Most tree service owners treat marketing like a side project. Something they'll "get to" when they have time. But here's the truth: your marketing reflects your leadership. If you're inconsistent, reactive, or unclear in how you run your business, your marketing will be too.

Today, we're breaking down three lessons from Dusan Djukich's book Straight-Line Leadership and showing you exactly how they apply to your marketing and the way you need to show up as a leader.

Djukich teaches that straight-line leaders never blame circumstances, the market, or other people. They own the outcome, period.

How this applies to your marketing: Stop blaming the algorithm, your competition, or "slow seasons." If your phone isn't ringing, that's a leadership problem, not a market problem. Take full ownership of your lead generation. That means tracking your numbers, testing your messaging, and making decisions based on data, not hope.

How to apply it: This week, audit where you're deflecting responsibility. Are you blaming Facebook for not sending you leads? Are you waiting for customers to "just find you"? Write down one marketing activity you've been avoiding and schedule time to do it.

Vague goals produce vague results. Djukich emphasizes declaring specific, measurable outcomes and working backward from there.

How this applies to your marketing: "I want more customers" isn't a declaration. "I will generate 20 qualified leads per month through Google Ads and convert 30% of them into jobs" is. Your marketing needs a finish line, or you'll wander in circles spending money with no idea if it's working.

How to apply it: Declare your outcome right now. How many leads do you need per month? What's your target revenue? What's your close rate? Once you know these numbers, you can build a marketing system that actually delivers instead of guessing and hoping.

Tolerations are the things you put up with that drain your energy and focus. Djukich says leaders must ruthlessly eliminate them to stay on the straight line to their goal.

How this applies to your marketing: You're probably tolerating a broken website, inconsistent follow-up, no CRM, or ads you set up two years ago that barely work. Every toleration in your marketing is costing you jobs. The leaky bucket won't fix itself.

How to apply it: Make a list of everything in your marketing that's "good enough" but not great. Pick the biggest energy drain and fix it this month. Maybe it's finally getting a proper CRM. Maybe it's rewriting your website copy so it actually sells. Maybe it's hiring us to manage your Google Business Profile. Stop tolerating mediocrity in the part of your business that brings in revenue.

Most tree service owners are waiting for something to change. The market. The season. The algorithm.

Straight-line leaders don't wait. They declare an outcome and eliminate everything standing in the way.

That's what our $100 consult does for your business. We audit your business online, identify the 3 areas that are costing you the most money, and give you the exact next steps to fix them.

You complete a short intake. We do the prep work. Then we meet and walk you through what's broken, what's working, and what to fix first - whether we work together or not.

If you show up, do the work, and don't get at least $1,000 in clarity? Tell us why. We'll refund your $100. No argument.

No pitch. No pressure. Just the straight line to better results.

Written by Jacob Hastings
Head of Growth & Client Strategy at Growth Ring Media