Small Business Role Models: As Ken and McKenzie Lain Eye Expansion into New Markets

Ken Lain’s father-in-law, Harold Watters, opened a garden center in semi-arid, mountainous Prescott, Arizona, in 1962.

Six decades later, garden centers aren’t exactly giving e-commerce companies and Big Box home improvement centers much in the way of competition, and countless brick-and-mortar retailers have gone out of business. Yet Ken, his wife, Lisa, and their daughter, McKenzie, have continued to make their third-generation family business, Waters Garden Center, bloom.

Now, the Lains stand at the cusp of an ambitious expansion into new markets. This week father and daughter share the nutrient-rich business strategies that every small enterprise can use to grow its own remarkable success story. 

[Ken and McKenzie Lain will be featured in All You Can Eat Business Wisdom: Second Helpings, coming in 2026. The anthology is the sequel of co-host Maxwell Rotbart’s award winning first edition, All You Can Eat Business Wisdom: A Monday Morning Radio Anthology of Actionable Advice.] 

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Ken and McKenzie Lain, Watters Garden Center
Posted: December 8, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 58:42
Episode: 14.27

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