I graduated from college with a degree in history to prepare myself for a career in education. I studied hard in anticipation of a lifetime of leisurely summers. When my plans changed and I entered the green industry, I anticipated slower business in the winter so that I could recuperate. I figured that it would not be so bad to trade summers off for relaxed winters.

Maybe others entered the green industry with a similar idea. Possibly like you, I quickly realized that my expectations were unrealistic. It is now apparent to me that the marketplace demands that all segments of our industry constantly work to improve our business. Winter has become Landscape Supply's opportunity to reevaluate and develop new strategy. Around the office, we call it "winter-mode."

We used to use winter as the time to "reinvent the wheel." While we agreed that "starting from scratch" was not the best approach, because we are our toughest critic, we would find ourselves trying to change everything. By the time pre-emergent's were being applied, we would be implementing all our "great" new strategies. Needless to say, not the healthiest business plan, uh?

Over the last several years, Landscape Supply has worked hard to remain focused on a long-term strategic business plan, rather than spending our winters "reinventing the wheel." We now do our best to analyze the year's business practices to better understand what worked well and what requires improvement. We scrutinize our strategies to improve service to our customers and effectively compete in the marketplace instead of recreating our
business model.

A company (and personal) mentor once asked three simple questions that have since kept us focused. He asked, "What are you doing right? What are you doing wrong? And what should you be doing differently?" After thinking about it, we realized that these three simple questions apply to all areas of our business including operations, administration, marketing and sales. I assume these same three questions could be applied to any business?

So even if we are our own worst critic, sometimes we don't have to constantly "reinvent the wheel." Instead we can concentrate on what we are doing right and do it better. Fix what we're doing wrong and begin to excel at it. Then spend quality time evaluating what we should be doing differently.

And on an unrelated side note - but in the spirit of thanksgiving! How about a thank you to Steve Jobs? Who knew an adopted kid that later dropped out of college could co-found Apple, be fired from Apple, develop NexT, Pixar, take ownership in Disney and ultimately go back to Apple to become the CEO. When Jobs took over as CEO in the year 2000, Apple stock was trading around $24.75 per share. In 2011 Apple stock peaked at over $400.00 per share. Needless to say, while our industry couldn't allow for such growth, there might be a lesson in there for all of us when looking at Jobs' life. I wonder if he ever asked the same three questions we started asking ourselves. Probably didn't have to...

Happy thanksgiving to each of you and thank you for your continued interest and support!

Kevin Connelly
Landscape Supply, Inc.
Vice President of Sales & Marketing