Earlier this year, Larry Ryan, founder of Ryan Lawn and Tree, announced he was stepping down as the company’s CEO. The former pizza chain store owner built a behemoth of a lawn care company in the Midwest over the last 37 years, coming in at No. 51 on the 2025 LM150 list with $79 million in annual revenue.
Ryan will take the stage in Louisville, Ky., on Wednesday, Oct. 22 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. to discuss his career, his beliefs on company culture and how he foresees the future of the industry. LM sat down with Ryan in advance of the fireside chat to learn a little about what his life is like today, and some of what he wants to talk about at Equip Expo. To sign up for the fireside chat with Larry Ryan, and to see all the other Equip educational offerings, click here.
Landscape Management: Since you stepped back from the company earlier this year, what is your day-to-day life like now?
Larry Ryan: My day-to-day is easy, but it was kind of easy before. One of the things I’m doing is connecting with companies — even in the markets we’re already in — we’re looking for opportunities. Also, I’m traveling from branch to branch on a regular basis and just thanking people. I don’t think employees get thanked enough. Whether it’s an editor of Landscape Management or anybody, it just makes so much difference when they know they’re cared about and we still think about them, and they’re keeping our culture going. That’s really where my heart’s at.
LM: I’m excited for our discussion in Louisville. The attendee numbers for this class are ticking up each week, I’m thinking the room will be packed by the time October gets here. What are some of the things you’d like to talk about while we’re up there on stage?
Ryan: When we are growing a company, I think the first thing that I learned years ago is you’re never better than your people. Two things have helped us grow. One is the quality of people that we hired. We started out exclusively hiring college grads, but then at a certain point, we found that we had to go beyond that. So today, we hire for personality. We find somebody, if they have the heart, we can teach them.
We have a lot of forestry people. We can teach them what we do, but we want it to be a career, not a job. We don’t use the word ‘tech’ in most of our positions. One of our guys said years ago, we were having a celebration… he grabbed the collar of his shirt… he said, we’re a blue-collar industry, but I’m not a blue-collar person. I’m white collar, and that’s the attitude that we want throughout the entire company.
I think for Ryan, that’s been a huge part of our success. Get people who can make decisions, who want to be good at what they’re doing. You have to be almost rabid about pursuing that.
The other thing that helped us grow? Well, I’ll save that one for the seminar.
LM: The thing I love about Equip Expo is you see so many different companies represented. And it’s a wide variety of small, medium, large and extra-large companies. For the small companies — companies that are just getting their businesses started — what message do you have for them?
Ryan: It’s a great opportunity. It’s a great field we’re in. And they must remember that their small company will not be better than their people.
Instead of saying, in the back of their mind, ‘I want to grow this company so I can be rich,’ they should think about what Zig Ziglar said really well years ago: You get anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want. Find out what their employees’ hopes and dreams are, and say, ‘Let’s work together, and let’s help both of us achieve our dreams.’
I don’t think that’s said very often in business. I worked in the restaurant business for two groups of people over the years, and at the end of the year, what they said is, ‘What have you done for us? How much money have you made for us this year?’ Not, ‘How can we both be successful?’
You can get anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want. Let’s encourage those people to do that, to think bigger.
LM: How do you feel about the future of this industry?
Ryan: I still think it’s a good future. I’ve had a couple of revelations the last few months. One is concerning trees.
You know I’m a forester, so I like trees. But trees have always been on a bit of a pedestal with homeowners. I think that could easily change with these tropical storms, and you see the damage that a tree can do to a house.
We have to be selling every part of this industry all the time. If you don’t sell it, it goes away. I heard that professional sports have been declining in people’s minds, and not such a big interest in them anymore. I’m hearing the same thing about alcohol.
We’ve got to market what we do every day. You’ll often hear arborists say, trees are always an asset. At a certain point, they’re not. They get too big, they become dangerous. Don’t be afraid to take one out and start with a smaller plant and then put something that doesn’t grow so big. We need the color in the landscapes. We need to literally realize that we’re in business to create beautiful, safe communities.
Another thing: The number of horticulture students are declining. Enrollment right now in our junior college here in Kansas City is down. The program is on the table, as far as, are they going to go forward with it?
How we promote this industry will determine if we’re going to make or break this industry. That’s why we have to work with magazines, with other media in every form, to be selling this industry all the time. Every one of us should consider ourselves as in sales.
LM: Any parting thoughts?
Ryan: I want to encourage our audience to ask questions. Bring your hiring questions. We have to look at ourselves as a great employer of great people.
There’s a landscape company in Nashville, Tenn., led by Taylor Milliken, called Milosi. His theme — his mission — is ‘Let’s grow beautiful together.’ I like that. I get it. We’re in the people growing business as much as we’re in the plant growing business.
