Articles written by guest contributors

Tom, Laura and Bill Gardocki at a Red Socks game a few years back.

Baseball & running a hardscape business

Bill Gardocki goes on and on about the Red Socks’ success (and relates his annual baseball trip to hardscaping). :)

By Bill Gardocki, Interstate Landscape

I asked Editor Tom Hatlen, if I could throw a little curveball this month. I said, “How about if I write an article about baseball?” There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then after some discussion he said, “Yes, go for it!”

My thought was that as my deadline would be approaching for the article I would be traveling on my annual Rotary Club Red Sox baseball trip. The trip started 17 years ago by a fellow Rotarian as a way to bond with his 2 sons. It has evolved into a 30-person traveling road show to a different major league ball park each year. We now have many father/son travelers, including my son Tom for the past 4 years.

I have been lucky enough, some would say “crazy enough,” to be a Red Sox season ticket holder for over 30 years. Seeing the ups and downs in that time, I am happy to say that the last 11 years have been pretty good. 3 World Series championships, capped off 2 years ago with a World Series clinching game at home, is something not seen in Boston since 1918. I have learned that there is more to the game, and more to being a fan than just the wins and losses.

For me, the annual baseball trip pulls together many of the themes that I have written about in Hardscape Magazine in the last 3 years. Among these are teamwork, efficiencies, lifestyle choices, community service and building strong lasting relationships. Baseball and running a hardscape business have more in common than one might think.

Teamwork and efficiencies

Have you ever traveled with a big group and tried to maintain schedules, keep people together, work to sooth different personalities, keep morale high, move around an unfamiliar location efficiently, and meet everyone’s expectations? Kind of sounds like the job site, right? Pre-trip planning, getting deposits, arranging transportation to sites – all are the same components that go into planning an efficient hardscape project. And, just like a baseball team trying to win a game, teamwork plays a role in how successful each trip is.

Lifestyle choices

I have talked in the past about lifestyle choices that are involved in going to the 4-day work week. Taking time off for the baseball trip each year is one of those lifestyle choices we make as well. Sometimes the trip involves missing several work days for Tom and me.

The way I look at it, I can’t duplicate these experiences and memories with my son on a job site. As parents, we don’t spend many overnights with our adult children. The social interaction we have is completely different from what happens on the job site. You can’t get that bonding in many other ways. So we have made that commitment to just do it no matter when the dates of the trip fall.

Professional baseball players sometimes say they need to step away from the spotlight, get out on the road with their teammates, and just bond. Try doing something with your crew that is out of the box. Maybe take them to a minor league game in your area. Make a choice to provide social opportunities for you and your employees outside of the work place.

Community service

In the past I have written articles about community service projects. As a Rotarian in my community I take part in many volunteer projects. By making that commitment to my community I show how important the community is to me and my business.

My fellow Rotarians include many of the top business leaders in our town. The police chief, fire chief, the Boys and Girls Club board chairman, lawyers, doctors and so forth. These are not people I would have come to know and be friends with without dedicating time and energy to the common goal of community service.

Our professional titles and social classes are left behind. On the Red Sox roster there are players from 13 states and 6 different countries that must come together to form one cohesive unit. In all the years I have been watching the Red Sox, their best years have been the years that the team acts as a family and works together for the improvement of all.

Baseball can serve as a means to bring family, friends and co-workers together in a socially relaxed atmosphere and provide the basic structure for building strong team ties. The ultimate goal of the successful completion of a hardscape project follows the same principles that make any team a winning team.

Bill Gardocki is the owner of Interstate Landscape Co. Inc. in Londonderry, NH, installing hardscapes for over 40 years. Bill has taught over 100 classes as an NCMA and ICPI certified instructor. He also provides hardscape seminars for dealer/contractor education days, and in 2013 became the Landscape Construction instructor at his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire. Contact Bill@InterstateLandscapeNH.com