Lawn Doctor

Almost as soon as Ted Kramer graduated from SUNY Buffalo in 1989, he began a fast-paced career that took him to some of the biggest companies in a variety of sectors. Kramer started as an accountant at Ernst &amp; Young before transitioning into media and entertainment at Time Warner before transitioning back into finance at the Young &amp; Rubicon Group. By the time Kramer decided to leave the corporate world in 2007, he was the chief financial officer for a 1,000-employee staffing company called Forrest Solutions.

Despite his success, the work was taking a toll on Kramer, who says his priorities started to change as he began to build a family with his wife.

&ldquo;We were about to have our second child, and I already had a one-year-old at home who barely recognized me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was on the 6 a.m. train to Manhattan every day and the 8 p.m. train home every night. I didn&rsquo;t want to live that way anymore. I wasn&rsquo;t interested in the biggest salary and the biggest office and the most assistants. It was much more important to me to be at my kids&rsquo; soccer games.&rdquo;

With nearly two decades of high-level business experience under his belt, Kramer knew starting his own business from scratch would prohibit the lifestyle he wanted to maintain, so he turned to franchising, which he reasoned would allow him to hit the ground running with a proven business model and established branding.

Though Kramer was determined to invest in a franchise, he was not immediately sure what kind of concept he was looking for, so he worked with a broker to find an opportunity that met his essential requirements.

&ldquo;I had a number of boxes that I needed checked,&rdquo; Kramer said. &ldquo;I wanted something that was nationally known but had room for growth in my market; the dollar investment had to work; it couldn&rsquo;t be brick-and-mortar; it had to be service-oriented; I wanted to avoid skilled labor, which can cause major staffing issues; and I wanted something that was predominantly Monday-through-Friday, so that I could spend nights and weekends with my family.&rdquo;

Kramer and his broker spent about three months ironing out those criteria before spending six months to investigate brands. Ultimately, only one brand fell right in line with Kramer&rsquo;s core requirements: lawn-care franchise <a href="http://lawndoctorfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=former-corporate-cfo-finds-new-career-with-lawn-doctor-2706209" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lawn Doctor</a>.

Once he determined that <a href="https://lawndoctor.1851franchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=former-corporate-cfo-finds-new-career-with-lawn-doctor-2706209" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lawn Doctor</a> was the right fit, Kramer worked with the development team to determine a growth strategy that would take advantage of the brand&rsquo;s room for expansion in Kramer&rsquo;s hometown on Long Island, where he still lives with his family.

&ldquo;I started with one territory and quickly expanded into my second. My plan after a couple of years was to assess where I was at and begin ramping up other neighboring areas as it made sense to do so,&rdquo; Kramer said. &ldquo;This strategy isn&rsquo;t for everyone, but it has certainly paid off for me.&rdquo;

Growth strategies vary by owner, but Lawn Doctor&rsquo;s vice president of franchise development, Eric Martin, says the concept is built to accommodate an aggressive plan for the right investors.

&ldquo;Our owners have come to us for a variety of different reasons,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;Many want to find something that they can own for themselves for a minimal investment, some people are looking for a business they can run with their family, some people are just looking for an opportunity that will let them work outdoors and from a home office. Ted is an owner who came to us because he wanted to build something big that would support his family and that he could manage on his own terms. Lawn Doctor is a great opportunity for an investor like Ted. Because of our minimal infrastructure and the way our territories are laid out, the most ambitious owners can scale up relatively quickly and very successfully. Ted is a perfect example of that.&rdquo;

Kramer has continued to build out his operation, which is on track to hit $1.6 million in revenue this year. Kramer says he plans to continue growing for the next few years, but not forever.

&ldquo;My goal right now is to hit $2 million in revenue,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That puts me, my family and my team where we want to be. At this stage, I don&rsquo;t intend to grow much more than $2 million because I don&rsquo;t want to hire additional employees and keep growing the business just for the sake of growth. I believe that $2 million puts us in a perfect spot, but who knows, I could change my thoughts down the road.&rdquo;

As Kramer nears that goal, he says he continues to rely on the strengths of the Lawn Doctor system as much as his own business savvy.

&ldquo;The key benefit of working with Lawn Doctor, which is exactly what I was looking for from a franchise in the first place, is that they give you a playbook that covers A&ndash;Z,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is completely comprehensive. Whatever aspects of the business are not your strengths, you just defer to the playbook. I have a strong advertising and business background, but I knew nothing about lawns coming into this. So I focused myself on sales and marketing a bit more than the average franchisee, and when it came to lawns, I just followed the model to a T. That strategy has moved the operation from a small home office to an enormous facility with a warehouse. It&rsquo;s been immensely satisfying to watch that happen.&quot;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Former Corporate CFO Finds New Career with Lawn Doctor

1851 Franchise

Ted Kramer left a fast-paced career in finance to start his own business and spend more time with his family

This brand page has been paid for by LAWN DOCTOR. Content within this page that is paid will showcase a Sponsored icon. This means the brand has engaged 1851 FRANCHISE to write the content. Content without the Sponsored Icon is aggregated media placements the brand earned. Questions can be sent to editorial@1851franchise.com

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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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Design with photo of John Perry and Lawn Doctor logo

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