Cory and Alyssa Hayes started Goodspeed Lawn & Design in Colorado Springs in 2017 and have adapted their business to embody their values of being with family as well as cultivating relationships with customers.

For the two Colorado Springs natives who graduated from University of Colorado—Colorado Springs, starting a family business enables them to do things their way. Choosing the landscape industry for that business came about from Cory’s teenage work experience.

At the age of 14, Cory was mowing lawns for a homebuilder and shoveling driveways in the neighborhood. “I had to submit invoices for mowing and to do that, I had to learn Excel, he says. “It was my introduction to doing business professionally.” Before co-founding Goodspeed with Alyssa nearly 20 years later, Cory worked for other landscape companies and on some government contracts, earning additional skills including irrigation maintenance and plant identification. Though the partners are motivated self-learners, they joined ALCC for more educational opportunities.

A unique blend of family and business
Alyssa provides context for the couple’s unique situation and her practical reasons for having their own business. “We have 10 children and they are home-schooled,” she says. “We wanted our own company so we could set our own hours and provide an environment where the children could learn and be shown how their parents do business.”

She adds, “We value time with family—our time with our family, and our employees’ time with their families. Using our business as part of our kids’ education, having them work in the company and mentoring them, means we can be together more. They get their book learning too, but by integrating the business with the family, they are involved and learn practical skills. It makes us stronger as a family unit.”

The Goodspeed website clearly states the company’s priorities of family and relationship and states that the children work in the business and why. Alyssa also shares that in an industry that is male dominated, she demonstrates to her children that she gets her “hands dirty” and that women don’t have to be relegated to administration positions.

Growing and running the business
Now in its third year, the company has shifted to more commercial clients compared to its first year. “Commercial clients give us the opportunity to expand our services. We talk with our clients about other needs we see on the property. We are already providing full-service ground maintenance for an HOA. We’ve installed enhancements such as trees, shrubs, rock beds and flower beds,” says Cory.

By including the word ‘design’ in the company name, the owners were projecting a future in which their company could provide landscape design services in house rather than outsourcing. “We want to provide for the customers’ needs,” says Cory. “If they want a new design, we want to give it them.”

“We are already self-learning design,” says Alyssa. “And we work with people who have design experience.”

Recruitment and retention challenge
The couple admits that, like most green industry firms, recruitment and retention are challenging. “We hire people who are kind and professional and we pay a competitive wage,”

says Alyssa. “Since we want a culture that is kind and we don’t retain ‘toxic’ people.” The company hires for culture fit and will train for skills. The owners listen to their employees, and those who want more opportunities within the company are given them.

A system implemented last year that has worked for Goodspeed and reflects the owners’ core value of spending time with family. Instead of scheduling employees over five days from 9:00 to 5:00, full-time employees work 10 hours Monday through Thursday and have a three-day weekend. Part-time employees work Thursday through Saturday. Overtime is optional, not mandated.

Defining roles can be tricky
The Hayes are creating a new model for business and family and have to learn as they go. There is no ‘recipe’ to follow. As such, one of the big challenges for them is balancing the business with their home life, given that the owners/parents and their children are involved in the business and their homelife includes home schooling.

Alyssa concedes that it is challenging to define the husband/wife team in the business versus at home. “We are trying to schedule structured time in several areas: time at work, time with the kids and times as a couple! It is challenging, but I want others to know that all of us can be original and creative by structuring a family the way you want. By getting the children involved in our business, they receive another level of empowerment.”

This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the January/February 2020 issue of Colorado Green. Read the full article online.

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
New Form I-9 for 2020
Free FLSA webinar 2/25/20
Denver Water to adjust pH level
Douglas County incentives inspire employee certification