When business owners/leaders get into their 60s, it is normal to ask, “What is going to happen with the business”? Dean and I are at that age. We remember how, around 25 years ago, our parents gracefully handed us the business they had started from scratch. Like many family business owners, our parents dreamed that Walker Manufacturing would remain a family-owned and operated business for generations to come. The survival record of all kinds of businesses is about 30% per generation, so keeping the dream of a multigenerational family business alive is a big challenge.

When you grow up working in a greenhouse, receive a diploma in horticulture, and then work as a golf course superintendent for 11 years, one thing is for sure—you love green spaces.

 I don’t like stress,” says Dwight “Bud” Steinhauer, owner of Steinhauer Services in Clayton, Delaware. “Hence, I’ve grown slowly by word of mouth, and most of my customers are my friends.”

For the 2,600 students who attend the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, a beautiful, 94-acre campus is icing on their overall liberal arts education. Featuring ivy-covered walls on the older buildings, along with lush, green turf, the campus won a 2013 Green Star Award from the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS). The recognition is for excellence in ground maintenance at an urban university.

Chris “Babe” Predella is 28 years old. His company, Babe’s Lawn Care, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, employs 11 people, fields five crews, and offers fullservice landscape management to 200 customers. He does snow removal, and prior to the first snowfall delivers 300 full cords of firewood to customers. To make life even more interesting, this year he purchased a 15-acre plot of land with an office and garage.

My writing has purposefully been reserved for topics besides promoting the Walker Mower. With this column I will digress a little bit and look at the opportunity to compare the differences in zero-turn riding mowers. There are some real differences, and it would be beneficial for buyers to make the comparisons and understand the differences before purchasing. Since the beginning, the Walker, with its deck mounted out front (front-mount deck), has stood apart from a market flooded with the mid-mount style mowers, and offers many unique advantages. A well-versed dealer’s salesperson can point out the differences in the showroom and during a demonstration.