In this episode, Marty reconnects with RJ Lawn & Landscape owners Ryan & Annette McCarthy who hosted the GROW! Tour at GROW! 2024 in Des Moines, IA. We hear about what's changed in their business since we visited, what challenges their business is currently facing, and what they've learned in their years in business.
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Episode Chapters:
00:00 - Episode Intro
02:31 - Meet Ryan and Annette McCarthy
03:28 - The Journey of RJ Lawn and Landscaping
06:12 - Working Together as a Married Couple
06:45 - Current Business Challenges & Achievements
15:14 - Leadership and Growth Insights
22:26 - Building Confidence and Leadership
24:31 - Reflecting on Personal Growth
26:02 - Learning From Mistakes
30:53 - The Impact of a New Facility
35:34 - Challenges and Triumphs of Women in Leadership
39:02 - Balancing Marriage and Business
43:27 - Please Share & Subscribe!
Resources:
Virtual Sales Bootcamp
Grunder Landscaping Field Trips
The Grow Group
Grunder Landscaping
Marty Grunder LinkedIn
Stihl
Show Notes:
- RJ's Growth Journey - Ryan started RJ 26 years ago with a previous partner. Lots of struggles and changes, but the last 10 years got real momentum. Grew from two guys with a pickup truck and mowers to 110 team members doing around $14 million. Annette joined business in the field when the company was 2-3 years old while in college, left to work for a construction company, came back to RJ in 2008 when they saw an opportunity to really make it go if they added layers like job costing and office support.
- Current Year Challenges - Started rough with weather, down about $1.5 million in snow. Ryan: "How do you eat the elephant? One bite at a time. That's been our motto all year long." Had the wettest July in Iowa history, making construction project completion challenging. Building a 20,000 square foot warehouse with Ryan GC'ing project himself, which has taken more time than anticipated. Embarking on EOS which has been truly beneficial but hard - needed more decision makers within the company.
- Major Change: Ryan Out of Sales - Since Grow 2024, Ryan has moved out of the sales role. The building facility has been a distraction for Ryan's time but helped push other people into sales. One of the existing team members has taken over sales, rolled out August 4th. Marty saw similar experience when he got out of the way - business was able to grow.
- Their Roles: Visionary and Integrator - Ryan is CEO/President and visionary. Holdings company renamed "Random Holdings, LLC" with squirrel image because there's something new all the time. Supports production managers with industry knowledge. Annette is COO, in the EOS world called "integrator." Supports the team with systems, accounting, reporting on goals, figuring out how data can drive results. Also keeps the visionary in check - great to have lots of good ideas but sometimes gotta table some and focus on one first. He has the ideas, she figures out how to do them.
- Working Together Professionally - Ryan focuses on staying in his lanes and keeping it professional. Doesn't get into accounting software thinking he should make journal entries. His focus has always been making sure it stays professional, not being the person colleagues complain about. Both stay focused on their tasks and communicate professionally. Ryan says seeing husband-wife relationships in the workplace that don't keep it professional "always felt very tacky to me and uncomfortable."
- Leadership Lesson: Over-Communicate - Annette's biggest learning over 10 years: Everybody's not the same, and doesn’t think the same way. She used the Culture Index to understand this. She thinks very quickly and used to assume if she explained something once quickly, they were thinking exactly like she was. Realized that's not how it happens. She had to learn to slow down and explain everything to the nth degree even though internal drive is to go quick and fire away. Learning from other business owners through the peer groups about connecting with people in different ways instead of assuming just because she's thinking it means they're thinking it too.
- Patience and Detail - Ryan also learned patience and detail. Years ago he used to be a yeller, understanding that's not productive. Always has the "Winning with Accountability" book in the back of his head because frequently he gets going so fast with thought process but hasn't explained all steps. Realized especially younger team members don't know what they don't know - if you don't tell them every step, you can't be mad at them afterwards. Taking training, explanation, job tickets to another level of detail has been the biggest improvement.
- Evolution in Ryan's Leadership - Annette saw big change in even the content of what Ryan talks about. As they've grown, he's gone from talking to crew leads about equipment and landscape job details to talking with leadership team, production managers, assistant managers who need to understand the business side. They didn't go into the lawn and landscape industry to read financials or understand how indirect time is sucking money out of the company. Different conversations now. He’s grown more patient, yells less, and is finding ways to verbalize and explain why he makes decisions, which is developing their leadership team.
- What They Don't Do Anymore - Before 2015, Ryan and partner did all pricing, nobody else. Never discussed hourly rates. Third to half of the company, they'd decide what to do every morning - no pre-scheduling. The manager would come in asking “what am I doing today?” with eight people waiting. Now they're upset if they’re not scheduled a week out. Also learned to stop shielding people from the bad stuff. They had a bad start to the year starting in the red, and finally told the team where they were at. Annette was trepidatious thinking they'd think "you guys are a bunch of idiots" but complete opposite - everyone said we can do this, started getting wheels in motion.
- The Facility Investment - Four years ago they made a significant investment in their facility. They could have put a metal building on a gravel road for a third of the price but that's not what they were going after. This decision helped in recruiting, and has driven a lot of growth. Expanded parking lot twice, and have run out of parking for third time in six years. When meeting with a new vendor or client, almost every time they say "wow, your office is really nice." Stands them apart from competitors and tells clients they're not going anywhere - important when giving 10-year warranty on hardscapes.
- Being a Woman in Male-Dominated Industry - Annette says it can be frustrating when she can say the exact same thing Ryan's going to say word for word and someone will ask "is there anybody else I can talk to?" She can get chippy about it or just get confident. Her internal dialogue, “Yes, I have the right answer, that's a you problem.” I'll give them to someone with a deeper voice. But it's not just about being a woman. People do this with younger people too - "oh you're a millennial." It's really easy to slide down that slope and inadvertently do the same thing based on something they can't control like age. Whether it's women, being younger, coming from outside industry - really just giving people a chance to show what they have to give rather than judging based on what they look like.
- Keeping Marriage Strong While Working Together - Annette says they stay in their own lanes and respect what the other one does. Do they argue? Sure, don't always agree. But not in front of the team.Marriage is understanding you're not always going to think the same way, can have a conversation, at least see through the other person's eyes. They don’t carpool to work together. They both appreciate the 15-20 minute drive - finding that little thing to reset before home. Ryan says both were on the same page when younger that they wanted a teammate. Like a good teammate, they don't have arguments during “the game” - take that discussion to the right time, afterwards. If you want it to work and be successful, you have to have mutual respect.
