The road to $300K doesn’t start when the phones light up in March. It starts now.

In Episode 005 of Green Collar Conversations, Spence and Dom start looking ahead at the next season and talk about what actually needs to be planned before you're buried in the work: business structure, budgets, pricing, staffing, equipment, marketing, fertilization programs, capacity, and figuring out who your ideal customer actually is.

We also get into the danger of saying yes to everything, working seven days a week, buying equipment without a plan, underpricing work, and why “the hustle” eventually starts collecting its own bill.

This isn’t a polished business-school blueprint. It’s two lawn guys looking at the mistakes, lessons and decisions that have shaped their businesses — and figuring out what has to change next.

Business. Life. Grass. Community.

Things are built better together. 🌱🎙️

Green Collar Conversations — Episode 005
🌱 People First. Grass Second.
🚛 The Road to 300 starts here.

What’s it really like being married to someone building a lawn care business?

On the drive home from a weekend at the beach, Spence finally convinced Brandi to sit down, or technically ride along, for a bonus episode of Green Collar Conversations.

We talk about the leap from side hustle to full-time business owner, the hours nobody sees, family life, hiring help, the Road to 300, where Brandi fits into the future of Spencer’s Lawn Care, and what it’s like living with someone whose brain apparently never stops working.

And because this is Green Collar Conversations, we eventually wander completely off the road.

There’s a motorcycle incident involving Spence and some trees. A restaurant that turned out to be Talbots. Mowers with names. Gambling. Cribbage. Equip Expo. Why Spence won’t take Brandi to Las Vegas. Why he doesn’t eat food that rattles. And the revelation that he apparently talks to an AI named Tank more than he talks to his wife. 😂

But underneath all the nonsense is something every small-business family understands: building a business affects more than the person whose name is on the truck.

This one is less interview, more conversation, and exactly why we called the show Green Collar Conversations.

🎙️ Real people. Real businesses. Real conversations from the green industry.

People First. Grass Second.

#GreenCollarConversations #LawnCareBusiness #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #LawnCare #FamilyBusiness

We may have built the podcast before checking whether approximately 847 other people had already named theirs The Ground Up. So naturally, Episode 003 includes a mild podcast identity crisis. 😂

Spence and Dom recap the week, talk mower problems, subscription creep, the chaos of trying to rename a podcast that's already launched, and whether the name even matters in the first place.

Then we're back on the Road to Equip Expo with a few things every first-timer should know: the Equip Expo app, the Road to Equip Facebook group, the Win In Life meetup, finding your people in Louisville, and what we're actually hoping to see at the show this year.

Plus, somehow, The Ground Up officially qualified for Equip Expo media passes. Apparently the bar is exactly as low as we'd hoped.

Business. Life. Grass. Community. And two dudes mostly figuring it out as we go.

Things are built better together. 🌱🎙️

Episode 2 of The Ground Up is exactly what happens when two lawn care guys who already talk too much decide to put microphones in front of themselves.

Spence and Dominick recap another ridiculously hot week in the lawn care world, talk pricing, losing customers you aren't exactly heartbroken to lose, getting expensive mowers stuck on things you probably should've kept driving around, and building businesses that don't require the owner to personally mow every blade of grass.

Then we get into Equip Expo: why we're going back, what makes it worth the trip, the equipment and demos, meeting manufacturers and other lawn care professionals, networking with people you've only known through a screen, and why some of the best value at Equip has nothing to do with buying another mower.

We also talk about starting this podcast before we really know what we're doing, growing a YouTube channel from basically nothing, and why sometimes you've just got to pick up the mic and take the shot.

The Ground Up is about building businesses, building community, lawn care, entrepreneurship, and figuring the rest out as we go.

Subscribe and come along for the ride. And if you've been to Equip Expo, tell us what you're looking forward to this year.

Two dudes. Two Green Industry businesses. About 1,000 miles apart. And roughly 15 minutes spent together in real life.

Seems like the perfect recipe for a podcast.

In Episode 001, Spence and Dom talk about how they got started, where their businesses are headed, mowing vs. treatments, revenue vs. actual profit, finding the right customers, and why community matters so much in an industry where you spend a whole lot of time working alone.

We’re building businesses, learning as we go, screwing some things up, getting some things right, and documenting the whole thing.

No gurus. No million-dollar-business-in-six-weeks nonsense. Just a couple dudes trying to build something worthwhile and hopefully picking up some good people along the way.

Things are built better together. Welcome to The Ground Up. 🌱🎙️