Father’s Day: Growing Lawns and Raising Daughters
Balancing fatherhood with business ownership.
This week, we celebrate Father’s Day, recognising dads everywhere and all they do.
Our businesses nationwide are filled with amazing fathers and exceptional lawn care experts who balance providing our premium services with being a dad.
We sat down with Steve Graves, the owner of TruGreen South Bedfordshire, to discuss balancing being a father and a business owner.
Balancing act
“Owning this business gives the ultimate work-life balance,” Steve says.
Having spent fifteen years working for Tesco, managing departments before starting his business, Steve has found being his own boss to be a huge step up, and something that makes being a family man much more possible.
“My previous work experience involved unsociable hours, often working late into the evening, which is a crucial time to spend with family,” he says.
“I obviously can’t treat lawns in the dark, and so rules out the opportunity to make money late in the evening, but opens up the opportunity of helping my daughters with their homework, having dinner with them and managing their device time, for example, now that they are older.”
Succession
Steve’s business was started years ago by his dad.
“I have been involved from the early days. In that time, I have been able to master the routines involved in delivering the service for our customers, putting them and their lawns at the heart of what I do.”
Managing his time
Mastering the routines involved in managing his business has meant that once his children came along in 2013 and 2016, Steve was able to foresee how he could manage the business around them, their needs and those of his partner.
“I have a good working relationship with all my customers, and they understand that should I need to reschedule lawn work due to the needs of my family, I know they will understand. That said, the business has needs too, and so I use the flexibility it affords me, which I use wisely.”
“I take my daughters to preschool clubs and pick them up from family members nearby after school four days a week, something that would be a struggle in many other working lives.”
As Steve’s partner is a lead nurse for a heart failure department in London, her holidays are quite restrictive, so running his business also allows him to cover holidays in the summer and in the winter.
Lessons and Learning
Steve says there is a phrase that best encapsulates his journey and learnings as a parent and business owner: “If you want something done, ask a busy person.”
“If I were told 15 years ago what my working life would be like in 2025, I would have laughed. Like most parents, I can’t remember how I filled all the time I had before children.”
“I did look at the prospect of having a family with a business to run as a daunting one, even something to run away from! From this perspective, I am now so proud of myself for being able to overcome the challenges this balancing act provides.”
Especially as this has seen some brilliant wins personally within his business.
“I had a great moment with my eldest daughter a few weeks ago,” he says.
“She was looking online at my business’s Google page, and she was very impressed with the number of five-star reviews we have, which was a proud moment. I think she has always held her mum in higher esteem than I have with regard to her career and academic achievement, as I left school with very little in the way of qualifications.”
Need a new lease of lawn?
If you or a loved one wants to live more of their life outdoors this summer with the beautiful green lawn of their dreams, contact your nearest TruGreen business to see how your local expert can help.
