Start A Lawn Care Business

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Lawn Care Question of the Day – What Is It?

Nov 18

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, lawn care business | 1 Comment

Lawn Care QuestionsIf you live in the Southeast part of the country, you have probably seen this “fruit” from a tree.  They fall this time of year and will make a mess in your customers’ lawns if you mistakenly hit them with a lawn mower.  They are about 5″ to 6″ inches in diameter and weigh about 1/2 a pound.

Today’s contest winners will earn the pure satisfaction of knowing what this is when most people don’t.

If you have a guess, leave a comment below.  Also, if you have a guess and you are a lawn care business owner with a website, feel free to add a link to your lawn care business website.

Good luck and check back for more Lawn Care Questions of the Day.

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DON'T HIRE THIS LAWN CARE SERVICE!!!

Nov 16

Posted by Lawn Care Business in advertising, competition, lawn care business, lawn care estimating | 2 Comments

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

don't hire this lawn care serviceHave you ever been at a party; laughing, talking with people you don’t know, and trying to impress cute girls only to find that people don’t want to talk to you or if they do talk to you they just stare then walk away laughing?  After that party, did you leave wondering if something was wrong with you (or “what was wrong with all those idiots”)?  Then, as you’re driving away, you look in your rearview mirror to see that there is a big piece of stupid broccoli or lettuce between your teeth?

“WHY DIDN’T SOMEONE TELL ME I HAD BROCCOLI BETWEEN MY TEETH???”

The other guys at the party are your competition and they’re certainly not going to tell you about your problem.  And the girls?  Well, they’re just going to laugh at you and leave with some other guy who doesn’t have broccoli in his teeth.

Running a lawn care business is similar to being at a party.  If you have a problem with your advertising or your lawn care pricing, your competition certainly won’t give you any hints and your customers will just pass you over and hire a different lawn care company.  One of the reasons we developed the “Start a Lawn Care Business” guidebooks and training course is to help you develop your lawn care business to such a professional level that your customers will not pass you by. 

Why are lawn mowing customers passing you by when they choose a lawn care provider?  Are you charging too much money and forcing your customers to hire your competition?  Are you charging too little money and suffering from a perceived lack of quality?  Are your marketing efforts catering to people who never hire lawn care people?  Does your mowing equipment look (and cut grass) like pieces of junk?  Does your own personal attitude need refining to effectively deal with and retain your lawn care customers?  Do your lawns look like they were cut by a non-professional after you are finished with your work?

The “Start a Lawn Care Business” course will tell you what you need to know to operate a professional lawn care company that customers will flock to.  We have been in this business for almost 20 years and we’ve been on the consulting side of the business for almost 10 years.  The advice in our lawn care package pulls no punches.   We’re here to give you honest, hardcore, real-world advice about how to run a SUCCESSFUL lawn care business. 

If you didn’t make the money you know you should have made in 2010 then there is something about your business that is screaming:  “DON’T HIRE THIS LAWN CARE SERVICE!!!”

Where is the red flag?  What is telling potential customers to pass you by?  Is it your advertising, your pricing, your equipment, your service, your attitude?  Whatever it is, I am sure you want to know so you can fix the problem.

Pssst!!!  Hey buddy, you have broccoli in your teeth.

More than likely your lawn care company just has a piece of broccoli in its teeth.  Our business program will not only tell you about the broccoli but we’ll show you the best way to pick it out.  Okay, that’s disgusting.  But seriously, out of the hundreds of Lawn Care Business owners we have consulted the last several years, most of them simply have one or two small problems that need to be fixed. 

If you feel there is something holding you back from making great money with your lawn care business, our program will likely be able to put you on a great path to success in 2011.

To learn more about the Start a Lawn Care Business training course and Estimating Software, visit our main website at:

www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
How To Start a Lawn Care Business

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Veteran's Day – 2010

Nov 11

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn care business | No Comments

I am in a unique position that I get to speak with lots of people who are just getting started with their lawn care businesses.   Since today is Veteran’s Day, I am thinking about many of the people who have purchased the “Start A Lawn Care Business” training guide this past year because they are either retired military or they are thinking about what to do with their time (and how to make extra money) once they exit military service in the near future.

It is always interesting to see a FPO as an address when we ship a lawn care guidebook to a member of the military.  We always wonder about your service to our country.  Our best wishes go out to you that your service has been a beneficial one to your life and that your return to the civilian life will be a safe and healthy one.

Thank you for your service:

Keith
www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Make a billion dollars cutting grass.

Nov 2

Posted by Lawn Care Business in economy, lawn care business, lawn mowers | 1 Comment

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

Though it is quite unlikely any of us will actually ever make a billion dollars cutting grass, I found an interesting statistic earlier this evening while researching the economic impact of the lawn care industry in the United States.

According to a University of Florida Extension Office report, the total economic impact of the Turf Grass industry in the United States is $62.2 billion (2005 dollars).  Of that $62.2 billion, nearly $19.8 billion is comprised of the lawn care services.  Within this $19.2 billion is the addition of over 295,000 jobs associated with lawn care services.

This impact isn’t just dollars and cents though.  It is calculated, on average, a commercial lawn mower in use by a lawn mowing business burns 2,000 gallons of gasoline each year.  That is more gasoline than a typical car.  Lawn mowers in the United States consume more than 1.2 billion gallons of gasoline and commercial mowing accounts for 35% of this total.

I find these statistics on the size of the lawn care industry in the United States interesting.  However, one thing is for sure; if any of us are going to make a billion dollars, we’re going to need a bigger mower.

Want to make a billion dollars cutting grass?  Well, I can never guarantee that kind of success.  However, if you want to increase your business in 2011, I encourage you to purchase our Lawn Care Business guide and software package.

Learn more about it on our main webpage:  http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Sources:
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/pdfs/48369.pdf
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fe632

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Lawn Mower Problems? Change your air filter.

Sep 28

Posted by Lawn Care Business in equipment, lawn care business, lawn care training, maintenance | No Comments

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

My shoulder hurts. My fingers are blistered. The starter rope just ripped off in my hand.

If you own a pull-start lawn mower, you might have similar complaints when you pull and pull only to have your lawn mower sputter and die after each crank. You depress the primer bulb, spray a couple squirts of starter fluid and crank again. The spark plug is new, the gasoline is fresh, and the oil has recently been changed. All the controls are set correctly yet, still, your lawn mower won’t start.

Well, if you are like lots of lawn care business owners, you have probably been running your lawn mower hard all summer. We all neglect maintenance occasionally and you are paying the price for not taking proper care of your lawn mower. Proper lawn mower air filtermaintenance should be a daily chore to every lawn care business owner.  However, if your last two months have been anything like mine, you have been mowing as much dirt and dust as you have been mowing grass since the weather has been so dry.  Air filters have been the last things on your mind. Now that we are into September and early October, leaves are falling and you are trying to mulch the leaves with your lawn mower blades to avoid having to work the rake on all your customers’ lawns.

Dried out grass, dirt, and leaf dust all put tremendous particulate matter into the air. As your lawn mower operates, it sucks that same dust laden air through the airfilter and into the carburetor. After weeks of mowing in dusty conditions, your air filter is probably clogged with the dust and dirt of a thousand lawns.

Whether or not you believe a clogged air filter is your lawn mower’s problem, take a few minutes to check and perform proper maintenance on your air filter.  If your lawn mower has a multi-stage air filter, be sure to clean or replace both stages.  The benefits of fuel economy and better performance can be amazing.

For many other lawn care equipment tips that will help you have a smoother running lawn care operation, check out our lawn care business training course.  You can read the full description on our main website.  The business package is on sale right now.

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
Start A Lawn Care Business

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Goodbye Summer. Hello Autumn.

Sep 23

Posted by Lawn Care Business in autumn, lawn care business, leaf raking, winter | 1 Comment

I am sure many of you noticed that Wednesday, September 22, 2010 was the Autumnal Equinox. This year’s full Harvest Moon rang in the new season.

Temperature wise there was not much of a change as we are still reaching the low to mid 90’s each day. However, there is a chill in the air once the sun sets. The sky is golden and the leaves are definitely changing. Though summer is over, I hope you are weighing your options carefully for the upcoming season. Here in the southeast we have had scant showers the last 6 weeks. I am sure the lack of precipitation will change as weather patterns will alter in the near future. Autumn rains will bring bursts of growth as parched lawns rejuvenate for one last chlorophyll-laden green up before winter arrives.

Lawn care business owners who are prepared will be able to take advantage of their customers’ need for “one last mow.” In reality, one last mow can easily turn into 4 or 5 mowing cycles with plenty of leaf raking and winterizing jobs.

Though the sun is climbing lower on the horizon, there’s still money to be made, guys. Now is not a time to get lazy. If you hustle, you can put some much needed money in the bank in the months before winter.

Do you want to know how to keep your lawn care business running all winter long?  Our lawn care business training course shows you how to make money even during the cold months.

Check the program out on our website:  www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Make more money in 2011 than you did in 2010 with your lawn care business.

Sep 23

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, customers, lawn care business, lawn care estimating | No Comments

by: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

After our blog post last week warning of the tax day deadline on September 15, 2010, we received a couple comments from people who want to make more money for themselves in 2011. Like millions of other Americans, they had just finished their income tax estimating forms and were surprised how little money they made thus far in 2010. Each of them asked: “how can I make more money with my lawn care business in 2011?”

If you are like thousands of other lawn care business owners, you are probably wondering how you can become more profitable in your lawn care business next year over.

What is the secret of making more money for your lawn mowing business without significant expansion of your services and lawn equipment?

There does not have to be a complicated answer to this question. From our point-of-view, there are at least three ways to make more money with your lawn care business. We are going to briefly outline these three methods in the article below. But if you are truly interested in making more money with your lawn care business, we encourage you to get a copy of our lawn care business guidebooks, training guides, and estimating software available from our main website.

Here is a three point overview of how to make more money next year with a lawn care business without significantly adding equipment or spending significantly more time mowing grass:

1) Get More Lawn Care Customers: Getting more lawn care customers is the first and most obvious solution to making more money with your business. It’s true though; if you are currently cutting grass for 10 customers and you increase your customer count to 20 you should, effectively, make twice the amount of income as before. Actually, if you follow proper route scheduling and other business secrets outlined on our lawn care business startup guidebook, the amount of money you make with a doubling of customers should be more than double. Proper use of economies of scale, better lawn care equipment selection, efficient mowing patterns which will reduce your work time on each yard, and better route planning will combine to help you add more lawns into your already-packed schedule.

2) Make More Money from Each Lawn Care Customer: If you charge your customers only for basic mow-and-go services, you are likely missing an incredible amount of additional income you could make at each service time from each customer. Add-on selling is a great method of boosting your revenue from each customer. Customers who are paying for basic mowing services might not be aware of additional services your company offers. There is always more work to do in your clients’ lawns. Your job, as a business owner, is to advertise all your services to your customers. Keep your eyes open for all additional services you can offer your customers. If you have ladders and the capability to clean gutters mention the positive aspects of keeping gutters free from leaves and debris. Many shrubs need trimming 3 to 4 times each year. Flower beds should be mulched in the spring and fall. Leaf cleanup service is an important addition to most lawn care services during the months of September through November and again in the springtime. Addition of these services is easy and allows you to make extra money from each customer without the need to find new customers.

3) Get Better Lawn Care Customers: Too many times, a young entrepreneur buys a lawn mower and starts accepting anyone who wants their grass cut and is willing to pay any amount to have the work done. Before long, new lawn care business owners have rosters full of demanding customers unwilling to pay the going market price for grass cutting on their small lawns. These customers want to pay only minimal amounts of money to have their grass cut as short as possible every two weeks. While having a small percentage of “mow and go” customers is fine for most lawn service companies, better money can be made off clients who are serious about having their lawns professionally maintained. Weekly mowing, proper blade height adjustments, striping, and knowledge of lawn care problems all help landscaping companies successfully win contracts with better lawn care customers willing to pay a premium price to have professional maintenance of the lawns and landscapes.

Following these three ideas may sound simple but it’s far too easy to fall into the trap of accepting every customers that comes along and bidding the job low enough the make sure the customer doesn’t shake his head and find someone cheaper.

All of us here at StartALawnCareBusiness.com understand the difficulty of starting a lawn care business correctly, targeting the right customers, and pricing the jobs properly so you can afford to do excellent work for your customers and still make a decent profit for your business and yourself.

If you want to learn how to run a better lawn care business in 2011 we encourage you to purchase our lawn care business course. The program is designed to help you avoid the traps that many new lawn care business owners fall into. Instead, you will learn proven strategies for starting and running a successful lawn care business.

We’re keeping the low sale price on the program through the end of this month. Learn more on our main webpage:

www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
Start A Lawn Care Business.com

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Lawn Care Chemicals Banned in New Jersey

Sep 10

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn care business, lawn chemicals | 1 Comment

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
Start A Lawn Care Business

If you are a New Jersey lawn care service provider, you have probably read the headlines.

Lawn care products face ban in NJ

This “ban” doesn’t seem as restrictive as the headlines would lead you to believe. Even the lawn care providers most affected by these new regulations agree with many of the new constraints on lawn care chemical applications. All-in-all, we believe tighter regulation of lawn care chemical application will strengthen the lawn care industry as a whole.

We, at StartALawnCareBusiness, have always believed an educated lawn care business owner provides better services for his customers and rises above his competition. This is one of the reasons we developed the Lawn Care Business Training Package – to help educate new lawn care business owners.

Tell us what you think of the new regulations in New Jersey. If you are in that state, will those regulations affect you? If you are in a different state, do you think complying with similar regulations would put an undue hardship on your lawn care and landscaping business?

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Lawn Care Advertising – Funny Cow or Sad Clown?

Aug 26

Posted by Lawn Care Business in advertising, customers, Lawn Care Advertising, lawn care business | No Comments

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
Lawn Care Advertising – Funny Cow or Sad Clown

I often get inspiration for my lawn care business by observing the ways other businesses market their goods and services.

In fact, I am writing this blog post from one of my favorite restaurants – Chik-fil-A. Chik-fil-A does an outstanding job of marketing. Sure, their advertising is great. We’ve all seen the huge billboards with the two cows painting a funny sign that says: “EAT MOR CHIKIN!” However, marketing is more than advertisements on billboards. Marketing includes the way Chik-fil-A actually runs their business on a day-to-day basis. Their restaurants are always clean, their staff is always friendly, the food is always good, and the waffle fries are almost always hot.

As I walked into Chik-fil-A about 10 minutes ago (laptop bag slung over my shoulder) I was greeted by the cashier. There was eye-to-eye contact and she seemed genuinely pleased to take my order. I was treated like a human being and not just some annoying customer. Whether she knows it or not, the cashier is one of the most important pieces in Chik-fil-A’s marketing strategy. Her attitude ultimately determines how likely I am to return to the resturaunt and eat mor chikin.

Today, Chik-fil-A’s marketing efforts are in stark contrast to another business I passed on my way across the parking lot a few minutes ago. A hair cutting place is running a promotion in the parking lot. Someone dressed as a clown is wandering up and down the sidewalk and several of the hair cutters are waiving a “NO WAITING” sign signaling to passers-by that they can come in for an immediate haircut. Now, this is a great strategy since LOTS of families are out this weekend buying new clothes and supplies for their school children. It’s a great time to get a back-to-school haircut.

The sad thing about the hair cutting place’s marketing strategy is that the haircutters could not look more disgusted with the fact that they have to be outside trying to drum up business. As I walked by, not a single hair cutter made eye contact or even smiled in my direction. Their body language and facial expressions were so pathetic that I was certainly not inspired to go inside to get my hair cut (even though I need it). Who wants to get a hair cut from some cranky hair cutter with a bad attitude and a pair of sharp scissors? I am sure they have all had a long day standing in the blazing sun but, for gosh sakes, even the clown didn’t look happy.

There’s nothing more depressing than a sad clown.

If you are looking for marketing ideas for your lawn care business, take a lesson from Chik-fil-A. You are your own best marketing asset. Your attitude and the way you make your customers feel will determine if they continue to do business with you. If you are surly, cantankerous, and have a bad attitude about your work, your customers will look elsewhere for their lawn care service. However, if you present a knowledgeable and pleasant attitude, your customers will readily hire you for all their lawn care and landscaping work and tell all their friends about your lawn care business.

Given the choice, most customers will choose a funny cow over a sad clown every time.

Well, my chicken sandwich is finished, the last two waffle fries are cold, and I’ve just refilled my Mello Yello. In closing, I just want to say that I am with: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com We are sincere about wanting your business and wanting you to purchase our Start A Lawn Care Business program. We feel we have put together the best lawn care business course available for guys, like you, who are trying to start your lawn care business and make it a success. We have been in the industry for nearly 20 years and it is our goal to give you a GREAT product at a GREAT price.

So, if you are trying to make your lawn care business a success, take a look at our main website and consider purchasing our lawn care business package. It includes lawn care business strategy guides, business manuals, equipment reviews, video tutorials, and the complete line of estimating software. http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Cleaning Foreclosure Properties – Lawn Care Companies Benefit

Aug 16

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, contracts, economy, lawn care business, lawn care estimating, zoning laws | 1 Comment

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Does StartALawnCareBusiness.com offer MILLION DOLLAR ADVICE???

I came across a headline today from Kansas City. Apparently, the city of Kansas City is owed $1.26 million in unpaid Lawn Care bills. With the current state of the economy and the real estate bust, Kansas City is being forced to maintain foreclosed properties and vacant lots. The total bill Kansas City has racked up is over $1.26 million. That’s a lot of money.

Now, not to toot our own horns…but “TOOT TOOT.” The lawn care business training program offered through our website has specific instructions on how to get involved with your city public works department cleaning up and mowing grass on abandoned and foreclosed properties. We have been instructing lawn care business owners on this lucrative segment of the lawn care industry for nearly 10 years.

We show you how to get on the city bidding list, inside secrets on how to increase your chances of winning lawn care bids, and how to estimate the work to be done. Without this information, your lawn care company is twisting in the wind. Without knowing how to properly bid on these city contracts, your lawn care company might be losing out on millions of dollars of lawn care related work.

Now, K.C. might be a peculiar case but most cities across the country are struggling with abandoned properties that need their grass maintained. If you are interested in making money mowing grass on abandoned and foreclosed properties, I urge you to purchase the Start A Lawn Care Business training material and estimating software. You will be leaps ahead of your competition.

For more information, visit our main website at:
Start A Lawn Care Business
http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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