Hello, I'm Marty Grunder and I'm excited to share some thoughts and ideas to help you grow your business. I run Grunder Landscaping Company in Dayton, Ohio; to learn about what we do visit www.GrunderLandscaping.com. I am also a busy consultant and coach to many landscapers around the country. I teach landscapers and Green Industry Professionals how to lead and grow their companies; to learn a little bit more about this endeavor, please visit: www.MartyGrunder.com.

To start off the first of what will be many columns I share with you, I wanted to "begin with the end in mind" as the late, great author and self-help guru, Stephen Covey would say. It's a very simple statement that is often overlooked. However, thinking like Covey describes should NEVER be overlooked; it's critical advice that we Green Industry Professionals should follow. Let me explain.

I am a long-time student of business. The education started when I was 9 years old and my great aunt paid me to pull weeds in her garden and this proceeded all the way through high school, college, and then some. Today, my thirst for knowledge is still there and I read and study just about anything I can get my hands on that pertains to leadership and business. As a professional speaker and the author of two business books, I have learned a few very important things about business, none of them more important than this: Structure Always Follows Strategy. Or, as Covey said, "Begin With the End in Mind." Let's discuss those simple words as a way of introducing my philosophies to you and hopefully helping you grow your business in the process.

Years ago a young landscaper in a rural town in the Midwest called me asking for help. He was in crisis mode actually. He had purchased a $250K mulch blowing machine and didn't have any work for it. When I asked him why he bought such an expensive machine, he said, "Oh, that's easy; no one has one of these things within 500 miles of me; I know I can corner the market." I replied bluntly, "Maybe the reason no one has one close to you is that there isn't a market for that type of work." We worked for a month together; I tried everything I knew to try to get him work for his bark blower. In the process of him trying to find work for the bark blower, his core business suffered. Six months later, the young landscaper lost his mulch blower and his entire business and filed for bankruptcy. The once-promising landscaping company was wiped out by his error of putting structure before strategy, or more plainly said, not "beginning with the end in mind"!

So, let's learn from this: what should he have done? He should have begun with the end in mind. In my opinion, had this young fellow thought through the purchase of a mulch blower better, he never would have bought it. Smart business owners are focused; they have their ideal client in their ideal market defined. They have a plan in place for revenues, profits, operations, and the like that lays out what the goal of the empire is. And, if something comes about that doesn't completely align with all this, YOU DON'T DO IT! Just some simple math about what amount of revenue he would have needed to generate to pay for the mulch blower and make a profit would have helped. Sadly, he did not even do that. And, sadly, I see this type of behavior a lot in small business.

Many entrepreneurs and leaders have strengths that also become weaknesses if they are not managed properly. We are all very creative; we have great ideas; those ideas make us money; they differentiate us in the marketplace, but they can also bankrupt us if we don't run all of our ideas through a filter. That filter is the process of looking to see that what you want to pursue aligns with what you envision as success for the business.

So, what is your end? What does a win look like for you and your company? Do you have that written down? Does your team know who your ideal client is? Do they know with a high level of detail what they look like, where they live, work, play? Why are they your ideal client? Are you measuring your progress as you go? Are you focused on the aforementioned and not simply chasing distractions?

Too many of us spend too much time creating when we should be executing, working our plans, following our strategies and putting the structure in place to achieve just that. For example, don't buy $250K mulch blowers before you're absolutely positive they are needed. Buying that is consistent with our strategy will guide us to the finish line. Begin with the end in mind. Covey said it best.

I look forward to sharing with you other ideas and thoughts that I have experienced as one of you as well as contributing to the social media platform LSI has put together too. This is going to be fun!