Archive for category start a lawn care business

Do I need a license to spray lawn chemicals.

Mar 8

Posted by Lawn Care Business in environment, lawn chemicals, start a lawn care business | 2 Comments

We are commonly asked by lawn care business owners if they need a license to spray chemicals on their customers’ lawns. Unfortunately, this is a complicated question for us to answer specifically since chemical application is governed, at least in part, at the state level. Every state has different laws.

For new and small lawn care business owners, the question of proper licensing often arises as to the use of over-the-counter products such as Monsanto’s Round-Up herbicide. If you are a new or small lawn care business owner, do not be lulled into complacency by the fact that you are using a general purpose store-bought chemical. The regulatory agencies in most states make little distinction between general use chemicals and restricted use chemicals when they are applied by a commercial operation.

If you are reading this blog, you obviously want to grow your lawn care business and make the best money possible from your customers. It is difficult to turn down a customers who want you to spray round up on the weeds in the cracks of their driveways. However, before you touch that spray bottle (or even begin to consider applying any chemical) you owe it to yourself to check your local laws and follow guidelines within the licensing regulations of your state and community.

Seriously, guys; if you think that enforcement agents are too busy to worry about one person lawn care operators or small lawn care companies then you need to think again. There were a bunch of cases in our area last year where lawn care operators were given $5,000 fines for violating applicator’s licensing requirements. A $5,000 fine is enough to put many small lawn care companies out of business. I would hate that to happen to you.

For more information and help starting (and expanding) your lawn care business, check out our main website at: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: chemicals, lawn care, license, money, round-up, spray

Asynchronous Risk vs. Reward Ratio

Feb 21

Posted by Lawn Care Business in equipment, how much to charge, lawn business strategies, start a lawn care business | No Comments

I had a great conversation with a business associate today concerning the concept of risk management. In particular, we were discussing risks that far outweigh their rewards.

Risk management is a common subject in business and since this is a lawn care business blog, you may think we were discussing concepts such as giving 100% guarantees to customers who purchase landscape plantings. Or, we may have been analyzing the spreading of landscape mulch and charging for maintenance without first properly treating the ground or placing weedblock as an underlayment. Or we may have been discussing the purchase of a commercial 34 horsepower, propane fueled, 72″, zero-turn, front deck, lawn mower before even acquiring a single lawn care customer.

While these are all great ideas to discuss, we were not talking business. Instead, we were talking about free climbing a rock face without the use of proper safety equipment.

Whether you are bouldering a rocky outcropping or starting your own lawn care business, it makes perfect sense to think strongly about risk management procedures.

If you want to learn how to rock climb, seek professional rock climbing instruction (and use a rope!!!)

However, if you want to learn proper risk management procedures for your lawn care business, purchase our lawn care business guidebook and estimating software package through our website: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: lawn care business, risk management, risk vs. reward, rock climbing

60 degrees in February.

Feb 20

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, customers, lawn care business, start a lawn care business | 3 Comments

2010 has been one of the coldest winters in recent memory in the Southeast. We have experienced about 4 snowfalls and temperatures deep into the teens. Our friends in the northern states probably don’t think that’s too bad a winter but, for us, it’s harsher than normal.

Though it’s far from over, winter’s grip is loosening this weekend. With the temperature above 50 for three days straight and brilliant sunshine beating down today, I’ve observed wild garlic (commonly mistaken for wild onion) sprouts springing up in lawns all over our area. Lowes and Home Depot are selling out of mulch bags and homeowners, working out in their lawns, are experiencing spring fever in unprecedented numbers.

If you are a new lawn care business owner you must feel compelled to pound the pavement and drive the roads in your area this season. Right now is one of the very best times of the year to get new lawn care customer contracts for the upcoming mowing season.

I have a goal for you this week. Do remember my 100 Door Knocks challenge I posed for your lawn care business as an advertising campaign last year? How would you feel about revisiting that challenge this week by attempting to make contact with no less than 49 new customers.

If you start tomorrow by making contact with a minimum of 7 new potential customers each day, you will deepen your reach by 49 new contacts by this time next week.

7 per day? You should be able to speak with seven new people in just a couple hours each day. A couple hours per day in February will reap HUGE rewards once the mowing season actually gets started.

Take advantage of winter’s break by getting out while the sun is shining. Though colder weather is forecast again soon, it will make you feel warm that you have already increased this year’s customer list.

Once you get those customers, what do you do with them??? If you’re having trouble making the most of your existing customers and you want to know how to raise prices and make more money in 2010 than you made in 2009, pick up our Lawn Care Business package. It is jam-packed with information to turn your lawn care business into a success.

To learn more, check out our website: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: 60 degrees, customers, february, lawn care business, money

Lawn Care In California

Feb 17

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

I was very blessed in January to escape the deep freeze that gripped the American Southeast by traveling to Los Angeles, California to meet with a manufacturer of Propane Powered lawn care equipment.

During my journey, I took opportunity to learn more about the culture of the Lawn Care industry in California. Turbulent weather in Los Angeles treated me to an area of lawn care maintenance we don’t experience much in Tennessee.

The storms were unprecedented and unanticipated as I arrived at LAX in Los Angeles. Torrential downpours did not affect the arrival of my flight other than to make it more bumpy than a traditional west coast landing. The bus ride into Santa Monica, on the other hand, was detoured countless times as the driver navigated around flooded streets and skirted intersections where traffic lights malfunctioned due to heavy winds and falling palm fronds. During the storm, I was able to observe flooded irrigation canals channeling water into the pacific ocean.

When we have a storm back east, leaves blow and branches tumble. Our storms create great opportunity for lawn care companies. After-storm cleanup is a great service to offer your customers for additional money.

In California, these palm fronds were everywhere. As I watched cleanup crews pick each 8′ to 10′ section of palm frond by hand, I could only think about the amounts of money a dedicated lawn care company could make with on-the-spot after-storm clean up contracts.

It doesn’t matter if you are in California, Tennessee, or any of the other 50 states. There is a ton of money to be made in the lawn care industry this year. It’s been a tough winter but spring is on its way. The high winds that spring often induces will, sure enough, bring lots of opportunity for after-storm cleanup jobs.

If you want to learn how to get customers and correctly price your after-storm cleanup contracts, take a look at our main website. You will learn how to acquire great customers and price your services effectively so you can make the best money possible in 2010.

We have a sale price on our lawn care business package right now. Order soon because this price won’t last long.

Our website address is: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: business, california, lawn care, money, palm fronds, storm cleanup

Tenacity of a Small Business Owner. AKA: Too Stupid To Quit

Jan 31

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

As Winston Churchill said:

“Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

How many people do you know that are immediately successful in what they do?

I bet you can name a few people who seem to be successful at everything they do. However, if you were to truly speak with those people you would find a different story come to light. You will hear tales of failure after failure until one day, out of nowhere, their businesses began to see the light of day. And slowly, ever slowly, they began to make progress.

A never-ending, relentless striving is what you will find behind almost any seemingly “over-night” success story.

In addition to the smart and shrewd businessmen you know, I bet you also know a few dim-witted, bull-headed people who have made a success in spite of themselves. Do you? Yeah, I do too. Years ago, when I first started my lawn care business, I knew a man who was very successful in business. He ran a contracting business (not lawn care) but he was definitely not the brightest light bulb in the box. He was a nice guy but education and intellect just wasn’t his thing. But, MAN!, was he successful and happy. He would even joke about this sometimes and I asked him once about his success. He told me that he was just too stupid to quit and too dumb to take “no” for an answer.

Now, in reality, this man wasn’t dumb at all. But, his words (and Churchill’s) illustrate a great point in business. Tenacity wins (almost) every time. We all face obstacles. Everyday there are speed humps on the journey to our business goals. If we let speed humps arrest our progress, we fail. Pure and simple…Tenacity Wins.

We help people Start and Expand their own Lawn Care Businesses. This is what we do and we know the obstacles faced everyday by Lawn Care Business Owners.

If you’re tired of being impeded in your goals of operating a successful lawn care business, take a look at our Lawn Care Business package. There’s no need to face the speed humps alone. We can help.

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

Never give in–never, never, never, never…

Tags: business, determination, lawn care, success, tenacity, winston churchill

RFPs for your LCB

Jan 31

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, contracts, lawn care business, money, start a lawn care business | No Comments

Hidden in reams of papers, buried deep within a website’s menu hierarchy, or ambiguated by legal jargon in rarely seen publications, RFPs can bring great profits to your lawn care business.

RFP are “Requests For Proposals” that are sometimes less-than-adequately advertised by businesses, public entities (such as libraries or schools), and government agencies.

Requests For Proposals are voluminous toward the beginning of the year and often cover work to be completed during the upcoming year’s mowing season. Many of these RFP are not heavily advertised. Sometimes, an agency is happy with their current lawn care maintenance company and they refuse to advertise more than is required by their charter for bids to upcoming contracts. Other times, a purchasing manager may not have a large enough budget to properly advertise for bids. For whatever reason they are not correctly advertised, you cannot bid on a contract unless you know it exists.

As a lawn care business owner, your duty is to be a sleuth in searching for RFPs. If you are attempting to grow your business by pursuing contracts, uncovering RFPs should be as large a part of your business as all your other advertising efforts combined.

Knowledge on where to look for RFPs and how to chip away at layers of corporate and government bureaucracy will greatly enhance your ability to successfully bid large-scale mowing, lawn care, and landscaping contracts.

Are you ready to start bidding big lawn care contracts this year?

Our lawn care business guidebook, video training, and estimating software will help you search out these hard-to-find contracts and bid them successfully.

We have years of experience bidding these types of contracts and there is a section in our program devoted to bidding larger scale contracts.

If you are interested in growing your lawn care business and making more money than you ever expected, look at our website for more information. We have a special sale price on the program right now.

Visit our website:

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: 2010, contract, lawn care, LCB, money, proposal, RFP

The Meaning of Being A Consultant.

Jan 7

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

No business runs so smoothly that a consultant can’t screw it up.

We received a funny email the other day from a guy who wants to buy our lawn care business strategy guidebooks and software package. However, he’s a bit skeptical of our “expertise.”

He said:

“What makes you people think you know so much about the lawn care business and why should I pay you $50 for your help?”

HAHA! Well, in spite of it’s negative tone, the email really did make us laugh a little. I suppose I really do understand this guy’s skepticism. I’ve always been skeptical of so-called “EXPERTS” too. I remember working my way through college in the accounting department of a local bank. It seemed that every time our department was running smoothly and doing everything we were supposed to be doing, some new expert would come in, tell us we were doing everything wrong, and implement changes to the point where no one knew what was going on. Then, the expert would move on after upsetting the whole department…happened over and over.

Let’s get back to the guy’s email. First off, we do not claim to be “EXPERTS.” However, we started our lawn care business in 1992 and have been associated with the industry ever since. We have seen lots and lots of new lawn care operators fail at the business and we are tired of seeing so many people make mistakes that are easily avoided.

Our 17+ years’ experience gives us a certain seasoned knowledge about the lawn care business that you can only gain by actually doing this business for a number of years. Knowing how much money to charge, knowing how to negotiate with customers, and knowing how to bid on lawn mowing contracts are only three of the many, many concepts we pass along to you in the strategy guidebooks.

The business manuals, the estimating calculators, the training tutorials, and the business tool-kit are all jam-packed with information to help you operate a successful lawn care business. If only one of these training tools makes your business more profitable, then don’t you think $50 is well worth the cost?

Once again, we’re not experts. We’re simply lawn care business owners who have spent years learning what works in running a lawn care business. We are always open to new ideas and we hope you can gain a better understanding of how to run your lawn care business with our business practices and make more money than you were making before.

If you have questions, you can always reach us through our contact form at the top of this page. We are always happy to help.

Good luck.

If you would like to purchase our lawn care business strategy guidebooks and software package, you can find it through our main webpage: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com we’re running a special price on it right now so please order quickly.

Tags: consultant, expert, money, start a lawn care business, strategies

I Never Even Heard of It.

Jan 5

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

I was reminded today how difficult it is to keep your business name in front of potential customers who may want to hire you for your lawn care services.

A friend and I decided we wanted to get some Jiffy-Pop after dinner. Jiffy-Pop has been around as long and I remember. When I was a kid I used to love listening to the popcorn kernals shaking around inside the foil pan and watching the aluminum top carefully unfold as the crazy explosion of popcorn inside caused the container to expand.

Walgreens did not have any Jiffy-Pop so my friend asked if she had missed it on the shelf. The clerk’s response was “I Never Even Heard of It.” It took me a couple seconds to realize the clerk was being sincere and had actually never heard of Jiffy-Pop.

Jiffy-Pop has likely spent 10’s of millions of dollars on advertising over the years. To me, it’s one of those products that has always been around and always will be around. It’s a staple to American society.

However, as ubiquitous as it is to our culture, there are still people who don’t know what Jiffy-Pop is. This makes me think about the difficulty of keeping our lawn care brand names in front of our prospective customers. If a multi-million dollar company has difficulty reaching a retail store’s stocking clerk, what hope do our puny lawn care companies have in making sure all the residents in our lawn care service area know our names.

If you are attempting to market your lawn care company and are finding it difficult to keep your name in front of your prospective customers, our lawn care business strategy guidebook and software package will help you with professional business marketing and advertising strategies.

You can read more about the business package by visiting our main website located at: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: advertising, branding, business, lawn care, marketing

How much money can I make with a lawn care business?

Jan 2

Posted by Lawn Care Business in estimate, lawn care business, money, start a lawn care business | No Comments

We are often asked by new lawn care business owners to give them an idea how much money they can make by mowing lawns. There are many variables to this answer and our standard disclaimer mentions such things as size of equipment, work ethic, physical abilities, know-how and many other factors.

Though everybody’s ability to make money with a lawn care business is different, we have put together an entertaining “earnings potential” calculator to help guesstimate how much money a lawn care business owner might be able to earn doing residential mowing jobs in a perfect world.

This lawn care estimating calculator is just for fun but it calculates that if a lawn care operator can do eight $40 lawns each day and can do this 5 days per week, the earnings could amount to $1600 per week. That’s alot of cake just for mowing lawns.

Of course, expenses such as supplies, taxes, overhead, etc. and downtime must be accounted for.

Have some fun and check out the “lawn care earnings potential” calculator.

Lawn Care Earnings Potential Calculator

POTENTIAL EARNINGS DISCLAIMER

This calculator is for entertainment purposes only. There is no promise or representation that you will make a certain amount of money, or any money, or not lose money, as a result of starting a lawn care business and/or using our products and services.

Any earnings, revenue, or income statements are strictly estimates. There is no guarantee that you will make these levels for yourself. As with any business, your results will vary and will be based on your personal abilities, experience, knowledge, capabilities, level of desire, and an infinite number of variables beyond our control, including variables we or you have not anticipated. There are no guarantees concerning the level of success you may experience. Each person’s results will vary.

Tags: business, calculator, earnings, estimation, lawn care, money

Start A Lawn Care Business in 2010

Jan 1

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, lawn care business, money, start a lawn care business | No Comments

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

2010 promises to be a great year for anyone in the lawn care business. The credit crises is beginning to thaw, houses are beginning to sell again, and homeowners are opening their wallets to, once again, pay for landscape maintenance. We have faced 2 challenging years in the industry but if you have ever wanted to start your own lawn care business or if you want to really step up your game in 2010, right now is the time to go for it.

Our lawn care business strategy guidebooks will get you moving in the right direction: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

We have set a few goals for 2010 that we want to share with you:

1) Video tutorials – We are in the process of purchasing a new HD video camera which will allow us to bring you even more great video content in 2010.

2) New Technologies – The lawn care industry is undergoing rapid change toward new technologies. If you’re not keeping up with current trends, you’re falling behind your competitors. In 2010 we will continue our efforts to bring you information on the latest technology trends in the lawn care industry.

3) Product Reviews – We are already receiving some new and innovative products from leading lawn care equipment manufacturers. Our reviews will help you decide if this equipment will be benificial and profitable for your lawn care business.

All-in-all, 2009 was a challenging year for the lawn care industry. But, great challenges bring great opportunities and 2010 is shaping up to be one of the best years in lawn care in recent memory.

About us: If you’re struggling with your lawn care business or if you just want to make more money by working smarter, take a look at our lawn care strategy guidebooks and software package. The entire package is on sale right now through our main website: StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Tags: 2010, business, lawn care, money, new year, resolutions

Start A Lawn Care Business

Make money with a lawn care and landscaping business.