Author: Dan Jacobs

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Dan Jacobs

Jacobs is a former editor-in-chief of Landscape Management.

Plateau pains

Periods of stagnation are common in business. Here’s how to reach the next level. Good businesses grow naturally, until they don’t. Many landscape company owners find their initial success stalls, leaving them struggling to break through a plateau and reach the next level. Bill Silverman, owner of Springboard Business Coaching, offered executives “The Keys to […]

June 2013 Web Extra: ‘Take off Saturdays’

If Gary Mallory, CEO of Albuquerque, N.M.-based Heads Up Landscape Contractors, has one piece of advice for other landscape executives, it’s to balance the business with the personal. Landscape Management featured Heads Up in a feature story about 40th anniversaries the 2013 LM150 supplement, in which the company was named No. 79 on the list […]

Side by side

Two landscape industry competitors decide to share space and find a whole lot more than they bargained for. They say “If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.” Or, if you’re Laura McMurray and Michael Ackerman, join in matrimony. When the competing landscaping business owners decided to share space to save money, they ended up sharing […]

Staying power: Celebrating 40 years

Three LM150 company executives reflect on 40 years in the industry and share how they’ll celebrate their anniversaries. 1973 was quite a year. Three of the industry’s largest companies made their debuts then. Heads Up Landscape Contractors, Clintar Landscape Management and Denison Landscaping are marking their 40th anniversaries with a series of celebrations and activities. […]

Half a century of success

Michael Bellantoni may be stepping away from his business, but he’s not slowing down. After 50 years of running his landscaping business, Michael Bellantoni might be on the back nine. Or he might be in Hawaii or Florida or Aruba. But even as he winds down his role in the business, rest assured, he will […]

Snow + Ice Guide: On the home front

Three snow contractors put a new twist on winter’s residential market.   When winter’s icy tendrils snake their way through the northern part of the country, many contractors put the mowers away and attach plows to the fronts of their trucks. But today they’re doing so on the heels of a couple seasons where snowfall […]

Organics: A balancing act

 Some lawn care pros see a rise in demand for “natural” turf service offerings. Americans still want a lush, green lawn, but today, lawn care companies realize that some customers want that look provided by organic and natural lawn care solutions. According to Landscape Management’s Lawn Care Market Report survey, 44 percent of respondents offer […]

Bound by restrictions

The industry addresses fertilizer and pesticide regulations at the local, state and national levels. Location, location, location. The oft-cited phrase used to justify the price and salability of any home is equally good at describing the state of fertilizer and pesticide regulations across the country. In some places, New Jersey for example, the rules are […]

Lawncare pro: Adam Linnemann

Starting your business as a teenager does have a few perks. Adam Linnemann, president of Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping started with a push mower, riding lawn mower and wagon. “I love talking with my clients and at the time when I started, most of them were elderly,” Linnemann recalls. “I would spend sometimes 30-45 […]

Band Together for MJ

By Daniel G. Jacobs When Michael John “MJ” O’Boyle was just 2-and-a-half years old, Grandma noticed his right foot slightly turned in as he walked. It was in December last year when she mentioned it to Michael, MJ’s father, who brushed away any concern. After all, what kid doesn’t walk a little pigeon-toed once in […]

The winter (and spring) of our discontent

Snowplows sat idle, gathering dust instead of snow. Temperatures blinked to late spring levels in February before alternating between record heat and below freezing for much of the country. It sent contractors everywhere scrambling and launched their 100 Days of Hell as much as 45 days earlier than in years past. “Everyone is scrambling to […]

Lawncare pro: Danny Milligan

Danny Milligan, president of Strathmore Landscape, is proud of the company’s latest environmental initiative. “We cannot change from gas-powered trucks completely, but we are moving in the direction of sustainability one step at a time.” Milligan, along with daughter Jessica and son Gordon, talked a little bit about how the industry has changed over the […]

Green Industry consultant Jeffrey Scott teaches trust leads to affluence

By Dan Jacobs Affluent customers don’t just live in mansions on large rolling estates. They live in communities all over the country, and they have money to spend. “There are three kinds of affluent: The millionaire next door — the kind that have the money but you can’t see it because they don’t wear it,” […]

Business lessons you can learn from the gym

Life’s lessons come in the strangest of places. Some of you might remember what I  learned playing softball. Here are a few lessons I picked up at the health club. Some people don’t follow the rules. The gym is filled with all sorts of exercise equipment and weight machines designed to induce sweating. Signs posted […]

Lawncare pro: Michael Bellantoni

Michael Bellantoni has seen a lot in the 59 years he’s worked in landscaping (49 owning his own company). And he’s reminded of his start daily. “On the wall in front of me is a frame with three invoices,” he says. “I had a client who was my father’s. After my father passed away, they […]

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