It didn't take long for Tim Johnson to understand the importance of data provided by Aspire.

"Since we started with Aspire, we know our numbers and pull the right levers," said Johnson, founder and president of Tim Johnson Landscaping in Statesville, N.C.

Pulling the right levers often means saying yes; Johnson and his company pride themselves on providing solutions and meeting expectations.

But thanks to the addition of Aspire in 2021, Johnson also now knows when he needs to say "no."

He called one of those "no" decisions "probably the best thing we've done to our business."

Data provided by Aspire — data to which Johnson previously had no access while buried in what he called "a mountain of paper" without technology — gave the team detailed information on hours worked and profitability at jobs. Perusing the information showed his largest maintenance account was not sustainable. He called that information "staggering."

"We weren't going to be able to survive them if we didn't make a change," Johnson said.

He brought the data to the client, patiently explained the situation and the "why," and said that he wanted to keep the work but had to modify the terms.

"They weren't willing to make that change," Johnson said. "We gave them 90 days and said, 'If this is not changed at the end of 90 days, then we're going to be out.' We served notice at the end of the 90 days."

That is a zoomed-in example of how Aspire benefited Tim Johnson. In the bigger picture, the overall numbers speak just as clearly.

In fiscal year 2020, Tim Johnson Landscaping achieved revenue of $3.6 million. Four years later, at the end of 2024, it was at $8.4 million, an increase of 133%.

"Aspire put us on the trajectory for where we are today and where we're going," Johnson said.

A different company, one dashboard at a time

The pre-Aspire and after-Aspire iterations of the business couldn't have been more different.

Johnson said his company was "probably the worst back-end operating company in the history of landscaping," referring to pen, paper, and unreliable spreadsheets standing in for a system.

"We had no clue what our numbers were," he said. "That's what Aspire allowed us to do. It allowed us to digitize and get organized, but then it allowed us to track our metrics, track our numbers, and understand where we were and where we needed to make changes to be successful."

Johnson credits an implementation team with real industry background for making the switch feel like a partnership from day one. And he didn’t struggle to gain support internally, either.

"We were so bad that the team got on board really quickly," he said.

At every location today, a dashboard displays each crew's labor hours efficiency against target, a number they used to have to estimate after the fact with rough math on paper timesheets.

Since implementation, Johnson said the company has pushed that efficiency number up by more than 20%, a direct line to the bottom line. 

The data that came back out through proper use of the software is what allowed him to know his growth numbers in the first place.

Aspire is "the mortar that holds everything together," he said.

Knowing what you're good at

Johnson credits Aspire for opening his eyes to efficiencies that have made a difference, in hours but also in decisions about where to spend energy at all.

"(Aspire) gave us the tools to turn proposals around quicker, but it also informed us on what we were really good at," Johnson said. "It allowed us to focus on the things we were good at and allowed us to be informed enough to not do the things we weren't good at. Through doing that, we were able to offer services that had higher gross margins and were able to focus on those services.

"We learned that our enhancement gross margins were higher than we even thought they were," he added, "so we really pushed that penetration rate."

That same real-time visibility has occasionally paid off in the moment. Johnson recalled closing a $300,000 install while traveling, sitting in a hotel room across the country, because he had complete site-level data on hand to answer every question the client raised on the spot.

A business that's built to last, or built to sell

For Johnson, the value of knowing his numbers goes beyond day-to-day operations to shaping how he thinks about the company's long-term health.

"Aspire allows us to track the valuation of our business in the first place," he said. "It gives us the metrics that allow us to build that valuation, allow us to build a business that is ultimately sellable, whether we have interest in that or not. A sellable business is a healthy business, and we get the data and the metrics out of the system to allow us to make those calculations, allow us to make those informed decisions."

It's a distinction he thinks more owners in the trades should draw for themselves, whether or not a sale is on the horizon.

"Anytime a business is looking to sell, an owner is looking for an off-ramp, whatever that is, if a business doesn't have a tool like Aspire in place to be able to track the data, to be able to track the financials, to be able to track those metrics, there's no way they can know where they really are in real time," Johnson said. "I need to make my informed decisions on a daily basis, not 45 days later after we've closed a month out."

That same real-time visibility is informing how Johnson thinks about growth. With two branches today, he said Aspire's data on property density and regional performance helps him evaluate where, and whether, a new location makes sense before committing to one.

"(Aspire) lets us see where we're strong and where upcoming needs are going to be," Johnson said. "We can see where our property density is. We can see where our teams are coming from to work every day and understand how we can build forward and make sure we're building in locations that are profitable for the business moving forward."