Legacy

We are just 50 days away from the first day of Spring! Many of us are setting up for spring or waiting to get back to work in the garden center industry. I have been at work getting my store ready for March 1, the deadline of making sure our garden centers are all ready for our customers for the spring season. I have been also in a reflective and thinking mode that I would just love to open up about. My one counter part in garden center management has taken me under his wing because there is going to be a point in time where the garden center that I work at will be ran fully by me. It will be my ship to sail but there are some ropes I need to learn first in order to get to that point. In the meantime, I am still managing my nursery department and being a leader in the industry where I get to coach and teach as well as make an impact on my customers. This is apart of my legacy.

Have you thought about your legacy in the industry? I think about this all the time. I think about how I am going to make an impact on my customers and my coworkers during that day of work and the years to come. I encourage you to think about it too.

When I put on my company’s shirt and I get to work, I am representing all of my garden center’s three locations. I am representing the family who started this family owned and operated garden center. I am representing everyone who works for the company and who retired from the company. I represent the brands that I sell and I make sure I am knowledgeable with their product lines. I represent independent garden centers. I represent my customers. This is my legacy, it’s who I represent and what I stand for in the industry striving to make an impact. When you put on your company shirt, what do you represent? Who do you represent?

Are you making it a goal to continue to grow in the industry? Are you taking opportunities to attend trade shows or connect with your brand representatives? My counterpart, his name is Ed and you will be hearing about him a lot in this section, is helping me explore the industry in different ways. He has taken me to trade shows to meet representatives and check out different products and brands. He actually encouraged my boss to say yes to allowing me to go to the Mid Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, also known as MANTS, to explore my passion of plants to be able to get ideas, meet my growers, and explore new options because Ed believes in me and he wants me to get to a higher level in the industry.

This is a message and a new section dedicated to independent garden centers, to the managers, to the teams who run garden centers, this is for the brands out there who support us, this is for the landscaping companies who are trying to boot up company morale. This is me helping you be the best that you can be. I have a feeling that this spring will be amazing for all - us and our customers but in order for us to make it the best, we need to take the time to think about our legacy, our company, and the ways we are enforcing our individual growth.
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Tell me what you’re doing to prepare for spring or what you’re excited about professional. What’s your reflection of where you have been and where you are going in the industry? What are your goals for the 2023 year? Let’s talk, let’s discuss in the comments. The best is yet to come.