Landscape Disruptors

In this episode of Landscape Disruptors, Stanley "Dirt Monkey," Genadek answers the internet. Questions submitted by the listeners, Stanley, answeres everything from landscaping business questions on property maintenance vs. hardscape and where to recruit new staff and talent.

It's also not uncommon for Stanley to get detailed on the more technical-related questions focused on design and build or construction. Everything from building on sand, constructing retaining walls, and when and how to invest in snow equipment despite climbing insurance races. You won't want to miss this first Answer The Internet Episode with Stanley "Dirt Monkey" Genadek. Please submit your questions to [email protected]

The latest episode of the Landscape Disruptors podcast is a thought-provoking collision of entrepreneurs featuring Jon Fry, the CEO of LendFlow, and Mark Bradley, the CEO of LMN. During this episode of the podcast, the two of them cover how to grow your landscape business wisely utilizing different methods of capital investment. Everything from strategies of attaining that working capital and how to best use it to grow your landscape business. The truth is, most revenue-generating companies have access to capital; they often don't know how to utilize it or where to look for it. Strategically, there are a few ways to grow your landscape company when you have an injection of cash, and Mark and Jon go into the details on how to make that happen.

Vidosh North is a full-service landscape service provider founded in 2007. The company specializes in landscape design, specimen plantings, hardscape features, lighting, shoreline restoration, and irrigation services.

They've built the business on three generations of family landscape, site work, and horticultural knowledge and experience. In the last few years, they've become one of the leading service providers in Michigan, creating beautifully designed softscape and hardscape projects for various customers in the greater Michigan area. 

Throughout this episode of the podcast, Donn and Stanley Genadek go into where it all started for the company and where they want to go. Donn talks about bottlenecks and a few people problems, but rather than complaining. He quickly notes a few solutions to overcome and be better. They've also grown their business throughout the covid pandemic, and like most in the skilled trades, have big aspirations to take their business to the next level in 2022.

Next time you're feeling the pressure, take a step back, breathe, laugh, smile, and remember who you are and what you are working towards in your landscape company. The stress of running a business in the startup phase can be enormous for an owner-operator to manage. Everything from hiring people, managing people, cash flow problems, material and supply order screw-ups, equipment breakdowns, and the list goes on. 

Spencer Lawn Care has been in business for ten years, and despite the ups and downs, he finds the sense of accomplishment from doing the work and being hands-on in the skilled trades far outweighs the low moments. 

In this episode of the Landscape Disruptors podcast with Stanley Genadek the Dirt Monkey, Shawn gets down into the details describing the trials and tribulations of operating a landscape company, including the landscape failures. Everything from retaining people, hiring people, equipment and cash flow problems, and the different phases of business. He also talks about how he plans to grow the company in 2022 and become more profitable.

In today's world of trends, there is only so much room for being traditional or doing what's traditionally done. Richard Wynia has built his dream business with his partner Christine Wynia. The two of them have combined their skills and build a company that not only stands out amongst the crowd but fills a significant gap in the space of landscaping.

They are the true one-stop shop in landscaping and create and build projects that fulfill their customer's wildest dreams. Of course, this all comes at a cost, but they've found their niche and regular focus on design and build work that starts at 100K and goes as high as 850K. The only they don't specialize in is landscape property maintenance. Still, their connectivity amongst their industry within the Niagara Region can see them general contract nearly any project and at any scale for a motivated residential customer. 

Out latest landscape disruptors podcast with Stanley Genadek goes into the details on how Rich and Christine built the business of their dreams and the strategies and systems they implemented along the way to make it happen.

Building a business can be challenging. It takes patience and a type of personality that can handle and manage the stresses that come with starting up. Taking your company from an owner/operator status, capturing enough revenue to hire some staff, and maybe eventually growing revenue and profits to scale.

In this episode of the podcast, Ryan Markewich from Creative Roots and Steve Baker from The Great Game of Business discuss the reasons for financial transparency in the workplace and how to create a company culture where staff think like owners and make better decisions to benefit the business. The Great Game of Business is a system to train people within a company to create a transparent and cohesive environment where teamwork thrives. Everyone becomes accountable—ultimately creating more success for the company. No matter how you turn the dials in your landscape company, there will always be trial and error. Still, the race to streamline and eliminate waste will always be ongoing. Open-book management seems to have a pretty high success rate when creating a strong company culture in which a successful company is built.

Billable hours, efficiency goals, job costing, revenue per person hour, throughput, and so much more. How do you measure your landscape company's success?
Measuring your success is essential because it vividly shows you areas for improvement, things you are doing well, and perhaps what strategies or business development functions you need to invest in to continue growing your landscape company.

Jeffrey Scott specializes in helping business owners in the lawn, landscaping, and irrigation to build profitable and valuable companies. His clients learn how to generate improved profit and cash flow (that would make any competitor jealous), manage and delegate the most important responsibilities, and effectively build and lead their teams to have more time and freedom in their personal lives. My clients end up with a precious company that will pay dividends for years to come.

Throughout this episode of the Landscape Disruptors podcast, LMN CEO Mark Bradley hosts alongside Jeffrey Scott. They go into great detail on identifying critical benchmarks to maximize profit in landscaping and how to utilize those to drive revenue, accelerate growth and measure your success.

Our latest podcast is an inspiring story of two lifelong friends who went down a path in life and decided to change directions after discovering they choose the wrong career and profession.

They discovered the landscaping industry and began applying their sales and marketing experience to the trade despite not having any green industry experience in the skilled trades.

Entrepenuairal minded means you can pretty much learn anything you focus on, and that's exactly what Joshua Adkins and Max Gedz did. They began digging into landscape how-to videos and learning as much as they could online to take on hardscape and property maintenance projects. Many successes accompanied a few costly mistakes along the way. Over time, they went from 200k to 400k and now aim for 2million in revenue with two divisions.

They've expanded into design and build landscaping projects while continuing to grow their property maintenance division. Now Odd Jobs LLC has become a very established company in the greater Michigan area.

Brittany and Caleb Auman are familiar, working side by side with each other, 24/7. This power couple works together, lives together, created a business together, and raises their family.

What's not so commonly discussed in the green industry are couples working together in skilled trades. Surprisingly enough, it's pretty standard. Dynamic Duo's in landscaping are building thriving companies and managing to balance their work and life balance while avoiding landscape burnout.

Caleb and Brittany Auman recently produced and executed a new event named Together in the Trades. An event dedicated to couples that work together - sharing information and advice to help working couples build a business while sustaining their relationship and family.

In this latest podcast with Stanley Genadek Dirt Monkey, Caleb and Brittany dive deep into the details of the event, what they learned, and some of the big takeaways for next year's event in Nashville, Tennessee.

Brian Cotter lives, breathes, and eats the landscape industry. He has worked in the skilled trades from his teens and currently owns and manages two businesses. Lloyds Grounds Management and Durham Artificial Grass both serve the Greater Toronto Area and do it successfully. That didn't happen overnight, and throughout this episode, Brian shares experiences as the person building the business from the ground up. 

He shares every experience from creating a more professional industry, hiring and retaining team members, learning from mistakes in the landscape business, and why we should all be more proud in the skilled trades. Brian has been there done that, so to speak, but he's not done yet as he continues to manage two successful businesses in separate divisions.

Stanley Genadek Dirt Monkey digs deep on the latest episode of Landscape Disruptors. In fact, this is our 52nd episode recording. Celebrate with us and catch this episode with Brian Cotter from Durham Artificial Grass and Lloyds Grounds Management.