Meet Maurice Dowell, President of Dowco Enterprises Inc., St. Louis.
Who’s your mentor? I have an informal mentor, Bob Coulter. Through his services, he has earned my respect. Bob is a shining example of an individual who can hold up the mirror of what a coach looks like. He’s a friend, an individual who’s shown me so many attributes of a leader. I’m amazed. Bob listens. He cares. He deeply wants you to succeed at whatever you’re doing.
As a Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) Trailblazer, you are a mentor yourself. What advice do you give? What I insist upon is that you have a dream, you have a goal and then ask yourself, “What am I doing today to achieve that goal?” When we all begin to think that way, it changes life.
At work, we sit down as a management team once a year and project our goals as if they’ve already happened. And then we open them the following year. It really keeps us focused on where we want to go. You take a copy and put it on your mirror and that way you’re always working toward that goal.
What’s your goal at work every day? St
ay humble and really enjoy the moment. I make sure to surround myself with the best talent available. My job is to show them where the sidelines are and where the goal post is and just get out of the way.
Did selling suits at Sears enlighten you in any way? It goes back to the humbling thing. Over the winters I would work there, and in the summer I would leave and grow my landscaping business. Once, I left Sears for a year and when I returned they were going to pay me minimum wage because I lost my seniority.
I said, “Forget it,” and one of my coworkers called and said, “What are you doing? Get back in here and take this job.” Two weeks later I met my wife, Donna. She was a jewelry girl. It’s worked out ever since. When you humble yourself, life has a way of providing for you.
What aspect of your business do you pride yourself on most? We’re very clean, we’re very organized, we know who our clients are. Our goal is to increase our dollar per customer. That’s why we focus on the upper echelon. I cannot focus on selling to a customer who has no potential. Having such a narrow focus probably doesn’t bring me as much additional business as I could get—but it brings me the right business.
OFF THE CLOCK
What’s the first thing you do when you get home from work? I walk my yard with my wife and we connect. I’m a landscaper. I look at the plants and the waterfalls. We look out on a lake. It’s just beautiful.
The best things in life are…Simple.
What’s your greatest indulgence? This goes back to my wife. We sit in the hot tub and talk and have one-on-one time. That’s one of the things we enjoy the most, and I look forward to that. It’s been 28 years now.
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently? I would have hired a consultant and gotten involved with PLANET and other organizations earlier.
