🚜 This Lawn Guy Built a $30M+ Business

Today’s business was started by a regular lawn care guy who used simple Local SEO strategies to build a $30M+ business.

This one stood out because they use the same SEO strategy and remote service model I do—but with a twist…

Lawn care isn’t exactly the most exciting business—until you make it as easy to book as an Uber ride.

That’s exactly what Bryan Clayton of GreenPal did. Let’s break it down. ⬇️

Bryan took a simple idea—connecting homeowners with lawn care pros—and turned it into a multi-million dollar company. Today, they operate in 300+ cities and help thousands of people get their grass cut with just a few taps.

But here’s the crazy part: It wasn’t started by some tech genius. It was built by a regular lawn care guy who saw an opportunity and used some basic local SEO strategies.

👉 In this email, we’ll cover:
✅ How GreenPal got its first customers (hint: no ads, no funding)
✅ The simple SEO strategy that made them millions
✅ How you could use this “Uber for X” model in other industries

Let’s dive in.

🌱 The Hustle Behind GreenPal

Back in 2013, Bryan Clayton had already spent 15 years running a lawn care business. He saw how annoying it was for homeowners to find a reliable lawn care worker.

One day, he had a thought:
"Why isn’t there an Uber style app for lawn care?"

He could do the work finding the reliable workers and people could simply book them through his platform

So, with two co-founders (who also weren’t tech guys), they decided to build GreenPal.

There was just one problem: None of them knew how to code an app.

Instead of hiring expensive developers, they taught themselves how to code and launched a super basic version of the site. It flopped.

But instead of quitting, they kept tweaking it. Eventually, they built something people actually wanted.

🚪 How They Got Their First Customers (The Hard Way)

If you think launching an app means people will magically show up—you’re in for a rude awakening.

GreenPal’s first version was live, but no one was using it.

So, they hit the streets:
📌 Handed out 300,000 flyers door-to-door
📌 Knocked on doors to convince homeowners to try it
📌 Cold-called lawn care providers to get them on the platform

Most people would’ve given up. But hustling paid off—they slowly built up a group of loyal users.

📈 The SEO Strategy That Made Them Millions

Once they had proof the idea worked, they needed a way to scale—without spending tons on ads.

They figured out that most people look for lawn care by searching Google, so instead of trying to rank for broad terms like “lawn care service,” they went hyper-local:

They created hundreds of location-based service pages, packed them with useful info and local SEO optimized keywords.

✅ "Lawn care in Atlanta"
✅ "Best yard mowing service in Nashville"
✅ "Affordable grass cutting near me"

The result? Free organic traffic, nationwide.

Hyper-focused local SEO became their biggest customer acquisition strategy and helped them scale to millions in revenue.

I use this same SEO strategy in my junk removal business to rank in over 40 major cities.

If you want to learn these SEO strategies for free you can watch my local SEO masterclass here- Local SEO Masterclass

Or I have service business website templates with all my SEO strategies built in. $200 off for being a reader - Local SEO Website Templates 

🛠 Systems That Helped Them Scale

Once they had too many customers to handle manually, they started automating everything:

🔹 Hired virtual assistants for customer support
🔹 Added reviews & ratings to keep lawn pros accountable
🔹 Built dashboards to track user activity & repeat customers
🔹 Automated follow-ups to reduce customer churn

With these systems in place, GreenPal could grow without breaking.

🚀 Other “Uber for X” Success Stories

GreenPal isn’t the only company that took a traditional service and turned it into an app.

Here are a few others:
🚗 Turo – The "Airbnb for cars" (rent cars from real people)
🐶 Rover – The "Uber for pet sitting"
🏠 Neighbor – The "Airbnb for storage spaces"
🛠 TaskRabbit – The "Uber for odd jobs & home repairs"

There are still TONS of untapped niches where this model could work.

🚴 “Uber for bike rentals” (peer-to-peer)
🏋️ “Uber for personal trainers” (on-demand coaching)
🎹 “Uber for music lessons” (book local teachers easily)

If you find a service people already pay for and make it easier & faster to book, you might just have the next million-dollar idea.

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ Start small & prove the model – GreenPal didn’t raise funding; they just hustled hard to get their first 100 users.
✅ Hyper-specific local SEO is a goldmine – Ranking in Google for local service keywords brought them free customers.
✅ Build a system, not just a product – They didn’t just create an app—they built a machine that runs itself.

🔥 Final Thoughts

GreenPal proves that big businesses don’t always start with big ideas.

They took a simple concept—"make booking lawn care easy"—and turned it into a multi-million dollar company.

And there’s still room for new ideas like this. Hope you enjoyed today’s business.

Have a great day!

— Tim

P.S. Thinking of starting something like this? Feel free to message back I would love to hear about it.

📖 Sources & Further Reading

• GreenPal’s Website

• How They Built GreenPal

• The Marketplace Business Model