ELMWOOD PARK, N.J.—The New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association (NJLCA) has officially launched NJLCA University, a series of one- and two-day educational workshops and seminars providing more in-depth information on a variety of business topics—on everything from budgeting and estimating to social media and inbound marketing, to sales presentations to effectively using Google SketchUp.
The winter NJLCA University has an all-star cast of speakers, including Chris Heiler of Landscape Leadership, Barry Draycott and the IPM All-Stars (Rich Buckley of the Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Lab, Roy Meyer of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Steve Rettke of Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Brad Park of Rutgers Dept. of Plant Biology & Pathology, Bill Skerrett of ICT Organics, Matt Tudesco of Arbor Culture, Mike Kolenut of Lincoln Landscaping, Keith Haights of Hydro Green, Richard McCoy of McCoy Horticultural Services, Hugh Knowlton of Bergen Community College and Anne DiFrancesco of A&M Studios). Later this month are Mike Lysecki of Landscape Management Network, Jody Shilan of NJLCA and FromDesign2Build.com, and Daniel Tal of Ambit 3-D. Finally in March, NJLCA University will offer basic pesticide training courses, offering attendees the opportunity to earn a pesticide operators license or sit for the pesticide applicators exam. Contractors can sign up for one workshop or all of them.
“Last year we offered the LMN Workshop to our members. It was such a huge success that we decide to expand on their concept and introduce additional workshops on a variety of other Green Industry topics. This is how NJLCA University began,” says Executive Director Jody Shilan.
Attendees have taken advantage of the first few workshops and learned how to effectively manage their online presence using social media and proper SEO techniques, as well as learn how to integrate organic services into their current businesses. They now have even more opportunities to prepare their budgets for the year, learn how to avoid low-ballers and sell the project, learn how to use Google SketchUp from the man who literally “wrote the book,” and get their pesticide license or earn the credits they need.
