We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Billy Goodnick a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Billy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

My very slow path into landscape architecture started with a couple of seemingly inconsequential experiences decades before. The first was a brief exposure to the Japanese art of bonsai when I was still a kid. My dad got the bug after seeing an exhibition, bought a few junipers for him, me and my brother which we murdered in quick succession. Done. Years later, I was collecting rocks at the beach (slightly under the influence of something), took the rocks home and decided to use them in a turtle bowl, which in my case ended up being a large bonsai dish. Turtle bowl leaked overnight, flooded my floor and that was that. So I tried making another bonsai, which turned out half-way decent and I kept at it. At that time I was a professional drummer doing studio work and clubs in LA, was getting tired of the biz and anticipated my premature mid-life crisis in my twenties. Back to school I went (twice: associates degree, years of work, then back for a bachelors) and eventually passed my state licensing exams in California.

I worked for a few private firms doing commercial and residential design, then got “head-hunted” by the City of Santa Barbara and spent the next 20+ years designing parks, playgrounds, a gnarly skateboard park, nature preserves and community centers for this glorious oceanside community. At the same time, I moonlighted doing small scale residential design and left my work for SB in 2009 to focus on private practice. In addition, I began teaching adult ed classes to homeowners eager to design their own gardens, then took up blogging and freelance writing for some local and national garden magazines and eventually published a design book (Yards: Turn Any Outdoor Space Into the Garden of Your Dreams; St. Lynn’s Press) that took me around the country doing speaking gigs. Phew!

Billy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

(Note: I think I covered the first few of these prompts already). What I truly love about my work is that every project is a new challenge: different clients with diverse goals and properties (young families with kids, retirees who love to be in their gardens, folks putting some lipstick on the house they hope to sell.) My overriding goal is to make their outdoor spaces into extensions of their homes – my first question is always “What do you want to DO when you go outside?” As the dictum goes, “form follows function” and I’m a functionalist first – the plant material, color scheme, etc. comes later. And the all-encompassing mission is to design with the most sustainable approach as possible with regard to limited resources (water, especially), minimal maintenance and an eye toward longevity of their investment.

What I’m most proud of are the reviews I get when jobs are completed – 5-stars all the way. And when allowed, I continue to work with my clients for years, coaching them and their gardeners as the plantings mature and evolve. Not to be overlooked, the majority of my reviews emphasize how much fun it is to work with me. I’ll take that.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m a pretty “needy” guy and also love the sound of my own voice. I’m recognized as the world’s greatest authority on my opinion and always happy to share. My “marketing plan” if you can even call it that, has been sharing my design philosophy with the general public, first by teaching adult ed classes through our local system. A few students invariably decide to hire me to design their gardens. One night around 2007 I stumbled upon the Blogger website, looked up the word “blog” and put fingers to keyboard – call me an early adopter. I was spotted by local online and print media, then got tagged to host a local TV show on sustainable landscaping. My high profile and somewhat snarky/humorous communication style seemed to connect in my region and has led to a pretty much unending stream of work from “I recognized your name” to many word of mouth referrals from happy clients.

The extra bonus is that by having to explain a fairly esoteric creative form (that includes keeping your media ALIVE) to others, I was better able to understand for myself what my ideals and methods were. It’s long been said that to gain a greater understanding your own field, teach what you do to others. I’ve also mentored a number of younger folks and coached them one-on-one. All have gone on to thrive in the profession. Makes me feel like I’ve had a positive impact.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

As mentioned, most of my clientele growth comes from referrals for past clients. On some occasions, clients have interviewed other landscape architect before contacting me. I’ve been told a number of times that what set me apart and got me the gig was that I listened and understood their goals, even when they didn’t have a clear idea of what they wanted or were unable to articulate it. As good as I might think I am, my role is as a service provider, not a superstar who imposes or force fits my ideas onto the client. If I”m doing my job well, I’m acting as an interpreter and coaxing the client’s needs out of them. Asking the right questions, digging a little deeper and checking in multiple times in the design process generally leads to the best design. That and a willingness to ditch ideas that aren’t working, revise and adjust. There’s no place for my ego when it’s the client who’s footing the bill and will be living with the final product for years to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://billygoodnick.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/billygoodnick (and I have another page with 13k followers; https://www.facebook.com/CrimesAgainstHorticulture/
• Youtube: I host a TV show here… https://www.waterwisesb.org/4198/Garden-Wise-TV-Show
• Other: I still drum with a local cover band – King Bee … Kingbeesb.com