Here’s our weekly digest of cool stuff from the web. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

• Give this list to your foremen.
• “The complement to the brilliant strategy is the thankless work of lower-leverage detail.“
• A guide to commercial property leasing practices from CBRE.
• An update on trends in outdoor furniture.
• Awesome vertical gardens.
• Above: Linkedin now lets companies use targeted status updates. (via @chris_heiler)

What software do you use to route your trucks?

How much do you charge customers for turf maintenance?

Which marketing works best?

At the L&L Linkedin group, 3,300 landscape contractors, lawn care operators and other green industry professionals ask questions of their  colleagues and learn their best practices.

Check it out today!

Turns out, Charlie Sheen Dale Carnegie was wrong. You don’t “win” friends. You don’t collect them like business cards.

Reid Hoffman, founder of Linkedin and celebrated tech investor, said as much in the February issue of Fortune, where he was promoting his new book. Turns out you make friends and allies by just being thoughtful and lending a hand. Who knew?

This excerpt featured some of his best advice on how to strengthen your network:

The best way to engage with new people is not by cold calling or by “networking” with strangers at cocktail parties, but by working with the people you already know. Of the many types of professional relationships, among the most important are your close allies. Most professionals maintain five to 10 active alliances. What makes a relationship an alliance? First, an ally is someone you consult regularly for advice. Second, you proactively share and collaborate on opportunities together. You keep your antennae attuned to an ally’s interests, and when it makes sense to pursue something jointly, you do. Third, you talk up an ally. You promote his or her brand. Finally, when an ally runs into conflict, you defend him and stand up for his reputation, and he does the same for you.

You can read the full article, which includes more of the science and psychology behind networking, here.

Here’s our weekly digest of interesting and informative stuff from the internet. Dig in, and have a great weekend!

• “A wall made of animals.” Why you need a good schedule, not just a great design.
• 30,000-year-old plants from the Russian permafrost.
• Chris Heiler on how to do SEO.
• A great discussion on gas prices at our Linkedin group.
• Good, short piece from Jason Cupp on customers.
• Abbot and Costello explain unemployment figures.
• Above: The first in a series of top landscape mistakes from Austin Outdoor.

LinkedIn is a great way to connect with colleagues and potential clients. Take advantage of some downtime this week to get your profile into fighting shape.

(via)

To post, not to post, where to post – with the different social media avenues, all of which offer unique networking and content sharing abilities – those can be difficult questions. We found this handy graphic that may help answer some of your questions.

Clearly this may be more meaningful for personal use than business. It would probably look bad if we were always checking in at bars. And we don’t necessarily agree with the LinkedIn as being “boring” – we get great insight and traction in our Lawn & Landscape group. You should join us.