The GROW! Show

By Marty GrunderBusiness Entrepreneurship Leisure Management Home & Garden

The GROW! Show episodes

February 14, 2024Interview Series: Lessons and Mistakes Made in Landscaping with Gene Freeman of Complete Landsculpture
Complete Landsculpture is an incredible landscaping business in Dallas that has grown tremendously over the years. Much like Marty and the team at GLC, Founders Gene Freeman and Chris Strempek have had wonderful success and they've also had mistakes in their years in business. In this episode, Gene shares what he's learned in his years in the landscaping industry, the best investments you can make, and why it's so important to be involved in your community.
Discussion Points:
Intro and background - Gene Freeman
Gene’s partnership with fellow Gemini Chris Strempek
Current markets and sales
Competitive advantages
College isn’t necessary in our industry
How ops work at Complete Landsculpture
The PM crew
Technology and software
Chevy trucks and equipment
Advice on opening branch offices
Hosting and learning at GROW!
Family and enjoying success
Advice for other landscape professionals
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:
Complete Landsculpture https://completelandsculpture.com/
The Grow Group https://www.growgroupinc.com/
Grunder Landscaping https://grunderlandscaping.com/
Marty Grunder LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/martygrunder/
Stihl https://www.stihlusa.com/
45 min
February 07, 2024Leadership: How Platform, People, Process, and Profits Drive Success
If you do nothing, guess what happens? Nothing. Don’t just learn something new and inspiring and do nothing with it, put it to work in your business or personal life! In this episode, Marty shares four basic pillars that support every successful landscaping company, and what companies need to know to build these strong pillars in 2024.
Discussion Points:
Why aren’t you at GROW! 2024?
Doing nothing can sneak up on you
Platform, people, process, profits
Platform - your vision
People - your team
Process - systems that replicate your success
Profits - result from the first three pillars working well
Finding ideas and inspiration from businesses around you
Landscape Workshop and Sieberts Chicago and their admirable success
Complaining and procrastinating - just do something!
Company tours coming up
Final thoughts on making some changes
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:
The Grow Group
Grunder Landscaping
Marty Grunder LinkedIn
Stihl
12 min
January 31, 2024Team: Take an Interest in Others, They'll Take an Interest In You
What do you wish people would say about you in your eulogy? Taking a genuine interest in others is one of the best ways to “win friends and influence people” as Dale Carnegie said. In this episode, Marty Grunder shares ways that you can be a better teammate by taking an interest in the people you work with. People always work better together when they actually like each other.
Discussion Points:
Speaking in Atlantic City for Site One
Dale Carnegie’s book
Marty’s Mom and her winning attitude
Joe Burrow and other sports figures with the right outlook
Bob Grover and his son Dave
Vince Torchia and his impact
The amazing things that can happen when you’re interested in others
4 suggestions to help develop your new habit
Read “How to Win Friends” - link below
Join us for GROW! 2024
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:
Site One
Building a Winning Company Culture Episode
Book: How to Win Friends
GROW! Conference Feb 2024
The Grow Group
Grunder Landscaping
Marty Grunder LinkedIn
Stihl
21 min
January 24, 2024Finance: Vince's Take on 2023 and What's Ahead for Companies in 2024
From Covid credits and cash incentives to sky-high demand over the last few years, we’ve gotten into some habits that may be hard to break in our industry. Grow Group VP Vince Torchia talks about the three big challenges he saw companies face in 2023 and what companies should focus on to improve their chances for success in 2024. His three areas of focus are cash management, sales and revenue generation, and workforce development.
Discussion Points:
2023 - Cash, Sales, and Workforce Development
Credits and artificial cash injections from Covid
Laziness around A/R - stats
Sales and revenue - focus is returning in 2024
Workforce development has been great in 2023
Check your banking relationships, goals, training programs, and more for a great 2024
Consolidation, mergers, acquisitions
2023 saw some of the best sales many landscaping companies ever had
Volume and margins
Planning is key for your future
Join us for GROW! 2024
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:
GROW! Conference Feb 2024
The Grow Group
Grunder Landscaping
Marty Grunder LinkedIn
Stihl
15 min
January 17, 2024Interview Series: Marty Grunder on the Journey to GROW!
You’ll never have dinner alone, or sit at presentations for more than 45 minutes at the GROW! Conference 2024, happening February 6-8 in Des Moines, IA. In this episode, we discuss the conference in depth. Vince Torchia turns the tables and interviews our host, Marty Grunder, on why he started The Grow Group and created the GROW! Annual Conference. He shares what he's learned along the way, the funny mistakes, and what our team considers when we build the agenda each year.
Discussion Points:
What is GROW! all about?
The first conference
Coming up with the conference agenda
How GROW! stands out and what it offers
Lessons learned at past GROW! conferences
The structure and timing of the conference
“Dine arounds” and the host company tour
The highlight of 2024
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:

GROW! Conference Feb 2024

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl
23 min
January 10, 2024Interview Series: Turning Your Side Hustle into A Multi-Million Dollar Business with Joe Chiellini
Joe Chiellini has been a friend and colleague for nearly 20 years. His landscaping business started as a side hustle when he was a 19-year-old firefighter. Today, his company, ASI Landscape Management, is budgeting to hit $14M in 2024. You may recall that back in 2019, ASI hosted the GROW! Conference in Tampa. Joe shares his career journey with all its ups and downs, and talks scaling down to refocus, lessons learned, books recommended, and more.
Joe Chiellini is the founder and CEO of ASI Landscape Management, originating in 1993. In its humble beginnings ASI was a two-man residential lawn service. Currently under the leadership and guidance of Joe Chiellini, ASI is now a multi-county commercial business, employing 180 individuals with three branches covering the greater Tampa Bay and Orlando marketspace. Joe Chiellini recently retired from his career as a Captain for Hillsborough County Fire and Rescue. Joe served the people of Hillsborough County for almost 30 years all the while building and growing his landscape management company to where it is today.
Discussion Points:
Intro and background - Joe Chiellini
Working at the fire department at 19
Growing the business to $13M
Scaling down to refocus
Lessons learned as a firefighter
Explaining OTS
Why the team likes to work at ASI
Strategic planning is the steps from reality to your dream
Technology and software
Equipment and maintenance
Find nuggets - no matter how small, just listen
Modeling customer care after Publix grocery
Family
Advice for the younger set
No regrets over ‘mistakes’
Looking forward five years
Recommended books
Physical fitness, cold plunges, and working out
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:
ASI Landscape Management
Reliaquest
Books: Larry Winget
Book: Holy Moments
Book: Sit to Rise
Book: The Energy Bus
GROW! Conference Feb 2024
The Grow Group
Grunder Landscaping
Marty Grunder LinkedIn
Stihl
46 min
January 03, 2024Sales: How Do I Plan for Enhancements?
As the year ends, we're looking for enhancement work that we can propose to our maintenance clients at Grunder Landscaping Co. now so that they can include it in their budgets for 2024 and we can build a backlog for next year. For commercial clients, we're collaborating with them as they finalize their budgets. For residential clients, we're reminding them that landscaping projects make great gifts for family members and investments.
Discussion Points:
What do enhancements mean to your company?
Small enhancements can easily fit in to your existing schedule
Selling to existing clients can give you better margins
Client satisfaction can be leveled up - show them what’s possible!
You want professionals to let you know what’s wrong, what could be improved
Check out our enhancements session at GROW! 2024
Drainage and safety issues are Grunder’s top enhancements
Commercial clients - sign landscaping and lush lawns
Residential clients - privacy and drainage
Presenting enhancements to clients
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:

GROW! Conference Feb 2024

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl
13 min
December 29, 2023Interview Series: Meet Our GROW! 2024 Hosts Ryan and Annette McCarthy
Annette and Ryan McCarthy, owners of RJ Lawn and Landscape, are a dynamic husband-wife duo who will also be our hosts for the GROW! 2024 conference in Des Moines February 6-8, 2024. In this interview, we hear the story of their company and how it has grown, what it's like to work with family, how they manage and motivate their team, and plans for the future.
Please note: Early-bird pricing for the GROW! 2024 Conference ends November 1, register now to lock in our best rate! (Click the register link in resources section below)
Discussion Points:
Unique hosts for GROW! Conference - snow and ice business, woman-owned
RJ background and history of the company
Finding staffers in the 90s, hiring women
RJs business stats and breakdown
Snow removal is a major recurring revenue
Developing a mission statement and core values at RJ
Recruiting and nurturing talent, employee events
Tech and innovation
RJ’s new building and its evolution
Biggest challenges
Future plans
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:

RJ Lawn and Landscape

GROW! Conference Feb 2024

Register Now for Early Bird conference pricing before Nov. 1

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl
39 min
December 20, 2023Interview Series: Seth Pflum on Information Sharing with Your Team
Ask any organization what their number one issue is, and most companies will say, “communication.” Sharing information with the entire team at Grunder Landscaping Co. has always been a recipe for success. The entire team must be engaged with big growth goals, sales and revenue numbers, open positions, and where the company is headed. In this episode, Seth Pflum previews what he'll share at GROW! 2024 on how they share information with the broader team.
Discussion Points:
No matter the size of your org, communication is the #1 issue
Sharing creates buy-in to your vision and mission
Repetition builds understanding
Who should deliver your message?
What is shared at Grunder
Reasons for not sharing information
Building an organization that runs without you
Seth and his planned presentation for Grow! 2024
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:

Seth Pflum LinkedIn

GROW! Conference Feb 2024

The Grow Group

Grunder Landscaping

Marty Grunder LinkedIn

Stihl
18 min
December 13, 2023Interview Series: Where Are They Now? Summit Landscape & Design
Marty checks in with our GROW! 2023 tour hosts Jonathan and Josiah Peterson of Summit Landscape & Design near San Antonio, Texas to hear what has changed at their business since we toured their operation in February as part of GROW! 2023.
Discussion Points:
Update since GROW! 2023
Business in the San Antonio TX area
The focus for 2024
Looking at your finances for the coming year
How things have changed since GROW! 2023 at Summit Landscape Design
Why should you attend the GROW! 2024 Conference?
You’ll get out what you put into attending the conference
Be open about your struggles and ask questions
The Grow Show podcast is sponsored by STIHL and brought to you by The Grow Group - a leading coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. Your host is Marty Grunder, president and CEO of The Grow Group and Grunder Landscaping Co., one of the most successful design-build operations of its kind in the Midwest. The Grow Show shares ideas, tips, tactics, and insights that will help you grow your landscaping business.
Resources:
Summit Landscape Design
The Grow Group
Grunder Landscaping
Marty Grunder LinkedIn
Stihl
19 min

About The GROW! Show

From the publisher's feed

The GROW! Show is a show that highlights Marty Grunder's annual conference, GROW!. The GROW! show will showcase how anyone in the green industry can grow themselves, their team, and their business.