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Oct 19 2023 |
Lessons from the mower jockey.By: Matt Gugliotti Many decades ago in high school, I started my first real business mowing lawns. I bought a well-used commercial lawn mower, the quintessential “old” Chevy pickup truck, and borrowed a string trimmer from my dad's shed. I lived in a rapidly developing town, so it didn’t take long to expand the business and take on other parts of the landscape market. Being a “lawnmower jockey,” as we jokingly referred to those whose profession it was to chase a lawn mower around all day; did however, give me a unique perspective on landscaping fundamentals. Sometimes, as it turns out, the most fundamental job can give you the best perspective on what works well and what doesn’t in your company. So, as my business grew and I transitioned from mowing to landscape design and large custom water feature projects, I was constantly reminded of what drove me nuts as the guy that had to maintain the landscapes I was installing. My head would explode when I would mow a lawn, and the designer used sharp or obtuse angles for the planting beds. This meant one of 3 bad things were about to happen: 1. I unavoidably would blow grass into the mulch bed causing me additional work and a sloppy job, 2. I would have to come back after mowing and use a smaller mower or the string trimmer to trim the area I couldn’t mow with the larger mower because of the obtuse angle, or 3. I was going to make a divot in the grass where I was forced to turn the mower sharply each time I came to that sharp angle. The simple solution is happy flowing curves on planting beds! So later, when I was designing landscapes, or when I would get a plan from another designer, and it called for some of these maintenance pitfalls, I knew to avoid them. Sometimes, there is just no substitution for doing the job from the bottom up. Yea maybe those lines look good on paper, and maybe they somehow gave a “desired look” to the design, but for the guy that must maintain it for the next decade, is it practical? From the perspective of the lawnmower, the answer is a resounding no! Perhaps however, this would be avoided if designers spent some time chasing a lawnmower around some of these overdone landscape designs. In business, perspective can be everything. Sometimes we need to look at our business from a new perspective to understand why we are doing what we are doing. Maybe it's working, maybe there is something that can be learned. Validate gives you a new perspective on how you do business with your customers. You no longer have to guess if they will pay as agreed, because Validate has your back. By leveraging our national database, you now have the power to hold nonpaying consumers accountable and prequalify them before doing business. Don’t mow yourself into a corner, try Validate today and see how a new perspective on managing your A/R can reduce your stress and improve your bottom line. Go to www.Validatenow.com to sign up today. Add your comment (for display after moderator approval) |
