Work Hard but Never Forget to Work Smart

“Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”   Thomas Edison

I often ask contractors why they decided to start a landscape business during our management workshops. Often, they shrug or laugh followed by saying something along the lines of “I wish I knew what I was thinking”. If there is one thing I have come to realize running my own companies it is that Thomas Edison hit the nail on the head when he quoted this line above. There is simply no way in this business to avoid work.

I think that there are two major types of business owners. Investors that own stock in companies that do not actively operate the business each day, and second, the business operators. There are very few landscape business owners that fit into the first category, so let’s focus on the second. Operating a landscape company requires enormous self discipline and an above average work ethic. The seasonal nature of the work creates some peak demand periods that would test anybody’s capability as a manager – then throw in dealing with the public, weather, mechanical failures, people problems, and a list of project variables as long as the eye can see and you have the perfect challenge for any self-identified genius!

As a business operator myself I continuously strive to improve and grow my companies without adding to my personal workload. That said, I have found that there are times where I simply need to knuckle down and get things done that need doing! I don’t ever look at this like work….I always look at it like an investment. I am investing my time in something that will provide a better future for myself and my family, investing in something that will ultimately make my life more and more enjoyable as the years pass. By investing time – which some people call working, I am usually creating a system that will allow more work to happen in my absence without causing any disruption.

Managing a business is about taking care of all of the things that other people don’t see – often the work that you are doing as an owner or manager is very hard to measure and it is almost always unrecognized by others. I have come to the conclusion that while operating my companies I will almost certainly need to get up early, stay up late, and think more about work than your average 9-5 employee, but if you can find one as happy as I am, let me know. I would rather think a bit more about my business than struggle and worry about money and things outside of my control for a lifetime.

When asked why I started my company – I always have the same answer pop into my head – to control my own destiny and enjoy what I do each day. I measure my personal contribution to my organization with a different yard stick and you need to as well.  Here are three ways I make sure I get the most out of my investment in my building my own business:

Understand Your Contribution

Make sure that you understand what you are contributing to the company - hopefully it is a bit different than the folks that work for you. Others may not see or understand your contributions, these people possibly never will and, quite frankly, if you are the owner it does not matter if others see your true value.

Delegate With Systems

Train yourself to be ruthlessly efficient and don’t waste time doing work that can be delegated to others. Identify the work that you cannot delegate and make time to find ways to create systems, or if affordable find the right person so that it can be delegated to a competent person. The more you delegate the faster your operation will improve because you are inventing time to work on more important things each time you delegate work.

Lead By Example

You don’t have to pick up a shovel to lead by example (although it does come in handy occassionally).  I mean lead with the little things like keeping a clean desk, a neat truck, insisting others are following company policy regularly.  Often people look at leadership from a mountain top and forget that it starts with the basics and runs through ever part of the business. We developed the LMN systems library as the ultimate delegation tool for landscape contractors. When you have a re-occurring problem or a system missing in your operation, you can delegate the project and provide resources for your team to tap into to assist them in creating a turn key system to resolve problems and increase efficiency that has already been industry proven by hundreds of other successful contractors!

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.