Josh LaPoint is a first generation Nurseryman. In 2016, he began his career in the industry by pure providence. One day, he was driving past a wholesale production nursery named Gold Hill Nursery, now Gold Family Farms, when he noticed a sign saying, "Sales Rep Wanted." He applied and they graciously decided to take a chance on hiring a man with zero experience. Over the next four years, he learned the plants, their specifications, customer expectations, and how to manage logistics. During that time, he was blessed to travel across the United States and Canada visiting customers and building strong relationships in the industry. Every nursery does something a little differently and he soaked it all in, asking many questions and trying to learn as much as possible. In fall of 2020, Josh was recruited to help turn around the West Coast Operations of DCA Outdoor which included Rio Verde Plantas and Schwope Brothers West Coast. For an enthusiastic young man, this was an incredible chance to prove himself and try new things. Over the next four years, Josh learned many lessons. Chiefly, he learned how to be persistent and resilient. The nursery industry is the best industry in the world but it is certainly not the easiest.

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One challenge Josh encountered during his role as Sales Manager was production planning. He was part of a team who worked on the Shrub portion of the production plan. They would analyze sales histories, review availabilities of competitor nurseries, and evaluate promising new cultivars to introduce. It was their mission to adjust the production plan to achieve the company's goals of offering continuous availability without getting stuck in a production glut.

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The team was quite successful and their achievement of near continuous availability enabled the sales team to pick up quite a few additions to spring bookings as customers were often shorted on allocations from competitor nurseries. Josh realized it was an industry-wide issue. Customers spent days placing their orders for spring, deliberately choosing which items they bought from which nurseries, only to be shorted on allocations and have to return to the drawing board. What a tremendous waste! 

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That is when Josh decided to found Standard Nursery in hopes of helping to connect the needs of customers directly into the production plans of growers. The goal is to remove the guesswork and cultivate long-term relationships of collaboration based on mutual benefit and profitability. Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to discuss further opportunities or challenges facing your business. 

Josh LaPoint