Eight Ways to Know If You Have a Job or Own a Business

The ultimate test of your business can be found in a simple question: would someone want to buy your company? Whether you want to sell next year or a decade from now, you must be building an asset someone would buy – otherwise, you have a job, not a business. Here are eight ways to ensure you are building a company, not just doing a job: 1. A job requires that you show up at work to make money, whereas a company generates revenue whether you are there or not. 2. If your company is so reliant on a single … Read more

Recap of Green Industry Merger & Acquisition Transactions During 2013

Here is our annual recap of publicly-reported merger & acquisition transactions in the green industry for 2013: Wisconsin’s The Bruce Company sold its maintenance and snow services to Reliable Services, Inc. to focus on its landscape and nursery operations. Davey Tree acquired S&S Tree and Landscaping Services of St. Paul, Minnesota. Indiana-based Landscape Solutions merged with Advantage Lawn & Landscape. Davey Tree acquired Raleigh’s Green Tree Experts. Windpower Innovations acquired Arizona’s Cameo Landscaping. Breckenridge Landscape of New Berlin, WI acquired Prairie Tree Landscaping. LUSA Holdings (Landscapes USA) acquired Peach Tree Landscapes in Nashville, TN. Arrow Exterminators acquired Bug Master of … Read more

The Valuation Challenge – Why it isn’t a seller’s market or a buyer’s market.

And that isn’t changing any time soon. By Ron Edmonds Not long ago, someone asked me if I thought a seller’s market had developed in the green industry.  I responded  with an unequivocal no.  I’ll explain why that is the case now and is unlikely to change anytime soon. First let me say that if the definition of a “seller’s market” is that there are more buyers than sellers, I guess it would be a seller’s market.  In my experience, there are ALWAYS more buyers than sellers.  But that does not mean that it is easy for a seller to … Read more