Chuck Bowen, editor of Lawn and Landscape Magazine, talks about how to grow your business with fewer growing pains.

Set yourself apart from other companies with excellent customer service.  Customers want someone who is going to call them back and do a good job.

Solve the "labor problem" by creating a culture that makes people want to work for you.

What can people do to take themselves from a small to medium sized company?  "What got you here, won't get you there."  It requires the owner to step back into different rolls.  The owner needs to hire people to do the work he/she was doing and do different work (sales and business building).  What systems do we need to put into place so we can effectively scale it.  Get everything that's in the owner's head on paper so their employees know exactly what to do.  The owner who doesn't eventually step back, becomes the limiting factor in the company.

In the off-season, you should be stepping back and...