CHANGING THE GAME
crews have different games such as filling a wheelbarrow with potting soil, pushing it through a course and then making a planting arrangement. “It’s low-key training because the planting arrangement has to look good also,” Thompson says. “You’re judged on more than one thing. You can’t just cram them in there and they look terrible because then you still won’t win.” Zeppa says they implemented a
morning roll call three years ago, which
has helped tremendously with their at- tendance. He says public accountability is part of the reason everyone has started showing up on time. They also do a team stretch and share gratitudes and thank yous every morning. Everyone has to say something they’re grateful for or thank someone for helping or praise them for a job well done. Kampf says they have become a dealership for pools so they can provide everything in-house and provide a bet-
ter-quality product to clients. Likewise, McGonagle says they’re a long-term relationship service company, as they are a subscription-based, not a transaction- ally-oriented service company. She says she runs the company more culturally, focusing on her people first.
ADVICE FOR NEWCOMERS For up-and-comers considering starting their own landscape business, McGonagle encourages them to do so and to determine their own definition of success. “There’s no better way to learn than by
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THE SOURCE MATTERS
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3/28/23 3:14 PM
doing it,” McGonagle says. “You will never learn all the things. You have to figure out what makes sense for you because a one-size-fits-all model isn’t actually how it works.”
Thompson says he’s currently trying to decide if he wants to have 20 $10 million locations eventually. “The ultimate goal is to build a very
healthy, very organized systemized business that can run whether I’m here or not,” Thompson says. Zeppa says you can definitely make a good living in the industry, but it is not a get-rich fast operation, but something you have to grind at long-term. “It’s really important that you focus on and stay in your lane and not really get hung up in what everybody else is doing,” Zeppa says. McGonagle adds that the hard part of owning a business is not starting it but keeping it going. She says there are many resources available and people willing to help; you just have to ask. Kampf suggests learning from others and working for a successful business first. “If I went to work for somebody
else, I could have potentially scaled my business a lot quicker,” Kampf says. “If you’ve got the grit to do it, then do it on your own, but you’re going to learn a lot of hard lessons and lose a lot of money along the way.” TE
“It’s really important that you focus on and stay in your lane and not really get hung up in what everybody else is doing,”
- Antonio Zeppa, Zeppa’s Landscaping Service
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