On March 7, 2013, our son Matt — then a freshman in college with aspirations of following in my footsteps and becoming an accountant — was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma. As parents, we try to teach our children to do the right thing, solve problems and succeed in life. In this case, our “student” became our teacher overnight.... read more
There are very few things our 11-year-old son, Nate, doesn’t like. He’s an easy-going kid, happy doing just about anything. There’s only one thing he always fights: haircuts. He hates to have his hair cut like nothing else. That’s why we were shocked when Nate came home from school in March and informed us he’d volunteered to have his head shaved at... read more
In “How to boost owner’s income,” from the October 2014 issue of LM, Jeffrey Scott tackles this age-old topic. Here’s a real-life example of how one landscape company owner added to his wallet. For another contractor example, see this blog post. For five years I worked with a landscape company where the owner initially thought he wanted to build a... read more
Many landscape professionals have a certain attitude about good old-fashioned direct mail marketing: “I tried it once before and it didn’t work.” The keyword here is once. Do-it-yourself business owners tend to look at marketing as a one-shot exercise. Send out 5,000 direct mail pieces one time, and get 500 new clients, right? Well, I wish it were that easy,... read more
The story “Gaining ground on a cure” from the October 2014 issue of LM hits on how three landscaping companies raise funds for cancer research. Here’s how one of those companies, Lyon Landscape Architects, expands its “social consciousness” beyond cancer research, also channeling it into the organization 100 Men Who Care. Marty Lyon localizes Lyon Landscape Architects’ social outreach via... read more
Featured is a PDF version of the October 2014 Step by Step on “How to take a soil sample” for use in company training efforts. Click here to download the PDF. read more
