Case Study: Green Gardens Landscape & Design CLIENT Green Gardens Landscape Design is a full service company serving residential and commercial clientele in and around San Diego since 1979. Green Gardens focuses on bringing innovative design ideas coupled with a functional approach to meet specific needs. In 2003 Green Gardens was acquired by Tyler Bilyk who increased its revenues to a peak of $1.7 million in 2007.
PROBLEM As of May of 2008, Bilyk had done a remarkable job in just a few years of taking over the business. Under his leadership, Green Gardens had grown from a startup company to a steadily growing organization that has the potential to capture a large piece of the market share. Up to this point, the team had been primarily focused on selling jobs and figuring out how to get the work done on time and to clients’ expectations. Bilyk’s sales were continuing to increase and they were finding that clients were willing to pay top dollar for the level of services they know they will receive. With this continued growth came “growing pains” for the business and Bilyk. Some of the problems facing the company were that revenues were growing but the company was not achieving desired profitability. Bilyk was also stressed and working as many as 80 hours per week. Everyone in the company was extremely busy and dedicated but at the end of the day there is not enough profit to show for it and too much stress to make it worthwhile. Bilyk realized these challenges and called upon Tyler Jensen, Founder of Coastal Latitude Consulting, to assist in overcoming these “growing pains”.
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Copyright © 2010, Tyler W. Jensen. This article may not be reprinted, reproduced, or retransmitted in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author. www.thestartupgarage.com
GOALS Tyler Bilyk’s personal goals were to transform the business so that he was able to work a reasonable 40 hour work week while increasing profitability to be able to take home more money to support his personal lifestyle. In order to accomplish these goals Bilyk and Jensen worked together to create business goals. These included implementing systems throughout the company, increasing the profit margin, and creating infrastructure to support a growing business.
PROCESS In May 2008 Jensen and Bilyk sat down to define personal and professional goals. Next, under Jensen’s leadership, and the help of the entire Green Gardens team, a strategic business plan was written to accomplish these goals. This was done through regular meetings with all team members and numerous strategy sessions. After the business plan was completed and buy in was attained from all members of the team, the plan was executed under Bilyk’s leadership. Jensen supported Bilyk through this process of executing the plan by providing consulting, coaching, resources and introductions to service providers. As barriers arose in executing the business plan Jensen and Bilyk along with the rest of the team worked to together to overcome them efficiently and effectively.
SOLUTION By January of 2009 these goals were finally met, gross profit increased sharply to 8% and Bilyk reduced his work hours to 40 hours per week, cutting his previous work time almost in half. Under Bilyk’s leadership Green Gardens now has an HR system with clear job descriptions, a bookkeeping system, and daily staff meetings just to name a few. In addition a brand new estimating system was implemented after it was identified that profits could be increased through a more effective system.
BENEFITS Tyler Bilyk gained more free time, an increased salary, and a revamped organization. The entire team no longer felt as though they were constantly playing “catch up.” Many things in the operational system changed, while morning meetings were instituted to increase communication with and among the team. Job descriptions helped to define responsibilities and better accountability. Bookkeeping and reports were implemented to be able to quickly understand the financial health of the company.
CURRENT SITUATION More recently, Bilyk asked Jensen to work with him on a marketing and sales system and is planning to hire a sales manager to take over this portion of his company. This will create more free time for Bilyk to enjoy life while benefiting from an increase of 15% in revenue in a bad economy in 2009.
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Copyright © 2010, Tyler W. Jensen. This article may not be reprinted, reproduced, or retransmitted in whole or in part without the express written consent of the author. www.thestartupgarage.com