I am interested in what becomes the main focus for businesses once they are established & understand/have the proceedures in place for the day to day running. Do people keep focused on making what they do even better, are people looking to grow the business by expanding into new ventures, keep key staff motivated, keep yourself motivated, keep up to date with new trends/technology.
To give you an insight into us we have been established 20 years, after I realised ( I thought) I could run a landscape business better than the big firm I was currently working for. The first few years were a massive learning curve, I was only 25 when I started & had 5 years experience. Within 5 years I was flat out employing two teams. I always wanted to grow the business as big as I could, so kept trying new ideas, getting on the decking boom early, which led to taking on a hot tub dealership, doing large national shows & going all over the country.
In hindsight, this allowed my core landscape business to suffer, but was great for learning face to face selling. I have always been interested in technology & we were one of the first landscapers with a web-site (how times have changed). I have now come full circle & decided its time to re-focus my energies back on the core landscaping. I do not regret any major decision I have made, some have been more successful than others. The one thing I have not done particularly well if I am honest is (looking back), keeping focused on a distinct business plan, becoming complacent in the good times & not firing problem staff when I should have.
I have some projects I am trying to implement for next year, artificial grass & a lawn care seperate from the landscaping.
I have always listened to other peoples experiences & find them invaluable. Any thoughts.
Duncan Ross
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Replies
Unfortunately, there is a small contingency who just want to argue, contradict or be stupid. I'm all for free speech etc, but I constantly amazed that some who post actually run professional businesses (this no way detracts from your post Duncan, which I think is great).
I think we all have a lot to learn from each other without the 'attitudes' of some....
I now await the flame mail.....;-)
However, happy to discuss such major topics in the KBO or by other means.
I concur, Re-post this in the Key Business Objectives group and its free from public gaze and we can have a more focused discussion.
Gary RK said:
Points taken, I am still learning my way around this site & have seen some negativity, will re-post, but its a shame as I have joined to get other honest professional ideas and opinions - full stop. Thanks for honesty tho.
I had a similar experience to yours Duncan.
I'd been in business for about fourteen years when I decided to venture into synthetic golf green installation.
I was seduced by the claim that installers were making big profits. It cost £10,000 to install a show green (I did this at a private school where we maintained the grounds). The school used the green and paid a contribution towards the installation (and the subsequent maintenance) but I still had a deficit of about £8,000 after all costs.
This diversification turned into a distraction from my core landscaping and maintenance business which would ultimately see me pull out without really recouping my losses.
Putting the cash loss to one side, the diversion undoubtedly reduced the level of focus which took time to recover from.
It's my view that unless you can afford a dedicated team to concentrate on non-core activities then just steer clear.
Duncan...please feel free to continue to discuss what you need to.
While I agree that while there is no great need for financials to be discussed in this thread ( and I take the same stance as Gary, above), it just we seem to have lost that useful 'constructive' nature in recent open forum posts.
Quite happly to accept it's me that's changed.....
duncan ross said:
No Gary, I do not mean to pry into anyones detailed affairs re:financials, thats why I put some generalisations on about us. I think its a good idea to get feedback from like minded people who you are not actively competing against.
Gary @ Acer Paving & Landscaping said:
Thanks for your recommendation/confirmation that Namgrass are a good business to work with, I am hoping to be up and running with them in the new year, they seem very competent.
Gary @ Acer Paving & Landscaping said:
Duncan, sorry to have thrown your thread initially off track - it was not my intention.
We have kept totally focused on our core activity with a regular kick-in from my Accountant if I don't do regular business plan reviews (and my backside hurts occasionally from it..;-)
We have a couple of seperate business areas, that I have kept totally seperate, different P&L, dedicated staff and runs as it's own profit centre.
I too (..don't we all..) get seduced by the chances offered to us make 'money', but I have a couple of times and the core business suffered thru lack on focus and money being used 'elsehwere'.
I stopped this approach a good number of years ago and now our core business has continued to grow and grow. It's regular income, underpins the business and ensure we all get paid 365 days a year. We do not shut down during the winter. In many respects, we are busier during winter than the rest of the year. Why?, because I put a bl**dy lot of hard work in talking/discussing with our clients what works are needed and when and the ensure we schedule accordingly.
We are fortunate in our business to have developed long term relationship with key clients....and it far easier to find work from existing cleints than to go get new clients.
All that siad, it dos not stop me looking at opportunities and I am doing that for two key areas next year.
I too have a love of technology and use it to help ru the business and allow direct, real time conversations, quotes and approvals & sign-offs. Just that happened to day at one of our sites. A problem, recorded and sent from iPad with photo, quote (from ProjectQuote), specification. While at site, less than 2 hhours later approval was received in email to proceed. We were able to service that issues there and then and made that teams time on site doubly cost effective. We have even used Facetime (video conference) to show a client real time an issue on site (as they are based in NW).
It reguarly gives rise to comments - "amazing didn't know landscapers used such technology".
I then smile to myself...:-)