The Dilemma Of The Integrators
With over 15 years experience in the construction and landscaping industry, Steve Gatter & Simon Wellard co-founded Outdoor Vision Landscaping in 2014 with a grand vision: to create and quality environments that turn homes into havens for their clients. Serving the Geelong area, as well as the Ballerine Peninsula and Surf Coast, the business kept Steve and Simon very busy.
By the start of 2020, the business was averaging between $150,000 and $180,000 in monthly revenue. But while the revenue and client base grew steadily, Steve and Simon found themselves stuck on the tools, day-in and day-out. During the day, they’d be working on site, overseeing their team and the completion of projections and meeting with new clients to keep the business ticking along. At night, they’d be working away on the books, paying salaries, and also managing all other elements of the business.
Steve and Simon were doing 60-hour weeks - each. Being tradies by nature, they thought that working harder would get them more results. But that wasn’t the case. The business couldn’t grow past a certain point because the co-founder were too ingrained in the day-to-day.
It boiled down to one core problem: Steve and Simon didn’t know how to run a business that grew sustainably and in a way that didn’t require them to exert more, personally.
Delegation, Delegation, Delegation
In early 2020, Steve and Simon joined Elevate, The Entourage’s elite business coaching and advisory program for 7 and 8-figure business owners.
After working with their business coach to get under the hood of their business, they learnt pretty quickly what they needed to elevate their business to the next level - delegation.
Steve and Simon got to work, developing an organisation chart in their business, bringing on new team members and instilling structure where there had previously been none. In no time at all, they found themselves well and truly out of the day-to-day tasks of their business so they could focus on what mattered most - looking for new business opportunities, and looking after their existing clients.
Despite the COVID19 pandemic, Steve and Simon hit milestone months in March and April of 2020. In fact, these were the largest months they had ever done in their history of their business - they turned over an incredible $1.2 million (for comparison’s sake, their total gross revenue in 2019 was $2.4 million).
But it wasn’t just a money game for Steve and Simon. Where they were previously doing 6-hour work weeks each, their time in the business was reduced to just 2 days per week - and they were only doing the 2-day weeks because they wanted to, not because they had to.
The success didn’t come down to any “pivot” or quick change. They rewired their entire understanding of what it meant to run a business, stepped up, and found the power of leverage.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Even as builders by nature, Steve and Simon had to unlearn the mindset that working harder brings more results. In the absence of the hustle mentality, and replacing traditional mindsets with their new-found way of running their business, they could finally see the results of all their hard labour. They now enjoy the time they spend in their business, and can spend more present and quality time with their family. And because of the smart move in their business, their revenue and business has continued to scale. Treating Outdoor Vision Landscaping as the business that it is - with proper systems and processes, organisational chart, and product and development in place, it has proven that while working harder can get you somewhere, you will eventually hit a wall. It is working smarter, stepping outside the traditional mindset that takes you beyond your visions.
Before The Entourage, we never thought that we could be in the position that we are now. We have freedom. We got that freedom and we never would have put that in place if we hadn’t learned that we can run it like a business.
