June Issue Extra: Dual Partnership

Peter and Linda Donovan stretch the definition of partnership every day. Their Wakefield, Mass.-based company, Earthworks Landscaping, depends on it.

While Peter heads up the full-service landscape company’s operations – from maintenance to irrigation to design/installation – Linda masters office and administrative duties. He brings his horticultural expertise to the business relationship, while she brings her sales and entrepreneurial background as a former salon owner. Personally, they just click. Neither one is the better of the half.

“I met Peter at the very beginning of the business,” Linda recalled. “When he did his first billings, he liked my handwriting better and asked me to write his bills. I’ve done them ever since. In those days we only had 80 invoices.

“He married me because he liked my penmanship,” she joked. 

“We happen to have three kids, too,” Peter interjected, painting a telling picture of their home-office operation, which allows Linda to access their two-room office from the kitchen so she can care for her children and cater to client calls.

The set-up is ideal for Earthworks, especially since the married couple agreed early on that family ranks highest on the priority list – no matter what. While the two work to expand Earthworks and fine-tune its operations, they still stick to their parental promise. “We look at our kids early in the morning as they are playing and we say, ‘How are we going to make more money to take care of them today?’” Linda shared. When the business grows to where Linda can’t dedicate her attention to both sides of the home, so to speak, she’ll hire someone to watch the children but still be there as “mom.”

And while some married business partners admit to workplace tension, the Donovans agreed their partnership is founded on understanding, trust and a mutual instinct. “We have been able to use a relationship like ours as partnership – when we were dating that was one of the things we both agreed on,” Linda said. “And when you have the same personal goals, professionally, it’s just a walk in the park.”

The author is Managing Editor – Special Projects for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at khampshire@lawnandlandscape.com.