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Episode 93
Ezra McCarthy w/Steven Cohen
Steven Cohen is the CEO of GreenMark Consulting Group. The firm advises landscape and snow companies. He started his first landscape business while still in high school. Soon after college, he sold it. Afterward, he ran operations for several large landscape companies on the East Coast. His titles included Director of Operations, VP of Landscape, VP of Operations, and Chief Operating Officer.
In 2006, he moved into consulting. Later, he founded GreenMark to coach owners on strategy, operations, culture, and landscaping exit readiness. On this episode, he argues that every owner exits one of three ways. You succession it, you sell it, or you die with it. So he tells owners to know the end when they start the beginning. He is just as direct about valuation. In his view, most owners guess high on what their company is worth.
His thinking lines up with the work Green Frog does for lawn and landscape companies. A buyer reads clean operations the same way people read well-structured company websites. Likewise, that order supports sustainable online visibility. It also feeds high-intent traffic sources and bringing in more qualified leads. Owners who tidy up before a sale often start with clearly defined service sections. Then they move on to building a clear growth roadmap. For proof, look at real lawn care marketing examples.
💼 In 2016, Steven Cohen and his wife bought a landscaping company in Richmond. It did about two and a half million dollars, and it was barely profitable. Together, they set a ten year plan to reach ten million. In fact, they hit it in eight and a half. Then they sold to private equity this past March. The deal closed in 45 days.
Steven walks through what made that possible. Revenue was not the answer. Instead, he describes landscaping exit readiness as a written plan, honest projections, and numbers you track every month. From there, he explains EBITDA in plain words. Most private equity firms rarely look below one million in EBITDA, and he covers why. Multiples here run four to six times. Unreported cash comes up too, because it quietly cuts your sale price. Finally, he shares why he left LMN for Aspire before going to market. The buyers he wanted already used it.
The through line is order. Clean books, clean customer data, and repeatable systems are what a buyer pays for. Moreover, those habits raise the value of everything else you own. Your search presence is one example, so keyword structure like the guidance in this landscaping-focused SEO breakdown compounds over years. Operations are another, because customer management systems used by lawn care companies turn scattered records into reporting a buyer can verify.
Ezra McCarthy
Hello and welcome back to Lawn Care Blueprint Podcast where we help you build a profitable business that runs smoother, helps you earn more, and gives you back your time. So today I’m joined by Steven Cohen from GreenMark Consulting Group. He was a longtime business owner and consultant. And today we want to talk about systems, leadership, and scaling, but the key point is without the chaos. Steven, sure glad to have you here today.
Steven Cohen
I appreciate the invitation. Thank you. Happy holidays to you too.
Ezra McCarthy
Certainly this will be released in the new year, but it’s just Christmas a few days past, so we’re hopping into it.
Steven Cohen
Let’s say happy new year to all our guests.
Ezra McCarthy
That’s right. Do you mind telling the listener your origin story? From what I understand, you started your landscape company in high school. Do you want to tell us how you got started and what that was like?
Steven Cohen
Abbreviated version, because it’s probably one of the best stories I like to tell. I grew up in New York in a relatively affluent community. My friends were all very collegiate in sports. What was interesting is the street I grew up on, the neighbors were all professionals with the exception of three who were second generation tradespeople. They were a mason contractor, a landscape contractor, and a nurseryman.
My parents built their house at the same time everybody else in the neighborhood did. As a young man, a teen, and a child, I watched these neighbors do my parents’ patio, build the fireplace, do the landscaping, and put the irrigation in. While my friends were doing sports, I was watching and digging in the ground and watching these neighbors beautify my parents’ house and the neighborhood. That’s really where the seed got planted.
Ezra McCarthy
What part of New York were you in?
Steven Cohen
Westchester County, so that’s outside New York City.
Ezra McCarthy
Okay. My wife grew up in Long Island, so I was just curious. She would know. I’ve actually never been there. Her family moved.
Steven Cohen
Okay. Which parts? I went to school at Long Island College, so I was curious.
Ezra McCarthy
Okay. It’s a different world. She took the subway to school, and I’ve never been on a subway in my life. I’ve been on those little trams at the airport, but never been on a subway. The way it sounds, I don’t know that I want to be on a New York subway these days, but that’s another point.
Steven Cohen
It’s funny you say that. I literally only took a train once in high school from Westchester County. I had to go to a concert at Lincoln Center as a high school project. I took my first subway about two months ago.
I will tell you, the people we were with were New Yorkers and they love the subway. It’s a daily part of their life. I will tell you, I was scared to be on the subway.
Ezra McCarthy
Oh wow. Did you see anything crazy?
Steven Cohen
I did not see anything crazy, but just sitting there holding onto the strap. I read the New York Post every single day, so I see a lot of the ugly part of New York through that newspaper. I was uncomfortable.
Ezra McCarthy
Do you have one hand holding your wallet and another holding the bar?
Steven Cohen
Yeah, exactly. Holding the strap and praying for my life at the same time.
Ezra McCarthy
Oh man. So you told us about watching those landscapers helping your parents’ house. How did that translate into starting your own business? And as you were scaling up, what were some of the first hurdles you hit.
If anyone’s ever seen the 400 meter hurdles, it’s always great to see them try to jump and sometimes not make it. In business, we’ve all been there. What were some of those hurdles you faced?
Steven Cohen
Watching my neighbors work manifested into my first job, which was at a garden center. I think I was about 13 years old, working for a guy who hired me without working papers. I worked there for a few years.
What was interesting is I would walk across the street to get coffee, and there was another garden center across the street that was part of a chain. Every time I walked by, the manager, Dominic, would say, hey kid, come over here, and he’d pick my brain.
Eventually, I went to work for him at a different store when I was about 16. I started in the garden center arena, and while I was there, I had a little side business. People would buy plants and need them planted. That’s what started my landscape company.
Ezra McCarthy
So what was your growth journey like growing that business and then getting to the point where you sold it.
Steven Cohen
In high school, I probably had more credit cards than some of my friends’ parents. I made my first million dollars in my early twenties. I lost my first million dollars in my late twenties.
Ezra McCarthy
Do you mean gross or profit?
Steven Cohen
Gross.
Ezra McCarthy
Okay, just to clarify.
Steven Cohen
Business is a journey. When you start at a young age, you don’t have the maturity and business skill sets you gain later. Looking back, my biggest problem was wanting to be someone I wasn’t. I always wanted to be bigger and better, but the foundation wasn’t built correctly.
Ezra McCarthy
Tell us about losing that money. Were you over leveraged? Were credit cards the issue.
Steven Cohen
No. I started doing governmental work, building parks and unionized landscape projects at a young age. I was in a totally different league than most landscapers starting out. Bad decisions, wrong jobs, jobs that were too big and too risky. A combination of those things led to losses.
Ezra McCarthy
Where did the business end up when you sold it?
Steven Cohen
I started in business at 16 and just turned 65. My first business was sold in the early 2000s to a family office firm. Then I went into consulting.
In 2016, my wife and I bought a company in Richmond that was about two and a half million dollars and not very profitable. We went into it with a ten year plan to build a ten million dollar company. We achieved that in eight and a half years.
Originally, we planned to succession the business to our kids, but they decided it wasn’t for them. We pivoted and exited through private equity this past March.
Ezra McCarthy
What was the emotional experience of selling a business like that?
Steven Cohen
I’m still going through it ten months later. During the transaction, you’re focused on outcomes and finances. The emotional side kicks in afterward. You ask yourself if you made the right decision and what life looks like next.
Would I do the deal again? Yes. Would I do it the same way? Probably not. A lot of what I’m doing now is reflecting on that journey.
Ezra McCarthy
If you could go back and talk to your younger self, what would you tell him about existing?
Steven Cohen
Exit readiness. One of the things we did best was preparing for the exit. We had a clear plan, strong financial projections, and we tracked performance closely.
Most owners don’t understand what it takes to prepare for an exit. There are three exits in business. You succession it, you sell it, or you die with it. Everyone sells eventually. You need to know the end when you start the beginning.
Ezra McCarthy
I’ve seen businesses disappear because there was no plan. For someone not at ten million yet, maybe one to three million, what steps should they take to be exit ready.
Steven Cohen
It depends on the type of sale. Private equity values different things than a private buyer. For example, systems and processes that matter to you may not matter to them.
We used LMN for years, but when we decided to sell, we switched to Aspire because most private equity firms use it. That alignment mattered.
Ezra McCarthy
Can you give an example of something they didn’t care about.
Steven Cohen
Many internal systems we built weren’t valuable to them because they had their own. If you sell to another landscaper, those systems matter more. Private equity often wants the owner out quickly and imposes new systems.
Ezra McCarthy
How did you find the right buyer? Did you search or did they come to you?
Steven Cohen
We initially marketed ourselves as a platform with multiple companies. We received many offers. One deal dragged on and was re-traded, so I walked away.
We went back to the market and received strong interest. Landscape Workshop came in with an offer, closed in 45 days, which is unheard of. We closed in March, right before the busy season.
Afterward, my friends also joined that same group.
Ezra McCarthy
For someone wanting to exit eventually, what else should they focus on.
Steven Cohen
Know the value of your business. Too many owners overestimate it.
Ezra McCarthy
Can you explain EBITDA in simple terms.
Steven Cohen
EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation. Private equity values businesses based on adjusted EBITDA.
Most firms don’t look at companies under one million in EBITDA. Multiples in our industry range from four to six times EBITDA, sometimes higher for strategic acquisitions.
Ezra McCarthy
This is helpful just to understand the language of business.
Steven Cohen
Another big issue is unreported cash. That hurts your value. Books need to be clean and numbers accurate.
Ezra McCarthy
So numbers off the books are a bad thing.
Steven Cohen
Cash has no benefit unless you’re stealing from the government. If you take cash, document it and pay taxes. Buyers need to see legitimate, repeatable income.
Ezra McCarthy
And using a CRM and banking records helps.
Steven Cohen
Absolutely. At minimum, have QuickBooks. Ideally, have a CRM. Even a spreadsheet is better than nothing. Order creates value.
Ezra McCarthy
I’d argue everyone should have a CRM unless they just started.
Steven Cohen
Exactly.
Ezra McCarthy
This has been great, Steven. If someone wants to learn more about exit readiness, where can they find you?
Steven Cohen
Follow me on LinkedIn. I post daily about leadership, exit readiness, culture, and mindset. You can also visit greenmarkgroup.com
Ezra McCarthy
This has been a great masterclass. Thanks to everyone for listening. Be sure to subscribe, leave a rating and review, and we’ll catch you on the next one.
