While I understand that success for some is measured more on peace of mind and personal satisfaction than on management practices and dollar signs, we have been profiling these industry leaders to show the strength and potential of the profession.

I know it is an absolute fact that many of you are doing exactly what you love to do. Expansion and growth, and the headaches that go along with them, are just not in your plans. Nor is it a requirement that landscape contractors who own their own businesses must strive to become large enough to fill a cruise ship with their employees.

However, almost all of you have some employees, even it that means a five-man crew. And . . . almost every one of the leaders we have been profiling, at some point, started off with a shovel or a lawn mower and way more guts and gumption than formal business training.

So many of you either found the landscape industry through a love of working outdoors or through the eyes of a 10-year old following in your father's, uncle's or brother's footsteps. Even for the footstep followers, a good part of your landscape knowledge was acquired by getting your hands dirty on a job site.

That was especially true back in the day when access to formal education in the field of landscape was nearly non-existent. Times, though, have changed.

Today there are advanced courses in horticulture and landscape management. There are numerous trade shows and seminars on everything from tree pruning to water management. Today, it seems, it might even be possible to become a landscape pro without ever working in the landscape.

But regardless of how you got there, very few of you joined the business to become a businessman.

Your business training is limited, at best. Licensing and certifications are lacking, if not completely devoid of business management practices. Quicken or QuickBooks keep your dollars and cents in line and personnel management is, at best, a work in progress.

Still, if you want to take the time, there are courses in profitability and personnel management specifically for landscape business owners. Yes, the information age has made the business of landscape much more of a science than a crapshoot.

However . . . only a select few . . . and you are in that select few . . . only a select few take the time and energy to gain the knowledge and start a business. The rest of the landscape practitioners are hired by the likes of you and are themselves beginning the journey with little more than a good set of muscles and a few growing calluses.

For a good many of you, your employees don't understand the effort you have put into growing your business to whatever size it is today. They are not dealing first hand with your clients and every problem comes back to you. And that is the one area you can change for the better.

The one element that stands out the most from the interviews of the landscape industry leaders is that their success is related to the amount of information about the work and direction of the company that they are willing to share with their employees.

While it may seem that stopping your work to formally train your staff is time you simply don't have, the time you spend sharing your knowledge and work ethic with your staff will come back to you many times over.

Equipment care, trench depth, plan reading, customer service, plant health and project management are just a few of the topics that you probably know better than the guy you just hired. And if not, then that guy is a resource for your company that goes beyond hands-on labor.

If you really want some peace of mind, if you want your clients to have the same confidence in your crew as they do in you, or if you'd simply like to be able to take the family on a three-week trip across the continent, then you might want to list the things that concern you most and begin to formally train your crew to deal those things as you would deal with them.

By taking the time to truly train your staff you will help your business, help your clients, and help to build a legacy that reaches beyond the landscape . . . .

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