CONTRACTOR SUCCESS STORY
marketing – which she applied in a number of different fields after graduating , including being a car sales manager at a car dealership . “ I had to work to survive , so I didn ’ t have a clear career path until Manny started Native Soil .”
After graduating from Cal Poly , Manny gained management experience working for several large landscape companies and obtained a C-27 landscaping contractor license from the state of California . He founded Native Soil in 2018 and , realizing that he could not manage all aspects of the business alone , asked Angie to join the company as CEO . “ It seemed like the perfect fusion . I know how to build stuff and Angie has the business background .” At first , Angie was reluctant – she feared that without any experience running their own business , their family livelihood would be in jeopardy if either of them made a mistake . She recalls how Manny reassured her , “ He said , ‘ You know what , it ’ s okay . I know you ’ re going to mess up and I ’ m going to mess up , but let ’ s make it happen .’”
Manny credits his uncles , in particular an uncle who helped raise him , for instilling in him good values and a strong work ethic and the couple ’ s complementary skills and positive working relationship are the foundation of the company ’ s success . In the field , Manny applies his extensive experience in landscape design and construction , while Angie helps with supervision , quality control , scheduling , and manages all the administration – from certifications , payroll , and accounting to job costing , ordering supplies and billing . The more personable of the two , Angie is the one to negotiate payments with vendors and follow up with clients on outstanding invoices . Over the years , they ’ ve leaned on each other for support and encouraged one another .
Going to college helped Manny build a strong
“ Money has been the biggest challenge in starting our business . It was hard to pay all our bills , union fees and make payroll . We had no money to pay up front for materials , supplies and equipment ,” acknowledges Manny .
network with others in the industry , including landscape architects and engineers , which has been an important resource for the company . “ All of my friends work for design firms , so it ’ s a perfect combination because , while they went into design , I have both a degree in design and extensive experience in construction , which is why they invite us to bid on projects .” Angie and Manny have found these relationships , as well as wordof-mouth and customer referrals to be much more effective at bringing in business than any outside advertising or marketing efforts .
Although Native Soil has found its stride , Angie and Manny had to overcome a number of barriers when starting out as small business owners . “ Money has been the biggest challenge in starting our business . It was hard to pay all our bills , union fees and make payroll . We had no money to pay up front for materials , supplies and equipment ,” acknowledges Manny . Vendors and suppliers do not typically extend credit to small business owners with no track record , so Angie and Manny either had to ask friends and family for personal loans or use expensive nontraditional financing options to fund their early projects . “ In our first year alone , we spent about $ 30,000 on renting equipment because ,
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