6 minute read
Contractor Profile
Women Are MOWING DOWN
THE COMPETITION
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Mullins Lawn Enforcement
Ramona Mullins, owner of Mullins Lawn Enforcement encourages people to be the best they can be and take pride in what they do. Landscaping pros have always been predominantly male, but more women are working in the industry today than ever before.
Ramona Mullins, owner of Mullins Lawn Enforcement and Kristy Boase, co-owner of MIL-SPEC Landscaping haven’t been slowed down due to their gender. Both Jobber customers, the duo have faced their share of adversity and benefits of owning their companies. They also share a passion of the outdoors.
Mullins, who has been in business for 11 years, almost stumbled into owning a landscaping business. Her husband was deployed overseas, and she needed to get a new mower.
“I went into Home Depot with the intention of buying a small push mower, but instead I came out with a large commercial mower, which I learned how to use in the parking lot,” she says. “I put an advertisement in the paper and my businesses started there.”
Prior to starting the business, she had previously run a children’s before- and after-care program out of her house, but when the family moved to a new house, it wasn’t allowed due to HOA restrictions and Mullins Lawn Enforcement was the result.
Boase says she just loves working outside and being able to create art with beautiful plans and different substrates for clients. Celebrating 5 years in business, she says for her, the best part is the transformation.
“The design process is very artistic with infinite possibilities,” she says. “It allows me to take a client’s vision and turn it into reality for them.”
Overcoming obstacles
Neither of the women said the drawbacks of having a female-owned business are that severe. For both, when someone asks for the owner, there is on occasion that moment of shock when they explain that they are the owner.
“It is not necessarily an obstacle, rather an assumption that many guys make right off the bat since it is a male dominated industry,” Boase says. “Everyone laughs about it later and we generally just roll with it, so feelings don’t get hurt.”
Rather than a challenge, both seems to find that having a femaleowned landscaping business has quite a few advantages.
“It provides me a competitive edge because it usually falls on women to care for homes and pay the bills, so most people who are seeking lawncare services are already women,” Mullins says.
Continuing, she says in her military small town, it’s mostly the women that are home while their husbands are deployed, and they feel more comfortable dealing with MIL-SPEC Landscaping another female than they do a male.
For Boase, she flourishes in her ability to bring a feminine artistic flair to the design process when talking with female clients. “It definitely puts the wives more at ease to know that they can speak to another woman and to see another woman “If you’re a woman and want to dominate a male industry, be on their property,” she says. more knowledgeable than the men,” Kristy Boase says.
Mullins estimates that 90 percent of her custom- options make the client happy, etc.,” Boase says. ers choose her company based on “He always laughs and tells me that because it is female owned. Kristy Boase says she loves working your USDA we’re there to fix things for them,
“When it comes to outside and being able to create art zone, front while I am trying to get him to complilandscaping, I’m mostly with beautiful plans. row, back row, ment at least one thing in their yard vs dealing with other women who are shade, sun, part shade, part sun, width, telling them all the things he’s going making those decisions. They tell height, type of soil specific plants grow to fix,” she says. “I do believe it’s why me “I want pretty flowers!” or some- in... this list could go on and on” we work so well together though. He’s thing along those lines,” she says. She suggests partnering with a blunt and is focused on fixing every-
Of course, for both, there are some local nursey and learning to speak thing for our clients, while I am more obstacles, like not being able to physi- in the plant’s scientific name, sensitive to their overall vision.” cally lift as much as a man. “When I not the common name. Some landscaping compafirst started, I focused on the things “If you’re a woman and want to nies will hire only men. I was good at like cutting bushes, dominate a male industry, be more “I just had a girl I hired this year laying down mulch, mowing and gar- knowledgeable than the men,” that applied to several companies dening,” Mullins says. “My skills Boase says. “The running joke that and none would hire her because she have only grown from there.” Brian tells all of his male counter- was a woman,” Mullins says. “That parts is that they need to go find loss was my gain, women are empaMoving forward themselves their own Kristy.” thetic with customers and tend to Ignore the doubters. Overall, the green industry seems to have greater attention to detail.”
“The men in my life suggested I could be getting better at accepting women. When approached by women like not run a successful company because I “I see more landscape companies her recent hire who have been turned was a woman,” Mullins says. “Aspiring hiring more women into the field away, she views it as an opportufemale entrepreneurs need to turn this today,” Mullins says. “That said, I nity to equip them with the skills skepticism into fuel when starting a still don’t think that women are start- they need to set off on their own. business. Once their company is up and ing their own landscaping business, “I don’t hire people to keep them here, running, they will see the rewards.” most women that I know in the field but to make them the best they can be,”
Boase agrees, suggesting that the are in it because their husband started Mullins says. “If they have the initiative best way for a woman to be suc- the business, and they help when it to start their own business, I’m all about cessful in the is to go all in. comes to scheduling and invoices.” helping others create their own future.”
“Dedicate yourself to being a lifelong Working alongside her husband Brian, She knows from personal expelearner and build your knowledge port- Boase says she sees how he looks at rience that women often get told folio before jumping in the ring,” she things differently than her and is blunt. they can’t do something. says. “You want to be able to look at a “Women bring a different perspec- “We need to encourage people to clients’ current landscaping, rattle off all tive, we hear things differently when be the best they can be and take pride the names of each plant without hesita- clients are explaining their vision, we in what they do, that will create a tion, and then provide educated design generally focus more on how we can lot of change,” Mullins says.
