Most people think they need a perfect plan, a new truck, and a fancy logo before they start a business. Not Alex Kirby.
He went from broke youth pastor to building and selling a debt-free, million dollar landscaping company in a few years. No loans. No debt. No fluff.
This episode of the OWNR OPS Podcast digs into how he did it, why faith was at the center of every move, and what he’s building next.
How It Started
Alex was a youth pastor fresh out of college. Newly married. No money. Off on Fridays.
He started praying and asking what to do with that day. A few days later, someone at church asked if he knew anyone who did lawn care.
He didn’t. But he said yes anyway.
He YouTubed how to mow and edge on the way to the first job. The yard wasn’t great. But he showed up again. And again. And again.
That turned into a side hustle. Then into a real business.
90 Days, 6K in the Bank, and All-In
By early 2017, he and his wife decided to give the lawn care business 90 days.
They had around six grand to their name and his wife’s income to float them for a bit.
Year 1: about 250K in revenue.
Year 2: about 500K.
Year 3: a debt-free million dollar landscaping business.
The key detail: they stayed broke on purpose.
They paid themselves 40K a year. Lived with other couples. Then moved into a tiny house on family land. No new cars. No lifestyle upgrades. Every extra dollar went back into the business.
Faith Was the Framework, Not an Add-On
For Alex, faith was not something he sprinkled on top of business.
It guided hiring, risk, money, and direction.
He trusted that he would be shown the next step, not the whole roadmap. That mindset kept him moving when things were unclear, and kept his ego in check when things were going well.
Business was not separate from his faith life. It was one of the main ways he lived it out.
Marketing Without Overcomplicating It
Alex hit half a million before he ever spent real money on paid ads.
Here’s what he did instead:
- Texted every single contact in his phone with a simple message about his new lawn care business
- Used door hangers in the neighborhoods he wanted
- Posted what he was doing on social media
- Treated every job like it could be his best referral
Then he started going after bigger accounts.
One of his biggest wins came from following up with a home builder every month by email. For eight straight months, nothing happened. Then one day they had just fired their previous contractor.
That turned into a 600K a year account.
Lesson: most people quit way too early.
Cleaning Up the Offer
For a while, Trifecta did lots of mowing-only work. Then Alex got a wake-up call.
People in the neighborhood would see his trucks at properties where the lawn looked halfway done. Grass cut. Shrubs terrible. Beds full of weeds.
The customer knew what they were paying for. Neighbors did not.
So he shifted the model to full-service only:
- Mowing
- Shrubs
- Cleanups
- Overall property care
That change simplified pricing, improved results, and made the brand look better in the market.
Why He Sold at Around 2 Million
Trifecta grew to about 25 team members and just under 2 million in revenue.
From the outside, this looks like the moment to double down.
But Alex was at a crossroads:
- They were out of space and needed a facility
- A new shop and land was going to cost just under a million
- That would mean taking on big debt and committing the next 8–10 years to scaling in one direction
He didn’t want that.
So he sold the accounts and assets to local buyers, kept the Trifecta brand, and stepped back to reset the model.
He walked away with cash, no debt, and options.
What He’s Building Now
Alex is not done.
Here’s where his energy is going next:
- Rebuilding Trifecta as a leaner, more commercial-heavy model with plans to franchise
- Launching Conquer Consulting to help blue-collar business owners with vision, strategy, hiring, marketing, and sales
- Launching Blue Collar Kingdom, a community for believers who want to build businesses that are actually rooted in their faith, not just sprinkled with it
Everything ties back to one mission: help blue-collar owners build real businesses and use them as tools for impact.
Breaking Through the 250K Plateau
A ton of owner-operators get stuck around 200–300K.
Alex sees the same patterns over and over:
- They are comfortable running one or two crews
- They are scared to hire leaders
- They have no written systems
- They listen to the wrong people complain about how nothing works anymore
- They let lifestyle creep choke cash flow
His advice is simple:
- Invest in yourself: coaching, books, events, podcasts
- Hustle harder than you think you need to
- Document how you do things so others can run it
- Stop buying stuff to look successful and start buying time and leverage
You are not stuck. You are just not changing.
Faith and Business Do Not Have to Compete
Both Alex and I landed in the same place:
You do not have to choose between being serious about your faith and serious about business.
If you have the desire to build, lead, and create, that did not show up by accident. You were wired that way.
Business is just the arena where you get to use it.
When you bring faith into it from day one, your decisions change:
- Who you hire
- How you treat your team
- How you handle money
- Who you serve and how you give
The goal is not just to build big numbers. It is to build something that actually matters.
Want the full conversation with Alex Kirby? Watch the full episode on YouTube or Spotify.
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