We recently connected with Mike McCord and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Hey, I’m Mike McCord in from Community Foodscapes in Atlanta, GA.
My story began as a child surrounded by forests, waterways, veggie gardens, and cooking. Constant interaction with my surrounding ecosystem and food supply led me to a degree in agriculture from UGA, then WWOOF’ing (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in 5 different countries. Upon my return from these experiences, I was prepared build community using freshly grown, hyper-local food. A vision of community foodscapes.
Equipped with a vision, basic skills, and foundational experience, how do you actual start a business?
My advice is to find the fastest way to make $500 in one day with the skills/knowledge you posses, while staying true to your ethics, principles, and long-term goals.
For me, I knew how to plant trees and grow vegetables, so I started there.
Over time, I learned what people requested/wanted/needed the most and gained the knowledge/tools to accomplish that type of work. This lead me to another passion: eco-friendly drainage solutions. It might sound boring, but I love it!
Our paths are not linear.
If you want to start a business, especially one related to digging into the dirt and get muddy, feel free to reach out to me directly for advice and mentorship.
Mike, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Community Foodscapes is an edible landscaping company with a social conscience, serving Atlanta (10-mile radius) by helping people from all backgrounds to grow food, restore native habitats, and become environmental stewards of their communities.
We perform a variety of services from consultations, coaching, and designs to installations of raised beds, gardens, fruit trees, drainage, and hardscapes. We also perform maintenance for our clients.
There are 4 main services that excite me the most!
1) Lawn Conversions: We help people remove their high-maintenance lawns and replace them with wildflower meadows or other low-mow groundcover plants such as clover.
2) CoFo Nursery: We have a fruit tree and edible/medicinal plants nursery on Memorial Drive in Edgewood/Kirkwood.
3) Consultations: We can help anyone learn how to manage their land in a more sustainable (and productive/fruitful) way!
4) Eco-Friendly Drainage: Whether your yard floods, stays muddy, or is eroding, we have solutions that work in harmony with nature.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
The beautiful thing about starting a landscaping business is that you don’t need a big savings account to get started. All you really need is a shovel!
I started with a shovel and normal car (Toyota Camry).
Eventually, I bartered my car for a old truck (that is still running to this day).
Each job generated a little bit of profit that allowed me to buy one tool or piece of equipment at a time.
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Eventually, I had a truck with all the essential landscaping tools. All without any loans or lines of credit.
You can’t accomplish that with any business model, but most types can be created with a shoe-string budget. If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend “The $100 Startup” for any aspiring entrepreneur.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Do these 3 things for your customers and your organic growth will follow:
1. Do what you say you are going to do; even if that means that you will lose money on that one job.
2. Over-communicate your expectations, schedule, delays, changes, etc. Don’t assume anything.
3. Aim for 100% in everything you do. You won’t hit 100% every time, but by aiming high, you will minimize the chances of negative reviews. “Aim for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land amongst the stars.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.crew-method.com
- Instagram: @communityfoodscapes
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/communityfoodscapes
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-mccord/
- Other: profitabledrainage.com