Episode 307- From Corporate Comfort To Water-Wise Growth. With Kevin Green

Ready to trade permission for possibility? We sit down with Kevin Green, owner of Conserva Irrigation of Ann Arbor and co-founder of Luxhaven Lighting, to unpack how he left a comfortable corporate track and built a purpose-led service business anchored in water conservation, rigorous systems, and team-first culture. Kevin shares how franchising provided proven processes and brand trust, why discipline and cash-flow awareness are nonnegotiable, and how every customer interaction becomes a real-time performance review that shapes reputation and growth.

We walk through the mindset shift from employee to owner, including the humility to admit weaknesses and hire people who are better at key functions. Kevin explains his approach to hiring in a tight labor market: competitive compensation, visible career paths, and peer interviews that create mutual fit and authentic buy-in. He also talks about leveling up leaders early, giving a 25-year-old operations manager the runway to lead, and setting a standard where employees can evolve into partners who open new locations.

Growth is more than sales; it’s alignment. Kevin outlines how he blends organic expansion with strategic acquisitions, focusing on retiring owners who want a buyer that will take great care of their teams and customers. With franchise systems to standardize operations and a mission to conserve a scarce resource, he’s building a resilient platform that serves communities while opening doors for the next generation of owners. His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is direct: bet on yourself, build discipline, and choose a mission that matters—because impact is a stronger motivator than any paycheck.

If this conversation sparks ideas, follow the journey and support the show on Substack and your favorite podcast app. Subscribe, rate, and share with someone who needs a push to make their move—and tell us: what’s the first step you’re taking today?

Transcript

Welcome And Season Context

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to season seven of the Common Bridge, hosted by Richard Helpie, a leading analyst, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Now expanded with healthcare, education, finance, science, and world affairs bridges, the podcast, now in its seventh season, with an audience of over 7 million worldwide, explores issues in a fiercely nonpartisan way. Find us at the Common Bridge at Substack.com, YouTube, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Kevin’s Background And Education

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Hello, welcome to the Common Bridge. I am your host, Rich Helpie. This is our series on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. You know, it didn't seem that long ago when the path to a good, stable life was to get marketable skills, find a good job with a good company that would pay benefits, perhaps even retirement, and live a good life working for a big company. Those jobs are harder to come by these days, but it's still a great economy for entrepreneurs. And with us today is Kevin Green from Conserva Irrigation. Kevin, welcome to the Common Bridge. Thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah, thank you so much, Rich, for just giving me the opportunity to even be on the show. It's uh I hear you're building something great on this side, and uh it's a pleasure for me to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Kevin, our audience likes to know a little bit about our guests. So if you don't mind, maybe what were your early days like and what what's your professional and personal arc been?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Sure. Yeah. So uh of course, as you mentioned, my name is Kevin Green. I am the owner of Conservative Irrigation of Ann Arbor. Uh, we specialize in irrigation systems, repairs, and maintenance and that sort of thing. And it's been my goal in life to uh own a business and to grow on and build it into a um an investment that I can retire with that someday and just kind of sit back and relax for a bit. But um, in my earlier days before I got into this business, I worked in corporate America. I worked for a few restaurant chains in my early age, and I kind of blossomed into a uh a high, high-ranking position in a company, uh, primarily with Tim Hortons corporate, where I was responsible for the majority of the U.S. locations. Um, that responsibility taught me a great deal about taking ownership uh of just my own things that I'm accountable for, as well as being accountable for a lot of people under my organization. Um, and from there, I took a leap of faith to decide to leave corporate America altogether and kind of bet on myself.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

That's fantastic. And my recollection is that you have some impressive education credentials as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah, so I went to college in San Diego, graduated with my bachelor's degree. I went back to schools to work on my MBA and I have a master's degree in finance.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Kevin, tell us what you're doing today. Was conservative irrigation something you started from scratch, or is it a franchise? And what did you do with the business? When did you get it? And what was your insight into picking that business out of all the businesses you could have picked?

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah, so I would say it definitely was not my first choice of uh, I guess, an area of business to go into. Um, before conservative irrigation, I was not the guy that was designed to work outdoors. I was pretty much someone that was set up mentally to always work in the restaurant industry. I've been in it since I was 15 years old. And so uh mentally and physically, I it's just it's been like my nature. Um, it wasn't until I had an opportunity to run a landscape company, is where I kind of experienced a difference and uh not only a customer base, but also a different way to operate. Um, and I realized that being outdoors is actually something that I enjoy more than working within four walls. So once I kind of established that that was the industry I was looking to go into, I started to um think about what the barrier or what the barrier of entry is. So I needed to find out how much it would cost to actually get me into the industry myself. Um and then I quickly realized that there is a relatively low entry barrier to get into the landscaping industry, irrigation, um, whatever someone is looking to get into in regards to landscaping is relatively low. Um, from there, I kind of looked into things from a process perspective because I've been very big on processes. It's what I've been doing for a very long time. And I could I came to the conclusion early on that I don't want to reinvent the wheel. There's people who are way smarter than me that have already discovered the way to operate within this industry and to do it effectively. So I started looking into franchise-based concepts to get an idea of what was out there. What could I do that could quickly get me into the industry that's already branded? There's already systems and processes that have been proven to work, and I could hit the ground running right away. So Conserva wasn't the first um brand that I looked into. There was quite a few brands that I kind of took the steps to learning about. Um, but Conserva hit home with me because of the approach that it has to the world. It's all about water conservation and making sure that we absolutely protect one of the most precious resources that we have in the world. It may seem like there's an abundance of it, but uh clean, healthy waters, there's not a huge abundance of that. So we can't just willingly waste it as much as we may think that it's okay to do so. And so that kind of hit home with me. So I decided to look further into this brand. And I'm also a people person. So once I met the folks on the corporate side, it was just a match made in heaven. Everything just kind of aligned, and I took the first steps into ownership back in 2023. It's when we opened, and each year we have aggressively grown um to the point that we are now, to where we're looking at acquisitions at this point.

Defining Entrepreneurship As Self-Belief

SPEAKER_03 6:25

So it's a franchise, but you own the franchise and you've got the authority to make acquisitions under your own corporate umbrella. That's correct. I love that story. When you think about entrepreneurship, is that something that you've thought about how you could describe it or define it?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

I think that for me, the best way to think about entrepreneurship is you have to is it's basically the willingness to bet on yourself. When I worked in corporate America, and even as I was growing up, there were so many opportunities that I was interested in from the different various companies that I've worked for. But I was always told that either I wasn't ready or the opportunity wasn't there. And there was this weight game. You had to wait till someone was unseated for you to step up into a role. And I got to the point where I wasn't willing to settle for waiting, nor willing to, I guess, accept being told that I wasn't ready to do anything in the world. So I think uh entrepreneurship for me, like defining it is just betting on yourself and being willing to take that risk, leap of faith, to take on additional accountability. Uh, there's always going to be some area of uncertainty, but to be able to live in that space mentally is a huge accomplishment for anyone that's looking to take that leap.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Indeed. And instead of a performance review, your customers are giving you a performance review every day, every hour. Exactly. And if you if you're growing, you're getting great marks there. You know, none of us that have started and run businesses has ever batted a thousand, but it's how you take care of issues too, is one thing that I've learned. Um, speaking of lessons learned on this journey, what have you learned that you'd like to share with the listeners, the readers, and the viewers of the Common Bridge?

Midroll: Where To Subscribe And Support

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah, I think uh the biggest thing I would say I learned was definitely related to discipline. Being a business owner is a lot different than working for a company where you're receiving the paycheck every two weeks. Being able to understand how the company dynamics in relation to the financial aspects of cash flow relates to your personal well-being, it's a difference. There's not, uh, you don't have that constant job security where you're like, I can just go out and frivolously spend money. You gotta kind of think it through. And because the way that you handle customers, the way you treat them, the way you treat your craft, your professionalism, and everything that goes into being a business owner, because all of that is so important to your own personal well-being, it was a it was a shift for me to become more disciplined in those regards. Because consistency is key as a business owner, and that discipline is what drives that consistency. So that was probably the number one item that I feel I immediately had to uh change my mentality, and it was a lesson learned for me very early on because of how things went within like the first two months. It wasn't easy. And I wouldn't, I don't want to say like I had like a quick slap in the face or anything like that, because I think that I was equipped mentally for going into business. I knew what I was what to expect um because I worked well with franchisees under the corporate side. So I helped franchisees grow restaurant concepts. So I was fully aware of of all the risk and all the troubles that you're gonna run into. But once it's your own situation, there's a there becomes that different dynamic that you you are the person that's responsible at this point. You can't rely on other people. So that was my my my biggest thing. And then I think the second thing that I had to learn is um it's okay to have weaknesses, it's good to acknowledge what you're strong at, what you're not strong at. And the things that you're not good at, you have to be willing to acknowledge it, accept it, either get better at it, or bring on someone that can handle that side of the business for you. And that was something that I focused on early on. If there was something that I didn't feel that I was the guy that should be able to handle it, I immediately made sure that someone else could. I don't think that I'm the smartest person in the room. I learned that early on as a when I was in my early 20s, that you don't want to be the smartest guy in the room. There should always be someone else around you that's that's smarter, that can um expand the business as well as help you grow as a person professionally and personally. And so um I would say that those were the early lessons that I learned in business. And I would say I'm still learning today. Just I just hired an operations manager, and he's uh he's 25 years old, and it was one of those things that I had to adapt mentally on from uh I think I started to gravitate towards the same mentality that people looked at me as when I was 25 years old, that I wasn't ready for something because I was a younger, a younger um professional, and I don't want to become that same person that the world kind of perceived me as. So I he's 25, he's a great guy, and I'm looking forward to see what he's gonna do this year.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Before we dive back into today's enlightening discussion, we have a quick message for all you Common Bridge enthusiasts out there. Did you know that you can find this episode and over 300 more on Substack as part of the Common Bridge series? You can also find written columns and opinions as well. Subscribe at the commonbridge.substack.com for a full Common Bridge experience. There you can comment and express your opinion on all the topics we cover on this and the past seven seasons of our podcasts. If you'd rather support the show without subscribing, you can do so with Zell at rich at richardhelpie.com or using Venmo at Richard-CBridge. Thanks for listening. Now back to the episode.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

I love hearing that story about team building and putting a great team around you. And I use a lot of sports analogies, but like pocket teams, for example. Yeah, you have to have a great goalie. Well, that's a different skill set than the centerman or the defensemen or the wingers, which can't be competitive unless you have all those parts and all those parts working in harmony. And also the age thing, how folks look at someone. I'll give you a quick story. We had an entrepreneurial business, and we it was really clear we were going to have to change this chief executive. And one of our investing partners said, I want to run the company. I've been involved with it. And he's 28 years old. And so the board huddled, and we were all, I think, in our 50s, and we said, Yeah, he he's got all the tools, but he's 28. And one of the other board members said, Well, how old were you when I founded a company called Superior Consultant? I said, Well, it's 28. And he was a very successful tire and automotive repair retailer. He said, Well, how old were you when you took that business? He said, 29. Another guy was a uh a chief operating officer that took a company from like 110 million to uh 1.5 billion. And he said, Yeah, I got my first big promotion at 29. I'm like, there's a pattern here. So we made the promotion and uh the venture was very successful. We grew the business and had a great exit with it. So I I just love hearing these stories and the fact that you can get outside yourself to look at someone else. That is a discipline that very few people bring. But you know, Kevin, when you're looking at workforces, what are you finding out when you're out there trying to find people? Because obviously it's a service business. You need good people. How hard is it to hire good people?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Uh so for the last two years, I think I've been blessed, I will say. I've been lucky. I hardly had to terminate an employee, so my retention rate is relatively high. Acquiring these employees was relatively simple for me. It was simply posting in DDATs and the employees apply interview processes, and I just got lucky with selecting the right candidates. I think this year is going to be a little bit more challenging for me because I am projecting to grow at a rate that's nearly double what I did this year, which means that from a staffing perspective, I need nearly three times the amount of employees that I currently have. So I am currently in the process of bringing on that talent. But the problem in this industry is talent isn't just sitting out there looking to be grabbed up by someone. To get the skilled talent, you have to have the, you have to have the items that these employees want from a compensation perspective, from uh an employee morale perspective, benefits perspective. Um, they want to work for a company that they feel is going to invest in them from a uh training perspective and professional development. Uh, they also want to see some upside in the company. They want to see if there's gonna be opportunities for them along the way. And so I've I I try to position uh my company in a in the way that we're gonna hit on all of those categories uh from a growth perspective. We're growing every single year through either organic growth or through the process of acquisitions that we're looking to do this year. Uh, we're also always having the benefits that are most attractive to employees to bring those guys on. But overall, I think what really hits home is that the employees that I currently have, they speak so highly of the business and being employed by the company. And that's generally what attracts more more people to us than none. Um so usually I try to keep them as a part of whatever process it is that we have as an interview process is you got to meet the team. These guys will tell you more than what I can tell you. They're not gonna, they're not gonna lie to you, they're not going to try to sweeten the deal or any kind of thing. Like they have as much an investment in you as as I do. So if uh if you're not someone that kind of meets the standard of what we're looking for, like they'll probably tell you that too. But I think it's about culture, driving that culture to be exactly what it needs to be, and making sure that everyone is kind of aligned to it is what really helps me attract the people that I need.

Who Should Become An Entrepreneur

SPEAKER_03 16:55

It's a great part of your story there, is that you're basically setting the stage for the next Kevin Green to come up, to get an opportunity, a toe hold. And I really applaud that peer interview in companies that I've built. There was always peer interviews, and the ground rules were real simple. Ask any legal question that you think is important to you, to for that person that's going to be supporting your team, and for the candidate, ask any question that you want to. And it clears up a lot of that uncertainty. So, you know, Kevin, you've had a good run. You're right at the threshold. Would you encourage other people to go onto an entrepreneur path? Or do you think not everybody's cut out for it?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Um as I mentioned that because of one of the things that I thought was a priority for me to focus on was my discipline. And I think we live in a world where discipline is starting to be at an all-time low. I would I would suggest that people do bet on themselves. And even though like we have that that issue with discipline in society right now, I think that that will help curve curve things to get people to be more, much more disciplined and accountable to their own, I guess, self-desires in life. I always preach to my staff that I want more for them than what they're currently doing. My goal is not just to have them as an employee for the next 10 years. It's for you to be here for several years, you learn the business, and we could potentially have you go to some other area in the state or wherever, and we start another location where you are part owner and you're running the show. I I don't want just an employee, I want more of a partner. And so for me, I'm always preaching to them that this is going to be an investment for your future. And I'm hoping that they can kind of live through the eyes of being an entrepreneur at some point. But I preach it all the time that everyone should do it. Even if it's something that you're just doing on the side, take the time and the initiative to get started, and you won't look back once you start.

Expansion Plans And Acquisitions

SPEAKER_03 19:04

That's a great perspective. So, what's next for conservative irrigation and Kevin Green?

SPEAKER_01 19:11

So I think the next thing that conservative irrigation is going to be looking to do is uh, well, not only conservative irrigation, I also uh own a company called Luxhaven Lighting. So between both companies, it's it's expansion this year. I don't want to say that I'm aggressive, but I I kind of am aggressive this year. I'm I'm looking for the opportunities that I know that I can quickly take on, especially from an acquisition perspective. So I know that there's a lot of owners out there that are they're getting to that age where retirement is the future for them. These are usually those guys that are in their 60s. They don't want to do it forever. They realize that the writing is on the wall, that they have to do something over the next few years. And my goal is to get in front of those folks. I want to learn about their company. I want to see if there's an opportunity where they can trust in me that I'll take care of their customers in the future. And potentially we can strike a deal where I can take over those companies and continue to grow forward. But I think I have another five very strong aggressive growth years in me before I start to kind of level things off and uh maintain the business. But I'm still young enough to where I can invest that energy into it. And I want to make sure that uh I create opportunities for my staff and also try to ultimately make the world a better place.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

I I just think that's a great articulation of entrepreneurship, fulfilling yourself, serving others, uplifting employees, and making the world a better place. Kevin, as we come to uh the end of our conversation today, any final thoughts that you'd like to leave with the listeners, the readers, and the viewers of the Common Bridge?

Message To Young Aspirants And Giving Back

Closing And Listener Invitation

SPEAKER_01 20:51

I think my final thought that I would like to leave is, and this is primarily for the younger audiences that are out there, because I think that it's not too often that they get any kind of motivation that instructs them to go outside of the ordinary standards. I mean, we're told that we should go to college, get a four-year degree, go back, get a master's degree. We're told to follow those traditional pathways in life to go into corporate America and like your dream job is to uh work for someone and collect a paycheck. And it's nothing against any of that. Like if that's the pathway that you take, that's the comfortable, easy pathway, easier pathway than entrepreneurship. But I want to just let younger people know that this pathway, although it may be a little bit more challenging, it's definitely much more riskier. It's slower pace to grow. Once you actually get to a position to where financially cash flow is intact, you have the right staff that's under you that's supporting your business, you start seeing the world a little bit differently. It's not so much of collecting. Collecting a paycheck week to week, month to month, you start to look at things from a standpoint of what I can do in society that's going to benefit the masses. I didn't think three years ago that like my goal right now for just giving back was going to be as much as it is, but I I look for organizations throughout the year that I feel are connected to the way I live my life. And I'm either investing time or I'm investing to them financially to help them support their organizations. And I think that generally entrepreneurship kind of leads us down this pathway where we start to see the world in these regards of how can we give back? How can we mentor others to help other people get to this point? And um, how do we live a happier life ultimately? And I just don't want people to pass up these opportunities because of um following the traditional pathways. There's other ways to do it. I'm always a resource. If anybody wants to connect with me on anything, I am always here and I love talking business, so I'm all ears.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

We've been talking today with Kevin Green of Conserva Irrigation of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a terrific entrepreneur story on our entrepreneurs series. And with our guest, Kevin Green, this is your host, Rich Helpie, signing off on the Common Bridge.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Thank you for joining us on the Common Bridge, where we continue to seek clarity across divided lines. Subscribe and support the Common Bridge on Substack, YouTube, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Until next time, we invite you to stay informed, stay engaged, and help build a bridge of common understanding.