Upcoming Events
GROW! Snow | September 22 to 23, 2026 An in-person event built for snow leaders and their teams. Two days of snow-specific breakout sessions, a facility tour, and content designed to drive real change at your business. Details coming soon.
Snowfighters Institute Webinars: Join us live for monthly webinars built to help snow pros run stronger, more profitable operations. All sessions run 10:00 to 11:00 AM.
Capacity Planning | Tuesday, September 8, 2026 How do you determine your true operational capacity?
Recruiting | Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Why can't you find good people to hire, and what can you do about it?
Incentive Compensation & Rewards | Tuesday, November 10, 2026 Are your bonuses and rewards actually driving the results you want?
Client & Employee Appreciation | Tuesday, December 8, 2026 Are you truly appreciating your clients and employees, or just going through the motions?
Eric Gagnon, President of G&G Landscape and Development in Maine, joins Phil to share his journey from commercial electrician to full-time snow and landscape professional. From partnering with his brother and later navigating a family buyout, to losing his father at 19 and letting that shape how he approaches business and life, to building a self-performing operation that runs on seasonal contracts and an automated salt-sales system, Eric shares hard-won lessons on leadership, technology, and why serving the community matters as much as growing the business. He also opens up about loving snow, being a self-described loader guy, and pursuing a vision of excellence that blurs the line between work and life.
Key Learnings
Look in the Mirror Before You Commit Another Decade - Eric changed careers when he stopped liking who was looking back at him, so pay attention to that feeling instead of grinding through a job you don't enjoy for the rest of your career.
Take the Leap Even When It Means a Pay Cut - Moving from a secure electrical job to full-time in the family business meant less pay and less security, but the freedom to build something of your own is worth the trade-off.
Different Visions Between Partners Wear You Down - When one partner wants to grow big and the other wants to stay small, every conversation feels like someone has to compromise, which erodes the relationship over time.
Buyouts Between Family Members Are Hard but Worth It - Family buyouts get emotional and people say things they shouldn't in the heat of the moment, but the right structural change can restore the personal relationship and strengthen both businesses.
Address Conflict Before It Festers - In personal relationships and business, letting things sit only makes them worse, so have the hard conversation as quickly as possible.
Everything Happens for a Reason - Losing his father at 19 forced Eric to spread his wings earlier than he would have, and shaped a perspective that hard experiences often prepare you for what comes next.
Seasonal Contracts Build Better Businesses - Fixed monthly billing lets clients budget with confidence and lets you build the team, equipment, and quality of service the market expects, regardless of whether the winter is mild or brutal.
Cap Your Salt Applications - Salt is a volatile commodity, so capping applications in your seasonal contract at a set number and charging per application beyond that protects both you and your client from a bad winter.
Self-Perform Wherever You Can - Self-performing 95% of work protects the level of service your customers expect, and even when subcontractors handle sidewalks or remote sites, you should still put eyes on the property afterward.
A Tight Service Radius Is a Luxury - Keeping all your loaders and trucks in one heated shop makes maintenance easier, keeps mechanics on top of every piece of equipment, and simplifies dispatch during storms.
Solve the Problem Instead of Hiring Around It - When contractors kept calling for salt after hours, Eric and his brother built an automated 24/7 salt-dispensing system instead of hiring someone to sit at the shop, and it grew into a major line of business.
Compete on Level of Service, Not Price - You don't have to be the cheapest contractor, especially as low-service excavation crews leave the winter market and clients demand more professional operations.
Give Back to Your Community - Serving as a selectman, on a dam commission, and on a waste-to-energy board takes time but builds relationships and gives you perspective across sectors you'd never touch through your business alone.
Pursue a Vision of Excellence in Everything You Do - The best operators barely distinguish between their work and their play, chasing excellence in whatever is in front of them rather than treating work as something to escape from.
Reflection Questions
Do you like the person looking back at you in the mirror, and if not, what career or business change have you been avoiding?
Are you protecting your quality of service by self-performing where it matters, or are you outsourcing so much that you're losing control of what your clients actually experience?
Where in your business are you hiring around a problem when you could design a system that solves it once and pays you for years?
Resources & References
Listen in as Phil Harwood interviews Jeen Stork from Stork's Plows (storksplows.com). With the world's largest inventory of new and used snow plows and...
Upcoming Events GROW! Snow | September 22 to 23, 2026 An in-person event built for snow leaders and their teams. Two days of snow-specific...
Jason Kane, National Sales Manager for Midwest Salt with over 14 years in the industry, joins Phil to share his journey from responding to...