January Issue Extra: Small Business Roundtable: Part Two

Lawn & Landscape magazine sat down with the owner/operators of four small landscaping business at the GIE show in Tampa, Fla. in November 2001. They each talked about the challenges they faced in years past as well as goals they hope to accomplish in the future.

The following transcript is a continuation from the article found in the January issue of Lawn & Landscape magazine and is the conclusion of our online installments of the conversation.

Lawn & Landscape: In terms of developing people, you guys have grown and diversified. How big of a challenge has that been for you guys?

Joe Goetz: Our biggest problem, and also I think it is one of our virtues, is that we want to have people grow within so that we have our own culture. So, we have a good group of folks that we know share the company's values - they just need to be trained. One of the best things and worst things that can happen is when you train someone and they leave. That happened to us last year, but everybody moved up. That was exciting for the employees because here were guys who were on a rake getting in a lead position and people that were in lead were bumped up.

Jeff Bowen: Did they move up because they wanted to and the door opened up for them or did you just tell them that that's what they had to do? I have a problem right now because I tried to give two of my Hispanic employees more responsibilities and one day they were ok with it. On Monday they came in and said they didn't want to do it. So what do I do? Do I hire outside because these guys don't want to make more money and take more responsibility?

Maurice Dowell: Our guys used to feel the same way. They did not want to be out front, instead they wanted to all go up together. They really feel that way. If they feel one person is being discriminated against, they walk out. They're also afraid of failure. We've overcome that hurdle by doing everything we can to make them proud of what they are doing. We have a "Mexican" meeting once a week where they can get all their complaints out in the open. We try to resolve all of those problems and nip them in the bud and it is amazing what that once a week Mexican meeting we have, once we get out there, we have no problems and we just laugh and joke.

L&L: So what are your thoughts about 2002? What do you guys see coming? You know there are so many questions about it right now. What are you guys looking for out of next year?

Brent Flory: I'm excited about it. My goal is to put a couple more crews together for next year and I want to see that $850,000 or a million come in here. I want to be profitable in what I'm doing and, right now, I really feel the pressing need to develop a structure so I can get there.

MD: We're optimistic. Bringing that landscape designer aboard is something that is really going to solidify our niche in our market. One other thing that my wife and I are working for is to work less. I want to be around 45 to 50 hours a week. I still want to take my vacations and to enjoy my time away. So, we will continue to do that and we will still continue to empower our staff, to make those decisions and even if a few of them are wrong.

JB: Super optimistic here. Next year looks great so far. We already have $1.5 million in signed contracts for 2002. So, that's good, but we don't know what growth will come next year to add on to that.

JG: Things look good for us. This year has been the first year out of seven that just the work will carry over into next year. Usually we're pretty close, but this year I think we're going to be back logged.

Visit Lawn & Landscape Online tomorrow for the conclusion of our roundtable conversation from the 2001 GIE Show.