After being in the family grocery business for more than 20 years, Jeff Gardner awoke one morning and said to his wife Tracy, “I want to maintain lawns.” Just like that, he turned in his apron and started down a new career path. Jeff made that decision three years ago.

How much do you charge for your services? Do you have a minimum fee for maintaining a property? What criteria do you use when coming up with a pricing strategy? Do you have a different pricing strategy for different customers or when using different pieces of equipment? These are just a few of the questions Walker Mfg. asked in a survey sent to a random sample of 2,000 Walker Mower users in September 2002. More than 400 contractors responded to the survey. The results follow.

If someone tells you there’s gold in Cape Cod, one of the first things you may think of is a beautiful New England home with a colorful garden. Or maybe you will picture the surf cresting over a sandy beach. For other people, Cape Cod gold can be found in all the fresh fish and chowder they can eat.

I’ll admit a bent toward studying philosophy and an inclination to use the Bible (Holy Scripture) as the source of wisdom. However, for me there must be a practical application that helps us live and be alive (not walking dead). I don’t want to be like the person of whom it was said, “They are so heavenly minded, they are of no earthly good.” In a practical sense, it helps us live each day, especially the rough, hard days if we have satisfying answers to the big questions like “Why am I here?”, “Why am I doing this?”, and for the entrepreneur, “Why am I in business?”

What first comes to your mind when you think of Branson, Missouri? If you say Bobby Vinton and several dozen other entertainers, you wouldn’t be alone. Neither would you be if you mentioned the Ozarks, and the fishing and hiking that goes with the territory. But castles? What do these symbols of Medieval Europe have to do with Branson? Just ask anyone who has visited Chateau on the Lake.

When Steve Quillen says Grass Roots Inc. is a mowing company first, he means it. Each week, mowing crews tackle 470 properties in and around their home base of Wilmington, Delaware. The company, which targets high-end homeowners, gets the job done efficiently and effectively with a fleet of nine vehicles, seven Walker Mowers, and 14 full- and part-time employees.