I know it is just May, but time slips by quickly so I thought I’d give you a heads up.  This year’s Calscape  Expo is Sept.17-19 in Palm Springs, CA.  This Conference and Trade Show gives you the opportunity to learn from the experts, see new, exciting products, and network with fellow interiorscapers. 

For more information about seminars and Hotel accomodations, call PIA at 707-462-2276 or go to the PIA website, www.piagrows.org.   Whether a newbie or an old hand, this is where you want to be.  TOPsiders will have a booth and we’ll be showing the new Joey Pouches then.  It is a great time and a tremedous resource for all of us.

Another educational opportunity is the OFA Short Course, July 12-15 in Columbus, OH.  There is an entire day dedicated to the Interiorscaper, Sat. July 12th.  To find out more, log on to www.ofa.org or call 800-521-60

And of course , there is always the Big Daddy Seminar and Trade Show, TPIE held each year in Jan. in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  More on that later.

Meanwhile, make your plans now.

A Hospital that is your client wants to know what you can use as a topdressing, either inside or out, that has flame retardant properties.  An airport demands the same.  What do you do?  What product works in this way? 

Protoast.  This product is both recyled and is impregnated with fire retardant.  Made of wood chips that come from toasted old beer barrels, Protoast is available in large bags from Primescape Products.  It is not cheap but it fills the bill and when the client and the Fire Department says they must have, budgets go out the window.  Meanwhile, it is a toasty medium brown in color and relatively lighter weight than you might imagine.

The other product I suggest, also made from recycled materials (old plastic bottles) is Poly Pebbles.  These artificial "rocks" of Polypropolene, simulate Mexican Beach Pebbles.  They come in Black, White, Grey, or Tan.  Each bag of Poly Pebbles will cover approximately 4 square feet and costs $18.80.  Guesstimate shipping at about 20-25%.  They are only 25% as heavy as the real thing and come in 5 different shapes per bag.  They have UVA inhibitors in them so they are good to go either inside or out and I love them.  When a match or flame is touched to them they just seem to melt a bit, not flare up.  Available from TOPsiders (800)533-7661. 

Both of these products avoid the Spanish Moss, excelseior, other topdressing problems.  Last but not least, underplanting with live 6" foliage will also hide the "mechanics" of nursery pots to give a great look and still be greenery and not a flammable topdressing.  Now, go out there and get ‘em, Tigers.

Because of the emphasis on "Green", related and extended issues have come up and it is in these related issues that I believe the future for Interiorscaping lies.  In a soon to be published white paper, a group of Danish, French, and Canadian researchers argue that environmental focus in workplace design is too limiting.  They say to support effectiveness and efficiency in the office workspace, "we must understand that financial, social, and environmental issues are interdependent..  It’s not sufficient to consider the physical building and its entire interior; we have to understand the activity and behaviors of people," and that requires a holistic view of the organization.

Toward that viewpoint, a triple bottom line approach, or "people, planet, profit," has been adopted by many organizations.  And, I believe, given time, will become the prevailing approach and not just "Green".

What does that mean for interiorscapers?  A lot.  If you are only using energy and water savings and carbon footprint criteria to  evaluate a product or service, interiorscaping loses out.  It is hard to make a case for a service that eats up gas for transport and so on.  BUT, if you are looking at the benefits of live greenery in the workplace, then we can point to increases in productivity, reduced absenteeism, cleaner air, and an increased feeling of wellbeing. 

So, while being "Green " is important for today business, I predict that in the future much more emphasis will be placed on the "triple bottom line, people, planet, and profit.  In the meantime, go out there and get ‘em, Tiger.

You get a request for Bid or Proposal.  It’s for a Mall, Hotel, or Public Lobby.  Lots of plants, lots of big, specimen type plants.  You are…over the Moon.  Well, not so fast.  Let’s stop long enough to look at the "other" side. 

Malls are full of pitfalls.  The plant material has probably been there for some time and may have "conditions", mealey bug, spider mite, etc, that will require Herculean attention.  And, Public venues, Lobbies and Malls are notorious for vandalism, trash and cleaning crew abuse.  Add to that special times for maintenance and you have a drean that quickly becomes a nightmare.  Lastly, just to add insult to injury, because these jobs are so highly visible, every plantscaping company for an hundred mile radius will be asking to bid and offering low prices.  My question is, Are you sure this is what you want?

Instead, what about what I call the "hidden" accounts?  These are the 25 floors of offices high above the Lobby.  These are the spaces with 8′ and change ceiling heights so smaller, more maintenance friendly plant material gets used.  These are the perfect places for plants, long term client/company relationships that your competition seldom sees.  Hmmm.  Sounds pretty good to me.  And, on top of all that, they pay a monthly fee just like the Shopping Mall, usually are more profitable and always, less headaches.  The only difference I can see is that the name on the check you get isn’t as impressive.  Tough.  It still spends the same.

So, as you go out there knocking on doors and making calls, may I suggest you visit those lobbies but make it a visit to read the Signage and find out who the tenants are on those 25 floors.  That’s where you want to concentrate your efforts.  Then, up the road, when the Mall calls for a bid, you can give them a realistic figure and, here’s the best part, if you don’t get it, just smile.

Since July of ‘06, I’ve posted 113 blogs on this site having to do with the Business of Interiorscaping. Thats a lot of words.   I write them, we send them, and most of the time, never hear a word back.  Ok, so I am compelled to ask.  Do you like them?  Are they helpful?  Are there any topics (except for bug stuff) you would like me to cover? Let me hear from you either on this site or to barbhelfman@aol.com.  Thanks.

I don’t usually resend a post but maybe its time I did.  On March the 18th I posted a blog all about Spring Exterior Planting for Interiorscapers.  This part of the Business continues to get larger and larger with each year.  May I suggest you read it..again.  Happy Planting.

With over 35 years as an interiorscaper I sometimes wish I had done some things back at the beginning that I didn’t do.  One of those things is that I had  kept some sort of journal documenting the highs, the lows, the pure adventure of the journey. 

Starting a business is often not a very well planned out exercise and years later when we stop and contemplate how we got to the point we’re at, we are amazed.  How I wish I had had the foresight to write at least some it down.  Who for?  Well, first for my own amusement and amazement, then for my family particularly my kids.  And, then for the others in the company who come after me and just maybe, for the new entrepeneur.

No two Journeys are Alike.  That;s for sure. But, there are lessons to be learned and wisdom in the experience.  Jobs you’ve gotten, people you’ve met and who have made a difference, awards won, speaking engagements whether local or at a national level.  And life lessons learned.  What you could have done sooner or not at all.  Yours is a great story to tell.  This industry is heavy on the entrepeneur side and is the story of the American Dream of being your own Boss and you are living the Dream.  Oh, its not easy and most of us will never be Millionaires but what a great ride!

So, I encourage you to start now, today, even if you have already been in business for a few years.  Stop at Barnes and Noble or Borders and pick up one of those nifty books with a ribbon place mark.  Pick one with a really neat cover and begin.  Or, if you are more of 21st Century type, log on to your computer and have at it.  It doesn’t have to be a daily exercise.  Possibly every week or month is all you need to document the journey.  Or it may be something you reserve for vacation or travel times.  Maybe it just happens once or twice a year.  But do it and I guarantee you that at some p0oint in time in the far future, you will thank me.

For many interiorscapers, a web site is on their wish list.  Or, if they already have one, it is at varying degrees of sophistication.  That is just the plight of the small business person in today’s Hi Tech world.  Sure, weknow we need to have one, but we have limited dollars plus we are not computer savvy so we often pay big bucks for a site that doesn’t do the job.  For all these reasons, the web sites of interiorscaper companies tend to be a hodge podge that run the gamut from one page simple "this is who we are", to sites that feature photos of jobs, container and plant choices, even, videos of installs.  If your budget is limited or you want to be different from your peers, check out Luhr Landscape’s offerrings.  John and Diane Krushak, Inner Circle members can design a web site for you or have web sites that you can "rent" for a small monthly fee.  They also offer brochures, business cards, post cards and other promotional pieces, all coordinated.  And, if you want to sell plants and planters on line in your market place check out interiorscaper Steve Foster’s EasyGreenz (www.easygreenz.com).   What ever you choose, just DO iT!

Most importantly, once you have a site whether it  is state of the art or  a fledging wannabe, it is important to reinforce the site by telling, no, SHOUTING, the site address constantly and ad nauseaum. 

On company t shirts, on vehicles, on business cards and letterheads, the  web site address is as important as the Company Name. 

But, don’t stop there m’friend.  At Holiday time and when signing a new client hand out Mugs, pens, notepads, whatever promo piece you like but make sure it has the web address on it.  Think of the ads on TV where all that is on the screen is the name of the company and the dot com address.  Think of it.  These companies are spending millions of dollars all to drive traffic to their site.

Yep, it’s not enough to just have a site.  You have to sell the site, support the site,  and drive potential and existing clients to the site. 

In fact, it is better to have a moderately expensive site and do everything to get people to view it than it is to have the most sophisticated site around but no one knows it exists.  It is two sides of the same coin and a "must have".  In fact, dot.com just became the second half of your comapny name.

 Now go out there and get ‘em, Tiger.

Have you ever watched someone trim a tree?  Unless they are a professional, it is usually one ornament at a time.  The hand goes down, grabs an ornament, the hand goes up, they climb the ladder, they come down from the ladder.  This goes on for an interminable time period, over and over and over again. 

From a time management point of view this is excruciating.  Long ago I watched someone do just this on a Holiday job we were installing and agonized as the time we’d allotted quickly grew and grew til the job was never going to be profitable.  Sheer agony.

That is when I asked Sara our Holiday Chief Elf (not the one hanging the one by one ornaments), what could we do to save time and speed things up.  Sara, bless her heart, showed me the trick she used for decorating large trees.  To get ornamentation that fit the scale of 12 and 16 foot and larger trees, Sara made up what she called "elements".  Some call them swags, others have other names.  No matter what you call them, they are several regular size ornaments with bows or strands or silk flowers attatched so that the finished piece is both beautiful and LARGE!  These "elements" are made in the facility beforehand by a crew that copies them from a prototype Sara made in advance and then placed on the tree on site.

Talk about time savings.  48 times instead of 480.  Piece of cake.  Storage is easy too, just wrap and box and they will be ready for next year. 

I tell you all this even if you already know about this and even if Holiday is many, many months away,  because periodically I run into a ’scaper still playing the onesy-twosy game and because by applying this same principle to just about every thing your business does, you can save steps, time, materials, and stress.  And, that, as Martha Stewart would say, "Is a good thing". 

Go Back To Get Ahead
I was reading some of the material I’d written in the past about (wait for it)…..Pricing.  Yep, I know it’s your favorite subject too.  Well, one of the things I suggest is that it is critical that you go back to accounts you’ve bid and won and check  to see if your "guesstimates" for time and replacement dollars was close or not.  The reason to do so is this. 

What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You
Imagine you underestimate the time by 20%.  You don’t do this once or twice but consistently.  You think the job is profitable but is it?  How do you know?  And what’s even worse, if you never find out, how will you correct it?  You could be undercharging for lots of accounts and for years.  Gives you the shivers doesn’t it?? 

Something For Nothing
And, what if you are overestimating by 20%?  Well, on the surface that is not a bad thing but what if that is the reason you  get fewer accounts than others?  You think they are "lowballing" when, in truth they are where you should be.

Yep, going back and comparing the quote to the actual is an eye opening experience and I highly recommend it.

Now go out there and get ‘em, Tiger