Occupational overload

Owning and operating a business can make it seem like the whole world is on your shoulders. You’re constantly being pulled in all directions from selling to servicing to billing to managing. And that doesn’t even include the other pressures of everyday life.

“I’m always in that mindset because it’s all on my shoulders,” says Brian Honeyager, who owns a U.S. Lawns franchise in Lawton, Oklahoma. “If it succeeds, it’s because of me. If it fails, it’s because of me. It’s my game and I want to play it so I’ve got to do it.”

Honeyager has been in the industry for more than 30 years and started his own business 10 years ago. He bought into a U.S. Lawns franchise five years ago, which helped him move from the residential to the commercial market. In that time, his company went from servicing about 240 homes to about 25 apartment complexes, eight hotels and several small businesses.

While the change has increased his stability as far as revenue and growth for his employees, the stress has remained the same. “It’s true for anybody that cares about what they’re doing or has some sort of level of perfection,” he says. “And I’m not looking for 100 percent. You can’t ever get to 100 percent perfection, but you can get things looking nice whether it’s residential or commercial. You just get better and better each time.”

Read the full story from the September issue here.