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Hosted by Steve Phipps of Wayfind Marketing, The Growth-Minded Marketing Podcast simplifies marketing for B2B CEOs ready to grow with confidence. Each episode offers real-world strategies, step-by-step coaching, and inspiring CEO interviews—all designed to help you align your marketing with your business goals, stop wasting time and money, and scale without the stress. If you’re a growth-minded leader tired of vague advice and underperforming tactics, this is your next step.
AnnieLaurie: Hey Steve, quick question.
What were you doing when you were 17?
Steve: 17?
I was finishing up high school
getting ready for college, thinking
about all that, which of course
I ended up at Union University,
which is where you and I first met.
AnnieLaurie: It is indeed Union
Dearest Union up in Jackson, Tennessee.
But.
We're not gonna reminisce about
college today, we're gonna talk
about our first guest on the
Growth Minded Marketing podcast.
He was already laying the groundwork
for a business when you and I were
still trying to choose our college
classes for our freshman year.
I won't spoil all the details, but it's
a story that really shows what can happen
when grit and vision come together early.
Steve, you and I talk a lot about what
it takes to scale a company, clarity,
courage, and a whole lot of resilience.
But today you're bringing us a
guest who embodies all of that
in a totally different way.
Steve: Yes.
I'm really excited about today's episode.
I sat down with David Purdue recently.
He's the founder and owner of
Greenview Landscape Services,
which is located here in Memphis.
And David's story's really inspiring.
It's not because he's been in business for
30 years, but it's because he started all
of it in high school just a few years ago.
AnnieLaurie: Wait, he started a
landscaping business as a teenager.
Steve: Yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
And it wasn't just mowing lawns.
He was raking leaves after school.
He is quoting jobs with a flashlight.
In one case, he was negotiating
trading mulch work for a mower.
He was operating as a scrappy startup,
CEO, even before he graduated high school.
AnnieLaurie: That's incredible.
And now six years later, he is got a 26
person team commercial contracts, and
he's leading his company with purpose.
You know what?
I love his mission, and that's to
beautify the city and help others grow.
That's so simple, but so powerful
here, especially in Memphis.
Steve: Exactly.
And one of the things that really stands
out to me and why I want other CEOs to
hear this conversation is David's drive.
And he doesn't just work hard, but
he's also seeking counsel and wisdom.
David has surrounded himself with
coaches, mentors with peer groups.
He's only 24, but his leadership
maturity is well beyond his years.
AnnieLaurie: That's the growth
mindset we talk about all the time.
If you're a CEO wondering how to
build something lasting, how to
level up your leadership or how to
lead a team with clarity, David's
story is going to really inspire you.
Steve: So here is our first ever
CEO feature interview on the
Growth-Minded Marketing podcast.
My conversation with David Purdue.
All right, so I'm here with David
Purdue, who is the founder and owner
of Greenview Landscape Services.
And so David, I'm excited to
have you here on the podcast.
And you and I have known each other for,
oh goodness, probably at least five years.
We met in Vistage.
And so man, you've got a fantastic story.
Why don't you tell everybody a little
bit about what your company does, and
then I would love for you to walk through
how you even got your business started
when you were still in high school.
David: Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks for having me on the show, Steve.
I'm excited to do this.
Hey everybody.
I'm David Purdue with Greenview
Landscape and I started my company
Greenview landscape back in 2019.
Prior to that, I worked for a
lawn care company in 20 17 20 18.
That was a company called
Southern Outdoor Services.
And they were just a resi, mow,
and blow lawn care company.
And I started doing that in high school.
I just ran a weed eater all day long
and one day in the fall of 2018 it
was time for school to start back up,
or I guess I should say late summer.
It was time for school to start back
up and it was gonna be hard to work at
the lawn care company, having to be in
school from, eight to three every day.
And so I still needed to make some money.
So I started posting some ads on
Nextdoor and on Facebook advertising
leaf pickups, and it just took off.
And I started getting a ton of
calls for a bunch of quotes.
And I was out there manually
hand raking these leaves in
November of 2018 and bagging them.
And that was, and so what
Steve: Grade were you in at this time?
David: Yeah.
That was in 12th grade.
Steve: That was in 12th grade.
Okay, so high school senior and
you're launching this business.
Got it.
Just wanna make sure everybody's
clear on the timing of that.
David: And so I would get out of school
and I'd have my bags, my rake, change of
clothes in the truck, go straight to my
first job and I'd go rake up those leaves.
And I couldn't work, very late.
'cause I'd have estimates I had to get to.
I only had, an hour and a half, two hours.
And then I'd, go out at.
Basically like dinner time with
a flashlight and looking at these
yards quoting work for the next week.
And man, I just really enjoyed
that and that, like I said,
that took off real quick.
And then in March of 2019 it started
getting into laying some mulch.
And prior to this I had a car detailing
business that I did for two years.
That was before I worked
at the lawn care company.
And I lost passion for that.
So that's why I started
working at a lawn care company.
And so in, March of 2019, I had a
buddy who had a trailer and I had
a little deal worked out with him
where I'd detail his truck once a
month, he'd let me borrow his trailer.
And so I'd use that
trailer to go lay mulch.
And one day in March of 2019,
I'm laying mulch over at a guy's
house named Matt Carpenter.
And he had a real nice
zero turn in the backyard.
And I thought, you know what, I'm
gonna ask him if he'd want to trade
this mulch job for that mower.
'cause grass season's coming around
the corner and I don't really wanna
push mow all these yards, especially
coming from this Southern Outdoor
Services company where they've
got all this real nice equipment.
So I wrapped up that mulch
job, went and knocked on Mr.
Matt's door, and told him I was done,
make sure he was happy with the work.
And I asked him, I said, Hey,
I noticed that 52 inch Toro
Z Master in your backyard.
And, i'd be curious if you're
interested in trading this job.
And I can give you a little
cash boot for that Z master.
And I think he says something
like, I'll think on it.
I'll get back to you.
I think he got back to me either
later that afternoon or first thing
the next day and said, he'd do it.
So I think it was just a wash.
He didn't want a cash boot and I
definitely got the upper end of that
deal, but I think he was just kinda
looking out for me and wanted to help me.
And so I had that and I had saved up
some good money by then and bought
a trailer and it is April now and
I'm cutting grass and, I'm ramp it
up to the point where I'm cutting,
I don't know, 40, 45 yards a week.
That was all through April.
And that was in May.
So
Steve: still in school?
David: Yeah.
Still in
Steve: school at this point.
40 to 45 lawns per week.
Okay.
David: Yeah.
At Houston High School, my senior year,
that second semester, I graduated May
of 2019, when we came back to school
for the second semester in January
of 2019, the school worked out an
interesting deal with me where I was able
to get outta school every day at like
and so that freed me up to go out
there and really get after it.
And I was super appreciative for that.
That's how I was able
to squeeze all that in.
But it was working seven days
a week and it was working hard.
And there definitely a lot of
lessons that I learned in that time.
One of those was like.
What it really is to get out there
and roll your sleeves up and scrap.
And so I did that graduate.
Steve: So David, to give context
here, you're how old now?
David: I am 18.
Steve: You do like today?
Oh, today.
24.
Okay.
So you've been doing this
David: six years.
Okay.
Yeah.
And it's like May, 2019 at this point,
and graduation's two, three weeks away.
And my parents are still going
through this divorce and my
mom's working like crazy.
My sister's working a ton.
I'm working a ton.
And so nobody was there to really,
sit there and say Hey, do you
wanna go check out UT this weekend?
Or, Hey, do you wanna go
check out state this weekend?
And I just kinda looked up.
Graduation was two weeks away.
My grades didn't look very good, but I
was very confident in what I was doing.
And I didn't necessarily have a lot
of knowledge or like wisdom but I
was very confident in my work ethic
and I was willing to bet on that.
And so I graduated and right outta
the gate in May of 2019, just went
into this thing full time and it just
flourished right after we graduated.
And we just got.
Blessed with just so much opportunity,
so much work, and I think the
Lord just continued to put me in
the right place at the right time
like way more than I deserve.
So that was what it looked
like getting started.
And in 2024 we shifted over to a
more of a commercial focus we have a
maintenance division that does like
your 12 month annual contracts where
we cut the grass on a regular basis.
Do your leaves on a regular basis.
In the wintertime, do your mulch, do
all your shrub trimming, your seasonal
color, irrigation, your lawn spray.
And then we have an install division.
So we work for like some general
contractors, developers, property owners
when they go and build a new facility.
They'll hire us to go and install
the landscape and the irrigation.
So in 2024, we decided to start really
pursuing that heavily and we'll still do
some residential projects to this day.
But overall our maintenance,
that's a hundred percent
focused on commercial nowadays.
Coming outta the gate and high
school, I think I had three or
four buddies working for me.
Now we've got about 26 employees
and we've got an office staff
of four here and it's great.
Steve: I see your trucks out and about
and when they're working at different
facilities and churches and whatnot.
So I know you guys have done
some fairly significant projects.
There's some places in
Memphis that people.
Would recognize what have been some
of the projects that over the last
12 months that you would say that
you were really proud of and excited
that your team was able to work on?
David: Yeah.
One was last summer getting to re
landscape, the Germantown Police
Department and the courthouse.
That was pretty cool.
we worked on that for a while.
There was another one.
This was quite a unique project,
but the Crescent Center, which is
a flagship building here in Memphis
we redid the interior landscape in
the interior lobby of the building.
And it was all faux plants that was very
unique, but very prominent building.
And then, I'm trying to think of.
We've gotta do quite a
few, like Vesta houses.
Those have been smaller, but,
really high end really custom.
And I'm sure there's some
other commercial ones.
I just can't think of 'em right now.
Steve: Yeah no those are great.
I know you did a big
project outta Wolf Chase.
I think I remember you showing that
to our Vistage group and one of the
things that I've gotta imagine has
been a challenge for you is your youth.
You're young and you're in a business
where, there's a lot of competition.
So two part question.
How big of a challenge has that been for
you as you've been growing the company?
But then two, how have you overcome
and dealt with that challenge?
David: Certainly good question.
I would say like a lot of the
people that I wanna work for
and the people that I wanna work
with, they appreciate the youth.
I think the hunger and the hard work
I've definitely been in rooms where
it's been viewed as like inexperience
or maybe financially unstable to
take on a project of such size.
And that was certainly tough, I think.
My business coach told
me something a while ago.
It was something along the
lines of you don't need to
judge people based on their age.
You need to, judge 'em based
on their responsibility.
It's not based on their age, but
based on the amount of responsibility
that they have in their.
Current given state of life.
And my grades were always really bad in
high school and I felt like kind of the
odds were always stacked against me.
when I get into a situation where
somebody's like doubting me, I think
it really fires me up even more.
And I wanna be like alright, watch.
And there's maybe a little
dose of cockiness to that.
It'll make me get up and work hard.
I really think, there's a big project
that we closed on last year out there
at Shilling Farms in Carville I told our
client, I was like, look, I'm gonna work
harder for you than anybody else will.
And that's what I tell my employees.
The reason why you should come work here
is 'cause I'll work harder for you to
be successful more than anybody else.
And I'm very confident.
I think that we do really good
work and our team is incredible.
Besides, I've got a lot of really
experienced guys that work here, but I've
been blessed with some great personnel.
So yeah I do own it, but there's
guys with way more experience in
this stuff that are working here and
helping run the ship than just me.
It wasn't like that right out
of the gate in high school.
But I think, when we were starting
out doing the residential stuff,
I think that youth worked to my
advantage on the residential side.
Now, on the commercial side.
It's definitely viewed
as more inexperienced.
I think I've definitely had to do a
lot, to be ahead of my years, I'm 24,
but I wanna say my life experience is
probably the equivalent of a thirty five
year 30 old one that's definitely not
married, no kids, but everything else.
You can't really teach
what you haven't developed.
And one thing that I learned a while
ago is if I wanna get some good
talent in here, in this company,
like I'm gonna have to learn a lot.
And I'm gonna have to grow a lot
in wisdom in order for these people
to wanna work under my leadership.
And if I don't really start learning
out how to lead people and coach people
and, develop all these skills, it's
gonna be hard to attract good talent.
Because how am I gonna be
able to help them grow?
Why would they wanna
submit to my leadership?
Like with my business coach and Vistage
and whether it's books, podcast industry
specific peer groups, all kinds of
different advisors in the company.
You name it I feel like I've really
gotten poured into a ton over the
years by guys that are way older.
And it's been a huge help.
To everything.
Steve: I love what you said a
moment ago about you can't teach
what you haven't developed.
And that's one of the things that
I've seen in you, and it's one of
the things I love about having this
conversation with somebody that
I know and have interacted with.
But you have an incredibly.
Strong drive.
I would say healthy ambition hunger
to grow the business, to get out and
hustle and do what needs to be done.
And that's coupled with a humility where
you are willing to ask for input you can't
be in Vistage for long without somebody
giving you some honest, hard feedback.
And you mentioned working with a business
coach, so I think that's incredibly
important for people to note as well,
that you've been very intentional
about seeking wisdom from others.
David: Yeah.
Absolutely.
And I would say the word humility
boiled down to a behavior basis is just
the willingness to admit that there
is a better way to doing something
the way that I'm doing it right now.
And when I came out of the gate,
of high school, I had no idea
what I was getting myself into.
No idea.
And there's still points to this day
where it feels like that sometimes.
And I feel like I've seen too
many guys where they think
they've got it all together.
And they act like everything's perfect.
And I see what kind of outcome they arrive
at after having that mindset for a while.
And I don't ever wanna go down that path.
There's no need to.
Even some of the best operators
that I know it looks like they have
it all figured out, but they're
getting poured into by somebody else.
Steve: Yeah.
Yeah, that's a good, healthy perspective
to have and that recognition of, we
don't always know what we don't know.
And even when we do think we know
something, sometimes there's a better way.
So I do wanna shift gears here
because since this is ultimately
a marketing and business growth
podcast, you've grown your business.
Like you said, you have 26 people
now on your team, and you started out
with a handful of high school buddies.
So you've experienced a lot of
growth, not only in terms of
your team but also your revenue.
So I'm gonna ask you this question
from the perspective of you giving
some thoughts and maybe some of the
things that you've learned to other
CEOs, other business owners who are
trying to grow their businesses.
What are some of the principles that
you've learned in growing your business?
Maybe, what are some things that have
worked really well and if there's
something that didn't work what was that?
David: Yeah.
I think people spend too much time
getting ready to get ready and
they don't just go and act on it.
And I see a lot of it where you want to
perfect the idea and then execute on it.
I've always just been
rolled with the MO of.
Hey, let's just get a rough draft going.
Let's implement it.
Let's start doing it, and we're
gonna perfect it along the way and
we're gonna monitor it closely.
And so just really moving
quick and being decisive.
Steve: So do you have, can you
give a specific example of that?
Because I understand what you mean.
Is there a specific example that
you can think of in your experience
where you did exactly what you
just said, Hey, let's do it.
Let's get a rough draft, let's go.
And we saw that worked,
that got us some traction.
David: Oh, tons of things.
Whether it's like your marketing materials
or even hiring somebody or like we made
the transition to move over to box trucks
a while ago and we contemplated on that
for a while and it's you know what,
let's just get a couple of these and
let's just see how they go 'cause we've
sat on it for so long, or whether it's
a set of scorecard items, KPIs whatever.
I think tactical or.
Strategic.
It is probably a little bit
more dangerous on the strategic
side to roll with that approach.
But on the tactical side, I'm just
really big on moving quick, let's
be decisive and let's move on.
Let's roll with it and we'll
perfect it along the way.
I don't wanna sit on the sidelines and
think about something for two months.
Yeah.
Now there are things that can be
catastrophic and whatnot, but how do you.
Steve: How do you apply that to your
sales and marketing of the, Hey,
let's be decisive and let's act.
David: So on the sales side,
you look at outbound sales.
I've not really ever been one to
let me sit here and study my email
script and then do research to see
when's the best time of day to do
outbound emailing to prospects.
I'm just gonna walk in their
office and directly ask 'em for
an opportunity to work for 'em.
And if they say no, I'll
come back in six months.
On marketing stuff, real simple example.
We started doing these marketing
newsletters once a month, all of
our existing clients, and we'd
send 'em out and our first several
ones, they were really rough.
But I think we've got
those really dialed in now.
But it's just getting started
on things and like I said,
perfecting them along the way.
Steve: One of the things that I
love about your approach is just
based on some of the conversations
that you and I have had previously.
You bring a lot of courage to.
The sales process.
And what I mean by that is you've set
your sights on some pretty prominent
companies and some big companies
that you wanted to work with, and
you didn't let that slow you down.
You weren't intimidated by that.
And so that principle that you just said
of taking action, don't just over plan it.
I'm a strategy guy, but I agree with you
a hundred percent that there's a time
and place for planning, and then there's
a time to actually do something with
it, not just wait until it's perfect.
David: Absolutely.
I think like on the sales side,
depending on the organization that
we're calling on, I could be dealing
with the lowest man on the totem pole,
or I could be dealing with the CEO or
the founder and chairman, whatever.
To me, it doesn't really I
mean it is different but it's
not intimidating, if you will.
I really think that we do a great job.
I'm really bought into our mission
of helping beautify the city of
Memphis and help others grow.
And I think they'd have
a great experience.
I feel like we're helping
'em out by working for 'em.
That's how confident I am in
our product and what we do.
We make errors from time to time.
But that's gonna happen.
But it's what you do when
you make the mistakes?
That's where you really build the rapport.
Steve: You just mentioned that you have
a lot of confidence in what you guys
can do, and that correlates to a very
strong belief in your company's mission,
which I think is critical because if
somebody's trying to sell something
that they don't believe in, it's just a
product that's just a widget that becomes
harder to sell at least for a lot of us.
So just give a quick overview.
What is your mission and how
does that drive your business?
David: It's our mission, but also too,
I feel like it's my purpose in a sense.
It is to help beautify the
city and help others grow.
And so beautifying the
city, you go downtown.
Half these places, they don't keep
up with the weeds in their sidewalks.
Their bushes are outta whack.
They don't keep up with their lawn.
And I know there's a lot of probably
ugly architecture in downtown Memphis,
but if they could just keep the
trash picked up and just keep the
landscape maintained, they can have
such an improvement on the aesthetic
of a metropolitan area or a suburb.
The helping others grow.
Like a lot of our clients, I've
got deep relationships with.
In which I get to talk about things
with like faith or I get to talk
about things with their family.
It's not a transactional relationship.
With our employees, the
mentorship opportunities,
that I get to have with them.
I love that.
And you know what?
I don't really have a preference when
they're not doing landscaping or whatever
it is, but as long as I get to do those
two things, then that scratches my itch.
And I want to help clean up the
city, make the place look better,
and I love pouring into people.
And watching 'em, demonstrate that growth.
And so that's our company
mission statement.
But that really derives from like
my purpose and I didn't know all
this when I started the business.
But 18 months ago, I was like,
I'm getting burned out on what I'm
doing and I feel like my purpose
got reinvented about 18 months ago.
And that's awesome.
I talked with my coach a lot about
that and a lot of other people and
that was what we arrived to, and
that's what gets me up, gets me out
of bed in the morning and that's
why I love getting to do what I do.
Steve: David, thank you so
much for joining us today.
Love hearing your story.
Always a point of encouragement.
Always learn something.
And give just real quick, what's
your company web address where
people can find you online?
David: It is ww dot greenview memphis.com.
Cool.
We will make sure to put
that in the show notes.
AnnieLaurie: Okay.
So these are just riff type questions.
Yeah.
No answers.
Okay.
So you, you remember the
interview well enough for me
to just interview you about it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay, good.
All right, Steve, I've gotta
ask, what struck you most about
David's leadership journey?
Steve: I've known David for a number
of years and really what strikes me
about his journey, is how quickly
he's grown and achieved a lot.
But really it's, he has a unique
combination of humility and vision.
He, as you mentioned in the intro.
He has a vision for building people
and making the city more beautiful,
but he doesn't try to do it on his own.
He has a lot of natural ability and
talent, but he has surrounded himself.
He asks questions.
He's willing to learn.
He recognizes that there's
a lot that he doesn't know.
And I don't think that's
just because of his youth.
I think he just, in general, I think
he's a person who craves to learn and
recognizes that there's always gonna
be something new to learn and try.
And so that, that's really one
of the things that stands out to
me about his journey as a leader.
AnnieLaurie: He talked about
acting decisively instead
of waiting for perfection.
How does that principle
play out in marketing?
Steve: I think the what a lot of people,
where a lot of leaders get stuck is
they feel like it has to be perfect.
And whether that's the messaging on the
website, the design of a website the
campaign, all the details and really,
a lot of times 80% is good enough.
And I, that's one of the things I
appreciate about David, is there
comes a point where you just need
to go do something and then adjust.
'Cause otherwise the ball's
never gonna get rolling.
The engine's never gonna get cranked.
AnnieLaurie: David mentioned how important
mentorship and coaching have been for him.
You lead coaching for CEOs.
What do you think makes someone coachable?
Steve: Ooh, that's a good question.
I would say it starts with humility
and in the sense that it's someone who
recognizes they don't have all the answers
and they're willing to try new things.
It's the CEO, it's the marketing
manager who feels like they know
everything that needs to be done and
is unwilling to receive feedback.
That person's not coachable.
It's the person who's willing to receive
that feedback, willing to make changes,
willing to hear new ideas, and willing
to change their mind if they recognize
that somebody else's idea or principle
would be better suited for what they need.
AnnieLaurie: One thing I loved
was his ability to connect
business growth with purpose.
How can other CEOs clarify
their purpose the way David has?
Steve: That's a very personal
journey especially for a founder.
Because when you have birthed a
company in essence and built it up
the company is a reflection of you.
And so I think as a company grows and
evolves, it's continuing to go back.
As the CEO, as a founder,
what is your vision?
What is it that compels you?
And with David, you could hear it in
his voice that he gets excited about.
He wants to make things more beautiful.
Yes, it's a business, but he recognizes
that it's a business that can achieve
something bigger and he recognizes that.
He has the ability to build people.
I know he didn't talk about this on
the podcast, but I know he's been very
intentional about creating training and
learning resources for his team members.
And so he's pouring a lot into
developing them both in the business
but also in their personal lives.
So I think that's.
Just continually reflecting on what
is it that's driving you and , let
me give you a quick example.
Years ago I was a
Chick-fil-A owner operator.
And one of the things that I heard
one of the leaders talk about at
one point was really Chick-fil-A
is in the people business.
They just happened to
sell chicken sandwiches.
And so keeping that type
of perspective in mind.
AnnieLaurie: And finally, as a marketing
guy, what lessons should CEOs take
away from how David approaches sales
and marketing, especially that courage
to just walk in and ask for the job.
Steve: So I think there's
a couple things there.
One is who's your audience?
Who are you trying to go after?
And David has a clear sense
of who his target audience is.
They have a list of companies that
they're trying to do business with, and
he's not afraid to then go in and ask
for the business, have conversations, so
there's clarity of who your audience is.
And then what's the value that you bring?
Can you clearly communicate
how you're different from your
competitors in a way that your
prospect, that your buyer understands?
Skip all the jargons, skip the fluff.
Marketers can be really guilty of being
really clever, and it sounds really good,
but nobody knows what the heck it means.
And then as we were just talking about,
there's a time where you just need to go.
You just need to launch something.
You need to go prospect, you
need to go have a conversation.
You need to put that
content on your website.
An Laurie, I've worked with a
lot of business owners and CEOs.
And David's story is a great reminder
that you don't need decades of
experience to lead with vision.
You need clarity.
You need grit.
A willingness to grow and
humility certainly doesn't hurt.
AnnieLaurie: Yes, and I think
CEOs listening today can take
a page from David's playbook.
Don't wait until it's perfect.
Just get started.
Whether it's building your team,
shifting your strategy, or updating
your marketing action creates momentum.
Steve: And if you're listening and
you're thinking about what you've
been hearing today, David's story, you
might be thinking, where do I start?
What do I do next?
Now that been thinking through this?
We've got two resources to help you.
So the first one is our
free AI marketing guide.
So much is happening right now.
In the marketing landscape, AI is
disrupting buyer behavior and research.
It's impacting how companies do marketing.
So you can find this
guide@wayfindmarketing.com
slash ai marketing guide.
It's packed with insights to help
you prepare your content and your
strategy for today's AI driven world.
AnnieLaurie: Secondly, you can take the
Guide Marketing Assessment also on our
website, and once you complete it, you get
access to our marketing playbook that will
help you implement changes right away.
It's a fast, focused way to see where
your marketing needs attention, so you
can lead your team with confidence.
Steve: So thanks again.
David Purdue for joining
us on the podcast.
And thank you for listening.
If you found this episode valuable,
please like it and share it
with another growth-minded CEO.
We will see you next time.