Building Your Network & Community As a Business Owner

We feel that this aspect of growing a business, especially a service- based business is vital, especially living on an island.

In order to grow your network and community, a few of the musts are:

• You Must Add Value

• You Must Reciprocate

• Know that not everyone has the best intentions

And

Not everyone is going to be a good match/fit for your company, and vice versa.

And that's okay!

Add Value

First and foremost, if your business isn't adding value to someone or something outside of yourself, you're not going to make it very far, and you will certainly make some enemies along the way.

This is not to say you cannot add value to your families lives or your life. However, a successful business model looks to add value to others or a greater purpose as the overarching goal.

"He who is greedy is always in want." -Unknown

Reciprocate

Have you ever experienced giving so much to someone until you felt depleted because they weren't giving anything back, just always taking what you have to give?

Doesn't feel good, does it?

The same goes for running a business and building your network and community.

You should always strive to reciprocate all good deeds done onto you.

If someone is lending you a hand or sending you referrals or giving you valuable advice, you should always try your best to add value back to their lives, because they didn't have to do that nice thing for you, but they thought highly enough of you to do so. And most do so without the expectations of a return or reward, but it's just the right thing to do your best to reciprocate their thoughtfulness and show appreciation for their efforts.

And it's how we change the world.

Be Careful

Having owned multiple businesses and interacting with a lot of people and personalities, we've experienced the flip side of kindness. Not everyone who seems like they want to help is actually cheering for you and wanting you to succeed. There is still a lot of greed & selfishness in the world and it's important to be careful and also prepared.

This doesn't mean trust no one, but it does mean to look out for red flags and know when to stop ugliness in its tracks. Like we tell our kids, always trust your instincts and if something doesn't feel right, listen to that intuition and be mindful moving forward.

All of this to say, building a network of like-minded individuals, businesses & community is extremely valuable and necessary. And you never know who you'll meet and how you can help each other. Keep an open mind and an open heart to all interactions. You won't be disappointed.

Running a Family Business & Navigating Difficult Times (A Piece of our story)

"Behind the success of every small business, there is a family" -Unknown

Being involved in a family business can be extremely difficult & challenging, but on the flip side, it can be very rewarding.

Each individual person in a family business has a very important & vital role that's unique to their skills and talents, as well as their interests. It can be a challenge figuring out those specifics in the beginning.

You may have to do some things that don't quite pique your interest at first. You may question your abilities or desire levels and if you even want to continue to be involved.

What you must keep in mind is the WHY behind it all.

(That's another conversation in itself)

We've had our fair share of difficulties learning how to navigate a business together as a family for the first time. And even though we're more than 2 years in, we still struggle some.

But we remember the reason we started and the bigger picture of SnipperZ Lawn Care & we keep pushing and trying to better our best every day.

What's the bigger picture you may ask?

That's creating a blueprint for our son Jacob to have so he can take the business and run with it and evolve it into something much bigger and better than we have been able to create so far.

Some people may think that Jacob is getting "handed" the business or being served to on a silver platter and that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Without Jacob's full passion, participation, & consistent willingness to show up and do the hard work, day after day, SnipperZ wouldn't be where it is today.

Starting a brand-new business in a brand-new location (5000 miles away from the only home state we've ever known mind you) where we knew no one and no one knew us was not an easy feat. We have been very fortunate that we were accepted into the community with open arms and definitely don't take that for granted. We believe that you get what you give, and Hawaii is a special place with special people, unlike any we've ever experienced or been a part of.

And we don't plan on going anywhere any time soon.

This is just the beginning. We have big dreams, goals and a vision for creating more than just another lawn & landscaping company, but rather something that every person involved- clients & team members alike will feel special being a part of.

The below quote from Mother Teresa says it all.

Continuing to learn the best ways to customize the business to work efficiently in Hawaii together as a family is an everyday task. The guys know the field work and how to organize things such as routes, routine equipment maintenance, delegation, team building & more,

while Jenna has experience running the back end of a business with ensuring all things are set up properly to legally operate, online presence, client communications etc. We all try to stay in our own lanes and continue to improve our zones of genius.

Remembering to communicate our thoughts, ideas & concerns

Open communication truly is key. It's the glue that holds everything together. It's not always perfect, and we have to continuously work on it, but if you don't take anything else away from this post, I hope that it'll sink in that you can never over communicate & that nothing is perfect all of the time!

Love this quote from Les Brown

We look forward to sharing more of our journey and hope to help someone even if just one person along the way.

Thank you for reading and let us know if you enjoyed this post.

Hiring the right people, and keeping them!

We are growing, which means we are looking for the right people to be a part of the team.

So much goes into this process such as creating ads, setting the ads to hopefully reach the right people, getting the word out to everyone that we're hiring, interviewing, setting up payroll, taxes & insurance (and finding the perfect fit of these processes when outsourcing! Stay tuned for a post on how we do this!), training, making sure our team is happy and at the same time ensuring they are doing their job properly & efficiently, and so much more.

Some qualities we look for in the people that we hire are;

* Self Driven

* Self Motivated

* Friendly

*Respectful

* Honest

* Positive outlook on life

* Professional

* Pays attention to details

* Non-Complainers

*Excellent communicators

*Able to handle constructive criticism

* Innovative

* Not afraid to take the lead

* Accountability

Apply Here

It's so very important to have the right people on your team as they can make or break your business, if you let them that is.

We believe in letting our employees shine in their area of expertise and encourage them to take the lead in the areas they feel most comfortable with. There's always room for growth with us. We will never keep our people from excelling in their craft or going after their goals and dreams. We are dream chasers and goal getters ourselves!

We think another key part to having a successful team is to be open- minded and listen to your team's wishes and needs. Open communication is definitely key and goes both ways. We have worked for difficult and self- centered people in the past, and we strive to not be that way. There's no

" I " in team, and without a team of strong people by your side, you'll never grow.

We would love to hear feedback from what you think makes a business and business owner(s) great and what perks or qualities you look for in a business that will keep you going into work every day happy & ready to conquer the day and excited to come back the next day!

If you or someone you know is looking for a new job/career, apply here!