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From Red To Black To Green

Bill Schnetz knows all about the trap of working so hard in your business, you never get your head far enough above the fray to work on it. The difference, he says, can make or break you as the leader of your company, and is especially crucial as you weather a tough economy. Since early 2008, Schnetz, CLCA’s Director Of Events, has been helping contractors make that all-important leap from having a job to running a business. He’s the facilitator of CLCA’s three-year “Red To Black To Green” mentoring program, named for the progress contractors can make from operating in the red, to being in the black and ultimately bringing in the ‘green.’

“The more I get involved with the program, the more I realize how many small-contractor members we have who don’t really have a business, they have an hourly job,” Schnetz said. “When I look back at my own career — I’ve been doing this for 34 years — I thought if I worked really hard, and did bigger and better projects, I’d be successful. But I never became successful to the point where I had a consistent income, where I had something left at the end of the year, where I could find good employees so I could take off a weekend. I was having to do everything myself ” working 16 to 18 hours a day and it was killing me.” It was his wife, he says, who pushed him to join CLCA, where he learned that running a business was much more than being a crew leader with a couple of helpers. “The light bulb in my head got switched on,” he says.

Today, Schnetz’s firm, Schnetz Landscape Inc. in Escondido, is a design/build/maintenance firm with 30 employees. It’s an accomplishment Schnetz says he never would have achieved by simply working in his business. “I’ve taken some of the skills I learned in CLCA and in other business groups to help other contractors,” he says about Red To Black To Green. “I have a strong feeling that for people who haven’t had the light switched on, haven’t seen the possibilities ... they are out there every day and doing the tasks and they can’t see past that.”

The idea for the program grew out of board of directors’ discussions about professionalism, Schnetz says. As Director Of Events at the time, his thoughts naturally turned to making CLCA’s events more successful: in other words having more members able to attend. “Yes, I want more successful contractors and more successful events,” he says. And what better way to enable small contractors to go to those events than by teaching the leadership skills they need.

According to participant Ken Nagao of Groundworks, "Red to Black To Green has been instrumental in my personal and professional development. I feel that this is one of the most rewarding programs that I have been involved with since joining CLCA in 1994. Who knows where my company would be if this program were available when I first joined?

"During the first year, being held accountable to work on myself and the business was truly invaluable. For the second year, building camaraderie with members of the group and exposing our own weaknesses and strengths, becoming receptive to constructive criticism and praise, financial analysis literacy from Tom Ellington and adding experiences of new members to the group were key."

"I truly believe that our company is growing in a down economy due to my involvement with the Red to Black to Green program," Nagao said.

The first meeting was a real eye-opener, Schnetz says. Once the contractors told their stories, Schnetz says he found himself talking to the group not about goal-setting or leadership skills, but about how to survive in a down economy. “I’ve survived more than once,” he says simply and was happy to switch gears, and start handing out advice and encouragement.

Everyone in the Red To Black To Green group was assigned to write out their business and personal goals and then answer three questions:

Why do you want to grow your business?
If I’m an employee, why would I want to work with you? and
If I’m a client, why would I want to hire you?

It’s an important way for CLCA to connect with smaller contractors, Schnetz says. “It’s people asking them questions that no one has asked them before,” he says. “They can start thinking about things other than pushing a lawnmower or fixing sprinklers. That’s really what I’m trying to do.”

Joining Red To Black To Green

CLCA is now accepting applications for the next round of the Red To Black To Green program. If you are interested in expanding your business, please review the selection criteria below and then email rbg@clca.org

To qualify, you must:

Make a three year commitment
Participate in a quarterly peer group for three years at your expense.
Agree to be interviewed to qualify for program.
Agree to do “homework” assignments. Shouldn’t exceed more than 4 hours a quarter. First quarter may be 6 hours.
Agree to be interviewed and share experiences for articles and magazine, etc. once in the program.

Year 1:

Attend the 2011 Landscape Industry Show in Los Angeles and attend a scheduled seminar with others in this program.
Attend 3 board meetings (your chapter or a neighboring chapter)
Requires a three-year commitment with annual fees and expenses averaging $1,700, although financial-aid scholarships are available (email rbg@clca.org)
Participate in a quarterly peer group for three years (at your expense).
Provide requested financial information

Year 2:

Attend 3 board meetings (your chapter or a neighboring chapter)
Attend the 2012 Landscape Industry Show in Los Angeles and attend a scheduled seminar with others in this program.
Participate in a quarterly peer group for three years at your expense.
Requires a three-year commitment with annual fees and expenses averaging $1,700, although financial-aid scholarships are available.

Year 3: