“The bottom line is the bottom line,” said David Minor, CEO of The Landscape Partners and a professor at Texas Christian University, during his presentation, “25 Years of Lessons Learned,” at Landscapes 2015.
Drawing from his 25 years of experience in the green industry, Minor shared lessons learned from pitfalls and triumphs while running his successful businesses. His tips focused on boosting the one thing, according to Minor, businesses should be focused on: the bottom line.
“I like this industry, but I’m not in it for fun,” he said. “I’m not in it for three percent profit. This industry is fun, but it’s not that fun.”
In addition to digging deep on topics like the benefits of accrual based accounting and creating proper financial plans, here are a few lessons drawn from Minor’s 25-year career in the industry:
- Providing great quality and customer service are important, but you can’t give away service just to make the customer happy all the time;
- Know your target customer;
- Prior proper planning prevents pitiful performance;
- Know where you are making money and why;
- Create a goal-oriented company;
- Create a world class culture; and
- Make continuous learning a company wide focus.
