Small moments, big seasons
January 1st.
A hundred posts about “this being your year.” Goals. Resolutions. Big talk about making changes.
A resolution is “I should market better this year.” A decision is “I’m fixing the phone situation before March, period.”
A resolution is “I need to hire better people.” A decision is “I’m rewriting that job post this week and filming the recruiting video before the ground thaws.”
Resolutions get revisited in October when you realize nothing changed. Decisions get made and then you move on.
2025 hit hard. Labor got more expensive. Margins got tighter. The guys with PE money behind them kept buying up territory. Google changed the rules again.
But what I also saw…
One owner decided to go big - stopped chasing mowing contracts and focused on hydroseeding and specialty installs. Now 60% of his pipeline is specialty work averaging $11,000 a job.
Another went the opposite direction - wanted more volume, leaned into mowing as the foot in the door for fertilization and weed control programs.
A third didn’t want to change what they did, just the ratio - three fert/weed contracts for every mowing job instead of the other way around.
True stories! I helped orchestrate each of these.
Different strategies. Same principle: they decided what they were building toward, then shaped the pipeline to match.
It happened because they made a specific decision in the quiet before spring hit.
You’ve got maybe 8-10 weeks before the phones start ringing again. That’s not a lot of time, but it’s enough to fix ONE thing that’s been dragging.
You already know what that thing is.
The question is whether you’ll decide - actually decide - or just hope this season feels different.
If you want a second opinion on what’s worth fixing first, hit reply. I’m happy to point you in a direction.
Happy New Year.