The Lawn Care CEO

Hosted by Dan Ralphs and Aaron Suttenfield

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Jul 2026

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About the show

We believe that every college drop out, accidental entrepreneur and lawn mowing maven can become a wildly successful CEO. Every week we will discuss how to increase profitability while simultaneously spending less time and having fewer headaches. Join 7-figure business coach, Dan Ralphs and life long lawn care CEO, Aaron Suttenfield to chart your course to becoming a $1M lawn care CEO.

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56 recent

July 10, 2026Episode 1346 min

The $50 Million Rule

Send us Fan MailIf someone asked you right now — "Are you a person of integrity?" — you'd probably say yes.Most people do.And most people are wrong.In this episode, Dan Ralphs shares the most important leadership principle he's ever learned — a framework he discovered at a week-long academic leadership conference in Bermuda that fundamentally changed the way he runs his business, leads his team, and shows up at home.It's not about being honest. It's not about doing the right thing when nobody's watching. It goes much deeper than that — and by the time this episode is over, you're going to see dozens of places in your life where you're quietly out of integrity without even knowing it.This is the episode Dan teaches to every single leader he coaches. And it's the one principle he believes separates the owners who stay stuck at $1 million from the ones who build $10 million and $50 million companies.You'll learn:The academic definition of integrity that goes far beyond honesty and doing the right thingThe 5 dimensions of your word — and why violating even one of them erodes your power as a leaderWhy you're most likely breaking your word with the person you're closest to — including yourselfHow unclear expectations are quietly destroying your client relationships before they even startThe Southwest Airlines story that reframes what it means to fire a difficult clientWhy high-integrity leaders attract high-integrity teams — and low-integrity leaders can't figure out why nobody follows themThe one phrase that turns a broken commitment into a trust-building moment with any client or employee🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

July 3, 2026Episode 1241 min

How to Not Run Out of Money

Send us Fan MailYou worked all year. You stayed busy. You kept the trucks rolling and the crews moving.And at the end of December, you looked at your bank account — and there was nothing there.This is the episode for that guy.Dan Ralphs breaks down the most common — and most preventable — reason lawn care businesses run out of money. Not slow season. Not bad luck. Not the economy. Two things: pricing and efficiency. And if you don't know your cost of goods number right now, you are almost certainly bleeding money on every single job you run — and you don't even know it.Dan also walks through the seven baby steps that take a cash-strapped lawn care company from survival mode to a war chest that makes every business decision easier, every emergency manageable, and every season something you actually look forward to.This isn't theory. This is the financial framework that changes everything.You'll learn:The only two reasons your cost of goods is too high — and how to fix bothWhy 35-40% cost of goods is the number that separates struggling companies from scaling onesWhat "bad money" is and why saying yes to it is slowly killing your profitThe hamburger analogy that instantly clarifies why efficiency matters more than most owners thinkHow a company was making $80,000 less per year just by keeping one service they thought was profitableThe 7 baby steps to build a cash reserve, pay off debt, pay yourself fairly, and stop running on emptyWhy the stress of being cash tight kills more businesses than actually running out of money🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

June 19, 2026Episode 1158 min

He Has Grown By $1M a Year and Only Lost 1 Client - A True Story

Send us Fan MailEvery company in Kansas City said HOAs were a nightmare.Too many homeowners. Too many opinions. Too much headache for too little money.Justin Simpson heard all of it — and built a $5 million company anyway.In this episode, Justin sits down with Dan Ralphs to break down exactly how he grew Lifestyle Outdoor from zero to $5 million in five years by doing the one thing everyone else refused to do — specializing in high-end HOAs and refusing to apologize for it.But that's just the beginning. Justin also walks through the performance-based pay system that shaved 12 full percentage points off his labor costs while simultaneously raising his employees' effective hourly rate to $40 an hour. He talks about his 100% client retention rate across five years of business. And he explains the concept he calls "systemship" — the framework his leadership team uses to make every single decision in the company.This is one of the most tactically dense episodes we've ever recorded — and one of the most inspiring.You'll learn:How Justin identified and dominated a niche every other company avoidedThe HOA sales process that flips the script — interviewing the client before they interview youWhy performance-based pay created a 12% labor cost reduction in year oneThe 18-24 month implementation roadmap for P4P — and why you can't rush itHow to build a white glove service culture with 50 employeesThe "systemship" framework — three questions every decision must answer before it gets implementedWhy 100% client retention is possible even in the notoriously fickle HOA worldHow to build a leadership team that runs the business without you🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

June 8, 2026Episode 101 hr 8 min

The CEO Whisperer Who Makes Million-Dollar Leaders Cry — In the Best Way Possible

Send us Fan MailThere's a ceiling that stops almost every lawn care company somewhere between $3 million and $4 million. Most owners blame the market. They blame their team. They blame their leads or their pricing or the economy.Stephanie Hitchins has sat across from hundreds of CEOs at that exact ceiling — and she'll tell you the same thing every time. The ceiling isn't out there. It's in here.Stephanie is the kind of coach that serious leaders find by referral only. No website. No social media. Just a quiet reputation among the CEOs who've worked with her that she is the person you call when you've run out of excuses and you're finally ready to do the real work. In this episode, she sits down with Dan Ralphs to talk about the one thing that almost nobody in the lawn care industry is willing to talk about — the beliefs, the stories, and the old wounds that are quietly running your business from the inside out.This isn't fluffy. This isn't therapy. This is the most practical conversation you'll hear all year about what it actually takes to become the kind of leader who can build a $10 million company — because that leader has to be a different person than the one who built the $3 million one.Dan even gets vulnerable live on the podcast and surfaces one of his own hidden beliefs. If the head coach of Lawn Care CEO is willing to go there, you can too.You'll learn:Why every business problem is ultimately a leadership problem — and what to do about itThe community of voices inside your head and how to stop letting the negative ones make your decisionsWhat the Stockdale Paradox teaches us about the mindset that actually survives and scalesHow self-limiting beliefs disguise themselves as reality — and the one question that exposes themWhy the victim mindset makes you powerless and the exact shift that gives you control backHow to identify the one recurring thought that's been quietly capping your growthWhat it looks like when a leader finally confronts the belief that's been running everythingWhy vulnerability isn't weakness — it's the most powerful leadership tool you're not using🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

June 1, 2026Episode 952 min

Leadership and College Football

Send us Fan MailDan Ralphs has spent 35 years studying leadership. Coaching businesses. Watching companies scale and stall and scale again.And after all of it, he keeps coming back to one framework — five tiers of leadership modeled after college football — that explains almost everything about why some lawn care companies grow to $10 million and beyond while others get stuck at $1 million and can't figure out why.In this episode, he teaches the whole thing from scratch.The athletic director who sets the vision. The head coach who sets the standard. The coordinator who builds the system. The position coach who develops the people. And the team member who executes with excellence. Five tiers. Five skill sets. Five reasons your business is either growing or stuck right now.If you've ever wondered what it would actually take to build a $10 million or $50 million lawn care company, this is the episode that answers that question with total clarity.🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

May 21, 2026Episode 853 min

He Bought a $400K Business for $45K, Doubled His Profit, and Never Ran a Single Ad

Send us Fan Mail23% growth. Net profit doubled. $1.5 million in revenue. No advertising budget.Jason James of Turf 212 in Greenville, South Carolina is doing something most lawn care owners think is impossible — scaling fast while keeping the bottom line healthy, and doing it almost entirely on word of mouth and relationships.In this episode, Jason sits down with Dan Ralphs and fractional CEO coach Miranda to walk through exactly how he got here — the business purchase that changed everything, the cash flow moves that unlocked his profit, and the mindset shifts that turned a guy who just wanted to work hard into a CEO with a real vision for the next decade.If you're grinding to hit your next milestone and wondering why the numbers aren't reflecting the work you're putting in, this episode is for you.🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

May 15, 2026Episode 71 hr 2 min

How to @#$%ing Get Ranked on Google

Send us Fan MailRight now, someone in your town just typed "lawn care near me" into Google.Three names showed up. Yours wasn't one of them.They picked somebody else. They scheduled. They paid. And that company didn't do anything special to earn it — they just knew how to play a game you haven't learned yet.That's what this episode is about.Dan Ralphs and Sam Gustin — fractional CEO coach, Missile Defender of the Year, and founder of Troops Mowing — sit down to teach you exactly how Google decides who shows up in the Map Pack and who stays invisible. No fluff, no theory. Just the four pillars Sam has used to rank Troops Mowing in the top three locally without paying for a single sponsored ad.If you're serious about growing your lawn care or lawn treatment business through Google, this episode is non-negotiable.What you'll learn:What the Google Map Pack is and why it's the only real estate that matters in local marketingThe three factors Google weighs when deciding who ranks: relevance, distance, and prominenceWhy your business name could be quietly tanking your Google rankingsHow to build a review strategy based on frequency — and stay compliant with Google's April 2026 updateWhy a physical address pin is one of the highest-leverage moves you can makeHow to use your Google Business Profile category to capture seasonal leads your competitors are missingWhat a high-converting lawn care website actually looks like — with two real examplesSomeone in your market is winning on Google right now. This episode is how you take that spot.🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

May 8, 2026Episode 61 hr 5 min

The Simple Sales Script That Took This Lawn Care Company From 33% to 84% Close Rate

Send us Fan MailAaron Suttonfield watched his close rate fall from the low 50s all the way down to 33% — and he knew marketing wasn't going to save him. So he fixed the thing closest to cash first: his sales process.In this episode, Aaron breaks down exactly what he changed to go from 33% to as high as 84.8% close rate at RDS Lawn Care. New team structure, a three-tiered program, a dead-simple phone script, and one counterintuitive pricing move that made the elite program the easiest sell on the menu.If your close rate is soft, your phone coverage is inconsistent, or your sales process hasn't been touched in years — this episode is the one.You'll learn:Why fixing your close rate beats buying more leads every timeThe three-program structure that boosted elite program signups from 35% to 60%A phone script that measures the property live and closes in one callWhy upselling is quietly killing your conversion rateHow to staff your phones when you can't afford a full-time sales rep🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

April 27, 2026Episode 51 hr 21 min

He Had 1,900 Five-Star Reviews and Almost Quit. Here's Why.

Send us Fan MailYou can hit $2M in revenue, collect 1,900 five-star reviews, and still be one resignation away from watching it all fall apart. That's not a hypothetical. That's Kyle Flanagan's story.Kyle built Lawn Ace in Augusta, Georgia into a multimillion-dollar fertilization and weed control company. Great brand. Loyal clients. Strong team — until the ops leader who held everything together walked out after 13 years. Suddenly Kyle was back in the weeds, burning out, and asking himself if it was time to exit.In this episode, we trace his full journey — $9/hour spray tech to franchise owner to starting over at zero in 2019 — and what finally changed when he stopped building around people and started building around seats.The finish line isn't revenue. Go do more good.🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube

April 22, 2026Episode 445 min

How to Start (or Fix) a Lawn Care Business the Right Way

Send us Fan MailDan skipped church to help a buddy plan a pest control business — and ended up laying out the exact blueprint every lawn care business owner needs to build a scalable, profitable company. In this episode of the Lawn Care CEO Podcast, head coach Dan Ralphs walks you through the four foundational steps every owner needs to nail, whether you're starting a lawn care business from scratch, launching a new division, or trying to figure out why you feel stuck early on.You'll learn the three core business models in residential lawn care — mowing and maintenance, project work (landscape installation, irrigation, lighting), and fertilization and weed control — and the unique scaling challenge hiding inside each one. Dan breaks down why mowing companies live and die by labor, why project work demands elite sales and design talent, and why fertilization and weed control comes down to one thing: client acquisition.Then he gets practical. How to price your lawn care work so your cost of goods, gross margin, and hourly rate actually pencil out. How to build a minimum viable lawn care business — wrapped truck, door hangers, simple website, basic CRM — without blowing cash on equipment you don't need yet. And finally, Dan introduces his Ripcord Protocol: the exact checklist you and your spouse should build before you leap from side hustle to full-time lawn care entrepreneur.If you're serious about building a scalable, profitable lawn care business — the kind that could be worth a million bucks in three years — this episode is the map. Grab a notebook. And go do more good.🔗 Follow Us!FacebookInstagramTiktokYoutube