Profit First for Lawn Care and Landscape Businesses

by Christeen Era, Mike Michalowicz (Foreword by), Steven A Rigolosi (Editor)

Overview

 Many owners of lawn care and landscape businesses found their companies on the belief that they would make more money working for themselves than they would as employees. Dedicated to the maintenance and beautification of properties, they believe that their hard work and their expertise in softscape, hardscape, irrigation, or snow plowing will guarantee their company's success. But technical knowledge alone won't generate profit or help a company grow. In fact, the owners of lawn care and landscape companies often find themselves sacrificing their personal health and family life as they struggle to stay afloat and turn a tiny profit. 

 

It doesn't have to be this way. By decreasing their expenses, managing their cash flow, and planning for strategic growth, these business owners can transform their companies into profit-making machines that reward them generously for their hard work, passion, and entrepreneurial spirit. 

 

Profit First for Lawn Care and Landscape Businesses provides a comprehensive, industry-specific toolbox, not available anywhere else. The Green Profit Toolbox™ was created to help owners of lawn care and landscape industry businesses ensure strong profits and long-term growth. Christeen Era has identified not only key business models and best practices in the industry but also the hidden bleeds that kill your profit margin and destroy your bottom line. She helps you see what you never saw before with assessments that provide a clear, accurate snapshot of your current operations. She's mapped out a road to success that helps you identify your best customers and most profitable services, allowing you to smash through the unseen obstacles that stand in your way. Best of all, she's your biggest supporter. When you use the Profit First for Lawn Care and Landscape Businesses program, you pay yourself first, and you pay yourself well.  

 

Do you want more income and more time to spend with your family? Do you want to stop worrying about making your payroll and paying your taxes? Do you want to grow your business without taking on crushing debt? Profit First for Lawn Care and Landscape Businesses explains how to achieve these goals, helping you achieve long-term business stability, strategic growth, and (just maybe) the life of your dreams. 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798985076509
Publisher:	Green Profit Academy Inc
Publication date:	12/14/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	262
Sales rank:	214,269
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Christeen Era is co-founder of the Green Profit Academy (GPA), a consulting and coaching company that supports lawn care and landscape businesses with courses, webinars, small-group coaching, community-building, and online tools. She is a certified Mastery Profit First Professional, Pumpkin Plan Strategist, Fix This Next Advisor, and QuickBooks Pro Advisor. Inspired by the proven success of the Profit First program and methods, she created and pioneered the use of a specialized, industry-specific toolbox, The Green Profit Toolbox™ for Lawn Care and Landscape Businesses, to help owners manage their expenses and increase their gross profit margins to as high as 65%. Her mantra is "You are your company's best employee. Pay yourself well, and pay yourself first." Christeen is also the CEO of Core Growth Strategies, an accounting support and consulting company that has helped hundreds of small and mid-sized businesses improve their cash flow, post higher profits, and achieve stronger growth. With more than twenty years of experience in accounting and business consulting, Christeen is passionate about helping lawn care and landscaping companies flourish and grow, in good times and in bad. She understands that entrepreneurs start their businesses with the goal of living the life of their dreams, and her mission is to help them do exactly that. Connect with Christeen at [e-mail].
By his 35th birthday, MIKE MICHALOWICZ (pronounced mi-'kal-o-wits) had founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies.Confident that he had the formula to success, he became a small business angel investor... and proceeded to lose his entire fortune. Then he started all over again, driven to find better ways to grow healthy, strong companies. Mike has devoted his life to the research and delivery of innovative, impactful entrepreneurial strategies to you.Mike is the creator of Profit First, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. He is the creator of Clockwork, a powerful method to make any business run on automatic. In his 2020 release Fix This Next, Mike details the strategy businesses can use to determine what to do, in what order, to ensure healthy, fast, permanent growth (and avoid debilitating distractions). His latest book Get Different (released September 21, 2021) will give you the tools to stand out in any market.Today, Mike leads two new multi-million-dollar ventures, as he tests his latest business research for his books. He is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and business makeover specialist on MSNBC. Mike is a popular main stage keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the author of Get Different, Fix This Next, Clockwork, Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.Fabled author, Simon Sinek deemed Mike Michalowicz "...the top contender for the patron saint of entrepreneurs."
Steven Rigolosi is the best-selling author of THE OUTSMARTING OF CRIMINALS, chosen by Oprah's editors as one of the best mysteries of 2014. He is a two-time winner of the David Award, given by the Deadly Ink Mystery Conference. A resident of northern New Jersey, he is the author of three additional mysteries, one novella, and two works of nonfiction. In PRINCIPLE AND PRAGMATISM, he brings the wit, elegance, and charm of THE OUTSMARTING OF CRIMINALS to a re-telling of Jane Austen's most beloved work, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Introduction: Managing Your Profit Means Managing Your Cash 5

Chapter 1 Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Dream 9

Chapter 2 Lawn Care and Landscape Business Models 23

Chapter 3 The Foundation of Profit First 43

Chapter 4 The Accounts That Effectively Grow Your Profit 63

Chapter 5 Putting Profit First to Work for You 73

Chapter 6 Advanced Profit First Methods for Lawn Care and Landscape Businesses 89

Chapter 7 Expanding Your Profit First Toolbox 101

Chapter 8 Scalable Growth Business Model Dashboards 123

Chapter 9 Effective Business Growth Strategies 167

Chapter 10 Business and Tax Strategies 185

Chapter 11 What Gets Measured Gets Managed! 195

Chapter 12 Where It Can All Go Wrong: How to Keep Your Business on Track 221

Call to Greatness 235

Appendix 1 Profit First Instant Assessment for Lawn Care and Landscape Businesses 237

Appendix 2 Your Day Zero/Day One Chart 239

Appendix 3 The SGBM Summary Instant Assessment Chart 241

Glossary of Key Terms and Formulas 243

Acknowledgments 251

Editorial Reviews

I was surprised and pleased by the depth of the content in the book. Christeen has studied, learned, and listened to a variety of green industry business models. She's very bright and knows the differences between them. She's assembling a structured team to help implement Profit First logic that teaches and forces accountability to those that want it. If you've worked hard for a long time, are serious about your mission, and love your family, this book will be good for you. Don Zerby - Ecolawn Inc

This book will help Lawn care operators and landscapers who prefer to be in the field because that is where their passion is, who want to have a successful business that they can know it provides for their family. Blake Moore- Moore Green Lawn Care Services

The book shows that I can profit easier and more consistently using the right tools and system. Knowing that Steven Bousquet started out as much of us, but turned his ship around gives me hope. This book gives me a road map for profiting with my company. Robby Pickett - Magnolia Green

Profit First for Lawn Care and Landscape businesses is a deep dive into the numbers of your business. Profit First for Lawn Care and Landscape businesses explains "why" what you have been doing "hasn't been working", and offers a roadmap for change. Profit First is not a light, passive reading book. The book will require you to "take action steps" if you want to reap the benefit. This book is a workbook and a tool. Erich Kolb - Seagreen Lawn Care and Irrigation, Inc.

This book should be on the shelf at your accountant's office. When the accountant gives you some goobly-goop answer about profits on paper which you don't understand, they should hand you this book on the way out. Template for success, all business owners need to implement Profit First. Greg Stegenga - Greg's Grass & Landscaping

It's well written and helpful. Valuable information. Profit first planning based on the location and size of the Lawn Care and Landscape business is genius and makes the most financial sense for the industry. Rusty Thompson - Master's Lawn Care

From the Publisher