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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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Quiting the lawn care business?

Sep 16

Posted by Lawn Care Business in leaf raking, start a lawn care business | No Comments

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

We received an email today from a guy who has decided to quit his lawn care business.

“It hasn’t rained in months. The grass has all dried up and I’m not making any money.”

I really feel for this guy. Anyone in the lawn care business (at least in the SouthEast) knows how difficult the last 5 – 6 weeks has been. Rain has been scarce and the only people having their grass cut are the customers who can afford to water their lawns either with a water hose or through an irrigation system.

Late August through early September is always a difficult time of year. Drought is a word weathermen like to use almost incessantly though this time of year is notoriously dry year after year.

Lawn care clients don’t want to pay for you to mow their dirt. Although there are methods of getting paid during the dry weeks of late August through early September (and our lawn care business program tells you how), you need to plan ahead. Though it’s a bit late for that this year, you can be ready for next year’s dry spell by simply taking a bit of advice from our guidebook.

Apart from the dry spell, the email this guy sent us startled me. I can’t figure out why anyone would quit his lawn care business at the END of the very worst time of year. If he was going to quit, he should have done so sometime between August 1 to August 15 immediately before the “drought” started.

So, why should this guy stick it out and continue with his lawn care business? One word…LEAVES!!!! Look outside. Look at your trees. The leaves are turning. If you are anywhere east of the Mississippi River and north of Florida the leaves on your trees are turning color and are about to dump themselves ALL OVER your lawn care clients’ yards.

Leaf fall is going to be HUGE this year. I can just feel it. And when your customers start calling in a panic because they need their yards cleaned, you will be thankful that you are in a position to profit mightily by raking their leaves and cleaning their properties.

So, if you are thinking about giving up the lawn care business since you haven’t made any money in the last few weeks, get that silly idea out of your head. Right now is the time you need to ramp up your business. Get to work making advertising flyers and handing out business cards. The money you make during the next couple months might very well rival the money you made all summer.

Also, if you haven’t started your lawn care business yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? This is a perfect time of year to start. Customers are scrambling all over themselves looking for dependable lawn care professional who will rake their leaves and clean up their yards before winter sets in.

If you don’t have a clue about charging your customers for your leaf raking services, take a look at our Lawn Care Business guidebook training package. It will help you tremendously in your efforts to operate your own successful lawn care business.

Check it out on our main page:
http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
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Is September Too Late To Start A Lawn Mowing Business?

Sep 1

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, lawn care estimating, leaf raking, winter | No Comments

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September is here and we are finally due for some relief from the blistering hot weather and the dry grass that August brought us. August is typically a difficult time of year for many lawn care companies. Lawn care customers who pay by-the-mow will often ask for their lawn service to be curtailed to every two weeks. Additionally, the weather is so miserably hot that it makes working outside a less-than-desirable experience. Many fly-by-night lawn care operators drop out during August thinking that the lawn care season is over for the year.

If you are a lawn care business owner or if you are thinking about starting your own lawn care business, I want to challenge you to step up to the plate right now and make a huge push forward in your lawn care business.

First off, grass in much of the country is about to surge. The cooler weather and, hopefully, rain that will come in September will cause grass to green up. In my part of the country we often mow grass all the way into December. Many customers have “one last cutting” right before Christmas. If you are in the north you probably won’t mow that long but if you are in the southern states you are going to be mowing deep into winter.

Secondly, right now is the time you better be selling core aeration, fertilizing, and overseeding. It’s a bit too early as I’m writing this to do the actual work but you should be lining up customers for those jobs right now. Customers who want beautiful lawns next spring should be made aware of the importance of work that needs to take place before winter.

Lastly, leaf raking season is in its very beginning days. There is no time like the present to ramp up your lawn care business to handle the influx of customers demanding your services over the next few months. I feel sorry for the guys who quit their lawn care businesses in August because they weren’t making money. September, October, and November is going to MORE than make up for any money lost in August.

So, if you are struggling with your lawn care business or if you thinking about starting a new lawn care business, it is a great time to get off your butt and get to work. The money and the customers are yours for the asking over the next three months.

Now, as lucrative as Autumn is, you still need to use some common sense and business smarts when doing these leaf jobs and pre-winter lawn care work. It is hyperimportant for you to know how to estimate and bid your lawn care jobs. Underbidding a leaf job will kill you.

So, if you are going to be making money raking leaves this season, I urge you to look at our Lawn Care Business startup guidebook and training package. We have developed this training package after 18 years in the industry. It will train you how to do the work, get customers, and most importantly correctly bid and price your lawn care services.

For more information about the business package visit our main website at: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Leaf Relief – Leaf Raking Season Is Upon Us

Nov 25

Posted by Lawn Care Business in leaf blowers, leaf raking, winter | No Comments

Lawn Care is a seasonal business.  Luckily for us, there’s money to be made all seasons of the year.

We are in peak leaf raking season.  Leaves are still falling off the trees and customers who vowed to wait for all the leaves to fall before doing their raking are calling urgently to get their yards cleaned up before winter sets in.

leafrelief

I have been associated with the lawn care industry since 1992 and it never ceases to amaze me how much money can be made the last two months of the year dealing with customer’s leaves.

I love when prospective customers try to rake their own leaves.  Sure, in a small yard the homeowner can deal with the leaves.  But, in yards with several sweet gum trees, the volume of leaves can be overwhelming and they call us in as a last attempt to get the leaves handled.

Since they already know what hard work leaf raking is, they don’t put up too much of a fight to pay a premium price to clear their yards once and for all.

Leaf raking season between Thanksgiving and the end of the year is a blessing also because it gives a great chance to boost your bottom line for the year and put some extra spending money in your pocket before Christmas.

We’ve put a video on YouTube giving a couple leaf raking tips if you are using a tarp to haul and dump your leaves, check our video below:

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Lawn Care Business and the U.S. Economy

Oct 29

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, lawn care business, leaf raking | No Comments

Lawn Care Business is expected to increase in 2010.

The staff at Start A Lawn Care Business keep very close eyes on the U.S. economy. There is no doubt 2008 and 2009 were tough years to be involved with a lawn care business. However, as the U.S. economy begins to rebound, lawn care business should enjoy great rewards.

According to a Bloomberg, October 2009 report, the U.S. economy expanded at a 3.5 percent rate from July to September 2009. More interesting for lawn care business owners is that residential construction increased 23 percent and household purchases climbed 3.4 percent.

We think 2010 is shaping up to become a boom year for lawn care businesses. Homeowners who have curtailed spending the past two years will have to dump lots of money into their lawns to get them looking good again. This signal expected growth in leaf raking this fall and winter.

Not only are the last months of the year expected to be great for lawn care business owners, in the spring of 2010 homeowners are forcast to have unprecedented need for seeding, aerating, and general spring cleanup services.

If you haven’t started your lawn care business yet or if you didn’t make the money you hoped for in 2009, right now is a perfect time to get started planning for a huge 2010.

To help you start (and expand) a professional lawn care business, we have developed a lawn care business package fill with tools to help you succeed in 2010. RIGH NOW is the time to get started.

The lawn care business package is on sale right now through our website:
www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Starting a Small Lawn Care Business

Oct 29

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, lawn care business, leaf raking | No Comments

Is it okay to start a small lawn care business with very little equipment?

It’s funny to think about the different ways people start their businesses. In helping hundreds of people start their own lawn care businesses, I have seen almost every method of business start-up imaginable.

I have seen people start with $100,000 in business loans emailing me for urgent help because they weren’t making enough money to pay back their monthly loan payment. They had beautiful equipment and a brand new truck and trailer but they had no idea how to run a successful lawn care business.

I remember one gentleman emailing me with only $20 in his pocket. I convinced him to buy a rake and start out doing nothing but raking leaves. He bought a rake and some work gloves. That same day, he walked around his neighborhood knocking on doors. He got rejections from the first 10 homeowners but the 11th gave him a $60 raking job. By the end of the day he had done 4 leaf jobs and had enough money to buy a small push lawn mower. He also purchased our Lawn Care Business package to help him learn how to properly estimate lawn mowing jobs.

I dare say $100,000 worth of equipment is no more a guarantee of success than a $20 rake is a guarantee of failure. In fact, I bet the guy with the $20 rake ran a more successful operation than the company with all the stresses of $100,000 in loans to repay.

Start small, estimate properly, and grow where you can.

Good luck:

Keith
[URL=”http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com”]Lawn Care Business[/URL]

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Leaf Build-Up Around Air Conditioner Units

Oct 16

Posted by Lawn Care Business in leaf raking | No Comments

As lawn care business owners, you should always search for methods of servicing your customers better than your competition.

Often, on lawn care and leaf raking jobs, my company pays special attention to one area of a customer’s lawn overlooked by other companies. 

Autumn is a time of year when leaves build up around flower beds and corners of your customers lawns.  Lawn care companies are hired to remove leaves from the lawn and from flowerbeds.  However, they often don’t take the extra step to remove leaf build-up from around their customers’ air conditioning and hearing units. 

Leaf build up can cause air flow restrictions which can eventually damage these units.

On your next leaf raking job, pay special attention to your lawn care customer’s air conditioning unit.  Remove leaves from the cooling fins and air outflow.  Though it will only take you a couple extra minutes for this job, your customers will appreaciate your extra work.   It’s the small things, like attention to detail, that keep your customers using your lawn care business year after year.

Blow leaves off air conditioners

If you are not making the money you know you should be making with your lawn care business, take a look at our comprehensive lawn care business training course now available through “Start A Lawn Care Business.”

Simplify your leaf-raking jobs.

Oct 15

Posted by Lawn Care Business in composting, leaf raking | No Comments

Autumn is here and lawn care business owners know this is a great time of year to make tons of extra money raking leaves.

Early in my lawn care business, I found that two of the most time and effort consuming parts of my leaf jobs were bagging them and transporting them to a dump site.  If you don’t bag leaves you must either have an enclosed collection trailer or cover them tightly with a tarp to avoid having them blow out of your truck during transport.

During my second year in business, I devloped an idea of building compost patches in many of my customer’s yards.  Most of my leaf raking customers readily accepted the idea as long at I could build the compost site in an out-of-the-way area of their property. 

On-site leaf composting greatly reduces your leaf raking efforts.  Your bagging and transportation costs are greatly reduced and, come springtime of the second year, will have high quality leaf mulch to use as ground cover and soil conditioner in many areas of their lawn.

If you are exhausted by the bagging and transport aspects of leaf raking lawn care jobs, consider offering your customers on-site leaf composting.

Do you want to make tons of money this leaf raking season?  Check out our Lawn Care Business program.  You will learn how to start and operate a successful lawn care business.  You will also learn how to price and estimate leaf raking jobs so you can make the best profit possible.

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Start A Lawn Care Business, August 2009

Jul 29

Posted by Lawn Care Business in customers, fertilizer, gutter cleaning, lawn business strategies, lawn care business, leaf raking | No Comments

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][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

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