Luxe Blades: One on one with Nick Oglivie

One on one with Lux Blades owner Nick Oglivie talking about his Turf installation company, franchising and his distribution business!

Transcript

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What's up guys, my name is Chris Bowen. I'm here with Nick Olgavee, and this is our first episode of the Level Up the podcast. So we're excited to have Nick here with us today. Nick is the owner of Lux Blades. They are a turf distribution company, installation company, and then he also owns a sport court company as well. So we're super happy to have Nick here. Nick, tell us a little bit about your business, man. Yeah, thanks. Well, thanks for having me, Chris. I appreciate it. So I do all things artificial turf. I've been doing this for almost two decades. I started in Clovis, New Mexico and went to Florida and I was there in Florida doing it, covered all of Florida until about three years ago. And I moved to the Frisco area and of Texas and you know, it's It's been good ever since. And so I just, before COVID, I was really heavily in the commercial area. A lot of theme park companies. I was just saying, you said that Big Thing Park is one of your clients, correct? I don't know if we're allowed to say it, but me, Big Thing Park. that's right. A big theme park in Florida, centrally located. And, you know, I've done some hard rock hotels and so I'm kind of excited. The hard rocks coming over here in Oklahoma, North Texas area. Right. So that's, that's going to be huge. Margaritaville. Are you going to be doing any of the work at the new, I believe it's like Universal in Frisco, right? Yeah, yeah, you know, I hope so. I hope they find me. You know, it's a little different because they're all, it's universal, but all these corporations are owned by a certain, and it's... Okay, okay, so it's not individualized where like you have a connection with this person, then they do it all, they schedule all the turf for all of their... but you know what? If I don't get the turf, I hope whoever gets the turf does a great job. Well yeah, absolutely. You know, and so that's why, you know, I have the turf biz academy and stuff like that where I teach people how to do artificial turf. And and people are like, why do you teach your competition? And I tell people it's because I don't want people to go to a backyard, a Super Bowl party, let's just say a Super Bowl party like man and turf, but it was installed crappy. So I'm glad we didn't do that. We want turf to be beautiful. So like, I need to go get a bid for that turf. Yeah, you don't want to turn people off to the idea of it. I mean, I have turf in my backyard, and it's probably the greatest decision that me and my wife have ever made. We love it, yeah. Exactly. You know how to spend the weekends out there mowing. That's exactly right. And the dogs like it, the kids like it. It just makes life so much easier. So much easier. And so and so, you know, I was the first person to install artificial turf as a golf course in the United States. Yeah, I installed it on the south rim of the Palo Deer Canyon. So that was that was pretty cool. I would have been the first one in the world, but a company out of Dubai built it two months prior. If I hadn't got some rain, I think I would have beat him. But, you know, it is what it is. Hey, still first one in the United States, right? right. That's right. So that's my claim to fame. But yeah. others how to do it, and then you also have your distribution channel as well, correct? Yeah, that's correct. So we have, you know, turf that's made, you know, domestically here in the United States that is a little bit more expensive. And then we have a more cost effective one. It's made in Vietnam is where I have it made. So I don't, I don't hinder tell people, well, it's, it's all, you know, I'm very, you know me, Chris, I'm transparent. And so, yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, it's, it's good. What I did was for three years, I found the best of all the different turfs and molded them into just three skews. So most turf companies will have multiple of skews and you know they can go to a local distribution warehouse, pick them up and you go to the person's house and you're like, that looks just like this turf, because they all go to the same place. And so I try to differentiate myself and just do the best. So people ask us, or they'll tell, well, you weren't as cheap as the other guys. And I tell them exactly, we're not the cheapest, but we do believe we're the best. And so I take that to our products, the products that other people can buy, other installers from Lux Blades, they can buy and get the best. So here's my question for you. If somebody's a young entrepreneur that's wanting to manufacture products overseas, what was that process kind of like? How did you go about finding a manufacturer overseas to even begin with? And then how did you test products and stuff like that? Because don't they make you buy a whole container to bring over? So, yeah, so the most important thing was I found them on LinkedIn, different manufacturers, and I had every one of them send me samples. And then whenever I found the couple, two or three of the manufacturers I really liked, I said, OK, I like these, but can you make it like this? And they did. And the most important thing in all artificial turf is you don't want latex backing because the UV will damage it and it will start hurting the turf, right? The warranty is not going to be there. So I said, you know, the price was great. Don't get me wrong, but it didn't meet the quality. So then when I found the company, the quality, I said, I want it tested. And so then they tested it. And then everything that I do, I get tested. So for instance, So they're testing and you're doing an independent test on your own too. on my own because I have to verify for my clients. And so like I have this to back up. There's a lot of people doing rooftops with turf a ton. But I'm the only one rooftop. Yep. But I'm the only one in the world that has a category five uplift test proven security system for artificial turf. And that's because of a certain person I have to install for require things to be engineered, right? And so right here in our area outside of like Carrollton area, it's called Hague engineering. They specialize in roof engineering and stuff. So I took them and I do a test called a bell test for wind uplift. So they made it like a hurricane five inside this chamber and my turf passed. the way that I designed it to install it. So yeah, so I'd test everything. So, okay. So that, I mean, there's only so many people, I guess, in the United States that can claim that. And that's a really good selling point when it comes down to some of these commercial applications, especially the really high-end commercial applications with a lot of what we're seeing go on right now in the US in some of these resorts that they're building right now. So that's really cool. Thanks. Yeah. 100%. You know, and so then that goes to my, uh, my courts, right? My courts that I install, my sports courts. Um, I've, I, they're made here in the United States and I went through three different manufacturers here as well. And I found the one that's the best is a little bit more expensive, but it's the best. And I've been really differentiates those different levels on a sport court, um, for somebody who's not super familiar with sport courts. Yeah, so, you know, I do the tile sport quartz and it's the thickness, it could be the thickness of the plastic. It could be the shock absorption. There's a lot of different factors that I play into in order to get the best warranty, right? UV extrusion, you know, and I learned a lot about UV extrusion in the manufacturing of turf. So it's all done with plastic resins and stuff like that. And so that's how these courts are made through extrusion of plastic with resins. So, yeah. And then, so talk to us a little bit about how your franchise model works because are you involved in kind of the North Texas franchise or do they kind of run independently of you or how does that kind of work? Yeah, so had a couple here that bought Lux Blades North Texas. And like I said, they cover all North Texas. I'm there to help. You know, I don't have, I have a non-compete where I can't, you know, and that's just, that's good on both parts, right? And so I set them up for success and they take all my pictures, like, you know, all my pictures, all my testing, so that way they can run with it and set them up. with marketing and stuff like that. And so each location is based off of obviously the demographics. How many people are in the area? That dictates the cost of the franchise. Okay, so it's a demographic based franchise fee versus just like a flat, I guess, revenue percentage. Okay, so and then how many franchises do you have currently? Just the one or the more? yeah, just the one, just the one here in North Texas. What's the plan? Are you wanting to go beyond that or what are your goals? I want to I want to get around seven. I think that's the sweet spot. Just because that way it leaves a lot on the table for other people. So if I had one in, say, Florida and they need to do something in Georgia, they could. Or maybe I had one set in Georgia. They wanted to go to Florida because I don't. One thing is I don't want to pigeonhole. These people and. And that's where I see a lot of franchises do. They pigeonhole and be like, oh, well, sorry. Sorry for your bad luck, but you can only do Frisco, Texas. You can't do Denton, Texas, which is right there. Isn't that wild how so franchises work like that? I was listening to another podcast the other day where somebody was talking about that, where they've got it broken up into, you know, eight different franchises in the Metroplex. And I'm like, wow, that takes out a lot of business when you've got that many in one concentrated area. Because when I ran my construction company, I mean, yes, we focused on a specific area, but we went all over. I mean, we were in Flaremont and we went to Salina, we were going to Fort Worth. We were. know, McKinney all over and I don't understand why you would want to be confined, you know, to such a very small geographic area because it really limits your ability to grow. It does. And it limits the ability for the franchisee to grow, but it also creates, I would think a headache for someone like me with, if they call me and say, well, so-and-so stole my business here. Cause, and I'm like, I don't want to be a babysitter. That's the last thing I want to do. Yeah, like I could see like if you had a North Texas, maybe you had a Houston, you know, one or two in Florida, maybe like a South Florida, maybe like a Northern Florida, you know, stuff like that, where you're, you know, you have several hours between them, that, you know, they're not going to go for the average job. But, you know, you don't want them competing within the same, you know, couple mile radius, I would think. You want enough meat left on the bone for these people so they stay hungry. They stay, you know, they want to go out and get it. Well, and then we want to stay franchisees too. I mean, retention in a franchise is not great outside of the McDonald's and Chick-fil-A's and stuff like that. And so I feel like that's the responsibility as the franchisor is to help entice these people to want to stay and giving them a reason to stay. And I think that's a big reason is they're not fighting with their own competition from their own company. 100%. You know, we, uh, I don't know, you know, uh, Water Shapes University. Yeah. So, um, I'm going to be on one of their publications coming out. And yeah. And so, uh, you know, Eric was, uh, you know, interviewing me and stuff like that. And we were kind of going over the exact same, what you're talking about exactly. I know those guys very well. So they were all, I used to be a part of the Genesis program, which is very similar to WaterShape University. It was prior to WaterShape. So all the instructors that are at WaterShape now used to teach for Genesis back when I did that. And so I went all the way through kind of their program back then. And then when they started WaterShape was kind of when I was on my way out of the industry. But Yeah, those are all really good guys. I know Paolo really well, David Pinton, Ben, all those guys. They're all good, good people and good for the industry as well, in my opinion. I think so, too, you know, it's just one of those things like. They're just education, you know. I think the more educated contractors or really anybody in business can be, the better they are at running their business. Because at the end of the day, knowledge is power. And if you don't know, if you don't have the knowledge about the product that you're selling, you're gonna make mistakes. 100% and they could be costly ones, right? In our industry, they could go really south really fast. Yes, they can. Absolutely. So tell me a little bit about what it took to kind of, for those people that are listening that are, you know, considering going the franchise route, how did you set up your franchise? Like what was involved with, you know, the legalities of that? So you gotta do, you know, there's a lot set up with it. You gotta do your, oh my gosh, I don't know any technical terms, right? But it's all the setup for compliance, right? Everything from compliance to making sure they just don't deface your name of your company. So, and did you have to trademark Lux Blades then to be able to do that? Like... yeah, Texas you trademark it. And what's funny is I've even trademarked the saying turfed out instead of it turned out really good, it turfed out. And I trademarked that too. And when you trademark things, it's very specific. So, you know, it's very, you're gonna do it for social media, or you're gonna do it for, and you have to pay for each exact, you know, exact one. So. Yeah, it's just in when you're just set up a franchise you can set it up as if you get paid on the back end too, right? like if uh your gross sales are xyz you get three percent or So and that's a lot of negotiating with people coming on board So it's not like a set amount, you know, at least in this industry, you know, of this is the percentage you pay off the top of gross. Yeah, and everything's different, but you know me, I'm kind of like a straightforward and very simple at the same time because I feel like if you keep it simple, it's better. Like you have to meet these goals. If you don't meet these goals, then you know, sorry, I mean, I got to take it back because it holds them accountable and it holds me accountable. Because I got to do what I say, like I'm having to help with marketing. I'm having to help with this, you know, with distribution. I'm having to help. I have all these different roles and I'm still helping with. So, you know, I'm going to hold myself. I got to hold myself accountable too. Yeah, you don't just get to hang out now that you've got a franchisee. You know, it's nothing like that at all. You don't just get to hang out and collect a paycheck. I think that's what a lot of people think that, you know, when you own a franchise, like a franchise system, that's what it is, is you just, you hang out and collect a check and it's, there's so much that goes into the backend. I mean, I'm sure that you helped them set up their CRM. Oh yeah. way that it needed to be you're helping with all the marketing the social media the photography the videos You know all of that goes into everything. And that's you know, and that's all laid out in the documents that we all sign, because, like I said, it just goes back into it holds myself accountable as well. So, yeah. Absolutely. And what is a typical day for you look like as an entrepreneur? Uh wake up about 6 a.m. Um get a pot of coffee going that's if that's my very first that's my very first thing um Check on the cows, right? and then um I've got cows. Yeah Yeah, so Well, so my actual home is salina Yep, yep. So um, and I love it there, but i'm very fortunate to have some acreage and um have have two cows obviously for ag exemption, right? Let's just, let's just, you know, be honest here. But take care of them and come over here to the office. My office is Grandscapes. Yeah, it's a cool office too. It's a cool office. There's a little bit for everybody, right? I mean, it's just, it's nuts. Yeah, yeah, it's a pretty cool spot. You know, I was lucky enough to get to tour the office, for those of you who don't know, a few months back. It's just a really cool space. I mean, the whole area of Granscape is just really beautiful. And so it's a hard spot to be. it's nuts. We just finished up a fireside surf, which is crazy. And they have that big pool that they have a 30 foot wave on. And they go through a million gallons of water in one minute. Yeah, so I mean, I hope everybody is watching because of this place and checks it. Just to see the water moving that fast and that much. is incredible. And then you'll see our fake palm trees there. Yep, our fake palm trees are there. The turf will be there. It's just, yeah, it's cool. Then you got Tiger Woods building their, his deal next door. And it's just, I mean, this spring and summer over there is going to be awesome. It really is. I was actually able to see a wave pool like that one time, the behind the scenes. I was actually doing a class, I can't remember genesis or water shapes, but they took us behind the scenes of Mandalay Bay to take a look at the lazy river and the wave pool there. And you want to talk about crazy to see, you know, 150 horsepower pumps. pumping water through 12 inches of pipe to create these effects, it is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. It was pretty spectacular, I'm not gonna lie. I bet that was awesome. It was very cool. It was very cool. So, and then I've heard the Bellagio in Vegas is also really cool. The fountains, I've heard that's one of the best pump rooms in the world. Yeah. So that's, that's the stuff that I kind of geek out about is some of the technical parts of it, but I just, I love it. It's cool. That's awesome. So if we've got guys listening that are in the turf industry, what's the best way for them to reach out to you, whether it's about buying turf at wholesale or setting up a franchisee situation. so the best way to get a hold of me is the real Nicko.com. That's a good one. Or just like my sign back there, Lux, L-U-X-E, Blades, B-L-A-D-E-S.com. And nick at luxblades.com. Okay, perfect. I love it. Well, Nick, it's been so great talking to you today, man. I really appreciate your time. And, you know, I can't wait to get this episode out for everybody, man. I think everybody's gonna be excited about it. So thank you for being my first, my first guest, man. Oh yeah. Thank you, Chris. Bye. a good one.