TERRY O'SHEA

Terry O'Shea bought Centenary Landscaping Supplies 1985. We asked him about the good times, the tough times and his advice for someone just starting out.

When and why did you get into the landscaping industry?

Back in the mid seventies I decided to go to College to become a teacher at the age of 30 while supported by Denise, my wife, who had a good job at the time. I had just been invited to become the National Sales Manager of a large cosmetic company as I was the Qld. State Manager and ready for promotion due to the success I had turning the Qld. Division around. Prior to that and marriage, I was in the army as a national serviceman and cloistered as a monk with the church for four years (another story!) on finishing school.

It was during my years as a teacher and “academic” to 1985 that I considered going into business for myself. I did not consider myself a very good teacher in a stiffening education system. So I looked at all the minimal options I could afford, with a landscape yard being to the fore of my thinking. I came across Centenary Landscaping Supplies which was for sale and eventually purchased it with my last dollar – and then some. All those around me considered me a fool to buy such a little ‘dirty’ place with three and a half staff but they were not to know that even back then it was a good little business that just needed some love and customer care.

Can you tell us about Centenary Landscaping Supplies? How long has it been around for, what you specialise in, and any major projects of note our readers may know about?

Denise and I purchased CLS in 1985 as a going concern with three and a half staff (the half started at 7am and was finished at 10am, with a $20 bill from the till as it was done in those days). CLS had been in business for some eighteen years and owned by the Hawkins family who I am grateful to for starting a business that grew, employing some forty staff today.

It all started on a small, one acre piece of land with a garden shed as an office and graduated to a two room demountable that is still attached to the expanded sales and office complex. As I write, it is about to be replaced with a new sales and office complex accommodating the sales and display area, administration, management and marketing, along with a staff training room/canteen and the most coveted item of all – new toilets! The business occupies the same site but over 71/2 acres with two road frontage.

CLS now has on display some 1670 products specialising in soils, sand, gravel/decorative pebbles, outdoor timber, pavers and retaining blocks and cement, to name a few. The company focuses on supplying the DIY market along with the Trade and Commercial customers who construct small domestic landscapes to large projects like the new Brisbane Supreme Courthouse, the Gold Coast University Hospital and Ipswich Motorway, among many others.

What does the company have planned/coming up?

By early September we will have completed a multimillion dollar upgrade of our 71/2 acre site with the whole yard on hard stang concrete and asphalt along with all connected facilities and a substantial sales and admin office complex. This has been in the making for the last five years and is the achievement of our dream for completing the first class physical entity of CLS to improve customer service and a business all can admire and love working in.

Over the coming seven years my sons will play a more direct role as I transition to some form of retirement by age 74. To that end, we will be taking on a business coach to see that all is done dispassionately as we plan for the next phase of the company’s growth.

What motivates you/drives you?

Denise and my family, including the family of team members who all help make this company what it is today, and into the future. I believe that no matter how many are on your team, you have a responsibility to see that they are looked after and are part of the decision making process. I want to build a team of people who are quietly driven by ethical behaviour, giving the best possible service to customers so that CLS is not only highly regarded by customers but by the community at large.

Our corporate aim is to satisfy the needs of customers, team members, lenders, suppliers and the environment. To do that, you need a passion and a willingness to be guided by these principles.

What’s your secret to success?

An open and honest personality with a drive to do all that is possible for the customer – even when they are wrong, as I subscribe to the philosophy that “the customer is always right”. Also I take advice from the gurus as they have researched, written and had more time than me to think about what makes a business successful. I just did as they advised. You can observe this right from when you call here with our telephone answering systems and all the other marketing and customer service systems we have in place. The Results Corporation of the 80’s and 90’s and Michael Gerber had a profound impact on how we do business.

What advice do you have for new business owners in landscaping?

Don’t! Well, not without a bucket of money and read Michael Gerber’s book “The E Myth” as the business is NOT the work of the business but it is the business of business...read the book. He has a great comment “sack the boss and work for a bigger fool, yourself.”