Being Others Focused with Dale & Brian Karmie

DESCRIPTION:

Sometimes winning is just not losing. The journey to the success of Foreverlawn Inc. did not come easy. Brothers Dale & Brian Karmie built their business from the ground up, sometimes going without a paycheck in order to always make sure their employees were taken care of. 

In the year 2000, both brothers were in the software consulting business. They had grown up with an entrepreneurial father and were beginning to feel a stirring desire to start their own business. One day, Dale came across an article about a local college getting a turf field. He sent the article to his brothers, and it sparked an idea in Brian. He thought a turf business would do well in the desert southwest. Six months later, in 2002, Dale & Brian moved from Ohio to Albuquerque, New Mexico and started an artificial turf business. They left their wives and kids behind in the pursuit to build a better life for them.

When they arrived in New Mexico, they started seeing homes with gravel painted green in effort to look like grass. Everywhere they looked, they could see opportunity. Their families eventually were able to join them in Albuquerque, but the first year seemed like it was struggle after struggle. After a year and a half, they got a call from their turf provider that the company was going out of business. This meant that they needed to find a new provider and change their name. 

In 2004, they started a new turf business and called it Foreverlawn. As their success grew, they went from being a local company in Albuquerque to becoming a turf provider that was setting up other dealers. As the company grew, they had the opportunity to move back to Ohio, where they now have about 80 employees in their home office, including a number of family members. Foreverlawn now has close to 90 dealers across the US.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The beginning of Foreverlawn

• Foreverlawn’s Core Values

• Family & Work Relationships

• The Foreverlawn F’s

• Employing people who fit in with the culture of your business

• Dale and Brian’s Convictions

• Advice for Leaders