Episode 64
Owning five businesses with new dad, Colin Luz
About BizCast Greater La Crosse
We bring you news from the business community. From startups to experienced problem solvers, you’ll get in-depth insight on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Greater La Crosse. Our show is a collaboration between WIZMNews.com and BizNews Greater La Crosse ( GreaterLaCrosse.media ).
Summary
Colin Luz, a versatile entrepreneur with multiple business ventures, including Copperhead Carts, Holiday Heroes Lights and a new venture called Stoneworks Sign & Monuments, joins. Luz shares insights into his entrepreneurial journey, which began in high school and evolved through various business ventures — from a moving company to custom golf carts and holiday lighting services. Emphasizing the importance of identifying market demand and forming strong partnerships, Luz discusses his approach to starting and managing businesses. He also highlights his commitment to community service, such as providing free moving services for domestic violence victims and organizing fundraisers. Despite his busy schedule, Luz, a new father, manages to balance his professional ambitions with a supportive family life, driven by his passion for creating value in his community.
Show Notes
The Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur: An Interview with Colin Luz In this episode of BizCast, Greater La Crosse, host Vicki Markussen interviews Colin Luz, a dynamic entrepreneur running multiple successful businesses, including Copperhead Carts, Holiday Heroes Lights, and several others. Colin shares his journey from organizing sports tournaments in high school to establishing a thriving moving company, which he later sold. He discusses the importance of spotting market gaps, the role of business partners, and his focus on adding community value. Colin also touches on his passion for helping people get into trades, the challenges and rewards of launching new ventures, and his latest business ventures like Stoneworks Sign and Monuments. This episode provides insights into the mindset, strategies, and community-focused approach of a seasoned entrepreneur.
- 00:00 Introduction to BizCast and Guest Colin Luz
- 00:53 Colin’s Early Entrepreneurial Journey
- 01:48 Starting the Moving Company
- 04:25 Lessons Learned and Holiday Heroes
- 05:28 Promoting Trades and Podcasting
- 20:34 The Birth of Copperhead Carts
- 22:05 Expanding Copperhead Carts
- 27:30 New Ventures: Stoneworks Sign and Monuments
- 30:09 Balancing Multiple Businesses and Personal Life
- 33:40 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Full Transcript [generated by AI]
[00:00:00] Colin Luz: I enjoyed running my business by myself and doing the things the way that I wanted to when I wanted to, but having a business partner definitely takes off some of the weight of being the business owner and making the sole big decision every time.
[00:00:16] Vicki Markussen: Welcome to BizCast, Greater La Crosse, a weekly podcast from BizNews. We bring you news from the business community. I am your host and founder, Vicki Markussen, and we have, I’ll just call you the Jack of all trades, but your name is not Jack, it is Colin Lutz. You have several businesses. So you have Copperhead Carts, you have Holiday Heroes Lights, you’re a realtor, you have rentals, you have a non profit and a golf outing that generates money for great causes, and you’re a new dad.
[00:00:47] Vicki Markussen: Did I miss any titles in there?
[00:00:48] Colin Luz: That’s it.
[00:00:49] Vicki Markussen: Obviously, you have a brain for starting businesses. Where did that start from?
[00:00:55] Colin Luz: If I’m really thinking way back, I’m sure it started when I was a kid. I used to when I was in high school, I would run little basketball tournaments, or I had a softball league that we ran that I had started with a buddy that we just would come up with ideas and things like that.
[00:01:09] Colin Luz: And through college, I didn’t really do much. I went to school at Viterbo went to school for business administration, and graduated with that, but I feel like my whole life I was always drawn to that type of work. I saw the kind of people that were doing that work. I saw the kind of lives they were living.
[00:01:24] Colin Luz: I thought it was just something that I could envision myself doing someday with a family and and for the community around here I’ve always wanted to stay in the area. I lived in Utah for a short bit, just doing an internship, but I’ve always loved La Crosse and it’s been good to me and so bringing businesses to the community that provide value is really important to me.
[00:01:44] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. What was your first official business?
[00:01:48] Colin Luz: Sure. So my senior year of college I needed an internship. And I waited until the last minute like everything else and I didn’t find one but I had been working at FedEx at the time and I came up with this just very general idea to start a moving company because I felt like there wasn’t, it just goes back to basic supply and demand.
[00:02:07] Colin Luz: I just felt like there wasn’t enough moving companies for how many people lived in the area. I convinced my advisor to let me try this as my internship and see if I could make something of it. And so that’s how that started. It was really part time the first year. Really just did it on the weekends when I could fill it in, and then by the second year it really started to pick up.
[00:02:25] Colin Luz: Hired a couple guys from the UWL football team and a couple buddies, and yeah, we just built it that way slowly but surely. But that by the fifth or sixth year in, we were, it was really good business, and we were the best of lacrosse voting thing. It was something that we were winning every year and that was cool.
[00:02:44] Colin Luz: And but we did a lot of really cool things with that business. As far as hiring I really tried to focus on hiring student athletes and giving them a job that was flexible around their class and their athletic schedule. And that seemed to hit a certain niche with people. I felt like there was, especially in the summer there was just a line out the door to work for us.
[00:03:02] Colin Luz: ’cause it was, wow. We had a good culture and ultimately that. I think this was the hugest driver of that business and having good guys and being good to them . At one point we had started doing free moves for like victims of domestic violence so people that were going through a pretty traumatic situation would call us.
[00:03:22] Colin Luz: And after the first few times I realized what was happening, I caught on, and so then at that point I had talked to New Horizons about maybe formalizing that process a little more just to make sure everyone was safe and things were covered. And the community really supported it. Just the amount of calls you get, you’d be surprised. So that was an eye opener too, but it was all a good experience. And then Yeah, and then in 2022, I was approached by a moving company out of Eau Claire that saw the value in our company and they were growing.
[00:03:51] Colin Luz: And I had a couple other businesses that were, I felt like I was ready to dedicate more time and attention to. And so I took that opportunity to sell that business. And now I focus on these other ones, Holiday Heroes and Copperhead Carts are my main focus.
[00:04:06] Vicki Markussen: Let’s pull those apart a little bit separately.
[00:04:09] Vicki Markussen: But before we move off of it, so doing the math, you’re like lower twenties, mid twenties, you have a successful company that is getting purchased. If you could say what was the biggest thing that you learned in that time period about owning your business? I felt like the, one of the biggest things I learned was the demand for.
[00:04:31] Colin Luz: People in the trades and people in the service industry and that those type of businesses I felt like as I had that moving company, I saw a lot of other areas that Especially people my age were just not diving into and I felt like there was an opportunity to capitalize on it And so that’s what you know That, that motivated me in a lot of ways.
[00:04:50] Colin Luz: That’s what motivates a lot of ideas that come to me is I think every, I think the best entrepreneurs, they can predict where the demand is going to be and they can find the supply to match it. And it’s easier said than done, but it’s probably the most important aspect of it in my opinion, but that takes a lot of paying attention to what’s going on in your community where people feel like they, they need a certain product or service that’s just not available to them.
[00:05:17] Colin Luz: And then trying to find a way to provide it in the best way possible. That was probably one of the biggest things I noticed throughout the years of having that business and then led me to the idea of Holiday Heroes.
[00:05:28] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. So before we get into Holiday Heroes though, cause you talked about your appreciation for the trades and you had a podcast.
[00:05:37] Vicki Markussen: You want to talk about that?
[00:05:38] Colin Luz: Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that was back in 2018. I, that was something that I felt like I wanted to do to get more people my age interested in the trades. Also as a minority, it was important to me that other people like me knew that these jobs were available too.
[00:05:55] Colin Luz: And so those are the two driving factors for it. And we had some really good guests. We had guys that own large businesses Brian Scudamore and Aaron Steed and Rebecca Clayfish, the Lieutenant Governor at one time for Scott Walker was on. And yeah, it was great. I felt like it had some momentum and then COVID hit, and it just made it tough for me to do those interviews virtually, and it just wasn’t the same, and it just fizzled out.
[00:06:18] Colin Luz: But ultimately it was about getting kids interested in the trades, transportation industries, because I felt like at that time you could see We were going to hit this point almost like where we’re at now with the housing market and things like that. There’s just a shortage of plumbers and electricians and HVAC specialists and things like that. This isn’t a surprise to me where things are at as far as the economy and the housing market. And I think we’ll see what happens, but anyways, it’s It’s been a good experience. That was fun to do. It’s something that I keep talking to my wife. I’m like, I feel like I should get back into doing that again.
[00:06:52] Colin Luz: Cause it, it was really, I enjoyed it. And I felt like people were getting value out of it, but yeah, ultimately with the businesses getting busier too, it just fizzled out. Not to prod you and give you that extra reason because you are a new dad, so you have a whole other new role with a five month old.
[00:07:10] Vicki Markussen: But yeah, we had on the podcast, the Builders Association, they have build your future, which had a thousand kids come to explore the trades. And yeah, same also conversations with them about the cost of housing is in part because it’s supply and demand of electricians, plumbers, and they’re getting more And that all has a ripple effect into the cost of housing.
[00:07:35] Vicki Markussen: So yes, there is a need to have that conversation out there but you are a serial entrepreneur and I it took me a couple of years for someone to explain to me the difference between just being a business owner and being an entrepreneur and the entrepreneur is always thinking how do I actually shed businesses because I have this new exciting idea.
[00:07:55] Vicki Markussen: It’s this always thinking and always seeing because not everybody can do that. Seeing where there’s a gap that needs to be filled. Giving us a glimpse into how you think.
[00:08:05] Vicki Markussen: You have a successful business, but you’re seeing this other one. Is it really easy in your mind to say, I see for this business because I see the exponentially more potential in this other business? Is that how you think?
[00:08:19] Colin Luz: It was. Yeah. I mean it’s still, Yeah it is. I would say chasing that opportunity is what excites me.
[00:08:27] Colin Luz: I probably get a little bored easily and so doing things for too long sometimes my brain just, I feel like I’m not using my brain fully of what it’s capable of and finding those new ways to provide value to the community through small businesses is my way of doing that. But yeah I really enjoyed it.
[00:08:47] Colin Luz: I think it’s probably not something for everyone. It’s definitely you know it’s my mind is, feels like it’s racing a lot and I, things come up at times if there’s a of employees
[00:09:00] Vicki Markussen: or anything,
[00:09:01] Colin Luz: but it is just kind of, uh, doing this at some major scale. Being a small business owner is definitely what fits me the best.
[00:09:10] Colin Luz: So finding, having that self awareness and realizing that was probably the most important thing at a younger age.
[00:09:16] Vicki Markussen: So when you start a business, Argh I know when you’re trying to get a loan, They like to see a. Business plan. Have you, are you like bootstrapping this? You’re funding startups yourself, and so you’re not developing that business plan.
[00:09:31] Vicki Markussen: Do you have a business plan when you launch? What is your system, if you will?
[00:09:35] Colin Luz: Sure. I guess in my first couple of businesses, I did not I had a one page business plan. I felt if you can’t, Inside advice Vicki Markussen, BizCast, Greater La Crosse, La Crosse. No, I didn’t take any out for the first two businesses I started.
[00:10:03] Colin Luz: I guess I used some of my student loan money to start the moving company. So whatever I had left there, but other than that, I didn’t go to bank for anything until Copperhead Carts. That one needed pretty significant financing for what we, how many carts we purchased and things like that. But even that we no, we don’t have a big formal 10, 20, 30 page business plan that we write. We just go to the bank, try to say those big major points of, um, what product or service that we’re offering, how it helps our community, how we’re going to market it and how we’re going to finance it.
[00:10:34] Vicki Markussen: Now moving on to holiday heroes. So did you start that while owning the moving company?
[00:10:40] Colin Luz: Yep. Yeah. That was again, a opportunity thing. I know it was. Moving season is typically spring through fall, but there wasn’t a whole lot to do in the winter.
[00:10:47] Colin Luz: We had jobs. It wasn’t like a some of the other trade jobs that are completely outta commission, but it was definitely slower. And I had a friend who owns turf Care company. He does lawn fertilization, so he was outta commission in the winter too. And I could tell that we thought similarly about things and our minds had similar ideas and we had similar work ethics and so I asked him about starting this holiday lighting business with me and Because again one of those things I just didn’t see a lot of people doing around here or especially one business that Was marketing it as their main business.
[00:11:20] Colin Luz: There was like long term companies that offer on the side But I felt like I noticed companies in Madison and Minneapolis that they just focus on lighting. And I’m like, I feel like there’s a demand for that. So yeah, it started real slow. The second year I think we only had like 17 accounts, but then by the third year we were up to 60 and now I think we have 190 or something like that.
[00:11:41] Colin Luz: And it’s been our fifth year, sixth year that we’ve done it now. So we, yeah, we service mostly residential accounts with that business. It’s very seasonal, but truthfully, it’s very profitable, too, for the amount of time that we do the work and how long it takes. It’s probably the best bang for my buck as far as any business that I’ve had for the amount of money that you make during the time.
[00:12:01] Colin Luz: So we, moving on from that just a little we’ve expanded on that and felt like, well, this is something we need to share with other people that we know, other people that we feel like would do well at this business. And another friend of ours had. A friend down in Illinois in the Naperville area that I’ve been asking about it.
[00:12:18] Colin Luz: And so we talked to him, got him up here, showed him our process and how we do things. And so we ended up opening a second location last year and yeah, it’s been great. They were hoping to add like a dozen accounts their first year and I think they added 47 houses total. And They just have had an explosive start, which is super exciting for us, it’s exciting for them.
[00:12:37] Colin Luz: They both have families, so to have to be able to make an extra small five figures for your family in a short amount of time is really meaningful to us that we can do that for them and that they’ve learned to do it and and then now we’re in the process now with another guy on the southeast side of Chicago that, again, just was referred through another person about starting another location down there, so there’s nothing official.
[00:12:58] Colin Luz: I’m feeling pretty good about it and getting things set up legally we’ll see how things go, but that’s exciting.
[00:13:05] Vicki Markussen: So a lot of people like me who doesn’t like being outdoors in the winter probably hear that and go that would be really hard to staff. You have to find people that are willing to honestly work with their fingers out in the cold, to put up holiday lights.
[00:13:20] Vicki Markussen: Is that a challenge for you? Is finding employees difficult?
[00:13:23] Colin Luz: Yeah, we don’t really have a ton of employees. It’s so I own that with Matt Tolstead and we’ve had friends help us on the ground and we’ve been doing it ourselves, honestly so it’s how we’ve learned how to work efficiently and it’s been a it’s been a good business, but we’re obviously gonna get to the point where we need to hire people but We’ve had one thing I did forget that we’ve got is I just am in the process of launching another business.
[00:13:49] Colin Luz: It’s called Stoneworks.
[00:13:51] Vicki Markussen: This does not surprise me.
[00:13:53] Colin Luz: So that’s with another buddy of mine, Buck Johnson, and we can talk a little bit about that. But so Buck, Matt, and I all are working closely together. Buck has now bought into Holiday Heroes. And we all own this new Stoneworks business together.
[00:14:07] Colin Luz: So I can talk about that later, too.
[00:14:09] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. You have Holiday Heroes going, you have other you’re not franchising it, what is the word that you use for that?
[00:14:18] Colin Luz: Yeah, we’re, so right now we’ve just got a licensing agreement that we do with the guys down in Naperville but right now I’m in the process of working with our lawyer on a vendor distribution agreement essentially, we work our pricing into the product, so instead of your typical franchise set up, They’re buying the supplies from us because one thing through that business and through that time of doing it we have been buying our bulbs from Distributors in North America probably like every other holiday lighting company But Matt and I looked at each other and we’re like there’s got to be a way to Cut this middleman out we just have to really dig deep and so yeah, we did some research and we found out where the bulbs are made in Dongguan China and We got ahold of a company out there that had got back to us.
[00:15:03] Colin Luz: And so I didn’t teach myself Chinese or anything. I just they’ve got people speak a little bit of English, but so now instead of buying our bulbs at 70, 80 cents a ball, we’re buying them significantly less. And so through that, we’re able to then sell them to the guys down in Illinois, make some money on that.
[00:15:22] Colin Luz: And we also sell them to a couple of other holiday lighting companies, In the area to give them a better price. It works for us. We make some money, they save some money. And that’s another arm of that business that I’m really ambitious about growing because for what it takes and the coordination that it’s already going into, it just to order more is not that much more difficult. Talking to a company out in New Jersey right now that’s, that I’ve talked to just through Instagram, which is crazy that social media, you can have that kind of, do business through it to be able I always feel like I’m on that edge of the millennial and I don’t know the Gen Z as far as social Media and I never would have thought that I could have done this kind of business through Instagram And so that’s been really exciting, but that’s how we met each other and we’ve been talking and I think they’ll buy Tens of thousands of bulbs over the years.
[00:16:11] Colin Luz: They have quite a bit of business out there. So Yeah, I’m excited about that. I want to find more companies that we can help save money and then also we can make some money in the process. And see what happens.
[00:16:23] Vicki Markussen: That’s innovation right there. Finding a more cost effective way of doing something. You’ve disrupted the holiday light industry.
[00:16:31] Vicki Markussen: What a niche thing. Who would have thought? It’s like I look back on it sometimes as a kid. There’s no way I would have ever pictured doing this. As far as being an entrepreneur, I feel like you hear a lot of people say to follow your passion.
[00:16:45] Colin Luz: That’s the that’s what people start businesses for and that’s why you want to have that as far as starting one. But to me, I’ve never looked at it that way. I think of it more as chasing an opportunity and I think it’s important to bring passion with you in whatever you do, but to follow your passion I don’t always think is the most practical piece of advice and way to live your life.
[00:17:04] Colin Luz: I think you have to think of where are the opportunities that I can serve other people and if I can find the joy in making other people happy, I know that it’s going to make me happy too and it’s less self serving. And it’s a little more holistic in the sense of starting a business for the right reason.
[00:17:23] Colin Luz: And so that’s one thing I’ve always got in the back of my mind when I’m starting a business is how does this opportunity serve other people better? How does it bring value to their life? Because if it doesn’t, and this is just meant to be a Monument to myself, and that’s not what small business is about.
[00:17:39] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. And it’s interesting too, because some of the best business owners that I’ve talked to say you start with the end in mind. And when you start with passion, it’s really hard to see the end because it’s fueling your passion. It doesn’t always have the best business model behind it either.
[00:17:56] Vicki Markussen: You end up carrying a lot of weight as the owner because it’s your passion. Yeah, sure.
[00:18:02] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. Okay. So you have Holiday Heroes Lights and it’s doing great. Side note, we don’t have to talk about it, but you have some rentals happening. You’re still doing some fundraisers that are tied in with raising money for great causes like that.
[00:18:18] Vicki Markussen: That kind of started with the moving company, correct?
[00:18:21] Colin Luz: Yeah, so that started with the the free moves for the victims of domestic violence and I worked with New Horizons and then I needed to formalize that process a little bit more too and my wife and I started just a small non profit that we can run that all through and then we had run a Basketball tournament at Aquinas with Coach Brad Reinhardt there for several years that was popular But as I’ve gotten older has phased into a golf tournament just like anything else and so But the golf tournament’s been granted on that with another buddy of mine Michael Nabolsky.
[00:18:50] Colin Luz: He’s an insurance agent at Fleece Insurance and yeah, we got you know, 70 some golfers that come out and raise money and We don’t always give back money directly to domestic violence anymore. The last couple years we had just given it to people People that we’ve seen need it. We had someone that lost their partner that we helped pay for some funeral expenses.
[00:19:10] Colin Luz: Had another friend that unfortunately lost their baby shortly after it was born, so to help pay for some of the medical expenses on that end. And just little things like that. It’s been nice to have, to be able to do those kind of things for people that really need it in the moment and, yeah, I’m glad we started it. And so
[00:19:26] Vicki Markussen: there’s been a common theme that I’ve heard of you and a buddy, there’s someone else who always seems to be a partner with you. Is that something that you’ve sought out? Is it easier? Huh? Yeah,
[00:19:38] Colin Luz: that’s a good question. I guess it’s not necessarily something I sought out when I started my moving company.
[00:19:43] Colin Luz: That was by myself. And I enjoyed running my business by myself and doing. the things
[00:19:49] Colin Luz: doing the things the way that I wanted to when I wanted to, but having a business partner definitely takes off some of the weight of being the business owner and making the sole big decision every time.
[00:20:01] Colin Luz: And luckily I’ve I have really good business partners. I feel like if you had a bad business partner, it could probably be one of the worst things to have to go through. It’s like being married to them and then having to get divorced if you guys sell the business because you don’t get along would be just, I can’t imagine. Yeah, having good business partners has been great. It’s such a blessing to me because it’s been finding guys that can work similar to me, have a similar mindset, similar work ethic. I didn’t get a lot done, more than I would have ever imagined than when I first started doing it, hopefully twice as much, right?
[00:20:31] Vicki Markussen: Otherwise somebody’s not carrying their weight, but yeah. Yeah,
[00:20:33] Colin Luz: exactly.
[00:20:34] Vicki Markussen: So you found another partner to start out Copperhead Carts. Where did that come from?
[00:20:41] Colin Luz: So that’s what my partner, Jason Oftadal, and he actually had started that business himself a couple of years before I joined him. So it, He had ran it just out of his garage.
[00:20:51] Colin Luz: It wasn’t even really a formal business, but he was selling these custom golf carts to people at campgrounds and small towns and things like that. And I had this lot on the South side of La Crosse with the moving company. And at the time I was a U Haul dealer, so I had But then I got rid of that as the moving company got bigger and I had my own truck.
[00:21:10] Colin Luz: So I actually just put out on Facebook that I was looking for something to do with my lot. And we had just moved Jason’s company at the time, Market Sharp. That he was the owner of at that time. And so I met Jason and then he saw that post and brought me this idea and Yeah, so that’s how Copyrighted Cards got started and we were hoping to sell a couple dozen cards our first year, and I think we sold 80, so it was like, a great start for what we were hoping for.
[00:21:36] Colin Luz: And yeah, so with that business, we just sell right now we just sell custom golf carts to people at the campground the golf course. A lot of small towns are legalizing it, which has been fun to get in that process and work with people on I think it’s going to be a much more popular thing.
[00:21:52] Colin Luz: You’ll see as the time goes on, especially with especially with the demand for lithium ion and Towns moving towards vehicles that have that. Yeah, we can talk about that business a little bit more too.
[00:22:04] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. Because your current location is La Crescent, right? Yeah.
[00:22:08] Colin Luz: So we, Jason and I bought a building on the south side of La Crescent, right off the highway just in March.
[00:22:14] Colin Luz: And we, became a new dealer for this brand called Evolution. It’s a brand that we’ve noticed is gaining popularity. They’ve got nice carts at a good price point. And so we had previously just been selling used golf carts, which is, you can really only get so big selling used carts. It’s like selling used cars.
[00:22:34] Colin Luz: A used car dealership is only going to ever get so big until you start offering new. So anyways, we were hoping to sell 20 or 30 of these Evolutions this year. And I think we’ve already sold like 65.
[00:22:43] Vicki Markussen: Wow.
[00:22:44] Colin Luz: And we’re delivering all over the Midwest, between Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, and right now we’re in the process, it’s a long process, but we’ve applied to become a club car dealer too, because club car has such a wide array of products that they offer, not just custom carts, but fleets that we can sell to golf courses, utility carts that we can sell to campuses, and industrial park businesses that need that demand, and right now they’re having to go pretty far to get it.
[00:23:08] Colin Luz: purchase those vehicles. And we think there’s a lot of potential for that business. It’s probably thinking big, but I do feel like it can be a significant employer in La Crescent in five to seven years just with the rate it’s going at and if we can continue to add new lines of products to that business.
[00:23:26] Colin Luz: I think there’s a there’s definitely a demand for it. It doesn’t always seem like it if you’re not in that world. But I think. The golf cart community is becoming bigger and bigger every year, and these lithium ion batteries are just, have been a game changer from the old lead acid batteries, and a lot of towns are supporting that, and they want us, they want to see lithium ion, they want to see the green movement continue, and we want to be a part of that so we’re excited.
[00:23:53] Colin Luz: Really excited about that business. This year has just been it’s been awesome.
[00:23:57] Vicki Markussen: I would imagine you’re starting to find yourself in the code adoption, if you will, with our municipalities approaching you saying, can you help us in the conversation about allowing carts as vehicles? Yeah,
[00:24:12] Colin Luz: a little bit.
[00:24:13] Colin Luz: Jason’s definitely taken the lead on that. He’s really organized with all of it. Right now we’re. We’re working on the City of La Crescent we think if we can get golf carts legal in La Crescent, not only will it obviously benefit our business, but it will benefit the city significantly from the sales tax, the tax revenue that we’ll generate for it.
[00:24:32] Colin Luz: And it’s a two way street and working with, it’s been interesting I’ve never really worked in public service, public policy, but to Be involved with it a little bit has been interesting to see everything is just a little bit of a longer process and you just got to work on people here and there and things don’t happen overnight.
[00:24:50] Colin Luz: So we’re just trying to build good relationships with people that are in those positions that can help us do that because, again, of course we want to, at the point of any business, to be profitable and make money and help people, but of course, That’s what it’s about. But we want to be able to help the city of La Crescent too.
[00:25:08] Colin Luz: We want to be able to see it grow and attract families and be a place that is just a great destination for people to live, work, and play. So
[00:25:18] Vicki Markussen: what, as long as I’m thinking of it, what are the regulations in terms of who can drive one of those carts? So a lot of golf carts don’t have a VIN number or title.
[00:25:26] Colin Luz: If you want, if your kid wants to drive it. If you’re okay with it, they can drive it if it’s at a campground or something like that. But let’s say in Caledonia, you can drive you can drive golf carts on there. I don’t know exactly what age you have to be to do it. I don’t know if you have to be 16 or have a license there.
[00:25:41] Colin Luz: Every town is different in as far as what they require. But there’s towns significantly bigger than La Crescent that allow golf carts to be driven on their streets. And so yeah it’s working on Just little by little, getting people on board and trying to find ways to do
[00:25:57] Vicki Markussen: it. Where my brain went as you are having increased demand and increased sales, are these carts, are these things that people expect to walk out of your Lot width.
[00:26:11] Vicki Markussen: Do you have to carry inventory? Are those things that can be ordered? So and where I’m going with that is like space expansion. What are you foreseeing?
[00:26:19] Colin Luz: Yeah, even just buying this location in March we thought we were going to be good for a while, but it’s already pretty tight. Just having the kind of inventory.
[00:26:27] Colin Luz: that we need. It seems like when we have more inventory, we’re selling more. So we’re constantly ordering semi truck of carts at a time. Some people do, we don’t get a ton of walk ins. I’ve usually, a lot of our sales come through online, through that, through our website and through Facebook marketplace, honestly.
[00:26:42] Colin Luz: So the conversation usually starts there, but then I get them into test drive the cart and then usually deliver it or if they have a trailer, pick it up. But but yeah, I think if it keeps going at this rate, I think we’re going to run out of space. Much quicker than we thought. We were hoping that this place would hold us over for five or six years, but I don’t know if we’ll even have more space in two or three years, much more space to bring on Club Car, Easy Go, or something like that for our visions. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll have to find the right place, but It is pretty important to us to keep it in La Crescent. We would like to try to do that, but there’s only so much space between the bluff and the river, La Crescent. So we’ll have to, we might have to get creative but yeah, we’ll see.
[00:27:21] Vicki Markussen: Nice. And so this is, it seems like this is just starting to take off and it’s growing. And then you’d say, oh, and I have another business. The stoneworks sign and monuments, is that what it’s called? Yeah,
[00:27:33] Colin Luz: yep. I started that business with the guys that I own Holiday Heroes with, Matt and Bucks. We had come across this business, we went down to the National Franchise show in Miami earlier this year.
[00:27:46] Colin Luz: And Came across this business that said, turn sand into revenue, and a lot of the businesses there were like food and service industry type of that business, but this was, we’re a little more blue collar, and so I guess that thing, it really, that term just really resonated with us, we got to learn about it.
[00:28:01] Colin Luz: So the franchise is actually called Boulder Designs, but each one has their own specific name Through that and so but yeah, essentially what we’re creating are these custom boulders, rocks that are that you can use as signs and monuments as far as commercial signage Headstones and memorials and things like that.
[00:28:19] Colin Luz: So again, that’s just one of those things looking around I look around how big La Crosse is and I don’t really know that many sign companies that are around there’s a few I can think of but for how many people live here I offer something at a different price point and just a different look that is still professional and attracts people to their business.
[00:28:38] Colin Luz: And then on the other side of that, the monument side of it the cost for marble and granite has just skyrocketed over the years and it’s expected to continue. And we’ve learned how to make these custom stones that look beautiful. almost identical to these headstones that you see at any cemetery, but we can do it at a fraction of the cost and there’s a pretty serious thing out there right now as far as What do they call it?
[00:29:02]
[00:29:02] Colin Lutz: Funeral poverty or whatever the term is, but you know, people having to spend an outrageous amount of money to take care of someone after they’ve passed and it can really put people under quickly and an expensive headstone and memorial is part of that. And there’s not a whole lot of people that are offering a different type of product that still looks beautiful and something that they can remember their loved ones by, but do it at a much more affordable cost. Yeah. We’ve come up Boulder Designs came up with engineered stone material using several of these proprietary products that they’ve worked on over the years that we can develop to create these headstones. And then also through that same supplies we can make any sort of commercial signage or residential signage, address rocks, fire pits, mailboxes.
[00:29:48] Colin Lutz: There’s actually quite a bit that we can do with this product. And yeah, we’re excited about it. I think there’s a lot of potential for it. I think it’s something that Not only our area needs, but there’s other areas that I’m sure are going through the similar thing. And again, just one of those things, just trying to see predict where the demand is going to be and do my best to find a supply to match it.
[00:30:09] Colin Lutz: So I’m going to ask The question that a lot of busy people are going to ask, how do you manage this many businesses? How do you balance that? And be a new dad? Yeah. And a husband, there’s that too. I have a really good wife. That’s number one. She’s super supportive. And I’m sure, It would be hard for a lot of people to, it’s definitely a unique lifestyle as far as I’m working kind of all the time in weird hours and things like that, but she’s really supportive of all our new ideas that we have and I think ultimately sees the end goal with me and we have the same vision having a good Good relationship at home is the most important thing to me, but then, yeah, finding the time is just about learning how to be efficient with it.
[00:30:55] Colin Lutz: I have a pretty strict calendar as far as what I need to do in a day and try to help people as quickly as I can and not delay things till the next day if it can be taken care of today and Yeah, it takes a lot of discipline and you have to be diligent with your time and your energy but I have a lot of it, I feel like and so I just keep going as long as I can and And then delegate delegate things that aren’t quite as important for me to do and things that are a little more trivial.
[00:31:23] Colin Lutz: We have a full time mechanic at Copperhead, we get helpers during the holiday lighting season for some little things on the ground. And it was like that with the moving company as well I delegated things as guys had been with me longer and finding really good people. Of course, it’s such an important part in treating those people right and trying to pay them the best you can and be flexible with them.
[00:31:44] Colin Lutz: That’s very important to me as far as being a business owner too. Of course, the business needs to make money. I’d like to make money, but I want to create cool jobs for people and jobs that they enjoy, they look forward to going to, and that they feel proud to be a part of.
[00:31:58] Colin Lutz: This may not be the case for you, but I would imagine it is. Do you have individuals coming to you saying, how do I start my own business?
[00:32:07] It happens pretty frequently, yeah. But I, it’s always something that I enjoy doing. Even my mother in law started a table rental business this last couple years and it’s been fun to help her.
[00:32:17] Colin Lutz: Do that and see it take off for her this last year. I think this is her third year doing it now. And Tables by Tracy is the name of it, if anyone’s looking for table rentals. Nice. Good plug there. Yeah. So she’s it’s there’s a lot of people that come to me that they think it’s going to be they’ve got this business idea, it’s going to happen, but really formulating the plan as far as how are you going to And get this done and get this to grow is another aspect of it.
[00:32:41] Colin Lutz: Because that initial fire will wear off and you’ll start to realize, Oh man, what did I actually get myself into? I try to help people walk them through that process and know that it’s going to take a year or two to really get where they want to be and you just have to be patient and work hard and, you just It sounds as simple as that, but there’s obviously a lot to it.
[00:33:01] Vicki Markussen: I’m imagining too, you’re always looking for who can be that great number two person, because you can keep all those businesses if you start to grow some great people that you can delegate to.
[00:33:14] Colin Lutz: Yeah, for sure. Having a business partner, like I said, taking a lot of weight off of that and being able to split things up that way has been great.
[00:33:21] Colin Lutz: But then yeah, eventually hiring people like our mechanic at Copperhead is the best small engine mechanic that I think we could find. He’s just he’s super efficient with his time. He does good work. And if we can find more guys like that in the future we’ll, Do whatever we can to take care of them and keep them on.
[00:33:36] Vicki Markussen: You have plenty keeping you busy. What’s your end game? What does end success look like for you? Owning several companies, owning one really great company at the end. Do you have a vision? I don’t know. I guess the journey of it is the most fun part to me. So I, an end goal, like as far as retiring, I, it’s really hard to envision myself.
[00:33:57] Vicki Markussen: and I know that life goes well and if I get to that age and have that opportunity like I’m sure I’ll have to think about it, but it’s really hard to even fathom right now and the end goal? No. I mean, I just want to continue to do, to build good businesses that provide value to our community, have fun doing it, hire good people, and, really just enjoy the whole journey from starting it to seeing where grows And just keep going that way and I guess it’s not off the table that I wouldn’t start other businesses, but right now I’ve definitely got my plate full.
[00:34:28] Vicki Markussen: So well, we’re focusing on These few right now and just going from there So so I may have ruined my common closer question, which is what makes you passionate about what you do? Sure. No, I think yeah, but circling back to You know It’s fun to be a business owner for me. It’s definitely, it fits my personality.
[00:34:50] Vicki Markussen: Being creative and coming up with these new business ideas is what excites me. I think I have a unique talent for it and so I just want to continue to keep doing that. It motivates me to Provide cool businesses that, that other people really get a lot of value out of and that they enjoy and seeing your customer happy from a, an idea that you had that actually brings happiness to their life is is very cool to see.
[00:35:15] Vicki Markussen: It never gets old. It’s something that I think keeps me going back the next day every time to if I can make one more person a little happier than they were yesterday let’s go for it, and so that sounds kind of cliche and it’s a little whatever, but it is, it is what motivates me.
[00:35:32] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. Yeah. And I would imagine it’s very validating, right? Because launching your own business is a risk. The public could say, we hate this and they vote with their wallet, right? But you have customers clearly it’s like copper, copperhead carts is a prime example of you thought demand was going to be much smaller than it is.
[00:35:51] Vicki Markussen: So it’s validating that. Yes, your hunch was right. And the risk was right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that’s, that is a really rewarding feeling. It feels like when you, when the community supports you too, you’re motivated to do well for them and keep growing. And like I said, try to create jobs and and be a contributing member to your economy and your society is a good feeling every day,
[00:36:16] Vicki Markussen: yeah, and that’s demonstrated in the ways that you give back to the community as well, you have been listening to Colin Lutz with his long list. Stoneworks sign and monuments, Copperhead carts. He’s a realtor. Holiday Heroes lights. He’s a new dad. He owns rentals. He does golf outing fundraisers and has a non profit.
[00:36:36] . You’ve been listening to BizCast, Greater La Crosse. We’ll catch you next week.
