Landscape Management, September 2013

INSIGHTS FROM GREEN INDUSTRY LEADERS INTERVIEW BY BETH GERACI Whos your mentor Ive had many mentors at different periods of my career When I was starting out at age 10 many of my clients became wonderful mentors significantly because of my young age At that time I was fortunate to have some of Milwaukees leading industrialists and businesspeople as clients and received consistent generous advice from them As I became active in the Green Industry pioneers such as Dick Brickman Joe Marsh Tom Lied Lee Bruce and Ron Kujawa were of great assistance How does a 10 year old start a landscaping business I lived in a nicer neighborhood with affluent older families who werent able to physically garden I had a reasonable amount of ambition and was able to start a neighborhood gardening service with the intent of improving my financial potential You said working in this industry today is harder than it used to be Why Twenty years ago continuous improvement and implementing new technologies was a good strategy Today consistent constructive change is integral to a business survival Weve tried to embed it in our corporate culture so that we can be proactive rather than reactive The last time we spoke with you you said your work is largely inspired by the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona and the Gardens of Versailles What is it about them The Sagrada Familia cathedral was innovative for its time the 1880s and its a wonderful study of architect Antoni Gaudi who was far ahead of his time The Kew Gardens in London the Gardens of Versailles or the Butchart Gardens in British Columbia which I visited this spring are all inspirational for different reasons The scale of some of these developments is staggering and their quality inspires me What professional connections have influenced you most Although my firm has affiliations with over 40 organizations without a doubt I have been most influenced by my involvement in ALCA now the Professional Landcare Network as well as the Wisconsin Landscape Contractors Association All offered me wonderful mentoring opportunities What advice would you give to someone starting a landscaping business today Its critical to supplement your technical education with a level of business training as well as an affiliation with a certified public accountant who understands contractor job cost accounting Its the same advice Green Valley Landscape founder Joe Marsh gave me in 1978 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET SEPTEMBER 2013 48 OFF THE CLOCK WHATS NEXT ON YOUR BUCKET LIST Visiting Giverny and the Chateau de Vaux Le Vicomte in France HOW MANY SCUBA DIVES HAVE YOU LOGGED 1030 most recently in Playa del Carmen in the Yucatan Peninsula The best ones have been the dives where we fed sharks and manta rays WHOS IN YOUR FAMILY I just welcomed my first grandchild this year with another on the way this fall I have a beautiful and wonderful wife Jane Marie as well as five children and two stepchildren WHATS THE BEST THING ABOUT WISCONSIN The tens of thousands of inland lakes and lots of nature opportunities EVERY WEEK I LOOK FORWARD TO Working with the best team in the industry David Frank president and CEO David J Frank Landscape Contracting Germantown Wis PHOTOS ISTOCK INTERNATIONAL INC 1 MINUTE MENTOR