Landscape Management, June 2010

MYBIGGESTMISTAKE LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY BY DANIEL G JACOBS R ICK GIRARD FOUNDED Girards Landscaping and General Maintenance in the early 1990s and quickly grew it to 30 full time employees with monthly revenues of about 85000 His brother Randy and father Leo also were involved in the company But Rick Girard says by the mid 1990s he began to realize the family business was in fi nancial trouble and in 1995 he was forced to declare bankruptcy It wasnt just one thing Girard says It was largely due to inexperience LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET JUNE 2010 20 To share your biggest mistake contact Dan Jacobs at djacobs@ questex com NAMES COMPANY CEO Rick Girard left and President Randy Girard Girard Environmental Services EMPLOYEES 320 full time FOUNDED 1998 HEADQUARTERS Sanford FL compounded by poor fi nancial results It had to do with immaturity I was 26 as well as lack of fi nancial ability and knowledge and not having enough guts to make the hard decisions We werent living within our means and my inexperienced decisions came back to haunt me For example we were behind on payroll taxes and robbing Peter to pay Paul The overwhelming feeling of failure is diffi cult for anyone to completely understand who hasnt experienced it themselves At the time I fi led bankruptcy I didnt comprehend the long term repercussions that would follow Girard learned from the experience but didnt immediately venture out on his own He spent the next three years working for other landscaping companies always with an eye on once again leading his own enterprise Those years were incredibly diffi cult times for me and my family Girard says We had two young children and my biggest concern from week to week was making sure the check didnt bounce when my wife went to the grocery store In 1998 Girard took another stab My brother Randy and I founded Girard Environmental Services Inc as equal partners Starting a new company with the name Girard in the same town it had been tarnished in was a conscious decision by us to not hide from our past We were completely upfront about past mistakes We wrote our company story which included information about the bankruptcy and how we repaid virtually all of our debt had learned from our mistakes and now were ready and willing to move forward to provide our customers with superior results and service Rick Girard learned from his mistakes and is eager to share so others can learn from his missteps He offers this advice Make tough decisions I tell new business owners Dont be afraid to make the tough business decisions that need to be made Regrettably I avoided making the tough decisions like laying people off and negotiating with vendors for better prices Be fi nancially literate Dont overextend yourself fi nancially or the assets of your business Take responsibility and never give up I never passed the buck when it came to the bankruptcy Along with taking responsibility I believe its important not to use the bad economy as a crutch to explain away your business trouble Innovate Work smarter Dont give up If I could do it again I would have refused to fi le bankruptcy Keep working at it and fi ght for your business tooth and nail Never forget the ones who helped you We still employ the second person we hired from Girards Landscaping and General Maintenance Hes part of our executive team We hire good people and reward them theyre the backbone of our success And weve always been thankful to particular vendors who were willing to give us a second chance when we started over The relationships I value most are the ones that have been tested Reputation is everything Dont ever jeopardize your business reputation because it takes a long time to get it back We fought hard to redeem our reputation Now every day is another opportunity to work hard to protect and strengthen our reputation Believe me theres nothing Id rather not talk about than declaring bankruptcy Girard says It happened 15 years ago I still get knots in my stomach thinking about it And it still stings I know what its like to fail and I know how to not go there again We dont take our success for granted The bankruptcy made us more humble and thankful which ultimately has helped our business grow Early success doesnt ensure continued growth Thats one of the lessons Rick and Randy Girard learned the fi rst time around