The future is bright for natural and organic lawn care options.

Mark Tamn, president of Freedom Lawns, didn’t start out in the natural lawn care business. For decades, he worked for national lawn care firms and even owned a large traditional lawn care firm himself.

Then, in 1999, Tamn decided to take a different approach to lawn care.

“I believed there was a better way that was more sustainable,” he says. Tamn also thought “going green”—i.e., using fewer synthetic inputs—would give him a marketing niche to help his Hampstead, N.C.-based firm stand out among other lawn care companies.

It worked. Today, his company employs 40 to 50 workers, serving predominately residential clients, and it offers franchises opportunities for others who want to do business his way. He has nine franchises operating in the Carolinas.

As he likes to put it, “We were green before green was cool.”

You could say the organic, natural and/or biological lawn care business is growing and is likely to stay that way. Suppliers and end users say they’re seeing increased demand, increased sales and more products available than ever, a trend they expect to continue.

Some of the new products strengthen the plants so they can withstand stress, pests and drought or take up nutrients more effectively. Other products improve the soil ecology, putting bacteria, fungi and other substances into the soil so plants can make more effective use of the nutrients in the soil.

Often the products are added to traditional lawn care programs, with suppliers touting their ability to cut down on the amount of synthetic inputs needed.

Yet, lawn care firms say organics aren’t money savers, at least in the short run. They often cost more than traditional products.

Companies going this route look at it from a bigger picture point of view.

For example, Hoke says his company’s hybrid natural/traditional approach has resulted in an industry-bucking 93 percent client-retention rate, allowing his firm to spend less money on marketing and more on putting out a good product.

Despite the new and improved organic, natural and biological products, no one recommends a one-size-fits all or even an all-natural approach.

“We’re not 100 percent organic,” Tamn says. “We do use some synthetic products, but we use the safest products that lead to the best end result.”

Like most firms, he recommends a hybrid approach, which typically echoes a traditional approach in terms of the number of applications.

Yet, going organic does call for extra effort in terms of communication and training, Tamn adds. His workers have to be ready to coach customers about proper mowing and watering and teach homeowners to notify Freedom Lawns when they see something that may need to be nipped in the bud, literally.

“You also need a very strong IPM (integrated pest management) policy,” he says, with workers well trained so they know when to pull out the pesticides and when to let nature take its course, such as when a disease shows up but may soon be restrained by a change in seasons.

When it comes to marketing organics, whether to lawn care firms or homeowners, the message needs to be honed and simplified, Reinbergen adds. “It’s not like you can say, ‘Here’s a bag of fertilizer,’” she says. “It takes awhile to educate consumers. It’s so hard to explain what’s in it.”

Though a number of drivers could boost the trend toward natural lawns, including regulations, the biggest factor, lawn care pros say, is consumer demand.

“There’s more awareness,” Tamn says. “First-time homeowners have more information than 10 years ago. And green is cool.”

Freedom Lawns president Mark A. Tamn, was recently a host to two promising entrepreneur’s from NC States Poole College of Business and Jenkins Business School.

The NC State students were invited to gain a better understanding of how a small business gets started, develops, grows, and can become profitable. The students asked many great questions concerning operations, marketing, branding, purchasing, franchising, and profitability.

One of the most interesting questions was asked by Daniel. His question was “if you had to compare being an entrepreneur to a movie, what movie and what character would you be? Mark’s answer was “Rocky “Because anyone can be successful regardless of where you came from or your means “however, it takes great personal commitment, perseverance, and determination to reach your goals!” Rocky certainly had what it takes.