Weed Man Roswell, GA / Gwinnett County, GA / Kennesaw, GA / Houston, TX / San Antonio, TX / Jacksonville, FL
Name: Jim McClure
Markets: Roswell, GA; Gwinnett County, GA; Kennesaw, GA; Houston, TX; San Antonio, TX; Jacksonville, FL
Number of Locations: 4
Education: Studied business administration, management and entrepreneurship at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, GA.
Career Background: In college I started my own lawn care and landscaping business in Roswell, GA called LawnSouth, offering residential and commercial landscape maintenance, lawn applications, Christmas Décor, and lighting. I saw Weed Man at several industry trade shows and events and met the sub franchisor for Georgia. I discussed my interest in opening a franchise to service our existing customer base, and I decided to expand our services by opening a Weed Man franchise. Our landscaping business was doing very well, and my intention originally was to operate both companies together. After seeing the return on investment and growth potential of Weed Man, I decided to sell LawnSouth in 2005.
Why Weed Man? What attracted me to Weed Man initially was the quality of people in the organization. The lawn care industry had just gone through numerous mergers and acquisitions with many industry leaders that I had come to respect over the years aligning themselves with Weed Man. The cost structure of the lawn care business was lower and the profit margins were higher and I thought that we could scale the business quicker.
What Are You Most Proud of So Far As a Weed Man Franchisee? I am most proud of the people that we have grown in our organization. My business partner and General Manager, Kevin Adan, leads an incredibly talented group of people who do great things day in and day out. We’ve been honored within the Weed Man organization to win numerous sales awards and “The Award of Excellence” two years in a row, which is very humbling considering the caliber of franchisees within the Weed Man system.
What is the Key to Your Success?
I think any good business leader would tell you the same thing- integrity, hard work, and surrounding yourself with great people who are just as passionate about those things as you are. Residential landscaping was a very fragmented model when I started my business in 1988. I learned many lessons the hard way, through trial and error. The Weed Man structure is like a ‘best practices’ model from some of the brightest and most creative operators in the green industry. We all come together as peers in a non-competitive environment and learn from each other. When I operated as an independent owner I completely underestimated the benefits of belonging to this kind of network and it is something that I appreciate more as each year passes.
What’s Next for Your and Your Business? A few years back we purchased the rights to expand our territory over the entire North Atlanta area and opened satellite offices in Kennesaw and Suwanee Georgia, and most recently have purchased franchises rights in Houston, San Antonio and Jacksonville. We are also very excited to be on the forefront of the robotic mowing revolution with our new Turf Bot robotic mowing franchise in Atlanta, which gives us the opportunity to provide mowing to our Weed Man customers.