What Neglected Dahlias Taught Me About Business Growth

Sometimes the "wrong" way works better. Stacey Salyer left her dahlia tubers in the ground all winter, ignored every rule in the gardening book, and they came back huge and thriving anyway. The same lesson applies to a property management business: the things that grow best are usually the things you stop fussing over.

What happened when I left my dahlias alone all winter?

I need to confess something to my fellow gardeners and business owners: I left my dahlia tubers in the ground all winter.

If you know anything about dahlias, you're already judging me. You're supposed to dig them up in the fall, split them carefully, store them in peat moss in a cool dark place, and baby them through the winter.

I didn't do any of that. I left them in my raised beds, didn't even cut the stalks down until after the New Year, threw some dirt on top, and figured it would all work out.

If you've ever skipped the "right" way of doing something because you just didn't have the bandwidth, you already know where this is going. By mid-May they were huge and thriving. Turns out they didn't need me micromanaging them all winter.

I know you're not here for gardening tips, so stay with me.

Why is it so hard for business owners to stop fiddling?

I've always been type A++. I like control, plans, and knowing exactly what's going to happen before it happens. If you're running a property management company, I'm guessing you have at least a little bit of that in you too. Maybe a lot of it.

So you know the feeling of not being able to leave something alone. The constant fiddling. One more tweak to the process. One more adjustment to the workflow. One more system to perfect before things feel "ready."

Ready for what, exactly? Ready for the next phase of growth? Ready for you to finally enjoy running the thing you built?

What if it's already ready and you're the one who can't stop touching it?

What did my garden teach me about growth?

My garden taught me something that spring: the things that grow the best are usually the things I stop fussing over.

I had set up my fairy flower garden the year before, found a beautiful dragonfly art piece at a charity auction, added solar lights, and planted things without overthinking it. That weekend I added more dahlia tubers, more lights, and a few new pieces. The whole space was flourishing, not because I'd been hovering with a checklist, but because I set it up, let it breathe, and then got to have fun adding to it.

Meanwhile the dahlias were just sitting there, growing like crazy, wondering why nobody would leave them alone long enough to do their thing.

Sound like anyone's business you know?

Does your company need to be perfect before your next move?

No. Your company doesn't need to be technically perfect before you make your next move. It needs to be solid enough to support growth, and then it needs you to stop hovering and start building onto it.

That's when the fun part starts. The part where you go from maintaining to expanding. From fiddling to flourishing. From hovering over what you've built to finally enjoying it.

So here's a question worth sitting with: What are you fiddling with that's already good enough? What would happen if you left it alone and put that energy toward something bigger?

Frequently asked questions

Do dahlia tubers always have to be dug up for winter?
The conventional advice is to dig them up in the fall, split them, and store them in peat moss in a cool dark place. In my case, I left mine in raised beds all winter with dirt thrown on top, and they came back huge and thriving by mid-May. Sometimes the "wrong" way works better.

What does "fiddling" look like in a property management business?
It's the constant tweaking: one more adjustment to the process, one more change to the workflow, one more system to perfect before things feel ready. It comes from a type-A instinct for control, and it can keep you hovering over a business that's already solid enough to grow.

When is a business ready for its next phase of growth?
When it's solid enough to support growth. It doesn't need to be technically perfect first. Once the foundation is there, the next move is to stop hovering and start building onto it: shifting from maintaining to expanding.

Ready to grow your property management business through acquisitions instead of adding doors one at a time? Learn how at Built to Acquire.