Innovative ideas to help you grow

Kristy J. O'Hara

Running any business takes a lot of hard work, time and energy to be successful, but when your business reaches a certain level, it becomes even more challenging.

There are more people to manage.

There are more customers to please.

There’s more money coming in and out to track.

And there’s more opportunity for things to slip through the cracks.

Being bigger isn’t always better or easier, but it’s almost always a testament to hard work and implementing innovative ideas, and that’s what this month’s cover package is dedicated to.

A lot of you have small and mid-size operations, and perhaps you’re skeptical to read another story about a large grower because it doesn’t seem like it applies to your situation. Maybe you’re completely content having a smaller operation. Or you may aspire to have larger operations, but you’re not quite sure how to get there with the resources you have right now. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what your business’ size aspirations are because what truly matters is that you’re always trying to get better. Inevitably, if you aspire to continuously get better, the byproduct is growth — even if it’s only incremental — and who wouldn’t want to have a little bit more money or be able to handle a few more customers?

As such, we talked to 10 large growers about how they’ve gotten where they are. Our hope here is that you’ll be inspired and take away at least one new idea to implement into your greenhouse business as we head into the next season.

And we want to know what you’re excited to try, so after you read the cover package, I’d love for you to email me and share what you’re going to implement and why that one resonates with or inspires you. And if you’re a large grower who has tips to share with small- and medium-sized operations, email me those so we can pass them on and possibly feature you in the future. If we all work together, we can collectively grow this industry.

kohara@gie.net
Twitter: @GMmagEditor