The following seven landscape professionals were awarded the prestigious 2023 Mighty Oak for their outstanding achievement.
This honor is given each year to one member of each of Jeffrey’s high-impact peer groups — based on how they performed the previous year.
The Four Achievements
There are four “developmental” areas in which a winner must show outstanding achievement.
- Personal development
- Professional development
- Company development (their team, processes, strategy, etc)
- Financial achievement (how their finances have developed over the past couple years)
Here are the winning contractors plus insight to their path to success.
(Photo has 5 of the winners, Jon, Matt, Marcus M., Adam and Ivan; they received their awards at the recent Summer Growth Summit):
Matt/Marcus Kerske, Gardens of Babylon, Nashville, TN
Marcus and Matt make strategic (big) decisions quickly
- In order to scale, they doubled down on hiring remote overseas workers, using technology to tie the far flung team together.
- When the pandemic hit they took their nursery online right away, and crushed it.
- Before the market slowed down they got onto a killer marketing platform so they could double their leads and achieve killer gross profit margins.
They’re super power: They are not afraid to try a new strategy and push it to the limit.
Marcus Malouf, MC Landscaping, Lakewood, CA
Marcus has turned self confidence into a corporate value.
He joined our peer group community with some mighty large professional goals.
To achieve them, Marcus has had to turn a personal weakness into a company strength.
- Dig deep and believe in his own worthiness in order to attract high profile clients and A+ team members.
- Use self-affirmations every morning to overcome limiting beliefs.
- Make this process part of his culture: Teach your team to do this as well, so everyone gets on board with a can-do attitude.
Craig Attkisson, Green Side Up, Richmond, VA
Craig’s super power is his ability to perform a double role:
He is both the managing partner (visionary) and the GM (implementor) of his company.
To get everyone pulling in the same direction, Craig developed open book management, incentives and profit sharing all within his first year of coming on board.
His dream was to take a month sabatical in Australia, which he also achieved in his first year.
The key to success, he focused on helping everyone achieve their very best (that’s him in the photo).
Jon Wood, Beyond The Curb Landscaping, Atlanta, GA
Jon “keeps the main thing the main thing”.
He has learned to focus his services, dropping those that don’t fit.
He then upgraded his team based on his focused go-to-market strategy.
Simply put, pivoting and doing the basics well has allowed him to grow efficiency and profits year over year!
Ivan Katz, Great Lakes Landscape Design, Oak Park, MI
Ivan takes team building to the ultimate level.
He has stuck by his original team and developed them to become their very best.
Ivan’s team of ‘every day people’ have transformed into a comando unit.: They will walk through walls and “get shit done” for each other and for their clients.
All this happened only after he realized his own self-limiting beliefs and admitted them to his team. Once he did that, everything took off.
The company now meets monthly to celebrate wins and unify the team even more.
Adam Chaitin, Ascape, Blauvelt, NY
Adam transformed his company from “one to many”
Adam knew he had to build a strong team so that their huge growth was not dependent on just himself and his dad.
Adam recruited top notch leaders locally and nationally.
He discovered that “Great people are out there, and worth every penny.”
This allowed them to continue their fast paced growth while spending more time with his brand new family.
He has built a platform and his company is now poised for even greater growth.
Brandon Lair, The Site Group, Dayton, OH
Brandon knows that making money in hardscaping requires precision in selling, bidding, and managing the work.
Nothing great in business happens without a consistent effort.
Brandon is a leader with an implementor’s mindset: The Site Group has steadily increased its sales, efficiency and profit margins each year.
“Consistency separates the wanna-be’s from the winners”
(Brandon and his team in the photo)
What Do Each of These Leaders Have in Common?
The owner stopped being the bottle neck. Each of them built and empowered their team, and this allowed them to build a life for themselves.
Your Challenge: Stay inspired by surrounding yourself with proven leaders.
You must rub shoulders with high achievers if you are going to stay on your A-Game and have fun doing it!
These seven leaders are Mighty Oaks for good reason. Which one of them is most inspirational for you??
Regards, Jeffrey Scott!
P.S. Should your expansion strategy include building branches? Join us and find out.
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