Interview Series: What Would Happen If Someone Else Ran Your Company ?

Join Us for a GLC Field Trip (Dayton, OH) Join Us for GROW! Snow 2026 (Dayton, OH - September 21-23, 2026) Connect with Fellow ACE Members at ACE Connect (Tucson, AZ - November 17-20, 2026) Master Aspire Software at the GLC Aspire Workshop (Dayton, OH - August TBD & December 2-3, 2026) Register for GROW! 2027 Annual Conference (Savannah, GA - February 17-19, 2027) Episode #180: What would happen if you let another landscaping company owner run your company? We launched this new part of our ACE Peer Group Program earlier this year with the ownership of Coastal Greenery switching places with ownership of Malone's Landscaping. In this episode, the group that swapped places talks about what they learned from getting fresh eyes on their company and also spending a week running another landscaping company. They talk about all the hot button issues: managing teams, technology, branding, overhead costs, and much more. BOBYARD is an AI-powered takeoff and estimating platform that automates the most time-consuming parts of bidding work. Contractors report up to 65% reduction in takeoff time and 3-5x more bids submitted per estimator. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Leave a Review for the Grow Show! ️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel! Guests: Jim Cali - Founding Principal at McFarlin Stanford, ACE Peer Group Facilitator, Grow Group Strategic Partner Jeffrey Johns - Owner, Coastal Greenery (Brunswick, GA) Jacob Johns - Controller, Coastal Greenery Jim Malone - Founder, Malone's (Seattle, WA) Ryan Malone - President, Malone's Jake Malone - Branch Manager, Malone's Resources Mentioned: Coastal Greenery (Brunswick, GA) Malone's Landscape (Seattle, WA) ACE Peer Groups (via The Grow Group) McFarlin Stanford Clancy's Restaurant, New Orleans Key Learnings You Cannot See Your Own Business Clearly From Inside Your Own Business: No matter how sharp you are, you walk past things every day. An outside set of eyes will see in 15 minutes what you have missed for years. Peer-to-Peer Learning Beats Zoom Every Time: The value of the CEO Swap wasn't in the ideas exchanged, it was in the one-on-one meetings with each other's team members. There's no hiding, no deferring, and no shortcut when you're on site. Sense of Urgency Is Often the... Chapters (00:00:00) - Start(00:00:30) - Introduction(00:02:09) - The CEO Swap: What It Is and Why It Worked(00:03:47) - Meet Coastal Greenery (Brunswick, GA)(00:08:11) - Meet Malone’s (Seattle, WA)(00:11:34) - Where the CEO Swap Idea Came From(00:14:21) - Why On-Site Beats Zoom Every Time(00:16:10) - How the Swap Was Structured (And the Surprises)(00:19:17) - Why Vulnerability Makes Feedback Land(00:24:26) - Coastal Greenery Takeaway #1: Account Manager Churn(00:29:31) - Coastal Greenery Takeaway #2: Sales and Estimating(00:32:58) - Coastal Greenery Takeaway #3: Labor Shortage Reality Check(00:34:35) - What Coastal Greenery Is Doing Exceptionally Well(00:36:28) - Clear Career Paths Change Everything(00:37:06) - Why Microculture Moments Matter So Much(00:39:03) - Our Partner, Bobyard(00:40:00) - Malone’s Takeaway #1: Small Stand