How to make your first £1 million running a gardening business

Learning the secrets of the Fantastic Services success

Running a gardening business and becoming a millionaire might not sound like compatible goals.

But for my business partner Anton and me – and now for a number of our Fantastic franchisees – the services industry has been the way we've hit seven figures.

Today, we've pretty much institutionalised the principles we used to grow as part of how we operate our franchise network.

Because, done right, being the boss of your own gardening business – or any service industry company – can indeed get you to your first £1 million.

The secret ingredient

When I first met Anton, he was at the six-figure mark with his own business. We discussed how to make it to seven or even eight-figures.

We boiled it down to four principles. On the surface, they are some of the easiest to understand in business. But they're also something that you see done wrong all over:

• Marketing – get famous, so your customers know you exist.
• Operations – get training, so you and your team know what you're doing.
• Systems – get systems, such as serviceOS, that automate everyday interactions.
• Sales – everyone seems to be “in sales” these days, but it needs to be done right.

MOSS principles are where to focus your attention if growing your business is your goal.

There is so much that can be done even by just taking the time away from your usual day-to-day grind to analyse how you go about them.

The key takeaway is that you maximise your chance to grow if you work out how to improve your processes.

Working towards £1 million as a gardener

If you're running your own gardening company, even finding enough customers to fill your schedule can sometimes feel like enough of a challenge to get you through the day.

We found that if you want to change, you need to approach the problem of growth at a systems and processes level.

You can't get caught up thinking that it's impossible. Or fall into the trap of keeping your face to the grindstone – to the exclusion of being able to improve your MOSS so that you can actually come up for some air for a change.

Even in just the “systems” area, picture how much time every day at work you spend on invoicing, scheduling, payments or crew management.

Now picture all the productive things you could do with that time if it was automated for you. Stepping back from the problem and assessing and improving the processes you use like this is the way to get ahead.

Less face to the grindstone

It might seem like you have no choice but to keep grinding away. But ultimately, this will end up being self-defeating.

You are persevering with a system that requires you to work hard. Why not put some hard work in to change the system and make your work easier?

That's not to say that you can grow your way to your first million without a lot of hard work. But it's probably not possible at all without improving your MOSS so that they actually work for you.

Work smart and hard

The gardening and services industry as a whole might not be everyone's go-to business choice if you want to be a millionaire.

Only by working smart as well as working hard do you make growth possible.

Concentrate on assessing and iterating on your MOSS, and you are laying the groundwork for future growth. And one day perhaps, the first £1 million.

Do you agree? What principles do you swear by when it comes to encouraging growth?

Comment below! Let's get the conversation started.