We recently connected with Kayla Lamb and have shared our conversation below.

Kayla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I had spent my late teens and early 20s moving around the midwest, and had a deep desire to get to know my neighbors in each community. I quickly realized that when I was out cleaning my own yard and garden, the neighbors would pop out and strike up a conversation. So I found myself offering to help them with their yard-work, and they’d hire me each week to continue to help. One neighbor would talk to another, and before I knew it, I was helping the whole block. There were loads of lawncare specialists in each community, but it was rare to find someone who would help you weed the garden, trim the roses or simply water your garden beds! Once I moved to a community in Des Moines, IA called Beaverdale (known for its senior citizens with immaculate gardens), the light bulb went off! I just HAD to create a business here to help folks within the community take care of their gardens, and “keep up with the Jones!”. In September of 2017 I hit the ground running — going to every yard sale and estate sale I could find, to scrounge up some tools and materials for my new-found business idea — I bootstrapped everything; I contacted any friends I knew who had spare time in the evenings and could help me accomplish the larger yards (we would even use portable flood lights so we could work at night!). I cleaned over 500 properties in my first year. Since then I have hired primarily women for my company, with a few men for some muscle ;) I am excited to grow my company, and continue to help my community beautify their gardens one home at a time! On another note, we also enjoy volunteering within our community by helping schools, churches and community gardens with their maintenance needs! It’s extremely rewarding!

Kayla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in New Hampshire, but spent the summers in Wisconsin with my grandparents, helping them with their 3 acres of gardens, plopped in the middle of corn fields. They’ve been planting and expanding their garden spaces for over 30 years here. I’d help with weeding, watering, planting, feeding the birds, filling the birdbaths – and anything I could get my little hands on. This is where I formed my love for garden maintenance, and turned that love into a passion I could share with others. These are all tasks I offer to my clients to this day; if they need help filling the bird feeders, watering the garden, trimming the shrubs or even re-designing their entire garden space.. I am their girl! I truly enjoy solving garden problems for my clients, it makes me feel quite needed and successful! Whether they have that shady patch of grass they can’t get to grow, or an area of the garden that is susceptible to excessive water — I take these challenges on as if they were my own, and will go to any length to solve them! I also take great pride in including certain plants in their gardens that mean the most to them. A number of clients will tell me they have fond memories of the roses in their mothers’ garden, or the black eyed susans they used to pluck as a kid and count the petals.. ” he loves me, he loves me not…”. I enjoy creating garden spaces that make my clients FEEL something, and bring them back to a childhood memory.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I bootstrapped EVERYTHING! I didn’t believe in taking out a line of credit, or applying for a loan. So I used my personal savings to get cheap and second hand tools, I even asked my clients if they had garden tools they weren’t utilizing any more (especially since I was the one caring for their gardens now!). Two years in, I purchased an old 1990s Chevy Express Van from a friend of mine who used to be a plumber; this van needed a lot of work under the hood, but it was running and had loads of shelving already built in for me to store all my tools. Year after year, I would slowly upgrade my tools to get bigger, better and more efficient tools for my crew to use. Which ultimately allowed us to charge more for our services. I went around to every local greenhouse in my community and asked for wholesale discounts if I primarily purchased certain things from them (some said yes, some said no, but enough said yes! :) ) By year 5, I was making enough consistent money to primarily purchase brand new tools, put a whole new engine in my van, and began being more deliberate about who I hired, and paid them what they are worth! It was definitely a learning process, and a humbling one, there were a lot of struggles but I am firm believer that you don’t grow unless you struggle!

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Treat them like family. That’s the best advice I can give. Treat your staff like you would your own family. Most of my interviews I have with new hires have nothing to do with gardening, or even their work ethic. I make it a point to get to know each individual at their core. I like asking what they are passionate about, what they “want to be when they grow up”, what motivates them in life, etc. I then use those answers to give them the best fitting position within my company. I enjoy incorporating my staffs passions with my business. If they love to take photos, I’ll pay them extra to create some content for our website and social media; if they love food and drinks, I will pay them to go find the best lunch in town (on Fridays, hehe), to go and feed the rest of the crew, if they love to skateboard, I will purposefully schedule them in neighborhoods where the houses are close together, so they can skate from job to job. Anything I can do to make them enjoy their work within my company, I will do it! I have even hired my staff members to drive up to Wisconsin, from Des Moines ( a 5 hour drive), to enjoy a long weekend at my grandparents home and in their gardens (the gardens I grew up in); we will camp, swim, play with the flowers, etc. Team building is very important to me, and if we can do it outside — I am all about it!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thegardengroomer.com
• Instagram: @the_garden_groomer @kaylaryann
• Facebook: Facebook.com/gardengroomerdsm