It wasn't a green thumb or a passion for plants that convinced Gary Robins to start his own gardening business. He was in need of a job.
"My passion was being in business for myself and building a successful company," Robins says in an interview on his back patio, which is surrounded by pots of brightly coloured flowers.
"I kind of fell into it," he says of gardening. "I didn't go into this business to get rich. I went into this business because I was unemployed."
Robins, a former police officer from Toronto, also has a background in business and marketing.
When he came to B.C. in the late '90s, he couldn't find work in his field so he studied to be a computer service/network technician at CDI College.
Within six months of finding a job as a technician, he knew it wasn't for him, Robins says.
A radio ad for a gardening franchise led him to consider starting a gardening company as an option, he says
"It just fit the bill about gener-ating an income," he says, adding, "that was something I could do."
"If my father could flip hamburgers, owning a Harvey's restaurant back in Montreal," Robins adds, "mowing lawns is not something I should turn my nose up at."
Robins started his company, A Gardener and A Gentleman, in 1997 as a one-man operation.
While he has since hired on employees for his mowing, gardening and tree crews, it is still one man behind the business, he says.
"Most people out there think we're huge because they see our trucks and trailers everywhere. That's because we're busy," he says. "But in reality, it's basically me."
Robins has between two and eight employees, depending on the season and the workload, which allows him to focus more on the business side of things.
He serves five cities - Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody.
The company averages about 15 lawns a day, Robins says.
He has an A rating with the B.C. Better Business Bureau and has been an accredited member since 2001. His business is also listed in Shell Busey's HouseSmart Referral Network.
"What sets my company apart from everyone else is that we're reputable," he says.
Robins uses marketing and promotional techniques to increase his business but says his primary technique is to make sure he forms long-lasting friendly relationships with his customers. He tries to maintain fair prices but says it is equally important to do quality work.
Robins sets his prices by considering what he'd be willing to pay.
He'd like to expand the company but is realistic about how far it can go. Robins wants to continue managing it on his own, but limit his work on the physical side.
While his children are not involved in the business, he hopes to eventually sell the company to someone who can maintain his standards, he says, though he knows it will be difficult to find someone willing to pay what the business is worth.
www.twitter.com/janayafe
