5 Questions: Nate Moses

Nate Moses (Photo: Lou Ferraro)

Nate Moses

President, Precision Landscape, Greenville, S.C.

1. What would you like to tell us about Precision Landscape?

We’re primarily a residential services contractor based in Greenville, S.C. We offer landscape design/build, landscape maintenance, lawn care and tree and shrub care. Today, we have a staff of 37 team members. The company was founded in 2010 … I was young and working for a phenomenal landscape company, but I wanted to do my own thing. I thought I could do some things better. I struck off on my own, and boy, have I learned a lot since!

2. What’s your 2020 been like?

It’s definitely been a challenge. I knew early on that it would be a challenge to our leadership abilities to be able to lead through something like this. We are a fairly young team and we underestimated the psychological challenges we would face. Everyone’s been stuck indoors and not able to socialize as much; our team members can’t travel to see their extended families. We saw that a lot of our team members didn’t take vacation this year. Like anyone who works hard for several months without a break, that builds tension. We should have better anticipated that as we struggle as a country, we’ll also struggle as individuals.

3. What are some trends in your area that you have your eye on?

I like to look to some of the more progressive states — like New York, California — and see the trends that they are facing. In our community, we’re five or 10 years behind those trends. We’ve just started seeing electric equipment come here, and we’re seeing a few robotic mowers. We brought on an arborist this year so that we could move into the tree and shrub care sector, the plant health care side. This is allowing us to compete in a sector that we weren’t able to previously, as clients in our area like to work with one company for all their outdoor needs.

4. Do you read much, and what are some of your favorite books?

I wasn’t a big reader until the last couple years. I learned that you must constantly be challenging yourself and learning. I now read at least one book a month by reading five to 20 pages every morning. My favorite books are “Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business” — which has been really helpful for our business. Another one is “The Ultimate Blueprint for an Insanely Successful Business.” It’s about knowing your numbers and what you can do to set your company up for long-term success. Another is “Leadership and Self-Deception.” It challenges the way that we view people and how we can improve our lives by changing our outlook on others.

5. What’s been the best vacation you’ve ever taken?

We went to New York City in September of 2019 — we loved the city vibe. For us, we really enjoyed that time together and getting to experience so many iconic things. I’m a very restless person, and we managed to fit everything into our seven-day trip. We mapped out each day and accomplished a lot. The most memorable thing we did was we got to see Queen perform live in Central Park. They had a charitable concert with tons of great performers. Queen is one of our favorite bands. We were riding our bikes through Central Park the day before the event, and we heard the band playing over the loudspeakers. We followed the noise and talked to an event staff person and he said, “Haven’t you heard? There’s a big concert going on!” My wife said we’re here, there’s no way we’re not going.