Turning Green, Feeling Blue

 
or Leeding the Way . . .

By George Schmok

Wow . . . I sure am sad this year is coming to an end . . . Not!!!

Some would say they are feeling a bit green from the rollercoaster called 2009. Others might say this year provided a great opportunity to refine the business and move in new directions. Either way, this year has been one for the record books . . . Just remember that the record books have both the highs and the lows . . .

One of the best opportunities to grow in this business comes from the most basic element of the business . . . Green.

While everyone else is jumping on that old bandwagon, landscape professionals have been leading the green movement for decades and yet are only now beginning to reap the benefits. If you haven?EUR??,,????'???t incorporated Green into your marketing plan, you are truly missing a great opportunity to grow your business.

Sustainable, regenerative, water-wise, ecological, natives, canopy, storm-water management, eco-development, LEED certified, smart irrigation, re-cycled and a dozen other terms are entering the psyche of the American landscape. You have been speaking these terms for many years, but only now is the general population starting to understand what they mean and how they are affected by proper implementation of the concepts.

While most of you natives have been managing the storm, conserving resources, and trying to sustain your businesses, many of you have also been regenerating your business and ?EUR??,,????'??leeding?EUR??,,????'??? your company into the future.

And if going green ain?EUR??,,????'???t your thing, there is plenty of run-off to collect in the cisterns of your corporation . . .

Regardless of how you approach it, for those of us who have made it through the fire, now is a great time to step back and look at what you do with an eye towards growth.

Here at LASN we have been refining our reach, growing our readership, and developing our vehicles to meet the demands of the future. This week, besides watching the World Series (tonight the Phillies extended the series by winning game 5), we are producing The 2009 Landscape Expo in Long Beach, California.

In the world of publishing, putting together a magazine and a trade show go virtually hand in hand. At the same time, talk about taking a chance on something new . . . Even though we have 2,600 pre-registered attendees, we won?EUR??,,????'???t know until it?EUR??,,????'???s over if anyone decided to actually show at our show . . . Still, when something fits as well as a magazine and a trade show . . . or as well as a landscape company with the green movement, the chance just has to be taken.

The main thing is that you continue to push forward.

Over the past few years we have seen scores of Landscape Architects teaming with Landscape Contractors to develop design/build firms that are meeting the demands of the developers and government clientele.

Is it easier to just stick with what you know? Of course it is, but rarely does easy equal success.

So if you?EUR??,,????'???ve had a tough 2009 and you are cocooning, waiting for good things to come your way, you might find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But more than likely you will just find a bunch of other cocooners looking for the same leprechaun.

Now I understand that you may simply just love what you do and money may not be the issue. Well, even if that is the case, you will only be able to continue to keep doing what you love if you keep moving towards the horizon.

You may not need to branch out, diversify or merge with other Green companies, but you should use the time that you find on your hands to prepare for the next spring and the spring after that . . .

These next few months are going to be tough on landscape professionals across the country. Work was slow throughout the entire year and winter is never the best time to be in landscape. However, those big, tall trees didn?EUR??,,????'???t grow in one season.

Instead they spread their canopy to catch the sunlight and put out roots to draw in every spec of water they could. So maybe . . . Just maybe branching out is a good idea after all . . .

God Bless . . . and . . . Good Fortune!

George Schmok, Publisher