Jenneka, Janna & Jared Temkin
Co-owners of J&J Property Pros, Duchess County, N.Y.
Green Industry Pros: How did you all get into the industry?
Jenneka: It was kind of happenstance. I was around 14, Jared was 16 and Janna was 18. We were all quite young. I remember that summer our neighbor said, ‘I need help in my nursery.’ So for me, I started to learn the ropes of plant identification and maintenance and design, and it was a hands-on learning. Jared was a farmhand, had a mowing clientele and did some side work in construction. Janna had started her own cleaning and pet care business that eventually merged with the landscaping side. To make a long story short, we didn’t pick landscaping. Landscaping picked us.
Green Industry Pros: Tell me about your company.
Janna: We were always separate, and I had worked in construction with my father, but then I started getting inquiries about organizing and cleaning, so I started my own thing. We were separate from the start, but then we had cross clients, so we were scratching our heads and saying, 'why don’t we join forces and become a one-stop shop?'
Jenneka: We all thought we were going to take different turns with what we were going to do, but we merged in 2020 to become J&J Property Pros. Before, it was just the landscaping side. So we do landscape maintenance, cleaning and pet care. On the landscape side, we offer landscape maintenance, design and hardscapes and then we sub out and provide irrigation and fall and spring cleanups. With cleaning, we do deep cleans, organizing, decorating, staging, things like that.
Jared: My sisters added a certain finesse that’s hard to find in the landscape industry. I’m so grateful I had my sisters.
Green Industry Pros: What have been some of your successes and challenges along the way?
Jared: I think all of the challenges we’ve had have helped us get to the successes. We’ve had some many highlights but also epic fails. I think a major success would be people seeing what we offer as a business and being able to say that they want that for their estate or house. Challenges can include some of the days when things don’t go as planned, but we learn from that.
Janna: That’s so true. There are so many variables in a day, and you have so many human elements when you’re trying to do a project. So, that leaves us with a lot of changes to be creative.
Jenneka: A lot of successes have come with trying to get our modes and systems in place. We’ve streamlined our client process and created a monthly system in terms of billing and property plans for our clients. Most of our clients have taken advantage of all of our services. With us, there’s no guesswork. Everyone knows what to expect. When you have an all-encompassing service, things can get confusing, so we know getting our systems in place is crucial.
Green Industry Pros: Building on that, do you have a favorite tool to help make your business more efficient?
Jenneka: For us, Java has changed our lives in the sense of being able to schedule our teams. We can send invoices and estimates, and it’s a great communication tool.
Jared: As far as field stuff goes, battery-powered hedge trimmers from Echo have been a game-changer. They last all day, and you don’t have to stop to charge.
Green Industry Pros: What are your goals for the future of your company?
Jared: The end goal would eventually be to bring the business to a point where it can be sold, employee owned or franchisable. We have such an amazing team, so to be employee owned and able to profit share would help our employees take care of their families. They’re able to make a living full time doing landscaping, but it’d be nice to go beyond that.
Green Industry Pros: What do you think the green industry could use more of?
Jenneka: I think the industry sometimes gets a bad rap of not being professional. People don’t realize there’s a lot of expertise and knowledge that goes into it with people running businesses. We’re trying to create a space for our team to say, ‘this is a professional business, so let’s treat it as such.'
Jared: There are some ‘weekend warrior’ type people who don’t take the industry to a professional level, but that lowers expectations for everyone in the area.
Green Industry Pros: What are your favorite parts about the industry?
Jenneka: This is such a wonderful industry, and we get to work on the environment around us to make it more beautiful for our clients and also the general public.
Janna: Some of the most salt-of-the-earth people are in the green industry. We’ve met so many great people at places like Equip Expo.
Jared: It’s amazing to see those in the industry exude pride in the work they do. It all goes back to the people in the industry making the world around them a better place.
Green Industry Pros: Thinking about your younger selves just starting out, what advice would you give them?
Jared: When we first started off, our mother had breast cancer and was given only a few months to leave. She was able to survive another 11 years, but at that time, everything was a little stressful. We were doing a lot of things and working hard and scaling up almost too fast, and when our mom passed away, we had a lot of pressure with clients—we still had to function and do our jobs. In some areas, we were burnt out because we didn’t have the right systems, and we grew too fast. So, I would say, take your time, grow slowly, hire slowly, fire quickly, make sure you have a good team around you and learn to enjoy it. If you're just going in willy-nilly, it will be frustrating.
Jenneka: I totally agree with Jared. I would also add that you should get an accountant as soon as you can. It’s just about making sure you set your business up right the first time.
Green Industry Pros: What would you say are your favorite things to do outside of work?
Janna: Canoeing, reading, hiking, traveling, dabbling in fashion.
Jenneka: We have a wide range. We were all home-schooled, which played a part in learning to grow and being content where you are. There’s so much beauty in the small simple moments of life to enjoy learning. Traveling also nourishes our souls. We get to see cultures, and it helps restructure our perspective.
Jared: We believe that in life, you never stop learning until you’re done. So, if you’re still breathing, you’re still learning.
