Inside the $10M Outdoor Lighting Franchise Playbook

This week, I sat down with Brian Garrison, COO and President of Buzz Franchise Brands, who is also working hands on with Wonderly Lights, the newest brand in the Buzz portfolio, to help get it scaling across the country. Brian spent 22 years in the US Navy as a naval flight officer, flying A-6 and F-18 aircraft off carriers, before transitioning into management consulting and eventually into franchising.

He joined Buzz in 2015, and over the past decade the company has grown from a single pest control brand, Mosquito Joe, into a home services portfolio that now includes Pool Scouts, Home Clean Heroes, and Wonderly Lights, an outdoor premium lighting concept spanning landscape lighting, permanent LED lighting, and holiday lights.

We covered how his Navy background shaped his approach to building businesses, why Buzz intentionally avoids licensed trades like HVAC and plumbing, how the company evaluates prospective franchisees, and where growth is headed for the back half of 2025.

The Key Takeaways

Below are the most essential insights from my conversation with Brian that you can apply to your home services business today.

1. Twenty-Two Years in the Navy Taught Him to Run Every Part of an Organization

Brian spent 22 years in the Navy after attending the Naval Academy, flying A-6 and F-18 aircraft as a naval flight officer, largely deployed on carriers, with staff jobs mixed in as he got more senior. He says that experience, being involved at all levels of an organization, translated directly into franchising, where he touches everything from hiring and policy to recruiting franchise owners and customer sales.

“I had been at a point in my naval career where I was kind of involved at all levels of an organization and all facets of running an organization. And so the opportunity to come in and try to build something and scale something over time, while kind of impacting whether it was hiring, building policy, recruiting franchise owners and the customer sales side, all the way down to how we use technology and metrics, it was just like you get to do everything.”

— Brian Garrison

2. From Management Consulting to a Second Career in Franchising

After retiring from the Navy, Brian spent about two and a half years in management consulting, working on Fortune 100 style corporate problems. When the chance came to join Buzz in 2015, coming out of a firm like McKinsey, he was drawn to trading a narrowly focused corporate role for one where he could drive every aspect of a growing business.

“I think it was the opportunity to come in and really drive all aspects of the business. It was exciting and it was a good opportunity to challenge myself that way. And I think most of us who get into entrepreneurship also feel like there’s a good upside, or perhaps more upside if you do it right.”

— Brian Garrison

3. Wonderly Lights Started as a Niche Bet to Fix Seasonal Cash Flow

Buzz first looked at the holiday lighting space back in 2016 as a way to complement the seasonality of Mosquito Joe and Pool Scouts, but shelved the idea because there was too much else going on. Coming out of COVID, the team revisited it, launched a niche holiday light business, and about 15 months ago expanded it into a full premium outdoor lighting model covering landscape lighting, permanent LED lighting, and holiday lights.

“We had looked at the holiday lights kind of vertical as far back as 2016. We kind of put it on ice, and then coming out of COVID we said, all right, it’s time to start another brand. We said let’s go into the niche holiday light business. It’s just a lot of fun, a lot of excitement for us.”

— Brian Garrison

4. Three Verticals, Three Very Different Sales Cycles

Landscape and architectural lighting is Wonderly’s year round core business, a one-time install with maintenance contracts attached. Permanent LED lighting, metal light strips controlled through an app, is also a one-time sale but gives homeowners year round flexibility to change colors for different holidays. Holiday lights are the seasonal sprint, and Brian says demand is growing as people age out of wanting to climb on their own roof and instead want a company that stores, installs, and services the lights for them.

5. Buzz Intentionally Avoids Licensed Trades

Brian explained that Buzz does not touch HVAC, plumbing, or electrical work, not because those markets are bad, but because they require trade licenses and deep technical training. Buzz looks instead for relatively fragmented, sometimes emerging categories, like mosquito control in 2012 or outdoor lighting more recently, where capital investment is low and someone without deep industry expertise can be trained to run the business.

“When you talk HVAC or plumbing or electrician, there’s trade licenses, there’s trade experiences, those are very viable markets, it’s just not a market we’re choosing to play in. That’s an intentional decision.”

— Brian Garrison

6. Every Franchise Candidate Gets Evaluated Against a Simple PHD Test

Prospective franchisees run through a full day discovery session where Brian or CEO Kevin meets with every candidate, followed by brand presidents and members of the ops, marketing, and technical teams. The team is trying to understand motivation, skill sets, and whether someone plans to run the business themselves or hire a manager, boiled down to a simple acronym: are they Passionate, Hungry, and Driven.

“We try to simplify to say, are they PHDs, and that’s a very simple acronym. Are they passionate? Are they hungry? And are they driven? We’re doing our best to evaluate that and whether we think they’d be a good fit with our franchise system.”

— Brian Garrison

7. Growth in 2025 Is About Scaling What Already Works, Not Chasing New Brands

Brian says Buzz’s 2025 focus is on helping its existing franchises across all brands scale, powered by an in-house shared services team that acts like a mini agency across creative, digital, and direct mail marketing, plus a dedicated sales team recruiting new franchise owners. Acquiring new concepts may happen down the road, but it is not the priority this year.

“Our primary focus is on helping our existing franchises across all brands scale. We are very focused on driving brand awareness and direct customer recruitment for all of our existing franchise owners.”

— Brian Garrison

Looking Ahead

Brian’s path from the cockpit of an F-18 to running a growing home services portfolio is a reminder that the skills that translate best into franchising are often less about the specific trade and more about discipline, evaluation, and the ability to build systems that scale. As Wonderly Lights heads into its busiest stretch of the year, Brian and the Buzz team remain focused on strengthening the brands already in the portfolio before chasing the next one.

“I really appreciate the time to share the story of Buzz and Wonderly Lights, and the opportunity to join you here on the podcast.”

— Brian Garrison