Florida grass is different from other grasses around the country. Sure, it has a reputation of being a tough customer on mower decks. In the peak growing season, it also grows like there is no tomorrow. As head of the lawn maintenance department for Del Tura and Del Vera Country Clubs in North Fort Myers, Phil Di Bernardo knows that for a fact. "Sometimes I swear you can sit and watch the grass grow. It's got to grow an inch a day," he tells.

Gib Charles, owner of Greening-Up Landscape Maintenance, Inc., Fort Collins, Colorado, is a prototypical landscape maintenance contractor.

Five years ago, an accident left Jeff Vining paralyzed from his chest down. A break between his sixth and seventh vertebrae rendered him a quadriplegic.

How much are your customers worth? Most business people, including owners of lawn maintenance companies, know the value of their equipment, their supplies and their employees. But they all too often overlook the value of the one dimension that keeps them in business, their customers.

Owners of successful lawn and landscape maintenance companies have at least one common bond. They will tell you there is no shortcut to the top.

After trying it both ways, my father, Max Walker, likes to say, "I'd rather have my own hamburger stand than be part of McDonald's." It's not that there aren't advantages to being associated with a big, stable organization. There are. But there also are distinct advantages to independent businesses.