{"id":1951,"date":"2019-05-06T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2024-02-07T11:18:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T16:18:09","slug":"proud-to-be-established","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/proud-to-be-established\/","title":{"rendered":"Be proud of being an established business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During your regular commute, have you noticed that some companies &#8211; like skilled trade contractors, construction companies, law firms, restaurants, or fellow Green Industry contractors &#8211; have an alpha-numeric pairing on their building, sign, or the sides of their trucks? It looks something like this: \u201cEST 19xx\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s your reaction to this? Does it seem like bragging or boasting, is it a marketing tool, or just something neat to put on the truck Maybe all of these? I have another one: \u201cpride\u201d. Pride in having survived and prospered from that long-ago day when the doors first opened on that new business.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"graphicstock-start-up_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/graphicstock-start-up_683.jpg\" alt=\"Startups are tough\" width=\"683\" height=\"326\" data-id=\"1964\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Starting a new business is difficult, VERY difficult. You\u2019ve probably heard that most new businesses fail. Here\u2019s a couple statistics from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fundera.com\/blog\/what-percentage-of-small-businesses-fail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Fundera.com<\/strong><\/a>: 50% of new businesses fail to exist after their first 5 years, regardless of what industry they are in. If that isn\u2019t bad enough, 70% of those surviving business fail by their 10th year.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"bankrupt-retail-business_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/bankrupt-retail-business_683.jpg\" alt=\"Out of business\" width=\"683\" height=\"267\" data-id=\"1962\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s get into some history questions. How many companies didn&#8217;t survive the Great Recession of 2007-2009? How many companies are still around from the 1990\u2019s, 80\u2019s, or the 70\u2019s? I\u2019m going to go further: How about the 1950\u2019s and 60\u2019s when money was extra tight and convenient power equipment wasn\u2019t as readily abundant and available? Further still: How many companies have been around since our parents were teenagers, or toddlers, or not born yet? How many companies have been around before World War II, World War I, or even at the turn of the 20th century?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"bakery-shop-owner_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/bakery-shop-owner_683.jpg\" alt=\"Business owners\" width=\"683\" height=\"455\" data-id=\"1967\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>When you see that sign that says \u201cEST 19xx\u201d, keep in mind you&#8217;re seeing a company that&#8217;s succeeded in staying in business, long term, for a reason. Companies see great employees come and go. Some companies go through different ownerships and continue to thrive. History has proven that over the last 100 years, with plenty of ups and downs, many companies have found ways to adapt to changes, demands, struggles, and rewards.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"staff-at-plant-nursery_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/staff-at-plant-nursery_683.jpg\" alt=\"Part of the family\" width=\"683\" height=\"349\" data-id=\"1966\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I view the Green Industry in Michigan as a large family. We\u2019re all in the same place, we\u2019re after somewhat similar goals, and we all have to adapt to the challenges of weather, economy, the labor market, and changing fashions in landscaping. Older companies can share their wisdom on what to expect on projects and how to maintain the balance of quality, productivity, and profitability. New companies can teach new technologies and techniques to further enhance or improve that balance to elders that feel that they need to break away from old processes and procedures.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"gardener_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gardener_683.jpg\" alt=\"New guy\" width=\"683\" height=\"344\" data-id=\"1963\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>So be proud of that \u201cEST\u201d date, whether it\u2019s 1819 or 2019. And if it\u2019s not on your truck or building yet, now may be the time to think it over. Be proud &#8211; you&#8217;ve earned it.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"reutter\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/reutter.png\" alt=\"David Reutter\" width=\"600\" height=\"175\" data-id=\"2901\" data-width=\"600\" data-height=\"175\" data-init-width=\"600\" data-init-height=\"175\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During your regular commute, have you noticed that some companies &#8211; like skilled trade contractors, construction companies, law firms, restaurants, or fellow Green Industry contractors &#8211; have an alpha-numeric pairing on their building, sign, or the sides of their trucks? It looks something like this: \u201cEST 19xx\u201d. What&#8217;s your reaction to this? Does it seem [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,66,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-86","category-about-you","category-business-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8073,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions\/8073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}