Seth’s Cut: The doers and the dreamers

Photo: iStock.com/LoveTheWind

We create every issue of Landscape Management with our readers in mind. But who, exactly, are our readers?

It’s a fun question, and one I often consider. It’s a diverse group of people, that’s for sure. They could work for a small landscaping outfit just coming up in their local market, or they could be a multibusiness owner across multiple states with thousands of customers. To further complicate this question, we consider that our readers offer a wide variety of services. We try to cover all these bases — and be a little bit to everyone — by including content in four categories in every issue: turf and ornamental; mowing and maintenance; design/build and installation; irrigation and water management (and this month, a bonus snow and ice).

There are commonalities among our readers. People depend on them, not just their customers but also their families and the families of those they employ. They are dreamers. They are doers. When they see a problem, they want to fix it.

The topic of this month’s cover story, written by Editor Christina Herrick, covers adding a service to an existing business. Herrick spoke with representatives from six companies about how they went about adding services — pool installations and pest control as a few examples — and their best practices when going through the addition.

It could be hard for a doer to know when to leap and when to wait. It’s not an easy decision. This story offers plenty of advice on things to consider if you find yourself in a similar situation.

Why we added a service

I could relate to this story, as we recently added a service here at LM. Last year, we stepped outside our comfort zone to partner with Equip Exposition and host educational seminars.

Making a monthly magazine, a weekly e-newsletter, a website, social media and YouTube content is our normal gig. But we took a chance and expanded into in-person education. I’m glad we did, as year one was a success. Now we’re preparing for year two with hopes of growing the program.

And there are expansions we have decided against, for now. Does the world really need another podcast? Maybe someday I’ll make the leap. As of now, I’ve decided to stay on the sidelines of that one. Unless you all tell me otherwise, that is.

Beyond that cover story, we have plenty of content in this issue to appeal to our wide variety of readers. We have articles on controlling doveweed; extending the life of a string trimmer and tips from three experts on irrigation system maintenance. For those who do snow and ice removal, we check in with you two times in this issue. And lastly, I’ll mention that my 5 Questions this month is a fun Q&A with Seth Pflum, recently promoted to president and COO of Grunder Landscaping Co., a company all LM readers are familiar with as it’s the company started by our regular back-page columnist, Marty Grunder.

We’re in the throes of summer, but I hope this issue finds all you doers and dreamers in complete charge and moving full steam ahead. Whatever business you’re in, and whether you take that plunge and add a service or don’t, I’ll remind you of my favorite quote from the 1971 classic film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”