The LeanScaper Podcast

LeanScaper
  • 4.7 (16)
  • Entrepreneurship

The LeanScaper Podcast is where serious landscape leaders go to grow. If you want new school systems for an old school industry, expertly crafted interviews with world class experts, endless inspiration you’ve come to the right place. Hosted by Benji Carlson and Mark Bradley. New Episodes release every Monday, on every platform.

  1. 5d ago

    5 Winter Marketing Moves That Fill Your Spring

    Check out Intrigue's Marketing Report: https://intriguemedia.com/lmi/ Most landscapers take their marketing to near zero from November to February, then spend March buying the most expensive leads of the year trying to make up for it. Rob Murray, Co-founder of Intrigue Media, has four years of aggregated client marketing data showing exactly where a spring schedule actually gets built — and it isn't in the spring. For a $1M-$10M landscape company, winter is the only quarter where an owner has the bandwidth to work on demand instead of chasing it. IN THIS EPISODE: Why January and February leads carry roughly 4x the average quote value of April and May — and the specific buyer profile behind that numberThe funnel math every owner should run before building a 2027 budget: 400 leads → 100 visits → 50 quotes → 25 customers, and what a $4,000 customer acquisition cost actually buys you on the maintenance sideThe one-hour spreadsheet exercise that takes a full-service company from zero focus to three profitable prongs — scored on margin, owner-dependence, and whether the crew actually likes the work

    5 Winter Marketing Moves That Fill Your Spring

  2. Oct 13

    Operators Get Tired. Owners Get Rich.

    You can run an $18M business with 300 employees and still be miserable — because the thing making you tired is the same thing you think makes you valuable. Dwayne Kerrigan has owned 31 businesses across 15 industries in 40 years, studied under Stephen Covey and Keith Cunningham (the "rich dad" from Rich Dad Poor Dad), and spent a decade at Tony Robbins' side as his bodyguard, capturing everything. In this talk from the LeanScaper Intensive stage, he lays out why most owners in this industry are stuck in the operator's seat — and the exact framework he uses to climb out of it and stay out.  IN THIS EPISODE: The two lists: what an operator's day actually looks like (bidding, driving to sites, running equipment when someone no-shows, Home Depot runs) versus what an owner's day looks like — and why one of those makes you tired while the other makes you rich.Change the meaning, change the emotion, change your life: the event-meaning-emotion-behavior-result chain running in your subconscious, and the three levers (physiology, language, focus) you use to interrupt it.The identity framework Dwayne has taught to hundreds of owners — and why fewer than 5% ever act on it. Plus the four economic seasons, the identity each one demands, and where he'd bet we are right now.

    Operators Get Tired. Owners Get Rich.

  3. Sep 29

    Pay Your Future Self First | The Money Habit

    Your business can be crushing it while your money falls apart at home — and one quietly drains the other. Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First and nine other books, breaks down the system from his newest book, The Money Habit — think Profit First for your personal life, built on six bank accounts that work with how your brain is actually wired instead of against it. For a landscape business owner, this is the missing half of the equation: your company is only ever as healthy as your finances at home — and when one side struggles, it quietly drains the other. IN THIS EPISODE: - Why budgets fail every time — and the "woolly mammoth" wiring that makes preserving money first the only thing that actually sticks- The six foundational accounts (Income, Needs, Wants, Dreams, Fix/Future, Emergency) and how to split every dollar the moment it lands- How to help your team get better with money without ever prying into their paychecks — and what their financial stress is quietly costing you 🎟 Mike is headlining the LeanScaper Finance Intensive in Nashville, October 5–6. Grab your seat → https://leanscaper.com/events/finance-intensive

    Pay Your Future Self First | The Money Habit

  4. Sep 15

    The Single Point of Failure | Owner-Dependency Test

    You took the two-week vacation, came back, and the business was still standing — so you decided you'd solved owner dependency. A buyer looks at those same two weeks and sees the opposite. Adam Coffey, bestselling author and CEO, has built billion-dollar companies and personally bought 58 of them — and he can usually tell in the first hour on site whether an owner has built a real asset or just a very demanding job. For a $1M–$10M landscape operation where every real decision still routes through the owner, that one dependency is quietly capping both your enterprise value and how big you can grow. IN THIS EPISODE:- Why the two-week vacation test measures the wrong thing — and the sharper "coverage vs. judgment" diagnostic a buyer actually uses to see if the business can run without you.- The 30-20-10 rule Adam runs on the first read of any company, and why a $100M business earning 7% is "a dog with fleas" while a leaner one is worth digging into.- Where private-equity money is really flowing in the trades right now, and what an independent should build over the next three years while AI enhances the crew instead of replacing it. 🎙 Adam kicks off Day Two of the LeanScaper Finance Intensive in Nashville (Oct 5–6) with his talk, From Operator to Empire Builder Register at LeanScaper.com/events 0:00 — Build a Company Worth Owning0:53 — The Owner Dependency Test6:52 — The 30-20-10 Rule9:21 — Why Investors Buy Good Businesses14:42 — The Rule of 13020:06 — From Operator to Empire Builder22:35 — From $1.5M to $31M25:12 — Private Equity Loves Blue Collar26:52 — How AI Changes the Trades30:17 — What Owners Should Focus On34:39 — What 58 Acquisitions Taught Adam37:17 — Closing Thoughts

    The Single Point of Failure | Owner-Dependency Test

  5. Sep 9

    5 Signs You've Outgrown Your Bookkeeper

    Your books can be perfectly accurate and still leave you guessing on every decision that actually costs money. Arron Bennett, Founder of Bennett Financials, has looked under the hood of hundreds of contracting businesses and can usually name the constraint before the owner can. At $1M-$10M, one wrong pricing or hiring call doesn't cost you a quarter — it costs you a year of growth. IN THIS EPISODE: Why an unreconciled balance sheet makes your P&L wrong too — including the client who had to recognize $500K of hidden revenue after four bad years.The 1-to-4 salary cap: every dollar of labor should return four in revenue, and why a close rate above 40% means you're priced too cheap.How equipment bought on a loan for the tax deduction empties your bank account while your P&L still shows profit you owe taxes on.

    5 Signs You've Outgrown Your Bookkeeper

  6. Aug 25

    3 Keys to Running A Business With Your Spouse

    Two people run the business. Only one decision gets made. That's the math that quietly wears down most husband-and-wife companies in this industry. Caleb & Brittany Auman have run Auman Outdoor together for fifteen years, and now host Together in the Trades — an event built for the couples doing exactly this. The company gets the cadence, the roles, and the escalation path. The marriage gets whatever's left. Whichever one has structure ends up governing the other. IN THIS EPISODE: - The tells that you're already off the same team — and why the dangerous version is quiet, not loud. - Why couples don't grow apart: one keeps learning, the other stops. What that looks like from the outside, and the free 20-minute exercise that starts closing the gap. - The $45,000 excavator Caleb bought right after they had a baby. Good idea? Listen to the episode to find out Check out togetherinthetrades.com to learn how you can attend 0:00 — Why Couples Feel Unseen1:17 — Running a Business Together7:02 — Together in the Trades9:44 — Three Keys for Couples10:35 — Getting on the Same Team17:21 — Become a Student of Yourself21:02 — Growing Together as Partners25:56 — Practical Tools for Your Relationship28:59 — Choose Your Hills to Die On32:32 — How Priorities Change Over Time34:14 — Preventing Conflict Before It Starts36:06 — Believe the Best in Your Spouse

    3 Keys to Running A Business With Your Spouse

  7. Aug 11

    Build Your Commercial Maintenance Division

    Commercial maintenance is the recurring, sticky revenue every landscaper wants — the stuff that makes a business worth buying — but from the outside it looks like a grandfathered club with no door in. Jeremy Talboy, founder of North Georgia Landscape Management, built a $9M four-division operation from a standing start knowing no one, and he lays out the exact engine he used to crack the commercial world. For a $1M–$10M landscape company, commercial maintenance is what turns unpredictable project revenue into a recurring book of business — and real enterprise value when it's time to sell. IN THIS EPISODE: Why the regional property manager with 15 properties is the one relationship that unlocks a portfolio — and how to actually get in front of them.The 15-office-visits-a-month scorecard Jeremy runs his business development team on, plus the exact hire profile that wins the role.How he prices customer service as the product (the Chick-fil-A vs. McDonald's math) to earn more dollars per minute than bigger competitors.

    Build Your Commercial Maintenance Division

  8. Jul 28

    Which System Should You Fix First? | Business Systems

    Every book, podcast, and conference adds another item to your fix-it list — and somewhere along the way, knowing exactly what's broken started to feel worse than not knowing. David Jenyns, author of Systemology and Systems Champion, has helped thousands of owners turn a chaotic mental backlog into a sequence they can actually execute. For a $1M–$10M landscape operation still running off the owner's memory, picking the wrong system to fix first can cost you a whole season. IN THIS EPISODE:- How to use the Critical Client Flow to narrow forty problems down to the one bottleneck actually capping your revenue.- The "squeaky wheel vs. broken axle" filter for telling a merely loud problem from one that's quietly binding the whole business.- Why your first system should be the worst you'll ever build — and the exact profile of the Systems Champion who should hold the pen instead of you. 00:00 — Why Systemizing Feels So Overwhelming01:44 — Start Where the Pain Is04:16 — Make the Invisible Visible06:32 — Why Business Owners Get Stuck09:02 — The Systems Champion Role14:21 — Finding Your Biggest Bottleneck19:28 — When Is a System "Good Enough"?23:25 — AI Is Changing Every Business26:25 — Why AI Creates Urgency30:10 — Your First Step to Systemizing31:18 — Books & Where to Learn More

    Which System Should You Fix First? | Business Systems
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4.7
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

The LeanScaper Podcast is where serious landscape leaders go to grow. If you want new school systems for an old school industry, expertly crafted interviews with world class experts, endless inspiration you’ve come to the right place. Hosted by Benji Carlson and Mark Bradley. New Episodes release every Monday, on every platform.

Information

  • Creator
    LeanScaper
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    58
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 LeanScaper
  • Show Website
    The LeanScaper Podcast

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