April 2025 Pro Highlight — Meet Bret.

DustiO

Meet @Bretdouglas a Top Pro landscaper, a pro mentor, and a Pro Advisor from our Thumbtack Pro Advisory Board. Bret also uses Thumbtack to help give back to his community during times of crisis — finding folks who need help with fallen trees and other weather related landscape issues. We asked him about his Thumbtack experience and to share some advice for other pros. Check out what he had to say and comment below with your story or any advice you'd like to share with other Thumbtack pros.

Can you tell us a bit about your business and what inspired you to start it? We are blessed to be landscape installation contractors in Central Florida between Orlando and Daytona Beach. I love people and having a part into taking something that might be old and used up and rebuilding it to look brand new and beautiful again

What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as a business owner, and how did you overcome them? We have faced a lot of challenges as we learn to scale as a business. At one point in our career we had a $2 million dollar company with over 30 trucks and 30 employees. We were trying to go statewide and cover all the major cities in Florida and it was a nightmare. We've now scaled way back to where we do about $30,000 a month. We are much more comfortable targeting the Central Orlando metro.

How has Thumbtack contributed to your business's success? We have struggled with advertising and spending money on marketing for so many years. About the time that we decommissioned our larger business and scaled way back Thumbtack was just starting out and we gave it a try doing the digital lead approach. We quickly mastered the system and it is so beneficial to our business that nowadays were 100% Thumbtack driven operation.

What advice would you give to new business owners starting out on Thumbtack? Number one I would definitely hang out in the Thumbtack Pro Community. You will meet such wonderful people like Thumbtack employees and top pros from around the country. These people not only care about your success but they put their passion into working everyday with each other to not only accelerate their business but to foster a network, a community, and a feeling.

If you're plugged into the community, you're plugged into the network of Thumbtack you will never face challenges alone. I have been a top pro on the platform for so many years I forgot how many. But I think all together maybe 10 years I've been blessed.

SarzozaPhoto

Bret's great! A real one for sure.