| | | | American Academy of Landscape Design
| December 4, 2009 | | | | | Greetings! It's been more than 2 months since my last newsletter. For that reason, this one may be a bit longer.
As I type, there are snowflakes coming down outside. In our area, we normally aim to finish up our major projects by Thanksgiving and then try to squeak in as much as we can before the weather totally dominates. Anything left waits till spring.
With business slower, things are a bit different this year. One contractor I know actually had a pretty good year, but he was an anomaly. A stone mason friend had a really rough time. With business down more than 50%, they took a 3 week hiatus in July. For a company that normally does $2M or more, that's a huge blow.
A landscape designer I know in another state basically took the year off. He laid off his crews and decided to spend the summer enjoying hobbies and family. It was so bad, it wasn't worth the fight.
Having said all that, I truly believe there is hope down the road for our industry, but it will take some adjustments on our parts.
Sincerely, 
American Academy of Landscape Design
www.aaldweb.com
847-657-7900
P.S. Still have some book bargains left. If you see something you like, but you don't like the price, make me an offer.
Click here
| |  Little Green Book
 My friend Chris Heiler has just finished his book. I'm a bit biased, but I truly believe it's well worth the few bucks it costs. I've got a hard copy myself, but the ebook is a few dollars less, and you can have it instantly!
Click here
Any business is a challenge right now, especially businesses related to the building industry. So if the building industry is slow, which it has been, then we need to seek new markets. Seems to me that there are a couple of possibilities.
One is to go back to old clients and offer updates, tweaks or the "next phase" of work.
The other is to offer a more efficient, scaled back design process intended to feed the smaller project. With the trend toward "deal finding," if you offer a product that feels like a "deal" or good value, your odds are better. This is a complicated issue I'll deal with in another post.
Regardless, you need to get the clients in the door and Chris' knowledge of internet resources combined with "old school" networking will give you some good, and not necessarily expensive, ideas to help you prepare for next season. Next spring's clients are best booked sooner, rather than later. P.S. Check out Chris' membership site LandscapeLeadership.com |  Resources Following are some interesting online tools you might enjoy: Materials CalculatorsThese seem a bit quirky, but they are worth a look. PDF Form FillerI have no idea what their privacy policy is, so before uploading private info, you might do some digging. Some PDF files are formatted so that you can fill them in natively. But others won't let you. This site will allow you to upload the form and fill it out online, then download it to your desktop. Pretty cool. Elance.comThis place is great. If you need help with anything that can be delivered electronically, you will find a resource here. The basics: You define your project and budget and put out a Request For Proposal. You will get bids from all over the world. Examples of the types of things you can hire Elancers to do include web site design, data entry, data mining (scavenging info, like contact info, from web sites), type setting, graphic design, writing, programming and more. A colleague uses and Elancer as his administrative assistant! I used an Elancer to put together my ebook The Ten Step Design Process. I provided the text, and she made it look presentable for less than $200. I hired an Elancer to edit text for the AALD web site, and another to create the site for my new site at alphacustomdetail.com. It cost less than $400 to get it going. I do have the ability to edit it, so what is there is more than I paid for. The point is that you can get some really good values out there. Logotournament.com and 99designs.comCheck them out too. | Lastly Regular readers know that I bought a new business in a different field this year. There are many personal reasons for the change, and there have been some questions, so I'll address a few here. Landscape Design was my chosen career. Unlike many in the industry, it was my first career and I still like the industry very much. I've always considered myself a "student of the art," and am always learning. I also think that, despite the current economic situation, the future of the industry is bright. We'll need to make some adjustments though. For the time being, I intend to keep producing this newsletter and maintaining my contacts in the industry. I have some definite thoughts on how to deal with the economy as a member of the green industry and will continue to share them. I'll be speaking at the Northern Green Expo in Minneapolis on January 7, 2010. Hope to see you there! As for course offerings this winter, there won't be any. I'm a bit wrapped up in my new venture, so efforts are there.
Have a safe and happy holiday season!
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