It’s hard to declare what the highlight of the week was; the black-tie Bacchus Rendezvous Ball, where Shaquille O’Neal was the king of the parade, and ZZ Top played a concert? The VIP balcony seating at the Sheraton Hotel, while watching the parade go by on the street below? Seeing the fireworks launch from a barge on the Mississippi from the President’s Suite of the Westin?
Or for those attendees who were there more for the business side of things … was it the behind-the-scenes tour of Mullin, No. 144 on the LM150 list?
Maybe all of the above (and the food, too).
“The Bacchus Ball was even more fun than I expected, I’m definitely going again,” said Nick Jensen, vice president of Jensen Gardens in Omaha, Neb. “I thought it would be wild and crazy — and it was — but you could watch the parade with your kids, or you could go to Bourbon Street.”
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The first part of the week, dubbed “ACE Experience Mardi Gras” and co-hosted by McFarlin Stanford and The Grow Group, was mostly reserved for parade watching and networking events. As the week went along, the event changed to the “ACE Scramble,” which joined three existing peer groups together for a tour of Mullin, followed by case studies, company updates, roundtable discussions, a book review and a finance and metrics lesson.
Kyle Narsavage, president and founder of GreenSweep and Garden Gate Landscaping in Silver Spring, Md., says the atmosphere of New Orleans during Mardi Gras is “an awesome vibe,” and even though the whole city was having a party, the ACE Peer Groups were still able to look down and get a lot of work done.
“With the crossover of the three different peer groups, these are people I typically only see once a year at ACE Discovery,” Narsavage says. “There’s a bigger pool of people to pull from.”
A moment with Mullin
The tour of Mullin included a tour of the company’s yard, shop and office building. Presentations were made by the company’s construction division leader, maintenance division manager, head mechanic, controller and director of human resources. Chase Mullin, who calls himself the “founder, CEO and weed puller” of Mullin, batted last.
Mullin opened up to the group and talked about some of the challenges he finds himself dealing with, but doing it without losing a part of the culture he’s worked hard to foster. “I feel like a lot of things are in progress, but I just want to hit fast forward,” he told the room, garnering knowing nods.
Before closing down the tour, Mullin took a moment to tell the group what a unique experience McFarlin Stanford and The Grow Group had arranged for them by bringing them to New Orleans during Mardi Gras week.
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“There are people who live here who wouldn’t ever be able to get that same experience as what you all just did,” Mullin said. “You really have to know someone (to get that experience). I know New Orleans, but Jim (Cali) really knows New Orleans, and what he put together is really special.”
More juice in the tank
Jim Cali, principal of McFarlin Stanford, said that the ACE Peer Group Membership is not only about driving your own professional advancement, but about having a bigger perspective about life.
“We know that driving experiences with our members is as important as financial acumen,” Cali says. “I am so thrilled I could share the experience of my hometown of New Orleans and show what and how Mardi Gras affects a culture and ultimately drives relationships. Remember, we are in a relationship business, and whether you network on a board at your child’s school, golf with friends, volunteer for the needy or celebrate Mardi Gras, it is all networking.”
Kyle Narsavage told LM that a conflict on his calendar led him to miss the last in-person event with his ACE Peer Group, and he could tell missing that opportunity to connect with fellow landscape and lawn care entrepreneurs hurt a little.
“There’s only so much you can share with your coworkers, or even your own wife,” he says. “You can accomplish so much in a short period of time here because of the knowledge sitting at the table.”
Narsavage said he didn’t have one highlight of the trip but three; the tour of Mullin, the camaraderie of doing ‘issue processing’ with his colleagues and the atmosphere in New Orleans that week.
“Getting behind-the-scenes access of Mullin, that has to be my No. 1. Any time you get to open the hood on a successful company and meet their people, that’s a great opportunity to learn,” Narsavage says. “You always come back energized with more juice in the tank than what you left with.”
<p>The post Laissez les bons temps rouler: ACE Peer Groups go to Mardi Gras (and Mullin!) first appeared on Landscape Management.</p>