time

We landshapers can and should attach a dollar figure to our knowledge, experience and integrity.  That's a lesson I had to learn the hard way. About fifteen years ago, I was in need of a new dump truck for my growing business.  I wasn't rich, so I decided to buy a used vehicle and found one in the local truck-trader newspaper.  After looking at the truck with my trusty mechanic, I made an offer to my fellow landscape contractor, and he accepted.  As we entered his office to complete the necessary paperwork, I came face-to-face with a landscape plan that looked very familiar:  It was one I had drawn for potential clients.  In fact, it was the colored plan I had presented to them only a few weeks earlier.  I felt violated:  That was my plan sitting on his desk.  I asked him where he'd gotten it - an obvious and unnecessary question - and he told me that