SPEAKER_00 0:00

It really just comes back to caring about people in general. So like when you have those conversations with people, just getting to know them and asking things about them, finding out about their business, what helped them start it, why they're passionate about it, all those things, and it's really just developing those relationships.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

What's up everybody? Welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter, where we highlight Northern Colorado's top networkers and the connections that they make that make them super successful. Justin Lindquist on the show today. Justin, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

What's happening, Angie?

SPEAKER_01 0:34

How are you doing today? I'm doing really good. Well, I I'm excited to talk to you because when I first met you, I got introduced to you by somebody who is super proud of the cave light that you did. So I I know a lot of people think of outdoor lighting. I mean, I know I get like targeted from like jellyfish or those on social media. Um, and I see them in neighborhoods too, like the the different lighting, especially different holidays, but there's levels to this thing uh where if you're doing cave lights, there's there's there's an extra layer beyond uh the track lighting. So tell us a little bit more about what you do beyond the cave lights.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah, so cave light in that one specifically was a water feature that we lit up for a good friend of ours, also a network in action uh colleague or referral partner friend of ours, Chris Parks. Um so we lit up his water feature. He had a nice little tucked-in cave there that we threw a little light in the back, and it's been a really unique feature that he's he definitely loves telling people about, but we're really proud of that one. So we do luxury high-end um outdoor lighting, architectural lighting, holiday lighting as well, but we primarily focus on kind of that landscape lighting, architectural lighting, bringing safety, ambiance to people's outdoor living and entries of their homes.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah. Well, on your shirt, on your hat, on your truck, you got your name on your business. So when we talk about building relationships, that level of trust, you're not just representing your business, you're representing who you are as a human being and your last name. So uh, what has that been like?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

That was that was strategic. I wanted to do that because I am very proud to put our name on every project that we do. I stand behind it, and if someone has a problem or if we have a reputation, that is literally my last name that carries that reputation. So it's just a level of care. Um, and it helps us bring the best quality product to our homeowners, to our clients, to our referral partners across the board, and we really stand by that integrity and no better way than putting our name on it literally.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Well, very cool. And you got a lot of five-star Google reviews that you've done and uh been an entrepreneur most of your life. Uh tell me the story though, how you got into outdoor lighting. So I think it's really cool. And um, I haven't seen it very much until I met you.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yeah, it's an extremely niche field, that's for sure. It brings its own challenges that way because it is so niche, it's kind of hard to get the word out there, hence why joining these networking groups are huge. Um, but how we got into it, or how I got into it, is during college, I was studying finances and got a finance degree at University of Minnesota Duluth. So during one of the summers, I was working or looking for a job, and my younger brother actually happened to have had a job lined up with an outdoor lighting company that worked around the Lake Minnetonka areas. And if you are familiar with Minnesota, you know where Lake Minnetonka is and you've seen the houses on Lake Minnetonka. They're very well lit and people have a good amount of money over there. So it is something very niche, but I got lucky enough to end up getting that job because my brother had something else come through. Um so he's like, hey, you want this summer job? I worked manual labor jobs all the time growing up because it's the most money you can make during the summer and I didn't mind the heat and things like that. So ended up doing it one summer, did it, enjoyed it, and then went back to school, graduated the following year, moved out to Colorado to do sales for an hour company. And then when COVID happened, um decided to start my own thing then and there. Always wanted to do it, but didn't know exactly what. But when it came time to it, I decided to go the lighting route and been in love ever since. And now I'm a little nerd when it comes to different light fixtures and lighting design. And I notice every ballbout on every business in-house going through neighborhoods. So it's a blessing and a curse, but I enjoy it for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah. Well, I love that your brain thinks about the lighting because I mean when people are building homes or designing custom homes, they do the 2D plans and then they work with a structural engineer and architect and get 3D plans or they get the renderings of where the trees and the outstore stuff's, but they don't really think about the lighting, or at least uh not from what I've seen. So um if you could advise somebody who's in this design process with lighting in mind, what kind of things would you advise them to do as far as design choices?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Well, biggest thing is like you said, it's not commonly thought of because when you're building a house, when you're doing these types of things, you always think during the day. And during the day, you're not focused on lighting. And then when you go inside, you take lighting for granted. But imagine turning off all your lights in your house and trying to cook a meal. It's not really possible if you can't see what you're kind of trying to do. So we take that and we bring that to the outside. So we're slightly different, is we're taking that inside very detailed, like using certain lights to create certain ambiances and bringing that outside. But we also focus on the foundations of the outside lighting as well when it comes to safety and just gently lighting pathway lights and doing these things that allow your guests and yourself to move around outside safely and securely. If you have dogs running in the backyard, like having lights around the perimeter of the yard allows you to just have that sense of space. So when the dogs are out there, you're letting your dogs out at night, you can see if there's other animals and things like that in the yard. So all those little things you don't really think of until you start experiencing it. But if you go to a resort or you go to a restaurant and it's really nicely lit inside, those things make a difference, but it's more your subconscious that is noticing it. So definitely like when you're when you're doing a good project and you're putting money in, especially landscaping, you're spending you up to a quarter million dollars on some of these landscape projects that we work on, and even above that. And when you're spending that much during enjoy it during the day, why not extend that and enjoy it throughout the night as well? So once the sun goes down, right now we're in the middle of summer, so it's not till like 9 30 right now, so it's not as big of a deal. But on the weekends, it's nice if you have friends over. But especially during the later fall months, we have the beautiful weather that allows us to stay outside. So since we're out there, keep the ambiance going, keep the inviting that party outside and staying out there and enjoying it because you can extend those hours into the night by having that lighting and being able to see, and it creates that emotion and that mood that makes people kind of happy to sit out there and sit around a fire or enjoy a nice dinner together and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Yeah. So do people have like a remote control for their backyards, or does it come on and it just looks there?

SPEAKER_00 6:48

So we can do so many different things. We can have it as a set and forget, and you we put it in there, you never have to worry about it. It comes on every night, turns off every morning, safe and sound. Or we can have stuff if you like playing around with your phone, we can have color changing, zoning, dimming, um, different times throughout the night. We can have different sections turn off, and it can slowly go down to just very minimal lighting at throughout the middle of the night. We would work on dark sky projects, so in areas such as mountains and boulder county and things like that. Um, people would take dark sky stuff pretty seriously. So we'll design things around that using only downward-facing fixtures, keeping light pollution out, things like that. So there's a lot of a lot of different options, different fixtures, different things out there. And that's why there's very few of us lighting guys that specifically do lighting, but the ones that do, we kind of get to dive into all of that and really get to see what's out there and available to people.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Sure. Well, let's let's dive into the networking because, like you said, it's not a business that a lot of people understand or even are aware of. So getting the word out or the concept or why it's building those relationships is huge. What um who have you connected with or networked with that has opened up the most doors?

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah, so our biggest partners and our referral partners are landscapers. So a lot of times we do get work and we sub for a lot of different landscapers, different levels, different things that they're looking for. Um we really uh look to also work with custom home builders. Um so we've had some good re uh connections with people in our group that are in the renovation side of things or in the home building side of things. And then I've also connected with marketing people to help me with my branding and help me with my uh work as well and getting my name out there and doing paid social advertising and things like that. So utilizing the group selfishly for myself, finding those people that I need to hire, and then also just doing what I can to help those people gain traction. If someone asks me for certain things that I know a person, I really like being that person that can connect those two. So I get a lot of enjoyment out of that and being part of this group. So, but it's also helped me on my side grow the business and like you said, get the name out there and just more people aware of it because it is so niche.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people watching this podcast um can relate, like just getting people to understand what they do and the value they can add is step one. Um, and to to highlight that. And so as you're building awareness and connections, how do you go about it to bring people on to what you can provide and who you can provide it for?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah, I'm a firm believer in providing value first before asking things from other people. Um, so I always go into conversations and it really just comes back to caring about people in general. So, like when you have those conversations with people, just getting to know them and asking things about them, finding out about their business, what helped them start it, why they're passionate about it, all those things, and it's really just developing those relationships. And then when those opportunities present themselves to share their business with another person or create that connection between them and another business owner that might benefit from each other and that relationship, having those opportunities, I've kind of always gone into it as just creating that friendship first, and then when the business things happen, you have those relationships, you're confident to refer that person instead of just attacking as like how can this person help me grow my business? Even if it's just how can I first and foremost help this person in the business, like let's get to know each other, let's let's establish that trust with each other because you can't refer somebody that does a terrible job because that ends up looking twice as bad on you.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Well, especially if the you know the level of homes that you're lighting up. I mean, people are in that market are expecting customer service, they're not shopping necessarily on they don't want the cheapest goods, they want something that looks super nice. And um I I'm thinking about the real estate, you know, I've I'm a real estate investor as well. The houses that have the best lighting, the main photo that they use to market the house is not at the bright of daytime. It's like right at dusk when it's all lit up, and um, because it really sets it apart. Have you done any studies of like what it does to the home's value or sellability or those kind of things?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

I haven't personally, but I have read many articles of typically, like you said, the real estate industry will do those studies. And in 2025, outdoor lighting is the most popular really trending um style and things to add to your outdoor living. So that's a really cool thing, helping us nationwide. It's becoming a bigger and bigger thing every year. Colorado is behind when it comes to that exposure to outdoor lighting, it's really big in coastal states. So as it starts to come here, they're starting to do those things. They have specific numbers, like I believe between 70 and 80 percent of the value that you spend on good quality outdoor living things comes back when you go to resell the home. So they have different studies done like that. So I don't try to use that as a here bias because it's directly going to, but it does seem to come around, and like you said, when you can market it and you're a real estate agent, you're trying to sell a house and you're able to put a nighttime shot or a dust shot, like you said, and have that as you're scrolling through Zillow or scrolling through Redfin, and you see all of a sudden a dark photo where it's different than everyone else, it's that marketing thing that's just gonna stand out, and they're like, Oh, why does that photo seem so interesting? And they're gonna click on that, and it's just because it's a different time of day, yeah, different atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Well, and as a real estate professional or mortgage, people are looking for their next dream house or whatever, uh, and maybe it's not lit or it's got the basic stuff in, but being able to share what it could be, or if they're trying to get it off the market or target a certain buyer to add it in, um, you know, I think I really see partnering with you as like a huge extension of what they could do to offer their clients.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Yeah, and if they if you have a homeowner too that purchases a new home and it has a pre-existing system that hasn't been taken care of, hasn't been maintained, needs to updating, needs to be retrofitted because it used to be a halogen system before LEDs came around, all those types of things we also help. So real estate agents and stuff have been good referral partners to our business in the past as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Sure. Do you like it when they come in with knowing exactly what they want or when they're like, just make it look really good and you design it?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Oh, if if I could have it my way, no shade to homeowners or anyone that has their ideas. I I love when a homeowner trusts us and they're like, hey, here's our budget. We trust you, you've worked with our friends, we've seen your work, we just want you to make our space look as best as possible with this X amount of dollars. That's kind of our preference that I would love if every client and every situation was like that, but it's not. So a lot of ours come in, they have ideas, we bring our ideas because we're around it so much that we see all these different ways to use light, whether it's backlighting, grazing, downlighting, different things like that, where the person that typically calls us, they're like, hey, we've seen some lighting before, we're interested in getting it here, but they don't know the little details of what we can do with their property. So that's a really fun conversation to have on our initial consultations. We'll walk around and I love throwing out ideas, and then you kind of start to gauge like how creative is this person? How far do they want to go outside the box or do they want us to keep things simple? So you kind of start to read that. But it's really fun to find that mesh of what's their vision, what do I see with their property from a design side, and how can you bring it together so they're satisfied and happy. And I also take pride in the work that we do as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Awesome. Well, and then I imagine you go through a neighborhood that the neighbors get envious of each other. Hey, I want a backyard like that, and um, to be able to come. Where's your service area where in Colorado do you because we're so niche, we do cover a big area.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Um, so we cover pretty much the north side of Denver. Um, we'll go all the way out to Vale. I love doing mountain jobs, those are those are just selfishly fun for me. And then we cover up to Fort Collins and out to like Greeley. So all of northern Colorado and then also into the mountains. And we've done a few projects in other states across the country as well, just to friends and family and things like that. So kind of wherever you might need us.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Well, I texted you the other day. I'm like, I see one of your trucks out there going out to a place out of Berthood. But um, you know, as a as a younger entrepreneur, someone who's got this vision, I wish I would have started when I was a year age too. But uh, has there been any unique challenges um jumping into the networking world as a uh as a young professional?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Yeah, I think the obvious one that most people would think of is age. I mean, when you come in, especially me, like I am almost 30 years old, but I look like I may be in my early 20s. Um so when you do come in, like people may not necessarily take you seriously. When you talk about something, they may not understand the level in which you do it at. That's something I find a lot, is a lot of times when I talk about what I do, people be like, oh, do you like hang Christmas lights or like put like solar lights and stuff? And it's like, no, like what we do is like extremely like high-end luxury stuff, but we have that issue when I go and meet clients. Like I can tell sometimes where they're hesitant, but usually once we start talking about it and they can tell like how passionate I am about what I do, and then also just the depth of my knowledge of certain lights and different things like that. Usually you can tell we get to a spot where they start to trust me and they're like, Oh, you know what you're talking about, like you're aware of what's going on, you get what I'm saying, and then you're able to explain it back to me. So doing things like that, it's it's a little bit tougher, but other than that, as long as as long as you can talk to people, I think that's the most important thing. I went to school and I hated communication classes, I hated giving public speaking, like it's not my forte. Networking, not my forte. I'm a I'm a more quiet, shy person, but uh joining something like this, it pushes you outside of that. And in a business, you have to be able to communicate with other people. Like, you can't be in a shell. There may be a certain very niche tiny things that you might be able to sit behind a computer and ever talk to anybody, but we're all in customer service business. We just happen to sell different products or different services, and but at the end of the day, you have to build those relationships with other people in order to grow, along with building relationships with homeowners, clients, things like that. So it all connects to each other, and this is this is a nice way to be able to force yourself to have those conversations with people, talk about your business, be willing to share about your business and ask for things in return and just have more direct conversations and things like that that I think help you grow as a person and as a business owner.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah. Well, in Colorado, we have four seasons, so I imagine you light up a backyard, it looks different than the summer, than the fall or the spring. Um, so how do you how do you keep that in mind? Or where when you're designing it, like maybe it's a summer month and I'm thinking of summer lighting, but you're probably thinking of year-round lighting.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, and it it just comes with time. I mean, at the beginning that wasn't something I thought of. I would just be like, this is I would look at how it looked that day when I was quoting the job, and I'd be like, this is how I want to light it. But as you keep doing it, and then as you go and service something during the winter, or you're doing another project during the winter, you're like, dang, I wish I would have done this on this other house because that's how that's gonna look in the winter. And it just comes with time and doing it a ton of times over and over and over in multiple designs. And you read articles, you listen to other people, you have conversations with people, and you pick up these little nuggets here and there from everybody, and you turn it into your own kind of thing, and you try to make the best that you can, but still learning. I'm surprised that that's something that you even think of because it took me probably a couple years before that crossed my mind, and I know plenty of people in our industry that they would have never even thought about that. But it is very true, like the color of light, the brightness of the light, depending if there's leaves, you don't want it to be too bright if there's no leaves during the winter. So there's definitely different things like that that take a take a toll and play a role in the design of lighting.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Well, I think that's why you hire a specialist too, because some landscapers might do lighting, um, but not like that, probably. You know, it's not it's not what that what they think about all day long, whereas you and I think when you can really narrow in on what you're really good at and create that as a business, then your clients win that way. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

And we're not for everybody. What we do and the level we do it at comes with a price tag, and there are plenty of situations where the landscaper that just wants to slap in some pathlights and some up lights on through your project, like that is exactly what you're looking for. And we never want to step on people's toes or do anything like that. We wouldn't talk bad if there's even a place for solar lights. I'm a big advocate of solar lights. Where you ask other lighting guys, they hate it. But to me, it gives people an experience, they start to experience it. It starts going out every other night and it doesn't work, and then they're like, we want this to be consistent because we like light. So finding those different ways and just understanding that there's work for everybody, there's projects that fit everybody. We're not for everybody, but if you're looking to really get a nice ambiance in your yard and have someone that cares about it and knows all the options that are out there to make it look as best possible, that's where we like to come in. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Well, what's the what's I mean, your name's on the logo? Uh what's your vision and goal? Where do you see Lindquist outdoor lighting in a couple years?

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Uh in a couple years, I mean, hopefully just we keep growing and lighting up more and more homes around Colorado. I would love to eventually just be able to sit in the mountains on a riverside and sit with my computer and design lighting projects. And at that point, so that's the ultimate goal. Is I think I'll be designing lighting projects well into retirement. But sitting on a Colorado riverside out in the mountains doesn't sound like a too bad of a spot to do that at.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah. Well, cool. And uh all of our guests uh we highlight the connections that they've made, but we also give them an opportunity to um ask for additional connections. Is there anybody specifically that you're looking to network with or uh different venue partners that would be valuable to you?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

No, just kind of what we talked about. Anybody that's in the home service, we we find that we work well in that. Um we've had random connections other ways that have led to work, but in the home service realty, like you you brought up yourself, um, that can be a huge thing that we're definitely looking for real estate partners and stuff like that. But it any way that we can help, no matter what line you're in, if you own a business and it's a physical location, we'd love to come out and quote some lighting to just bring safety and security and also ambiance to your business storefront. Um so different things like that, feel free to reach out to us.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Well, if somebody has a project or maybe they're in that home services and they're wanting to set up a one-to-one with you. What's the best way to get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Instagram is huge. I think it might just be kind of my age thing. Um, but all of our contact information is on our website as well. Um, so feel free to call me, email me, whatever works. I'm I'm very easy to get a hold of.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

All right, well, check them out on Instagram. Uh, make sure you're looking up and and checking out Justice. Thanks so much for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

This was awesome and best of luck to you. Thank you. Uh in the future. You as well. I appreciate you having me on. Right on.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me, or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado, I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.