From Plants to People: Connections in the Landscape Community

This week, host Forrestt Williams sat down with Nick Straabe, a specifications manager in Hunter Industries' Southern California region, to talk about the importance of networking in the ever-changing world of landscape architecture. The two delved into Nick's early background, which saw his desire to design golf courses inspire him to study landscape architecture and pursue a career in the field before a recession put him on a path to his current role with the irrigation heavyweight (and longtime Land F/X manufacturer partner). Nick discussed how his approach to networking helped him land what he never could have predicted would be his dream job, then provided some valuable insights into how aspiring professionals can make, and make the most of, industry connections to help them grow in their field.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Thank you everyone for tuning in. This is episode five of Overgrown Ideas. This week we have an interesting conversation that is probably related to exactly what you're doing right now. Please welcome Nick Straub. How long have you known Land Effects? Because I feel like I've known you as long as I've worked here. That's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I think that uh I've known of LandFX for probably about 15 years, but our relationship just started maybe about uh 11 years ago when I started at Hunter.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Aaron Powell Okay, that sounds about right. And um at Hunter, you are the specifications manager. That's correct. For the Southern California region or Southern California gets diced up into three of us.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

And so I cover pretty much the Orange County area down into North San Diego, north coastal San Diego. And then my counterparts pick up north and south of me, but there's three of us that that roam Southern Cal.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

And what I find interesting about you and this conversation is that that's not necessarily what you set out to do. Aaron Powell No, not at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Not at all. Kind of uh uh better to be lucky than good situations.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

So Right. Yeah. So and I think that relates to what we wanted to talk about. We wanted to talk about career trajectory. Again, say that a couple times fast. Because a lot of people coming out of school don't necessarily know where to go, how the industry works, or what they want to even do with their with their studies. Um I think this would be a good opportunity for you to just quickly give a background of how you landed where you are today.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, that's it's awesome. I I went to Cal Poly Pomona and studied landscape architecture, and I found that because I wanted to design golf courses. I have a passion for the outdoors and sports, and um, through some random search, told me that landscape architecture was the portal or the mechanism to get there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Wait, so this all came from your desire to golf. Yeah, that's exactly. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Absolutely. So so uh you know, I go to Cal Poly Pomona, and and that focus was put in your four years. You get out and you go you work for a landscape architecture firm, but that was the great unknown. What do I do there? I don't know. And so um, yeah, in 2005 I got out and started working for a firm and it was great, uh busy, thought I had made it, and you know, it was four years, I think I put in there. Um and and it was everything that school said it should be and would be, right? You you learn a lot, you work on some really cool projects, and then um and yeah, then I think it just you don't realize how niche maybe the industry is. You think that this will last forever and it's gonna be great. And then we went through our recession, recessional dip, you know, in 2009, and it was just tough to retain employees throughout the industry. And I found myself on the the other side of that, not being able to to find work, and and immediately I was, what do I do? There were a lot of layoffs in that era. It was terrible. Development's not booming, so no one's no one's got money, no one's no one's pushing. So that kind of got me thinking, and I had to get resourceful and and I was doing all sorts of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Um but but some interesting side hustle, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Yeah, so it's funny we're in this studio and you got all these cameras and stuff set up, and I was working for a guy that was doing some short film, and I was just the grip guy, moving equipment around, pulling cables. And um that was interesting, but but it was survival, right? And the one thing I I realized during a year and a half or two years of odds and ends jobs, consulting work was I need to figure out uh a way to broaden my horizons. And uh so I had some friends that were in sales at the time, and I just thought, man, people go to school for you know these uh these broad focus, poli-si um, you know, majors that could lead them anywhere, right? Communications. And so I thought to myself, all right, what does sales look like? And through the traditional role, you work at a firm, sales maybe client development, business development. Um, and so ended up back in um the landscape architecture space, had another firm, and or for a couple, and then it just kind of hit me one day, and I had a rep come in and say, um, could you see yourself in this position, you know, five years from now, ten years from now? And the answer was kind of yeah. I I yeah, I really could, you know. Not in a bad way, but yeah, you're absolutely right. But then you kind of start to realize, is my name on the building, is my name on the letterhead, what does that look like? And is that what I want? You know? So it really just kind of out of coincidence, uh, something came up and I thought, hey, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna try it. And that was uh the current role that I'm in specification management at Hunter Industries. And so um it's it's been great. The thing I didn't know, and maybe I knew a little bit, but it was kind of a risk, was that I was gonna stay in this industry. I was gonna get even more invested in this industry than I was before. Um and I was gonna better it, in my opinion, um uh versus just being behind a screen working on projects. Nothing wrong with that. It just this was that greater calling, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Aaron Ross Powell It's not everyone's calling. Right. Um and it you know, it's interesting, you could go any which direction with some of these degrees. There are a couple of land effects employees who, uh Jake Laud in particular, who was one of our biggest student users, would come say hi to us at the trade show. He was always active on uh support tickets, calling, talking to us, and now he's one of our main presenters at Land FX. Uh so like obviously he didn't study to become a software developer or work for a software company. He studied landscape architecture and irrigation design. But that's just another yet another example of you can go any which way.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Aaron Ross Powell I don't think those avenues are widely spoken about or talked about enough, though. Uh you know, I do a lot of uh outreach mentorship and work with uh universities, colleges, and um I try to ask the question, what got you into landscape architecture, or what do you want to do with landscape architecture? What segment of this industry inspires you? And there's ecological restoration, and then there's you know golf course design, and there's you know residential commercial and design build and all these things. But uh uh I don't know that that's really what they want. I think what they want is they want to be outside. Okay, what does outside look like to you? They want to touch grass. Yeah, it's exactly it. So it's it's we don't speak enough to, I think, at that level, uh, you know, where these avenues could come. And I I certainly didn't know that sales uh and and support, you know, product management or uh product support was really even an avenue. So it's kind of kind of unique.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Aaron Powell Well, you do have a knack for it, might I say. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

I appreciate that. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

And you are also on uh the advisory council at Cal Poly here in San Luis Obispo.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Aaron Powell That's correct. Um even though I'm a Pomona grad, uh had been given an opportunity to um uh provide consultation or be part of this advisory council, uh which I found super interesting, connecting with students and and maybe even opening their eyes to other possibilities or maybe convincing them why you know they wanted to get into it. But um, yeah, I've been on the council for three years now, and it's just so rewarding. I love you know mixing it up with young students and and getting them excited. They get me excited too.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

So it does it make you feel a little bit younger? Yeah, yeah. Who are we kidding? Who are we kidding? Absolutely. Now uh we love the students, you know. As you know, we have a outreach program. We give free licenses to students that are studying landscape architecture. And of course, we see them at the ASLA show, we see them uh we try to be really involved in LaBash. And it's interesting to me uh the amount of students that don't go to those shows. And I feel like that's a bit of a wasted opportunity. Maybe you could speak more to why those shows might be important for a student.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, that's great. I think that it the undertone is networking. And I'm going to go back to my layoff situation or you know, economical situation there in uh 2009 is that is that I'm no longer employed. Where do I go? Who do I turn to? And luckily, you know, we were still in-person learning and we were building those skills. And so I I was always friendly to reps that would come into our office. Now, predominantly, well, I guess irrigation just happened to stick out. It's not like this huge passion or wasn't at the time, but it was friendly faces. And so when I had gotten laid off, it was the first call that I made. And so to take it to your the question you asked about getting involved in LaBash and ASLA is that you gotta put yourself out there. And in any networking, in any industry, you know, your your network is your net worth, so we, so to speak, is what we say, right? And so if you're not going to these events and meeting people, interfacing with LandFX, um, you know, partners of LandFX, which which we are, um where's the common ground? You know, and then you build and you start to tell people about it. And then a couple of interesting things that have re happened recently through my advisory council role is that there's some students that are from out of state and they're gonna go home for the summer. Well, there's uh mentorship or not mentorship, internship requirements where they need to uh fulfill before they go go away. Well, they've they've got no network. They don't know what to do. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Right. Who are they gonna call? How are they gonna figure out that internship?

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Right. So the first most intimidating thing is picking up a phone. Having a conversation with a professional in this industry when you maybe have three years of experience at at a university, uh, and so being able to help bridge that gap um by being an advisory counselor, meeting at an ASLA and taking a business card and just following up has helped some of these students. And I've connected most recently. There's a gal um and she's uh from Hawaii, and she is gonna go home for the summer, and I said, great. So we set up three phone calls or set up three appointments for her to go and or phone calls that she's gonna then turn into appointments, and she's followed up with them when she goes back home. She's gonna go for office tours. That's a product of simply putting yourself out there, you know, asking questions. You know, I don't think that our relationship as it speaks in in with Hunter and Land Effects is really even there without networking at those events, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. Where do we start? How do we build, you know? So those are tremendously important. Getting involved in your chapter at a student level is great. I mean, there's so many low stakes, low-risk opportunities to get out there and be be memorable or or get your face in front of people, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Aaron Ross Powell And part of it is just going from booth to booth and just introducing yourself and keeping track of who you talked to. I mean, I personally love talking with all the different vendors at the trade shows, and it's interesting, there's some characters out there. I think our booth is full of characters too, so that's what makes it fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Aaron Powell No, and then I think that that we bring a smile to each other's face. I know that we're all in it together when we got a show to these trade shows and and get involved.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

We have a thing at the end of uh our trade show experience on at the end of the last day, when we pack up the booth, we go back to the hotel room, we have a notes party where we go and we jot everything down while it's still fresh in the mind, and we make sure we take notes of every interaction we had, make sure it's noted in our system so that we don't forget, because as soon as as soon as the next day hits, you're on the plane, you're thinking about other things, a lot of those conversations are gone. So that's something that's really important to us.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I think one thing that I see from my role and specification that comes up a lot is is kind of our interface. And so I'll teach a summer course at UCLA Extension on irrigation design and water conservation, and the students uh always ask, can we do this project in land effects? And it's funny, and I love it because it shows that they're in tune with what's going on and what could be out there. Um but then then I have to say, no, you have to do it the long-handed way first. And uh and then you get to go out and use the the the cheat codes, so to speak, right? The the fun tools out there.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

But it's good. You have to know the basics in order to really use the cheat codes more effectively.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Aaron Powell No doubt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

No doubt. Aaron Powell No, that's important. Aaron Ross Powell One of the other interesting things, too, is sometimes you will have networking opportunities that you didn't plan on. Like an unintended consequences of getting yourself out there, the people you didn't think were the people that you were seeking out to get information from. Sometimes those are the best ones. It's uh incredible.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

And and when we've had some new people start with us and they're trying to find who the point of contact is. And my response is everybody. Because at some point in time, the entry-level person becomes the project manager, right? And then that person was at a firm prior to this that you can't get into. And so you need that interaction to leverage you into the next interaction. Um, folks, that to your point is that you end up I was I was at a at a social outside of work the other day, and someone said, Oh, are you traveling in? And I said, Yeah, and they said, What do you do? And it's it becomes this leverage point of they work for a contractor, that contractor uses a specific landscape architect, and you tie it in full circle. So just you you're not expecting these things. You know, introductions could be could could be worth you know a million bucks, you just aren't sure that they're there or that's the right one.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Aaron Powell One other thing about these networking opportunities is persistence. Because you can't just talk to someone once and then expect something to come of it. Um what's a healthy way to think about that without being a spam caller? Aaron Powell That's a good question there. I I think that first and foremost, it's being memorable.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

And I think if you're just authentic and you're you, then that's memorable. Um but but you know, showing showing up for the job you want. And I know these interactions can be random and they can be, you know, at a at a lumber yard or at a you know Home Depot, or it's you just so happen to see somebody at an event, but be memorable. Um and and some of that is persistence, but I also think it's the right professional persistence. And one of the things that uh I have students ask all the time is, hey, I reached out uh and I I gave them my proposal or my resume, I gave my portfolio, I did all this stuff. Is it too soon to call them? And I said, Well, yeah, how long has it been? And and and I said, you know, what what set you apart? Right? And they say, well, you know, I I don't know. And I said, well, how'd you reach out and follow up with them? Well I sent them an email. I said, Do you think anybody else sent them an email? And they said, Yeah, probably. I said, So what if you sent them a handwritten thank you note? And this I'm trying to not date myself, you know. But but I think that that's the snail mail. Yeah, the snail mail, that old thing where you had to put an address and a stamp on it. Um but I think those are the types of things that are unique. And and after all, professionals are taking time out of their schedule. You know, yes, they are investing in the industry and they want people to be uh they they want to cultivate it and they want to build these relationships, but it's billable time out of their schedule. And so one of the things I always try and tell students is that if it costs you a cup of coffee to sit down and have a meeting with someone, would you do it? And if the answer is they wouldn't, then that's I mean, that's shocking, right? So so what about a handwritten thank you card and here's five bucks to your local coffee shop of choice, right? And and or an experience that just says, hey, you you know, next time you're in West LA, go ahead and stop in at this place and coffee's on me type situation. So for me, the persistence is is first and foremost, be memorable, um, have good authentic conversation, but yes, follow-up, follow each other on LinkedIn, get as professional as possible. One thing I I always speak on, I want to actually teach a class on handshakes and eye contact.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Really?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, I think that's that's a class. I think it's a college-level, 100-level class.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: What now what what what's inspiring this? Are you seeing kids coming out of school not knowing how to look someone in the eye with a handshake? Aaron Powell, no doubt.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

The amount of dead fish uh that I've felt, and I'm not a fisherman, but I mean these handshakes, they're they're sweaty and they're they're dead and they can't, you know, the answers aren't written on the wall. The answers aren't you know somewhere hidden down below. It's just a communication between the eyes. And I think that's when people see that real authentic self of one. And and I, you know, it's just your way of expressing yourself. It's confidence.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Aaron Powell Do you think that is maybe a side effect of these things, these black rectangles in our pockets. That we stare at the Ross.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

We get so comfortable being keyboard warriors, right? And we can hide behind uh text, uh, we can hide behind uh DM. And and has it opened my eyes to communications? Absolutely. More students, more young people would rather DM me on Instagram uh and say, hey, I got a quick irrigation question. Well, you know how I follow that up with, I call you. And then the call then, you know, turns in and evolves usually into an office visit. And after we figure out what we're doing, then it's it it that maybe turns into a lunch or it turns into this evolution of a two-way conversation, which then breeds confidence. I had someone yesterday call me and they sent me a picture of some irrigation heads, and this this client has been in the industry for 12 years, if not longer, and they're very they're very smart, they're intelligent. And they just said, Hey, I'm gonna go on a job walk, and I just want to make sure I know everything. I know what I'm doing. And it was a text and it was a photo. And I said, Okay, I said, I picked up the phone and called, and I said, What are we doing? I want to make sure that I get you set up. And so we got we got into the nitty-gritty of things. I gave them kind of the cheat sheet. When you go on a job site, look for these seven things. All right. And if you ever need you FaceTime and you call and we figure that out. And um this person is not shy, this person's a great communicator and a a great friend and customer in the industry. And so but that whole thing is I gotta go out and do this, I need support, and and and that's all just through networking.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

And he felt comfortable contacting you.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Yes, that's correct. Yeah. But yeah, no, it was it was it was great in just just the fact that they could do that, they could reach out. Um, it was it's of comfort.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Um I I think you should teach a class on how to shake someone's hand and look them in the eye. Um I I do think that that's a bit lost on the next generation.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

100 percent. I I also feel that it's professional communication. When we get into um our presentations at university, and I see this on advisory council, you have to stand up and you have to talk about your project. And you've gone through four years of just being beaten up, you know, put exposing yourself, being vulnerable. It's no different. You're just back at square one, you're back at first year when you're entering the workforce. It's hey, I know a lot about what I was doing in school, but I don't know anything about what I'm doing in the profession. And that's where I think us as a as a uh uh industry could help you know galvanize those relationships, you know?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

So 100 percent. Yeah. Well, listen, Nick, thank you so much for joining us. Uh this has been a great conversation about networking in the landscape architecture industry in particular. And I really do think that this will be valuable for some people. Aaron Powell Absolutely. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Aaron Powell Okay, thank you for joining us at uh Land Effects. This is what, episode five now of Overgrown Ideas. Um don't forget to click that like button, make sure you subscribe, do all the things. We are slaves to the algorithm, and that's just the reality of it. So come on, join us next time when we're gonna put another episode out next month. So stay tuned. Thank you very much.