The GROW! Show

In this solo episode, Marty Grunder delivers a direct message for landscape business owners heading into the busy season: Spring does not forgive. It does not slow down, and it does not wait for you to feel ready. This is not a tactical checklist. It is a mindset reset for leaders who want to enter the season decided rather than hoping things work out.

Event Home: GROW! 2027

2026 Discovery - NOLA | ACE Peer Groups

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Episode Timestamps

00:56 - Grow 2026 Recap & Announcing Grow 2027
02:15 - Spring 2026 Mindset: Why Spring is Dangerous
03:37 - Execute the Plan: Focus Over New Initiatives
06:00 - Leader Energy Sets the Tone
07:27 - Build Processes, Not Heroes: Clarity Beats Complexity
08:44 - Set Client Expectations Early to Avoid Surprises
09:52 - Owner Stamina: Be Intentional Through Peak Season
12:42 - Don’t Do Spring Alone: ACE Peer Groups
15:24 - Please Share & Subscribe!

"Spring doesn't create problems. It reveals them."— Marty Grunder

Spring Is Not a Surprise: Anything you avoid addressing, spring will expose. Strong companies enter spring decided, not hoping. 

Action: Identify the decision you have been kicking down the road. Make it now.

Now Is the Time to Execute, Not Innovate: Spring is for selling work and doing work. New software, demos, and initiatives can wait.

Action: Say no to distractions. Execution beats innovation in the spring.

As You Go, So Goes Your Team: Your team mirrors you. If you are stressed and reactive, expect the same from them.

Action: Be present. Spring leadership is about presence, not perfection.

Process Over Heroics: If your best people save the day every day, they are not heroes. They are hostages.

Action: Build simple, repeatable processes. Spring rewards clarity, not complexity.

Set Client Expectations Early: Most spring problems are expectation problems. Silence creates assumptions.

Action: Communicate early. If someone is sick at 7 AM, call the client at 7, not noon.

Protect Your Energy: Spring is when owners burn out. Your energy matters because your team is watching.

Action: Sleep seven hours. Eat right. Move daily. Skip the gas station lunch.

Do Not Isolate Yourself: The difference between owners who handle spring well and those who do not is whether they go it alone.

Action: Sharpen your thinking with peers. The best leaders do not prepare alone.

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

Vince Torchia shares insights from over 250 members across 19 ACE peer groups about what's top of mind heading into spring 2026. From creating more leaders without micromanaging to understanding the difference between owner math and financial knowledge, to the red-yellow-green client rating system, Vince breaks down the three critical areas landscape business owners are focused on right now.

ACE Peer Groups

Register for ACE Discovery - March 25-27th

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Episode Timestamps

00:51 - Key Topics for Spring 2026

01:02 - Leadership In Your Organization

05:24 - Enhancing Financial Knowledge

08:52 - Defining Your Company’s Vision

12:40 - ACE Discovery 2026

Key Learnings 

Leadership: Create Leaders Who Can Make Decisions Without Permission – What do I do to get more leaders at my organization? What kind of environment do we need to create where somebody can make a decision for a customer, make a decision for our team, invest time or money without having to come ask me as the owner? We've set up an organization where people can go take action and have some autonomy.

The Nick Saban Coaching Tree Analogy – All four coaches that made it through the college football playoffs were coaches under Nick Saban at one time or another. His ability to be a great coach was also an ability to create other leaders, not just people that did whatever Nick Saban wanted them to do. The more people that we have at our organization that are leaders, the better that we will do.

Soft Skills Are the Real Skills – It's really not about the technical side of landscaping or maintenance or irrigation or snow. It's all about the soft skills. How do you have a tough conversation? How do you coach? How do you lead? How do you give corrective behavior tools and still have them appreciate and respect what you're doing?

10 Years Ago It Was Just Me, Now It's Eight Leaders – Marty talks about it a lot. 10 years ago, he felt like it was him, maybe one other individual from Grunder who thought like an owner. Now there's eight of us on the leadership team, and many managers feel the same way about having the ability to make a decision, the ability to run the ball.

Owner Math vs. Financial Knowledge – A lot of ACE members are great at owner math or napkin math. We know how many trucks are going out, we can tell by morning activity what we're at from a capacity standpoint. But my cash isn't matching my P&L. I have no strategy around debt servicing or liquidity. People are paying slower now. My AR days are higher than usual.

Profitability and Cash Flow Are Not the Same Thing – The profitability moves from your P&L to your balance sheet. It's an accounting equation. The more we understand those levers, the better we can operate, the better we can have conversations with our banker, our lawyer, our insurance agent, our vendors.

Red, Yellow, Green Client Rating System – Green means we love working with them, it's sustainable, profitable, enjoyable. Yellow, I don't know about these people, we might need to value engineer. Red, we're not making money, we're never making them happy, they're not referring us. Honor your contracts this year, but rate them and make a plan.

Spring Is When You Ask the Hard Questions – Every spring, we go back out on clients' properties and the question enters our mind: should we be doing this work for this client? When we're at our most stressed is when we really start to ask the most questions about our organization. That's normal and natural.

Nothing Worse Than Servicing a Red Client and Not Addressing It – To call that out is critically important. Say to the team, "Hey, we realize this is a red for us. We've got a contract, we're gonna stick to it, but we're aware and you're aware, so we'll make a plan another time." Acknowledge it.

Reflection Questions

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

The busy season is around the corner and will expose the cracks in your systems. Prepare for the spring rush now with these tips from Marty Grunder on organizing your calendar, setting and focusing on priorities, planning ahead, and more to calm the chaos of spring.

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Episode Timestamps

00:55 - Proven Winners and Marketing Ideas

01:52 - The Busy Season is Coming

03:31 - Use Your Calendar as a Leadership Tool

04:02 - Sales Leaders: Proactive Client Communication

05:17 - Operation Leaders: Planning and Coordination

07:02 - Owners and Senior Leaders: Strategic Thinking

10:08 - Look Ahead & Reduce Surprises

12:03 - Doing Tomorrow’s Work Today

15:27 - Habits for Handling Pressure

18:48 - Prepare Now or Pay Later

20:29 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Key Learnings 

The busy season doesn't create problems, it reveals them. If things feel chaotic in April, they were probably disorganized in February.

Your calendar is a statement of priorities. If something is not on your calendar, it's optional, and optional things don't survive a busy season.

The people who win the spring are the people who prepare in the winter. Things never slow down, they just change shape.

Sales leaders need three daily habits: prospect, nurture, close. Every day I prospect, every day I nurture, every day I close.

Without planning, you're not leading, you're chasing your tail. Operations leaders need time blocked for planning, crew coordination, equipment readiness, and problem prevention.

Somebody has to be thinking about tomorrow, next month, next year. If your calendar doesn't have any time for thinking as an owner, is that really where you want to be?

When pressure goes up, memory goes down. Write things down and capture commitments, or you'll forget customer requests while driving.

Your brain is for thinking, not storage. Clear your head daily before you go home so you can lead.

Simple beats fancy every time. One program with a couple bolt-ons at most, not 16 different programs on your iPad.

Prepare now or pay later. You can either prepare now and lead calmly, or react later with a raging river and out-of-control mess.

What to Calendar Right Now

SALES LEADERS:

OPERATIONS LEADERS:

OWNERS & SENIOR LEADERS:

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

This episode's a little different: we're bringing you Marty's keynote address that opened GROW! 2025 as we're onsite in Dallas, TX for GROW! 2026. Listen to hear Marty's take on growing a landscaping business. He shares the hurdles that stood in the way of growing Grunder Landscaping Co., how they overcame them, and what's ahead for businesses that are excited for the future.

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Episode Timestamps

01:53 - Keynote Intro

04:34 - The Importance of Growth and Community

07:53 - Personal Stories & Lessons Learned

13:48 - Early Business Challenges & Successes

20:42 - The Birth of a Speaking Career

21:40 - Financial Struggles & Family Values

23:03 - Lessons Learned Through Growth

27:33 - The Importance of Team and Client Relationships

29:40 - Creating a Positive Company Culture

38:40 - Please Like & Subscribe!

Key Learnings

Growth Isn't Linear – In my 41 years of business, I've found that growth isn't linear. It's not a straight line. It doesn't happen that way. And it's not easy. I'm a 40 year overnight success story.

Training Is an Investment, Not an Expense – The best way that you can grow a team is by making an investment in them. Sending them to something like this is way more than training. This is an experience. This is what can happen when you get around other risk-taking peers and let your hair down.

The Christmas Party I Threw for Myself – I spent a lot of money on a nice party at a fancy restaurant. An employee pulled me aside: "We had to buy nice clothes. Our pallets aren't as sophisticated as yours. Pizza and bowling would've been fine. Give us a cash bonus." Who'd I throw the party for? Myself. I made that party about myself.

Our New Mission Statement Puts Team First – Creating opportunities for our team to grow and succeed by enhancing the beauty and value of every client's property. The first sentence there, creating opportunities for our team to grow and succeed, that is our focus. Not about Seth, not about Marty, it's about the team.

Business Is Like Golf – You grab that club real hard and swing harder and the ball doesn't go anywhere. You hold the club like a bird and swing it real easy and it's amazing how far the ball goes. I'm hitting my five iron 30 yards longer. Business is the same way. When we try too hard, when we push, when we make it about ourselves, we lose.

$2.1 Billion in Combined Revenue in This Room – The combined revenue of all the landscape companies in this room right now is $2.1 billion. If we all leave here with our head on straight, with new ideas, making it about the team, not about ourselves, a rising tide raises all boats.

Don't Go to Dinner by Yourself – The only way you're gonna get in trouble with me here today is if you go to dinner by yourself. This is a warm, caring community that wants to help you. I don't care how big or small your business is.

Learn From the Little Guys Too – I got a buddy in a peer group with all these huge companies. Third year he quit. They were talking about captives, vacation houses, investments. He said, "I want to talk about where are you parking the truck and how are you maximizing that? How are you keeping those hourly workers?" There's secrets in those day-to-day struggles.

Stress Is Caused Because You're Out of Control – Look for ideas so you and your team can work together with less stress. Doesn't that sound fun? Stress is caused because you're out of control and you don't know what's going on. Get control of your business.

The First Four Letters of Culture – Remember, the first four letters of the word culture are what? Cult. Yeah. Grape Kool-Aid and spam sandwiches are okay here and there. Young people are like, what? Old people are like, that's funny.

Give to Everyone Who Asks of You – From the gospel: Give to everyone who asks of you and from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. That's a good message for all of us.

Reflection Questions

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

In this episode, Marty Grunder and executive coach Chris Psencik explore how small, consistent actions compound into extraordinary results. Drawing from Captain Michael Abrashoff's leadership principles in "It's Your Ship," they break down practical applications across the Four P Framework: Platform, People, Process, and Profits. The conversation emphasizes that success in the landscape industry comes from mastering the details that most people overlook.

Marty's Desk Pad

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Episode Timestamps

01:58 - Introducing Chris Psencik

03:50 - The Importance of Little Things in Business

05:00 - Book Discussion: Creating Owners & Leaders

08:37 - The Four P Framework

10:00 - Platform: Speed and Execution

14:49 - People: Training and One-on-Ones

18:01 - Process: Systems and Efficiency

18:54 - Proactive Client Engagement

20:02 - Analyzing and Improving Proposals

21:16 - Maximizing Software Utilization

22:19 - Bite-Sized Profit Strategies

23:22 - Overcoming Sales Challenges

25:17 - The Importance of Peer Groups

30:28 - Success Through Attention to Detail

33:40 - Sign Up for GROW 2026!

Key Learnings

Speed Kills (In a Good Way):  When a customer is ready to buy, they have Google, ChatGPT, and a list of competitors at their fingertips. The companies that respond fastest win. Chris shared how many businesses complain about needing more sales when the real problem is response time. The calls are coming in. The return speed is the bottleneck.

Marty's Take: "Good things come to those who wait, but only the things left behind by those who didn't. Seize the day. What are you waiting for?"

Create Owners, Not Employees: Captain Abrashoff's transformation of the USS Benfold offers a blueprint for landscape companies. He turned a failing ship into one of the Navy's most productive by pushing decision-making down, creating clarity, and building relationships at every level. The key insight: you cannot scale by micromanaging. You scale by creating people who think and act like owners.

Chris's Perspective: "So many people think they can just white-knuckle those companies and grab their bootstraps and get their hands dirty. But once a company reaches a certain size, it takes successful people to really do that."

Leverage the Wins: Recognition does not require elaborate systems. A shout-out with a Payday candy bar. Acknowledging someone in a team meeting who embodied a core value. These small moments reinforce culture more than any policy manual. The mistake most companies make is not capitalizing on things going well.

Example from Marty: When a crew member spotted a drainage issue, reported it, and helped close a $3,800 sale, that story became a teaching moment about what "speed kills" means in practice.

Train When You Have Time, Execute When You Don't: Chris highlighted how Curtis Atkinson uses the winter months strategically. Instead of viewing slow seasons as downtime, he treats them as preparation time. His team enters spring ready to execute rather than scrambling to figure things out when revenue opportunities are highest.

The Principle: "Think with the end in mind. Where do we need to get? We need revenue. When do we want it? First and second quarter. What do I not want to be doing when my team should be outside pushing opportunities? Sitting in the office training."

One-on-Ones Are Non-Negotiable: Marty emphasized that skipping one-on-ones to "save time" is a false economy. Without a structured forum for team members to raise issues, leaders open themselves to constant interruptions. The meeting creates a container for problems to be solved on a schedule rather than putting out fires all day.

Key Questions to Ask: What did you struggle with last week? Where were the roadblocks? How can I help remove them?

Analyze Your Wins and Losses Annually: Chris shared his December ritual: reviewing every proposal, every closed deal, every lost opportunity. The goal is pattern recognition. If you proposed $250,000 in enhancements and the client approved $5,000, that conversation needs to happen now, not when you lose them next year.

Chris's Challenge: "If you, as a salesperson, are thinking that you don't have time to do those things, then you're not truly spending enough time focused on the relationship."

The First Quarter Wins the Year: Both Marty and Chris agreed: the seeds of success or failure are planted in Q1. By the time April and May arrive, it is too late to be asking "how do I get more sales?" The relationships, the pipeline, the preparation should already be in place.

Marty's Advice: "You should be out now making calls, getting in touch. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Work on the relationships now. Yes, you're competing with Santa Claus, but you can still see people and develop relationships."

Relationships Matter at All Levels: Gene Freeman's philosophy at Complete Landsculpture became a recurring theme. This is not just about customer relationships. It is about relationships with team members, vendors, and the community. The companies that understand this create customers for life because clients never have a reason to shop around.

The Core Framework

How you do one thing is how you do anything. If you care about the details and the bite-size things, you will be successful. The little things are the big things.

Marty's Four P Framework provides the structure for applying this philosophy across every area of your business:

Platform: Your vision, mission, core values, and unique value proposition. Start every meeting with these. Recognize people who embody them.

People: Your team, vendors, subcontractors, consultants. Invest in training during slow seasons. Conduct regular one-on-ones.

Process: Systems that enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Maximize your software. Review and refine annually.

Profits: The byproduct of clarity on where you are going, the right people, and scalable processes. Focus on individual job costing, not just macro profitability.

Reflection Questions

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

In this episode, Kevin Keim shares what he's learned in his career, the mistakes he's made, and the tips he has for landscape pros to create great SOPs and manage change in their organization. He shares tips for ensuring smoother transitions when you make a change and for documenting SOPs with low-cost (or free) tools.

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Episode Timestamps

00:30 - Introduction & Welcome

02:40 - Megan’s Background and Connection to Landscaping

04:52 - The Importance of Accountability

10:01 - Skill and Will in Leadership

11:56 - Practical Tools for Accountability

16:47 - Advice for Landscaping Business Owners

22:33 - What to Expect at Grow 2026

My $40,000 Mistake: I Implemented Change Too Fast – I knew this from Dow, I just never did anything with it. It landed very differently after I made my first bungle, which cost about $40,000 in mistakes. That's just what I could calculate. I'm sure there was a lot more residual impact outside of that. The first thing I did when I came in was realize we needed to change our scheduling software. I rolled it out in three weeks. Big mistake.

The Five Steps of Change Management – First, create awareness. Why are we doing this? Second, desire. What's in it for me? Third, knowledge. How do I do this? Fourth, ability. Can I actually do this? Fifth, reinforcement. How do we make sure this sticks? Most people skip straight to knowledge without building awareness and desire first. That's where I went wrong.

Don't Stare at a Blank Screen, Just Start With Something – Whether it's change recipes or SOPs, just start with something. Starting is how you go do anything. We started on paper, flip charts literally, moved to a digital format, and then towards the end we took all of our SOPs and put them in ChatGPT and they could prompt and ask questions. Baby steps are okay as long as you've got that consistent change and you're communicating the vision.

Use ChatGPT to Build Your SOPs for Free – You can go into ChatGPT and say, "I'm the president of a $5 million landscaping company. I'm struggling with how to implement change and get SOPs and get more of my team on the same page. What would you suggest I do?" You will be amazed at the fire starters that come out of that conversation. You can upload documents, ask it to rewrite things in simpler language, create step-by-step guides.

An Employee Who Doesn't Know How to Do Their Job Leads to Burnout – An employee who doesn't know how to do their job leads to frustration, which leads to burnout, which leads to turnover, which is extremely costly. Not having an SOP, a documented one especially when you go to onboarding, is not an option. The biggest freeing moment we had was realizing that holding onto bad employees because you don't have a good onboarding process is what was holding us back.

Paint the Vision of What's In It For Them – You gotta paint the vision of what's in it for them. You gotta get them to understand how it can make it easier on them. People at your company don't want to show up and have you hand them a pack of papers with drawings and phone numbers in a three ring binder. It's all on their phone now. It's so much easier. But if you're used to using paper, it does take a while to get there.

Change Happens in Baby Steps With Consistent Communication – We started with flip charts, moved to digital, then to ChatGPT. Each step made sense for where we were. You don't have to go from zero to perfect overnight. As long as you're making consistent progress and communicating why, people will follow. I wasn't there every day, I was there a couple days a week. They needed to be able to action a plan when I was at a peer group site visit for three days.

Step 1: Start Simple

Step 2: Move to Digital

Step 3: Use ChatGPT

ChatGPT Prompt Example: "I'm the president of a $5 million landscaping company. I'm struggling with how to implement change and get SOPs and get more of my team on the same page. What would you suggest I do?"

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

In this episode, Marty Grunder is joined by executive coach Megan Parker whose coaching has been instrumental in many landscaping companies' success and whose sessions at past GROW sessions have helped managers become the leaders their teams need. They talk about accountability as leaders and how to encourage accountability among their teams.

ACE Peer Groups
StrengthsFinder 2.0

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Episode Timestamps

00:30 - Introduction & Welcome

02:40 - Megan’s Background and Connection to Landscaping

04:52 - The Importance of Accountability

10:01 - Skill and Will in Leadership

11:56 - Practical Tools for Accountability

16:47 - Advice for Landscaping Business Owners

22:33 - What to Expect at Grow 2026

Key Learnings

Accountability Is a $10 Word That Gets a Bad Rap – Accountability is one of those $10 words. It's a great word, but a lot of times I find that people don't really know what accountability means or how to do it. When you think of accountability, what word or feeling comes to mind? My guess is your reaction might not have been a positive one. 

The Three Key Ingredients of Accountability – First, you have to have clear expectations. If we are not on the same page about how to plant a tree, then you can't hold me accountable for the way the tree was planted. Second, we need to have resources. I have to have the ability to do my job. Third, those consequences. If you and I are not clear on what happens as a result of a failure to meet those expectations, then you can't truly hold me accountable.

Skill and Will: Why Accountability Is So Hard – When I think about why it is so hard, I think about two things: skill and will. Does the person have the skill to do it? And do they have the will to hold someone accountable? Skill means do I know how to hold people accountable? Do I literally know how to have a conversation without flying off the handle? Will is, am I willing to hold people accountable, to be the bad guy, to worry about what people will think of me?

Flying Off the Handle Sends People Into Fight, Flight, or Freeze – You're gonna send people into fight, flight, or freeze mode. Everyone will have one of those three reactions. When you go into that mode without the skill to have that conversation, you're gonna send people into fight, flight, or freeze mode, and nothing productive is gonna come from that. That's why the skill part is really important.

A-Players Don't Want to Work With People Who Aren't A-Players – Do you want to work for someone who will not hold you accountable? The answer is typically no. The biggest issue with people who aren't pulling their weight is that other A-players do not want to work with people who are not A-players. Your best employees, your A-players, they want to be held to a high standard. They want to be held accountable, and they want others on the team to be held to that same standard.

The Pilot Never Says "Let Me Call My Supervisor" – Your expectation for the pilot is that they need to get a plane full of people to the destination safely. If you're flying through a storm, you can adjust altitude or fly around it. Never once have you ever heard the pilot say, "I need to reroute, but I need to call my supervisor and ask him." You don't want your clients feeling like the person who's on the site has to call back and get permission.

You're Worried About One Guy, But 28 Others Are Suffering – I had a coaching client with 29 employees. One has been with him since he started, a dear friend, but he's not pulling his weight. My client said, "He has a family." I said, "Yes, he does, but he's also the one that hasn't held up his end of the bargain. You're worried about one guy, but there's 28 other people that are suffering because of his poor performance." He never thought about it that way.

What We Tolerate Is What We Allow – As an owner, you're gonna lose your A-players if you allow other players to be held to a different standard. What we tolerate is what we allow, and we are going to lose key people who work for us if we allow others to be held to a different standard.

Your Prefrontal Cortex Isn't Developed Until Mid-to-Late Twenties – There's actually a lot of science behind this. Your prefrontal cortex in your brain is not developed until your mid-to-late twenties. That's why teenage boys are so expensive on insurance. Their insurance rates drop when their prefrontal cortex is fully developed in their mid-twenties.

Reflection Questions

Resources:

ACE Peer Groups

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

In this episode of The Grow Show, Vince Torchia and Emily Lindley detail the planning that has gone into GROW! 2026, what will be different about this year's event, and how landscape pros can get the most out of this learning experience - whether they attend or not.

Sign up for Grow 2026!

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Episode Timestamps

00:50 - Introduction to Grow 2026

02:04 - Insights from the Peer Groups

03:45 - Event Space and Logistics

04:50 - Changes to the Tour Schedule and Innovations

08:20 - Networking and Dining Rounds

10:27 - Maximizing Your Event Experience

14:18 - Ways to Follow Grow 2026

Key Learnings

We're Expecting About 1,000 More People Than 10 Years Ago – Complete Land Sculpture hosted this event 10 years ago in 2016. We had about 225 people. We might have a thousand more people than that for 2026. Gene and Chris have been to every Grow since 2016, so they have awesome ideas and know how they want their tour to run.

More Space Than Last Year—No Crowded Escalators – Last year we had an awesome event in Columbus hosted by Hidden Creek. We had a lot of late signups, which we loved, but there were some tight breakout rooms, tight space with sponsors at happy hours. Other than escalators working in Dallas, I am excited that we have larger space this year—more space in our main stage room, breakout rooms, and general function area.

The Tour Is Reinvented: Fewer Stations, More Time – Gene and Chris put together a really good tour schedule that involves less stations that are longer. So we have more time in stations, less movement of people, some more movement of presenters, and finally an actual formal walking tour of the facility. We've also taken some of those tour stations and brought them back to the hotel.

Divide and Conquer Breakout Sessions as a Team – I would set up a meeting two weeks before the event with all the people from your team who are attending. Look at the agenda, pick out which breakout sessions everybody's going to. What I would recommend is that teams divide and conquer. Don't all go to the same breakout session. Take your notes and come back together to share knowledge from all the different sessions.

Set a Pre-Event and Post-Event Team Meeting – During that pre-event meeting, talk about dine arounds, dinner reservations, what you want to get out of it as a team. Is there a specific challenge you're facing that you really want to find an answer to at Grow? After the event, do a debrief. Talk about breakout sessions, notes, takeaways, action items. Narrow down everything to five things you're gonna implement over the next year.

Think: Today, 30 Days, 60-90 Days – Think about what's one thing you're gonna get done today, what's low hanging fruit you can get done right away when you get back home. What's something you're gonna get done in the next 30 days? And then what's something you're gonna get done in the next 60 or 90 days? Make it a manageable to-do list so it doesn't just live in a notebook.

We Listen to 210+ Companies to Build the Agenda – We're always listening to not only what we're experiencing at Grunder Landscaping Company, but also taking a deep dive into the over 210 companies that we have in our ACE peer groups. We take into account all those meetings, conversations, accountability calls, and naturally things just bubble up to the top. We'll have more breakout sessions than we've ever had this year.

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

In this episode, Vince Torchia shares how he sees landscaping companies set their year up for success early with planning, refining messaging, defining the wins, and communicating all of this with teams. He shares the themes that have driven Grunder Landscaping's growth and messaging, and how to evaluate where your focus should be for 2026.

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Episode Timestamps

01:32 Setting Up for Success: The Importance of a Yearly Theme

05:05 Recognizing and Appreciating Your Team

09:45 Effective Communication Strategies for 2026

13:54 Conclusion and Upcoming Events

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

Stihl  

Key Learnings

1. PICK YOUR THEME

2. RECOGNIZE THE UNDERAPPRECIATED

Team Members: Who needs to feel the love? Thank you notes, praising in public, opportunities for advancement

3. CREATE YOUR COMMUNICATION PLAN

Put communication on your calendar for what's happening in the business

Reflection Questions

Happy Holidays listeners! In this episode of The Grow Show, Marty Grunder shares the routine he follows during a holiday week to make equal time for recharging, reflecting, and resetting. Make time for yourself and your loved ones, but don't miss the opportunity to set your 2026 up for success in this final week of the year.

Dorothy Lane Market

Stihl GTA 26 Cordless Pruner (Complete the challenge below to have a chance to win!) 

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Episode Timestamps

01:47 - The Holiday Dilemma for Landscapers

02:32 - Managing the Week Between Christmas and New Year’s

05:03 - Recharge, Reflect, and Reset: The Three Buckets

05:45 - Five Practical Areas to Focus On

08:25 - The Grow Show Christmas Week Challenge

10:03 - Please Share & Subscribe!

Resources:

Virtual Sales Bootcamp  

Grunder Landscaping Field Trips  

The Grow Group   

Grunder Landscaping   

Marty Grunder LinkedIn  

Stihl  

Key Learnings

How You Manage This Week Says a Lot About How You Manage Your Business – The worst thing you can do is let this week become a Netflix sit-around, eat junk, do nothing this week. That's not good. If you spend six to 10 hours the week between Christmas and New Year's, you'll return to work January 2nd seeing your business in a whole new focused way.

Resting Is Okay, Drifting Is Dangerous – I organize this week around three buckets: Recharge, Reflect, and Reset. Recharge is time with family. Reflect means looking at reality, the good, the bad, and the painful truth. Reset means making decisions—what will I stop doing? What will I delegate? What am I gonna double down on?

I Get to the Coffee Shop at 5:45 AM While My Family Sleeps In – I head to a coffee shop around 5:45 AM on the days they're open, even though I don't drink coffee, because I like that environment. I open my calendar, scroll month by month. What felt heavy? Where did we have callbacks? Where was I overwhelmed? I delve into Aspire, check dials, reports, numbers, because data doesn't lie.

All Planning Is Good, But Planning Only Happens When You're Intentional – You've heard me say this many times. All planning is good. Credit to Dave Sullivan from 1997. This process I'm sharing with you is planning. At some point you're gonna have to say, I'm getting my act together. This is that week.

Chaos Is Really Expensive, Order Pays Dividends – People come in my garage and they say, my goodness, what happened here? You could eat off the floor. It's always like that. I guess it's my OCD, but I just feel so much more in control when I have things organized. Chaos is really expensive, folks. Order pays dividends.

The Daily Rhythm for Winning This Week

Each Day:

One hour in the morning for yourself

One intentional family activity

One cleanup/reset task (amazing what you can get cleaned up in 30 minutes)

One written note about tomorrow's focus

Simple, powerful, repeatable.

Five Practical Areas to Focus On

Rest – Sleep a little more. Go to bed with a ritual. I use a natural sleep aid (not melatonin after reading a Wall Street Journal story about heart failure). Walk, read something uplifting (I like biographies, especially sports heroes), slow down, get steps in on my Garmin watch.

Gratitude – Practice some gratitude. Maybe a note or two to people who made my year possible: my spouse, my family, a key team member, maybe a vendor, maybe a client, maybe a mentor. People don't remember what you say, they remember how you make them feel.

Clean the Clutter – Your inbox, your garage, your truck, your office. What are all those things you can do to get more organized? I had a shelf next to my door that became a catchall. I put 30 minutes, cleaned up the shelf, threw stuff out, took stuff to Goodwill. My wife came home and said, oh my gosh, it looks so much better.

Set Your Q1 Goals – Not 10 goals or 20 goals. How about just three things you're gonna commit to improving.

Connect – I take someone I care about to breakfast or lunch. I send a message to my leadership team asking them what they want for the next year.

The Grow Show Christmas Week Challenge

The Challenge:

Pick one morning this week

Get out of your house

Bring your calendar or Aspire dashboard or LMN dashboard

Spend one hour reflecting, reviewing, and planning

Take a photo of yourself doing it

Post it on LinkedIn and tag Marty Grunder

Share one priority you're gonna tackle in 2026

Prize: One lucky participant will win a GTA 26 Cordless Pruner