They Constructed a $103 Million Franchise From a Single Location

Terry Kurth, 77, says that selecting the best life companion is an important determination a person could make — and he is aware of the reality of this assertion firsthand. Practically 50 years in the past, his spouse was in labor. She was within the hospital mendacity on her facet with extreme again ache as a result of their daughter, Amanda, was turned 180 levels within the womb.

Terry was there for his spouse — however he additionally didn’t cease working. 

“I had one hand on the small of her again to alleviate ache and the opposite on the telephone calling prospects to promote garden care,” Terry tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “She didn’t complain as a result of she knew we have been about to have one other mouth to feed, and failure wasn’t an possibility.”

Terry entered the Weed Man system in 2000 after exiting his personal garden care ventures and looking for his subsequent chapter. He shortly noticed a possibility to broaden the Canadian model within the U.S. and based Epic3, which might change into Weed Man’s largest multi-unit possession group. Beginning with a single territory in Madison, Wisconsin, Terry steadily scaled the operation right into a nationwide footprint.

Andy Kurth’s entry into the enterprise was far much less strategic. As Terry’s son, he joined whereas in school merely to earn additional money, working in gross sales and as a garden care technician. However what started as a momentary gig developed right into a long-term profession. Over time, Andy took on rising duty, finally rising to change into president and CEO of Epic3 and main the continued growth of the enterprise his father helped construct.

The next interview with Terry and Andy has been flippantly edited for readability and concision.

Early days

How did you find yourself in garden care and franchising?
Terry: I used to be going to be an engineer and went to the College of Wisconsin, graduating in 1975. Whereas I used to be there, I began working at a golf course and fell in love with being exterior and dealing with turf.

I ended up getting a level in agronomy, which is basically plant science, and have become a golf course superintendent proper out of faculty. Later, I went to work for the Scotts Firm in its skilled turf division and traveled across the nation giving instructional seminars to golf course superintendents, panorama contractors and early garden care operators.

Ultimately, I got here into contact with an organization referred to as Barefoot Grass, turned certainly one of its first franchisees in 1978, constructed that up and finally offered when Barefoot Grass was acquired by TruGreen. It ended properly, and I discovered myself gainfully unemployed in my mid‑40s with the proceeds from that sale.

What did you do after exiting Barefoot Grass?
Terry: After Barefoot Grass was offered and I accomplished that chapter, I turned previous president of what was then the Skilled Garden Care Affiliation of America (PLCAA), which gave me a powerful community of operators throughout the nation. Weed Man is headquartered in Toronto, and thru that community, I bought to know their management. They flew me up; I met the franchisor and a Canadian franchisee who had acquired the grasp rights to the US, and collectively we got here up with the thought of making regional sub‑franchisors. My area included Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota. I offered franchises there, stored the biggest share of the royalties, and handed the rest as much as the grasp group in Toronto.

How did you transition again into working a garden care franchise your self?
Terry: Once I offered to TruGreen, I had a 3‑yr non‑compete that restricted me from working within the cities the place I had places — locations like Madison, Appleton, Inexperienced Bay, Lexington and Peoria. As soon as that non‑compete expired in January 2001, I re‑entered the enterprise as a Weed Man franchisee. I began the Madison operation with certainly one of my spouse’s nephews, and when he selected to pursue one thing else, we employed a supervisor.

That’s across the time Andy, who had been serving to me promote throughout school, stepped in and finally turned the supervisor in Madison. From there, Andy and I started working intently collectively, rising the enterprise organically into new markets after which merging further markets into our holding firm over time. Our first billing yr in Madison in 2001 was about $110,000 in income; at the moment, we’re round $103 million, so it’s been fairly a run over roughly twenty‑5 years.

Secrets and techniques to scaling Weed Man

What are your secrets and techniques to progress? How do you scale from $110,000 to $103 million?
Terry: A giant inflection level was once I met Roger Mongeon, who held the U.S. rights to Weed Man and is without doubt one of the smartest individuals I’ve ever met, each in enterprise and on the whole. He’s a former chemical engineer, and we developed a deep mutual belief and respect. He confirmed me the programs Weed Man had constructed, and I shortly realized that to deal with important progress, you need to have sturdy programs. Folks speak about breaking via glass ceilings of their careers; progress in a enterprise is comparable — you possibly can’t get to the subsequent stage with out programs that guarantee nothing falls via the cracks as you add individuals and places. You additionally want a relentless perspective — failure can’t be an possibility.

Take me again 26 years. What did that very first Weed Man location appear to be day after day, and what satisfied you each that it was value betting your careers on?
Andy: From my perspective as a school child on the time, I wasn’t initially pondering of an extended‑time period profession. I’d present up on Saturdays to an nearly vacant shell of an workplace and be the one individual there promoting garden care. We used outdated‑faculty telemarketing to generate leads, and my cousin, who had began the enterprise with my dad, was out treating lawns practically by himself.

That first yr, income was round $100,000, so there merely weren’t many individuals concerned. Annually, as we added income, we’d usher in one other technician, then one other and finally a senior technician, progressively constructing out the group.

Fixing errors

Andy, are you able to share an occasion whenever you made a mistake operating the corporate and the way you fastened it?
Andy: Early in my management profession, I used to be sporting 10 hats and always chasing individuals round. Once we first launched door‑knocking for lead technology, I discovered myself operating after supervisors each morning as a result of they stored forgetting door hangers. Sooner or later, I noticed how unsustainable that was. As an alternative of continuous to chase individuals, I targeted on growing higher programs — begin‑of‑day procedures, checklists and clearer position possession — in order that group members owned their tasks. That have was a catalyst for me to shift from being a job‑oriented supervisor to a frontrunner targeted on growing different leaders.

Hand-raising tradition

Andy, you may have described the group as having a hand-raising tradition. What does that imply?
Andy: Hand‑elevating tradition describes leaders inside our group who actually elevate their arms to tackle new challenges and uproot their lives. For instance, a gentleman from Inexperienced Bay volunteered to maneuver to Austin to begin that department, and one other teammate from Madison, who had additionally labored in Milwaukee, raised his hand to maneuver to Denver.

These markets at the moment are amongst our high performers — Denver, for instance, grew from round $250,000 in first‑yr income to over $8 million. We hold constructing stables of leaders who breathe our mission — individuals, alternative, group — in that order. They purchase into that mission and carry it into their branches and departments, which creates new alternatives in new areas and actually adjustments lives. Many individuals in our firm have careers they by no means imagined, and so they, in flip, move that mindset to the individuals they lead.

Lengthy-term imaginative and prescient

What are your plans for progress and succession?
Andy: We plan to maintain doing what we do finest: altering individuals’s lives for the higher and constructing a tradition the place individuals wish to advance that mission of individuals, alternative, group. If our persons are caring for one another and constructing one thing they’ll name their very own, we’ll be advantageous.

Terry: On the system stage, Weed Man as an entire generates round $435 million to $450 million in annual income, and with Epic3 at round $103 million, we’re a big contributor. The broader aim is to change into a billion‑greenback firm, and we wish to assist drive that by innovating and supporting different franchisees inside the Weed Man household. Collectively, we intend to succeed in that billion‑greenback milestone whereas sustaining the tradition and programs that bought us right here.

Terry Kurth, 77, says that selecting the best life companion is an important determination a person could make — and he is aware of the reality of this assertion firsthand. Practically 50 years in the past, his spouse was in labor. She was within the hospital mendacity on her facet with extreme again ache as a result of their daughter, Amanda, was turned 180 levels within the womb.

Terry was there for his spouse — however he additionally didn’t cease working. 

“I had one hand on the small of her again to alleviate ache and the opposite on the telephone calling prospects to promote garden care,” Terry tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “She didn’t complain as a result of she knew we have been about to have one other mouth to feed, and failure wasn’t an possibility.”