Steve began his own business, Diamond Acres Lawncare about 11 years ago. It is unbelievable at how far we have come since then. He bought a small business with a little trailer, attached to a very old van with a small walk behind mower, one weedeater and one little blower from a guy that was leaving the area. The guy had probably around 35 accounts and we met the guy at a Denny's and purchased the stuff on the spot. At the time Steve and I were still just dating and my father helped Steve with the loan and some of the paperwork. Steve owned a little white pickup truck which could barely pull the little trailer. He immediately sold the old van to a whole pile of Guatemalans. I say a pile because, that is what they did. A dozen piled into that van and drove off.
We got married seven years ago and lived in a trailer for the first three years of our marriage. During that time Steve basically worked at mowing lawns all by himself, sometimes with a part time guy, and moved up to having around 100 accounts. It was just your basic mowing and he would write out bills by hand and leave them in people's doors, and he would usually have to go around collecting the money.
Now? Steve own's two trucks, one of them a big dump truck, has four mowers, three are large ride on's, five weedeaters, four backpack blower's and an assortment of many other tools. He now has two large covered trailers, and three open trailers and has moved up to being Diamond Acres Lawncare and Landscaping. We have around 250 accounts with two full time crews for a total of six full time employees and one part time employee, not counting Steve or I.
Steve does all the managing which includes, keeping his guys running on schedule, keeping them busy with the regular work, plus all the added on work. He also does all the landscape designs, orders all the plants from the dozens of nurseries, gets it all scheduled to happen, etc. He is about to be in three different phone books going from Palm Beach Gardens up to Jensen Beach. He has everything from dinky accounts in a mobil home park to very large accounts on Jupiter Island. I do all the billing, bookkeeping, phone answering, etc for the company and now everything is done professionally on Quickbooks, with bills and checks being mailed and a business account and now two business phone lines. We moved into a very nice, 3 bedroom, two bath, two car garage, with a fenced in backyard, overlooking a pond, a brand new home, which we watched being built, about three years ago. It is in a small community with a lot of young families and very nice neighbors. (I am saying all this to show how far we have come)
One thing that amazes me is that Steve moved down here on a Greyhound Bus when he was 17 years of age, all by himself, with nothing to his name but a small box that held some clothes and few personal belongings. He rented the garage from his sister and her husband at the time. He began by working a couple small jobs at an Albertson's and other small businesses. Steve has basically had no training in anything he does, but can do anything and everything, from electrical, plumbing, machinery, building, designing, etc. If you knew the whole story of Steve and what he has come from, you would be as amazed as I. I am so proud of him and am his biggest fan and encourager.
Of course we have also been blessed with two wonderful little boys and even though we have had our emotional and physical up's and down's at times over the years, I know we are truely blessed. I read something in a magazine this morning that I want to become my motto, especially on those bad days. Solidad O'Brien, a news anchorwoman said, "The difference between a good day and a bad day isn't about what changes in your day, it's about what changes in you."
You'll have to excuse me, but I just wanted to brag on my husband today. He is truely amazing and a wonderful husband, father, provider and friend.
The picture above is of one of his new trailers and of two trees that he pulled out with a tractor in Hobe Sound and replanted them at a place on Jupiter Island. It was a huge production, and as you can see by just the root ball alone, they are very large tree's.
We got married seven years ago and lived in a trailer for the first three years of our marriage. During that time Steve basically worked at mowing lawns all by himself, sometimes with a part time guy, and moved up to having around 100 accounts. It was just your basic mowing and he would write out bills by hand and leave them in people's doors, and he would usually have to go around collecting the money.
Now? Steve own's two trucks, one of them a big dump truck, has four mowers, three are large ride on's, five weedeaters, four backpack blower's and an assortment of many other tools. He now has two large covered trailers, and three open trailers and has moved up to being Diamond Acres Lawncare and Landscaping. We have around 250 accounts with two full time crews for a total of six full time employees and one part time employee, not counting Steve or I.
Steve does all the managing which includes, keeping his guys running on schedule, keeping them busy with the regular work, plus all the added on work. He also does all the landscape designs, orders all the plants from the dozens of nurseries, gets it all scheduled to happen, etc. He is about to be in three different phone books going from Palm Beach Gardens up to Jensen Beach. He has everything from dinky accounts in a mobil home park to very large accounts on Jupiter Island. I do all the billing, bookkeeping, phone answering, etc for the company and now everything is done professionally on Quickbooks, with bills and checks being mailed and a business account and now two business phone lines. We moved into a very nice, 3 bedroom, two bath, two car garage, with a fenced in backyard, overlooking a pond, a brand new home, which we watched being built, about three years ago. It is in a small community with a lot of young families and very nice neighbors. (I am saying all this to show how far we have come)
One thing that amazes me is that Steve moved down here on a Greyhound Bus when he was 17 years of age, all by himself, with nothing to his name but a small box that held some clothes and few personal belongings. He rented the garage from his sister and her husband at the time. He began by working a couple small jobs at an Albertson's and other small businesses. Steve has basically had no training in anything he does, but can do anything and everything, from electrical, plumbing, machinery, building, designing, etc. If you knew the whole story of Steve and what he has come from, you would be as amazed as I. I am so proud of him and am his biggest fan and encourager.
Of course we have also been blessed with two wonderful little boys and even though we have had our emotional and physical up's and down's at times over the years, I know we are truely blessed. I read something in a magazine this morning that I want to become my motto, especially on those bad days. Solidad O'Brien, a news anchorwoman said, "The difference between a good day and a bad day isn't about what changes in your day, it's about what changes in you."
You'll have to excuse me, but I just wanted to brag on my husband today. He is truely amazing and a wonderful husband, father, provider and friend.
The picture above is of one of his new trailers and of two trees that he pulled out with a tractor in Hobe Sound and replanted them at a place on Jupiter Island. It was a huge production, and as you can see by just the root ball alone, they are very large tree's.
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