Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brooks Crawford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brooks, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
Our good friends attend and serve at Rhythm Church in Oceanside. They invited us to visit and so we did and naturally observed the landscape (we kind of do that everywhere we go). They rent the building and the grounds so they inherited some deferred maintenance. As a small start-up church there is not a lot of capital to put toward improvements. They were so gracious about wanting our opinion on how things could be improved without asking us to donate time or resources.We came up with a plan to clean every square inch of planter space on the property and cover it all with decorative rock. We approached KRC Rock in San Marcos about donating gravel and they were happy to oblige for a good cause. The spirit of service can truly be contagious. Who does not want to contribute their time and resources when they see that you are giving of yourself? Generosity is twice blessed: it blesses the giver AND the receiver.
Brooks, 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?
This is a pretty amazing industry with room for myriad service providers. I think it is important to find a distinctive style and make it your own. I had two great mentors who taught me two completely different ways of understanding and operating in this space of landscape design and construction. After that I opened my own firm, Brookside Landscape Design. The name started because my name is Brooks and this was a side business. Really clever, I know. The launch point was this amazing client that had a great budget, they really believed in me and allowed me to take risks. It came out so phenomenal that it won the 2019 SD Home & Garden “gardens of the year” competition. I spent the next two years more or less replicating the same patterns of creativity. But the thing about creativity is that if it’s not constantly revitalized it becomes stale. Now I am at the point where I am asking myself: what am I offering the world that it doesn’t already have? I think it’s a creative obligation to find something original, from the deepest recesses of my mind with a mixture of materials and perspectives that nobody else can offer, and create something truly exceptional.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When you begin to enjoy success naturally your confidence grows. Your head can get so big that it reaches the clouds. Then you get to a point where peoples’ objections don’t reach your ears any longer. They sound just like the tiny whispers of doubt that are in your own mind, doubts that make you question yourself, but which you must shut out in order to stay positive and be successful. And then one day your client calls you crying because they don’t like some part of the work that you did. Then you find yourself demolishing the work to make them happy. As this is happening things get really jumbled in your mind and you’re sitting there staring at the situation wondering: How did I not see this coming? How did I not avoid this? I’m reminded by the advice of maybe the most famous and successful landscape architect of all time who said, “I find that the customer is usually right“
Can you tell us the story behind how did you met your business partner?
Well my wife is actually the cofounder. If she did not believe in me I never would’ve launched. My first year of business she was behind the scenes filling every vacuum. She understands marketing to people’s aspirations on a level I have never seen. She now operates her own landscape design company because her skills were too big to be a supporting actor. She is absolutely thriving as Branch Out Landscapes and now we mutually reinforce each other as independent business owners. You must have somebody that will look at the things you’re too afraid to see. And you have to give them enough power to affect change otherwise their observations are useless. I interfered with her vision more than I should have, but the amount that I did allow helped create the brand that so many people love today.
Contact Info:
- Website: Designbybrookside.com
- Instagram: @designbybrookside
Image Credits
Emma Almendarez, Jordan Engle