Jason Lee runs Skyfrog Landscape, a $3M full-service design/build/maintenance company out of Gainesville, Florida, and sits down with host Jeffrey Scott to unpack a wild few years in business — including overcoming a building fire, being a FNGLA state chapter head,...
A while back, I showed up to a formal party wearing a tuxedo. I thought it was a “black tie” event. Boy was I embarrassed when I showed up and saw everyone wearing simple cocktail attire.
My friend and I stood out, like two penguins. We scrambled to his car to take off our bowties and tried to dress down.
That experience taught me something about degrees of overdressing. While wearing a tuxedo may be too much, at work it’s important to be slightly over dressed than looking ragged or overly casual.
Our industry needs more owners who think the same way. Whether it’s for a networking event, or for your company dress code.
Because you can’t put lipstick on a pig, and you also can’t show up looking like one.
This past week, the green industry lost a titan—and I lost my dad and hero, Joe Scott Jr.
Joe was an early industry innovator and a founding member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD).
Decades ahead of his time, he designed, built, and serviced entire properties through his pool business. Along the way, he helped launch the careers of many people who became some of the best in our industry.
Since his passing, friends have shared stories that reveal the personal impact my father had on them. Below is one from Everett, my oldest friend and a former employee of our firm.
These stories have reminded me how powerful it is to see someone you respect through another person’s eyes. Your spouse, parent, employee, or friend have likely influenced others in ways you never fully understood.
Don’t wait until someone dies (or quits) to ask others what they value about that person. What you learn now can be eye-opening, grounding, and even deeply meaningful.
Most company taglines are written for customers. The best ones also guide your employees.
While a clever tagline may help people remember your company, a powerful mantra helps your employees run it.
For example, BMW has spent more than five decades promising “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” As a fervent BMW owner, I can attest that the cars deliver on that promise.
Nike built a similar global identity around “Just Do It.”
However, the strongest phrases do more than advertise a brand. They express what the company believes and how it intends to behave.
Here are four landscape examples from companies we have worked with over the years.
Here is a behind the scenes look at Jeffrey Scott Consulting: How we do our own strategic planning.
As we enter Q3, it is time for all companies to think about planning the next 12–18 months, before year end sneaks up on you.
We just held our roadmap session a few weeks ago in New Orleans.
As you can imagine, a productive retreat requires more than a good agenda. It needs preparation, team chemistry and enough time for honest conversations.
Here is how we did it.
Scott Hollister, Editor-in-Chief of Landscape Management Magazine (published by North Coast Media, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio), joins Jeffrey Scott to break down the 2026 LM150 — the industry's ranking of the 150 largest landscaping companies. This year's list...
What would your business look like if you suddenly had to operate with 55% less revenue?
What if that was not even the most difficult challenge you would face?
We have added Kurt LaButte, co-founder of Todd’s Services Inc. (Hamburg, MI), to the speaker lineup for our Summer Growth Summit.
His presentation, “Growing Through Every Season,” is a story of entrepreneurship, devastating setbacks, rebuilding, leadership development, scaling to new heights, and succession.
Long before anyone called it a “daily huddle,” John D. Rockefeller had stumbled upon the value of the short daily meeting.
Rockefeller would walk to work with his brother and three key leaders every morning. During that walk, they discussed what was happening across the business, what decisions needed to be made, and where problems were beginning to surface.
He then walked home with the same group.
It was simple, consistent, and powerful.
My wife and I recently spent two weeks traveling around Vancouver Island, including several days in Tofino, a remote community on the island’s rugged west coast.
Tofino is known for its expansive surfing beaches, old-growth forests and laid-back atmosphere—it was like no place I had ever visited.
We had a thrilling time. We helped deliver mail by seaplane to a nearby First Nations community on a neighboring island.
Once his wife, Sonya (MBA), joined four years ago as General Manager, they made several big moves together:
Raised pricing and expanded Google-based marketing, Expanded crews and hired production managers, Implemented Aspire, Built a state-of-the-art facility, Developed a leadership team that is helping the owners regain balance
Kevin jokes that he is now able to work part-time: 35 to 40 hours a week.
The team has worked quite hard to get where they are. Kevin is now able to play golf weekly, so things are on the upswing.
Last week I held a 1.5-day roadmap session with their team and then took a wonderful vacation on Vancouver Island with my wife and partner, Corine.
During the roadmap session, we reviewed department and company-wide strategy and refined their Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). We set a much stronger course for the future.
Here are five lessons every owner and leader can learn from.
