What to Do When it Rains on Your Parade

There’s no getting around the fact that the recent winter storms have negatively impacted the landscape industry; some of us more than others. Obviously, we can’t control the weather, but what we can control is our reaction to it.

If you saw any of the Rose Parade, you saw those marching bands trudging through the rain playing their instruments before thousands of onlookers on the streets of Pasadena, and millions of TV viewers from coast to coast. After having practiced for months, they were proud to be a part of this famous event and weren’t going to let a little rain get them down. We shouldn’t either. Just as the sunshine broke through later in the day for the Rose Bowl game, it will break through for our businesses in this New Year. All that business is still there; it has simply been delayed a little. As entrepreneurs, we must remain optimistic…always.

To ensure that the New Year will be better for you than the old one, make sure to include some new projects, doing old things in new and better ways, and even adding new suppliers and new technical people to the way you do business. As difficult as it may be to add the right new things to your New Year’s to-do list, letting go of familiar things – and people that may be holding you back from making the changes you need to implement – is a hundred times more difficult.

You can’t be afraid of tackling new challenges either. Whether it’s a new product line, a new way of promoting your business, or getting involved in an entirely new venture, “playing it safe” will guarantee a repetition of last year’s results.

Some folks might be happy just keeping up with last year’s numbers. Some folks, but not me. Neither should you. Landscape Warehouse has already started doing some new things designed to help us beat last year’s numbers, including bringing back our pre-Thanksgiving BBQ, and planning more educational events. Some things may not work out, but that’s OK because the next one will. And it’s the next one that will take your business to the next level and beyond.

When you bravely launched out into the arena of entrepreneurism, when you dared to start your own business even when some friends and family were thinking it was a dumb idea, you proved them wrong. Well, you will need to reignite that “fire in the belly” that brought you where you are today and let it drive your business to the next level in the year ahead.

Financial experts are forecasting a positive 2026, and we are already preparing for it. Stay away from any “the sky is falling types.” They’re just jealous and want to rain on your parade.

Here’s wishing you a very Healthy, Happy, and Successful 2026.

– José Robles, owner, Landscape Warehouse