[Dale Wiley]

Looking back, I would have written a more concise business plan, reflecting my desires and abilities in that particular stage of life.

Like Nebraska, I have raised 5 kids, with the last one going in the Corp in June. My wife works as a hospital administrator and has almost a 2 hour commute each way. She has worked damn hard to keep us all insured and she damn sure makes more than I do.

I worked in the field to the point of breaking my body physically over the last 5 years. Over the last year, after my doctors told me slow down and change your work habits or die, after a knee replacement, I drafted a plan that has been falling into place quite well. IN 2004, I worked over 6 months straight, with no days off, 10 to 12 hours a day. Damn near killed me. But I had to do it to position the company, and generate the net profits I needed to take the step I knew I was going tohave to do this year, and that was step out of field operation totally. Didn't really have a choice, the body gave out.

I brought a son into the business to handle field construction operations and have another son grooming for his own crew this year also. I hired a maintenance / special projects foreperson and a crew member there.

I concentrate on sales, estimating, and operations support. We bought a Vermeer skid loader and attatchments, another pickup, a dump trailer, a construction trailer and made operational improvements to our shop / facility.

I have been working on the nursery as well, and hopefully in a year, 2 at the most, the wife will give up her hellish commute and the corporate world and manage our nursery, while I continue to grow the landscape business to about 500 K and hold it there and start fully maximizing profits, and use that to create some other projects in the nursery and investments, build it to about 500K also, hold it there and start developing an exit strategy in about 10 years.

My main point is that I too loved working in the field and did so for 25 years. I should have concentrated more on building the business rather than working IN IT, and I would have a better health and physical condition today. I still have a good quality of life, but I have had to change and maintain a TOTALLY different work style now. Other people have to do the hard work, so I have to have the correct business structure and operational methods to provide the jobs and career paths those people need to fufill their lives, and help me in mine.