Lawn Doctor

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-dollahite-8208b326/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=former-chick-fil-a-franchise-owner-becomes-lawn-doctor-franchisee-2724114" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Aaron Dollahite</a> loves building businesses and has an extensive, successful background in doing so. The accomplishments under his belt include owning a home health agency, CEO of a group of dental practices and <a href="https://1851franchise.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-owning-a-chick-fil-a-franchise-2725069">Chick-fil-A franchise</a> owner, but Dollahite is not stopping with those. He is keen to continue to build his empire.&nbsp;This entrepreneurial trailblazer has been on the hunt for a service-related business that would allow him to improve his community and create a family legacy, and&nbsp;<a href="https://1851franchise.com/lawndoctor">Lawn Doctor</a> is providing him with this opportunity. After opening his new&nbsp;<a href="https://lawndoctorfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=former-chick-fil-a-franchise-owner-becomes-lawn-doctor-franchisee-2724114" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Lawn Doctor</a> location in Boise, Idaho, in 2024, he intends to make it a family affair with contributions from his wife Mara and their six children.&nbsp;Aaron and Mara Dollahite recently spoke with 1851 Franchise to share more about their journey into franchising and their plans to grow.1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us.&nbsp;What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?Aaron:&nbsp;I started my first business in real estate back when I was in college during my undergraduate degree. With the real estate market crash in 2008, I saw the writing on the wall and transitioned into health care with a job managing multi-specialty dental practices.&nbsp;The position turned into me helping to improve their business experience. Their first clinic was struggling with things like customer retention, access to care and patient satisfaction, so I came in and did some work to turn things around for them. Then I started to take on other practices with them, doing the same thing. After a while, I decided to pursue my master's degree in business administration at the University of Idaho.&nbsp;&nbsp;I knew I wanted my own businesses, so I focused my MBA on business acquisition and valuation. Afterwards, I made my first major business purchase, which was in the health care industry. That required me to move to Texas, and I had that business for about four years.It was a really good learning experience. It taught me a lot of things about myself and my strengths in business. I learned that I was not a fan of cold calling types of marketing. I also learned that digital marketing for a small business can be really hard.I decided that my next business venture would be a franchise because I knew franchising could bring a lot to the table with the systems they have in place. That's when I was offered a franchise opportunity with Chick-fil-A in Utah. I was able to come on as a franchise owner, run it and make a good income and I learned a lot, but I was still looking for something else.&nbsp;Ultimately, long story short, I was recruited to be CEO of a group of dental practices that were struggling.&nbsp; It was a unique challenge and one I enjoyed tackling. I learned a lot, and with time, I was able to get them back on solid ground.&nbsp;Now, I'm looking to get back into business&nbsp;ownership. I wasn't interested in just purchasing a business for a job; I was looking for a business investment opportunity that would allow me to grow it into something substantial. I wanted a legacy business opportunity, something I could potentially pass on to my family if my kids so desired it.&nbsp;Beyond personal legacy, a key aspect I was looking for was a business that offered scalability, and Lawn Doctor appeared to offer that. There are a lot of not great franchises out there, to be honest. So many of them are basically a business in a bag where you pay all the fees, they give you their business plan, their contacts to their vendors and the right to use their name, then wish you good luck and disappear. They fail to see the importance of joint effort to achieve long-term growth and success.Lawn Doctor was a quality franchise opportunity like Chick-fil-A, and there were a lot of similarities in how they help you throughout the process.The marketing that they do is more than just a vendor contact; it is something they offered in-house, and it was highly sophisticated and data driven. I knew that that's something I wanted a franchise to bring to the table.1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?Aaron:&nbsp; Overall, I would say it was a positive perception but also cautiously positive. I've looked at multiple franchises and there's a lot of franchises out there, but there are very few, in my opinion, quality franchises.&nbsp;I was cautiously optimistic that a franchise could lend itself well to my strengths and what I was looking to achieve with that business. It needed to be something of high quality. Chick-fil-A became that standard of high quality for me after my experience there.&nbsp;As a franchise, Lawn Doctor allowed me the ability to grow beyond the initial franchise concept.1851:&nbsp;What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?Aaron: I really wanted a franchise that was more than just the rights to a name and a business plan. I wanted a franchise where I felt like I was in a true partnership with the franchise owner, and that they really cared about my success throughout launch and beyond.I noticed in my due diligence process that Lawn Doctor checks those boxes. It was evident to me that Lawn Doctor makes a concentrated effort to help their franchises grow.&nbsp;Marketing is in-house, and they manage it. That was really big. It was obvious to me that there was a plan in place on how I could truly grow this into something significant. Another important thing for me was meeting with the CEO of Lawn Doctor. It was obvious that he was a man that cared deeply about the success of the business. There was a long-term vision and continual growth process. It wasn't just a concept that they're throwing out there to see how many franchisees can get signed up. They were looking for the right fit for their business, and that alone told me that they cared about who they partnered with.&nbsp;Mara:&nbsp;Not only is it not stagnant, but it's also not linear, which was really appealing for me. They already have thought processes in place about what to do when you're approaching expansion&nbsp; in terms of how to expand both one unit and your empire. Lawn Doctor puts no limit on your growth.&nbsp;1851:&nbsp;What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth?&nbsp;Aaron:&nbsp;I really hope to build a business and a brand that connects us and our family to the community. That's something that's important to us.Lawn Doctor uses the term “empire building.” That level of scalability and diversification is part of my vision. I want to grow my business into something substantial. The pattern of my past experience has given me the opportunity to grow businesses and I'm excited to do that again, but this time for myself.&nbsp;I also love how Lawn Doctor is a family business. Mara plans on being active and helping me with the business; that excites me to do something together with her. It affords the opportunity for our children to participate as well, and it's something that I could potentially build and pass on to them. A number of existing Lawn Doctor owners have done this, which to me is a huge indicator of the quality of the business opportunity.1851:&nbsp;What is the one thing about your story you want us to know?Aaron:&nbsp;I have a vision for what I'm wanting to build. Lawn Doctor offers me the foundation for that. The scalability of the opportunity is exciting.&nbsp;We’re moving for this opportunity from north Idaho down to southern Idaho.&nbsp; We wouldn't make that kind of dramatic move if we didn't feel like this was an incredible opportunity.1851:&nbsp;What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming a franchise owner?Aaron:&nbsp;Franchising is a long-term relationship. It needs to be something that you feel like will fit well with your unique talents. It's really important to talk to other owners and to not gloss over that process. A franchise will present a package to you, and that could be very enticing. But to really find out what it's like, you need to get unedited input from other franchise owners.&nbsp;Then another big piece of advice is that you need to really understand what the franchise brings to the table. You're going to be paying a franchise a lot of money throughout the years, and it needs to be more than just for the rights to the name. What you want is somebody looking to partner with their franchisees to grow a sustainable business and understand that success is achieved together.&nbsp;About Lawn Doctor:&nbsp;Since its first franchise in 1967, Lawn Doctor has established itself as a leader in the lawn care services industry through innovative technology, its ability to satisfy the needs of consumers on a national level, and its development and expansion within the industry. Lawn Doctor specializes in treatment and conditioning services, such as fertilization, weed control, seeding, aeration, and tree and shrub care. The Lawn Doctor brand has hundreds of locally owned and operated franchises, and is the no. 1 ranked lawn care franchise in the United States. Lawn Doctor is a 2023 Franchise 500 brand, ranking no. 79 for its financial strength and stability, unit growth and brand power.&nbsp;

Former Chick-fil-A Franchise Owner Becomes Lawn Doctor Franchisee

1851 Franchise

Aaron and Mara Dollahite have started to build their empire with Lawn Doctor, creating a legacy the whole family, six kids included, can benefit from. 

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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

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