Lawn Doctor

<a href="https://lawndoctorfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=after-a-16-year-banking-career-trevor-merrill-is-succeeding-as-a-business-owner-with-lawn-doctor-2716808" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Lawn Doctor</a>, the 600-plus-unit franchise and leader in the lawn care segment, has proven its ability to create a successful path to business ownership for franchisees coming from all different kinds of backgrounds. Take <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevor-merrill-79914849/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=after-a-16-year-banking-career-trevor-merrill-is-succeeding-as-a-business-owner-with-lawn-doctor-2716808" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Trevor Merrill</a>, for instance, a franchisee in the greater Salt Lake City market.Merrill previously worked as a banking professional and was inspired to enter the franchising industry through a constant reminder of his now-current profession. “I had this office with a big window that looked out onto a golf course. I'd get to work early in the morning, I'd watch guys out there working on the course, and I'd say to myself, ‘Man, I'd way rather be out there.’”Merrill has an undergraduate degree in business management and a master's equivalent degree in banking and finance. He spent 16 years working in the baking industry before franchising with <a href="https://1851franchise.com/lawndoctor">Lawn Doctor</a>, and spent a decade working as a bank vice president and district manager for a bank where he managed multiple branch locations.“I always felt like I wanted to be outside,” Merrill said. “That’s kind of what planted the seed for me.”Merrill says the financial figures of Lawn Doctor helped pull him into franchising, along with the brand’s proven franchise model that has stood for over 50 years. Since that proven concept is combined with a low-overhead business model and a booming real estate market in greater Salt Lake City, Merrill has been able to quickly establish his franchise as a leading service in a high-demand area.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmartinfranchisedevelopment/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=after-a-16-year-banking-career-trevor-merrill-is-succeeding-as-a-business-owner-with-lawn-doctor-2716808" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Eric Martin</a>, the vice president of franchise development for Lawn Doctor's parent brand, Happinest, said Merrill is a franchisee that has helped model the brand’s push for continued West Coast expansion. “It’s been a great advantage of this business to create instant appeal to a variety of investors, and we’ve really been able to grow as a company thanks to input from Trevor and his constant push to expand further.”Merrill had a consultant recommend the Lawn Doctor brand to him as a target franchise to invest in. He was drawn to the branding and learned more through a discovery process, speaking with other brands but being constantly drawn back to the business model and design that Lawn Doctor presented.Merrill did extensive research into the franchising industry before diving into business with Lawn Doctor, seeking the right opportunities and receiving input from family members and industry professionals. “When I started thinking about franchising, I already kind of knew what it was about, but it did take me around two years to finally pull the trigger as a franchisee, just because I was making good money in banking and it was hard to walk away from,” he said.“I knew of another Lawn Doctor franchise on the other side of Salt Lake City, and I knew they were killing it with business.” Merrill said. He said it was common to see branding for Lawn Doctor throughout greater Salt Lake City, and he knew a lot of people that did business with them. That’s why he decided to take the leap and become an entrepreneur himself.“When I did, I went all in.,” he said.Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Merrill says his Lawn Doctor franchise has seen unique advantages unlike others in the industry. He said a lot of people are staying at home, looking at their lawns a lot more often than they may have before.“There is almost always somebody home when I arrive for appointments, and people are willing to go out and look at their lawns a lot more than before,” he said. “I found that if I can get on the lawn with clients, diagnose it and talk to him about what their issues are, I have a very strong close rate and a passionate client to work with. Those two things are huge.”The initial total investment for a single Lawn Doctor territory ranges from $102,015 to $127,065. For more information, visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://lawndoctorfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=after-a-16-year-banking-career-trevor-merrill-is-succeeding-as-a-business-owner-with-lawn-doctor-2716808" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://lawndoctorfranchise.com/</a>.&nbsp;

After a 16-Year Banking Career, Trevor Merrill Is Succeeding as a Business Owner with Lawn Doctor

1851 Franchise

The Salt Lake City-based franchisee is capitalizing on a high-demand market and is fulfilling a long-awaited passion.

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For&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominick-pennella-9918a448/">Dominick Pennella</a>, the journey to becoming a franchise owner with&nbsp;<a href="http://lawndoctorfranchise.com">Lawn Doctor</a>, the 700-plus-unit national lawn care franchise, has unique ties back to his childhood and family. Growing up in Brooklyn in a traditional Italian family, Pennella was involved in the family landscaping business from a young age. He also saw just how important family was. As he approached adulthood, he wanted to explore other paths, which led him to the Navy“I was the baby of three kids. The family culture was already set; landscaping was the thing, and we were Italians who lived in Brooklyn,” Pennella said. “I just felt like there was so much more world to see. I’m appreciating all of these things now, in hindsight, but as an 18-year-old, I just wanted to get going. So I joined the military, and it was the scariest thing I ever did.”<h2>The Military to Corporate Transition</h2>For Pennella, the military was a way to fast-track personal growth, in a way, allowing him to explore what it would mean to go out on his own. It meant leaving his hometown and taking on the adventure without familial backing.He spent about four years in the Navy, working on submarines and doing things like monitoring nuclear reactors through a keyhole. In addition to meeting new people and seeing new places, his time in the Navy set Pennella up with a technical foundation that would define his corporate journey.This military background and technical proficiency opened doors for Pennella as he transitioned to civilian life. He was hired as a field service engineer for a biomedical company before even completing a college degree, but he was already looking toward the “next rung” of the ladder.“I was looking up at the next rung. I thought, ‘I can do that, and to do that, I would need an education directly in management,’” he said. “I decided to sign up for distance learning and see if I could work full-time and go to school at the same time. I did that for about five years. My master’s was in business management.”As he continued to climb the corporate ladder, Pennella returned to lessons he learned in his early landscaping years.“Whether you're showing up to someone's home to take care of a lawn or whether you're showing up to a hospital mid-surgery to take care of a blood gas instrument, the end result is still the same,” he said. “You still have to deal with people who are discontent. They don’t like the current situation, and they need to believe in you. You need to convey a plan, communicate throughout that process and close the loop at the end.”“Regardless of the perceived severity of what you’re fixing, any type of field service is similar,” he continued. “When I worked for my father as a landscaper, it was the exact same thing. A different product, but the exact same customer-facing experience. They want to know what you can do for them. ‘I’m in this situation. How can you help me? And can I contact you if I need anything?’ If you answer all those questions, they're happy. It was the same thing in medical device field service. So, I did well by literally copying the same tenets my father taught me.”Throughout his corporate career, Pennella’s approach earned him and his teams multiple awards and widespread recognition. But as he advanced, it also began to demand more from Pennella in terms of travel. When these requirements began to overshadow his family time, he knew it was time for a change.“I was successful, but my family is so important to me, and they were not more than 20% of my week in any given week in that life,” he said. “I knew it was time for a change.”Today, Pennella says that decision was fueled by the people who matter most — his wife of 14 years, Maria, who is also his partner in running the business, and their two daughters, Dora (11) and Gigi (7). He describes them as his daily inspiration and the driving force behind his decision to build something that would allow him to be present, ambitious and rooted at home all at once.“I didn’t even think of landscaping again, because that was what my dad did,” he continued. “I did electronics in the Navy, and that was my thing. But my father and I, one thing we have in common is the love of family. He couldn’t wait to get home and spend time with us when I was young, and I share that same view.”So, when he first began searching for his next opportunity, Pennella was looking for other roles in the same industry. He wanted to stick with “his thing,” just in a capacity that would require less travel and allow for more family time. After realizing that, at his level of seniority, any new role would be more of the same, he went to step two: franchises.<h2>Identifying Lawn Doctor: The Return to the Lawn Care Business</h2>“There are about a billion franchises for anything you could possibly think of, so how do you choose one?” he said. “I ended up finding some really great people — some franchise brokers. I took the Zorakle Assessment, and two days later, they called and said, ‘Hey, have you ever heard of&nbsp;<a href="https://1851franchise.com/lawndoctor/info">Lawn Doctor</a>?’”At this point, Pennella had not mentioned Lawn Doctor to the brokers, but he remembered it from childhood. He saw the green thumb logo and vehicles in the community and, as a child, asked his father how the business model worked since he never saw them cutting anyone’s lawn. At the time, his father explained that fertilization was one of the more profitable services in the lawn care space, but the conversation stopped there.So, when Pennella was presented with the Lawn Doctor franchise opportunity decades later, it almost felt meant to be.“When I started doing some research, I realized it might be the perfect fit. It tied in with my nostalgia, my culture, my history, my skill sets — everything,” he said. “And again, it’s field service. It wasn’t a straight line, and I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for the folks who guided me in the selection process. But when they said ‘Lawn Doctor,’ I thought, ‘Are you kidding me? I used to joke about comparing Lawn Doctor to the type of work I did in my father’s business.’ And here I am, the owner of a Lawn Doctor franchise! And I couldn’t be happier with the choice.”<h2>Building Momentum Through a Culture of Collaboration</h2>As Pennella launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lawndoctor.com/naples-fl/">Lawn Doctor of Naples-LaBelle-Marco Island</a>, he applied a sophisticated management lens to a local service model. This approach has already yielded impressive results, driving Pennella to blow his first-year projections out of the water within a couple of months. By focusing on communication and personal outreach, including knocking on clients’ doors himself, he was able to build trust and set the business up for an amazing first year.“It’s a simple, scalable model, and it sets you up to make your money back in a fairly short time frame,” he said. “It’s a great choice for a calculated risk-taker.”In addition to his own analytical lens, Pennella’s success has been driven by the support of the entire franchise system. Previously accustomed to a “dog-eat-dog” atmosphere in corporate America, Pennella was pleasantly surprised by the collaborative nature of the Lawn Doctor system. While he has worked diligently to educate himself on all facets of the business, he realized that, with the franchise system behind him, he didn’t have to absorb all of the information immediately and completely.“In the corporate world, everyone is looking for their own win. Here, a rising tide floats all ships,” he said. “I have at least five other owners and a dedicated mentor that I can call any time for any reason, and they’ll have an answer. I’m not scared to take on things I might not be an expert on yet because I have the backup to help me find those answers if needed.”&nbsp;Pennella is quick to credit those who have walked beside him during this first year. He highlights&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottspitz/">Scott Spitz</a> of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lawndoctor.com/lakeworth-fl/lawn-care-in-west-palm-beach/">West Palm Beach</a>, who has served as a dedicated mentor, providing the institutional knowledge that only a veteran owner can offer. He also expresses deep gratitude for the ongoing support from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-valle-a92584103/">Ralph Valle</a> in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lawndoctor.com/jacksonville-fl/lawn-care-in-jacksonville/">Jacksonville</a> and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lawndoctor.com/fortmyers-fl/home/">Duffy family in Fort Myers</a>, whose insights helped him navigate the nuances of the Florida market, illustrating just how valuable it is to be a part of the Lawn Doctor system, which functions as a true team.As he prepares for continued growth, Pennella recognizes that there will be additional learning and growth opportunities as a Lawn Doctor owner, but he’s ready for them, and he encourages others in a similar position to consider taking the leap, as well.“If you are willing to learn agronomy and work closely with the franchisor, this can change your life,” he said. “It gave me the one thing I couldn’t find in the corporate world: the ability to put my family first without sacrificing my ambition. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit&nbsp;<a href="https://1851franchise.com/lawndoctor">https://1851franchise.com/lawndoctor.</a>&nbsp;

Photo of Lawn Doctor franchisee Dominick Pennella and family

After making the switch to franchising for better work-life balance and to prioritize his family, Dominick Pennella exceeded his first-year projections by 50% in his first few months of operations.

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Design with photo of John Perry and Lawn Doctor logo

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After a 16-Year Banking Career, Trevor Merrill Is Succeeding as a Business Owner with Lawn Doctor

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