February 27, 2025 • 45 mins
Are you truly embracing change, or is it just "the way we’ve always done it" that’s holding your landscape business back? Join Tommy Cole as he sits down with Mark Sedgley, CEO of LMN and Single Ops, in this episode of the Roots of Success podcast. Mark reveals the dynamics of integrating technology in landscaping, debunking myths about software suitability for different business sizes, and sharing secrets of building winning teams. Tune in to discover how embracing change can significantly propel your business forward and why the community might be your most powerful asset yet.
THE BIG IDEA:
Embracing change for growth.
KEY MOMENTS:
[03:21] Landscape Business Strategy Insights
[07:15] Creating Ripple Impact Through Software
[11:07] "Kicking Off Success with Software"
[13:17] Adapt to Change, Embrace Growth
[19:37] Streamlining Core Software Features
[22:45] Streamlining Tech: Simplifying User Experience
[26:16] "Authentic Values Drive Success"
[29:07] Business Leadership Focus
[32:32] From Leader to CEO Growth
[37:10] "Networking for Effective Problem Solving"
[40:34] Overcoming Challenges
QUESTIONS WE ANSWER
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What are effective strategies for managing business change?
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How can technology unlock potential in landscape industries?
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What is the role of a CEO in tech companies during a merger?
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Why is community important in the software development process?
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How can landscape companies benefit from comprehensive software solutions?
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What are the benefits of using peer groups and mentorship in business growth?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The Roots of Success podcast isfor the landscape professional
who's looking to up their game.
We've got a brain trust of experts tohelp you nurture the roots of a successful
business and grow to the next level.
This is The Roots of Success.
Hey, welcome to another awesomeepisode Roots of Success podcast.
I'm your host Tommy Cole and I'vegot an another awesome guest my
(00:22):
sort of new friend that I metin Orlando, many weeks back.
We kind of had some good conversationand I was like, this is a really awesome
dude that we got to have on our show.
Mark Sedgley.
The CEO of LMN Single Ops.
And you may be wondering like,whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
This is, this is where we get reallysome good questions and get some feedback
(00:45):
of the big news that was launched lastfall of the merger of LMN Single Ops.
Welcome to the show, Mark.
How are you?
Awesome, man.
And I love the energyand I love the welcome.
I can't say enough about ourtime together in Orlando.
The mastermind event.
And I got to know you.
I've gotten to know McFarland, Stanford,Jason, you know, the team, Chris.
(01:07):
And so in a short amount of time, Ifeel like, you know, we're already,
you know, best friends and, you know.
Comrades in arms.
So thank you for havingme on the show, Tommy.
I really appreciate it.
Yeah, this is great.
So we met finally in Orlandoat a mastermind event.
And, I was like, man,who is this guy, Mark?
Like it's Mark and there's anotherMark involved and all that.
(01:28):
But we sat down at a fun restaurant forhours and just kind of talked about.
Everything about business,where we are in our company,
where you are in your company.
And we talked about, you know,general life and raising kids and
hiking and all kinds of like medicineand, and all kinds of fun stuff.
I was like, Whoa, this is goingto be a right up our alley.
(01:50):
So.
If you're living under a rock,you have no idea what's going on.
Give us an intro kind of like about yourpast and, and let's learn more about you.
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's, it's pretty simple.
I, I'm a, I kind of grew up as anentrepreneur you know, and I think I have
a pretty similar story to lots of folksacross America, which has tied me kind of
(02:14):
like this through line to LMN and singleops and, and, you know, the landscaping
and tree care community, which is.
My first job as a high schooler was,you know, a lawnmower sticking out
of the trunk and a weed whacker.
That's what we called it
Oh,
Tennessee and a blower.
And, you know, I'm just driving aroundthe neighborhood, knocking on doors to
(02:36):
see if I can cut their lawn for 20 bucks,you know and ever since then, I've just
kind of always wanted to do my own thing.
And so I helped start acompany called number clicks.
The way that folks in this communitycould connect to member clicks is if
you've ever been a member of, like,the National Association of Landscape
Professionals or your local stateassociation, when you would log into
(02:57):
those, those you know associations,websites and register for an event or
pay your dues or update your profile.
There's a good chance.
It was my software called member clicks.
And so I've just always hadan entrepreneurial thing.
I really like working for myself.
I like making an impactand feeling that impact.
And so from there I sold member clicks.
(03:19):
And since then, it's kind of been apractice to take over for founders
and and take the great businesses thatthey've created to the next level.
And so that's how I cameto single ops back in 23.
I took over for the founder of single ops.
Single Ops is more more on tree care.
right.
You know, we do have landscape customers,because what I've noticed Tommy is there's
(03:39):
lots of businesses that have, like, youknow, multifaceted lines of businesses
that do landscape, hardscape design,build tree care, all the all the above.
And so I took over that businessand 1 of the things that I kept
looking around and seeing is, islike, how do we actually get into.
The landscape kind of, you know, communityand really do it in a meaningful way.
And I started looking aroundthe marketplace and I saw one
(04:02):
company that was super interestingand that company was LMN.
And so I reached out to Mark Bradley.
I'm sure your listeners knowexactly who Mark Bradley is.
He's kind of a, you know,a legend in the space.
He's given back to the community.
He's starting this a new gig.
Called leanscaper, which were hugesupporters and fans of but when I called
(04:24):
him, he was the CEO and founder of LMN.
And I just said, Hey Mark, you know, youlook like, you know, what you're talking
about, I've watched your stuff online.
You've got a great company.
Do you mind teaching me a thingor two about the industry?
I'm a new guy.
Maybe we can become frenemies, youknow, and, Mark's answer, probably not
to anybody's surprise, was like, sure.
And so he spent, you know, anhour with me on a zoom call.
(04:47):
And then it was a great conversation.
We hit it off.
He thinks about things in a lot of ways,similar to the way that I think about
him about building teams, leaning intomission, creating impact in an industry.
And so then I made up a reasonto be in Toronto, Tommy.
And I said, like, Hey, man, do youlike, you know, red wine and steak?
You know, fingers crossed.
He says yes, and he did.
(05:08):
And so we had a dinner andthe relationship just evolved.
And when Mark decided that he was readyfor, I think he's calling it version 4.
0 and his journey you know, he gave me acall and said, Hey, I'd like for you to
participate and maybe take a run at LMNas a, as a potential business opportunity.
And we did.
(05:29):
And then in October of last year, atthe very end of October, last year,
we were able to cement the deal.
And so ever since then, we've kind of justbeen, you know, running and gunning and,
you know, doing all the stuff that you dowhen you're putting companies together.
That's fascinating.
What made you, let's, this is in aperspective of owners and managers.
In the landscape world, you, you,you're kind of, you and I are similar.
(05:53):
When you see something, you go after it.
Like it's something about a feelingor a connectedness of something.
I'm this fan of that as well.
If I see something that feels goodand I feel like this is the right way.
I just go, right?
You go like, talk about that experiencewhen you're like, man, we're looking
at LMN and that's the reason why.
(06:14):
What made you commit andjust go and not overthink it?
Yeah.
I mean, Hey, it's a great question.
I don't think I'm smart enoughto overthink anything, Tommy.
So I think that's like one ofthose blessings in my life.
It's like, you just, youknow, don't overthink it, man.
You know, yeah, exactly.
I, there's some thingsabout the LMN that are just.
Undeniable, right?
(06:35):
Like the LMN customer are small business,small to medium sized businesses, right?
And they range in size andsuccess and revenue levels.
But at the end of the day, they'rethe, they're the folks within
their communities that are likehiring people, creating jobs.
Creating economy, right?
Connecting communities through enhancing,like the outdoor appeal and living
(06:59):
spaces that people like to congregate in.
Like, so first and foremost, thecommunity, the customer, the type of
customer was like the most magical thingfor me about the LMN customer base.
Cause.
You know, you have different types ofsoftware that on the market and Mark
and the LMN team focus right in thatkind of dead middle, like where the
(07:20):
majority of the landscape community sits.
And also it's thecommunity that really can.
Thrive through the power of software.
And so that's something that I'm deeplyattracted to is, is how do you create
ripple impact, not just in, you know,your company's life or your employee's
lives, but your, your customer's lives,your customer's community's lives,
(07:42):
and creating that ripple to kind ofkeep going out in a meaningful way.
Like that's like one of the numberone things that attracted me to LMN.
And then I startedlooking at the software.
And it's living out its mission of,like, impacting an entire industry and
unlocking landscaper's potential throughpowerful budgeting tools, through the
ability to, like, get deals out faster andseparate themselves from the competition,
(08:07):
to tracking time and making surethat, that owners have the confidence.
Like to trust their numbers, to trustthe growth, to be able to trust and
take the systems out of their headsand put it into an actual system to
empower their team members and theiremployees and all that stuff, Tommy,
you know, connects to creating Ripple.
(08:29):
You know, and the softwareallows customers to do that.
And to me, that's like supermeaningful and powerful.
And so if you can connect thosedots, you can create an awesome
experience for your customers.
You think you can build, you know,powerful teams that believe in a mission
at the same time, then it's just a win.
Yeah, it's it's fascinating to hear this.
(08:49):
The word software just has a It's kindof like, it's the one question that I
get, Tommy, Tommy, what do you recommend?
And what do you, and I'll say thistill forever and ever and ever,
like, pick one and go with it.
Like, that's it.
(09:10):
You're not an engineer.
You're not a software builder.
They've done all the hard workdo go all in on it, right?
So like I want to make an announcementsay let's not call it software.
Let's just call it the community
Right.
Yeah,
Joel community and jump in and andand what I like about that the LMN
(09:31):
community is It's a collective groupof people that want the same thing.
That's really what it is.
Right, so we're goingto announce no software.
It's called community.
Join the
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
to move
That's right.
I actually love that because itis a community and, you know,
LMN now is approaching over 5,000 community members, right?
(09:53):
And if you think about that, Tommy,that's really powerful is thinking
through ways you can leverage thecommunity to drive, you know, solutions.
To common problems across the board.
Right.
And so I actually think, you know, whenyou think about, you know, software,
you do think about community first, howare you making an impact on a community?
How are you actually creating and drivingresults for them and their day to day
(10:18):
stuff, like the stuff that's not hard,not easy to solve, like it's hard, right.
Running a small business is hard.
Do you agree with that?
Like, I mean, it is,
another level, I feel like you canbe an owner or operator to a certain
point because you can do it all.
But
yeah,
you hit that threshold ofI've got to lead people
yeah,
(10:38):
There's no amount of books andclasses or anything to take.
Like, none of that even matters.
And that's why I asked your is like,you just got to go and go with it.
I feel like software nowcommunity where you just got to
jump into it and start using it.
it's really good advice too, Tommy,because at the end of the day, like
you really do have to kind of sink yourteeth into it and go all in because
(11:00):
what we see all the time is folks tryingto like cherry pick parts of software,
like not just LMN at single ops at all.
My other previous, you know,software kind of journeys is like.
The customers that are the happiest,the customers that thrive, the
customers that like are ravingfans and also really successful.
I think of guys like Kevin Scott up inMuskoka, Austin Roth down in Florida.
(11:23):
I think of Rick Miranda fromAquidneck Legworks up in Rhode Island.
All of them are at like different journeysin their, you know, like path to success.
And all at different revenue levels,but at the end of the day, they've
all sunk their teeth into it andsaid, like, I am going to use this
software to help empower me to be moresuccessful on a day in and day out basis.
(11:45):
And like, I think that stuff is powerful.
Like going around the country for thelast four months, you know, going to
trade shows, going to customer sites,going to the mastermind events, I've
just heard story after story afterstory that, that ties directly to
what you said, the folks that lean on.
The folks that embrace it, the folksthat like try and leverage something to
the fullest extent, it doesn't matterif it's software or anything else, a
(12:07):
system, you know, Mark Bradley talksa lot about the kind of lean system,
like leaning into that stuff, no punintended, and actually leveraging it makes
the difference, like committing to it.
And so I think you're right,
Yeah, that's a powerful tool.
You know, we hear a lot ofinformation, and I heard this
from you in our conversation.
But the one thing that you guys havenoticed in this industry is the.
(12:31):
The lack of implementingthe entire system, right?
It's like a piece here and a piece there.
And then they kind of run intosomething that challenges them.
And my recommendation is, is alwayskeep moving forward and be 100%.
And if you're 30 percent into thissystem, you can't complain about it
(12:53):
because you're 30 percent into it.
That's like always my advice.
You got to keep going.
I feel like the peoples are, are thebiggest asset and that system that
you use is the other asset and whenyou put those two together, it's
like a train that you can't stop.
Agreed.
(13:13):
So speak about, about the importanceof being all in on this and not
piecemeal in it well, and the,the, the other part, Marcus.
This is the way we've alwaysdone it, Tommy, right?
If that's not the way, and so makeyour adjustments along the way.
You know, I think this is the waythat we've always done it actually
(13:34):
permeates across industry, across humans,across, you know specialties, right?
Like you hear that everyplace you go, right?
And the, the, my typical responseto that is something's changed.
Right.
Something in your business may, that mightbe the way you've always done it, but
something in your business has changed.
You have more employees, youhave more customers, right?
(13:55):
You have multiple lines of businessesnow, which you didn't have before.
You have higher expectations, right?
You have more revenue, right?
You have different goals, right?
And so that might be the way you'vealways done it, but a lot around the
way you've always done it has changed.
And so I think that's the power ofsomething like, you know, software
for the community, which is like.
(14:17):
It continues to evolve.
It continues to develop.
It continues to adapt.
Right.
And so having a mindset that openkind of growth mindset around,
well, what can I be doing?
What has changed in my business andhow can I leverage these tools in order
to empower me to be more successful?
I think as a mindset shift and changethat, you know, you just kind of have
to always lean into, I do agree thatthere's continuity and comfort in the
(14:41):
way that we've always done it for sure.
Right.
Like, I mean, I'm a, I'ma creature of habit, man.
Like if I don't get up.
At 4 30 in the morning, get mycoffee, do my journal, right?
Like my gratitude journal, you know,knock out a bunch of work before my kids
and wife wake up, man, I fall apart.
So that's the way I've always done it.
So there's like comfort in that.
But I've also learned thatman, sometimes you travel.
(15:03):
Right.
And sometimes you've got an earlymorning meeting and sometimes the
kids have got to get to school early.
Right.
And all that stuff changes.
And so how you adapt to it and how youactually make the difference in terms
of leveraging all the tools that areavailable to you to make you just as
good as you were before, if not better.
It's really, really important.
So I think the number one keyis just have an open mind.
And when you're sitting theresaying to yourself, like, this
(15:24):
is the way I've always done it.
I don't feel like I'm getting asmuch as I need from whatever it
is, whether it be LMN or, you know,a system that you have in place.
Take a look around at what's changed then.
Like, what are all the things that havechanged around you and you'll probably
start to find like, oh, that's whyit's not working as well as I want it
Good point, good point, adaptable.
A common question I get is when I meetpeople out on the road or calls is
(15:48):
LMN is only for small bit companies.
And I'm like, what?
Like, what is, there's this myth.
Explain why that is acompletely incorrect statement.
And, give me some examples of why that,you know, I mean, we can define small.
I don't know what smallis in landscape anymore.
You know, whatever that is,it could be 500, 000 a year.
(16:12):
It could be 8 million is small.
Like it doesn't matter, butexplain why that's a myth
and how you guys tackle that.
Yeah.
I mean, I think the, Ithink that you nailed it.
Everybody's different definitionof small is different.
And those three companies that I, Italked about earlier, you know, Austin
and Kevin and Rick, Rick, they're allthree different levels of revenue.
(16:33):
You know, some, you know,approaching 20 million in revenue
and some at 2 million in revenue.
Right.
And so I would tell you that a 18 to 20million landscape business, you're in the
kind of top 3 percent of the marketplace.
Right.
I mean, like you
and
it's that big.
yeah.
And so if I'm going to usethat definition, that's a big.
Large landscaping company.
(16:55):
And we have a lot of those types ofcompanies and our customer portfolio
and they're amazing partners to us.
And then we also have a lot of customersat the 2 million in revenue, which I
still think is a very vibrant growing.
Awesome business.
Like once you kind of what I've whatI've seen in the marketplace, and I'm
definitely not as like steeped as youare or Mark Bradley or anybody else.
But when you have hundreds and thousandsof conversations over a course of time,
(17:19):
you start to see some patterns, right?
And the patterns is like there'slike a breaking point somewhere
around a million dollars in revenuewhere the business just changes and
it no longer feels small anymore.
Right?
And so I would tell you it is a myth.
We have customers.
Lots of customers.
Like I said, we have, you know,approaching 5000 customers.
30 40 percent of those are northof five and 10 million, right?
(17:42):
And so, like, we have really big, vibrant,large businesses that we serve every
day, and we have big strategic partnersthat we serve through the LMN platform.
And I think what happens is, like, youknow, when you start to go to events and
LMN desire to impact the entire community,not just a segment of the community.
You start to create some of that, right,you know, and you start to start to
(18:04):
associate LMN with the smaller sideof the businesses couldn't be further
from the truth, you know, and we knowthat we're leaning in and winning
business every day from large landscapecompanies, but we're going to continue
to make an impact on the entire industry.
Not just a segment of the industry.
So,
Very good.
I often hear, let's see, oh, there'sso many good things to get into.
(18:26):
I've got like a pagesof stuff to talk about.
Like, I don't even know ifwe have enough time for this.
But, I asked you a question in Orlandoand your response was, was actually, I
think you asked me the question, Whatwas the biggest thing or what, you know,
a change and, and we're going to get,you know, not everything's perfect.
Right.
And you guys are evolving.
(18:46):
But you asked me a question, like,what do you think we need to work on?
And I said, there's some clunkiness.
to LMN And you, your answer wasspot on and I was like, okay,
this is the guy for the job.
No discredit for anything in the past.
I mean, I, I, I love, I like thesoftware a lot and I, I'm a user
of it, but explain your answer andwhat you're going to do about it.
(19:10):
I thought I was really impressed with it.
Yeah.
I mean, so I think the, like, the LMNstory is like a, an awesome story.
Like, so when we talk about, like,improvement, you're taking something
from really, really good to even better.
Right.
And like, that's kind of 1stand foremost, Mark and Mike and
Jenna, they, they came up through.
And the industry, like these arefolks that were out in the field and
(19:33):
built a awesome landscape business,you know, of real size and magnitude.
Right.
And so the traditional software stories islike, okay, well, we're building software.
We're solving problems.
We're listening to customers andwe're building and we're building and
we're building and we're building.
Right.
And you're going as fastas you possibly can.
That's normal.
Right.
And then at some point in time, asit gets bigger and bigger and bigger,
(19:56):
and the features start to grow andgrow and grow, you have to kind of
retrench and say, all right, awesome.
We've got this big depth andbreadth of software solution.
Right.
But not all of it like flows togetheras like fast as you would want it to.
There's one too many clicks to get thejob done that you want to get done.
And it's natural that that happensbecause you were going so fast.
And so one of the things that I thinkwe'll be really good at is coming
(20:18):
in and investing in that, like, howdo we make the core functionality?
And I also think this speaks to yourother question about whether you're a
million dollar landscape business or a20 million dollar landscape business.
One thing I know is true.
Everybody wants.
Proposing, estimating, billing,invoicing, and scheduling to be
fast and easy for their internalteams to be able to deliver on.
(20:41):
Right.
And so you have to look atwhat are the core features
that are used every single day.
Like, you know, you can see it.
Like we have great insights, likehow often our products are used,
like the key features that are beingused and then figure out a way, like
have a really strong strategy to goinvest in making those as easy and
intuitive as humanly possible to use.
(21:01):
And that's going to appeal to everybody.
And then once you build that foundationback up, you start to branch out and
create really innovative tools that folkscan leverage over a course of time that
they're leveraging today, all day, everyday, and they want those to be better.
They don't want to have to usea different solution to do it.
They don't want multiple softwarevendors to have to run their business.
(21:22):
And so LMN is going to get simpler.
Faster, easier, more powerful for theday to day stuff that landscapers use.
And then over a course of time, it'sgoing to branch out and allow you to
leverage it in a lot of different waysthat you would have never imagined.
That just, that just gets me fired up.
Right.
That exciting news.
I mean, it's a great software.
(21:44):
You know, highly recommend it.
And I think you are the rightperson for this, for this gig.
Thank you for saying that Tom.
Yeah, what, there's a whole nothersection I want to get into, but like,
what does the future hold, you know,years from now with you and the software?
I mean, can you tell us where it's headedtowards or without sort of like, you know,
(22:05):
giving us your master plan behind the
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the, the, the things thatwe need to start thinking about is
all the powerful technology that'scoming online and a real, and a
lot of these technologies, yes, AI,but also just kind of like data.
Like in the ability to aggregate datain really meaningful ways and then
distribute it and present it back topeople is it's at a totally different
(22:28):
level than it's ever been in the historyof our kind of technology journey.
So the types of things that ourcustomers will start to experience
and see is greater visibilityinto their day to day operation.
We already provide like tons of like datafor our customers consume that that makes
it easier for them to budget and makes it.
Easier for them to have confidence intheir estimates going out and allowing
(22:50):
their estimates to go out with, youknow, speed to the customer base.
It already creates the abilityfor them to create systems
for their entire organization.
But we're going to start tosee rapid changes is like.
High visibility, high simplicity in termsof being able to consume the business.
There's going to be things that becamethat were, you know, five, six, seven
clicks that will start to becomeintuitively like one click because
(23:12):
natural behavior pattern software willdo the rest for you behind the scenes.
Right.
And so I always thinkabout those things though.
Like, I don't know if you've noticedthis, like technology is kind of
judged on how easy it makes your life.
Like the, the technology that you lovethe most is going to be the one that is
like this thing, you know, for example,this love it and hate it, you know,
(23:34):
but like one of the things that's sopowerful about it is it allows me to
do so much stuff so much simpler thanI ever had to do it before, right?
And that's what you should start toexpect out of all software, but LMN
in particular, we're going to createa lot more visibility to empower our
customers to make really good decisions.
We're going to create natural behaviorperformance within the system that just.
(23:55):
Reduces friction and toilwithin the organization.
And then that'll allow our customers tofocus on the things that they're really
good at, like selling deals, right.
Managing the project, right.
Hitting it on time, right.
And separating themselvesfrom the competition.
So those are the things thatyou should start to expect.
Wow.
That's great.
I mean, it's a, it's a tool.
It's a tool in your truck.
It's a tool out in thefield, a tool in the office.
(24:18):
That has you the ability to seehow you're doing along the way,
and everyone uses the same tools.
So there's a sense ofconsistency in your business.
It's no different than anycompany outside of landscaping.
Like, owner restaurant, there's a system.
A POS.
It is what it is.
When you sell, you know,basketball shoes, it is what it is.
(24:40):
This is the system we use andthis is what we train to it.
So highly, highly recommend it.
Let's talk about some leadership things.
This is, you, you've gotan interesting background.
I want to talk aboutbuilding a winning team.
I mean, CEO of the MemberClicks for 15plus years and then single ops and LMN.
Like you've had teams.
I compare a lot to sportsbecause I like sports, right?
(25:03):
And you as well.
How do we build a winning team?
And what does that mean?
Yeah,
Just right.
Just going to punch mein the face with it.
Right.
yeah
I think the easiest wayto build a winning team.
Is to like lean in heavily to corevalues and mission like this is not
(25:26):
rocket science and you know, I thinkwhen we're in Orlando, I, I got up
in front of everybody and startedtalking about how do you leverage core
values, you know, in order to buildwinning teams and it starts like.
At the very beginning, like valuesare not designed to just go on a wall.
Tommy, right?
They're not designed just to be writtendown once and then just kind of puts
(25:48):
this out or put on a website, right?
Core values are designed to screen folks,to bring them into your team, right?
They're designed to like, talk toyour folks when we're not performing.
We're not, we're notliving out our core values.
They're designed toradiate to your customers.
They're designed to radiate toyour partners and your vendors
(26:10):
and your distributors, right?
And what I know is your core valuescan do whatever your core values
are because they've got to beauthentic to you, especially if
you're building a company, right?
Like it's you and five or 10 people today,but you want it to be 40 and 50 tomorrow.
Or for me, it's, you know, 200 today and Iwant it to be four or 500 tomorrow, right?
Like it all matters.
The core values have to be authenticto you and you have to be able to
(26:32):
speak to how they drive the operationand the mission of the organization.
And I think core values are soimportant in terms of driving
winning teams and getting peoplelike Utah, like sports teams, like.
The best sports teams to everexist in the history of time.
I won't share some of my favoritesbecause I don't want to, I don't
(26:53):
want to create like friction.
Yeah, exactly.
But the best teams ever there, they'reall, they all talk about the same thing.
Hey, we all kind of livedby the same ethos, right?
Like we all were on the same wavelengthbecause we knew this is exactly like
Alabama, not a fan, but mad respect.
Right.
They, they talked about the process.
Tommy, right?
And everybody's trust in the processthat those are like core value type
(27:16):
things like do your job, right?
Like that's a core valuefor Alabama, right?
And so I think leaning heavyinto core values and then putting
the umbrella of the mission.
Hey, guys, we're gonna live out thesecore values to accomplish this and are
this Is to impact an industry, helpfolks unlock their potential and allow
them to create customers for life.
(27:38):
It's no more complicated than that, right?
And so you lean into those core values,you attract people that live and
breathe and are, like, excited by thosecore values, who look at your mission
and say, I want to be part of that.
And then all of a sudden buildinga team becomes really powerful.
The next step in that, like thisis like operational now is, is you
got to develop the heck out of it.
(27:59):
And so one of the things that wasalso attracted me to LNN was Greenius.
We have an awesome platform thatallows our landscaping customers.
To go in and once they've attractedthat, that right talent, once people are
motivated by the mission, you can helpdevelop them and develop their career
and allow them to engage and make thebusiness better and create further ripple.
(28:20):
It's pretty amazing how allthose things tie together.
And so we just want tocontinue to leverage
so true is you talk about this alot in your presentation in Orlando
and I was kind of blown away.
Actually, Mark, I was like, who is thisguy on stage, you know, talking about and
then I was like, Oh my gosh, like, I gotto pay attention to learn from this, but
(28:43):
it's, it's kind of what I believe in too.
And it's, we focus on as ownersis like, give me your resume.
What can you do?
Right?
Where's your experience?
What have you done?
And it's less about that.
It's less, it's more about buildinga company with awesome people.
Right.
(29:04):
Because then the law of attractionhappens where more awesome people want
to come work for an awesome company.
And then all we got to do, Mark, is justtrain and develop and coach and mentor.
this, that's this, you know, secret sauce,
You nailed it.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think that what happens insmall businesses, because I actually
(29:26):
still consider us a small business.
I mean, we're many millions ofrevenue, thousands of customers,
you know, a couple 100 employees.
I look at us and say, we'restill a small business, right?
What happens is you get sofocused on the day to day.
Like the things that are like,
right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And like, what's in frontof me for this month?
You know, or what's the, and one ofthe dangers that happens for folks that
(29:47):
are leaders is like, what's the mostpressing emergency that that comes up?
And like, the trick is, is if you're,if you're attracting the right people,
they're motivated by the mission,you're develop, developing their
career in a really methodical way.
And you're coaching andmentoring all that stuff.
Starts to kind of like bubble down tothe rest of the organization and you
(30:07):
continue to get to focus on what's next.
What am I driving to?
What am I pushing us for?
Right?
And that's where you startto create unlocked potential.
Right?
And so from my perspective, like, just getreally dialed there and focused and make
it part of your like, everyday talk track.
Yeah.
Right.
(30:27):
You're the CEO.
What is your, what isyour role in the CEO?
Like, I want to compare that to your role.
As a software company, focusedon landscape owners and
managers and entire teams.
And I want our audience to understandlike what it means to be a CEO in
a landscape company as well, right?
(30:48):
You can't call yourself a reallya CEO if you're managing a half
a million dollars of business.
It doesn't really work.
You're kind of more of anoperator, but I want our audience
to understand what it's like.
A lot of conversations we have and.
Peer groups and coaching and thingis like, what do I do as a CEO?
I don't understand because listen,I had a motor in my truck and
(31:09):
that's getting money in college.
No different than you and all of us.
We all had that.
But like, how the hell do I be a CEO?
Like no one understandsthat, what that is.
Can you provide some context to that?
it's a good question.
First and foremost.
You're learning every day, right?
What I've realized about being a CEO,because when we started, there was only
(31:31):
like five or six of us, like, just,just dudes staring around at each other
saying, like, how are we going to do this?
Right?
You know, right?
Yeah, like, and it's the same thing.
You know, it's like, you'restarting a landscaping company.
You've got two, you know, accountsand you're looking around and you're
like, you know, now you've got one ortwo people that are dependent on you.
You know, you're trying to figureout how to grow all that good
(31:53):
stuff, that owner operator stuff.
Yeah.
But one of the things that I liketo encourage everyone to think about
is, is you're learning how to be aCEO every step of the way, right?
If you think about some of the greatestCEOs to ever live, like, you know, in
the pantheon of CEOs, whoever you want tochoose, but like, if you're just looking
at technology, look at somebody likeSteve Jobs or Bezos or Bill Gates, like
(32:14):
these people have reached the pinnacles ofElon Musk, the pinnacles of the success.
If you go back to their originstory, what were they doing?
They were doing the thing.
The work.
Yep.
Yeah, right.
But I think the thing that made themso different was their willingness
to engage their willingness to havea growth mindset, their willingness
to learn their willingness to ask thequestion why, you know, and then ask
(32:36):
it again and then ask it again andagain and again and again and then
willing to push themselves into areas.
That they weren't comfortable, right?
Like, that's not my sweet spot.
I get it.
And it doesn't have to be the bestthing you're at, but you got to at
least understand it and know it.
So going from that kind of like, I,what I will say, like operational
leader to CEO, i. e. I'm dictatingthe direction of the organization.
(33:02):
I'm making sure that I'm driving results.
I'm making sure that ourmission and values are like.
Part and parcel to everything thatwe do within the organization, it
just takes that growth mindset, andit takes your willingness to go into
uncomfortable places, and it takes yourwillingness to synthesize information.
Like, I think the biggest thing thatI'm asked to do on a day in and day
out basis is just consume a bunchof information, distill it down.
(33:28):
Mirror it to what we're trying toaccomplish from a goal perspective
and then communicate that to therest of the organization and the
community, obviously like this, right?
And so I think growth mindset, yourability to kind of keep keep consuming
information and then simplify it down.
That's when you start to becomea CEO, because there's a lot of
complexities that come with gettingbigger and bigger and bigger
(33:49):
Very good.
It all comes down to theengagement of people.
Making sure making sure that you're stillhaving the mission and the values along.
I mean.
Quite frankly, the CEO isalso a mid level manager.
You, you got, you got privateequity investors and stuff that
you got to report to, right?
But then you got a team tosort of delegate and empower
(34:13):
and work through things.
And so it's no easy task.
It, it, there's no magic button,but what I would recommend is I
love how you just said, it's justlearning how to be that person.
Developing and askingquestions along the way.
I think it's great.
I could get that question all the time.
What you had a greatquote and I look this up.
(34:34):
This is getting your play.
I dig deep, right?
I dig really
deep and understand.
So I have a question how to leadand and it also you said something
says change is inevitable.
But how you lead throughit shares the future.
Explain what all that means.
Yeah.
I mean, change is like, that is one of
(34:56):
the things you're Yeah, 100%.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And by the way, even people who saythey love change, like it fatigues them.
Right.
But one thing that we knowis true is change, right?
Like your question earlier around, like,Hey, I talked to folks all the time.
And so they say, like, thisis how I've always done it.
But what I can guarantee you is.
(35:17):
What is being done has changed, like allthe things that are around that, that
the way I've always done it has changed.
And so how you embrace change is really
You just took the words outof I was sitting here saying
like, embrace the change.
Like,
Right.
that head on instead of going, change,ooh, as a negative connotation,
(35:38):
Correct.
already sort of like,one step behind, right?
Right, right.
Yeah.
And I think, I think one of thekeys to getting people to more and
more comfortable with change isdemonstrating to them that you're
going to learn what you're doingwrong and what you're doing right.
Right?
Like, it can't just be changedfor the sake of change.
It's got to be, Hey, we're put.
This is a change that I think is, I thinkthis is going to have a positive impact.
(36:02):
I actually have a vision for howit's going to have a positive impact.
Here's that vision.
Here's what I think we need to doin order to accomplish that vision.
Are we going to makemistakes along the way?
100%. And so, but you've got tocommunicate back to your teams.
Hey, when things aren't working.
We want to know why wewant to better understand.
We want to learn from those thingsthat aren't working so that we, we
(36:25):
doesn't mean that the changes wrong.
It just means we mightneed to tweak the plan.
It means we might need to, like, you know.
Move this here and movethis piece over there.
That means we might need a newhuman to kind of do this job.
Right.
And you might actuallybe doing another job.
That's like way moreimpactful to that change.
Right.
So I think in order to like do changemanagement really well, constant
communication, a willingness, again.
(36:48):
Curiosity.
Like we talked about earlier,like that willingness to learn.
You have to be curious, right?
And you have to ask questions.
But you've got to keep goingback to this is the why.
This is the why behind the change.
It can't just be the change.
It has to be the why.
someone that's starting out or in themiddle of a software implementation
and they're kind of bogged down andor they don't know where to start or
(37:12):
they've had it in their box for twoyears and they do a little bit of
clocking in, but the rest is there.
What what advice do you give thoseowners and managers of those companies?
Yeah,
the first advice I give is, andthis is advice anytime I'm having
a problem, find a peer or amentor that has done it, right?
(37:34):
And like lived it out, right?
Like coming to like, for example,like LMN and single ops have
all these tools available to ourcustomers, like videos, tutorials,
articles, live virtual trainings,you know, in person trainings, right?
There's tons of stuff that's alwaysavailable to folks to learn and
like, get them out of that rut.
(37:54):
But the single most powerful thing thatI've always seen is, is just finding
people that look and talk and walka lot like you from an operational
perspective and then going and likewatching and learning and asking
questions and seeing how they areleveraging it because that'll translate
one to one Tommy back to like, Oh.
This is why I need to do this.
This is how it could be impactful.
(38:15):
And you can actually start to drawthrough lines of like people's
names or like processes within yourorganization because you're seeing
them replicated somewhere else.
I think that's part of the power of like,you know, ace peer groups and McFarland
Stanford and putting people togetheryou know, to learn from each other.
I think that, like, if I were tostart anywhere, I'd start there.
good point.
(38:35):
I'll add to that.
It's like a sports team rely onsomeone on your team, i. e. another
company that went through it.
I guarantee you they embraced the changeand they went through challenges and
they were ready to throw the computer outthe window and say, I'm done with this.
But they kept moving forward.
It's almost like a coach and a mentorthat you can say, And I love to do this.
(38:59):
Company A is trying to do it andCompany B has already done it.
Put those two together.
A lot of times they may not listen to me.
Totally fine.
But when you put them two togetherand they can talk the same and relate,
not done it and done it, that to meis the power of The community and peer
groups and coaches to get you throughthose tough, crazy, insane times of
(39:26):
the word software and development.
That's what we're all here for.
And I think you guyshave a great community.
Some of the best customer serviceI've ever seen at any organization,
dedicated account managers.
The other recommendation I haveis to put things on your schedule.
Consistently to work on it, to improve
same day, same time,
(39:47):
right.
same team implementer.
And, and, and get those people involved.
It's for like two hours everyTuesday and just hammer it out.
And when you have consistency ofdeveloping something and change,
the rest is history becauseyou're going to tackle it,
I couldn't agree more, by the way,Tommy, but like, I think the, the,
(40:09):
the other thing that's just likesoftware or chain, like, it's anything,
like, anything else in life, like,the beginning is the hardest part.
Right?
right?
Going to
Right.
is hard.
Right, yeah.
do it for so long.
crave it.
A hundred percent.
Same thing with, like, youknow, changing your diet.
Like, not going on a diet, but, like,just taking something out of your diet.
(40:29):
Like, for example, like, periodicallyI'll go on a five day fast.
Like once every like fouror five months, right?
I'll just go on a five day fast.
There's like a little waterconcoction that I drink.
But when I do that, I hate day one.
Like, I am literally a, like,I'm an insane person, too.
Like, nobody wants to bearound me in those days.
(40:51):
But once I'm in day five, mybody feels totally different.
And I've radically changed my view onfood, by the way, just in five days.
Yeah,
And it's just like, just like anythingin life, like doing it, like starting
something is the hardest part, right?
And then by the way, if startingsomething and it's hard, it's
probably really worth doing.
it's probably good.
what I mean?
Yeah, exactly.
(41:12):
I get it.
I get it.
I'm with you.
Let's take a moment.
Take care of yourself.
You've been given onebody, one mind, one brain.
Take care of yourself.
I feel like if that is the importancein your lifestyle every day, I
think changing your business, CEO,software, leading Becomes easy.
(41:37):
It
It all ties together.
Yeah, it all ties together.
Like, I mean, cause you bring all of you.
Yeah, All
Wherever you go.
Yeah, exactly.
All in.
So true.
you're you're coming, you'refollowing you everywhere you go.
Super awesome conversation.
(41:58):
I want to hit some highlights, Mark.
And then I'm going to askyou one more question.
So use your peers and mentorsto help you out in any change,
whether it be software or anything.
I'm sorry.
Those coaches and peers and mentors alongthe way, find one, get multiple, use them.
I love the community, theripple effect, new terminology.
(42:19):
It's not like white waterrafting, nor is it stagnant water.
It is a ripple.
And, and, and, andconsistency along the way.
I love the role of the CEO as mentorship,drive results, mission, vision, core
values, the future of LMN has gotten tonsof great visibility systems and simple.
(42:40):
I love this term behaviorpattern software.
That's just like the hair on my arms.
Just, you know, I love it.
It's, it's fascinating.
Trust the process, develop people, beall in on your mission core values.
Don't let it collect dust and outof sight, out of mind pretty thing
because I got to check the box.
(43:00):
My favorite one of alltime embrace change.
I always say embrace the suck.
It is what it is.
Tackle it head on.
Curiosity, lots of learning and questions.
Wow,
Lots of stuff.
lots of great stuff.
Mark, what's one general advice that youlive and die by that's it's a quote or
something you do on your daily procedures?
(43:22):
Family, business, whatever.
Like, give me, give me one thingthat you, you are all in on,
The obstacle is the way
which is a book.
it is, but it's also just it's a, it'sa way of thinking about life, right?
Like you just said it like embracechange, fall in love with the problem.
At the top of a mountain,there's another mountain.
(43:43):
I mean, I, and so I've just learned,like, you can't go around obstacles.
You can't avoid obstacles.
The obstacle is the way just go.
Just go ahead.
that's so important.
So true.
I used to avoid that backin early in my career.
And I think that's normal as a, as a youngprofessional, you're like, Ooh, tough
(44:04):
conversations, things you may not want todo, but has to be done, hit them head on.
And quite frankly, hitthem on first thing.
Just get those things knockedout and go, but great book.
I've got it in my bookcase.
The obstacles away.
I've read it once.
I don't think I need to reread it again.
I got a referral from afriend and fascinating book.
(44:24):
It's great.
But
yeah, I love it.
Mark.
You're super awesome.
We're gonna have to have you onconsistently to kind of update us.
with the change.
I think that'd be awesome.
Sort of like a quarterlychange pod, right?
And embracing it, talk about thingsthat are not working and things
that are working along the way.
You're a rock star, bud.
(44:45):
I appreciate that.
so this is coming out very soon.
And so thank you for takingtime out of busy schedule of,
of, of running a CEO and of an
this stuff.
company.
Yeah, thank you, Tommy.
I can't tell you how much I appreciatethe opportunity to speak to you and
also to speak to your greater community.
And I love the stuff that you guysare doing at McFarland Stanford.
You're making the industry better,and you're having the impact
(45:06):
that we're trying to have to.
So I love the fact that we were able tosit down and have a conversation today.
Awesome stuff, Mark.
We'll we'll stay in touchand we'll go from there.
Ready to take the next step?
Download our free Profitability Scorecardto quickly create your own baseline
financial assessment and uncover thefastest ways to improve your business.
(45:27):
Just go to McFarlinStanford.com/scorecardto get yours today To learn more about
McFarlin Stanford our best in classpeer groups and other services go to
our website at McFarlinStanford.comAnd don't forget to follow us on
LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
See you next time on the Roots of Success.
The Roots of Success podcast isfor the landscape professional
who's looking to up their game.
We've got a brain trust of experts tohelp you nurture the roots of a successful
business and grow to the next level.
This is The Roots of Success.
Hey, welcome to another awesomeepisode Roots of Success podcast.
I'm your host Tommy Cole and I'vegot an another awesome guest my
(00:22):
sort of new friend that I metin Orlando, many weeks back.
We kind of had some good conversationand I was like, this is a really awesome
dude that we got to have on our show.
Mark Sedgley.
The CEO of LMN Single Ops.
And you may be wondering like,whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
This is, this is where we get reallysome good questions and get some feedback
(00:45):
of the big news that was launched lastfall of the merger of LMN Single Ops.
Welcome to the show, Mark.
How are you?
Awesome, man.
And I love the energyand I love the welcome.
I can't say enough about ourtime together in Orlando.
The mastermind event.
And I got to know you.
I've gotten to know McFarland, Stanford,Jason, you know, the team, Chris.
(01:07):
And so in a short amount of time, Ifeel like, you know, we're already,
you know, best friends and, you know.
Comrades in arms.
So thank you for havingme on the show, Tommy.
I really appreciate it.
Yeah, this is great.
So we met finally in Orlandoat a mastermind event.
And, I was like, man,who is this guy, Mark?
Like it's Mark and there's anotherMark involved and all that.
(01:28):
But we sat down at a fun restaurant forhours and just kind of talked about.
Everything about business,where we are in our company,
where you are in your company.
And we talked about, you know,general life and raising kids and
hiking and all kinds of like medicineand, and all kinds of fun stuff.
I was like, Whoa, this is goingto be a right up our alley.
(01:50):
So.
If you're living under a rock,you have no idea what's going on.
Give us an intro kind of like about yourpast and, and let's learn more about you.
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's, it's pretty simple.
I, I'm a, I kind of grew up as anentrepreneur you know, and I think I have
a pretty similar story to lots of folksacross America, which has tied me kind of
(02:14):
like this through line to LMN and singleops and, and, you know, the landscaping
and tree care community, which is.
My first job as a high schooler was,you know, a lawnmower sticking out
of the trunk and a weed whacker.
That's what we called it
Oh,
Tennessee and a blower.
And, you know, I'm just driving aroundthe neighborhood, knocking on doors to
(02:36):
see if I can cut their lawn for 20 bucks,you know and ever since then, I've just
kind of always wanted to do my own thing.
And so I helped start acompany called number clicks.
The way that folks in this communitycould connect to member clicks is if
you've ever been a member of, like,the National Association of Landscape
Professionals or your local stateassociation, when you would log into
(02:57):
those, those you know associations,websites and register for an event or
pay your dues or update your profile.
There's a good chance.
It was my software called member clicks.
And so I've just always hadan entrepreneurial thing.
I really like working for myself.
I like making an impactand feeling that impact.
And so from there I sold member clicks.
(03:19):
And since then, it's kind of been apractice to take over for founders
and and take the great businesses thatthey've created to the next level.
And so that's how I cameto single ops back in 23.
I took over for the founder of single ops.
Single Ops is more more on tree care.
right.
You know, we do have landscape customers,because what I've noticed Tommy is there's
(03:39):
lots of businesses that have, like, youknow, multifaceted lines of businesses
that do landscape, hardscape design,build tree care, all the all the above.
And so I took over that businessand 1 of the things that I kept
looking around and seeing is, islike, how do we actually get into.
The landscape kind of, you know, communityand really do it in a meaningful way.
And I started looking aroundthe marketplace and I saw one
(04:02):
company that was super interestingand that company was LMN.
And so I reached out to Mark Bradley.
I'm sure your listeners knowexactly who Mark Bradley is.
He's kind of a, you know,a legend in the space.
He's given back to the community.
He's starting this a new gig.
Called leanscaper, which were hugesupporters and fans of but when I called
(04:24):
him, he was the CEO and founder of LMN.
And I just said, Hey Mark, you know, youlook like, you know, what you're talking
about, I've watched your stuff online.
You've got a great company.
Do you mind teaching me a thingor two about the industry?
I'm a new guy.
Maybe we can become frenemies, youknow, and, Mark's answer, probably not
to anybody's surprise, was like, sure.
And so he spent, you know, anhour with me on a zoom call.
(04:47):
And then it was a great conversation.
We hit it off.
He thinks about things in a lot of ways,similar to the way that I think about
him about building teams, leaning intomission, creating impact in an industry.
And so then I made up a reasonto be in Toronto, Tommy.
And I said, like, Hey, man, do youlike, you know, red wine and steak?
You know, fingers crossed.
He says yes, and he did.
(05:08):
And so we had a dinner andthe relationship just evolved.
And when Mark decided that he was readyfor, I think he's calling it version 4.
0 and his journey you know, he gave me acall and said, Hey, I'd like for you to
participate and maybe take a run at LMNas a, as a potential business opportunity.
And we did.
(05:29):
And then in October of last year, atthe very end of October, last year,
we were able to cement the deal.
And so ever since then, we've kind of justbeen, you know, running and gunning and,
you know, doing all the stuff that you dowhen you're putting companies together.
That's fascinating.
What made you, let's, this is in aperspective of owners and managers.
In the landscape world, you, you,you're kind of, you and I are similar.
(05:53):
When you see something, you go after it.
Like it's something about a feelingor a connectedness of something.
I'm this fan of that as well.
If I see something that feels goodand I feel like this is the right way.
I just go, right?
You go like, talk about that experiencewhen you're like, man, we're looking
at LMN and that's the reason why.
(06:14):
What made you commit andjust go and not overthink it?
Yeah.
I mean, Hey, it's a great question.
I don't think I'm smart enoughto overthink anything, Tommy.
So I think that's like one ofthose blessings in my life.
It's like, you just, youknow, don't overthink it, man.
You know, yeah, exactly.
I, there's some thingsabout the LMN that are just.
Undeniable, right?
(06:35):
Like the LMN customer are small business,small to medium sized businesses, right?
And they range in size andsuccess and revenue levels.
But at the end of the day, they'rethe, they're the folks within
their communities that are likehiring people, creating jobs.
Creating economy, right?
Connecting communities through enhancing,like the outdoor appeal and living
(06:59):
spaces that people like to congregate in.
Like, so first and foremost, thecommunity, the customer, the type of
customer was like the most magical thingfor me about the LMN customer base.
Cause.
You know, you have different types ofsoftware that on the market and Mark
and the LMN team focus right in thatkind of dead middle, like where the
(07:20):
majority of the landscape community sits.
And also it's thecommunity that really can.
Thrive through the power of software.
And so that's something that I'm deeplyattracted to is, is how do you create
ripple impact, not just in, you know,your company's life or your employee's
lives, but your, your customer's lives,your customer's community's lives,
(07:42):
and creating that ripple to kind ofkeep going out in a meaningful way.
Like that's like one of the numberone things that attracted me to LMN.
And then I startedlooking at the software.
And it's living out its mission of,like, impacting an entire industry and
unlocking landscaper's potential throughpowerful budgeting tools, through the
ability to, like, get deals out faster andseparate themselves from the competition,
(08:07):
to tracking time and making surethat, that owners have the confidence.
Like to trust their numbers, to trustthe growth, to be able to trust and
take the systems out of their headsand put it into an actual system to
empower their team members and theiremployees and all that stuff, Tommy,
you know, connects to creating Ripple.
(08:29):
You know, and the softwareallows customers to do that.
And to me, that's like supermeaningful and powerful.
And so if you can connect thosedots, you can create an awesome
experience for your customers.
You think you can build, you know,powerful teams that believe in a mission
at the same time, then it's just a win.
Yeah, it's it's fascinating to hear this.
(08:49):
The word software just has a It's kindof like, it's the one question that I
get, Tommy, Tommy, what do you recommend?
And what do you, and I'll say thistill forever and ever and ever,
like, pick one and go with it.
Like, that's it.
(09:10):
You're not an engineer.
You're not a software builder.
They've done all the hard workdo go all in on it, right?
So like I want to make an announcementsay let's not call it software.
Let's just call it the community
Right.
Yeah,
Joel community and jump in and andand what I like about that the LMN
(09:31):
community is It's a collective groupof people that want the same thing.
That's really what it is.
Right, so we're goingto announce no software.
It's called community.
Join the
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
to move
That's right.
I actually love that because itis a community and, you know,
LMN now is approaching over 5,000 community members, right?
(09:53):
And if you think about that, Tommy,that's really powerful is thinking
through ways you can leverage thecommunity to drive, you know, solutions.
To common problems across the board.
Right.
And so I actually think, you know, whenyou think about, you know, software,
you do think about community first, howare you making an impact on a community?
How are you actually creating and drivingresults for them and their day to day
(10:18):
stuff, like the stuff that's not hard,not easy to solve, like it's hard, right.
Running a small business is hard.
Do you agree with that?
Like, I mean, it is,
another level, I feel like you canbe an owner or operator to a certain
point because you can do it all.
But
yeah,
you hit that threshold ofI've got to lead people
yeah,
(10:38):
There's no amount of books andclasses or anything to take.
Like, none of that even matters.
And that's why I asked your is like,you just got to go and go with it.
I feel like software nowcommunity where you just got to
jump into it and start using it.
it's really good advice too, Tommy,because at the end of the day, like
you really do have to kind of sink yourteeth into it and go all in because
(11:00):
what we see all the time is folks tryingto like cherry pick parts of software,
like not just LMN at single ops at all.
My other previous, you know,software kind of journeys is like.
The customers that are the happiest,the customers that thrive, the
customers that like are ravingfans and also really successful.
I think of guys like Kevin Scott up inMuskoka, Austin Roth down in Florida.
(11:23):
I think of Rick Miranda fromAquidneck Legworks up in Rhode Island.
All of them are at like different journeysin their, you know, like path to success.
And all at different revenue levels,but at the end of the day, they've
all sunk their teeth into it andsaid, like, I am going to use this
software to help empower me to be moresuccessful on a day in and day out basis.
(11:45):
And like, I think that stuff is powerful.
Like going around the country for thelast four months, you know, going to
trade shows, going to customer sites,going to the mastermind events, I've
just heard story after story afterstory that, that ties directly to
what you said, the folks that lean on.
The folks that embrace it, the folksthat like try and leverage something to
the fullest extent, it doesn't matterif it's software or anything else, a
(12:07):
system, you know, Mark Bradley talksa lot about the kind of lean system,
like leaning into that stuff, no punintended, and actually leveraging it makes
the difference, like committing to it.
And so I think you're right,
Yeah, that's a powerful tool.
You know, we hear a lot ofinformation, and I heard this
from you in our conversation.
But the one thing that you guys havenoticed in this industry is the.
(12:31):
The lack of implementingthe entire system, right?
It's like a piece here and a piece there.
And then they kind of run intosomething that challenges them.
And my recommendation is, is alwayskeep moving forward and be 100%.
And if you're 30 percent into thissystem, you can't complain about it
(12:53):
because you're 30 percent into it.
That's like always my advice.
You got to keep going.
I feel like the peoples are, are thebiggest asset and that system that
you use is the other asset and whenyou put those two together, it's
like a train that you can't stop.
Agreed.
(13:13):
So speak about, about the importanceof being all in on this and not
piecemeal in it well, and the,the, the other part, Marcus.
This is the way we've alwaysdone it, Tommy, right?
If that's not the way, and so makeyour adjustments along the way.
You know, I think this is the waythat we've always done it actually
(13:34):
permeates across industry, across humans,across, you know specialties, right?
Like you hear that everyplace you go, right?
And the, the, my typical responseto that is something's changed.
Right.
Something in your business may, that mightbe the way you've always done it, but
something in your business has changed.
You have more employees, youhave more customers, right?
(13:55):
You have multiple lines of businessesnow, which you didn't have before.
You have higher expectations, right?
You have more revenue, right?
You have different goals, right?
And so that might be the way you'vealways done it, but a lot around the
way you've always done it has changed.
And so I think that's the power ofsomething like, you know, software
for the community, which is like.
(14:17):
It continues to evolve.
It continues to develop.
It continues to adapt.
Right.
And so having a mindset that openkind of growth mindset around,
well, what can I be doing?
What has changed in my business andhow can I leverage these tools in order
to empower me to be more successful?
I think as a mindset shift and changethat, you know, you just kind of have
to always lean into, I do agree thatthere's continuity and comfort in the
(14:41):
way that we've always done it for sure.
Right.
Like, I mean, I'm a, I'ma creature of habit, man.
Like if I don't get up.
At 4 30 in the morning, get mycoffee, do my journal, right?
Like my gratitude journal, you know,knock out a bunch of work before my kids
and wife wake up, man, I fall apart.
So that's the way I've always done it.
So there's like comfort in that.
But I've also learned thatman, sometimes you travel.
(15:03):
Right.
And sometimes you've got an earlymorning meeting and sometimes the
kids have got to get to school early.
Right.
And all that stuff changes.
And so how you adapt to it and how youactually make the difference in terms
of leveraging all the tools that areavailable to you to make you just as
good as you were before, if not better.
It's really, really important.
So I think the number one keyis just have an open mind.
And when you're sitting theresaying to yourself, like, this
(15:24):
is the way I've always done it.
I don't feel like I'm getting asmuch as I need from whatever it
is, whether it be LMN or, you know,a system that you have in place.
Take a look around at what's changed then.
Like, what are all the things that havechanged around you and you'll probably
start to find like, oh, that's whyit's not working as well as I want it
Good point, good point, adaptable.
A common question I get is when I meetpeople out on the road or calls is
(15:48):
LMN is only for small bit companies.
And I'm like, what?
Like, what is, there's this myth.
Explain why that is acompletely incorrect statement.
And, give me some examples of why that,you know, I mean, we can define small.
I don't know what smallis in landscape anymore.
You know, whatever that is,it could be 500, 000 a year.
(16:12):
It could be 8 million is small.
Like it doesn't matter, butexplain why that's a myth
and how you guys tackle that.
Yeah.
I mean, I think the, Ithink that you nailed it.
Everybody's different definitionof small is different.
And those three companies that I, Italked about earlier, you know, Austin
and Kevin and Rick, Rick, they're allthree different levels of revenue.
(16:33):
You know, some, you know,approaching 20 million in revenue
and some at 2 million in revenue.
Right.
And so I would tell you that a 18 to 20million landscape business, you're in the
kind of top 3 percent of the marketplace.
Right.
I mean, like you
and
it's that big.
yeah.
And so if I'm going to usethat definition, that's a big.
Large landscaping company.
(16:55):
And we have a lot of those types ofcompanies and our customer portfolio
and they're amazing partners to us.
And then we also have a lot of customersat the 2 million in revenue, which I
still think is a very vibrant growing.
Awesome business.
Like once you kind of what I've whatI've seen in the marketplace, and I'm
definitely not as like steeped as youare or Mark Bradley or anybody else.
But when you have hundreds and thousandsof conversations over a course of time,
(17:19):
you start to see some patterns, right?
And the patterns is like there'slike a breaking point somewhere
around a million dollars in revenuewhere the business just changes and
it no longer feels small anymore.
Right?
And so I would tell you it is a myth.
We have customers.
Lots of customers.
Like I said, we have, you know,approaching 5000 customers.
30 40 percent of those are northof five and 10 million, right?
(17:42):
And so, like, we have really big, vibrant,large businesses that we serve every
day, and we have big strategic partnersthat we serve through the LMN platform.
And I think what happens is, like, youknow, when you start to go to events and
LMN desire to impact the entire community,not just a segment of the community.
You start to create some of that, right,you know, and you start to start to
(18:04):
associate LMN with the smaller sideof the businesses couldn't be further
from the truth, you know, and we knowthat we're leaning in and winning
business every day from large landscapecompanies, but we're going to continue
to make an impact on the entire industry.
Not just a segment of the industry.
So,
Very good.
I often hear, let's see, oh, there'sso many good things to get into.
(18:26):
I've got like a pagesof stuff to talk about.
Like, I don't even know ifwe have enough time for this.
But, I asked you a question in Orlandoand your response was, was actually, I
think you asked me the question, Whatwas the biggest thing or what, you know,
a change and, and we're going to get,you know, not everything's perfect.
Right.
And you guys are evolving.
(18:46):
But you asked me a question, like,what do you think we need to work on?
And I said, there's some clunkiness.
to LMN And you, your answer wasspot on and I was like, okay,
this is the guy for the job.
No discredit for anything in the past.
I mean, I, I, I love, I like thesoftware a lot and I, I'm a user
of it, but explain your answer andwhat you're going to do about it.
(19:10):
I thought I was really impressed with it.
Yeah.
I mean, so I think the, like, the LMNstory is like a, an awesome story.
Like, so when we talk about, like,improvement, you're taking something
from really, really good to even better.
Right.
And like, that's kind of 1stand foremost, Mark and Mike and
Jenna, they, they came up through.
And the industry, like these arefolks that were out in the field and
(19:33):
built a awesome landscape business,you know, of real size and magnitude.
Right.
And so the traditional software stories islike, okay, well, we're building software.
We're solving problems.
We're listening to customers andwe're building and we're building and
we're building and we're building.
Right.
And you're going as fastas you possibly can.
That's normal.
Right.
And then at some point in time, asit gets bigger and bigger and bigger,
(19:56):
and the features start to grow andgrow and grow, you have to kind of
retrench and say, all right, awesome.
We've got this big depth andbreadth of software solution.
Right.
But not all of it like flows togetheras like fast as you would want it to.
There's one too many clicks to get thejob done that you want to get done.
And it's natural that that happensbecause you were going so fast.
And so one of the things that I thinkwe'll be really good at is coming
(20:18):
in and investing in that, like, howdo we make the core functionality?
And I also think this speaks to yourother question about whether you're a
million dollar landscape business or a20 million dollar landscape business.
One thing I know is true.
Everybody wants.
Proposing, estimating, billing,invoicing, and scheduling to be
fast and easy for their internalteams to be able to deliver on.
(20:41):
Right.
And so you have to look atwhat are the core features
that are used every single day.
Like, you know, you can see it.
Like we have great insights, likehow often our products are used,
like the key features that are beingused and then figure out a way, like
have a really strong strategy to goinvest in making those as easy and
intuitive as humanly possible to use.
(21:01):
And that's going to appeal to everybody.
And then once you build that foundationback up, you start to branch out and
create really innovative tools that folkscan leverage over a course of time that
they're leveraging today, all day, everyday, and they want those to be better.
They don't want to have to usea different solution to do it.
They don't want multiple softwarevendors to have to run their business.
(21:22):
And so LMN is going to get simpler.
Faster, easier, more powerful for theday to day stuff that landscapers use.
And then over a course of time, it'sgoing to branch out and allow you to
leverage it in a lot of different waysthat you would have never imagined.
That just, that just gets me fired up.
Right.
That exciting news.
I mean, it's a great software.
(21:44):
You know, highly recommend it.
And I think you are the rightperson for this, for this gig.
Thank you for saying that Tom.
Yeah, what, there's a whole nothersection I want to get into, but like,
what does the future hold, you know,years from now with you and the software?
I mean, can you tell us where it's headedtowards or without sort of like, you know,
(22:05):
giving us your master plan behind the
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the, the, the things thatwe need to start thinking about is
all the powerful technology that'scoming online and a real, and a
lot of these technologies, yes, AI,but also just kind of like data.
Like in the ability to aggregate datain really meaningful ways and then
distribute it and present it back topeople is it's at a totally different
(22:28):
level than it's ever been in the historyof our kind of technology journey.
So the types of things that ourcustomers will start to experience
and see is greater visibilityinto their day to day operation.
We already provide like tons of like datafor our customers consume that that makes
it easier for them to budget and makes it.
Easier for them to have confidence intheir estimates going out and allowing
(22:50):
their estimates to go out with, youknow, speed to the customer base.
It already creates the abilityfor them to create systems
for their entire organization.
But we're going to start tosee rapid changes is like.
High visibility, high simplicity in termsof being able to consume the business.
There's going to be things that becamethat were, you know, five, six, seven
clicks that will start to becomeintuitively like one click because
(23:12):
natural behavior pattern software willdo the rest for you behind the scenes.
Right.
And so I always thinkabout those things though.
Like, I don't know if you've noticedthis, like technology is kind of
judged on how easy it makes your life.
Like the, the technology that you lovethe most is going to be the one that is
like this thing, you know, for example,this love it and hate it, you know,
(23:34):
but like one of the things that's sopowerful about it is it allows me to
do so much stuff so much simpler thanI ever had to do it before, right?
And that's what you should start toexpect out of all software, but LMN
in particular, we're going to createa lot more visibility to empower our
customers to make really good decisions.
We're going to create natural behaviorperformance within the system that just.
(23:55):
Reduces friction and toilwithin the organization.
And then that'll allow our customers tofocus on the things that they're really
good at, like selling deals, right.
Managing the project, right.
Hitting it on time, right.
And separating themselvesfrom the competition.
So those are the things thatyou should start to expect.
Wow.
That's great.
I mean, it's a, it's a tool.
It's a tool in your truck.
It's a tool out in thefield, a tool in the office.
(24:18):
That has you the ability to seehow you're doing along the way,
and everyone uses the same tools.
So there's a sense ofconsistency in your business.
It's no different than anycompany outside of landscaping.
Like, owner restaurant, there's a system.
A POS.
It is what it is.
When you sell, you know,basketball shoes, it is what it is.
(24:40):
This is the system we use andthis is what we train to it.
So highly, highly recommend it.
Let's talk about some leadership things.
This is, you, you've gotan interesting background.
I want to talk aboutbuilding a winning team.
I mean, CEO of the MemberClicks for 15plus years and then single ops and LMN.
Like you've had teams.
I compare a lot to sportsbecause I like sports, right?
(25:03):
And you as well.
How do we build a winning team?
And what does that mean?
Yeah,
Just right.
Just going to punch mein the face with it.
Right.
yeah
I think the easiest wayto build a winning team.
Is to like lean in heavily to corevalues and mission like this is not
(25:26):
rocket science and you know, I thinkwhen we're in Orlando, I, I got up
in front of everybody and startedtalking about how do you leverage core
values, you know, in order to buildwinning teams and it starts like.
At the very beginning, like valuesare not designed to just go on a wall.
Tommy, right?
They're not designed just to be writtendown once and then just kind of puts
(25:48):
this out or put on a website, right?
Core values are designed to screen folks,to bring them into your team, right?
They're designed to like, talk toyour folks when we're not performing.
We're not, we're notliving out our core values.
They're designed toradiate to your customers.
They're designed to radiate toyour partners and your vendors
(26:10):
and your distributors, right?
And what I know is your core valuescan do whatever your core values
are because they've got to beauthentic to you, especially if
you're building a company, right?
Like it's you and five or 10 people today,but you want it to be 40 and 50 tomorrow.
Or for me, it's, you know, 200 today and Iwant it to be four or 500 tomorrow, right?
Like it all matters.
The core values have to be authenticto you and you have to be able to
(26:32):
speak to how they drive the operationand the mission of the organization.
And I think core values are soimportant in terms of driving
winning teams and getting peoplelike Utah, like sports teams, like.
The best sports teams to everexist in the history of time.
I won't share some of my favoritesbecause I don't want to, I don't
(26:53):
want to create like friction.
Yeah, exactly.
But the best teams ever there, they'reall, they all talk about the same thing.
Hey, we all kind of livedby the same ethos, right?
Like we all were on the same wavelengthbecause we knew this is exactly like
Alabama, not a fan, but mad respect.
Right.
They, they talked about the process.
Tommy, right?
And everybody's trust in the processthat those are like core value type
(27:16):
things like do your job, right?
Like that's a core valuefor Alabama, right?
And so I think leaning heavyinto core values and then putting
the umbrella of the mission.
Hey, guys, we're gonna live out thesecore values to accomplish this and are
this Is to impact an industry, helpfolks unlock their potential and allow
them to create customers for life.
(27:38):
It's no more complicated than that, right?
And so you lean into those core values,you attract people that live and
breathe and are, like, excited by thosecore values, who look at your mission
and say, I want to be part of that.
And then all of a sudden buildinga team becomes really powerful.
The next step in that, like thisis like operational now is, is you
got to develop the heck out of it.
(27:59):
And so one of the things that wasalso attracted me to LNN was Greenius.
We have an awesome platform thatallows our landscaping customers.
To go in and once they've attractedthat, that right talent, once people are
motivated by the mission, you can helpdevelop them and develop their career
and allow them to engage and make thebusiness better and create further ripple.
(28:20):
It's pretty amazing how allthose things tie together.
And so we just want tocontinue to leverage
so true is you talk about this alot in your presentation in Orlando
and I was kind of blown away.
Actually, Mark, I was like, who is thisguy on stage, you know, talking about and
then I was like, Oh my gosh, like, I gotto pay attention to learn from this, but
(28:43):
it's, it's kind of what I believe in too.
And it's, we focus on as ownersis like, give me your resume.
What can you do?
Right?
Where's your experience?
What have you done?
And it's less about that.
It's less, it's more about buildinga company with awesome people.
Right.
(29:04):
Because then the law of attractionhappens where more awesome people want
to come work for an awesome company.
And then all we got to do, Mark, is justtrain and develop and coach and mentor.
this, that's this, you know, secret sauce,
You nailed it.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think that what happens insmall businesses, because I actually
(29:26):
still consider us a small business.
I mean, we're many millions ofrevenue, thousands of customers,
you know, a couple 100 employees.
I look at us and say, we'restill a small business, right?
What happens is you get sofocused on the day to day.
Like the things that are like,
right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And like, what's in frontof me for this month?
You know, or what's the, and one ofthe dangers that happens for folks that
(29:47):
are leaders is like, what's the mostpressing emergency that that comes up?
And like, the trick is, is if you're,if you're attracting the right people,
they're motivated by the mission,you're develop, developing their
career in a really methodical way.
And you're coaching andmentoring all that stuff.
Starts to kind of like bubble down tothe rest of the organization and you
(30:07):
continue to get to focus on what's next.
What am I driving to?
What am I pushing us for?
Right?
And that's where you startto create unlocked potential.
Right?
And so from my perspective, like, just getreally dialed there and focused and make
it part of your like, everyday talk track.
Yeah.
Right.
(30:27):
You're the CEO.
What is your, what isyour role in the CEO?
Like, I want to compare that to your role.
As a software company, focusedon landscape owners and
managers and entire teams.
And I want our audience to understandlike what it means to be a CEO in
a landscape company as well, right?
(30:48):
You can't call yourself a reallya CEO if you're managing a half
a million dollars of business.
It doesn't really work.
You're kind of more of anoperator, but I want our audience
to understand what it's like.
A lot of conversations we have and.
Peer groups and coaching and thingis like, what do I do as a CEO?
I don't understand because listen,I had a motor in my truck and
(31:09):
that's getting money in college.
No different than you and all of us.
We all had that.
But like, how the hell do I be a CEO?
Like no one understandsthat, what that is.
Can you provide some context to that?
it's a good question.
First and foremost.
You're learning every day, right?
What I've realized about being a CEO,because when we started, there was only
(31:31):
like five or six of us, like, just,just dudes staring around at each other
saying, like, how are we going to do this?
Right?
You know, right?
Yeah, like, and it's the same thing.
You know, it's like, you'restarting a landscaping company.
You've got two, you know, accountsand you're looking around and you're
like, you know, now you've got one ortwo people that are dependent on you.
You know, you're trying to figureout how to grow all that good
(31:53):
stuff, that owner operator stuff.
Yeah.
But one of the things that I liketo encourage everyone to think about
is, is you're learning how to be aCEO every step of the way, right?
If you think about some of the greatestCEOs to ever live, like, you know, in
the pantheon of CEOs, whoever you want tochoose, but like, if you're just looking
at technology, look at somebody likeSteve Jobs or Bezos or Bill Gates, like
(32:14):
these people have reached the pinnacles ofElon Musk, the pinnacles of the success.
If you go back to their originstory, what were they doing?
They were doing the thing.
The work.
Yep.
Yeah, right.
But I think the thing that made themso different was their willingness
to engage their willingness to havea growth mindset, their willingness
to learn their willingness to ask thequestion why, you know, and then ask
(32:36):
it again and then ask it again andagain and again and again and then
willing to push themselves into areas.
That they weren't comfortable, right?
Like, that's not my sweet spot.
I get it.
And it doesn't have to be the bestthing you're at, but you got to at
least understand it and know it.
So going from that kind of like, I,what I will say, like operational
leader to CEO, i. e. I'm dictatingthe direction of the organization.
(33:02):
I'm making sure that I'm driving results.
I'm making sure that ourmission and values are like.
Part and parcel to everything thatwe do within the organization, it
just takes that growth mindset, andit takes your willingness to go into
uncomfortable places, and it takes yourwillingness to synthesize information.
Like, I think the biggest thing thatI'm asked to do on a day in and day
out basis is just consume a bunchof information, distill it down.
(33:28):
Mirror it to what we're trying toaccomplish from a goal perspective
and then communicate that to therest of the organization and the
community, obviously like this, right?
And so I think growth mindset, yourability to kind of keep keep consuming
information and then simplify it down.
That's when you start to becomea CEO, because there's a lot of
complexities that come with gettingbigger and bigger and bigger
(33:49):
Very good.
It all comes down to theengagement of people.
Making sure making sure that you're stillhaving the mission and the values along.
I mean.
Quite frankly, the CEO isalso a mid level manager.
You, you got, you got privateequity investors and stuff that
you got to report to, right?
But then you got a team tosort of delegate and empower
(34:13):
and work through things.
And so it's no easy task.
It, it, there's no magic button,but what I would recommend is I
love how you just said, it's justlearning how to be that person.
Developing and askingquestions along the way.
I think it's great.
I could get that question all the time.
What you had a greatquote and I look this up.
(34:34):
This is getting your play.
I dig deep, right?
I dig really
deep and understand.
So I have a question how to leadand and it also you said something
says change is inevitable.
But how you lead throughit shares the future.
Explain what all that means.
Yeah.
I mean, change is like, that is one of
(34:56):
the things you're Yeah, 100%.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And by the way, even people who saythey love change, like it fatigues them.
Right.
But one thing that we knowis true is change, right?
Like your question earlier around, like,Hey, I talked to folks all the time.
And so they say, like, thisis how I've always done it.
But what I can guarantee you is.
(35:17):
What is being done has changed, like allthe things that are around that, that
the way I've always done it has changed.
And so how you embrace change is really
You just took the words outof I was sitting here saying
like, embrace the change.
Like,
Right.
that head on instead of going, change,ooh, as a negative connotation,
(35:38):
Correct.
already sort of like,one step behind, right?
Right, right.
Yeah.
And I think, I think one of thekeys to getting people to more and
more comfortable with change isdemonstrating to them that you're
going to learn what you're doingwrong and what you're doing right.
Right?
Like, it can't just be changedfor the sake of change.
It's got to be, Hey, we're put.
This is a change that I think is, I thinkthis is going to have a positive impact.
(36:02):
I actually have a vision for howit's going to have a positive impact.
Here's that vision.
Here's what I think we need to doin order to accomplish that vision.
Are we going to makemistakes along the way?
100%. And so, but you've got tocommunicate back to your teams.
Hey, when things aren't working.
We want to know why wewant to better understand.
We want to learn from those thingsthat aren't working so that we, we
(36:25):
doesn't mean that the changes wrong.
It just means we mightneed to tweak the plan.
It means we might need to, like, you know.
Move this here and movethis piece over there.
That means we might need a newhuman to kind of do this job.
Right.
And you might actuallybe doing another job.
That's like way moreimpactful to that change.
Right.
So I think in order to like do changemanagement really well, constant
communication, a willingness, again.
(36:48):
Curiosity.
Like we talked about earlier,like that willingness to learn.
You have to be curious, right?
And you have to ask questions.
But you've got to keep goingback to this is the why.
This is the why behind the change.
It can't just be the change.
It has to be the why.
someone that's starting out or in themiddle of a software implementation
and they're kind of bogged down andor they don't know where to start or
(37:12):
they've had it in their box for twoyears and they do a little bit of
clocking in, but the rest is there.
What what advice do you give thoseowners and managers of those companies?
Yeah,
the first advice I give is, andthis is advice anytime I'm having
a problem, find a peer or amentor that has done it, right?
(37:34):
And like lived it out, right?
Like coming to like, for example,like LMN and single ops have
all these tools available to ourcustomers, like videos, tutorials,
articles, live virtual trainings,you know, in person trainings, right?
There's tons of stuff that's alwaysavailable to folks to learn and
like, get them out of that rut.
(37:54):
But the single most powerful thing thatI've always seen is, is just finding
people that look and talk and walka lot like you from an operational
perspective and then going and likewatching and learning and asking
questions and seeing how they areleveraging it because that'll translate
one to one Tommy back to like, Oh.
This is why I need to do this.
This is how it could be impactful.
(38:15):
And you can actually start to drawthrough lines of like people's
names or like processes within yourorganization because you're seeing
them replicated somewhere else.
I think that's part of the power of like,you know, ace peer groups and McFarland
Stanford and putting people togetheryou know, to learn from each other.
I think that, like, if I were tostart anywhere, I'd start there.
good point.
(38:35):
I'll add to that.
It's like a sports team rely onsomeone on your team, i. e. another
company that went through it.
I guarantee you they embraced the changeand they went through challenges and
they were ready to throw the computer outthe window and say, I'm done with this.
But they kept moving forward.
It's almost like a coach and a mentorthat you can say, And I love to do this.
(38:59):
Company A is trying to do it andCompany B has already done it.
Put those two together.
A lot of times they may not listen to me.
Totally fine.
But when you put them two togetherand they can talk the same and relate,
not done it and done it, that to meis the power of The community and peer
groups and coaches to get you throughthose tough, crazy, insane times of
(39:26):
the word software and development.
That's what we're all here for.
And I think you guyshave a great community.
Some of the best customer serviceI've ever seen at any organization,
dedicated account managers.
The other recommendation I haveis to put things on your schedule.
Consistently to work on it, to improve
same day, same time,
(39:47):
right.
same team implementer.
And, and, and get those people involved.
It's for like two hours everyTuesday and just hammer it out.
And when you have consistency ofdeveloping something and change,
the rest is history becauseyou're going to tackle it,
I couldn't agree more, by the way,Tommy, but like, I think the, the,
(40:09):
the other thing that's just likesoftware or chain, like, it's anything,
like, anything else in life, like,the beginning is the hardest part.
Right?
right?
Going to
Right.
is hard.
Right, yeah.
do it for so long.
crave it.
A hundred percent.
Same thing with, like, youknow, changing your diet.
Like, not going on a diet, but, like,just taking something out of your diet.
(40:29):
Like, for example, like, periodicallyI'll go on a five day fast.
Like once every like fouror five months, right?
I'll just go on a five day fast.
There's like a little waterconcoction that I drink.
But when I do that, I hate day one.
Like, I am literally a, like,I'm an insane person, too.
Like, nobody wants to bearound me in those days.
(40:51):
But once I'm in day five, mybody feels totally different.
And I've radically changed my view onfood, by the way, just in five days.
Yeah,
And it's just like, just like anythingin life, like doing it, like starting
something is the hardest part, right?
And then by the way, if startingsomething and it's hard, it's
probably really worth doing.
it's probably good.
what I mean?
Yeah, exactly.
(41:12):
I get it.
I get it.
I'm with you.
Let's take a moment.
Take care of yourself.
You've been given onebody, one mind, one brain.
Take care of yourself.
I feel like if that is the importancein your lifestyle every day, I
think changing your business, CEO,software, leading Becomes easy.
(41:37):
It
It all ties together.
Yeah, it all ties together.
Like, I mean, cause you bring all of you.
Yeah, All
Wherever you go.
Yeah, exactly.
All in.
So true.
you're you're coming, you'refollowing you everywhere you go.
Super awesome conversation.
(41:58):
I want to hit some highlights, Mark.
And then I'm going to askyou one more question.
So use your peers and mentorsto help you out in any change,
whether it be software or anything.
I'm sorry.
Those coaches and peers and mentors alongthe way, find one, get multiple, use them.
I love the community, theripple effect, new terminology.
(42:19):
It's not like white waterrafting, nor is it stagnant water.
It is a ripple.
And, and, and, andconsistency along the way.
I love the role of the CEO as mentorship,drive results, mission, vision, core
values, the future of LMN has gotten tonsof great visibility systems and simple.
(42:40):
I love this term behaviorpattern software.
That's just like the hair on my arms.
Just, you know, I love it.
It's, it's fascinating.
Trust the process, develop people, beall in on your mission core values.
Don't let it collect dust and outof sight, out of mind pretty thing
because I got to check the box.
(43:00):
My favorite one of alltime embrace change.
I always say embrace the suck.
It is what it is.
Tackle it head on.
Curiosity, lots of learning and questions.
Wow,
Lots of stuff.
lots of great stuff.
Mark, what's one general advice that youlive and die by that's it's a quote or
something you do on your daily procedures?
(43:22):
Family, business, whatever.
Like, give me, give me one thingthat you, you are all in on,
The obstacle is the way
which is a book.
it is, but it's also just it's a, it'sa way of thinking about life, right?
Like you just said it like embracechange, fall in love with the problem.
At the top of a mountain,there's another mountain.
(43:43):
I mean, I, and so I've just learned,like, you can't go around obstacles.
You can't avoid obstacles.
The obstacle is the way just go.
Just go ahead.
that's so important.
So true.
I used to avoid that backin early in my career.
And I think that's normal as a, as a youngprofessional, you're like, Ooh, tough
(44:04):
conversations, things you may not want todo, but has to be done, hit them head on.
And quite frankly, hitthem on first thing.
Just get those things knockedout and go, but great book.
I've got it in my bookcase.
The obstacles away.
I've read it once.
I don't think I need to reread it again.
I got a referral from afriend and fascinating book.
(44:24):
It's great.
But
yeah, I love it.
Mark.
You're super awesome.
We're gonna have to have you onconsistently to kind of update us.
with the change.
I think that'd be awesome.
Sort of like a quarterlychange pod, right?
And embracing it, talk about thingsthat are not working and things
that are working along the way.
You're a rock star, bud.
(44:45):
I appreciate that.
so this is coming out very soon.
And so thank you for takingtime out of busy schedule of,
of, of running a CEO and of an
this stuff.
company.
Yeah, thank you, Tommy.
I can't tell you how much I appreciatethe opportunity to speak to you and
also to speak to your greater community.
And I love the stuff that you guysare doing at McFarland Stanford.
You're making the industry better,and you're having the impact
(45:06):
that we're trying to have to.
So I love the fact that we were able tosit down and have a conversation today.
Awesome stuff, Mark.
We'll we'll stay in touchand we'll go from there.
Ready to take the next step?
Download our free Profitability Scorecardto quickly create your own baseline
financial assessment and uncover thefastest ways to improve your business.
(45:27):
Just go to McFarlinStanford.com/scorecardto get yours today To learn more about
McFarlin Stanford our best in classpeer groups and other services go to
our website at McFarlinStanford.comAnd don't forget to follow us on
LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
See you next time on the Roots of Success.
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