Did you know Steve Jobs wore the same thing every day because he wanted to reduce the number of decisions he made in a day?

As business owners, we make decisions all day long. We make them so quickly that we often don’t even realize we are making them. In fact, it's estimated that we make around 35,000 decisions every. single. day. Each decision we make requires time and energy and depletes our willpower. The more decisions you make in a day, the quicker you will end up with decision fatigue.

There are 5 simple steps you can take that will help with this:

• Reduce the number of decisions you make when you wake up (This is when wearing the same thing, eating the same thing, getting up at the same time can be helpful.)
• Once you are at work, make your biggest decisions first. 
• Delegate what you can
• Simplify your life
• Create a daily routine. The more regular the routine becomes, the more the day-to-day tasks can be done on autopilot instead of you needing to consciously decide to do...

Owning a landscaping business comes with its fair share of stress. That it’s seasonal and weather-dependent only adds to the stress of business ownership, making the ability to be nimble, flexible and resilient critical for success. But when we do not manage the stress we end up in burnout which, if not dealt with can quickly cause business failure. 

The TGC Academy posted an article a couple years ago talking about burnout and how we can avoid it. The author, Monica Allene, shared the truth about burnout (and I think many of us can relate): “I think on some level I avoided it in the early years with the power of youth (I’ve been doing this since my late teens). Then, as I got older, I avoided it by sheer force of will. Then, as I “matured” (chuckling a little here), I began to struggle with keeping burnout at bay, and I realized that something in my mind had to change. As I tackled my own mental state and began to focus on my body and spirit, I woke up one day and realized that my bu...

Atomic Habits has been recommended to me a number of times so it got moved up to the top of my reading list and it did not disappoint!

In some ways, it’s just really practical. Habits take time. The more often you do something, the more it becomes a habit - whether good or bad.

What makes this book stand out in my opinion is how James Clear says we are to achieve the habits we want. It’s not about motivation, it’s about systems. Small actions over time equal big results.

My 3 biggest takeaways are:

• It’s practical. The framework for creating good habits professionally and personally is easy to understand.
• In order to lead your team well, you need to have good habits. An owner cannot expect his/ her team to have good habits if they don’t model that behaviour themselves.
• It’s self explanatory. Following the methods of the book will allow you more bandwidth for greater productivity in your life and business. 

Right now is the perfect time of year to read this book as it's the be...

It’s been a great year at Nextra. As with all companies, COVID has had a huge impact on the way we do business, but it has also provided the time and opportunity to enhance our service offerings. 

This year we started a podcast called Nextra Presents…!. Our goal is to provide landscape contractors with great ideas, important information, helpful connections, and updates on what’s happening in our industry. We have been blessed by the wonderful guests and sponsors who have supported us. Our podcast comes out every other Friday. You can subscribe to Nextra Presents…! wherever you listen to podcasts.

We also started the Nextra Network this year. This was in response to the need we saw for additional services like finances, human resources, and health & safety. We also recognized the appeal of a buyers group for smaller contractors, allowing everyone to get the benefit of larger buying power. The Nextra Network has been well received and we look forward to continued growth.

As part of t...

Option 2 – Banking after-tax dollars rather than hours

Some of you have been asking about the banked hours system and how to handle the taxes on the banked hours income for the employee. So here’s another option. In this scenario, we’re not using the number of hours the employee works as our benchmark, we’re using the take-home dollar amount that the employee requires. 

For this scenario, let’s say you want to guarantee 30 hours per week for an employee that makes $25/hour. The pre-tax amount is $750.00. The after-tax amount (assuming 18% tax) is $615.00. The employee will take home $615.00 each week, as long as they work 30 hours. Any amount over $615.00 is placed in a separate account and can be transferred to the employee on weeks when they don’t work as many hours. Here’s an example:

Here's an example of an employee's hours:

• Week 1 - employee works 20 hours @ $25.00/hr = $500.00 (pre-tax), employee has no extra income in the “bank”, so the employee’s cheque is for $410.00 aft...

Have you considered implementing a banked hours system for your core staff through the winter season?

It’s hard to live on an hourly wage during the snow season. Your pay is dependent on the weather, which is unpredictable. Moving away from a weather dependent pay scale removes the stress about money and allows you to keep your good employees.

Here's an example of how the banked hours system would work: 

• For the winter season, you’ve decided to guarantee your staff a minimum of 35 hours per week. 
• If the employee works 30 hours in a week, they will get paid for 35. The extra 5 hours (that they've been paid for but didn't work) is banked. 
• If in the next week they work 45 hours, they will get paid for 40 hours, because the 5 banked hours will be deducted from their paycheque. 
• If in the following week, they work 45 hours, they will get paid for 45 hours because there are no banked hours. 
• They will always get paid for a minimum of 35 hours, even if they don't work 35 hour in...

Do you train, motivate and protect your staff like they're the greatest asset you have in your business? 

You put so much work into finding the best people for the job and then training them. But don't assume the team development work ends when their job starts. If you hire an employee and then never speak to them again, you are wasting time, money and potential talent. It creates a  work culture that feels like "come and go" and can lead to high turnover & poor morale.

Here are a few tips to ensure that’s not the case in your business:

• Training is the foundation that will set the tone moving forward. Take the time to share the company's mission and the role they play in that bigger vision.
• Keep morale high among your staff so that you get the best work out of every employee.
• Invest in staff from the beginning and you will have experienced and confident team members to grow with your organization. 
• Develop a career ladder with each employee to allow you to help them achieve the...

Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want by Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy, is a book about living on purpose. It’s about making a plan for what you want your life to look like instead of drifting through life in reaction mode.

“The average person spends 5 hours researching and shopping for a new car. The average bride-to-be spends 40 days planning a three-hour wedding. However, the average person never spends 1 day planning his or her life.”

Growth and development as a business owner is crucial because success doesn’t just happen. It takes time, goals, direction and a plan to get there.

My thoughts on Living Forward:

1. It’s a step by step guide to building a life plan for your personal and business life instead of drifting through your life.
2. A great read to compete on a vacation or a couple of day sabbatical where you have time to read and reflect on who you are and where you want to go with purpose.
3. To achieve great things in your life you need a...

“If you’re going to build a business that is scalable and valuable, you must get your financial house in order.” - Jeffrey Scott

A few months ago fellow business coach, Jeffrey Scott, published an article on the Top 10 Financial Mistakes he sees business owners make. In it he shared that before taking on a new client he asks them to rate their financial involvement. I’d love to ask you the same.

How would you rate yourself in regards to your finances? 

Level 5. Review financial reports monthly and operational reports weekly, and other operational numbers daily, making key decisions along the way.

Level 4. Review financial reports monthly, making many decisions monthly.

Level 3. Look briefly at reports monthly (or every other month), making just a few decisions.

Level 2. Look at reports quarterly at best.

Level 1. Wait till year end to see how I did.

No matter where you are on the scale - you are not alone and there is always room for growth. Knowing your numbers will help you i...