Jim McCutcheon has a simple — but very important – message for landscape contractors on his blog:

We have spent so much time focusing on the “poor economy,” “Obamacare,” “Sequestration,” “Watergate” (Rubio), etc., that we are losing sight of a critical axiom of building a business – you still make the call as to how you are going to lead your company.

Yes, you may need to make some tough calls as to how you are going to successfully overcome the obstacles in front of you.  Sometimes, it means you must make difficult decisions.

Every company needs to have a leader that is willing to be unpopular at times.  That willingness means you have the courage to make tough calls that will lead to better times for all members of the team.  If your focus is on being liked all the time, you can’t succeed.

Seth Godin makes a similar point, but uses a bicycle analogy: The uphill parts of a ride are much more strenuous than the downhills, but it’s only when you’re going up that you have control over how fast you go. Once you crest the hill, physics takes over and you’re essentially ballast.

Now, I look forward to the uphill parts, because that’s where the work is, the fun is, the improvement is. On the uphills, I have a reasonable shot at a gain over last time. The downhills are already maxed out by the laws of physics and safety.

Read Jim’s full post here. Stop thinking about everything that you can’t control and start working on the things you can.

It’s just a Phil Collins kind of morning/afternoon. I remember playing this over and over in a Pizza Hut jukebox as a young lad.

Well, I’ve learned two things already this morning:

1. Costco has a magazine.
2. In that magazine, they featured Mike Kukol, owner of Horizon Landscape & Irrigation, and how he uses a peer group to improve his business.

h/t to Jeffrey Scott for the news.

We are trying to get our March issue out the door. This song plays on a constant loop in my head until it’s done.

Making a million is quite a achievement in the industry. We’ll feature a piece in our March issue about how exactly hit that goal. In the meantime, check out what Dave Fairburn, president, and Andrew Pelky vice president of NP Holdings, an outdoor property services company in New England, said about making the mark.

The achievement “gave us a point where we could breathe,” Fairburn said  However, “we simply reached a benchmark which will lead to others”   He said it’s not an end mark.  It simply gives the company a moment to pause, reorganize, and plan our next steps.

“I processed it, and I haven’t really thought about it again until your magazine has asked us this question,”Pelkey said.  “What this is really about, is that we are on this planet for only 80 or 90 years. It’s what we do to exercise our minds for that time to feel fulfilled. This is not to understate the value of a million dollars; it is just to value the million dollars in terms of life.”

Some good insight about reaching a goal, but not settling for it.

For those of us who didn’t have to live through it, these time lapse videos give an idea of how bad NEMO was. That snow just keeps piling up.

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/water_cooler/new-england-blizzard-2013-videos-time-lapse-video-of-northeast-blizzard-go-viral-on-youtube

In honor of Valentine’s day, here’s a love song about a confused man.

Where was Pat Travers when you needed him at the Super Bowl? Actually, that’s a good question. Where is Pat Travers?

We had a nice wintry mix here in Cleveland, which means we can’t drive 55. See how I connected those two just to get the Red Rocker (VH edition) in the start-up. This a dandy from a video I’ve never seen.

To recognize the 49ers trip to the Super Bowl (we don’t like the Ravens much round these parts), here are two of the Bay-area’s best bands.