- Gene Caballero left his steady job at Dell to co-found GreenPal, an on-demand lawn care service.
- At first he had to make financial sacrifices, but now he earns more and travels often.
- He is happy as an entrepreneur and will never go back to the 9-5 life despite the challenges.
This as-told essay is based on a conversation with Gene Caballero, 44-year-old co-founder of Nashville-based GreenPal. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I am co-founder of GreenPal, a platform that connects homeowners with lawn care professionals.
After purchasing my first home, finding reliable maintenance for my lawn and myself was a daunting task. Working in tech on the West Coast and watching companies like Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb launch opened my eyes to one of my co-founders, Bryan Clayton’s, initial idea of lawn care on demand.
Before working full-time at GreenPal, I spent nine years at Dell, where I initially held a sales role. Five years later, I moved into a management role, where I remained until 2017. I learned invaluable lessons in leadership, strategic planning and team management, all of which were crucial to guiding GreenPal towards success.
I left my stable job at Dell to find a more meaningful career
I had a six-figure salary and was comfortable at Dell, but starting GreenPal was fueled by a quest for a bigger purpose. I was motivated by the desire to solve a common problem. This venture into entrepreneurship was not just a career change, but a commitment to innovating the way lawn care services are accessed.
Funding the creation of GreenPal required significant personal sacrifice. Because of my trust in GreenPal, I sold my house and cashed out my 401(k). To make it work, I moved in with my mom for a year, which was humbling, but I knew it was the right choice. I then had a small apartment with Bryan.
A key part of our first strategy was going door to door to collect feedback from homeowners. This direct engagement was crucial to validating the demand for a service like GreenPal and refining our concept based on real user insights. It gave me the confidence to go all out.
We now do over $40 million in revenue
Since our creation, we have hired 20 employees. The financial health of the company offers me personal freedoms that were once unimaginable, especially in the corporate world.
My compensation of $400,000 per year supports my lifestyle of travel and exploration. In 2023, I have visited 15 countries and have already planned five international trips, including climbing Kilimanjaro in September, for this year.
I work every day, but I have streamlined my responsibilities to never exceed 20 hours per week. Every morning I look at the number of transactions and the revenue we recorded the day before. I then take care of emails, prioritizing our customer service application to respond quickly to all requests and issues. I usually finish work by noon, or even earlier.
My entrepreneurial journey has been both exhilarating and challenging
One of our biggest mistakes was hiring an outside company to develop our website and apps. By outsourcing this critical component to an outside company for a six-figure sum, we expected a smooth launch and a robust platform. The company failed to deliver a product meeting our specifications and went bankrupt shortly thereafter. This left us without a working website and no recourse to recoup our investment.
This setback delayed our market entry and forced us to reconsider our strategy. This experience taught us a crucial lesson about the importance of having technical expertise within our founding team. My other co-founder, Zach Hendrix, went to Nashville Software School and learned how to build the current website and apps we use today.
I don’t miss my 9-5 at all
One piece of advice I would share with other entrepreneurs is to prepare yourself for a journey that may be lonely and seemingly unrewarding for a long time. Success in entrepreneurship often comes after periods of uncertainty and loneliness. Stay resilient and keep moving forward, even when immediate results are not visible.
I consider myself an entrepreneur, but I will never start another business. If you do it correctly once, you don’t need to do it again.
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