In 2001, Rob Palmer took a leap of faith. Actually, he took two leaps. "Some people's dream is to start their own business. Others dream of staying home with the kids," says Palmer. "My wife and I did both at once and made it work."
Palmer founded Weed Pro Ltd. nearly seven years ago, while his then-pregnant wife simultaneously quit her teaching job in Westlake to stay at home with their children. "I wasn't one of those guys with a big bank account or inheritance," he says. "We did it by managing our budget and keeping our expenses low."
Applying that same discipline and diligence to his company, Palmer has watched revenues grow between 20 and 35 percent every year. This year, the Sheffield Village-based company will post annual sales of approximately $2.1 million.
Weed Pro provides complete lawn care, including fertilization and weed and insect control, to residential and commercial accounts throughout Cuyahoga, Lorain and Erie counties. Two years ago, the company opened a branch in Columbus.
Palmer started Weed Pro after working for seven years as a distributor of lawn care supplies for Cleveland-based LESCO Inc. While there, he regularly attended the Green Industry Conference and Expo, an annual trade show with educational sessions for land care professionals. "I went to Indianapolis in November 2000, listened to several marketing courses and knew I could open my own company," recalls Palmer.
In January 2001, he resigned from LESCO, leased inexpensive office space with two phone lines and a computer and used his resources to build his business. He hired two employees and began contacting landscapers, encouraging them to subcontract their fertilizing business to Weed Pro.
Today, the company has 16 employees. Approximately 60 percent of its accounts are residential and the rest are commercial. What sets Weed Pro apart from its competition, says Palmer, is his strong background in agro-economics and his insistence on continuing education.
"We have our own Weed Pro Academy," says Palmer. "It's an in-house turf/grass management program. As long as you're an employee here, you're constantly participating in training to become a master in our Weed Pro program." Each season, employees learn about different insects and diseases that plague lawns. They can take a test administered by the Professional Land Care Network to become Certified Turfgrass Professionals (CTPs). Weed Pro currently has eight CTPs, including Palmer.
"My primary job has gone from being a salesman to coaching and training my employees," says Palmer, who admits this has presented challenges along the way. "It's hard going from a position where you have your hands in everything to the point where you trust the people you hire and the systems you put in place." Fortunately, he learned to overcome his predisposition as a "do-it-yourselfer," and the company continues to thrive.
Palmer hopes to open at least two more Weed Pro branches in the Cleveland market, possibly in the Twinsburg/Hudson area and Medina. He'd like the first one to be up and running within two years. Says Palmer, "From day one, we said we wanted to be the largest non-national company in our field in the Cleveland metropolitan market."
He's definitely on his way to reaching that goal.