"Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people." (Steve Jobs)

Open Book Management (OBM) is the philosophy that businesses will experience greater success by sharing relevant financial and operational information with every employee. It’s the practice of communicating with people via the numbers. Employees receive information that not only helps them do their jobs well but gives them an understanding of how the company is doing as a whole. According to John Case, who coined the phrase “open book management”, “a company performs best when its people see themselves as partners in the business rather than as hired hands". The intent is to give employees relevant information about the company so they can make better decisions as workers. This information includes, but is not limited to, revenue, profit, cost of goods sold, cash flow and expenses.

Open Book Management involves four basic practices:

• Train employees so they become business litera
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Why Hire a Professional Bookkeeper?

As a small business owner, you need accurate and up-to-date financial information so you can make the best decisions for your business.

As your business grows and you hire employees, or take on more customers, keeping track of your business expenses and ensuring your books are accurate becomes more complex and time-consuming.

It’s a lot to keep track of while also running your business – sales, expenses, salary payments, and any other money that goes in and out of your business.

You know how important it is to keep good records, not only for CRA compliance and protecting yourself in case of an audit, but also if you want to sell your business down the line.

And frankly, you’re sick of staring at spreadsheets or teaching yourself how to use accounting software. You find yourself falling behind and losing track of receipts, and you’re afraid of missing out on important deductions or overdue invoices that cost you money. You know it’s time to outso...

Being a landscape business owner is hard. There are a million things vying for your attention, and it’s usually the most urgent that gets it. Meanwhile, your business keeps going – but is it growing? Has it increased in value over the last year? The truth is that most landscape business owners have no idea what their business is worth or how it’s actually doing. They’re usually fantastic technicians, happy to be working IN the business, but rarely ON the business. But knowing the value of your business, and understanding the steps needed to take to increase its value are critical for the growth and health of the business. It will increase profitability now and also make your business more attractive to potential buyers – whether you’re looking at selling now or in the future.

Let’s take a look at six pillars of business and identify some best practices and tools you can implement fairly easily to increase efficiency, productivity and profit.

SAFETY

The health and safety of your staf...

I love the change of seasons. I have family living in west Africa and one of the hardest adjustments for them is that there’s no change of seasons (unless you count the change from “hot” season to “hotter” season).

But here at home in Canada, we get to experience the changing of the seasons. And fall is my favourite. It’s my favourite for all sorts of reasons – for cooler weather, for a return to routine after the summer, for campfires on cool nights, for Thanksgiving, and even for pumpkin spice lattes!

I also love the change of seasons when it comes to our business. The fall brings with it a change in the type of work we’re doing, the start of planning for the snow season, the excitement of new equipment, and the return of everyone back at work after summer holidays.

But the fall brings with it some unique financial stressors for business owners. These include material and equipment expenses, contracts that don’t pay out until January, equipment and vehicle repairs and maintenance ...

The original article by Alan Kohll can be found HERE.

Company culture is an integral part of business. It affects nearly every aspect of a company. From recruiting top talent to improving employee satisfaction, it’s the backbone of a happy workforce. Without a positive corporate culture, many employees will struggle to find the real value in their work, and this leads to a variety of negative consequences for your bottom line.

According to research by Deloitte, 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct corporate culture is important to a business’ success. Deloitte’s survey also found that there is a strong correlation between employees who claim to feel happy and valued at work and those who say their company has a strong culture.

There’s a reason why companies who are named as a Best Place to Work see so much success. These organizations tend to have strong, positive corporate cultures that help employees feel and perform their best at work. Research gathered by Cu...

Our industry offers a vast amount of professional development opportunities. This is one of the things that sets us apart from other industries.

As we continue our focus on lifelong learning, we wanted to make you aware, if you aren’t already, of some of the great learning opportunities available to you that are specific to our industry.

LANDSCAPE ONTARIO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Landscape Ontario's Professional Development has extensive resources to help provide you with tools for personal and business growth. They offer a wide range of topics, allowing you to update your skills or learn something new. They offer in-person and online seminars. Click HERE to see the list of 2023 seminars.

LMN (Landscape Management Network)

LMN offers a number of ebooks, videos and on-demand webinars covering topics related to running and growing a business: budgeting, business planning and growth, estimating, hiring, improving efficiency, and marketing and sales. For a list of the resources, click...

The popularity of podcasts is increasing[1]. Not only are more people listening to podcasts, but they’re listening to more podcasts. The beauty of podcasts is their accessibility. They’re free, they’re available through many different apps and programs, and you can listen anywhere at any time. I enjoy listening to podcasts while I’m driving or walking the dog. Marla and I listen together when we’re on road trips. 

Most podcasts put out new content on a regular basis, usually weekly or monthly. And I usually anticipate the release of a new podcast. I love hearing interviews with successful business owners who are willing to share their struggles and victories. These are real life stories of well-known people and businesses. I find I am encouraged to persevere and always take away some new knowledge or best practice suggestion. The podcasts provide links and additional content regarding the topic being discussed in the show notes.  With so many podcasts available, I thought I’d share my...

This article is written by Chad Diller and the original post can be found HERE. 

Over the past two years I’ve spent a lot of time scouring YouTube and the Internet. I’ve wanted to get a really good sense of what kind of marketing tips are out there for lawn and landscape companies.

I’ve made a few general observations…

• The large majority of content addressing marketing for landscapers is geared towards entrepreneurs and businesses under $2 million in annual revenue. 
• Most of the people offering these tips are either A) well-intentioned small business owners sharing their personal advice or, B) landscaping marketing agencies that specialize in small businesses.
• And lastly, most of the popular "influencers" make money by producing videos (ads on YouTube, product endorsements, selling software, franchises, or courses for startup businesses).

None of these things are bad. However, these landscaping marketing strategies may not apply for companies with an annual revenue of over $2...

Clockwork is a book for business owners. The purpose of the book is for owners to design their business to run itself. It is a book that has freedom and fulfillment as the ultimate goal. It echoes Peter Drucker's quote "Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.” Michalowicz has taken this concept and created a process to put it in place. 

One of the most impactful elements of the book is identifying what Mike calls the Queen Bee Role. He writes, “Identify the core function in your business that is the biggest determinant of your company’s success. Within every company there exists a single function that is the most significant determinant of the company’s health. It is where the uniqueness of your offering meets the best talents of you and/or your staff.”

The process of thinking this through is valuable in itself. But it is not easy. We all think that every aspect of our business is crucial. Michalowicz says, “The biggest cause of business inefficienc...

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana 

“Do you have a minute to talk?”. Over the years I’ve been asked this question by employees. It’s a question that immediately knots my stomach, as my experience tell me that the employee is about to resign. 

When an employee resigns, my mind very quickly begins making a checklist. What are the steps we need to take to fill the role being vacated? Do we need to adjust the job description? Do we fill the job internally or post it externally? By immediately jumping to replacement, I’ve missed an important and valuable step - the exit interview. 

An exit interview is an interview held with an employee about to leave an organization, typically in order to discuss the employee's reasons for leaving and their experience of working for the organization. The exit interview can take various forms; it can be a written survey, can be completed verbally with a manager, or contain elements of both. The exit interview ...