Not all landscape designers are created equal, and Steve Griggs is living proof.

For nearly four decades, the New York–based designer has been quietly transforming backyards, rooftops, and estates into living works of art. His projects have earned him two spots on the Inc. 5000 list, appearances on Bravo’s Backyard Envy, Good Morning LaLa Land, and features in Forbes, Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. But ask him what he actually does, and he won’t talk about fame or aesthetics first.

He’ll tell you about the guys chiseling stone in the cold.

“Most people just see a pretty picture on Pinterest and say, ‘I want that in my backyard,’” Griggs says. “They have no idea what it takes—the engineering, the plant science, the labor. The real heroes are the guys on the ground doing the work.”

That mix of candor and craftsmanship is exactly what’s made Griggs the guy to call when you want more than a pretty garden.

From “Just a Landscaper” to the Guy Everyone Calls

Griggs didn’t set out to be another name in the landscaping directory. From the beginning, he knew if he stayed generic, he’d be trapped in the race to the bottom.

“Starting out as a landscaper, you don’t want to be a landscaper,” he says bluntly. “You want to become the guy, the gal—the it person. If you don’t separate yourself from the crowd, you’re just competing on price. And that’s a quick land to nowhere.”

To climb out of that commodity trap, he began positioning himself differently. He leaned into media, became a go-to guest on podcasts, and compressed 30 years of work into a visual coffee-table book called Straight Dirt: New York City’s Premier Designer Tells It Like It Is. The book, filled with high-impact photography and honest stories from job sites, became a powerful leave-behind for clients—and a quiet weapon against his competition.

“If a client’s looking at two landscapers with similar pricing, and one of them has a book on the table, they’re probably going with the guy who has the book,” he says. “It raises your credibility the second you walk in.”

Your Backyard, Reimagined as a Story

Ask Griggs what he really does, and he won’t talk about lawns or shrubs. He talks about lifestyle, feeling, and memory.

“Some people paint, some people write music, some people sculpt,” he says. “My art form is your backyard.”

His process starts with listening—not just to what people want built, but how they want to feel when they step outside. Some clients want Vegas energy: pools, lights, late-night entertainment. Others want a zen courtyard to decompress from the city. His job is to translate those emotional cues into a design and then bring it to life in three dimensions.

He’s particularly passionate about the value of outdoor space in dense markets like the Northeast, where property and taxes come at a premium.

“I’ve had clients say, ‘I don’t want to fix up my backyard—we never go outside,’” he laughs. “And I tell them, ‘You never go outside because it looks like this.’”

Since COVID, he’s seen a massive shift in how people relate to outdoor living. Fire pits, outdoor kitchens, TVs, and covered lounges have turned backyards into the new family room.

“The backyard is the new kitchen,” he says. “It’s where memories are made. Your goal is to make your place the coolest house on the block so your kids and their friends want to be there. That’s where the magic happens.”

Money, Mindset, and the Price of Being “The Guy”

Behind the polished projects, Griggs carries a familiar story about money—one that many high-achieving entrepreneurs will recognize.

He grew up in an old-school, working-class household where the soundtrack was scarcity: turn off the lights, we can’t afford that. That narrative turned into an internal script that followed him into adulthood.

“For years I was deathly afraid to talk about money,” he admits. “I’d be terrified to give the real price. In my head it was always, ‘What are they going to think if I say this number?’ I didn’t feel worthy to charge it.”

The turning point came when he realized his clients could write a $100,000 check with the same emotional charge as a phone bill. It wasn’t that the projects weren’t worth the money—it was that he hadn’t fully owned the value of his work.

“You can’t be clipping coupons on groceries and then expect people to hand you six-figure checks,” he says. “It’s a mindset thing. You have to believe you’re the person they want, or you’ll always be just another guy with a truck.”

Today, he’s unapologetic about charging what his projects are worth. He also insists that loving your work isn’t enough—you have to treat it like a real business.

“I used to say, ‘If I love what I do, the money will follow.’ That’s not how it works,” he says. “You’re supposed to make a profit. Business is for profit. Be fair. Don’t take advantage of people. But don’t apologize for making money.”

40 Years In: Jealousy, Grit, and Showing Up Anyway

After four decades in the industry, Griggs has seen trends, companies, and entire economies come and go. Instagram, though, brought a new kind of challenge: comparison.

“Do I get jealous when I see guys online talking about making a million dollars a month? Absolutely,” he says. “Here I am, 40 years of blood, sweat, and tears. It gets to you sometimes.”

His way through it isn’t glamorous. It’s not a hack. It’s consistency.

“The longevity is just consistency,” he says. “Showing up every day. Doing what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it.”

That grit is rooted in his upbringing. His father worked construction, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to commute into New York City and feed five kids. Griggs inherited not only the work ethic but the sense of responsibility that comes with it.

“I’m old-school now, I can finally say that,” he laughs. “Your word is your bond. If I tell a client they’ll be swimming by July 4th, no matter what happens, they’re swimming by July 4th. That’s your reputation. That’s everything.”

His biggest piece of advice for anyone trying to build something unconventional?

“Bet on yourself,” he says. “You want to be the person with the ball with two seconds left who actually wants to take the shot. Nobody’s coming to save you. It’s on you.”

Creativity in Spray Paint and Steel-Toed Boots

Despite the tough-guy exterior, Griggs describes himself as a softie who cries at movies and gets emotional easily. His creative process is surprisingly intuitive.

He doesn’t sit behind a screen and draft for days. Instead, he walks the site with old-school spray paint in hand, sketching the pool, patio, and pathways right onto the earth.

“It’s like when a song comes into your head,” he tells Jules. “For you, you go to the piano. For me, I start spray-painting the outline. I see the whole thing before it’s ever built—even down to the flowers.”

He laughs that he can’t draw a stick figure on paper, but give him a raw piece of land and he can see the finished space from day one.

The Lonely Road of Entrepreneurship—and Why He’d Still Choose It

Griggs is quick to point out that entrepreneurship is not for everyone.

“Can everyone be an entrepreneur? I don’t think so,” he says. “It’s lonely. There were times I didn’t know if I could make the mortgage or the payroll. People are cheering for you—but also, some aren’t. There’s jealousy.”

And yet, he wouldn’t trade it.

Being his own boss meant he could coach his sons’ soccer games, be present for family life, and build days around what mattered most. Now married 29 years to a wife who balances his high energy with a calmer presence, he knows firsthand that success without relationships isn’t success at all.

“I see a lot of people where one partner is working nonstop, and everything else falls apart,” he says. “It’s not worth it.”

Even with his own business, he refuses to let his kids skip the hard part.

“They see me come home dirty and tired,” he says. “They’re not following in my footsteps—and that’s fine. But if they ever want to come into the business, they’re not getting handed the keys. Go out, get beat up a little, learn how the world works, then we’ll talk.”

Why Breaking the Rules Might Be the Only Way to Live

For Steve Griggs, living an unconventional life is less about rebellion and more about refusing to sleepwalk through someone else’s plan.

“To me, the unconventional life is breaking something, living outside the box,” he says. “Don’t just do what everybody says you should be doing. Go for it. Bet on yourself. Don’t have regrets.”

Whether he’s spray-painting the outline of a rooftop pool, pricing a six-figure backyard renovation, or sending 5 a.m. emails so clients know he’s thinking about their project before sunrise, one thing is clear: Griggs isn’t just designing outdoor spaces.

He’s designing a life on his own terms—and inviting the rest of us to do the same.

Giveaway: Win a Copy of Straight Dirt + Personal Design Insight from Steve

To celebrate the episode, Steve is giving away a hardcover copy of his coffee-table book, Straight Dirt: New York City’s Premier Designer Tells It Like It Is.

Connect with Steve

• Website: https://stevegriggsdesign.com

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevegriggsdesign/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SteveGriggsDesign

• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/stevegriggsdsgn

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ3rPHh3yC3FgzQ_nw9xenw

• Houzz: https://www.houzz.com/pro/stevegriggsdesign/stevegriggsdesign-com

For nearly two decades, Christopher Mackin lived what most would call the dream: a fast-rising financial advisor, top of the leaderboard, driving deal to deal in a suit and tie across the Northeast. He had the income, the status, the success.

But beneath the polish was a truth he couldn’t outrun: the hustle was hollowing him from the inside out.

Today, Mackin is a different kind of wealth advisor altogether — one blending financial strategy with spiritual insight, money with meaning, and prosperity with planetary stewardship. As a Certified Wealth Advisor, Reiki Master, retreat entrepreneur, and author of the forthcoming book Conscious Wealth, his mission is simple:

Turn wealth into WELLth — a life that is emotionally rich, spiritually anchored, energetically aligned, and financially empowered.

And the path that brought him here was anything but predictable.

From Childhood Scarcity to Corporate Success

Mackin traces the origins of his drive back to a painful childhood moment: overhearing his parents argue about money. He cried himself to sleep and made a vow the next morning — he would never ask them for help again.

That promise turned into a relentless work ethic. By 16, he had two jobs and had dropped sports to earn more. By adulthood, he was the classic high performer:

• Suit and tie

• Cold calls

• Long drives across New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania

• Manager-driven quotas

• Leaderboard success

On paper, he had arrived. But inwardly? His health declined, his habits worsened, and his emotional world flatlined.

“I was doing something I loved and making good money. But something was deeply off within.”

That misalignment would become the pressure point that cracked him open.

The Sedona Moment That Changed Everything

When therapy didn’t resonate, Mackin followed a more intuitive pull: a life coach, energy work, retreats.

Then came Sedona — the trip that marked the beginning of his spiritual awakening.

A session with a shaman. An astrology reading. An energy clearing. Vortex hikes. The result?

Thirty days of sustained bliss. A nervous system he’d never felt before. A sense of lightness that made the financial hustle look one-dimensional.

He calls this his “Pandora’s box” moment — the experience that pushed him headfirst into consciousness, somatics, energy work, and eventually, Reiki mastery.

Holding Space for Transition: Why Quiet Leads to Clarity

Many of Mackin’s clients seek him during transition — after burnout, before a pivot, or in the numb space where success no longer feels like success.

His perspective is grounded and compassionate:

• You cannot make aligned decisions from survival mode.

• You need spaciousness before clarity arrives.

• Sabbaticals aren’t luxuries — they’re recalibration portals.

• Even your home holds the energy of your old identity.

• You don’t have to know the next step before leaving the wrong one.

Whether the sabbatical is three days or three years, Mackin believes the most transformative insights emerge in silence.

The Conscious Wealth Philosophy

When Mackin talks about wealth, he goes far beyond money.

In fact, he challenges the entire premise.

Wealth as Well-Being

The word wealth originally stems from a root associated with joy and well-being — concepts that rarely appear in financial statements yet determine the quality of our lives.

His definition includes:

• Emotional wisdom

• Spiritual grounding

• Physical vitality

• Mental clarity

• Relationships

• Energetic coherence

• Financial support

Money is part of the story — but far from the whole.

Money as Energy

One of Mackin’s core teachings is deceptively simple:

Money is energy. Energy is power. Power can be directed with intention.

Rather than viewing money as accumulation, he sees it as a conduit — a way to amplify what you value.

“And you don’t have to sacrifice returns to align with your values,” he notes. Alignment creates clarity, and clarity creates better decisions.

Sacred Ohms & the Business of Conscious Transformation

After years of attending retreats, Mackin realized something striking: most retreat leaders booked venues through Airbnb or Google, never truly considering the energetic quality of the spaces.

Yet set and setting profoundly shape transformation.

This insight birthed Sacred Ohms, Mackin’s experiential hospitality platform — a curated retreat-venue marketplace designed to support leaders, protect participants, and elevate consciousness.

It ties directly into his three global priorities:

1. Elevating human consciousness

2. Ocean conservation and climate stewardship

3. Clean drinking water for all

Philanthropy From the Heart, Not Obligation

Although Mackin had been involved in philanthropy for years — education, Rotary involvement, nonprofit boards — something felt missing.

So he paused everything.

And asked himself a simple but revolutionary question:

“What do I genuinely care about right now?”

The answer was immediate: the ocean.

Growing up on the water, snorkeling, fishing, spending countless hours in nature — the ocean was where he felt most alive, and most heartbroken when witnessing pollution and degradation.

His environmental giving now flows from passion, not duty — and he encourages others to do the same.

“You don’t need to be a millionaire to give. Even $1 shifts your energy.”

Living the Unconventional Life

When Jules asks what the unconventional life means to him, Mackin smiles — people have been calling him “the unconventional wealth advisor” for two decades.

He shares a simple truth:

He builds his business around his life, not his life around his business.

That has required:

• Letting go of relationships

• Choosing alignment over approval

• Prioritizing authenticity

• Living with the awareness that life is short

If he can look in the mirror and know he is being his truest self, it’s worth the cost.

The Giveaway: A Portal of Healing

As part of this episode, Mackin is offering listeners a powerful experience: a 44-minute Reiki session, facilitated through Holy Fire and Karuna Reiki modalities.

He uses Reiki daily, integrating it into his morning practice — a practice that includes spaciousness, breathwork, and writing.

For many listeners, this is the first time an energy-healing session has been offered through the show.

• Instagram:@iamchristophermackin
• LinkedIn:Christopher Mackin