00:17:45:17 - 00:18:09:14
Unknown
And I would quickly realize there's something to that. Like there's something to being humble in your approach. Don't just walk in and you know, hi, how are you? It's like walking in like wipe the sweat off your forehead and like, be a human, you know, real quick. And, in doing so, I realized that I was pretty good, you know, obviously, like, the company would stack rank you and, which I'm competitive.

00:18:09:14 - 00:18:30:15
Unknown
I came from a small town, like, say, last dude, stack rank me, and I'm gonna I'm going to shoot for the top, you know? But that type of exposure for me was where, you know, I felt like I really, I personally like, I grew a lot, having become a sales person and learning what the value proposition is for a specific person, and it would change person to person.

00:18:30:15 - 00:18:52:07
Unknown
So just understanding what their needs analysis was. Again, I was on a payroll product like not much to it, but just learning and like trying to be a sponge in terms of also, like again, problem solving. Right? So minimal problems in terms of the overall business function as payroll. But like a lot of hiccups there that we could potentially help with.

00:18:52:07 - 00:19:21:13
Unknown
And so I just kind of learned a lot there. And and yeah, man, like like like my buddy said I hit pay. Yeah, I hit the, the payroll presidents club and and, you know, once I feel like everybody knows this, and if you're young and you're watching this, like, if you're, you're struggling to understand, if you're, a value, like, man, these corporations that, you know, have these entry level sales positions, you can find your value very fast.

00:19:21:15 - 00:19:42:01
Unknown
If you can find a niche and you can find kind of a way to, redesign the wheel more or less in your little territory that they assign you and you can kind of find a groove. I built so much confidence there that, like, I felt like I could really sell anything, you know? And, and so that was fun because I ended up calling my buddy back.

00:19:42:02 - 00:20:01:01
Unknown
I was like, dude, I'm coming to the med device world. You know, I've got Presidents Club under my belt. And, and, he wasn't kidding. Like, I mean, realistically, it was one of those things where, you know, having that kind of emblem on your resume was was extremely valuable in terms of, providing the opportunities in the med device world that I was targeting.

00:20:01:01 - 00:20:27:17
Unknown
So and that ended up you ended up jumping over that way. I did, yeah. No, totally. I, I actually moved from California. I relocated to the Midwest, back to where I went to college in Missouri, and I sold, capital in the med device world. So sold. You know, more or less the, the devices less than, like, the implants I sold the, the capital that would go into the O.R., that would go into, like, a plastic surgery, dermatology office.

00:20:27:19 - 00:20:50:14
Unknown
And that career was amazing for me. To be honest. I've seen some incredible things and worked for some incredible companies. And, to be honest with you, I never would have envisioned myself being in, like, a neurosurgery case. You know, I think as a joke, like, I always used to use the word nerd, like, oh, oh, what are you, a neurosurgeon as, like, a joke or, you know, kind of like, as a joke to a friend.

00:20:50:14 - 00:21:10:09
Unknown
And then I found myself sitting in these. And these, oh, in these, oh, hours with, with neurosurgeons and sort of like, found myself being a resource to them, which was just mind blowing as well, like, you know, thinking about that kid and where he was at, even thinking about that young adult and where he was doing a market research.

00:21:10:13 - 00:21:33:15
Unknown
Yes, yes. Yeah. Like just kind of like, oh my gosh, you know, intense situations, but also very like very gratifying, you know, when you kind of are also in this world of sales, like it's, it's unique to be able to sell something that's saving or changing lives, you know, and so, I felt great doing that. Like payroll changes lives.

00:21:33:15 - 00:21:54:22
Unknown
Don't get me wrong. Like, we, you know, we pay people and all that. But to be able to remove, you know, an astro psych home from somebody who's had that was, you know, preventing them from having clear thought or keeping balance or potentially also like, life saving measure. It was it was really cool kind of being in that situation as a representative.

00:21:55:04 - 00:22:17:02
Unknown
And the weird part about it was that I got to sort of I got to fill a void, which was the product, but I didn't get to meet the patient, and I didn't oftentimes get to meet the family or whatever. I just got to kind of show up, strap up the boots, make sure my product and, it was rejecting tumors at the time, make sure that that was operating at its highest capacity so that the patient outcome was high.

00:22:17:07 - 00:22:39:05
Unknown
And then you feel good, you know? So, that was one of the greatest achievements for me personally, was being able to get into the sales career in a corporate level, but also being able to transition it to something that was meaningful or impactful. So speaking of that transition, when did the, when did the idea of starting your own business come back into the fold?

00:22:39:07 - 00:23:03:13
Unknown
That's a great quote. Like, I loved the O.R. space, and it was one of those things where, again, that that feel good nature was, was, was really, I think, a big driver for me. And then Covid hit, you know, in 2020 when when things got shut down, the hospitals obviously were overwhelmed and the focus on the hospital side became less about the operating room and more about just, again, overall health.

00:23:03:13 - 00:23:32:13
Unknown
And, the budgets change, the overall concept and sort of realization that the hospital had from a, moving forward perspective was always, I think, you know, in alignment with my career. And it immediately changed to be out of alignment with my career. And I think I realized that really fast, like, I noticed the change almost effective immediately.

00:23:32:15 - 00:23:58:16
Unknown
So I'd say that that's where for me, like, I felt I felt this, this forever career really kind of lose its footing, when Covid hit. And I think if I were in any other space, I maybe wouldn't have felt it as abruptly. But having been in the O.R. and having that be one of the first things that essentially got shut down, post Covid, I really I really kind of it was a jolt to the system, to say the least.

00:23:58:17 - 00:24:38:01
Unknown
Yeah. So you thought yourself, okay, I have to do something different. Why? Why think about going into business for yourself versus let me go find some other career? Yeah. I mean, I think it was all those years that I kind of had alluded to of just seeing my dad sort of persevere. And also sort of, you know, I think also have control, like in the weirdest of ways, like he had control over, you know, maybe not when his phone was ringing or, you know, when his day would end, but he had control over, you know, what school I would go to or, he had control over, honestly, like, what kind

00:24:38:01 - 00:24:59:10
Unknown
of vacations? You know, our family, when and what kind of vacations we could take just these minor things that ended up not becoming very minor for me, because it's exactly what I want to be able to replicate and provide for my kid. But, I think all of those little impactful moments and all those tidbits of driving in the car and kind of hearing him had aggregated enough confidence inside of me.

00:24:59:10 - 00:25:31:22
Unknown
I just didn't know what I was going to do. And I'll say this, I mean humbly, I'm not like the world's smartest guy. I mean, I was a C student, barely got through college. Like, I mean, for me, I think, you know, I think of things more as achievements that aren't, I've been able to accomplish a lot in life that aren't necessarily like, you know, merit based, like it's not a degree or whatever, but, you know, in terms of the struggle and then the perseverance, like I do feel that I've been I've been good at that in life.

00:25:31:22 - 00:25:54:08
Unknown
And so, where I kind of felt the confidence was that I should be an operator or an owner, but I had no clue how or what, and I could not again replicate what my dad had created because there were so many years of experience and, so many good people with years of experience that were part of his team, that I could not recreate that.

00:25:54:08 - 00:26:17:17
Unknown
So I kind of had to go to the drawing board a little bit. And, yeah, I mean, interesting story, if you want me to get into it about how we kind of landed on seasonal. And do you want to know about that? Because I think the, the, the little teaser I give the audience was, you know, we did at the beginning here, which is you don't, usually think if you're starting a business, let me do something that's maybe I can only do for about a month and a half, you know.

00:26:17:17 - 00:26:35:21
Unknown
So tell me about how that journey went from being like, that's the business I'm going to go with. Yeah. I mean, we were talking before the pod started about at bats and, bats are real, right? So when I think about the sales career, what I was really good at was creating that bad stale. And that was just based off of my activity or my own production.

00:26:35:21 - 00:26:55:09
Unknown
Right. So I'd get at bats and then through each at bat, I get better. So by the time I went into a year of a career, I was incredibly talented at it because I would just try to replicate at bats and learn and learn and learn well. Seasonal business. Yeah man. Christmas happens once a year. Realistically, I like to also call this business what I, what I like to say is the zero sum model.

00:26:55:09 - 00:27:14:09
Unknown
So like, if I don't sell you your Christmas tree, someone else is. And I have no shot because you're not going to get to. So, the seasonality is a huge aspect of this business, but also the, the notion that, being able to attract and retain that customer long term is extremely important because we are a zero sum model.

00:27:14:09 - 00:27:53:14
Unknown
So, I almost bank on people coming back to me the next year. I'm pre purchasing in your tree. If you came and visited us. Because we try, we try to be differentiated and we obviously try to earn your business. But the fact is, is that we can never really properly forecast. So that's really tough when you kind of aggregate the entire model where I find seasonal to be extremely rewarding is that it's fast paced and it comes and it goes and it's like, feels maybe even a little bit like a concert, you know, like all this planning, all this prep and it happens.

00:27:53:14 - 00:28:10:22
Unknown
And then it's kind of like next, you know, next year the festival will come back and we'll do these things different. And, and, you know, we'll fix these crowd issues. And the cell towers were, you know, and so we got all these things, but we got to wait 11 months to, you know, aggregate all this information and then execute it.

00:28:11:00 - 00:28:38:01
Unknown
Why did you all decide on that, though? What was the thing that piqued your interest back in history? Man, I, I absolutely knew for a fact I have very low capability with, like, running and operating in the tech business or a app based business or a, anything really, that sort of was like kind of technological or, advanced really.

00:28:38:01 - 00:29:08:07
Unknown
I mean, I hate to like, discredit myself, but like, I knew these things about myself. I have an incredible drive. I have an incredible work ethic, and I'm extremely competitive and I have big heart. So like when I think about the business model, the big hard aspect is almost more important than the other three in the sense that like when I, when I try to do something, my goal is always to try to spread wealth, whether it's intellectual or in some cases, maybe it's even opportunity or philanthropy or whatever.

00:29:08:07 - 00:29:35:15
Unknown
So that was, I think, where, you know, from from my perspective, we really kind of we did a good job of creating a business model that was seasonal, but like had these 3 to 4 different elements that sort of made it a reason why, you know, seasonal for me, to be honest, I love Christmas. It's the best time of the year for families.

00:29:35:17 - 00:30:03:17
Unknown
We we pride ourselves, I think, and also trying to give back. So the element that we all kind of forget is that, like Christmas is great for some folks, and it's not some so great for others. Having started this business, I've learned more about that than than really anything. Is that, through even my employees, like just having discussions with them about how painful Christmas is for them because of their experiences growing up and seeing everyone around them get stuff and them not get stuff or whatever.

00:30:03:17 - 00:30:35:19
Unknown
It's it's been eye opening how important and impactful that that season is for families in general. And so operating inside of that is really kind of fun. And was inspiring for us. We got we got, we got into it in 2022 with realistically kind of a smaller mindset. And we we quickly realized that there was a lot of legs in the seasonal model because families really did pour into us our first year.

00:30:35:19 - 00:30:57:08
Unknown
So, yeah, a long answer there. But no, no, I think it's great. I mean, so when you think about maybe some folks can understand the business of it or like even some of the logistics behind it, they don't want to get into kind of your special sauce for bringing in. Yeah. You think about I mean, we've all at least been a part of it to some degree, whether it's observing or go get our tree every year.

00:30:57:08 - 00:31:19:21
Unknown
There's a lot of different ways you can get your tree. Just talk to folks about like, what folks are doing when they come to you and what it takes to get all those trees there. And then I want to pick your brain. About what? What gets people come back. Yeah. No, it's it's actually it's a crazy process when you kind of break it down into the nuts and bolts, the Christmas tree business as a whole is crazy.

00:31:19:23 - 00:32:01:01
Unknown
So, for context, we typically kind of get our season started in the middle of November, and that start becomes like heavy, intense labor where we're essentially cultivating bare land to become retail site. So that's anything from, you know, again, land management. So mowing, leveling, getting these contracts. Right. So getting the properties for our multiple locations under contract early enough that we can have a go live date sometime in November, cultivating the land, setting up tents or whatever sort of, you know, structure we're operating under, is sort of the front part of it.

00:32:01:01 - 00:32:18:21
Unknown
And how soon do you have to get that locked in? Oh, man. Like, I'm I'm early. Bird gets the worm. I always try to do multi year and I'll always try to, you know, rather than try to figure out where we're going to be next year. I'm, I'm a fan of trying to lock down where we're at and then potentially, you know evaluating some newer spots.

00:32:18:21 - 00:32:53:16
Unknown
But yeah early in the year I mean well before summer, I mean, you're not even farmers like who are you fan in? So, you know, I've got three locations here in Austin and we sort of have had, unique experience operating in, in both land and, and at, at, like, you know, we're in parking lots where Barton Creek Mall or, round Rock premium Outlet mall and so, finding, finding property that, you know, is conducive for, for our, for our operation, but like, yeah, it could sort of again be a variation for us of, of of who and where.

00:32:53:18 - 00:33:34:17
Unknown
That's a whole different kind of rabbit hole that, you know, do you have some methodology behind that. And my, my goal is to never really expand unless we're truly purposeful in our expansion. So, we yeah, we get these contracts and hopefully kind of plan on them being a, a longer term life cycle for us. And we've been again, lucky that since we started in 2022, we've sort of been able to formalize some, some long term relationships in locations that have really, I think, been beneficial for the Austin Knight community to sort of come and find rather than trying to play a game of whac-a-mole and figure out where we pop up next.

00:33:34:19 - 00:33:52:17
Unknown
They know where we are and they can kind of expect to see us each year. Yeah. And I'm sure it adds to also they're kind of, bringing folks into their places of business and stuff as well. So you're y'all are working on that well ahead of time getting when does when does the getting of the trees happen and where does that happen.

00:33:52:19 - 00:34:11:15
Unknown
Totally. Yeah. The trees are the tricky part. And to be honest with you, you know, from, from a newer business perspective, I had I had very little information on, on that side of the, the fence. And so I learned some really hard lessons because procurement with these farms happens in the middle of the summer, usually in June.

00:34:11:15 - 00:34:41:04
Unknown
So, when you start thinking about, you know, the average business and maybe even you think about, like a restaurant, you know, they may be making their their orders weekly in terms of produce. Well, we're making our orders six, you know, almost seven months in advance of, of go live and so the, the, the thought process of what your actual location needs to look like and it's bandwidth sourcing needs to be figured out well in advance of your tree order.

00:34:41:04 - 00:35:04:15
Unknown
So like this. This difficult aspect of the business is the planning and sort of the forecasting to be able to sort of back yourself into the right quantities of trees from the right growers, you know, to, again, serve the right population of of customers in your local areas. It's almost impossible. Yeah. I mean, your first year, how did y'all decide what to get, man?

00:35:04:15 - 00:35:22:02
Unknown
We you know, I've got a buddy of mine and I'll shut him out. His name is Brandon, and I appreciate him deeply because like I said, mentorships a big piece of my reason why and pretty much everything I've ever accomplished in life. But, from a mentorship perspective, Brandon, let me come out in 2021 before I really launched.

00:35:22:02 - 00:35:41:10
Unknown
And he gave me, he's multi-layered. He's he's done such a great job. He's in California, in Florida, he's in multiple locations, throughout both of those states. And I just said, you know, can I come out and I could, you know, just kind of like, I'll stay at a hotel, but, like, I just want to work there for like four days straight and just, like, kind of soak it all in.

00:35:41:10 - 00:35:58:15
Unknown
And, and he said yes. And so I kind of knew a little bit about the business, but then I was able to kind of tap him on the shoulder and be like, hey, dude, I have no idea how many six foot trees to order in comparison to seven foot trees. Like, help me here. You know, how many ten foot trees, how many, you know?

00:35:58:15 - 00:36:18:11
Unknown
And so the guidance there was invaluable. But, I would imagine that there's a lot of folks that if you were to interview somebody who started first year in the seasonal business, they made a crucial mistake, year one huge mistake. And that could be, you know, you you burned your tree. That might be your profit or your potential to even come back the following year.

00:36:18:12 - 00:36:41:07
Unknown
So, I was again very lucky in the mentorship. If I have a lesson throughout this podcast, it's like I was never the smartest guy in the room. You know, I typically I'd tap the shoulder of somebody who'd done it before me or honestly had had, a thought greater, grander than mine. And I've been able to sort of find, find a way to differentiate their model to be unique for, for us.

00:36:41:07 - 00:37:02:20
Unknown
But, nothing's original, you know what I mean? I think that's kind of the telltale sign of somebody who's just a real owner. We get is like a thing with common thing we see on the show. With owners, they have easily two qualities. One, again, so you're DJ, but a TJ coined this phrase, which is like at least on the show, which is like, do they have dog in them?

00:37:02:20 - 00:37:33:20
Unknown
And it's just like that ability to find a way to win no matter what, even if it means you're probably on the verge of breaking some rules. You know, you're okay getting hit on the hands because that's just like what it takes to keep your business going. The other thing, which is what you just described, which is, this, I call it almost courage is like this courage where most folks, I think, or maybe on the, you know, straight A analytical kind of side of things typically can feel like they can work their way to a solution.

00:37:33:20 - 00:37:49:23
Unknown
There's some academia out there that they can kind of lean on where you're the background with. A lot of these owners seem to be just more like this humility of like, I don't know what the heck I'm doing, but I bet you somebody else does and I have enough guts to go be vulnerable, humble enough to go figure out what that looks like.

00:37:50:01 - 00:38:21:14
Unknown
I can only imagine that probably saved y'all from ordering. I mean, I can only imagine you. Seems like some of these shots, you only have one time to get it right. Otherwise you're not in business ever again with this business at least 100%. And I feel like that's again, that that wealth of knowledge that, that I'm, I'm sort of again, able to maybe provide somebody today is all mistakes, all trials, all error, you know, and I think that, like, that's where I've always grown, by the way.

00:38:21:14 - 00:38:47:13
Unknown
Like I've got a long history of, of recovery and, and sort of like, you know, I mean, never have I ever been in a dire spot, but I've, I've, I've always felt like I could do better or be better. And so I've had this, like, unique I'd say, you know, path in life where, nothing's come easy, but like, through the trial or the tribulation has come great wealth or knowledge.

00:38:47:13 - 00:39:08:05
Unknown
And so, yeah, like when you kind of talk about the analytical brain or the straight A's, like they're missing a lot of the critical errors that I've made. But I also feel like I've taken risks that have sort of put us in a and sort of like quantum Leap kind of, you know, manifestation. Whereas, you know, that's been fun and it's been cool and it's been rewarding.

00:39:08:05 - 00:39:28:21
Unknown
But I'll be honest with you having, I think we were on the pod and we were alive when I said it, but I like to draw the finish line and then I kind of work backwards, man. Through this endeavor, you know, I would never probably start that way ever again. I'd kind of try to figure out what kind of finish line I'd like to draw, but I'd start at the finish line and kind of start.

00:39:28:22 - 00:39:49:08
Unknown
Sorry, I started the starting line and kind of work my way towards it with a lot of pivotal change. I think big to like, I'll be honest with you, I think, you know, a lot of the folks that probably sit in this chair may have that same mindset. Like, I wouldn't have started this business if I thought it was just going to be just like one little tree lot.

00:39:49:09 - 00:40:11:09
Unknown
Like, I kind of was hopeful that, like, one little tree lock could become like a market share dominance throughout the state of Texas. So, like, that's my finish line. But I had to again, start somewhere. And so, that's been the humbling kind of I think experience for me is that, like, I keep wanting to push and grow and grow and grow, but as a business owner, you have to be smart.

00:40:11:09 - 00:40:43:00
Unknown
You can't just throw all you know, especially after especially after a successful season, you can't really say, hey, you know, after that was successful, let's just go for the like. We just want to keep aggregating that success. So the one big thing for me, seasonal business is the lessons are hard because you learn them and then you got to wait 11 months and then, you know, the, the, the overall growth model, it's sort of slow and steady because again, we have just one shot a year to kind of get it right.

00:40:43:02 - 00:41:02:06
Unknown
So those restrictions have been tough, but I think really important. And meaningful in terms of like the business acumen. Do you, when you got that first year done, was it immediately we're doing this again, or were you did you kind of consider maybe this didn't go as well as you'd hoped? Maybe not. What were the things at the end of the season?

00:41:02:08 - 00:41:27:03
Unknown
As a matter of fact, I remember during the season. So our big thing, by the way, just if I can just plug holiday and Harvest and what we are, we are experiential. So like what you may have done in your Christmas tree journey in life is you've probably gone to somewhere and you've probably either seen your tree displayed and you said, that's the one, and you pick it and then you take it home.

00:41:27:05 - 00:41:45:21
Unknown
And that's about the extent of your experience. What we try to do is sort of differentiate a little bit. So what we're doing is we're immediately putting together photo opportunities. The second you walk into our lot, there's already kind of a welcome sign for you and your family to jump behind. Take photos. Yeah. The goal is, is that that welcome sign will never change.

00:41:45:21 - 00:42:03:08
Unknown
So as your family matures, you'll be able to have these like stack ranks where you'd be like, hey, here it was 2022 and here's 2028. Because I feel like those are the important photos and family houses where you kind of are like, oh my gosh, look at that growth of that kid at that pumpkin patch or at that Christmas tree farm.

00:42:03:08 - 00:42:27:23
Unknown
Right. So again, that's a big differentiator for us is the experience side. Now we also like we hand candy canes everywhere. We tell the kids like go crazy. I set up the trees, with no rebar on the ground. There's zero trip hazard. We have it set up like, let your kid tear loose in there because we have it staggered where the trees become a micro forest and they can go get lost and play tag and all that.

00:42:27:23 - 00:42:49:22
Unknown
And we encourage that behavior. We love it. We love laughs. We love giggles, and we love smiles. And so, I kind of like made that our, our our our measurable was like, we're not going to be measured necessarily off the revenue year one. We're going to be measured off of the smiles and the impact. And I feel like that baseline for us has really kind of been if we did not have that year one.

00:42:49:22 - 00:43:11:03
Unknown
So yeah, I had help with the numbers. I had help with, the, the overall kind of theory behind it. But like where I feel like we as a business did a great job was we, we focused really heavily on experience. And that ness necessarily didn't translate to profit, but it solidified us as different and as unique and as desirable.

00:43:11:05 - 00:43:31:03
Unknown
Yeah, people want to come there. But you it seems like you had, the least from what I'm reading, you had this idea of creating tradition in what y'all are doing, the tradition, not just picking a tree, but going to y'all's place to pick a tree, and that it seems like natural for you to come up with. Right?

00:43:31:04 - 00:43:47:01
Unknown
I mean, based on your life and experience. Totally. And I kind of kind of flaked on the question, but to come back and when I noticed that experience was sort of like it was electric and we could feel it, by the way, like I could legitimately feel it, like customers are coming back. We've never had so much fun.

00:43:47:04 - 00:44:07:17
Unknown
And you're like, oh my gosh. Yes. Like that's way more important than your check out price, by the way. Like I could, you know, I really I could care less like Cheering that was like one of those things was highly motivating. We started planning Easter, you know, so like seasonal business. What are we going to do. You know, January through November.

00:44:07:19 - 00:44:21:11
Unknown
Like I started talking to people to be like, hey, would you come to an Easter thing if we didn't experience like this and you're here by your Christmas tree? What if we did something for Easter? Would you show up? Like if you did something halfway? As fun as this for Easter, we would come 100%. I was like, all right, great.

00:44:21:13 - 00:44:46:19
Unknown
Like weeks we, you know, week will go by. And then by the end of the Christmas season, I was like, hey, would you guys come if I dropped Easter eggs out of a helicopter? I got 100%. Yes. So we started planning a helicopter Easter egg drop for for the following year. And that's what we did in Easter. So, one thing I feel like from a differentiation standpoint that we're doing well as it holiday and harvest is like our core and our bread and butter is the Christmas tree business.

00:44:46:20 - 00:45:06:04
Unknown
But we want to be in your household, or at least have an offering for your family during the off season for us, which could be Easter or it could be fall. So pumpkins and and Chris or sorry, pumpkins and Easter eggs are also, in play for us. Yeah, well that's good. Like, talk about market study. You're able to do that real time with the folks that are buying trees through y'all.

00:45:06:05 - 00:45:25:10
Unknown
Yeah. So you get okay. So tell me about like, I'm sure you didn't come out of that first year unscathed, like what was or even the second year like what were some things you've learned actually, you know, before this, there were one thing I forgot to ask you earlier where all these trees come from, because Texas, in my mind, isn't known for the iconic Christmas tree.

00:45:25:12 - 00:45:41:02
Unknown
You know, I got a good mesquite tree in the backyard. I love a good live oak, but I don't see anybody pulling that into their house. Where do these really great Christmas trees come from? And then I want to ask you about, maybe some burn marks along the way. Yeah, totally. No. Great question. So these trees are definitely not grown in Texas.

00:45:41:02 - 00:45:58:09
Unknown
And if they were, I would highlight, you know, anything in Texas is like highly favorable for me. We try to pull anything and everything out of Texas. We possibly can. The trees are tough. Obviously. You know, we're here in kind of sub desert and, Christmas trees are traditionally grown either on the East coast or on the West Coast.

00:45:58:09 - 00:46:24:13
Unknown
And so, you know, there's a lot of value and sort of thinking through what kind of Christmas trees desirable. Right. And I think for me, and, maybe it's my past and sort of where I grew up, having come from the West Coast. But like I think of Christmas trees being very, very, like photo ask, to be honest, they sort of look either like a Douglas fir or like a noble fir to me.

00:46:24:13 - 00:46:48:10
Unknown
And I know that's a really specific type and I know those varieties, but like, what I mean by that is like they either look like the perfect Christmas tree or they are like the perfect Christmas tree. And like, I don't really love, trying to think of anything outside of that. It was kind of like easy for me to conceptualize what kind of tree we were going to offer.

00:46:48:10 - 00:47:14:03
Unknown
It was just like, I'm going to offer the best and the most premium, and they're going to look like how everybody expects Christmas trees to look. And, buddy of mine, I'll shut him out real quick to his name is Jess Carson. He, is a phenomenal guitar player in a band called Midland. But he grew up, on a Christmas tree farm, and I was a show, and we were backstage talking, and I was like, dude, I'm starting Christmas trees this year.

00:47:14:03 - 00:47:31:22
Unknown
Like, this is going to be the year and blah, blah, blah. He's like, you got to call my dad. You know, my dad still is like at this Christmas tree farm up there in Oregon. Just figure it out. You got a call. And so I'm like, give me his number. So I called I called Gene Carson, and, had this just great talk with him about.

00:47:31:22 - 00:47:52:00
Unknown
So sort of like a talk like we're having like I had all these ideas, but I had never really executed, and I never bought a Christmas tree in my life. Had so much to learn. Any kind of was like, hey, you know, I'm, I'm sort of transitioning out, but I want to introduce you to, my back. Phil, my, my vice president of sales and, he introduced me to a gentleman named Dave.

00:47:52:00 - 00:48:12:06
Unknown
And Dave just was, like, almost like the tree God, man. Like, I would ask him, you know, how how long do these things take to grow? And he'd answer the, you know, it was like I had this encyclopedia with Dave that taught me everything about these Christmas trees because they weren't in Texas. Right. So so like, I'm talking about a product that's too far and I don't have visualization.

00:48:12:06 - 00:48:27:18
Unknown
How long does a Christmas tree take to grow to the point where you guys are able to folks bring it into their house? Great question. So like we carry two, we'll carry three varieties once high for our jinks called a Nordmann fir. But typically Christmas trees take about a year. And they'll grow a foot a year.

00:48:27:18 - 00:48:50:05
Unknown
So, I said that kind of awkward. But yeah, for a year in terms of growth, that's for a Douglas fir, which is kind of a more like traditional, Christmas tree, the more premium trees called noble firs. They take about a year and a half to grow a foot. So, you know, ten foot trees, about 15 years old on that variety, whereas ten foot tree and the Douglas fir is about ten years old.

00:48:50:05 - 00:49:11:11
Unknown
Wow, man. But they take a while, you know, you think about those farms. Some cool things I've learned also about these farms. You know, you kind of as the operator, I kind of have the benefit of, like, experiencing and touching, smelling and seeing the goods. But growing them and cultivating them is a whole different model and almost a whole different beast.

00:49:11:11 - 00:49:27:20
Unknown
And so, having gotten a relationship with this farm, I mean, they have to be very specific about the growth orientation of these things. So you can't just go and cut down your field of seven foot trees, or you won't have eight foot trees next year. So you got to you got to be smart, you got to plan, you got to stagger.

00:49:27:20 - 00:49:45:23
Unknown
And so there's a lot of prepping and planning that goes into the farming. But, a lot of work too. You know, when you think about how many Christmas trees are leaving the Oregon or, you know, big area, North Carolina is another big area for Christmas trees. During that season, it's churn and burn. They got helicopters flying.

00:49:45:23 - 00:50:12:19
Unknown
What they do is they cut the trees. They'll lay down a big rope, metal rope. They'll lay the trees flat and they'll fly a helicopter over. They'll ignite and magnet and the magnet will attach. Take that bundle of trees up from the forest, and they'll helicopter it down to a staging area. So, like, you know, when you think about these farms during this time of year, you've got helicopters flying over your head, you've got 53ft truckloads, tractor trailers just lined up, you know, for miles.

00:50:13:00 - 00:50:31:02
Unknown
And, they snow pack all these trees. So as they're they're laying them in there, you know, they're, they're, they're blowing snow on top of it just to keep them here, just to keep them cool for the transportation to tax man. Yeah. Yeah. It's a whole and I mean that in itself is a whole production. Oh man. And then it just starts y'all's beginning.

00:50:31:02 - 00:51:00:22
Unknown
That's what's wild to me is like we almost it's kind of like the O.R., right? It's like, man, I got to see, like, just the coolest 20% of the case in neurosurgery, which was like, you know, we actually saw the patient under the microscope, and we were doing, you know, the actual the actual case, like we were doing the surgery, but all the prep work that went on, you know, months in advance, all the scans went into the the MRI that we were putting up on, you know, on screen to actually see that tumor.

00:51:00:22 - 00:51:27:02
Unknown
When we get in there, it's a lot like the Christmas tree business where you're like, man, I'm only in that 20% vessel of like we're retail, but like cultivating is so, so, so yeah, an intense, labor intensive but also planning into I mean, when I started really getting this relationship going with the farm, I mean, we started talking about like, what's next year look like because they want to try to orient their growth to be aligned with mine.

00:51:27:02 - 00:51:44:17
Unknown
But if I'm not communicating with them, they may not be able to actually grow with me. So, just a lot. There's so much. Yeah, that goes into the farming side of, of the business as well. What it could be, I mean, what it could be behind the biz. So yeah. So you talk to me about the burn marks manner, like the scrapes you all have along.

00:51:44:17 - 00:52:03:12
Unknown
Like what, the first couple of years. What what about this business? Were you all like, oh my gosh, close calls. Close calls. There's countless I think also just wake up calls like, for context, for all for all y'all that are, that are, you know, thinking about that jump in that leap of faith to starting a business.

00:52:03:14 - 00:52:23:04
Unknown
I had a kid the first season, and, my kid was born September 19th. We actually did pumpkin patches that year. So the pumpkin patches launched, I think 11 days after. And we went right into Christmas. And, you know, dealing with the pressure of all those burn marks with also having a newborn kid was like, is this really for me?

00:52:23:04 - 00:52:41:05
Unknown
Like it was it was so much pressure and so difficult that like, I mean, it just felt like it was it was either going to make or break me. But like I said, those positive feedback of the smiles or the like, oh my gosh, is, you know, we've never had so much fun buying at Christmas trees. Those were the gasoline in the tank.

00:52:41:05 - 00:53:06:02
Unknown
And like a really hard morning, you know, like middle of December year one because the burn marks would be like it could be anything. It could be weather. Like I could wake up and it could be our Saturday where essentially we're going to go bonkers. It's the biggest weekend. And like, we're in Texas and we might get a band of rain that realistically kind of like puts a grassy area into like a muddy pit area.

00:53:06:04 - 00:53:29:10
Unknown
Right? And then you're like, how am I getting cars in and out of the space? Are we pulling cars out with chains, or are we selling Christmas trees like, those things are real. So like from a burn mark perspective, the uncontrollable from Mother Nature are real. Man, just dealing with other humans can sometimes be difficult. So we talked about the complications of cutting down these trees.

00:53:29:10 - 00:53:56:15
Unknown
We're we're shipping them from Oregon all the way to Texas. And if I'm also like, hey, I might need these trees sooner than expected. Like, those types of turnarounds are very crucial because, three days in this business, might be like the sum of three weeks in a normal business. So just the intensity and the, the immediate need for something is real as well.

00:53:56:17 - 00:54:19:06
Unknown
And you have no control. That's. I think the hard part, too, is when you're in business ownership. And I know every different business has its own uniqueness. But like when we're operating outdoors or when we're relying on, I forget what it was our first year, but our truck was a day behind because of fires, and maybe it was a fire that was happening somewhere in.

00:54:19:07 - 00:54:32:16
Unknown
Yeah, it just was like, out of our control. But we had to push customers, you know, and they were like, hey, we're here and we want these trees. And we're like, we don't have them. We got to come. And we ended up pushing everybody to a Monday. Well, that Monday ended up being the craziest day for us because we had all these.

00:54:32:22 - 00:54:48:13
Unknown
We were unloading a truck. Everyone wanted their tree because we told them they're coming Monday. And you're like, what do you what do we do here? You know, like your hands are kind of tied. We're doing our best. We're unloading the trees as fast as possible. I know you want your Christmas tree, but these are these things are out of our control.

00:54:48:13 - 00:55:12:12
Unknown
So, those those types of burn marks were consistent, but, like, man, the big ones for me, just just cash flow, like being able to manage cash flow, having no experience, having worked in corporate structure, like I always had admin to submit things to that would sort of put things together and like, now I'm admin on anything.

00:55:12:12 - 00:55:39:00
Unknown
I'm, I'm, I'm quality control when it comes to verifying the order and making sure that I didn't leave a crucial item out or, like, just these big responsibilities, just really wasn't used to you, and I'd. I'd make a mistake, you know, and I'd sort of feel the pressure of the mistake or the burn mark, but I would never really allow it to, like, throw us completely into disarray.

00:55:39:00 - 00:56:03:22
Unknown
I would try to like, problem solve immediately, or I would find ways to educate our customer base of what's going on and why that how or why they could be patient with us. And I feel like those things were huge for us, man. Like we just didn't do things willy nilly. We didn't rush if we were, you know, again, hitting a, these, these road roadblocks or, or obstacles, we would just kind of like, how do we deal?

00:56:03:22 - 00:56:23:07
Unknown
You know, it's going to not be fun, but how do we deal? And then trying to find the solution there rather than the chaos and. Yeah, like, yeah, everything. It seems to me that everything you're working with and dealing with is a moving object just from, like my perspective, getting the product there. Sure. But then you also are like, these are living things.

00:56:23:11 - 00:56:40:14
Unknown
Totally. And so you're, like, trying to keep this tree rock and roll, and you got humans there in the, in the spirit, probably slightly impatient because of this, you know, Christmas experience you kind of bring to life and get the tree set up in their house. And even if you couldn't say even if you know, they're going to be there on Monday, you know, are they going to go somewhere else to go by there?

00:56:40:18 - 00:57:02:15
Unknown
You know, I can imagine that multi dynamic kind of decision matrix and all being done which sounds like 17 x speed, you know, because it's it's not like you have all year long to consider this process. It's, it's, it's even probably shorter than what people think because you want the tree in the house well before Christmas singing during that experience.

00:57:02:15 - 00:57:19:01
Unknown
Right. It's not like this weird trees before Christmas man. It's so funny. You you alluded to it. And it's like I think a lot of people when I do talk about the business, they're like, oh, you're you're all must be crazy. Come like, you know, middle to late December. And I'm like, no, actually, like my world is crazy.

00:57:19:01 - 00:57:37:18
Unknown
Well, before that, because you nailed it. I mean, folks typically want to enjoy the Christmas tree in the home well before Christmas. So, you know, my wife has been super supportive in this endeavor. But one thing, like one thing I'm really trying to work on is, being able to be more present because, like, this eats up our Thanksgiving.

00:57:37:19 - 00:58:00:02
Unknown
This eats up part of, honestly, like, you know, you think about trick or treating and all those fun things that we get into the season, like we start our planning and it gets really real fast. And this is typically the time where like people pour in on family and it's kind of the time, unfortunately for me, and I'm again trying to kind of find this, this, this healthy balance for, for my, for my little family.

00:58:00:02 - 00:58:23:13
Unknown
But like, how do, how do we how do we not feel so much pressure on the front end of this season and sort of how can we plan and and be able to sort of like I always say like land the plane rather than crash land the plane, you know, like have a plan, talk to the folks at the flight deck and make sure that, like, everything's clear and land the plane is sort of the goal.

00:58:23:13 - 00:58:48:13
Unknown
It's not really come to fruition because we're still relatively new. But like, that's where I really hope from an operator perspective. I'm confident in our model and confident in what we provide in a product to our customers. The piece that I want to be better at is how can I be a better like father husband, while still running and controlling the highest operational level of the small business?

00:58:48:13 - 00:59:27:20
Unknown
And like the seasonal side of it is really tough. You know, the crazy part about the day, you know, if you think about the day of, let's call it a seasonal, seasonal business, especially in the Christmas tree world. But like the day typically is filled with, work intensive labor. So we're picking these trees up from typically a holding area, throwing them on our shoulder, throwing them into a tree stand, opening them, then immediately taking them out of that tree stand on their purchase, throwing them back on our shoulder, taking them out, baling them, cutting them, then throwing them on to a, you know, on top of a truck or a car, a

00:59:27:20 - 00:59:57:22
Unknown
vehicle tying them down, making sure that's safe. The whole process is you rinse and repeat throughout the day. It wears on, you know, and then and then, you know, you add in whether you add in a 35, 40 degree day and your hands are cold and your feet are numb and, you know, and all this sort of is like, it's like, it's like UFC, it's like, you know, once you're in like, you know, bye bye, like first couple weekends, you're like round one.

00:59:57:22 - 01:00:20:16
Unknown
You're like, yeah, I feel all right. But by the end of the season, you feel a little bit like that guy who's like blood on the mat and he's got some thumbs on his eye and yeah, you know, you feel it. Certainly like you really. I think if you're getting into, the business we're in, you have to be okay with, with the soreness and the actual like there is some blue collar ness to our workload.

01:00:20:16 - 01:00:41:20
Unknown
Yeah. The physicality of physicality is no joke for sure. As we like. I mean, it's I mean, I think I think the amount of things you could probably talk about, it's so funny, the amount of things you could talk about. But a seasonal business is probably endless. But I do wonder for folks that are out there that are considering it, like, what are the big things that keep you doing?

01:00:41:22 - 01:01:01:20
Unknown
Like keep you saying, hey, I'm just committed to the seasonal business. And one of the things you'd go be cautious about, like this is something that, you know, this is my cautionary tale before you decide to jump into something like that. I mean, super impactful question, to be honest, because I feel like even from my friends and family, like I get to go around and people are like, what do you do?

01:01:01:20 - 01:01:24:03
Unknown
And I'm like, well, hold on. You know, like, let me preface, you know, because if you say like I do, Christmas trees, pumpkin patches, drop Easter eggs for a helicopter, you know, sometimes set up tents for folks and festivals and, you know, just stay busy. They're like, well, how do I do? You know, it sounds it sort of sounds and I don't understand it, but it somehow sounds very achievable.

01:01:24:03 - 01:01:59:02
Unknown
And the revenue on each one of those things is very unique and it can be challenging. So like, yeah, I mean, I would say cautionary tale is this isn't something where you could start it and immediately find it to be a, highly productive growth model. You need you need to sort of commit to a long term growth plan, and you kind of have to commit to also just, you know, more or less of, of, of starting small and sort of hoping that it becomes a kind of a community, community token.

01:01:59:02 - 01:02:18:12
Unknown
And that would be your growth, right? Where I feel like it's the best business in the world is like my son. He's three now, and we've been doing pumpkin patches and Christmas tree lots since he's been born. And like, I get to see him get these photos every single year and like, one of the things that warms my heart is I'm like, I don't know if it'll ever happen.

01:02:18:12 - 01:02:40:06
Unknown
And it's very doubtful that it will. But if we keep growing, the goal would be that all his buddies and all his friends and maybe even his future girlfriend or whatever prom date, like when he goes into their houses, he sees his dad's business on the wall. Yeah. And I think that that's where, like, for me, that's my like, I keep pushing, you know?

01:02:40:08 - 01:03:04:05
Unknown
Now does that, like, pay the bills and does that, like, do all the beautiful things I want to provide for my family? No, it absolutely does not. But it's a high motivator for me. And I believe in myself and I believe in our methodology and our differentiation that that can somehow, someway be profitable and be, you know, representative of a reason why we're doing the business.

01:03:04:05 - 01:03:28:02
Unknown
But like, truly like that's where I get a lot of like goosebump moments in our business is sort of that like rewarding family to family communication or validation that we're doing something cool. Yeah. And I'll be honest with you, there's no dollars behind that. And so I'm hoping, like you know, that's why I'm a big proponent of, like, I want us to have those photo exhibits.

01:03:28:02 - 01:03:55:03
Unknown
I want us to be experience space. I want folks to feel like they're at holiday and harvest, and it's identifiable because I feel like that's where we're going to we're going to grow, you know? And, I'm and touched on it and I it's you know, maybe not even, something that like, I typically try to plan on, on highlighting the like one thing we do also at holiday and Harvest is we're locally owned.

01:03:55:03 - 01:04:21:08
Unknown
Like, I'm a local guy. Austin care about our community. I'm highly involved from a service standpoint. And, each year we try to find a reason why. And our reason why is typically like, we want to grow, but we want someone else to benefit from our growth as well. It shouldn't solely be reflective of us. So we've always had a philanthropy, philanthropy, philanthropy focus on, our side of the business.

01:04:21:08 - 01:04:45:09
Unknown
And I think the philanthropy helps us sort of achieve, a kind of like a give back or like, token as a thank you back to the families that are sort of partaking in the seasonal side and trusting us like they're trusting us with their smile and with the checkout experience and all of that. But like, we also have this piece of us that like, we're like, thank you.

01:04:45:10 - 01:05:06:16
Unknown
You know, you're you're you're driving us, you know, as you're our customer, but like, you're driving us. And during that time, everyone is in sort of this giving nature. I'll notice that we hire a lot of high school kids, tons of high school kids, really rewarding for us. And we try to develop and teach them good, you know, work, habit and all that.

01:05:06:18 - 01:05:39:12
Unknown
And the best notion that you can see if someone's picking up on the, the, the kind of the qualities that are required or how, how well they're doing in their tips. When we tie down the Christmas trees and you have a high school kid, they're often greeted with tip money. That has been something where I'm like, oh my gosh, like watching how, how giving everybody is during this season, with tips or just again, you know, somebody who's giving extra effort to do something was very evident.

01:05:39:12 - 01:05:59:13
Unknown
And so when we tied the philanthropy in, it was like it was like an immediate just made sense synergy. Yeah, it made total sense. And when families would check out, they didn't even know that we were going to be donate each tree we sell as a direct donation to a nonprofit. And so, they didn't know that. And when we would tell them, they were appreciative of it.

01:05:59:14 - 01:06:24:11
Unknown
And so I think that also was a big piece for us of like, let's just pour in, you know, let's pour in rather than be like highly profitable as pour in and let's make sure folks feel like there's a, there's there's a real reward to choosing us over somebody else like you choose anybody, you know, but there's a real reward if you do choose us, whether it's the experience you get directly onsite or sort of again, our token is our reason.

01:06:24:11 - 01:06:46:09
Unknown
Why is philanthropy so, yeah. That's a big piece of us, right? I mean, there's no there's no other not only good. I mean, it's on its own is a good deed, but also there's no better way to rally a team to get up every day and go, like, if least if there's no other reason why you're still good to push through a sore back and crank neck and everything else.

01:06:46:11 - 01:07:09:16
Unknown
It's because you get to go help somebody else that does need it, you know, and whatever. And I can see that being a pretty galvanizing experience. DGI man, I, I, I'm looking forward to getting out there and like, maybe you guys putting me to work and like, hauling some trees, I mean, especially, I mean, I, I'm not looking to start a Christmas tree company, but I do love Americans out there still like working their butts off to get it done.

01:07:09:16 - 01:07:27:20
Unknown
And I appreciate you coming in here today and sharing like again would probably is just the tip of the iceberg of what is seasonal businesses. I think it's clear to me that there's so much work that goes into it. I think most folks probably think, man, it must be nice to work like two months out of the year.

01:07:27:20 - 01:07:54:08
Unknown
And the reality of it is it's just not true. And so I think you shed more than enough light on that today, man. And, but I also think that coming in here and sharing a little bit about kind of the behind the scenes on this Christmas season that we all really enjoy, and knowing that there are still people working hard through it and not taking off just so that everybody else gets to also enjoy it in a big way, matters a ton.

01:07:54:08 - 01:08:11:09
Unknown
So I appreciate you coming in here and sharing that little bit of insight in with us. And I do hope you I do hope we find a way to put me to work out there and get behind the scenes. I would love it. I'll be honest. It's kind of one of the it's one of those things you get, you get sort of that rush and you're like, oh man, I might need to come out next weekend too.

01:08:11:11 - 01:08:26:17
Unknown
But man, we'd love to see you out there. Well, you tell. Yeah. After this work, I know this is kind of already cooking, but I. I'm really curious. You give me, put a location, maybe you can show me a day in your life and what that looks like, because I do think that is something a lot of us get to participate in the tree stuff.

01:08:26:19 - 01:08:42:09
Unknown
But maybe just the the, the the owner appreciator in me always just wants to know how it all actually comes to life. I can't go to a place without going. How did this come to be to begin with? And so this gave me a little insight into that man. But thanks again for jumping into that and sharing the words.

01:08:42:09 - 01:09:02:02
Unknown
Appreciate everything you do. And it looks like I mean, you guys are hot and heavy when starting here pretty soon. Yeah, man. We're go, we're go live. So right now we're kind of in the throes of pumpkin installations and doing all the pumpkin business. And then, it realistically just we switch hats. It's like, it's almost like the switch goes on and it's like Christmas is officially on.

01:09:02:02 - 01:09:19:07
Unknown
Probably. Yeah. About first week in November. We really are kind of like, you guys are in hyper focus, man. Yeah. And then we go all the way through January because we do, we do tree deliveries and we do trees. We pick them up, you know, for folks that are, you know, again, kind of what do we do with our tree at the end of the season?

01:09:19:13 - 01:09:34:07
Unknown
We'll come and pick them up. So we kind of we wrap everything at the end of January. But then it's like planning for the next year. It and it's yeah, man. Like you said, it's definitely not a two year or two, two month business. It's it's somehow some way annualized, even though we're only operating two year or two months.

01:09:34:11 - 01:09:51:20
Unknown
And on your site, y'all can you get everybody can find the different locations y'all are at, right? Yeah. Come find us at Holiday and Harvest. Dot com. We're also on Instagram holiday and harvest. If you're here in Austin, come find us in Dripping Springs. We've got a beautiful location, 12 and 290. We're at Barton Creek Mall, here in Austin.

01:09:51:20 - 01:09:56:13
Unknown
And we're also up in the Northland at Round Rock premium outlets. Dig at me. We'll we'll see you out there.

01:09:56:13 - 01:10:22:04
Unknown
Thanks for tuning in to the American Operator Podcast, where we celebrate the backbone of America small business owners and operators like you. If you've enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss out on more of these stories and insights from people who keep our community strong. Until next time, keep building, keep operating, and keep America moving forward.