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APR 2023
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SHARPEN YOUR SAW THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING A LIFETIME LEARNER
While growing up, I used to love reading the encyclopedia. That was the easiest way to learn about anything and everything before the birth of computers. There’s a bookshelf in my childhood home, which I would often use for the encyclopedia. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and been interested in knowledge for as long as I can remember. I studied hard in school and genuinely enjoyed what I learned there. Outside of academics, I even read magic books as a kid simply because learning and understanding something felt new and interesting. My family was the same way too. My parents read often, and my mother went back to college to become a writer while I was in school. Like most great writers, she was never far from a book — and neither was I. I used books to teach myself the skills I needed to push myself forward in business, even as a kid. For example, I taught myself how to write invoices for my neighborhood lawn-mowing business. Later, when my dad brought home our first computer, the world of possibilities opened up before me. I remember ditching our paper encyclopedias for digital ones and watching videos of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. When
I started my own business as an adult in the late-1990s, I used the internet to teach myself everything someone might learn in business school. I’m still learning today, and I’ll continue to learn new things every day. The Bible says we should continue to improve and work to get better every day. And the goal of being a lifelong learner isn’t to arrive at some pinnacle of knowledge, but instead to continuously change and grow in new ways as you learn new things. By working on challenging yourself and growing, you “sharpen your saw,” as Stephen Covey calls it — and you’re becoming a better version of yourself. By staying up to date with the latest information in your industry, you also make yourself more relevant to potential clients or business ventures. This can help you speak with confidence and share that knowledge, which, in the end, is what God wants us to do. The best way to share your knowledge is to teach others what you’ve learned, and by doing so, you’ll learn more yourself. For instance, I’ve recently started teaching a Bible class to high school students at my church, and I end up reviewing the lesson plan from five different angles before ever teaching it. This simple act of turning over something so many times in my head makes me
understand it much more than I initially thought. Sometimes, the best way to learn something is by attempting to teach it to others. The same is true for business, too. Many entrepreneurs are willing to share their insights, successes, and failures to pass along knowledge. However, it’s important to remember that acquiring knowledge isn’t what ultimately sharpens your saw; what can usually help the most is actually applying what you’ve learned. I’m still never far from a book these days, and I find great recommendations from other business owners and podcasts. Taking time to learn something new is such a valuable part of life. If you can read and comprehend, you can push yourself to be better every day. I encourage everyone to expand their horizons this month and challenge themselves to learn something new, no matter how small. Do whatever it takes to sharpen your saw.
Robert Burns
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How to Pick Your Landscape’s Biggest Star ALL ABOUT TREES
Hello again! Robert here. I saw the Broadway show “Wicked” when it came to town a few years ago, and the main characters were absolutely captivating! They definitely brought the production to life. Similarly, I tell clients all the time that your landscape is like a movie or Broadway show — and high-quality specimen trees are the A-list actors. When you choose to use quality trees in your landscape design, their size and beauty carry the rest of the supporting cast: shrubs, flowers, pottery, lights, etc. Without great trees, nothing happens. Here are several of my favorites that you might want to use in your next project. Standard Crape Myrtle Blossoming with beautiful red flowers for 100 days out of the year in Florida, the crape myrtle is very ornate and
stately. Its branches bend in and out, which brings a unique characteristic to your landscape.
Eagleston Holly A lovely evergreen holly that creates small round berries in the cooler months, the Eagleston holly is far less subject to disease than other
species in the holly family. It’s becoming increasingly popular because it’s an excellent privacy hedge that requires relatively little care. Japanese Blueberry These lustrous trees are captivating year-round. The foliage emerges with an orange-red tinge, then moves into a brilliant shade of emerald green before
THE NEIGHBORHOOD MEGA-TREE PLAYHOUSE! GAVIN’S GUYS
blankets to put on the bottom of the tree, but I also nabbed some of Teddy’s dog leashes to create a
pretty cool rope system. One girl in my neighborhood brought a hammock. The best part about the hammock is a few of us can fit inside it at once — so we all get a chance to relax after our hard work.
Now that our mega-tree playhouse is set up, we pretty much spend all of our free time around it. I’m not sure if the other kids have cool jobs like I do on the farm, but my time off at our tree feels extra fun after helping out the guys. Sometimes, we even run around the trunk since it’s so huge, and my dad says he can hear us from inside the house — that’s how much fun we’re having.
Hi, everyone. This is Gavin, and I’ve been working hard lately with driving the side-by-side and helping out on the farm. In fact, I’m pretty much one of my dad’s employee’s now! I drive the crew around and even help clean up the sites. I’ve learned a ton about building while working on the farm with the guys, which has helped a lot in my latest off-the-clock adventure. You see, there’s a huge tree in our neighborhood, and I mean huge! Sometimes I think it’s so big it even goes into space. But lately, I’ve gathered the other neighborhood kids to help me build the ultimate mega-tree playhouse. If I learned one thing from the farm, it’s that we would need a lot of materials for our build. So, we started by each bringing something from our houses to construct our new space. Most of us brought
My dad also says what we’re doing is a lot like something called “Swiss Family Robinson,” which I think is about a family that lives in a treehouse and has cool island adventures. But, even though our tree is already super fun, I’ve started thinking of ideas for the next design phase. We’ll keep building until we make the best mega-tree playhouse ever. See you next time! –Gavin Burns
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OUR CLIENTS SAY IT BEST!
settling into a darker green. Mature foliage returns to orange-red before blazing into a brilliant crimson prior to the leaves dropping. It’s actually an evergreen, so the changes happen gradually, with dark green foliage peppered with beautiful older leaves throughout. There are also seasonal white flowers and ornamental blueberries that give it its name.
BLG was a find for us from these Google reviews, and we
are so happy they lived up to their 5-star rating. From showing up on time for the first appointment to the quality of the installation, BLG transformed our backyard into the oasis we wanted. Kudos to Robert, Danny, and the rest of the team for a job well done. Would highly recommend them to others.” – Charles Knippen
Bracken’s Brown Beauty Magnolia It’s rare that anyone sees this gorgeously full tree and doesn’t stop and stare. Bracken is characterized by its upright multiple branching with dense, lustrous dark green foliage on top and a gradient of velvety soft brown below. It’s a tree that’s stood the test of time, and it’s a well-deserved favorite in the industry.
There are many more trees that I adore and that grow perfectly in Central Florida. Just give me a call if you’re ever curious about giving your landscape a fresh start with some new leading-role trees.
Robert Burns
“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16 “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.” Acts 20:20 HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS?
EASY OUT
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WE MAKE YOUR OUTDOOR AREAS BEAUTIFUL
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The Power of Knowledge
All About Trees Gavin’s Guys: The Mega- Tree Playhouse The Good News Hear From Our Clients Take a Break!
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Top 3 Extended Stay Destinations
ALL ABOARD THE EXTENDED VACATION TREND
TOP 3 VACATION DESTINATIONS FOR A LONGER STAY
Drive the California coast. A trip up and down the California coast never disappoints. With so many great places to stop and breathtaking views to absorb, you’ll need at least two weeks to experience them properly. You’ll want to explore the Redwood National Forest, the Lost Coast, Pebble Beach, Monterey Bay, Half Moon Bay, Big Sur, Venice Beach, and many more! Hop aboard a cruise. A cruise is one of the best ways to see many destinations in one trip. You could visit several countries in just two weeks, stopping in different ports to explore! On a cruise, you could see the Caribbean one day and wake up somewhere completely different the next day with a new adventure ahead!
The pandemic slowed us down. Over the past few years, we collectively took fewer vacations, boarded fewer cruise ships, and avoided airports. However, many studies and reports show that now, more than ever, Americans are taking longer vacations! Why might this be, and what are some of the greatest destinations for an extended stay?
According to Amex Travel’s 2022 Global Travel Trend Report, 55% of vacationers are interested in taking longer trips because they can work remotely. The trend of swapping homes is also on the rise. HomeExchange’s website reports that home exchanges of two weeks or more increased by 13% in January-May last year. According to Travel Pulse, 26% of people opt to take a trip that exceeds 10 days.
remote, you lost out on travel time in 2020-2022, or you saved on gas money while working from home, here are some great destinations that support a longer stay. Visit the national parks. There is no better way to connect with nature than to tour the national parks. Several epic national park road trips could allow you to pack in a dozen or more of these natural gems in just a couple of weeks! Many national parks also accommodate RVs for comfort and convenience.
If you are interested in taking a more extended vacation, whether it’s because your job went
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