Episode Overview
As a kid, Tim Johnson realized he had to mix his passion for playing baseball with time spent earning money for things he wanted to buy.
He did spend a brief period of time playing in the minors, in the Colorado Rockies organization, but really scored when he became president of Tim Johnson Landscaping. Johnson’s childhood mowing operation was the basis for that company.
Johnson and his father created a period of rapid growth and expansion right from the start of the business. However, he decided the growth was unsustainable. He decided to pump the brakes for two years and do a proper restructuring of the company.
“[Your] budget has to be realistic,” Johnson says. “The budget can't be a dream. It has to be something you can hold your team accountable to. In turn, if [it’s] going to be realistic, you have to build the org chart for the team that you want, not the team that you have.”
To accomplish that, Johnson stepped up his game as a leader.
“A leader serves,” he says. “A leader facilitates. A leader teaches. A leader works side by side with their team. They make people better. They don't just take that position of authority and say, ‘Do this because I said so.’”
Pumping the brakes and becoming a strong leader paid off. Tim Johnson Landscaping shifted from “order taking” to having a more tactical sales focus. He largely credits leveraging technology for the business success.
“The technology allows us to scale and to build without having to add the headcount that doesn't produce revenue,” Johnson says. “We [have] the same number of office staff at $9-plus million that we had when we went to Aspire at $4.5 to $5 million.”
That’s called stepping up to the plate and delivering a home run.
Tim Johnson recently joined ServiceTitan’s Amanda Salvatore on the “Toolbox for the Trades” podcast, which included Johnson’s thoughts on:
[5:11] When Tim realized he needed a proper org chart for sustainable growth
[10:23] Rebuilding momentum after a two-year pause in rapid growth to implement scalable systems
[17:30] Leveraging tools like Aspire to build frameworks for problem-solving and data visibility
[20:54] Shifting from order taking to a tactical sales focus
[35:37] Reinforcing team morale
Additional Resources
To hear more stories from the trades, subscribe to “Toolbox for the Trades” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or anywhere you get podcasts.
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