You Can’t Put Lipstick on a Pig

You Can’t Put Lipstick on a Pig

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.

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LM150 Exposed: Why the Biggest Landscaping Companies Are Growing Fastest (And Some Are Shrinking)  with  Scott Hollister

LM150 Exposed: Why the Biggest Landscaping Companies Are Growing Fastest (And Some Are Shrinking) with Scott Hollister

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...

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Stop Chasing Competitors and Start Building a Category of One — Jeff Korhan’s Blueprint for Landscape Companies

Stop Chasing Competitors and Start Building a Category of One — Jeff Korhan’s Blueprint for Landscape Companies

Jeff Korhan, founder of Treemendous Landscape Company® (suburban Chicago) and now marketing strategist at TrueNature.com, brings over 20 years of hard-won experience running a residential design-build landscape company — and another decade helping green industry...

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How AI Is Cutting Landscape Estimating Time by 70% — Inside Bobyard with Founder Michael Ding

How AI Is Cutting Landscape Estimating Time by 70% — Inside Bobyard with Founder Michael Ding

If your estimators are buried in takeoffs, passing on bids because there just isn't enough time, or manually counting plants for hours on end — this episode is going to hit close to home. Jeffrey Scott sits down with Michael Ding, founder of Bobyard, a San...

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Storytelling: A Leadership Superpower with Jeffrey Scott. Learn to Teach, Lead, and Inspire Through Stories

Storytelling: A Leadership Superpower with Jeffrey Scott. Learn to Teach, Lead, and Inspire Through Stories

If you've ever fumbled through a presentation, relied too heavily on data slides, or watched your team's eyes glaze over mid-meeting — this episode is your fix. Jeffrey Scott breaks down why storytelling is the most underrated leadership skill in the landscape...

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Brand Equity: The Overlooked Way to Increase Company Value

Brand Equity: The Overlooked Way to Increase Company Value

There has been a lot of discussion about how to build a valuable business.

You know the usual advice: build strong systems, teams, earnings, and recurring revenue.

Many owners miss a fundamental value-driver hiding in plain sight: brand equity.

It may start with a new logo, website, truck wrap, or color scheme. But it goes deeper.

I know from my family’s business—where I always kept a focus on building brand equity. When it finally sold, our loyal client base, reputation, and market position were a large part of the value.

That is why your brand equity matters. It affects the economics of the business in ways many owners underestimate.

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