Letters

Readers respond to ‘What happened to Juan’

I was made aware of your article “What Happened to Juan” via a LinkedIn posting by Andrew Smith of Reinke Manufacturing. Our group has over 400 members and a good conversation commenced.

I’d like to encourage you and L&L to post more stories of the challenges faced by practicing professionals in the green industry.

Without asking you or the magazine to focus on the negative, well-written articles of this type can be more informative and contain more practical advice to readers than “success” articles.

I own three green industry companies and for various reasons, and each is severely challenged at the moment. Articles like “What Happened to Juan” can be very therapeutic to business owners facing similar challenges – if only for a moment.

Certainly, such articles cause the attentive reader to take pause and reflect.

Keep up the good work and if you happen to visit with Mr. Vila or his son, please pass on best wishes from other sympathetic green industry employer-practitioners.

Timothy Malooly
President, Water in Motion
Minneapolis

Powerful article on Vila & Son. Most interesting quote was “We got too big.” A cautionary tale. I give Mr. Vila a lot of credit for telling the story and thank him. Tough to do. So many people were impacted. Our industry can learn much from this fall from grace. Nice writing.

Scott Jamieson
Vice president, Bartlett Tree Experts
Northbrook, Ill.

Hello, my friend. Good job on this piece. I think this is important, and I believe it is cathartic for Juan as well. I spoke with him today and he was happy about this coming out. All the best.

Jim McCutcheon
CEO, HighGrove Partners
Austell, Ga.

Wow. You got to the core of an issue that has affected thousands of contractors, not only landscapers. What went on in the economy is incredible (and is still going on). If a person gets to a point of making big bucks he needs to be as aggressive in taking money off the table and investing it as he is in expanding his empire. Thanks again for the article.

Jim Peterson
President, The Landscaping Network and The Concrete Network
Calimesa, Calif.

I just wanted to say thank you for the article on Vila & Son. I was marketing director for VSL for 15 years and I can tell you he meant every word. Some out there won’t agree, but those who know him well will say thanks.

Claudia Fajardo

On staying small and local

First, let me say how much I love your magazine. When it arrives I read it cover to cover. Great articles and plenty of information about the trade.

You run articles about lawn care operators/landscapers in each issue, and as much as I love to read and dream of being a multi-million dollar company, there are a ton of us out here that are one- maybe two-man companies pulling in $30,000 to 40,000 a year. I would love to hear more stories of the little guy clawing his way up the ladder, tiring to make ends meet when you have nothing but used gear and a dream.

Just an idea. Keep up the great work and I look in the mailbox everyday for my next issue.

Graham Oldreive
Ducke’s Lawn Care Services
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

I enjoy your Top 100 reports very much. I am a small business lawn care owner/operator. For the past 25 years I have worked hard to build my reputation as the company to call for quality and consistent service. I enjoy working every day mowing and maintaining my customers’ properties.

No, I am not the biggest in town, but my presence is unsurpassed in the local market. I do market myself on the web, keep up with the lawn care industry and use the best equipment to stay productive. I am confident of the decisions I make to stay small and local.

This is a choice, not a coincidence, that I stay small. I have seen larger growth and money driven companies go out of business. I have watched the local lawn care market go from a dozen companies to over a hundred vying for a piece of the market. I am not against growth, but I enjoy the challenges of staying small and local in the Findlay, Ohio, market.

What about doing a story on the best 100 local small companies in America?

Ken Silvers Owner,
Ken Silvers Residential Lawn Care
Findlay, Ohio