(FORTUNE Small Business) – A year ago Dave Knauff dreamed of turning his modest landscaping business in suburban Chicago into a $10-million-a-year gardening behemoth. He sat down with three consultants in the hope that a Small-Biz Makeover from FSB would help him reach his goal. Business is better now, Knauff reports, but he has abandoned his grand vision of becoming the Michael Dell of landscaping. "It was going to take ten years of enormous effort to get there," he says. "This is a business I started in high school, and I've been doing it for 16 years. I just didn't have it in me."

A bigger rival wants to buy Yes We Care, his $2-million-a-year company, and Knauff says he might sell. But he credits FSB's consultants with suggestions that helped boost margins and improve operations. "The best single suggestion I got was to form an informal board of directors," he says. Knauff recruited three landscaping clients, a family friend, and an acquaintance in the financial services industry. He also cut business (though not personal) ties with his parents, who had helped him start the company when he was just 14. His mother remained deeply involved years later, still providing loans and suggestions. "She was more than happy to step aside," Knauff reports.

The board forced Knauff, a self-confessed procrastinator, to figure out what it actually cost to provide his services. Knauff and his staff pulled up records on about 30 existing accounts, analyzed them, and created unit pricing for everything from planting a bush to laying bricks. A better grip on pricing means fewer money-losing bids for new work. As a result, Knauff's revenues shrank slightly, but margins rose by 40% to 50%.

Board feedback also helped Knauff understand his own business strengths and weaknesses. He now concentrates on sales and marketing, delegating most of the yard design and bookkeeping work to his employees. "I play golf with clients about once a week now," he says, "and I carry business cards and marketing materials with me wherever I go."

Whether Knauff will remain in the landscape business much longer remains to be seen. He has developed a new source of income for which this makeover column, alas, cannot take credit. Knauff recently discovered that he loves poker and that he is pretty good at it. "I'm in Las Vegas right now at a poker tournament," he said in a recent phone conversation. A poker website reveals that Knauff won $23,145 in April and $63,905 in March. "I made more money playing poker than I did in landscaping last year," he says. "I want to see where this will take me." Who needs green grass when you have green felt? --BRIAN O'REILLY