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Rafael Valle isn’t a doctor, and he didn’t ever play one on TV.
But Valle — who’s known as Ralph among his friends and colleagues — did spend most of an illustrious 20-plus-year military career working as a medic in the U.S. Army. So, he’s quick to recognize the coincidental nature of his decision to pursue a second career as the owner and operator of a Lawn Doctor franchise in North Florida.
“It wasn’t intentional, of course, but it does kind of fit, I guess,” Valle says with a laugh.
What didn’t fit quite as well, at least initially, was Valle and a post-military profession in the green industry. Other than mowing and caring for his own home lawn, Valle had almost no prior exposure to the business before he began evaluating opportunities with Lawn Doctor.
“I’m not going to lie … it was all a little bit intimidating at first,” Valle says. “All grass looked the same to me. I didn’t even know there was a difference between grass types when I first started exploring this. I made plenty of mistakes in the beginning.”
But over time, Valle says he discovered there was no better setting to learn about a new industry and a new business than through a franchise model like the one offered by Lawn Doctor.
In addition to the foundational business elements offered by the franchisor, the model also created plenty of opportunities to pick the brains of other franchisees in his area for agronomic advice on what worked and what didn’t.
Mix in his own determination to learn more about agronomy and the art and science of managing home lawns, and Valle found a formula for success in the green industry as the owner (along with his wife, Lara) of what is now known as Lawn Doctor of Greater Jacksonville.
“I like so much about the franchise model, mainly the support that other franchisees within the Lawn Doctor family give you as you get up and running. Not every franchise opportunity is like that, but it’s been incredible here. The support at the top level has been there all along, but the assistance I’ve gotten from my fellow franchisees has been even more valuable,” Valle says.
Play ball!
Valle’s 24 years of military service ended in 2015, and he spent another two years working for the Army in a civilian role. When that ended, he and his family moved from Florida (where he had been stationed when he retired) to New York City and, specifically, Staten Island.
Not long after that move, though, Valle’s thoughts began to return to the Sunshine State, largely because of his son, Divine, who was developing into a talented — and much-sought-after — baseball player.
“He has played baseball since he was 4 years old. So, when he was about 12 or 13, he started lighting up the radar gun with his pitching … and was getting a lot of people looking at him when we were living in Florida,” Valle says.
“He was trying to get a college scholarship, but after we moved to New York, he wasn’t getting the same looks as he was in Florida. So, Lara and I talked and decided we needed to go back to Florida to see where baseball might take him and try to open a business, because neither of us wanted to work for anybody else.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the couple had been involved in business ownership. “We had opened some mom-and-pop stuff in the past. When we were stationed in Germany, we owned some beauty salons and barbershops on the side, despite knowing nothing about hair,” Valle says.
They started by exploring opportunities with restaurant franchises like Subway and Firehouse Subs (which had been founded in Jacksonville, where they ultimately settled upon returning to Florida), but were quickly turned off by the 24/7 dynamics of owning a restaurant. They checked out other lawn care franchises that focused on mowing and maintenance, but the up-front costs required there were deal breakers.
Then they discovered Lawn Doctor with its focus on services such as fertilization, seeding, aeration and pest control. As Valle says, it was “a great fit for us.”
“It offered us an opportunity to set our own hours, to focus on a Monday-through-Friday schedule, which was important to us. We like spending time together as a family, especially with our son playing baseball and traveling all over, so what Lawn Doctor offered us checked off a lot of boxes,” he says.
Growing the empire
When the Valles joined the Lawn Doctor family, they were one of five locations operating in the metro Jacksonville area. Within a year, they purchased a second area location, and shortly after that, partnered with another military veteran, Greg Harkrider, who owned two of the three other franchises in Jacksonville.
In 2023, that pairing acquired the remaining location in Jacksonville. And when Valle bought out Harkrider’s interests in the combined businesses in August of last year, he and Lara became the sole owners of Lawn Doctor of Greater Jacksonville, which now operates primarily out of a single facility.
Before that meteoric growth could take place, though, Valle had to learn the nuts and bolts of lawn care. The previously mentioned advice and guidance he received from other Lawn Doctor owners was invaluable, of course, but he’s also quick to credit his decision to head back to school at the University of Florida for helping him boost his agronomic knowledge.
“They have this thing called the PMU — Pest Management University. They have classes that you can take in person or online, where they teach you basically everything you need to know about lawn care. It was very informative and super helpful for me,” Valle says.
“Those classes really helped me understand pest management, fertilization, what NPK meant and how it differed from one fertilizer to another, herbicides, how to apply everything safely and responsibly. We wouldn’t be where we are today without those classes.”
The PMU experience was so impactful, Valle says, that he continues to send team members — both lawn care veterans and industry newcomers — through the program.
“I’d suggest anyone coming into this business in the state of Florida, even if they’re experienced, to take those classes,” Valle says. “I want lawn technicians, not just spray guys. So, I’ve even had some of my more tenured guys take the classes. It just gives them the latest information and teaches them better than I ever could.”
Climbing the ladder
To say Valle was starting from scratch when he began his Lawn Doctor journey is no joke. Once he had secured his own franchise and had gone through the crash course in agronomy and lawn care, he had to build up his customer base, which stood at a grand total of zero on his first day on the job.
“When we started in 2018, we had zero customers. Greg started about the same time as I did, and was in the same boat — zero customers,” Valle says.
That condition was only temporary, however, thanks to some hard work and savvy marketing. “Year after year, we’ve seen about a 15-20 percent growth, and we’re currently standing at about 2,500 customers with revenues just shy of $1.9 million,” Valle says. “There are guys who have been in the (Lawn Doctor) system way longer than we have that are nowhere near the revenue that we are right now, so we’re really proud of how we’ve grown and developed.”
From a staffing perspective, Lawn Doctor of Greater Jacksonville is operating with nine full-time employees and two remote assistants who help with office and clerical duties. And both Ralph and Lara, of course, have a full-time presence around the business.
“We need another employee … but we’re trying to be selective on how we hire,” Valle says. “This industry can be a revolving door sometimes, but I’m trying to build a culture here where everyone understands what we’re trying to do and where we’re going. The group that we have now understands that, and they’re here for the long run, so we’re looking for the same thing from whoever we bring in new.”
Now nearing a full decade of franchise ownership with Lawn Doctor, Valle says he’s learned a few valuable lessons that he would share with others looking to take the leap into the franchise world. And not surprisingly, his long stint of military service informs many of those lessons.
“First, I just emphasize the value of education and taking the initiative to pursue it. That was the best piece of advice I was given, and it’s the best advice I can share. (Lawn Doctor) is a good franchise, I love it, but education is something you need to do on your own. It’s basically learning what you need to do for your territory, for your area, for your particular environment. All that factors in,” Valle says.
“And second would be to be willing to be flexible and adapt. I’m not going to lie; when I first started with Lawn Doctor, there were certain things that I thought should be done differently from how we were being asked to do them. But with my military background, I learned I needed to buck up, adapt and get going. They gave me a good model to work with. It was up to me to turn around, take that model and build upon it.”
