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Jonathan Orcutt was about 12 years old when he learned his first lesson in efficiency. Around that age, he started mowing lawns in his neighborhood with his family’s old 21-inch, 100-pound push mower. When one of his neighbors bought a new, lightweight, self-propelled mulching mower, he negotiated a deal to mow their lawn for free in exchange for using the mower to do several other yards.

“I learned the importance of working smarter instead of harder,” he says. “By making my life easier, I was able to produce more work.”

Orcutt continued doing landscaping and lawn care throughout high school and college, and worked in construction after graduating. “I always thought I wanted to start a business that was more professional than a landscape company,” he says. “I was afraid of falling into the landscaper stereotype – working long days, long hours and fighting through the grind.”

When he asked himself what he knew best and enjoyed most, though, he kept coming back to landscaping. So, when he started Driven Landscapes in 2012 at age 26, Orcutt knew he’d have to work smarter, not harder, to avoid that grind and set his company apart.

Read the full story about Driven Landscapes from the September issue here.