While on one of our famous walks through a nearby neighborhood admiring all the lovely gardens, we started to think about how much work and care and time it takes to grow something beautiful. Then a light bulb moment occurred: it dawned on us that gardening is a lot like running a business. And it really is when you think about it!  Just like a garden, a business requires constant attention if it’s going to be fruitful. Today we thought we’d share with you a few of our thoughts on nurturing a business for maximum blossomage! (Yeah, that’s right: we just made up a new word!  Go us!)

It all starts with a seed

Some of the most successful businesses the world has ever known began with a tiny “seed” planted in someone’s basement or garage. GLAD WORKS is no exception, starting with Gina freelancing in college. Fast forward ten or fifteen years (who’s counting?), and now we’ve got a bunch of folks with a diverse set of skills working here! Modern-day giants like Hewlett Packard, Apple and Microsoft started out very small (garage-sized, really) and blossomed into the behemoths they are today.

Business owners and gardeners alike know that you can’t just toss a bunch of seeds on the ground and expect success. Those little seeds have to be carefully selected, planted properly, nurtured, watered, fed, loved and pruned meticulously so that they reach their full potential. When things look sketchy and the caterpillars move in and start destroying all the hard work, it just means that all the more care is needed to get through the dark times.

Careful planning

If a garden is going to be successful, you have to start with a plan for how you’re going to do things. Will the basil be next to the tomatoes?  Should the teepees of peas and beans be in the middle or in the corners?  What worked last year and what didn’t?  In business, you always have to plan your next steps, using what you’ve learned from the past to inform your decisions. Sometimes, you still have to go back and pull something out of the ground, but that’s ok. It’s a constant learning experience and mistakes are inevitable. Just embrace them and keep on growing. If there isn’t continual assessment and refinement of decision-making, then you’re never going to have a bigger pumpkin than last year.

Management

Not only do you occasionally have to change direction on an idea that didn’t work out, but sometimes you have to prevent weeds from choking out those plants you’ve been nurturing. Sometimes, it’s not a weed that’s infringing on the growth of a plant, but another of the same species that’s not doing as well, or is in the wrong place. Spend time keeping things organized and make sure you remove the bad so the good can flourish, even if it means giving up on an idea that you previously thought was awesome. Let the strongest survive! Your time and efforts are valuable and should be well spent to produce the best results. 

Diversity, diversity, diversity!

Any gardener knows that having a diverse array of plants is better than having just a few. Nobody wants to eat just squash all summer, so you’ve got to mix it up and add some fun stuff like Swiss chard and watermelon! This is the same thing with many businesses. Unless you’re a dry cleaner and your customers need to keep coming back or they’ll be naked, it’s essential to have more than one thing that you do. Having diverse skills and doing a variety of things for your customers is the best way to make sure they keep coming back even when their needs change. Add new inventory and new services to keep folks interested in what you’ve got. A varied diet is a good diet!

Reaping the rewards

Once you’ve done all your planning, nurturing and weeding, it’s still not time to sit back. It’s harvest time!  You’ve got to get in there and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Pick it, clean it, store it or eat it… whether it’s in the form of great referral partners (or tomatoes) or a bunch of loyal customers (or broccoli), you should enjoy and call on the relationships (and produce) you’ve spent time and effort and money to build. Just don’t forget to keep nurturing them with an eye to the future or they’ll dry up!