Sometimes people stretch and re-invent themselves by design. And sometimes it happens by accident. This is how I became an accidental professional blogger.
2014
My best-ever career year. By November of that year I had completed what is likely to remain my best-ever work season. I have written about this in other blog posts but if this is your first visit to my blog we can quickly recap.
In the spring of 2014 I had landed my dream summer post with a municipality. My boss in the field-and today part-time mentor-was an awesome, experienced and certified city gardener. She is also well-paid and her annual paid vacation made me shake my head. I tried to not feel like some victim of abuse.
I learned more working under her in one season then in the previous five or more. We planted bulbs, re-did planted beds, weeded, worked on plant ID, and installed many yards of free arbor chips. There was a lot of new stuff to learn and it created some positive stress. It stretched me but I wouldn’t realize it until later. You can do this too with your life.
I also challenged and passed the Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist exam which was a big deal. One simple comment from my boss really helped: “Just from talking to you, I know you can pass it.” And I did.
Remember, this isn’t just another piece of paper. This is a Canada-wide trade paper that shows off your experience. Because you are tested on your experience, not just book knowledge, it’s very satisfying.
I mention it here because it gives me some measure of authority when I publish blogs. Obviously, I don’t have all the answers but my Red Seal standing may be a big deal for someone reading my blogs or purchasing my e-books.
Municipal lay-off
I knew it was coming. All temporary full-time employees (TFTs) leave by early November. You have to attend an exit interview and your managers will make it clear whether or not you’re coming back next year. That part was fine.
But what do you do for five months when you have a wife and two cute kids to feed? Oh, the stress.
Old friends
You reach out to old friends, of course. In my case I knew the husband of one of my former supervisors and he owns his own landscaping company.
So I settled in for five months and did my best. It was the usual landscape strata maintenance at multi-family complexes.
Taking advantage of my ISA certified arborist status, the boss got me to show his workers how to prune trees. That was a new experience. I certainly hope my training stuck with some of them.
But lets get back to blogging.
Accidental blogger
Just before I left the company to resume my municipal parks career, the boss had his company website redesigned. Then he asked us for feedback and had me re-write some of the content. Specifically, why his company was in business, not just what services it offered.
The website also included a blog which was empty. Blank. So I offered to write up some short technical blogs for free. And since the boss is a busy man, he asked me to continue! Bam. That’s how I became a professional blogger in March 2015.
Good deal!
So let’s review. I generate original content (with my own photos) which may be useful for the company’s clients and workers and I get extra income. But there is more!
Weekly blog posting means that Google ranks the company higher in its search engine. Ranking on Google page one makes the boss very happy. That also explains why my humble invoices get paid promptly!
Then there is something called “re-purposing“. The idea is that every blog I generate could, potentially, be re-written and assembled into an e-book. So I tested this idea recently by publishing four e-books on Amazon Kindle.
So imagine my surprise this past weekend when my Landscape Tree Maintenance e-book was ranked #1 briefly. It was just ahead of this juicy e-book: “DIY Cannabis Extracts”!
Ideas
So how do you find ideas for your landscape blogs? That’s easy because I work in the field as a landscape supervisor and my iPhone camera is always ready to shoot. I generate ideas all day. Easily.
And when I’m stuck for ideas-which is rare!-I look through the lawn care groups I joined on Facebook. These groups are a gold mine because landscapers have the same problems with staff, plants and machines. I just have to ask for permission to use other people’s photos.
2017
While I still blog for my former winter boss, I have since started this blog: West Coast Landscape Professional. I needed freedom to express my own opinions. And it’s been fun. I expect this blog to improve so keep chequing back.
I hope you find some value in this blog and, if you do, please tell your friends and colleagues about it. And feel free to leave comments. I check every single one.
