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Letās face it: As a result of the lack of knowledge available to people about the landscape industry and the career potential within, its image is tainted. This is particularly true with younger generations. āStudents and parents think itās a dirty job and that you donāt make any money in landscaping; we just have this […]
Chris Lee admits he canāt pinpoint exactly what got him into the landscape business. But he is certain that the opportunity to ādo his own thing,ā and to āput his stamp on something bigger than himselfā were driving factors. Since founding Earthworks Inc., in 1979, Leeāwho serves as presidentāhas adapted and evolved the business many […]
A savvy business owner knows he or she constantly needs to be on the lookout for a growth bottleneck. If they want their businesses to continue to grow and perform, they need to remove these āhold-ups.” But what if the owner is the bottleneck? That was exactly the case for Doug McDuff and his business […]
Like so many other landscape professionals, Mark Borst, owner of Borst Landscape & Design in Allendale, New Jersey, says the labor pool in his area often feels quite dry. Itās an ongoing struggle to find qualified workers. Thatās why, about seven years ago, Borst began experimenting with employee referral rewards.Ā Since that time, refining the […]
A high school summer spent working on the grounds crew at a local golf course set Krisjan Berzins on a path toward the green industryāhe just didnāt know it yet. At the time, he says he was just trying to earn some summer income. āOne of the best perks was that weād start really early […]
Switching companiesāor even just positions within the same companyāalways brings a new set of challenges. For Bill Horn, East Branch Manager for Gachina Landscape Management in Menlo Park, California, 30-plus years with the same company had him used to a certain way of doing business. Horn brought his ideas to Gachina and had to find […]
Like so many other landscape business owners, Bret Achtenhagen, president and CEO of Bret Achtenhagenās Seasonal Services in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, was struggling with attracting, hiring, onboarding and retaining quality individuals to add to the companyās production teams. As a result, Achtenhagen says the company was growing faster than its ability to develop foremen and other […]
Located in Austin, Texasāwhere technology is basically a way of life (and most certainly a way of business)āBen Collinsworth, owner and founder of Native Land Design, says he felt embarrassed that his company appeared to lag in that arena. Watching friends outside of the industry transform their businesses with technology inspired Collinsworth to do this […]
Bob Grover was a self-described “outdoorsy kid” growing up. “I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s,” he explains. “We had three television channels. Kidsā TV shows only happened on Saturday mornings. There were no video games. We went outside and played. I had the fortune of living on 1 acre in suburbia. It was […]
Landscape business owners often feel like there is an āus versus themā mentality when it comes to employees. They feel like everyone is just in it for themselves. Nikos Phelps, founder of Utopian Landscapes LLC based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, says that he sensed tension building in his company and took a step back to ask […]
