Franchisee Profile: Shane Morrell

Shane Morrell, 41, is bringing the nationally acclaimed franchise Monster Tree Service to the Dallas region, and will also be the first franchisee to enter Texas. Morrell first started working in landscaping while he was in high school, doing summer work for various greenhouses, landscaping and irrigation companies. Eventually, after many summers working full-time, his landscaping jobs allowed him to pay his way through college as he attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

After graduating with his Bachelor’s degree, Morrell made the decision to move to Houston, Texas to take a position in sales with a major property development company, but a year and a half into the position, he realized the indoors, inactive shirt-and-tie atmosphere was not for him. At that point, Morrell returned to school in Dallas to receive his associate’s degree in applied science in the automotive field, training to become a automotive technician.

In 1998, with degree in hand, Morrell launched his career working with major automotive dealerships, most recently working with the prestigious Park Place Lexus dealership—the only automotive dealership to receive the presidential Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest Presidential honor for quality and organization performance excellence, which resulted in a congratulatory call from then-President Bush.

“Park Place was big into taking care of clients, quality control, acting with integrity and doing great work,” said Morrell. “I had over 10 years of experience learning the importance of these values, so now that I’m on my own, all of these things are going to help me to build both my business and the Monster Tree brand.”

How did you learn about the brand?

I went through a local franchise broker/coach who thoroughly vets both franchisors and franchisees. He matched my interests and skills and presented me with a handful of 6-7 choices — Monster Tree ended up being one of those. After talking with Mark, Josh, and current franchisees, doing my due diligence, and making a visit to Pennsylvania, it was a no brainer for me.

What are your expansion/development plans? Number of units? Timeframe? What is your end goal?

I started with 2 turfs, so I want to develop brand name recognition before I start expanding. I’m hoping to make Monster Tree strongly known as a leading tree service in the Dallas area.