046: Marine Veteran Chris Dambach Builds Multi-Million Dollar Landscape Business

Chris Dambach joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2007 as an Infantry Scout with the 4th Light Armored Reconnaisance Marine Corps unit in Mattydale, New York.  While on deployment on the Iraq Syrian border, was ejected from his vehicle and suffered numerous injuries. During his recovery he bootstrapped a residential lawn service in 2010 by plastering his New York neighborhood with flyers and taking $5,000 from savings to buy used equipment. Conveniently he named the business Veteran Lawn Care. At the time he and his wife Meghan had a combined annual income of less than $22,000.  The very first year Chris started bidding commercial and government contracts to expand his business. Ten years later his firm has contracts with the VA Healthcare System, National Cemetery Administration, New York State Dept of Corrections and the MTA. This year Industry Standard USA is well on it’s way to hitting the 8 figures mark which is truly an accomplishment for a company with such humble beginnings in lawn care.  Over the next 40 minutes you are going hear how Chris dealt with physical, mental and leisure health. We discuss work life balance and the tole that it took on his marriage. We also dive into the reason behind changing his companies name which is I think is invaluable to new firms and finally the founding of his newest venture Empire Material. Chris is high energy and offered up no less than 7 book recommendations. He has four sons and married his high school sweetheart.