Lawn Doctor

Starr Womack had very high hopes when he purchased his <a href="http://lawndoctorfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=how-a-lawn-doctor-franchisee-overcame-the-2008-recession-to-find-major-success-2708102" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lawn Doctor</a> franchise in October of 2007.

He had been golfing with friends when he first learned about franchising opportunities with the brand, which provides lawn treatment and conditioning services, along with pest control, seeding, tree and shrub services.

Lawn Doctor seemed like an excellent fit for Womack, who is a veteran of the pest and termite control industry. His fellow golfers, he said, spoke about how much they enjoyed working for Lawn Doctor.

&ldquo;They talked about how they were able to grow their businesses and the great opportunities they got out of the experience,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I realized then that t<a href="https://1851franchise.com/lawndoctor/why-the-seasonality-of-the-lawn-doctor-business-is-such-a-benefit-to-the-brand-8211" target="_blank">he franchising route just might be something I&rsquo;d want to pursue.</a>&rdquo;

Womack purchased Lawn Doctor&rsquo;s North Alabama territory in October 2007. He was 100 percent committed to his new venture and looked forward to providing the best service to the communities his location served at fair prices.

It wasn&rsquo;t long after he had opened his operation that the recession hit, but Womack managed to keep the business moving in the right direction through a combination of business savvy, boosting employee morale and brand support from the corporate team. October 2018 marks his eleventh year in the business.

&ldquo;That was the most unexpected challenge I have ever experienced,&rdquo; Womack said. &ldquo;I thought I may have made a mistake, starting a business in a declining economy.&rdquo;

However, that thought did not last long. Womack believed in the Lawn Doctor brand and knew he could be a great partner to his customers and a strong leader for his employees.

&ldquo;The timing wasn&rsquo;t ideal, but starting off on that foot only inspired us to work even harder to keep the business going strong,&rdquo; Womack said.

One way Womack battled through was by being highly selective throughout the hiring process. It has always been important to him to hire people who are on board with the brand and exemplify its core values.

&ldquo;One of the secrets to success in my business is that I haven&rsquo;t had employee turnover in over two years,&rdquo; Womack said. &ldquo;I make sure I find and hire people that care deeply about this industry, our customers and all who share that same desire to serve a great role within the community.&rdquo;

Womack also makes sure to connect with his staff on a personal level. He&rsquo;s proud of his team, which he describes as a diverse group from different backgrounds and upbringings. The way he sees it, employee recognition goes a long way.

&ldquo;I try and make a point to get to know my employees well on a personal level and their work ethic in order to let them know that their work is appreciated,&rdquo; Womack said, &ldquo;They take care of our customers and watch out for each other. Having that positive energy around is what keeps our business going.&rdquo;

Today, 11 years after he purchased his franchise, Womack is looking toward the future. He plans to continue <a href="https://1851franchise.com/lawndoctor/lawn-doctor-begins-2019-with-strong-franchise-development-expectations-after-completing-one-of-its-biggest-years-in-franchise-development-in-2018--2708943" target="_blank">building his success by opening a second Lawn Doctor franchise in early 2019 in the Huntsville, Alabama area.</a> He is proud of how far his Decatur-Madison location has come, and how his team continues to provide excellent service.

&ldquo;We want to be well known throughout the community as being the friendly neighbor next-door business,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We want the neighbors of our current customers to be our new clientele. We see a lot of new customers come from referrals from either existing or old customers, which make us feel really good.&rdquo;

Lawn Doctor has attained an industry-leading 80 percent customer retention rate by focusing on building loyalty with its customers. Having a nationally known &ndash; but locally owned business &ndash; goes a long way in not only finding customers, but keeping them happy and loyal to the brand.&nbsp;

&ldquo;We strive to establish and maintain our current relationships so that our customers will want to keep calling us back for our services year after year,&rdquo; Womack said. &ldquo;Our customers love our program, culture and way of doing business. That&rsquo;s what I am most proud of at the end of the day.&rdquo;

The startup costs for a Lawn Doctor franchise range from $101,840 to $115,890. The franchise fee is $35,000. To learn more about owning a Lawn Doctor franchise, visit <a href="http://lawndoctorfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=how-a-lawn-doctor-franchisee-overcame-the-2008-recession-to-find-major-success-2708102" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://lawndoctorfranchise.com/</a>.

Starr Womack Lawn Doctor Franchisee Alabama

How a Lawn Doctor Franchisee Overcame the 2008 Recession to Find Major Success

1851 Franchise

Despite launching his Lawn Doctor franchise during a declining economy, Starr Womack has thrived with his recession-resistant business.

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

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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How a Lawn Doctor Franchisee Overcame the 2008 Recession to Find Major Success

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