TURF & NET WORTH

Lawn-care biz starts out of empty closet and now rakes in $3 million a year!

Chuck Green is a business writer.

A desk and an office? Don’t even think about it, said Laurie Broccolo, unless, maybe, and only maybe, it’s located somewhere in the middle of the great outdoors.

“I always intended to work outside and knew I wanted to go to school for something that had to do with nature and the environment,” said Broccolo, president, founder and co-owner of Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care, which designs and builds outdoor living spaces. Broccolo worked for a landscaping company before starting her own business, literally out of the closet of her suburban home. Today, the business takes in $3 million a year.

However, outdoors or not, Broccolo realized that to succeed, she needed to turn to some fairly traditional business like staples. “I knew what I wasn’t good at, which was the financial side and bookkeeping, and hired someone part time right away. It was just to help me make sure the few bills I had got paid on time. We kid that we came out of the closet,” Broccolo laughed.

“I think there’s a satisfaction in building something on your own and being personally involved in your own livelihood. Your customers are really yours to shape and develop.”

And it’s probably all the more satisfying considering she had trouble securing a bank loan and that her vendors were her financers. “I had put together this business plan which the banks liked, but I had no money so they couldn’t give me anything because I had no assets.” In fact, a banker who was impressed with her business plan actually became one of Broccolo’s first customers.

At that point, she said her business grew largely through a variety of means, including word of mouth, relationships with vendors she had established through her former employer, her reputation in the industry and involvement in a landscape association. “All those things helped get me the support I needed without going into huge debt,” said Broccolo, who’s also past president and founder of the New York State Lawn Care Association.

While she’s abetted those efforts by doing some marketing, including sporadically hiring a public relations firm through the years to generate exposure and visibility, she noted, “It’s more still all client referrals.” She said the next largest source of her company’s new leads is those who see her trucks in the neighborhood. “We don’t do yellow page or print advertising. It’s networking and being involved in the community.” Fortunately, she added, promoting an environmental idea for sustainable landscaping is of interest to the public. It’s another way that helped her company gain credibility and recognition, noted Broccolo.

To help her further grow her business, Broccolo participated in coaching and leadership training. She said she had been too immersed in her company’s day-to-day operations and kept getting advice from owners of other successful companies to go to the next level. “They recommended working on myself and taking on some leadership coaching. I’ve always been involved in the community and am fascinated by other people and customers and how they love their businesses and corporations. By being involved in things like the chamber of commerce I’d just start asking everyone what they did when they got to the point that they didn’t enjoy what they did.”She said she had grown her business to the point where it was leveling off and she felt like she was spinning her wheels.

Broccolo also is active professionally, outside her office. She teaches environmental landscaping to professional architects, landscapers and gardening association. She also authored a chapter on how to promote healthy trees and lawns while reducing pesticide use in Integrated Pest Management for Turf and Ornamentals, published by the Environmental Protection Agency and has been recognized with numerous environmental awards.

Broccolo’s also involved in the Northeast IPM Advisory Committee which includes government, universities and business. She’s as savvy as anyone when it comes to what counts in her industry, such as the use of integrated pest management. “Within my industry, it’s a terms that attracts good employees. People interested in the environment, and specifically in landscaping or farming and agriculture, thoroughly embrace the concept of reducing pesticides, understanding nature and the environment and working with it to get the best crops we can.”

She said that in the landscape industry, lawn care had taken off and become almost the suburban American dream. However, there was a matter of reshaping the image of who homeowners believed they should hire to tend to their landscaping needs. She said it’s up to people like her to help educate customers about the importance of turning to professionals with top-notch qualifications.

For more information, contact Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care, 2059 Brighton-Henrietta TL Rd., Rochester, NY 14623. Phone: 585-424-4476. Web-site: www.broccologroup.com. •

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