With the assistance of Sara Waskow, Market President and Franchise Consultant for FranNet of Dallas-Fort Worth & Oklahoma, Tommy & Kim Campbell have made their entrepreneurial dreams come true—owning a business operation of their own. The husband-wife co-owners are ready to share their franchise ownership journey as the successful owners of Lawn Doctor of Georgetown / Round Rock, Texas. Below, in his own words, Tommy shares the tale of his journey with FranNet of DFW…
Background
“I graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s in construction science and went on to enjoy over three decades in the commercial construction industry. I eventually worked my way up to the Vice-President of Operations. I’m married to my wife Kim, who runs all of the financial operations for our business, and we have four children and three grandchildren.”
On Becoming an Entrepreneur
“I didn’t start out with a dream to own a business of my own, but after several decades working in the commercial construction market, I kind of got a pretty good idea of what it would take. I was fortunate enough to work for some of the biggest global names in the construction industry, but over time I began to get burned out and frustrated with the red tape. I wanted to do something different and began to think about how to create an exit strategy from my construction career.”
Why Franchising?
“Franchising turned out to be a really good fit for me personally. I’m what you call a ‘policies and procedures’ kind-of-guy and I like how the proven business models of franchises had everything in place. I initially thought that franchises were mainly fast-food restaurants but ended up finding out that this wasn’t true by a long shot. When I began to look at the Lawn Doctor concept, I knew it would be a fit. I really like the concept of being outdoors and helping people improve the curb appeal of their homes. After we met several of the other franchisees and the folks at corporate, it seemed to be a natural fit. The entire process took between two- and three-months once we made the decision to move forward.”
How FranNet Helped
“Sara Waskow initially contacted me on LinkedIn with a simple and straightforward message. She asked me, “Ever think of doing something different?’ Over the next six-to-nine months, we kept up a correspondence and after I experienced a layoff, it was ‘go time”. Sara is very kind, patient, and easy to work with. She really helped instill the confidence that I was making a good decision.
Where Do You Stand?
“Our family went through quite a change during the grand opening phase back in March of 2019. We sold our home in northeast Texas and purchased and moved to our new home in Georgetown, Tx, and started our Lawn Doctor business—all in a matter of three months. Right from the start, it was a success, and we had no trouble meeting our benchmarks. We have basically doubled our business each year due to the Central Texas area is booming, and the structured plan the Lawn Doctor franchise offered us. We handle both residential and commercial accounts and we’re up to two full-time employees and it looks like next year we’ll need to add two additional employees to keep up with the growth. Things are really looking up and I hope to finish up my working career as a Lawn Doctor owner. I certainly have no regrets.”
For more information, please Tommy & Kim Campbell’s Lawn Doctor of Georgetown, TX on the internet.