I'm Diane Dunn

My story

I am Diane Dunn, a lawn care business coach, training creator, and writer. My career has included teaching horticulture labs at a major university, being a manager at the third largest nursery in America and a manager at other nurseries. I was a regional director at a national franchise over the Southwest region from California to Tennessee. I went on to manage a lawn and landscape maintenance company in Texas that we converted to a high profit fertilization and weed control company.

Working for a large franchise as a regional coach and consultant, I saw many people buying a franchise because they thought they needed the training and the systems to get their business up and running. After about 2 years, they were operating their business and successfully established, so they required very little additional training. Support was then mainly business reviews and a monthly call. The cost of this training was tremendous. Not only the expense of buying the franchise, but additionally they paid for this initial training forever as royalties.

My job for many years was taking these new scared people from 0 to hero in a couple of years. Training them in everything from business set-up, grass identification, sales, marketing, employees, safety, services, equipment, computer software, pricing, etc. I taught tree and shrub sales and servicing across multiple regions in the US. It was exciting to see the business profits rise from adding easy-to-do services like these.

 Besides new owners, I coached everyone from owners buying an existing business, businesses stuck in the same place, to multimillion-dollar businesses that already perfected systems over decades. I want to do the same thing for you, but instead of having you pay royalties forever, you can just work with me as needed. I want to meet you where you are and take you to where you want to be as fast as possible, on your own terms. 

One of the most common ways I make a difference when I work with businesses is that I help set up systems, schedules, budgets, and procedures. Processes and procedures help everyone in an organization know what to say or do in any situation. Systems create predictable results for the customers and for the business. Once these are in place, employees and customers stay longer and day-to-day stress is relieved. I love to see owners and manager breathing easier and enjoy long over-due vacations after systems are implemented.

After a career in the green industry, especially the lawn and landscape industry, I have experienced a huge lack of training programs and materials available for small independent businesses. I have produced books and programs to help green industry professionals start, manage, and increase profits in their business. I love connecting with lawn care business owners wanting to create higher profits and scale their businesses for long-term success. Taking everything I learned from 3 degrees in horticulture and working in the green industry, I filter out practical knowledge you need and put it into training products. 

If you want to add services to your existing business, that is my specialty. For example, I would love to help you set up a schedule for Ornamental Care services and teach you to sell and perform them. Want to add fertilization and weed control services to your mowing business but don’t know where to start?  I can work with you and give you all the information you need to make the conversion.

I currently live in NW Arkansas, where I love to go hiking the hundreds of miles of trails. If you have questions or would like to know more about growing your business, you can contact me below.