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Learn to conquer the one real hurdle to scaling your company and growing rich: Time

How you use your free time will make or break your success. The secret? It’s not about working harder or finding more time to do work. It’s about designing the freedom to engage in the high-value work that brings you energy and fulfillment. This is at the heart of the message that has made Dan Martell the world’s most popular SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) coach. Now, in his first book, Buy Back Your Time, he teaches entrepreneurs at every level how to scale their business, fast, while avoiding burnout. Trading money for time—that is, literally buying back free space in your calendar—will give you more financial success than you ever dreamed was possible.

With over two decades of experience as a serial entrepreneur and founder, Dan Martell will teach you the secrets to work less and play more while building an empire. He’ll dig into the practical steps that will allow you to start buying back ...

Employee lawsuits can be disastrously expensive without business insurance, especially for small businesses. Organizations can and should take steps to minimize potential losses that might stem from employee lawsuits. One of these steps might include purchasing Employment Practices Liability Insurance.

Employment Practices Liability insurance protects organizations against allegations and lawsuits by employees who claim their legal rights have been violated. EPL exposures have expanded from discrimination or harassment brought by employees to include a wide range of evolving exposures including accessibility, gender issues and disputes over performance reviews and promotion. (Sourced from Travelers Insurance)

“Employment Practices Liability WRONGFUL ACT” means any actual or alleged:

1. Wrongful termination of employment;
2. Discrimination or harassment adversely affecting any employee of or applicant for employment with the ENTITY;
3. Wrongful deprivation of career opportunity or failure t...

How Cell Phone Addiction Can Lead to Entrepreneur Burnout and How to Prevent It

The original published article by Gary Wilbers can be found HERE.

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or simply someone who’s always on the go, it’s no secret that your cell phone is your lifeblood. It keeps you connected to your work, your employees, and your customers. But what happens when your phone usage goes from being a helpful tool to a full-blown addiction?

Burnout is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that can occur when you’re overworked or constantly under stress. And while burnout can affect anyone, it’s especially common among entrepreneurs. After all, running a business is no easy feat. There are always deadlines to meet, problems to solve, and new challenges to face. So it’s not surprising that many entrepreneurs find themselves chained to their phones in an effort to stay on top of everything.

But here’s the thing: constantly being glued to your phone can actua...

The original post by Matt Santos from Solace can be found HERE.

In today's rapidly changing and increasingly competitive landscape, it's crucial for companies to remain nimble and adaptable. One way to achieve this is by hiring fractional executives or professionals, who can bring a wealth of specialized expertise and experience to your organization without the financial commitment of a full-time hire.

Below are five key advantages to utilizing fractional hires that can give your company a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

1. Actually Approachable Experts (Years of Experience for a Fraction of the Price):

One of our fractional CFOs put it best: "it's 30 for 30: get my 30 years of experience for 30% of the cost of a traditional CFO". Fractional executives are highly experienced professionals who have worked in various industries and roles and now offer their expertise on a part-time basis to one or a few different organizations. They bring a wealth of knowledge and expertis...

 Interview with Charolette Cascioli by Karina Sinclair
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. The original article can be found HERE. 

The demand for skilled workers in landscape and horticulture is higher than ever. HR consultant Charolette Cascioli joined the Landscape Ontario Podcast to explore different solutions for this growing problem — and shared her insights on attracting better candidates by broadening the prospective talent pool, the risks of ignoring company culture and how participating in ongoing training programs like those offered by LO can help strengthen the leadership skills needed to build a great team culture.  

From your perspective as a human resources professional, what do you think would help employers fill their vacant roles?

We really do need to be looking outside of our industry. That's one of the suggestions I always make to our contractors. I’ve heard some phenomenal stories of outstanding supervisors and lead hands that just came completel...

^{The original article, written by Randy Dombrowski, was posted on Green Industry Pros on January 13, 2025 and can be found HERE.} 

From site prep to specialized installations, the people you hire can either drive your project forward or increase risk. Here's how general contractors can help mitigate risk.

Every subcontractor you hire can enhance or derail your work. A focus on subcontractor risk management can be the difference between a profitable, well-executed project and one that suffers costly delays—or worse, injuries or fatalities.

A strong subcontractor risk management strategy is built on three key pillars: a thorough risk assessment, clear control measures and adequate insurance coverage. These components protect your workforce, property and equipment and ensure your project stays within budget and on schedule.

Key steps to assessing subcontractor risk

Before signing a contract, evaluate how your subcontractor will impact your project’s safety and bottom line. A thorough v...

The original article can be found here. 

As a small business owner, you might be thinking, "HR? That's for large businesses with thousands of employees, right?" Wrong. Small businesses need HR just as much, if not more, than the big guys.

That's why we're going to break down just how important HR is for every small business for you. But first, let's clear up a common misconception.

HR, aka human resources, isn't just about paperwork or hiring and firing. Sure, those are important parts of the HR function, but it’s also so much more than that. It's about creating a positive work environment, supporting your employees, and ultimately, driving the success of your business.

Think about it this way, small businesses often operate in close-knit teams. You know your team personally, you understand their strengths and weaknesses, and you genuinely care about their wellbeing. But you also need to do your part to streamline your people management.

That's where HR comes in. It helps you nurt...

Over Time Rules for Contractors

Landscape Ontario Snowposium 2024

Why are We Talking About Overtime?

• Our industry portrays paying overtime negatively.
• But the rules are clear: we need to pay overtime
• We ignore the rules because:
  • We think the extra cost will keep us from being competitive against companies who don’t pay overtime
  • We think it will affect profitability
  • We don’t understand what’s at risk
• Our industry is slow to change (Landscape Ontario has been writing and talking about overtime since 2015!)
• We’ve been using work-arounds to get out of paying overtime
  • Banked hours
  • Putting field staff on salary
• Owners don’t have the time to look into it

Why We Should Promote Overtime

• It’s not as costly as you think
  1. Create some scenarios from last season’s payroll reports to see what you would have paid last season
  2. The staff generally do not want to work more than 44 hours per week in the summer months (the weather and holidays limit the number of weeks t
  ...

As a landscape contractor, managing the financial aspects of your business is crucial to your success.
One of the most important, but overlooked, aspects of financial management is monitoring your cash flow.
By keeping a close eye on your cash flow, you can avoid unexpected shortfalls and ensure that you have
the funds to meet your business obligations.

In this article, we will discuss the five cash-flow mistakes that small business owners often make and how
you can avoid them. By implementing these strategies, you can effectively manage your cash flow and
set your landscape contracting business up for long-term success.

1. Neglecting to monitor your cash flow at least weekly
One of the biggest mistakes that small business owners make is not consistently monitoring their cash
flow. By neglecting to review your cash flow on a regular basis, you may miss out on potential problems
that could eventually drain your financial resources.

Monitoring your cash flow on a daily or weekly basis allows ...

^{(The original article by Vanessa McQuade can be found HERE.)}

Marketing. Everyone has an opinion. Some are good, most are not and few are backed by data and facts. So, how do you figure out what to do?

For the last three years, business has been booming. We are now facing headwinds and need to sharpen our approach to maintain healthy growth.

With that in mind, here are five common marketing mistakes to avoid in order to set yourself up for success.

#1: Marketing to the wrong part of your customers' brain

People make decisions emotionally, and then rationalize those decisions intellectually. We first need to engage the limbic brain, responsible for emotion and decision making.

Author Simon Sinek’s research dove into how the best leaders communicated. Long story short, they communicated through purpose and emotional engagement. A famous example of this is Martin Luther King crying out “I have a dream!”, not “I have a plan.”

We have to speak with purpose and let the world know what ...