Start A Lawn Care Business http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog Lawn Care Business Tips and Advice Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:00:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 StartALawnCareBusiness.com helps entrepreneurs who want to start their own lawn care business and existing businesses that want to expand their lawn care businesses. Lawn Care Business Tips and Advice StartALawnCareBusiness.com http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com/podcasts/mewithscag.jpgStart A Lawn Care Businesshttp://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog lawn care, business, landscaping, money, profit, small business, training no StartALawnCareBusiness.com lawncarebusiness@gmail.com The Paradox of Choice http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/2009/08/the-paradox-of-choice/ http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/2009/08/the-paradox-of-choice/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:52:41 +0000 Lawn Care Business http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/?p=382 Have you ever walked into a restaurant and been overwhelmed by the menu?

Too Many Menu Items

When it comes to food, I am mostly easy going.  I am not picky with food.  Therefore, I can easily find a lunch or dinner I will enjoy on any basic menu.  Some restaurants try to overwhelm their customers with food choices.  When I visit a restaurant that has a million choices on their menus, I get confused and want to leave for a more simple eating establishment.

Some customers of lawn care businesses suffer from a similar paradox of choice.

Paradox of Choice – Definition

Paradox of choice is defined as an overwhelming abundance of items  leading to a non-decision and loss of sale.

Mistakes of a New Lawn Care Business Owner

Time and again I have seen new lawn care business owners offer a staggering array of services.  They will cut grass, trim, edge, blow off driveways, rake leaves, pull weeds, trim hedges, prune trees, fill holes, mulch beds, clean gutters, aerate, seed, fertilize, plant shrubs, plant flowers, install water gardens, install landscape lighting, pressure wash, pressure seal, exterminate, landscape, etc., etc., etc.

All these jobs are great services for a lawn care company to offer.  However, when your company is new it should focus on a few primary services.  As it’s customer base grows and as its number of employees grow it can begin to offer additional service.

Core Services

I believe cutting, trimming, blowing, and raking are the basic services you should offer when you are new.  Don’t overwhelm your customers with choices early in your business start up.  Otherwise one of three things will happen.

1) Your customers will get confused by your offerings thinking you are trying to be everything to everyone.  They will either walk away to find someone who simply does grass cutting or they will hire you for services for which you are not qualified and do not have the equipment.  You will have to spend all your time learning how to do those job correctly and all your money attempting to acquire the necessary equipment.

2)  You will become a Jack of all trades and a master of none.  This is bad news for your business.  When it comes to business, I would rather be really good at one service than mediocre at many.

3)  You will lose focus on your cash cow (the core of your business) trying to do non productive jobs and your business will suffer.

How Much Is Enough

You don’t have to offer a million services to become a successful lawn care business.  Find a few services at which you are really good  (and customers will pay for) and build your business around those core offerings.

Start A Successful Lawn Care Business

Do you want to operate a successful lawn care business?  Check out our lawn care business program on our main webpage.   It’s on sale right now.

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

]]> http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/2009/08/the-paradox-of-choice/feed/ 2 <p>Have you ever walked into a restaurant and been overwhelmed by the menu?</p> <h3>Too Many Menu Items</h3> <p>When it comes to food, I am mostly easy going.  I am not picky with food.  Therefore, I can easily find a lunch or dinner I will enjoy on any basic menu.  Some restaurants try to overwhelm their customers with food choices.  When I visit a restaurant that has a million choices on their menus, I get confused and want to leave for a more simple eating establishment.</p> <p>Some customers of lawn care businesses suffer from a similar paradox of choice.</p> <h3>Paradox of Choice – Definition</h3> <p>Paradox of choice is defined as an overwhelming abundance of items  leading to a non-decision and loss of sale.</p> <h3>Mistakes of a New Lawn Care Business Owner</h3> <p>Time and again I have seen new lawn care business owners offer a staggering array of services.  They will cut grass, trim, edge, blow off driveways, rake leaves, pull weeds, trim hedges, prune trees, fill holes, mulch beds, clean gutters, aerate, seed, fertilize, plant shrubs, plant flowers, install water gardens, install landscape lighting, pressure wash, pressure seal, exterminate, landscape, etc., etc., etc.</p> <p>All these jobs are great services for a lawn care company to offer.  However, when your company is new it should focus on a few primary services.  As it’s customer base grows and as its number of employees grow it can begin to offer additional service.</p> <h3>Core Services</h3> <p>I believe cutting, trimming, blowing, and raking are the basic services you should offer when you are new.  Don’t overwhelm your customers with choices early in your business start up.  Otherwise one of three things will happen.</p> <p>1) Your customers will get confused by your offerings thinking you are trying to be everything to everyone.  They will either walk away to find someone who simply does grass cutting or they will hire you for services for which you are not qualified and do not have the equipment.  You will have to spend all your time learning how to do those job correctly and all your money attempting to acquire the necessary equipment.</p> <p>2)  You will become a Jack of all trades and a master of none.  This is bad news for your business.  When it comes to business, I would rather be really good at one service than mediocre at many.</p> <p>3)  You will lose focus on your cash cow (the core of your business) trying to do non productive jobs and your business will suffer.</p> <h3>How Much Is Enough</h3> <p>You don’t have to offer a million services to become a successful lawn care business.  Find a few services at which you are really good  (and customers will pay for) and build your business around those core offerings.</p> <h3>Start A Successful Lawn Care Business</h3> <p>Do you want to operate a successful lawn care business?  Check out our lawn care business program on our main webpage.   It’s on sale right now.</p> <h3>http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com</h3> Mistakes of a New Lawn Care Business Owner - The Paradox of Choice lawn care, business, customers, services, money, paradox of choice Start A Lawn Care Business, August 2009 http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/2009/07/start-a-lawn-care-business-august-2009/ http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/2009/07/start-a-lawn-care-business-august-2009/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:44:43 +0000 Lawn Care Business http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/?p=375 As August wears on shadows get a bit longer and leaves begin to change color and drop.

[podcast]http://www.startalawncarebusiness.com/podcasts/August.mp3[/podcast]  Anyone who hasn’t yet started their own lawn care business might think they have missed the boat this year and will just have to wait until 2010 to start their lawn care business.

If you have ever wanted to start a lawn care business, right now may be one of the best times of the year to take the plunge and get started.

1)  August is the time when kids head back to school.  Because of homework and extra curricular activities, kids may not want to mow grass anymore.  They drop customers leaving them looking for someone else to cut the grass.

2)  If the summer’s been hot and dry (like this summer) many lawn care operators quit the business since there wasn’t much grass to cut during the last few very hot and dry weeks.  Right now is your chance to take advantage of their shortsightedness.  Rains often return in mid to late August. There are lots of people looking for someone to cut their grass.

3)  Autumn is a HUGELY profitable time for many lawn care business owners.  Leaf cleanup time is only a few weeks away.  There are lawns to be raked and gutters to be cleaned.  Aerating, overseeding, and fertilizing need to be performed on your customer’s lawns too.

A LCO can often make more money the last several months of the year than during spring and summer.  There is HUGE potential right now.

If you have ever wanted to start your own lawn care business or if you have just not made enough money this year you need to step up your game right now.

The StartALawnCareBusiness.com business package tells you how to price autumn clean up jobs and seeding jobs.  There is so much more to owning a lawn care business than cutting grass during the summer.

Right now is your time to get started.

The StartALawnCareBusiness.com business package is on sale right now.  Visit our website:  StartALawnCareBusiness.com

]]> http://startalawncarebusiness.com/blog/2009/07/start-a-lawn-care-business-august-2009/feed/ 0 <p>As August wears on shadows get a bit longer and leaves begin to change color and drop.</p> <p>[podcast]http://www.startalawncarebusiness.com/podcasts/August.mp3[/podcast]  Anyone who hasn’t yet started their own lawn care business might think they have missed the boat this year and will just have to wait until 2010 to start their lawn care business.</p> <p>If you have ever wanted to start a lawn care business, right now may be one of the best times of the year to take the plunge and get started.</p> <p>1)  August is the time when kids head back to school.  Because of homework and extra curricular activities, kids may not want to mow grass anymore.  They drop customers leaving them looking for someone else to cut the grass.</p> <p>2)  If the summer’s been hot and dry (like this summer) many lawn care operators quit the business since there wasn’t much grass to cut during the last few very hot and dry weeks.  Right now is your chance to take advantage of their shortsightedness.  Rains often return in mid to late August. There are lots of people looking for someone to cut their grass.</p> <p>3)  Autumn is a HUGELY profitable time for many lawn care business owners.  Leaf cleanup time is only a few weeks away.  There are lawns to be raked and gutters to be cleaned.  Aerating, overseeding, and fertilizing need to be performed on your customer’s lawns too.</p> <p>A LCO can often make more money the last several months of the year than during spring and summer.  There is HUGE potential right now.</p> <p>If you have ever wanted to start your own lawn care business or if you have just not made enough money this year you need to step up your game right now.</p> <p>The StartALawnCareBusiness.com business package tells you how to price autumn clean up jobs and seeding jobs.  There is so much more to owning a lawn care business than cutting grass during the summer.</p> <p>Right now is your time to get started.</p> <p>The StartALawnCareBusiness.com business package is on sale right now.  Visit our website:  StartALawnCareBusiness.com</p> Many lawn care business owners are beginning to think about the months ahead when they can take some time off and slow down on their mowing jobs. start a lawn care business - August