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Main Street Reimagined Podcast
This is a podcast for dreamers, creators, developers, and entrepreneurs to learn, share, and be inspired to change your community through small business.
Main Street Reimagined Podcast
Episode 35: The Power of Who, Not How: Scaling Businesses Through Delegation
This week, the tables are turned and Luke is in the hot seat! This replay of the NextGen Strategies Podcast, features Luke as a guest, sharing his story and some lessons learned along the way about scaling a business and how to lead.
Before he started revitalizing buildings and building community with Henry Development Group, Luke's story began with purchasing a lawnmower at a garage sale in junior high—a humble start that would evolve into ProScape Lawn and Landscape Services, now employing up to 100 team members. While building this business, he simultaneously pursued a pharmacy career, creating an unsustainable schedule that forced a pivotal decision: stick with the security of pharmacy or go all-in on entrepreneurship.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Luke reveals how a business crisis became a leadership breakthrough. When rapid growth and competing leadership styles created cultural toxicity in his organization, Luke established a mandatory weekly leadership development program that continues seven years later. This investment transformed not just his business performance but created ripple effects in his employees' personal lives, affecting their relationships, health, and career trajectories.
Perhaps most valuable is Luke's hard-earned wisdom about delegation and growth. "You're always one person away from solving your biggest problem," he explains, advocating for the "Who Not How" approach that focuses on finding the right people rather than trying to do everything yourself. This mindset shift enabled his expansion into downtown development, starting with the Main Street Reimagined project in 2018.
Whether you're just starting your entrepreneurial journey or looking to scale multiple ventures, Luke's experiences provide a blueprint for building businesses that grow beyond your personal limitations and create lasting impact in your community and the lives of your team members.
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Hey friends, luke Henry here, this is the Main Street Reimagined podcast. Thanks so much for being with me this week. This week's episode is going to be a little bit different. I'm actually turning the tables and I'm going to be the guest and have someone else interviewing me. So this is actually a replay of a recent podcast episode that I was on with a couple of friends of mine, grant Covault and Tyler Davis. They have the Next Gen Strategies podcast. Grant is a chief marketing officer on a fractional basis, so he works with companies on their marketing and Tyler is a CPA.
Speaker 1:So if you're listening to the Main Street Reimagined podcast, I believe that you'll enjoy their content as well. So be sure to hop over and subscribe to that. We'll add a link in the show notes to their podcast, but this week I was actually on their podcast, their headquartered out of Sydney, so you could say this is kind of number four in the Sydney series, the final episode where we turn the tables. I'm going to talk a little bit about my story, some parts I've never shared on the podcast before in terms of leadership, the growth as I've learned through the years and just some different topics around my story. So hopefully you enjoyed that.
Speaker 1:I enjoyed being in the hot seat a little bit with these guys. They did a great job, and so I want to share it with our audience here as well on the Main Street Reimagined podcast. Thanks so much for listening, as always. I hope to see you next time as well. If you enjoy this episode, please be sure, as always, to share it with someone who may find value, and I'll look forward to talking with you again real soon.
Speaker 2:And you may notice that we're in a little bit of a different space today. We are live from the Hive in Sydney, ohio, instead of shooting in our normal studio. We are super excited today as well because we have a guest with us, mr Luke Henry, coming down from Marion, ohio. Luke, welcome to the show. What's up? Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Luke has quite an interesting journey to where he is today in terms of owning buildings and owning businesses. You know he is today in terms of owning buildings and owning businesses, and so we're really excited to kind of pick Luke's brain about everything from culture and leadership to a little bit even around scaling, and you know what we can do to grow businesses and so super excited for our listeners to hear a little bit of the story, and Ty and I are going to do our best to stump Luke as we go through things today. But, luke, I'll kind of let you kick off because obviously, as I mentioned, you have a little bit of a unique story and how you went from one thing to another, and so I'll let you kind of kick that off for us today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I know we don't have three hours, so I'll give you the shortened version here. I often say I'm still deciding what I want to be when I grow up. I started out fairly young in life. I think I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I was selling coins and stamps and all kinds of stuff in elementary school, junior high. Then I started mowing lawns with a lawnmower that I bought at a garage sale in junior high and really developed an affinity for that. You know, for mid-90s it was great money mowing lawns, and so I'm like I think I could do this, and so I started saving up money to take girls out on dates and buy my first car. And so I. What was the car? What was the car? It was a 1984 GMC Jimmy.
Speaker 1:So it was one year younger than me when I bought it and I learned a lot about like triage and repairing vehicles and parking lots in order to get home on time.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And stuff like that. And so, yeah, some important life lessons, some humility that came from that. But you know, you got to remember when you're 16, like, wheels are wheels and it actually looked pretty good. It just didn't run very well, but that was I would. I would put my mowing rig in the back of that and then eventually bought a trailer, a little bit bigger mower than you know pickup truck, and some more mowers, and it really just kept growing organically and and so I decided to go to pharmacy school.
Speaker 1:I worked at a pharmacy when I was in high school and enjoyed it, and so I thought that was a great career. Well, my mom thought that was a great career and you know so white collar job, you know stable, and it was like the most trusted healthcare professional at the time. And so I continued, though, growing this landscaping business through college. I plowed snow and I would skip class, go home and work all weekend, and it was just kind of the hustle that I did during college. And so I did graduate. I became a pharmacist and did that for a couple of years and was continuing to grow this landscaping business, which by that time I had a handful of team members and it was starting to kind of like get a little bit of momentum, but I was also like just killing myself and really working two full-time jobs. My wife was a teacher. We didn't have any kids yet, but I'd work nine to nine at the pharmacy and I'd work before and after that I'd work on my days off. So it was just a crazy life. And so she helped me decide that something needed to go, and so I had somebody lined up to buy the landscaping business go. And so I had somebody lined up to buy the landscaping business and in the 11th hour I was like man, no, I've grown this like literally for the last 10 years and I don't think I can let it go. So I quit my pharmacy job and decided to be an entrepreneur full time, because I've never done it full time, I was always just kind of doing it on the side and so hopped all in. I was in 2009. And still own that business.
Speaker 1:It's ProScape Lawn and Landscape Services. We're headquartered in Marion, then we have a location in Columbus as well and it's been a really wild ride where, you know, we have 80 team members with gusts of 100 plus through kind of different seasons and stuff, and so we've grown a great leadership team and along the way, I got involved in real estate too and I actually bought my first house rental property when I was in college I was 19, a sophomore in college, and it was a college house five bedrooms. Rented it out to five different students and then I lived there for a couple of years with some friends and covered the expenses and learned a lot through that process too. It was kind of the same version as my first car. It was really old, had a lot of issues. I learned a lot about boiler systems and electric and frozen pipes and removing wallpaper and just all kinds of stuff. But, you know, just learned on the fly.
Speaker 1:And so bought some more properties through some of those early years of pharmacy and then, as I had the landscaping business, continued investing there. As I had the landscaping business continued investing there. And then kind of the latest iteration has been in 2018, I decided to team up with a partner and make an investment in our downtown, in downtown Marion, and we quietly bought eight buildings on one block of South Main Street that was 80% vacant at the time. These were empty buildings, old buildings, and we had a vision to make that the center of dining, shopping and entertainment for our community and people thought we were crazy. You know there was a lot of excitement around it. People thought it was exciting but also were like, yeah, that seems like a really heavy lift. Have you actually looked around?
Speaker 2:These are empty.
Speaker 1:And there's literally tumbleweeds blowing down the street.
Speaker 1:It has not come without a lot of twists and turns and turmoil.
Speaker 1:And as we were starting to try to recruit tenants, we brought people, gave them a great dog and pony show that I developed about why they needed to bring their business to Marion. And every time we're kind of met with the same feedback, which was hey, love your initiative, your vision, your drive, your spunk. But this is just kind of too early in the process and pretty speculative and we're not comfortable bringing our business here. So we're like well, we have these buildings and we are planning on fixing them up, and so we've got to do something. And so we decided that something was just start some businesses ourselves and operate those, so we can go into that some more Sure, but eventually at one point running 10 or 12 different businesses, some of them kind of Main Street businesses we had an ice cream shop, a couple of wedding venues, a restaurant, two hair salons, so all kinds of things going on, and we've since have divested of a couple of those things and kind of streamlined a little bit, but still have a lot going on.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, never a boring day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can imagine that, with that many different businesses Some are complimentary, some are like totally different that obviously you know you've had to make some decisions along the way of like bringing in the right people to help you like grow and establish these businesses, and so maybe talk a little bit about I'll start on even like the proscape side of things, like when you decided to jump in and say you know, hey, full time, I'm going to stop this pharmacy job and I'm going full time on this. Like part of you had to be like well, I can't do this alone. I need to start to, you know, put together the right team. So what was that? What was that like? What was that process for you to really start to do that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I think when I you know got in really just because I've always had a lot of things going on, I think I've always had to realize that I can't do it all.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've always worked really hard and I think that you know, strong work ethic is critical to building businesses and making things happen.
Speaker 1:But I also, you know, if I were to say that I have any kind of superpower, I think that maybe that would be seeing qualities in people and seeing like a spark in them that I believe that they can do more than what they're currently doing.
Speaker 1:And I could tell you some stories of some individuals that I've been able to kind of know, kind of identify that in them and say, you know, hey, I think you're like ready for more, like if you're ready to go on this journey. I've got some big ideas and some dreams and I need people to align with those dreams and actually execute, because I'm doing all these other things and juggling. But if you buy into this dream, you know I'll give you the keys to the kingdom and I think that we can grow something really special together. And that's really been the key with some of these different businesses is to see that spark in people and, you know, equip them and try to make sure that they have what they need and that they're the right kind of driven person, and then get out of the way and let them do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so do you think that one of the key, when you're looking at key characteristics of a hire in your mind, are you looking to then for what's maybe the next thing for that person, to kind of keep them driven throughout the process, rather than saying you know what, this is, a role forever, you know. It sounds like you're thinking well, as I hit these benchmarks of these dreams, you can come with me.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, yeah, I think that you know, especially when you're growing small businesses and you're in that kind of small earlier stage it's not like I have the funding and the ability to go out and hire someone that's been a CEO at Chase Bank for the last 20 years, you know and bring them into this business, Like I can't afford really someone with a long, tenured track record of success to come in and, you know, come into this baby business that we're bootstrapping and try to make it into something really special.
Speaker 1:I've got to find someone who has some of the characteristics or some experience in that field or desire to learn and grow and build something. And then, yeah, try to see like, hey, are you ready for that next thing? They probably don't have or, in my experience, they didn't have a proven track record of growing a business or leading a team or doing these things. But I said, I think that I see this and I think that you can and I'm willing to give it a shot and I'll share my experiences and wisdom with you to help try to make you successful at this. And you know you seem driven to do it. So let's, let's give it a shot.
Speaker 3:It's kind of like the draft right, Like somebody drafted.
Speaker 1:LeBron right and that went really well.
Speaker 3:He didn't have any experience, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, to where it is today and as you jumped into that, like you, as you're saying, like you start to make investments in people and stuff, was there? Uh, maybe is there a story or or is there something where you know you, you kind of remember going like man, like I really do need to let go of this, and maybe like what that was for you, like you know cause, cause, like we get it as as business owners and stuff, it's like man to let certain things go can be really difficult. So maybe any stories where you had to go through that transition and I think a lot of our listeners probably feel that very- often as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that, well, there's really a lot of kind of stories of letting things go individually and some of those things are harder than others. Yeah, go individually and some of those things are harder than others. I remember that one thing that was particularly difficult for me to let go of was estimating. That was something that for many years, like I did all the estimates, you know, I wanted to be in control of, like how we were pricing things and the production rates that we were using and different, you know parts of that equation, and eventually it just got to be. You know I was the lid to that being able to expand. You know I was holding back our progress. I was bottlenecking the ability to, like push more estimates out the door, you know, quote more work and be able to get more stuff and so, plus, it wasn't really the highest and best use of my time Just because it was something I enjoyed or maybe something that I felt like I needed to do.
Speaker 1:As you grow a business, the leader needs to be leading the business, and I mean it's so cliche. Everyone here is like work on the business, not in the business, but yet what do most people do? Small business owners? Business not in the business. But yet what do most people do? Small business owners? They're working in the business. They're doing the thing. They're not casting the vision, they're not going out and creating key relationships, they're not investing in who could be their future leaders that are going to take it to the next level. They're swinging hammers and slinging shovels or whatever. Their business is Right, right. So yeah, that was a big one for me that I can recall specifically.
Speaker 3:I feel like it takes just so much discipline, because I think it always comes down to when you're trying to train someone or hand something off. There's a point every time when you're like, well, I could just do this and it'd be faster, and like the discipline it takes to like coach people and keep working on the system and how it flows, to get it better. I can imagine that's. You've had many days where you're like trying to prevent yourself from jumping in. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think that if I was being honest, like sometimes some of the resistance to let go is that I had to actually sit down and create the process or be able to say, oh, this is how I do it, you know, I'm going to codify it, I'm going to make it a process and a system, rather than just kind of off the cuff. Well, you know, I'm going to, you know, you know, estimate this one that they can get it done quicker, because I think they can. And it's like well, why do I think they can? What are? How can I put this on paper to say if it's a wide open property, or if it has this many trees, or if this, you know, this many shrubs or whatever? Like, how do I create an actual system?
Speaker 1:And, if I'm being honest, I was probably just sort of being lazy because, like you said, it's just sort of easier to like do what I've always done, just do it myself, than actually sit down, create a system for someone else to follow. And once we did that, it was like it was incredible, because I'm like this is such drudgery. You know that I was putting myself through Again, I'm a visionary, I'm a dreamer, you know, and I'm sitting at my desk like crunching numbers. You know, and I know that sounds glorious to you, tyler, that's not my idea of a good time. And yet I was doing it to myself for hours a day because I had been too lazy to put a system together.
Speaker 3:I will say you can do visions and spreadsheets.
Speaker 1:You see and you look at the numbers and go oh, you go this way or that way.
Speaker 3:Do you feel like once you did that, you really unlocked something for yourself, because you looked at different areas of the business where you could kind of repeat that as you grew?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think that really once, yeah, once you've done that a time or two and you've, like, realized that you can systematize things. You know it probably before that it started with how did I systematize how we were doing specific jobs and we put together we called them PSS ProScape Service Standards and it was basically just a document that said, if you're doing a spring cleanup, if you're doing a mowing job, if you're doing a fertilizing job, like here's what you do, here's the equipment you need, here's exactly step by step, the way that you approach this, from the time you pull up on the curb to when you get back in the truck to leave. It was everything that you did and we were able to systematize that. And then again, yeah, it was just so freeing. It's like other people can do this and we can teach them and we have something to train on and everyone will do it the same. And then you know, once I let go of that, then I could focus more on sales, but I realized I was doing too much estimating.
Speaker 3:So then I let go of that.
Speaker 1:Sure, you know, and then I was doing a lot of the selling, and so then I figured out how do we systematize the sales process and train someone how to do that, the sales process and train someone how to do that. And then it's, you know, kind of we continue to. You know, in the EOS world talk about delegate to elevate, and you know that truly is. You know, as I look back, how that progression went.
Speaker 2:And so you know, as you continued to delegate and you continue to, you know, take pieces of the business kind of out of off of your plate, give them to others as the business continues to grow.
Speaker 2:Obviously it kind of feels like there's an iteration of you got to get some stuff out of your head to these folks, but then, once they do own something, you got to make sure that you're continuing to invest in those people, to continue to grow in those skill sets, or even develop skill sets, without you necessarily being the person to do it. So I know, from your perspective, having a culture of leadership and a culture of of, you know, professional development has been so key to the success of what you're doing. So maybe speak a little bit to like as you kind of hit that like okay, I've got a lot of these key elements off my plate. This business can kind of start to run a little bit even without me in the room. How have you or maybe what was the trigger like for the really really start investing from a, you know, a leadership culture standpoint, like really putting that focus down?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh man, there's a lot there to unpack, a lot of lessons, a lot of pain and mistakes, and that's how I learn best.
Speaker 1:So, usually just I go out and break it and then we got to fix it. But you know, I think what comes to mind is that, as you're talking, I'm thinking about things that I delegated to other people, and one of the things we have to get used to as leaders is that sometimes there's going to be things that people do differently than we do, and we have to be able to establish what are the negotiables and what are the non-negotiables. You know, there are certain things that, like they're values-based or they're process-driven, and it's like, hey, no, no, no, we're going, we need to do this the same every time, because this is one of our core processes and we're not going to deviate from that. This is not negotiable. And then there's other things where sometimes things aren't my preference, but it still gets the job done, it still aligns with our values, and it's not the way that I would do it, but it's the way that they want to do it, but it's the way that they want to do it.
Speaker 1:And so, like, as a leader you know, a lot of leaders are like me, I think, and I say that I'm a recovering control freak. So, you know, it's like I want to reach in and change that. Yeah, but I have to be like, no, I've delegated that and sometimes I still catch myself. Well, my team members will catch me sometimes, still catch myself. Well, my team members will catch me sometimes. And you know, sometimes we hopefully we've built the trust for them to say, you know, like, appreciate that you're the owner and you know you do have the prerogative to come in and say this, but at the same time, like, we've got it and you know, we want the same thing as you, we're working towards the same goal, and so you know we'd like to do it this way. Or you know, here's why we're doing it this way. And I think, as we each mature, you know, our team members and myself, that we can have those open conversations and be honest and have that level of trust to figure that out together. You know it's always iterating and at ProScape, general manager Derek, we work very closely together. We have a great relationship. He's been in that role for quite a few years and sometimes he'll say we're figuring this out because we're the biggest we've ever been, we're doing things that we've never done before. And I have to accept that and say, yes, you're right, let's figure it out together or, you know, sometimes I need to say, okay, go figure it out, and you know I'm going to trust you to take care of it. You know, if it really goes up in flames, let me know and we can revisit this. But yeah, so then the other thing that comes to mind is that you know, as you said, leadership culture has just really been important to us as we've grown the business, and really that came from a season of pain, and so I'll share a brief story.
Speaker 1:So this was around 2018. And we had went through a really rapid growth phase. We had acquired another business, so we brought on all of that revenue. The people tried to assimilate the cultures. That's when we brought on our Columbus location. So we're trying to run two different places. We had sold some really big accounts, so we also added a bunch of organic growth at the same time, and so I had hired some new quote experienced people. These were nothing wrong with hiring tenured people, but I brought these folks on and all of them came with their ideas about how the business should be operated. And then we're also bringing in this other business that had different processes and procedures and culture and everything.
Speaker 1:We're trying to melt this all together and, quite frankly, it was bad and the culture just really went down the tubes. There was just kind of some infighting and tension and again, people wanting to kind of buck the system or bring their own ideas in. And honestly, it was on me. I did not take control of the culture, of the vision and say that this is how we're going to do this and again have those very clear conversations about, hey, this is negotiable, this is non-negotiable, and try to kind of mold that. And honestly it got to the point where there was just some unhealthy conversations, some gossip, some kind of toxicity. And honestly, it got to the place where I didn't even want to go to work and I was considering at the time like, just like man, I don't think I want to do this anymore. I think maybe this is the time to maybe fire, sale this business and just move on to something else.
Speaker 1:But we had a trip planned out west, my family and I, and we went on this trip and I subscribed to this theory of a change of pace plus a change of place equals a change of perspective.
Speaker 1:And I got a different perspective because I changed my pace and I changed my place for a couple of weeks we went out west, spent some time in the mountains, and during the drive across the plains I discovered the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast, which was transformational for me, and I started to learn some things about leadership and hear some ideas that I'd never heard before.
Speaker 1:And it was so timely and it just, you know, it was like one of those where it was just like just talking to me and the thing that I realized was that I was the problem, but I was also the solution, and so I was empowered by that and I realized that I needed to take control of the business, like in a good way, in a cultural way, from a values perspective and a vision perspective, and really leadership was what was missing. And leadership is what we needed to instill in our folks and a certain flavor of servant leadership where, you know, we were working to serve the mission and the team and not individual self-interest and egos and some things that were going on. Sure, and so I came back and I announced to the team uh, I think sometimes the team gets uh, nervous, uh you know when you, when you come back, sometimes a teen gets nervous.
Speaker 2:When you come back, you're like, oh, he's got ideas, he's got ideas, he's been gone for a while, Uh-oh, this had happened before.
Speaker 1:But I came back and I said listen, guys, I'm creating a leadership study and this is going to be every week, it's going to be mandatory and you have to be here unless you're on vacation or you're dead. And nobody called in dead. So but they were. Everyone was there, and we started this journey of leadership and learning together, and I was. I was learning right along with everyone, and you know, you really learn when you have to teach, and so I was consuming leadership content at a rate that I never had before podcasts, YouTube videos, books, audio books and then sharing what I learned with the team, and it transformed our business in a way that I can't describe.
Speaker 1:Months, four different people who were on our team, on our leadership team, kind of self-selected or got fired because it just became overwhelmingly obvious that they were not the right people for our culture, they were not there for the right reasons and they were not working to serve the team and the vision. They were there to serve themselves. And it changed again, not overnight, but I mean fairly short time, six months and we've been doing that every week with our office and leadership team, week in, week out, for it'll be seven years this summer and it's made us a different company, it's made me a different person and I think that it's helped, you know, really change some of our people as well.
Speaker 3:I think that's really important for people to hear, because I don't know if every business is making that type of investment because I'm going to call it investment, because that's a lot of time and there's a dollar sign behind that into core principles of leadership and how that flows down to a team. Because, like, the first thing everyone wants to think about is, like we just need to get our work done. We're busy, like we just need to get things out the door and to take that time and sit down and do it. It's clearly proven successful for you. It's been going on for seven years, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean it's been a significant investment. I mean you're talking, you know, many six figures at this point. You know this is my 15 or 20 most highly paid folks in the business and we're sitting down for 45 to 60 minutes every week. So I mean you do the math there frustration infighting, and it's just like you look at it from that perspective and it's like oh no, wow, we're bringing a significant return on investment, not just in the culture but truly in the work that's actually getting done, because with that level of trust, respect and understanding, we can have a different level of direct conversations, we can give and receive feedback in a much more productive way and we can actually keep our focus on the business instead of so much of the drama that you know defines a lot of organizations.
Speaker 2:And I think that that you just kind of not hit on something like that vulnerability piece of it.
Speaker 2:I think that that you just kind of not hit on something like that vulnerability piece of it I think is sometimes where, at least you know, a lot of organizations feel like they struggle because they don't want to bring certain things up or they're a little bit afraid. But, like you, having that culture of like we're all growing together nobody's perfect and nobody's got all the answers I think is really important but like you feel it seems like you've kind of been able to manage like that vulnerability with like, also setting like expectation and so one, just that being said, like one of the things that I'm curious about, and with your people, they're probably not only growing from a leadership standpoint in business but like personally, like it's probably had a lot of impact on their personal lives as well, to where, like, they maybe are taking new lessons home with them like, um, you know, is that something that you're seeing a lot, where, like it's not just in the business, like they're growing as?
Speaker 1:people.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, yeah, yeah, and it's been one of the most rewarding things out of, you know, out of this deal where there's been some folks that have moved on from our organization, which is something that we talk about in leadership, in our study, like several times, and we have to go back to it every once in a while to kind of share again, like hey, you know, if you are finding that like your season here might be coming to an end and you feel drawn to do something else, like let's have that conversation openly, like how unproductive is it with so many organizations where people like feel like they want to leave and like they've got to sneak around and like lie to go to another job interview, and it's just like I've been on the receiving end of that enough times where it's like that does not feel good.
Speaker 1:You know when, like then they put in their resignation and you're like, oh, okay, you didn't have a sick kid last week, like this is all coming back. You know, like I'm this is all. I'm figuring this out now, um, and but you know we talk about the fact that, uh, healthy things grow and growing things change and sometimes that means that you know, folks need to move on, but anyway.
Speaker 1:so we've had some folks, of course, move on in seven years. We've have a lot that were around that initial table the very first week, that are still with us and it's been transformational to their lives, sent me a text, like a year or two later or something, or sent a card, or you know, I've ran into them and they're like I just want you to know that, like the opportunities that I've had now in my career because of like the things I learned, you know, especially during our leadership study while I was at ProScape, they equipped me to like get this job that, like, I never thought I would have been qualified for, you know, and it's just like man that's so gratifying, you know. Or the, or the folks that have taken, you know, we we've. We've, of course, in seven years, like we've covered a lot of topics you know, and they've included like personal habits and and uh, goal setting and different things like that.
Speaker 1:And I've seen people transform their relationships. I've seen them transform their health, their physical body, their parenting. I mean just there's so much transfer when you're investing in one area of your life and if you're serious about it, so often that overflows into other areas. I've seen that time and time again and so that's so gratifying. I mean because at the end of the day, like our businesses, like what we're doing, you know, I mean we just had this conversation or leadership study actually this week where it's like, look, guys of the day, we're not curing cancer or sending rockets into space or whatever. This is pretty basic stuff. But when I look back and if I'm able to say, man, I actually made people better and helped transform their family trajectory, their personal trajectory of their life, man, there's nothing better than that being able to look back and be proud of having a business.
Speaker 3:There's plenty of dads out there that like to see that tall grass go short and just stand and admire it. There's something special about that as well, though.
Speaker 1:I'll give you credit there. Yeah, there is. Look, I totally get it. Hey, there is, there is there's look.
Speaker 2:I totally get it. That is so cool and I think that you know, uh, so investing in the people like sets a foundation to help. Also, like if you're personally set and you're feeling fulfilled and like you're eliminating some of those other things from like just a life standpoint or being better, like it also I think helps feel like if there is adversity in the future or like, as things are changing with the business, you're better set up to handle those, because, like I feel like that's that's super helpful as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Business is hard you know, and doing business with a team of very different personalities and stuff like that, it's difficult and I think that just even even with you know what we've worked really hard to build, we still hit turbulence sometimes where it it is not perfect and you know, we kind of have to go back to this foundation of like hey, you know, we trust each other. We've we've like let's make sure if there's, if there's concerns, if there's things that you are unsure about, let's air those out. We've got to get it out. There is, no, there is nothing that you're going to say or question or talk about.
Speaker 1:That is taboo. We need to talk about it because if you're concerned about it and it's holding you back from giving your best or feeling fulfilled or having confidence in your role here, then we've got to talk about it. It doesn't matter what it is. Sometimes we have to say those things out loud. Still Again, we're still trying to get it right and I'm still trying to get it right. I say I put old Luke on the bus and send him away, and he shows back up and so I keep, you know, sending him back on the bus and be like get out of here.
Speaker 1:You know we're trying to do better here.
Speaker 2:Great, I love that. So, as we, as we, you know, kind of wrap up here there, there is one thing I wanted to ask you and this could maybe go into a little bit of leadership side could be culture, could be organization, whatever. Um, a lot of our listeners are folks right now who are trying to kind of accelerate their businesses. Um, folks who are, you know, maybe they're looking to double their revenue or they're maybe, uh, taking over for you know who was, who was, you know, own the business before, or, um, they're, they're they're just in that period of like drinking through a fire hose. Um, again, it could be a super small business, it could be, you know, a little bit larger business.
Speaker 2:Um, it sounds like you certainly have had that perspective of like hitting those growing pains along the way. So if you're one of those listeners who are kind of that like drinking through a fire hose, trying to get my feet under me, you know what, what advice maybe do you have for those folks, just based on your experience or things you've learned that were like this may be a good thing to start with, or maybe this is like something where I found was helpful to like kind of get that that traction, not to use the term but kind of get that, that traction back under your feet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I think that what really comes to mind is I heard this several years ago, I can't remember where, but is that you are always one person away from solving your biggest problem. You're one person away from solving your biggest problem, and so that might be a key hire. That might be a consultant, it might be a mentor. Somebody is out there that can solve your biggest issue that you're dealing with today, and you need to find that person. Your job as the leader, as the owner, as the point person, is to figure out who can solve your problem.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan of the book by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan who, not how and that is a mantra that I continue to come back to, and as I'm looking at being in more and more different business verticals and growing businesses and needing to delegate and rely on others to solve the problems of the various businesses, my question needs to be who, not how?
Speaker 1:For years, I mean, I solved every problem by just grinding harder, doing more research, doing more myself, figuring it out. And again, I think there's a point in every business when you're first starting out, that's how you've got to do it. You've got to just hustle and work hard and bootstrap it and get it to a point where you can have some other people on the team and stuff, but eventually that what got you here is not going to get you there, and so if we can't get past that point, man, I have seen so many owners hit the ceiling, hit the ceiling, hit the ceiling and they can't break through because they're trying to do it all themselves. And it comes back to that concept of who, not how.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that is first of all. I'm going to read that book. So, no, that's great and I think you know, as we, as we kind of wrap up here with, um, what are we've covered? I mean, I'm I'm just first of all, thank you, luke. This has been, uh, so good. I think we have covered in a short period of time, a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2:Uh, from you know, just the inspiration of your story of just how you started off, like, quite literally, when you're a teenager, with a business that has kind of, you know, grown and and then, you know, been that bit of a platform for you to do a lot of other things that you're super passionate about and try other things, and you know the lessons you've learned along the way. And, uh, just, you know, we appreciate your, your vulnerability and kind of talking through some of those stories today and, um, yeah, I'm just just very, very thankful that you came on today and I think our listeners will will have a lot to a lot to kind of digest as they listen to this. So, final thing, I'll just say you know where, luke, you know, from your perspective, if anybody has questions on certain things or they want to learn more about you? Know you or businesses like where? Where can they find you?
Speaker 1:Sure I, yeah, Thank you. First of all, I, you know I love talking shop and I love sharing the experiences that I've had that hopefully can help somebody else Because, again, I've man, I've made so many mistakes just face planted so many times through the years. And if, if, somebody else can avoid those issues and build a better business, build a better life, because I've, you know, shared a little bit of advice, I'm always happy to do that. But so you know, I love talking shop with folks and being connected with other like minded people. So you'll find me on LinkedIn, Luke Henry Facebook we can connect those ways as well.
Speaker 1:Our primary businesses are Proscape, Lawn and Landscape Services. So again, LinkedIn and Facebook, Instagram we do share a lot of the cultural things that we're doing for our team and what we're learning in leadership and some things that way. And then Henry Development Group is our umbrella of all of our downtown projects that we're working on in Marion, and we didn't talk about that a lot, but that is something I'm super passionate about. We've got a lot of great team members that we have on that side of the house, if you will, as well, and some really cool businesses and just growing community in the Marion area. So if you want to follow along there, that's great too.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, you know what that might be, podcast episode number two, where we talk all about the development side of things, because I would love to do that as well.
Speaker 3:I'm sure that's got stories too, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:Oh man, yeah, yeah, yeah man, when I started all that, I had a thick, lush head of hair and it was just, it was so good. And then I started buying old buildings and trying to do projects and grown other businesses and stuff. And now look at me, I'm like a whisper away from looking like you.
Speaker 3:The tax code did this to me.
Speaker 2:See you now the tax code did this to me, so you know that's great. Well, luke, again appreciate you jumping on today. Uh, I, I think I'm gonna use that as a teaser that, uh, you know we're gonna have a secondary episode at some point about, uh, henry development group and all the, all the things that happen there. So, thank you again, luke. We appreciate it. Thank you everybody for joining us today. Uh, we will have another episode coming up very soon with some more guests, but until then, thank you all. See you later.