Master Class Highlights —
A Master Class with Scott McAdam Sr. & Scott McAdam Jr.
Three Keys to a Better Bottom Line
by Meta Levin
Three Keys to a Better Bottom
Line? According to the McAdams, the three keys are simple, but not always easy to accomplish. In 1979, Scott McAdam Sr. started McAdam Landscaping with his brother, Rob McAdam, in Forest Park, IL. Since then, they have grown to become a full-service landscape operation, including a garden center. Scott McAdam Jr., McAdam’s son, now is the company’s director of sales and marketing.
Be Involved in Your Industry
One year after starting the company, McAdam Sr. joined ILCA, a move he points to as one of the most valuable of his career. “I met the rock stars of the industry,” he says. “It helped me so much, because I didn’t know where to go to get the information I didn’t know.” In addition to his own education, as he and his brother began to hire employees, he encouraged them to go to seminars, something he sees as a win-win for all involved. “If employees are better educated, if they have more information, they become more engaged in the industry,” he says. “Now they have the opportunity to further their careers with us, hopefully achieving their personal goals and the company goals.” Education is not limited to seminars and lectures, McAdam Sr. emphasizes. Once you are active in industry associations, such as ILCA, “education surrounds you.” He points to trade shows, talking with others at social events and other opportunities for networking. 10
1. Be involved in your
industry
2. Understand and know the
importance of your budget
3. Be open with your employees
about your company finances
The Landscape Contractor October 2021
McAdam Jr. recounted his journey from the beginning of his professional career to where he is now. “ILCA truly helped me become professional,” he says. “It helped me develop business skills.” In college he studied horticulture, but took no business classes. Once in the family business, he realized that he needed them. His father and others had encouraged him to become involved in ILCA. Drawing on his love of golf and experience on his high school golf team, he joined the Golf Outing Committee, eventually becoming its chair. “Being involved in a committee structure, I dealt with a relatively basic budget and I learned accounting and business principles,” he says. “I was able to take those and apply them in my day-today operation.” It allowed him to understand how the budget impacted the company’s operation and how to make changes to improve the bottom line. Both men pointed to ILCA’s legislative involvement as benefitting their business. Before the pandemic, McAdam Sr. says, ILCA members had met with state representatives and senators. “We have their ears,” he says. So that when it was needed, ILCA was known, members were known. “During the pandemic, there were people who had the ears of the top people in the state and were assured that our industry would be considered essential. That has helped our bottom line immensely.” McAdam Jr. ticked off exempting landscape contractors from the service tax (continued on page 12)
