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Harold Enger's Lawn Care Journey That Began 40 Years Ago

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grass On February 20, 1978, I started what has become a journey that has lasted 40 years. It was on that date that I walked into the office of a lawn care company  in Wheeling, IL, but I was only there for training. I was going to work in an office that was about 15 minutes from where I worked. Wheeling was about 45 minutes from where I lived, but in 1978, gasoline was $.63 a gallon and I drove a Volkswagen Super Beetle, so it was not that expensive to drive the 20 some miles. I guess it is all relative, but here are some other 1978 facts to ponder:
  • Average Cost of new house $54,800.00
  • Average Income per year $17,000.00
  • Average Monthly Rent $260.00
I think about what I was paid in 1978 - $175.00 a week – and I had a college degree. My degree was in Elementary Education. I was offered a teaching job in the fall of 1978, but the starting salary was $8,000 a year. By that time, I was making more working in lawn care and chose to stay with what I was doing than what I was trained to do. I jokingly tell people that having a degree in Elementary Education helped me as a manager since I knew how to deal with children. There is also the fact that I eventually ended up as the Director of Education here at Spring-Green.

First Year in the Lawn Care Business

Getting back to my journey, the first year in lawn care started slow as there was snow on the ground through the end of March. I remember that I treated my first lawn on March 29 and I can still drive to the house. At that time, we drove large 1,000 to 1,200-gallon spray trucks and applied 4 gallons of spray mix per 1,000 sq. ft. Over the years, I have sprayed at rates ranging from 1 gallon to 4 gallons of spray mix. I also applied my fair share of granular products on lawns. After spring of 1978, I was promoted to supervisor. The reason I was promoted was almost everyone else had quit except for me and one other guy and he didn’t want the job. We eventually hired a good crew and could get caught up. I eventually became the branch manager and then a regional manager when we opened additional offices. Being on the management team allowed me the opportunity to have a voice in the decision-making process and it made me grow as a person and as a manager. That all changed in the winter of 1986 when the ownership of the company decided to sell to another national lawn care company. Michael Gerber, noted author on entrepreneurship, wrote that the whole reason to start a business is to sell it someday. I never faulted the owners for selling. It was a sad day when the sale went through in 1987, but there were going to be new opportunities and challenges in the future. It was a different culture and different job responsibilities and some people opted to leave on their own accord. Any new job is going to be a challenge, but I saw an opportunity working with a larger company. One of those opportunities were being able to provide more training to the people who worked for me. I always enjoyed working with customers and helping lawns and landscapes grow and prosper and now I could pass along some of my knowledge. The most important concept I learned while working was that as a manager, I got paid for what people produced and not for what I produced. As I began focusing more on that aspect of being a manager and leader, the easier it was to train the people that worked for me. My goal was to get them to think and act as I know they should to keep the customer satisfied. Eventually, I was promoted to the Regional Manager of the Chicago market, and eventually, this lawn care company was sold to an investment company that focused on buying mid-sized companies and taking them public. That was an exciting time, but it also meant that we had a lot more bosses, or the people who bought stock in the company and were looking for a return on their money. If there is one thing that the investors did not understand was how weather can affect a lawn care company. That is when another larger lawn care company in the U.S. came in and offered a good price for the stock. So, in March of 1997, I was at another crossroad in my journey. Do I go work with this large lawn care company or look for another opportunity?

Joining the Spring-Green Lawn Care Team

I worked directly with the vice-president of operations before it was sold to the investor and he knew I was struggling to decide on what I was going to do and the direction I wanted to take. He called to tell me about a help wanted ad for another lawn care company, Spring-Green, in the Chicago area that was looking for a Training Director. It was like a message from above as training was what I liked to do the best. I was hired and on March 13, 1997, I began a new path as the Training Director for Spring-Green Lawn Care Corp. Sometimes the paths we choose end up taking some different twists and turns to keep one’s life interesting. Spring-Green did want me to be the Training Director, but they had a more pressing need in having a Franchise Support Rep to work with their Franchise Owners in Minnesota, Washington and Oregon. I wanted to prove that I was a loyal employee and accepted the position and I am glad I did. I learned so much during the first several years, especially working with computers and all sorts of software. It was an exciting time since the Internet was becoming a major part of our business and of our lives. New developments in computer hardware, software and digital media were exponentially increasing at a rapid rate. Spring-Green was a smaller company, so I found myself becoming a part of the decision-making processes again. I became more involved with the Green Industry through our state and national organizations. I could start conducting regional training classes for the Field and Customer Service Professionals and now I am traveling to 17 different locations during the late winter and early spring. Spring-Green is focused on growing and I have been blessed to see it grow from one office and a small support staff of 10 people to almost 50 people working in 5 different buildings, not including all the Field and Customer Service Professionals and Call Center personnel. My journey over the last 40 years has taken many turns and detours, but I have worked with some of the most amazing people in the world. I could not have gotten to where I am today without all their support and encouragement. Without a doubt, the person who has the most influence is my wife of 40 -plus years, Roxanne. She has been my rock through all the ups and downs that my journey has taken. I know that my journey will end in a few more years, but I can’t imagine following any other path. It has been wonderful.