Register for LeanScaper's Revenue Intensive here: https://leanscaper.com/events/revenue-intensive
Why do so many business owners achieve everything they set out to build… yet still feel a quiet emptiness underneath it all?
In this conversation, Benji sits down with Philip McKernan to explore why success often feels misaligned, why old wounds silently shape our ambition, and what it takes to shift from proving yourself to actually living in alignment. This episode is a grounded, honest look at the emotional and psychological patterns entrepreneurs rarely talk about—but deeply feel.
In this episode: • Why success doesn’t guarantee fulfillment • How trauma shapes ambition and leadership • The “I’ll show you” fuel that eventually burns out • The three mountains and the cost of staying on the wrong one • How to start reconnecting with work that feels true
Timestamps
00:00 Opening and setup
01:26 Why emotional alignment matters more than achievement
04:16 How trauma quietly drives many entrepreneurs
07:38 The danger of building a life to prove someone wrong
11:14 Understanding ego in a healthier, more honest way
14:26 The myth of “escape velocity” and waiting to feel free
18:53 What it takes to step into the next mountain
27:38 Simple first steps to reconnect with purpose
Register for LeanScaper's Revenue Intensive here: https://leanscaper.com/events/revenue-intensive
In this episode of the LeanScaper Podcast, Benji sits down with Justin White, CEO of K&D Landscaping, to break down what actually drives revenue growth in a landscape business.
Justin shares his journey from being thrust into the CEO role at 25 years old to scaling K&D from ~$1.5M to over $20M in annual revenue. Together, they unpack the boring but powerful principles that create predictable growth—things like standardized sales processes, labor hour management, focusing on what you’re already great at, and spending more time with your A-players.
If you’re tired of chasing shiny objects and want to build a real revenue engine that scales, this conversation is for you.
00:00 – Intro & welcome
01:20 – Justin’s family business story & sudden move into the CEO role
04:00 – Learning leadership the hard way at 25
07:00 – Casting a big vision before you believe it
10:20 – Unhealthy beliefs landscapers have about revenue growth
13:30 – The “boring” systems that actually scale revenue
18:45 – Why standardized sales processes reduce stress
22:30 – Doing more of what your company is already great at
26:45 – Labor hour management as the master KPI
31:00 – How to improve estimated vs. actual labor hours
36:00 – Spending more time with A-players
40:00 – Final rapid-fire insights & closing thoughts
Register for LeanScaper's Revenue Intensive here: https://leanscaper.com/events/revenue-intensive
What if the biggest growth driver for your landscaping business isn’t ads, equipment, or even skill—but partnerships?
In this episode of The LeanScaper Podcast, Kevin Scott reveals how 90% of revenue comes from partnerships with architects, builders, vendors, realtors, municipalities, and even customers.
Expect to learn: -Why you should never email proposals again -How nagging a single architect turned into $90M of work -Why a deep bench of local partners and friends can you help you weather a challenging market
Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro & Studio Bloopers 😂
1:58 – Why partnerships drive 90% of revenue
3:19 – What young landscapers get wrong
8:55 – The partnership funnel (charcuterie boards & donuts 🍩)
11:22 – Why partnerships matter more than ever in today’s economy
13:46 – Finish strong or blow the whole project
16:25 – Stop emailing proposals—always present them live
24:35 – The $90M lesson: persistence pays off
39:43 – Community as the glue of business longevity
44:19 – Kevin’s new role as LeanScaper advisor & final advice
Register for LeanScaper's Revenue Intensive here: https://leanscaper.com/events/revenue-intensive
What if the key to keeping more money in your landscaping business isn’t selling more work—but finally building a budget you’ll stick to?
In this episode of The LeanScaper Podcast, Benji sits down with Meaghan Likes—entrepreneur, financial educator, and owner of multiple home-service companies—who has built hundreds of budgets and helped contractors hit double-digit net profit with simple systems.
Meaghan breaks down why most landscapers avoid budgeting, how to shift your mindset from “restriction” to “design,” and the step-by-step framework she uses to build profitable, realistic plans for the year ahead.
Expect to learn:
If you want clarity, confidence, and a system to build a profitable year—this episode is your blueprint.
0:00 — Intro & quick setup
1:00 — Why most businesses avoid budgeting
2:35 — Budgeting as designing the life you want
5:45 — Getting past the overwhelm of your first budget
8:07 — How to review last year before planning ahead
12:14 — Revenue capacity analysis (simple napkin math)
17:25 — What your P&L reveals about spending patterns
18:11 — The importance of gross profit
22:18 — Start with this number: what you want to earn
30:53 — Turning budgets into better hiring decisions
31:42 — The 5 numbers to call for next year
36:57 — How to stick to the budget all year
39:32 — What to keep, cut, and invest in for 2026
41:37 — Where to find Meaghan Likes
Register for LeanScaper's Revenue Intensive here: https://leanscaper.com/events/revenue-intensive
The old marketing funnel is broken (or at the very least has some holes in it). In this episode of The LeanScaper Podcast, Benji sits down with Marc Levesque of Webrunner Media to break down why contractors keep wasting money on leads, how to actually generate AND capture demand, and the exact steps to fix your “leaky funnel” before you pour more money into ads.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Why the old marketing funnel is broken
5:05 – Lead magnets, nurturing, and why it doesn’t work anymore
9:50 – The #1 mistake contractors make in marketing
14:18 – Why you need to think like a media company
17:43 – Stop wasting your content (do this instead)
23:20 – Paying for eyeballs works (here’s why)
27:26 – How to audit your own company
38:41 – The “10K contractor who wants $100K jobs” story
42:52 – Why most campaigns fail (leaky buckets)
49:51 – The two biggest wastes in contractor marketing
In this episode, Benji sits down with serial entrepreneur and podcaster Dwayne Kerrigan, who has owned 35+ businesses across 14 industries. From road building to landscaping to restaurants, Dwayne shares the 5 fundamental business skill sets that span industries.
You’ll hear:
⏰ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: 35+ businesses before 40
06:59 – The power of singular focus vs. juggling businesses
12:51 – Vision is a muscle, not just a gift
16:23 – The power of better questions
22:40 – The brutal 20-minute think-time exercise
27:29 – Culture = you get what you tolerate
41:12 – Sales is table stakes—find the pain point
57:57 – Becoming data-driven: P&Ls and finance days
01:01:51 – Advice to 21-year-old me
Unlock the hidden metrics that actually drive profitability in contracting and landscaping businesses. In this episode, LeanScaper CEO Mike Lysecki breaks down why profit numbers lie, how throughput reveals the truth, and the exact ratios you should track to make more money.
Expect to learn:
⏱ Timestamps
00:00 – Why profit numbers mislead business owners
07:30 – The steel plant story that changed everything
09:43 – Labor efficiency ratio explained in plain English
18:41 – Why labor isn’t really a variable expense
22:26 – The bottleneck analogy: assembly lines & paint booths
36:53 – Mowing vs hardscape: the shocking profit truth
46:49 – How TBG slashed overhead to 7%
51:46 – The one check every sales team should add
57:39 – Why a superstar foreman is worth 10 employees
01:05:58 – The data mantra that separates average from elite companies
⸻
🔗 Connect with LeanScaper: https://leanscaper.com
📥 Need help? DM us or join the LeanScaper community
In this episode, Benji Carlson sits down with Brian Kaskavalciyan of The Wealthy Contractor to uncover why so many landscapers and contractors struggle with scarcity thinking—and what it really takes to build wealth in business.
Brian shares powerful mindset shifts, personal stories, and practical tools that help entrepreneurs overcome fear, reprogram limiting beliefs, and finally give themselves permission to win.
Expect to learn:
1. Why fear is the #1 reason contractors undercharge.
2. How most business owners accidentally have more faith in failure than success.
3. Why every contractor who delivers quality work deserves to be profitable (and wealthy). If you’re ready to stop playing small and start creating abundance in your business, this is a must-watch. ⏱
Timestamps:
00:36 – The fear-driven pricing trap
05:18 – Why competition is an illusion
06:43 – How to create opportunities out of thin air
09:29 – Mindset vs. skillset (why 90% is mindset)
15:08 – Stop asking “how” and ask this instead
22:37 – Why most people have faith in failure
25:45 – Reprogramming your subconscious stories
30:06 – Why mindset is like going to the gym
42:36 – Money only amplifies who you are
46:47 – How to stop moving the goalposts
53:06 – The truth: You deserve to make a profit
👉 Subscribe for more insights on building wealth and freedom in your landscaping business.
👉 Learn more at thewealthycontractor.com
Hiring in the trades is broken. Too many contractors “post and pray,” hoping the right people show up. In this episode, Benji sits down with Naomi Pitt and Josianne Gaudette from CrewHR to break down what real recruitment looks like in 2025—from building pipelines, referral programs, employer branding, and even using AI without losing the human touch.
If you’re struggling to attract and keep top talent, this episode is packed with tactical advice and powerful mindset shifts.
Timestamps:
00:50 – Why contractors fall into “post and pray” hiring
03:06 – The biggest mindset shift in recruiting
04:40 – Recruitment is a sales funnel
10:33 – Beyond job boards: new sourcing channels
14:36 – Referral programs that actually work
20:09 – The “Ideal Candidate Profile” (ICP) explained
25:20 – Gen Z and the rebranding of the trades
32:39 – Why remote work is overrated
35:10 – Mapping career paths visually
39:06 – Employer brand 101: more than logos
44:39 – AI in hiring: efficiency vs empathy
50:34 – Why small companies actually have the advantage
52:20 – CrewHR’s mission + what’s next
Marketing is the lifeblood of every small business — yet most entrepreneurs waste thousands chasing shiny objects, outsourcing to the wrong people, or tracking the wrong numbers. In this conversation with best-selling author Allan Dib (The 1-Page Marketing Plan, Lean Marketing), we unpack how to eliminate waste, focus on what matters, and build a marketing engine that works.
👉 Subscribe for more insights: https://www.youtube.com/@leanscaper
👉 Grab Allan’s free resources: leanmarketing.com
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction
01:19 – Why outsourcing marketing fails
04:52 – Marketing is like a marriage
09:18 – Defining marketing waste
13:41 – The cost of shiny object syndrome
17:49 – Advertising as pollution vs. gardens as goodwill
25:35 – Why vanity metrics don’t pay the bills (CAC & LTV)
32:57 – Why tradespeople lose leads
36:10 – The handwritten note hack that doubles show-ups
44:36 – Why 2025 is “2008 for personal branding”
47:42 – The 3 rules for waste-free marketing
Learn More About Our Accelerator Programs: https://leanscaper.com/programs
In this episode of the LeanScaper Podcast, Benji Carlson sits down with Mark Bradley to break down the five stages of scaling a landscaping business—from startup hustle to legacy enterprise. Mark shares raw stories, painful lessons, and powerful frameworks that every entrepreneur needs to hear.
Whether you’re stuck at $500K, fighting to get past $3M, or steering a $20M company, this roadmap will help you scale with clarity, systems, and sanity.
Timestamps:
In this episode, Benji sits down with Isaac Barlow, founder of BusyBusy, one of the first time-tracking tools purpose-built for the trades. Isaac is a visionary entrepreneur and technologist who transformed the way contractors capture and use jobsite data.
Isaac shares his deep insights on the power of “jobsite intelligence,” the critical field data that helps contractors make smarter, more profitable decisions.
This conversation explores:
Whether you’re scaling a landscape company or leading a crew, this episode will challenge you to think differently about data, leadership, and field productivity.
To learn more about BusyBusy visit: https://busybusy.com/
If your business can’t run without you, it’s not a business - it’s a bottleneck. Barry Hartman built 505-Junk into a 7-figure operation because he built leaders - not just labor. In this episode, he shares the hard-won lessons behind building a leadership team that drives growth without bloated overhead.
✅ When to begin designing and building a leadership team (hint: sooner than you think)
✅ How to design roles that create ownership and eliminate confusion
✅ Why culture beats credentials in blue-collar leadership
✅ Where to find your next leader - inside your org or outside it
Timestamps:
0:00 – Why this episode matters
3:10 – How Barry knew it was time to build a team
7:45 – Structure vs. people: what comes first?
12:20 – Common mistakes contractors make in hiring leaders
16:00 – How to map out a lean leadership org chart
23:00 – Interviewing & onboarding: what really works
28:40 – Culture tips for leading leaders
33:50 – Closing advice from Barry Hartman
👉 Subscribe for more no-fluff leadership content
👉 Learn more at https://www.youtube.com/@leanscaper
Hiring your first salesperson can feel like pulling the cord on a chainsaw that won’t start; over and over again. In this episode, Benji sits down with Asad Zaman, CEO of Sales Talent Agency, to unpack why this hire is so hard and why most business owners get it dead wrong.
Asad has helped 1,500 companies make over $1 billion in sales hires, and he’s here to deliver hard truths and practical steps. They dive into why only 1 in 10 salespeople are actually good at the job, why the real obstacle is usually your systems, not your salesperson, and how supply-and-demand dynamics make top sales talent incredibly hard to attract.
You’ll Learn:
If you’re stuck on this hire, or burned out from false starts, this episode is your wake-up call and your playbook.
Big takeaway: Sales isn’t just another hire > it’s the unlock to real scale. But if you don’t get this right, you’ll be stuck wearing this hat in your business… forever.
Private equity is flooding into the landscaping industry, but why now? In this episode, Morgan from Breakwater M&A breaks down the massive shift in investor focus and what it means for blue-collar entrepreneurs.
We talk about:
• Why landscaping is suddenly a hot investment target
• How AI is pushing investors out of tech and into real-world businesses
• The “golden era” of exits—and how to avoid leaving money on the table
• The real reason most contractors can’t sell their business (and how to fix it)
• What makes your company irresistible to buyers—and how to get top dollar
If you’re running a landscape business and thinking about your future, this is the episode you can’t afford to skip.
👉 Subscribe for weekly episodes that challenge, educate, and help landscapers grow smarter, scale faster, and build serious value.
What happens when you hire a software programmer, not a landscaper, to help run one of the biggest jobs of your career? In this live talk turned podcast episode, Mike Lysecki reveals the behind-the-scenes story of how systems, transparency, and accountability became the backbone of TBG’s success and eventually the foundation for LMN and LeanScaper.
From a $5M residential project that ballooned into $12M, to a job interview where Mark opened his QuickBooks and doubled Mike’s salary on the spot, this conversation lays out the real playbook landscapers need to scale smarter.
✅ Why you might want to hire an operator instead of another landscaper
✅ How a $12M project exposed the need for systems
✅ The surprising power of financial transparency in leadership
✅ The first version of the Lean Playbook—and why it still works today
✅ Lessons from 20 years of cutting waste, building teams, and scaling businesses
This isn’t theory. It’s the operating system that transformed a company, and can transform yours.
You don’t run a profitable landscaping business by accident. In this episode, Benji sits down with Robert Gauvreau - CPA, author of The Wealthy Entrepreneur, and founder of Gauvreau Accounting, Tax, Law, Advisory - to expose the eight most common financial mistakes contractors make and how to avoid them.
Robert’s firm has worked with over 4,000 businesses across North America, including 700+ contractors, giving him a unique, behind-the-scenes look at what drives sustainable profitability in landscaping.
Expect to learn:
• Why financial literacy is still taboo in the trades and how to get over it
• The biggest “cash flow killers” and how to fix them fast
• Why underpricing is not a math problem, but a mindset problem
• The truth about taxes and why “I bought it with cash” is just bad business
• How to build a simple financial scoreboard to make better decisions
Whether you’re just getting your books in order or gearing up for serious growth, this episode will show you how to become the CFO your business needs. Because doing great work is only half the battle. The other half? Knowing your numbers.
🔗 Connect with Robert: https://www.gauvreaucpa.ca/ 📥 Need help?
DM us or visit leanscaper.com
To come to our Financial Intensive Workshop in Dallas ON US click here
In this special episode of The LeanScaper Podcast, Benji Carlson takes the stage to deliver one of his most impactful talks yet: how to build a one-year people plan that actually works.
Most contractors love strategy - it’s fun, exciting, and creative. But sooner or later, every great plan must run through people… and that’s where the real challenges begin. In this live session, Benji shares the painful lessons a particularly bad year in business taught him about leadership, and the simple but powerful framework any entrepreneur can use to align their team, prevent chaos, and drive results.
You’ll hear from a bunch of the business owners in the room too, raw reflections on leadership mistakes, and practical takeaways you can implement immediately in your own company. If you’ve ever wondered how to get your people to care as much as you do, this is the episode for you.
In This Episode:
• Why strategy always breaks down at the people level
• The lessons Benji learned from his “dumpster fire year” in business
• How to design your org chart around vision, not chaos
The three most common hiring and leadership mistakes contractors make
• Practical tools to build trust, accountability, and performance across your team
• Audience Q&A: real-world people challenges and how to solve them If you’re interested in coming to a LeanScaper event like the one this talk was taken from go to LeanScaper.com/events to see our event calendar. We’d love to see you at our next one!
Timestamps
0:00 – Welcome to The LeanScaper Podcast
2:15 – Why strategy fails without people
6:30 – Benji’s “dumpster fire year” story
12:50 – Vision first, structure second, people third
17:45 – Clear deliverables and written agreements
22:40 – Chaos addiction vs. structure
25:00 – Why management systems matter
29:10 – Real-world people challenges shared from the audience
34:05 – Nervousness around delegation and leadership growth
38:50 – How to earn respect and inspire your team
40:55 – Every pair of hands comes with a free brain
46:30 – Hiring, firing, and culture fit lessons
49:00 – Closing reflections and takeaways
To come to our Financial Intensive Workshop in Dallas ON US click here
In this powerful episode, Benji sits down with Jon DeWaal, Executive Director of Liminal Space, to unpack burnout from the inside out - what it feels like, why it happens, and how entrepreneurs can break free from the grind that’s stealing their energy and purpose.
Expect to learn:
• What “functional burnout” feels like and how it traps leaders in a life they can’t escape
• How burnout hijacks your presence, leadership, and decision-making
• Easy-to-spot signs you’re burning out (and what to do about it)
• 5 practical strategies to get back your energy and lead with purpose
• Why owning your limits can actually build trust and performance in your team
This episode cuts to the heart of a common but unspoken problem: the cost of grinding nonstop without pause. Jon gives you the tools to self-diagnose burnout and reframe it not as a failure, but as a signal that it’s time to lead differently. If you’re running low on energy but can’t slow down - this one’s for you.
Connect with Jon Learn more at inaliminalspace.org Email: jon@inaliminalspace.org
To come to our Financial Intensive Workshop in Dallas ON US click here
What’s holding landscapers back from their true potential?
In this episode, Justin White (CEO of K&D Landscaping) brings raw energy to his keynote in Charlotte. He shares how “sweat equity,” a championship mindset, and bold long-term vision can transform not just your business but your entire life.
Justin doesn’t just talk about growth; he proves it by living it. From nearly losing his family business to scaling it into a market leader, his story is a wake-up call for every landscaper who’s playing small.
✅ Why most contractors set goals that are way too small
✅ The “champion’s mindset” that separates winners from everyone else
✅ How private equity is reshaping the industry - and why grit still wins
✅ Why your 10-year vision is the most valuable thing you’ll ever build
✅ The truth about sweat equity and why most leaders never apply it This isn’t about easy hacks or shortcuts. It’s about discipline, mindset, and action.
👉 Subscribe for more no-BS leadership insights
👉 Join the LeanScaper Community: community.leanscaper.com
👉 Learn more about the Accelerator Program: leanscaper.com T