Turning Near-Bankruptcy into Record Growth | Ivan Katz

Ivan Katz has run Great Lakes Landscape Design for 37 years.

He's been embezzled from, close to bankruptcy, and had run-ins with the IRS… all from putting trust in the wrong people and not having the right controls in place.

But between 2021 and 2024 he nearly tripled his revenue and headcount, by fixing the people-side of the business and creating a culture of honest feedback with great core values.

On this episode of Beyond The Hustle, we covered:

→ How a paper route and a flower planting side hustle turned into a real business

→ Surviving embezzlement, IRS trouble, and near bankruptcy

→ Building a culture around feedback and core values

→ Getting sober at 30 and replacing addiction with endurance racing

→ Why communication is the hardest skill in business and in life

Thanks Ivan for making the time to sit down and talk shop. Appreciate you, man!

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:00 Planting flowers for four bucks a flat

09:56 Near bankruptcy, an embezzlement, and owning it all

12:39 Fixing the people problem with feedback and core values

16:18 Building a culture around honesty, safety, and innovation

19:05 Getting sober and finding structure in exercise

23:47 The mindset behind finishing a race no matter what

30:23 What sobriety actually taught him

38:19 Being honest about recovery with everyone

42:07 What's next: the Summer Summit and the human element in an AI world

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