Lawn Doctor

Kehn Dickerson opened his first <a href="http://lawndoctorfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=tenured-lawn-doctor-owner-kehn-dickerson-becomes-a-franchisee-mentor-2705549" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Lawn Doctor franchise</a> in Columbus, Georgia 22 years ago. Since then, the brand veteran has expanded his operation to multiple territories, including three in Atlanta, where he now lives with his family. Having long ago mastered the best practices of the business, Dickerson was eager to find a new way to challenge himself when, this past fall, <a href="https://lawndoctor.1851franchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=tenured-lawn-doctor-owner-kehn-dickerson-becomes-a-franchisee-mentor-2705549" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Lawn Doctor </a>made him a franchisee mentor, tapping into Dickerson&rsquo;s knowledge of the brand and his long-held passion for mentorship.

Before Dickerson opened his first Lawn Doctor franchise, he worked in a marketing for a ministry program that housed foster children. Dickerson loved the work, which made great use of his skills as a people-person, connecting him with local businesses and organizations as well as the children in the program.

&ldquo;I loved spending time with the kids,&rdquo; Dickerson said. &ldquo;That was the main joy of the job for me, but I also developed skills as a marketer, so when I had to look for another opportunity after that job came to an end, I relied on that marketing skill set.&rdquo;

After leaving the ministry, Dickerson sought work that would make use of his marketing skills and his enthusiasm for working with people. He found that at an independent lawn-care business in Alabama. It was during his work with that lawn-care business when Dickerson first discovered Lawn Doctor.

&ldquo;Once I started working with the lawn-care business in Alabama, I started to learn a lot about Lawn Doctor,&rdquo; Dickerson said. &ldquo;It became clear pretty quickly that they are a big name in the business. I worked at that job for four years, and in that time, I learned more and more about Lawn Doctor. Eventually, I decided to buy my own.&rdquo;

Dickerson and his wife moved to Columbus, Georgia to open their first Lawn Doctor franchise, where they worked and grew their business for nearly twenty years until they decided to expand into Atlanta, where their adult children live.

&ldquo;About four years ago we decided to move to Atlanta to be closer to our kids,&rdquo; Dickerson said. &ldquo;We have great employees working our Columbus territories, and they were eager for more responsibility, so we essentially let them run those territories and we opened up three new ones in Atlanta.&rdquo;

After 18 years with Lawn Doctor, Dickerson was excited for a fresh start with his new territories, but with his wealth of experience and the corporate support offered for all new Lawn Doctor franchise territories, the challenges posed by the new operations were minimal, and Dickerson remained eager to try something new.

&ldquo;In some ways, we started at square one with the new territories,&rdquo; Dickerson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very particular about hiring the right technicians, so I was out in the field doing applications myself while I was building my staff. But I know this business inside and out, and with the capital from my existing territories and support from corporate, getting the new territories up and running was pretty easy.&rdquo;

Committed to finding a new challenge, Dickerson began taking stock of his strengths, looking for the most effective way to extend himself.

&ldquo;I started thinking about what my strengths are, and I realized I had grown my business so effectively and I have all this know-how that I could be sharing, so I reached out to Lawn Doctor and told them that if they ever need any help with training or coaching for franchisees, I could help.&rdquo;

Lawn Doctor has a mentorship program that connects new franchisees with more experienced ones, and the franchise&rsquo;s development team knew that Dickerson was a particularly capable franchisee when it came to working with younger team members. Eric Martin, Lawn Doctor&rsquo;s vice president of franchise development, said he was excited when Dickerson reached out.

&ldquo;Lawn Doctor has a really well-designed and effective mentorship program, and we were thrilled to get Kehn involved Martin said. &ldquo;Not only does he know the business as well as any other owner, he&rsquo;s got a real knack for training people. Not everyone has the kind of patience and compassion required for that. Kehn absolutely does.&rdquo;

As part of the mentorship program, Lawn Doctor set Dickerson up with a list of franchisees who were new to the system and could use the extra guidance. Dickerson quickly set to work with the corporate team to develop training plans and schedule visits.

&ldquo;I visited the franchisees and spent a few days with each of them, observing both the office and field work,&rdquo; Dickerson said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t too much different than work I&rsquo;d done with new franchisees before, but it was more formalized, and it felt good to build a process and a calendar around it.&rdquo;

After Dickerson&rsquo;s work with that initial batch of franchisees proved successful, Lawn Doctor agreed to continue utilizing him as a new-franchisee mentor, offering Dickerson a new batch of franchisees every few months. Dickerson said the most valuable advice he has to offer new franchisees are little things and best practices picked up from years on the job.

&ldquo;There are all sorts of little touches, like knowing where to park the vehicle or making sure the technicians&rsquo; shirts look right and the logo is displayed properly,&rdquo; Dickerson said. &ldquo;Those things can make a big difference in the success of a company. Those crucial details extend to the service as well. What do you do if a certain fungus just won&rsquo;t go away? Things like that.&rdquo;

Martin said the brand&rsquo;s corporate team has been thrilled with the work Dickerson has done as a franchisee mentor and plans to continue setting him up with new owners just as long as he remains available.

&ldquo;We work hard to train our new franchisees and set them up with corporate coaches, field support, and every resource they need to be successful,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;Having Kehn&rsquo;s help in that mission has been invaluable. When you are starting something new in any field, there&rsquo;s nothing like having a guy who has done that job for over 20 years letting you know the tips and tricks that have made him successful.&rdquo;

For Dickerson, franchisee mentorship is not only an exciting new facet of a job he had otherwise mastered, it&rsquo;s a return to his passion for mentorship that, at least professionally, he&rsquo;d largely left behind so many years ago.

&ldquo;What I love is encouraging and helping others,&rdquo; Dickerson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my passion in life. There are a lot of different ways to do that, and I&rsquo;ve found a number of ways in my personal life, but it&rsquo;s especially exciting to find a way to do that in my professional life again. When I first met with Lawn Doctor back in the early &lsquo;90s, I could tell that the company had integrity and that they genuinely cared about their franchisees, and that was a big part of the reason I got involved. All these years later, that integrity is still evident, and I&rsquo;m glad to take an active role in helping the company support its franchisees.&quot;

Tenured Lawn Doctor Owner Kehn Dickerson Becomes a Franchisee Mentor

1851 Franchise

The Georgia-area owner combines 22 years of experience in the business with his passion for mentorship to help new franchisees find their footing.

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

tenured-lawn-doctor-owner-kehn-dickerson-becomes-a-franchisee-mentor

FRANCHISE INFORMATION

Own a Lawn Doctor

Happinest Brands Makes the Off-Season a Win for Franchisees

Veteran Success With Lawn Doctor

Lawn Care Franchise Opportunity Overview

Learn

Download Brochure

Visit Website

LAWN DOCTOR

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

SOCIAL MEDIA

How a 20-Year Industry Veteran Tripled His Sales With a Lawn Doctor Franchise

Navy Veteran, Former Field Service Engineer Celebrates Early Success With Lawn Doctor Franchise

LAWN DOCTOR MOST READ STORIES

1851 LOGIN

GROWTH CLUB LOGIN

ABOUT LAWN DOCTOR

CONTACT LAWN DOCTOR

facebook

instagram

twitter

linkedin

youtube

First Name

Last Name

Email

Phone

City

State / Province

Zip Code

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.

navy-veteran-dominick-pennella-success

Design with photo of John Perry and Lawn Doctor logo

lawn-doctor-franchise-success-story-john-perry

Happinest-Lawn-Doctor-Franchisee-Ralph-Valle-Profile-Jacksonville-FL-June-2025

From Near-Quit to 7 Figures: Success With Lawn Doctor in Jacksonville, Florida

lawn-doctor-franchise-success-jacksonville

Record-Breaking Rookies: Firefighter-Banker Duo Blazes Trail With Lawn Doctor Success

record-breaking-rookies-firefighter-banker-lawn-doctor-success

Tenured Lawn Doctor Owner Kehn Dickerson Becomes a Franchisee Mentor

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS