Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Lipscomb.
Hi Stephen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I had a government job in 1992 when I started doing lawn service on the side to pay down debt. I quickly earned more money doing this than at my job. In 2000 I purchased the local office of a national lawn franchise. I ran this for 10 years before leaving it to run my own company in 2010. We now own a warehouse, 3 vans, 2 box trucks and a fleet of specialized equipment.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all. I had serious issues with debt early on as I struggled to take my earning and improve the company while still trying to pay a mortgage, put a child through college, and provide for my family. Finding employees ended up being a fruitless endeavor so I concentrated on designing the company to be able to generate revenue with the bare minimum number of workers.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Showcase Lawns by Firefly?
We are a lawn service that specializes in pesticide applications. We aerate, seed, fertilize, insect control, and provide mower repair.
What I am most proud about is the company image. We have a 4.9 average star rating on google. Most people think that we are a franchise. Our imaging and professional look is really remarkable. We have historically been the first to try new things, like topdressing, using safety green shirts, vanity phone numbers, complete truck wraps. These are now industry standards. I am not claiming we discovered these things, but we were the first to do them in our market.
I learned the most by being a franchisee for 10 years. I learned that everything the franchise was making me do was wrong. Once I was away from those restrictions, I was free to change how we did business to really start being successful.
All of my friends are either retired or ready to retire. I will never retire because I love what I do. Yes it gets hard sometimes, but it is infinitely rewarding. I never stop learning. I can’t imagine sitting around the house all day and not having this.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
The thing that makes every human being that ever lived happy: FREEDOM!
Pricing:
- Push mower tune up $99
- Tractor tune up $149
- Zero Turn tune up $249
- Aeration $125 (most lawns)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fireflylawncompany.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fire_fly5296/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReallyGreenGrass/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@grownyourlawnbusiness
