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Turn Into the Storm: Stephanie Leveling on Professionalism, Software Implementation, and Breaking Barriers in Snow & Ice
Stephanie Leveling, Brand Ambassador for Boss by Integra with over 30 years in the landscape and snow industries, joins Phil to share her journey. From discussing why snow contractors are professionals making massive investments before the first snowflake flies, to the importance of job costing data and supporting women in the trades, Stephanie reveals why proper software implementation is a marriage not a fling, and why turning into the storm instead of running from it has defined her career.
Snow Fighters Institute
Snowfighters Youtube Channel
⭐️ Leave us a review!
Episode Chapters
00:34 - Stephanie’s Background and Career Journey
03:02 - Personal Interests & Industry Involvement
03:58 - Challenges and Defining Moments
06:06 - Transition to the Integra Group
11:53 - Boss Software and Industry Solutions
13:09 - Importance of Professionalism in the Industry
22:10 - Unique Features of Boss Software
25:42 - The Realities of Software Implementation
26:56 - Ensure Successful Onboarding
28:39 - Commitment to Software Adoption
30:24 - Industry Involvement and New Developments
33:48 - Empowering Women in the Industry
37:49 - Promoting Trades and Workforce Development
42:55 - The Impact of AI on the Industry
45:25 - Personal Reflections and Career Advice
Key Learnings
Women Don't Work in the Industry - Prove Them Wrong – In 1993, when Stephanie told her female horticulture professor she had a job offer in the industry, the professor responded: "Women don't work in the industry. They do research." Stephanie held onto that for her entire career to be as successful as possible, always trying to be at top of her game. Now at 50, it's time to give back and help others so they don't go through the same things.
Snow Contractors Are Professionals, Not Helpers – Property managers have no idea what goes into snow removal. There could be an outlay of $250,000 to half a million dollars just in salt in July before anything happens. Mechanics start going through equipment in August, purchasing trucks and equipment - massive investment before serving clients. Stephanie: "We as the industry need to educate them. We need to remind the industry that you are professionals. You can walk away at any time."
Job Costing Is Everything – After a snow event you have a mountain of data - you need to know if you performed, if adjustments are needed, if someone put down too much salt. Boss's job costing is heads and tails above other products because you can get so granular without needing third party help. You can slice and dice it however you want to look at it - critical when the next event comes right on the heels of the first one.
Tech Stack Is a Trap – People tout how big their tech stack is, but the problem is none of them talk to each other. You still have a giant room of admin entering all that data which creates human error and delays getting actual data. Having everything in one place means if you go on a two-week cruise during winter (which nobody does), everybody has the information - not on somebody's desktop or piece of paper in a notebook.
Software Implementation Is a Marriage Not a Fling – It takes three years to fully implement any software platform. People bounce from one software to the next and undermine implementations because the team thinks "in six months this won't even be here, so why bother?" No buy-in from the team means it won't work. It has to start from the top - owner or whoever's running point has to be the champion and stay committed so everybody else buys in.
Discovery Process Prevents Failed Implementations – Even if you say yes to Boss, they go through the discovery process asking start to finish: show us your processes, your as-is today. Find any speed bumps that might occur - hard lines you absolutely need. Are you open to changing it to work with Boss? Need enhancement done your way? Or is this not going to work out? Better to find out now than in the middle of onboarding when money and resources are being spent.
The Snow App Changes Everything – New app (versus URL) means you can still record information when you go out of the area without service, then it populates when connectivity returns. Critical for snow removal because there's just no time - you gotta click in, click out, take photos and do the things. If you can't record information or suddenly don't have connectivity, you're dead in the water.
User Steering Committee Drives Product Development – Boss brings in their best users - top 50 to top 100 producers - for strategic planning on what they want to see in the solution. They're the users in heat of battle who speak on behalf of the entire Boss community. Everything done in Boss is the result of someone from the snow and ice or landscape industry saying "this is important." Developers don't know - they need to hear from people actually doing it.
Women Make Up Less Than 10% of Snow Industry – In the landscape industry women are probably 12-15%, but in snow and ice it's less than 10% of all employees. We have to support ourselves, but the men who support us are inspirational - younger generations owning businesses don't understand why things were the way they were in the past because it's a demographic of people that can work and want to work.
The Trades Are the Solution to Workforce Crisis – For every 10 retirees, we only have two available people to replace them in the trades. That generation was so big and we don't have enough generation to fill those positions. Parents think kids should go to college (Gen X mentality), but not everybody has to. Kids with ADHD who can't hold attention in school get a piece of equipment and excel - there are so many kids like that who just don't want to sit behind a desk.
AI Needs to Be Watched Carefully – AI is great and helping with technology, but it's not fully vetted. We use it for different things but need to be careful, especially with business management platforms. Think about how much banks and financial institutions use AI - they're super careful because it can be replicated. Chat GPT to write an email is fine for tasks, but be careful with how much you rely on it for critical business decisions.
Turn Into the Storm, Don't Run From It – Best advice: Turn to the storm and walk through it because you're going to get through it. Don't run from it, don't let fear take over. Don't second guess yourself. Stephanie has lot of regret from being fearful of "what if they think this or that." If she had to do it over: "I'm doing it." If you don't fail, you won't learn. When she's failed, she's learned and been successful the next time.
Reflection Questions
Resources & References
View all episodes
By Phil Harwood
5
66 ratings
Stephanie Leveling, Brand Ambassador for Boss by Integra with over 30 years in the landscape and snow industries, joins Phil to share her journey. From discussing why snow contractors are professionals making massive investments before the first snowflake flies, to the importance of job costing data and supporting women in the trades, Stephanie reveals why proper software implementation is a marriage not a fling, and why turning into the storm instead of running from it has defined her career.
Snow Fighters Institute
Snowfighters Youtube Channel
⭐️ Leave us a review!
Episode Chapters
00:34 - Stephanie’s Background and Career Journey
03:02 - Personal Interests & Industry Involvement
03:58 - Challenges and Defining Moments
06:06 - Transition to the Integra Group
11:53 - Boss Software and Industry Solutions
13:09 - Importance of Professionalism in the Industry
22:10 - Unique Features of Boss Software
25:42 - The Realities of Software Implementation
26:56 - Ensure Successful Onboarding
28:39 - Commitment to Software Adoption
30:24 - Industry Involvement and New Developments
33:48 - Empowering Women in the Industry
37:49 - Promoting Trades and Workforce Development
42:55 - The Impact of AI on the Industry
45:25 - Personal Reflections and Career Advice
Key Learnings
Women Don't Work in the Industry - Prove Them Wrong – In 1993, when Stephanie told her female horticulture professor she had a job offer in the industry, the professor responded: "Women don't work in the industry. They do research." Stephanie held onto that for her entire career to be as successful as possible, always trying to be at top of her game. Now at 50, it's time to give back and help others so they don't go through the same things.
Snow Contractors Are Professionals, Not Helpers – Property managers have no idea what goes into snow removal. There could be an outlay of $250,000 to half a million dollars just in salt in July before anything happens. Mechanics start going through equipment in August, purchasing trucks and equipment - massive investment before serving clients. Stephanie: "We as the industry need to educate them. We need to remind the industry that you are professionals. You can walk away at any time."
Job Costing Is Everything – After a snow event you have a mountain of data - you need to know if you performed, if adjustments are needed, if someone put down too much salt. Boss's job costing is heads and tails above other products because you can get so granular without needing third party help. You can slice and dice it however you want to look at it - critical when the next event comes right on the heels of the first one.
Tech Stack Is a Trap – People tout how big their tech stack is, but the problem is none of them talk to each other. You still have a giant room of admin entering all that data which creates human error and delays getting actual data. Having everything in one place means if you go on a two-week cruise during winter (which nobody does), everybody has the information - not on somebody's desktop or piece of paper in a notebook.
Software Implementation Is a Marriage Not a Fling – It takes three years to fully implement any software platform. People bounce from one software to the next and undermine implementations because the team thinks "in six months this won't even be here, so why bother?" No buy-in from the team means it won't work. It has to start from the top - owner or whoever's running point has to be the champion and stay committed so everybody else buys in.
Discovery Process Prevents Failed Implementations – Even if you say yes to Boss, they go through the discovery process asking start to finish: show us your processes, your as-is today. Find any speed bumps that might occur - hard lines you absolutely need. Are you open to changing it to work with Boss? Need enhancement done your way? Or is this not going to work out? Better to find out now than in the middle of onboarding when money and resources are being spent.
The Snow App Changes Everything – New app (versus URL) means you can still record information when you go out of the area without service, then it populates when connectivity returns. Critical for snow removal because there's just no time - you gotta click in, click out, take photos and do the things. If you can't record information or suddenly don't have connectivity, you're dead in the water.
User Steering Committee Drives Product Development – Boss brings in their best users - top 50 to top 100 producers - for strategic planning on what they want to see in the solution. They're the users in heat of battle who speak on behalf of the entire Boss community. Everything done in Boss is the result of someone from the snow and ice or landscape industry saying "this is important." Developers don't know - they need to hear from people actually doing it.
Women Make Up Less Than 10% of Snow Industry – In the landscape industry women are probably 12-15%, but in snow and ice it's less than 10% of all employees. We have to support ourselves, but the men who support us are inspirational - younger generations owning businesses don't understand why things were the way they were in the past because it's a demographic of people that can work and want to work.
The Trades Are the Solution to Workforce Crisis – For every 10 retirees, we only have two available people to replace them in the trades. That generation was so big and we don't have enough generation to fill those positions. Parents think kids should go to college (Gen X mentality), but not everybody has to. Kids with ADHD who can't hold attention in school get a piece of equipment and excel - there are so many kids like that who just don't want to sit behind a desk.
AI Needs to Be Watched Carefully – AI is great and helping with technology, but it's not fully vetted. We use it for different things but need to be careful, especially with business management platforms. Think about how much banks and financial institutions use AI - they're super careful because it can be replicated. Chat GPT to write an email is fine for tasks, but be careful with how much you rely on it for critical business decisions.
Turn Into the Storm, Don't Run From It – Best advice: Turn to the storm and walk through it because you're going to get through it. Don't run from it, don't let fear take over. Don't second guess yourself. Stephanie has lot of regret from being fearful of "what if they think this or that." If she had to do it over: "I'm doing it." If you don't fail, you won't learn. When she's failed, she's learned and been successful the next time.
Reflection Questions
Resources & References