2008 ANLA Management Clinic live(2)

Great energy at the clinic yesterday as usual right up to the end at the Muggets get-together.

There was a lot of good stuff yesterday including the Landscape Swap-Shop where a lot of the discussion centered on sustainability issues; making topsoils, compost, grinding yard waste-and in general keeping stuff out of the dump, and saving money to boot.

Joel Zeff was a big hit for the second year in a row, with his Saturday night improv show. Jeff has a real talent for taking folks with no talent and making us look/sound funny-mostly making us look funny.

My line of the day comes from Carr Hagerman on trying to find someone to put a Watershape/pond/waterfall on his property;

“I don’t want to see your tape measure, or hear about you taking pictures . . . get me excited, fire me up, make a connection.”

By Rick Anderson

The Whispering Crane Institute was originally formed to act as the umbrella organization for the Philosophy of Design Symposium, and other seminars and workshops given by Rick Anderson and Richard L. Dube’. In the year 2000 WCI became a sole proprietorship owned by Rick Anderson. Today the WCI provides design and consultation services for Landscape Contractors, acts as a Green Industry think tank, and provides training for others in the form of workshops, seminars, and individual consulting. The WCI also provides written material, opinions, case-studies and how-to articles for industry trade magazines.

View all of Rick Anderson's posts.

1 comment

Jonathan Burnett says:

February 11, 2008 at 12:57 pm

“I don’t want to see your tape measure, or hear about you taking pictures . . . get me excited, fire me up, make a connection.”

What magic to be able to do this!!

What are your thoughts on this Rick. I’ve noticed that you have clients that will look at one of your renderings and “buy the project” on the spot. This is great. While I’m sure it is not magic, it has to be something; possibly the way you hold your mouth? Is it a creative spark that resonates with the client or just doing the right thing at the right time?

Jonathan

I believe in the fact that I feel very fortunate to work on the projects that I do, and that my love for these tough projects shows through. Clients get I excited, I’m excited-and now the Contractor is excited . . . . we’re all excited! And anxious to make something really great happen.
You got to love what you do to be really successful, and to get to that next level-I just think it shows. The passion, the commitment, and the customer knowing that I am an advocate for their space to become the best we can create, and then build.

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