Spring Stress… (and How to Beat It)

 “Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work”

In my eyes, stress is excitement and enjoyment in your work gone wrong.  It comes from many different sources in the landscape business but most of all I think it comes from a lack of planning and a shortage of systems.

First – let me say this.  Everything is more fun when it is profitable.  Take the time to start with a budget and implement the LMN estimating software to make sure that you are pricing your work to achieve the financial success you deserve.  However, personally I have found that simply making a profit does not remove the stress…

Stressful situations are usually those that feel like they are out of our control….things that go wrong that create more work are often the most frustrating.  When I see these things happening in my company I tend not to get stressed, I usually instantly begin to analyze the problem instead.  Without really thinking about it I immediately:

1. Ask myself what is causing the stress

2. Think of what I can do about it immediately

3. Plan a method to stop it from happening again in the future

 By the time I get to number three the stress is no longer there.  Don’t forget that step two and three often involve delegation, otherwise you are going to find yourself getting overwhelmed.  Make sure you have people on your team that are able to assist with systems implementation and continuous improvement, and make sure that you understand that your role, as an owner or manager, is not to fix everyproblem yourself…. it’s to ensure that the problem gets fixed. To grow a successful company, you must hire and develop people you can trust to take a task and run with it. 

The Landscape Management Network systems library (click here to watch a demonstration) has hundreds of forms and resources to use and customize to help resolve your operations deficiencies and the online training program for field staff was designed specifically for continuous improvement of your landscape operation.  I have personally found that with better trained employees we have been able to do things that seemed impossible.  Online training does not replace the valuable hands on training in the landscape industry, and never will.  We have designed the courses to teach employees the basic fundamentals to give them the background information to work more efficiently using LEAN principles (you can click here to read more about these principles) to work more efficiently and to embrace change and invoke personal growth.  The training program helps contractors build a safety culture without any personal time invested by the owners and managers since the employees can do the training independently and often from their own homes after hours.

 Your company will never achieve greatness if you are stressed out.  The days of the pill popping raging mad red faced hair pulling managers are over.  Young workers respond to people that are leading by example, and providing tools and resources for career growth.  The LMN system will assist landscape owners and managers to create a low stress, yet highly efficient and safe work environment for everybody involved in a company.  It ties the operating budget to a project plan using a one of a kind estimating system that ensures profitable pricing and creates a seemless project plan so that the Field Supervision understands what is expected of them on every single project them are handed – this eliminates stress and turns it into FUN again!  My company and others just like me (you can read some examples by clicking here) will never be the same again.

Mark Bradley is the founder and president of TBG Landscape (www.tbglandscape.com), a full service landscape contracting firm from Toronto, ON.  Mark has grown his business from grassroots startup to annual sales of over $17 million while designing and installing Ontario’s most prestigious residential design build projects.  Recently, Mark released the systems that grew his company by founding the Landscape Management Network, (www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com) an online collection of tools, software, and education to help landscape contractors improve the way they see and manage their businesses.