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Recruiting | Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Why can't you find good people to hire, and what can you do about it?
Incentive Compensation & Rewards | Tuesday, November 10, 2026 Are your bonuses and rewards actually driving the results you want?
Client & Employee Appreciation | Tuesday, December 8, 2026 Are you truly appreciating your clients and employees, or just going through the motions?
Eddy Zakes, CEO of Earth Development, joins Phil to share how a commercial snow and landscape company based in Green Bay has grown into a 15-state operation built almost entirely on a service partner network. From acquiring the business in 2021 with no snow industry background, to defining core values and brand promises in a February Airbnb in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to a negligent homicide lawsuit that reshaped how he thinks about documentation, Eddy shares the operational, cultural, and structural moves that make Earth Development different in a space known for burning subcontractors.
Connect with Eddy:
Key Learnings
Don't Mess Up What You Bought - When you acquire an attractive business, your first job is to learn it and not break it, because you bought it for a reason and every employee is better at their job than you are on day one.
Brand Promises Have to Be Reciprocal - If you promise clients you'll be reliable, responsive, and partnering, you need service partners, employees, and even clients showing up the same way, otherwise the promises collapse.
Service Partners Are a Two-Sided Marketplace - In every community, there are only a handful of great service partners, so protect that trust because if you burn them, you lose access to everyone they know for years.
Recruit Service Partners a Year in Advance - Have conversations with potential partners in new markets before you have work for them, so when the customer expands, you're not starting from zero.
Insurance Is the Fastest Disqualifier - The level of insurance a contractor carries is what separates serious commercial snow and ice pros from the people just dabbling.
Service Verification Isn't Going Away - Instead of grumbling about the proliferation of apps, embrace them as the tool that protects your company when the worst-case lawsuit hits.
Document Every Decline - Recorded phone calls saved Earth Development in a negligent homicide lawsuit tied to a client refusing extra salting, so build the systems that document what happened and what was refused.
Fair and Generous Beats Suspicious - Lead with a posture of generosity, backstop it with fairness, and accept that you'll occasionally get taken advantage of because the alternative is living suspicious of everyone.
Be a Resource, Not the Eye in the Sky - Monitor service partners nonstop, but show up alongside them during storms with field operations supervisors instead of playing gotcha after the fact.
High Expectations Attract the Right Partners - Great service partners want to be part of an elite performance environment, so don't apologize for the accountability required to serve hospitals, airports, and high-risk logistics sites.
Growth for Growth's Sake Isn't the Point - Eddy's construction partner once told him he liked the size of his headache for the money he made, and that awareness of when to stop growing is a lesson most operators miss.
Fundraising Taught the Real Definition of Generosity - Generous people have a posture of generosity in everything they do, not just what they give, and that posture reshapes how you build a company.
Reflection Questions
If a subcontractor tried to describe your company to a peer, would they use words that match how you talk about your own brand, or would there be a gap between what you say and what they actually experience working with you?
Do you have the documentation systems in place to protect your business if a client turns down a service recommendation and something serious happens on their property?
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