When Joy Diaz says she looks forward to Mondays, she does not sound disingenuous in the least. She actually speaks of Mondays with a rare amount of liveliness.
Diaz’s first name certainly suits her. A former sales and marketing professional, Diaz emits an energy that is truly infectious. Almost 20 years in the landscape business has not diminished her passion for the industry, or Mondays, one bit.
“I think it’s just how you look at life. Why would anyone dread Mondays? Why are you doing something that you don’t like?” she questions.
One of the directors at large for the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), Diaz realized how easy Mondays could be when she joined the landscape industry with her husband. She is now the chief marketing officer (CMO) and executive vice president of Land Care Incorporated, a $1 million dollar landscape company in Las Vegas taking on a majority maintenance and commercial projects. When running her business, Diaz ascribes to the mentality that her employees learn by example, so the example she sets is maintaining an optimistic point of view.
Read more: Land Care Inc. Shares How to Win in Las Vegas
“I am a morning person and love the opportunity to start a fresh new week and all the adventures it brings, so I usually don’t have to ‘get going’— I just to have to adjust my speed so I have something leftover by Friday,” Diaz explains.
While she works to retain her high energy through Friday, she will admit that even she gets tired by the end of the week. She finds that Friday is “almost like a buffet line where your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” Even on busy Fridays, however, she is plotting how to stay energized for her company, her team and her clients. “Friday I usually glance at the next couple of weeks ahead just to gauge how much rest I will need,” she says.
Fridays may be for anticipating the long term, but Diaz does not dive into the upcoming week until Sunday nights. Focusing on her family life, the rest of Diaz’s weekend is for recouping and recharging. She also recognizes that you can only plan so much because changes can happen in a heartbeat.
So how does Diaz approach those unexpected glitches? She just maintains her signature “joy.”
“I know my schedule is going to change, so last-minute things or emergencies usually don’t ruffle me. I believe that things happen for a reason, and I try to look at things that way instead of an interruption,” she says.
Read more on Joy Diaz in I am a Landscaper.
