By Jacki Hart CLP
Prosperity Partners Program Manager
Catch the wave, and stay on it. Announcing exciting new PP Programs!
Every year at this time I make an attempt to reflect and correct. I take a look back at the past six months and consider which systems failed, which soared, and what needs tweaking, scrapping, or re-inventing.
I believe it’s an important part of the annual cycle we all live by, regardless of which corner of the horticulture industry you call home. There’s a shift in pace, focus, tasks, and resources at this time of year. The hard part is admitting defeat in some areas of your company systems, and remembering to celebrate success in others.
Building a career is a process. So is building a business. It is the same when planning for retirement. The path you choose is dotted with places that are designed to make you pause and reflect back on your master plan. Those places are created by situations in business that seem overwhelming: cash flow crises, human resources problems or crises, internal systems failures, etc. The places at which to pause are when stress is high, and answers are elusive.
If you don’t have a master plan, one to guide you through the rough waters, then it’s time to consider creating one. Planning is paramount to success. My grandfather used to say, “A dream without a plan is just a fantasy.” Suffice it to say, after years of working 90-plus hour weeks from snow-off to snow-on, with little financial reward, I finally paid attention.
It’s those years of brutal work with very little money in the bank, that laid the path for my passion to help develop the Prosperity Partners’ model, so that all of you had a much better tool box and a group of peers to support you in learning to use them.
The Prosperity Partners path is yours to create — uniquely for you. All we do is provide the language, business mindset and lots of help learning how to use them. And, when you ask for it, we will nudge you in one direction or another to get you on track.
Take a look at the graphic on this page. It is designed to guide you through the Prosperity Partners journey. Start with assessing the gaps in your business. If you’ve had a trying season, and are tired, hating Monday mornings, and surviving most days on a drive-thru diet, it’s time to pause and consider or revisit what we have available to help you. Take the Build Your Prosperity one-day seminar this winter. More than 450 business owners and managers have, with consistently outstanding reviews and results.
The Build Your Prosperity seminar provides the tools, language to clearly define your career plan and the tools to define the strengths. It’s all about clarity. Seminars will run this winter as a part of the LO Professional Development Seminar Guide.
To explore the Prosperity Partners Path yourself online, go to www.horttrades.com/prosperity. Each button online is clickable, leading you to information and resources.
Since publishing this Prosperity Partners Path diagram, we’ve gone on to develop a deeper layer for those who have already engaged and understand the Prosperity Partners framework. Last January, we launched the Effective Management Short Course at Congress. It was a sold out event. It was a one-day workshop that focused on effective management skills. We’re offering this course again on Warm Up Monday at Congress 2014. Don’t hesitate to sign up — we turned people away last year.
For those who have participated in the Effective Management Short Course, we are reconvening in early November for a lunch and learn event. Stay tuned for more info.
Build Your Prosperity graduates will be able to participate in the new Landscape Ontario Prosperity Peer Group. Stay tuned here for more details next month.
Jacki Hart may be contacted at prosperity@landscapeontario.com.
