Every business needs more than great people and strong craftsmanship to succeed; it needs a plan. A strategic plan is the difference between reacting to every urgent issue that pops up and proactively steering your business toward long-term growth. It aligns your team, sharpens your focus, and sets the pace for progress. So, it’s time…
Long-term success hinges on achieving and sustaining lasting business growth. However, many entrepreneurs simply work to work—without a clear process, metrics, or profit goals for their business. All of this is key to your overall business plan. However, it’s also key to every individual project you bid on. Without a strategic framework at the project…
As a small business leader, your success depends on two things: passion and business skills. While passion for your work can get you far, entrepreneurial skills are essential if you want to create and maintain growth. What Is an Entrepreneur? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an entrepreneur as one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks…
For many landscaping and hardscaping companies, this season is go-time. But the most successful organizations among us run like well-oiled machines not because of fancy new systems and the latest-greatest technology, but because they’re committed to getting the basics right. The leaders of winning home-services companies spend a significant amount of time planning and preparing…
I’ve owned a hardscaping company for more than 3 decades and have been coaching fellow landscaping and hardscaping businesses for over 2 decades, so as you can imagine, I frequently field questions about basic hardscape install techniques from companies and manufacturers in our industry. I believe that, from time to time, such industry-specific content will…
A few years ago, I came across a collapsed retaining wall. A huge section had fallen away, so that the prep work and build were completely exposed. As a hardscape professional, I recognized in an instant that the reason for the collapse was a completely improper installation. This retaining wall was built on slag sand—an…
I started my hardscaping business, Decra-Scape, back in 1990. I had no industry experience. In fact, I didn’t even know what a brick paver was at the time. So in the first year of business, I was learning a LOT: At the same time, I was renovating the home I had just purchased—a total burnout—and…
When it comes to planning for your home-services business, I have a 6-Ps philosophy that I’ll convert to 5-Ps here, to skip the expletive: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance It’s time to embrace this truth and start planning today! But many business leaders fall into one of these camps: Let’s explore these 3 planning challenges—and…
If your home-services business operates largely outdoors—as we do at Decra-Scape, and as all of the Rooted Leadership Board of Advisors members do—then you know what it’s like to lead a business that is heavily impacted by environmental factors. In Michigan, our business is highly seasonal, which means that at certain times, we are extremely…
There is an invisible chain of knowledge that propels your team forward. It’s made up of 3 interconnected links: Great leaders understand how these elements are connected. And they know how to strengthen the chain. Let’s break it down: Knowledge > Empowerment Knowledgeable people feel empowered and get empowered. Well-informed, well-trained people do their jobs…