Start A Lawn Care Business

Make money with a lawn care and landscaping business.

November Rains Bring Lawn Care Pains

Nov 15

Posted by Lawn Care Business in autumn, lawn care estimating, start a lawn care business, winter | No Comments

by: Start a Lawn Care Business

Ouch! My neck hurts.

No, it doesn’t hurt because of a recent car crash or an old football injury.  It hurts (figuratively) because I’m getting whipsawed back and forth with this November weather. 

November weather is notoriously fickle in the southeast and this November’s weather is no exception.  Two weeks ago, we had freezing overnight lows, last week we were into the high 70’s with cloudless skies, and this week is starting on a bleary note with showers and highs in the mid-40’s.

Ahh, November, it keeps life interesting for a lawn care professional. 

As much as you might like to complain about the weather, I hope you realize what a blessing November weather is for your lawn care company.  For instance, if you are in the southeast, last week was a perfect time to aerate and overseed all your customer’s lawns before this rainy spell kicked in.  Aeration before seeding allows perfect seed-ground contact.  Seeds will have a great oportunity to germinate and set roots as the rains moisten the soil before harsh winter weather.

We are already hearing from many of our readers in the North and their issues with the first snow plowing jobs of the season.  And, as always, sunny south Florida and Texas are the envy of us all being able to mow practically year-round.

No matter in what part of the country you reside, November weather brings its challenges.  However, if you play it right, November can be a very profitable month for your lawn care business.

Don’t forget, if you need to learn how to properly price-estimate all your lawn care customers, pick up a copy of our lawn care estimating software on our main web page:  www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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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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A "Successful" Lawn Care Business?

Nov 9

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

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

Too often in the lawn care industry, we think of success in terms of number of jobs per day, number of crews, or number of clients on a roster.  For full-time lawn care companies, these criteria are important to the overall well-being of a company.  However, the industry should never overlook the needs of the small lawn care business owner or the solo part-time guy just looking to make an extra several hundred dollars per week doing a handful of residential and commercial customers.

Though many large-scale lawn care business owners purchase our “Start A Lawn Care Business” training package to gain new ideas how to grow their businesses, the majority of the purchasers of our business program are aspiring entrepreneurs looking to either start a new lawn care business or current small business owners who are looking to expand their business, go full-time, and add employees.

I was speaking with a guy last week who saw on of our Leaf Raking Videos on YouTube.  The video stirred his interest and he is about the take the plunge, purchase a commercial leaf blower, and start finding clients.  The main question he has is how to bid leaf raking and leaf blowing jobs.  We run into these questions very often and this is exactly why we developed the “bidding tutorial and estimating software” sections in our lawn care business program.  There are too many variables to do flat rate pricing on leaf cleanup jobs.  Our estimating tutorial teaches you how to properly bid jobs without overpricing (or underpricing) your work.

If you are a one-man operation wanting to start or grow a successful lawn care business we encourage you to learn how to bid your jobs properly and grow your business correctly.  We believe the strength in the Green Industry lies in the hands of small lawn care business owners.

For more information on the Lawn Care Business training guidebook and software package, visit our main webpage at:

http://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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On our way home from GIE-Expo

Oct 30

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn equipment, lawn mowers | No Comments

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

If you read yesterday’s blog post you know that the staff of Start A Lawn Care Business took the weekend to drive to Louisville, KY to attend the annual Lawn Care Equipment expo.

We just want to give a huge thanks to the GIE-Expo staff, organizers, vendors, and participants.  We met lots of great people and learned a tremendous amount about the new lines of lawn care equipment product that will be on the market in 2011. 

If we did not get a chance to make it by your booth, please take a minute to drop us a line to make contact with us.  We are always interested in learning about the newest lawn care equipment products and passing the information onto the new (and old) lawn care business owners that visit our site daily.

If you are a vendor with new and interesting lawn care equipment products, we would love to demo your products for the coming lawn care season. 

Thanks again and we will see you next year:

Sincerely:

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

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New Lawn Care Equipment (GIE-Expo)

Oct 29

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn equipment, lawn mowers, lawn product development | 3 Comments

Hello from Louisville, KY at the GIE-Expo

One of our jobs at Start A Lawn Care Business is to bring you information on the latest trends in the lawn care industry. Lawn care equipment (mowers, blowers, and string trimmers) will be very much on your mind during the next few months as you make purchasing decisions for your lawn care equipment needs for the coming season.

We drove up to Kentucky early this morning to attent the lawn care expo. There are hundreds of vendors and we have been lucky to speak with some very innovative companies that are developing the new trends in the lawn care industry.

In the days and weeks ahead we will be able to provide you with information that will help you purchase your new lawn equipment. Keep an eye on this blog and if you haven’t purchased our Lawn Care Business training course, visit our main web homepage to learn more about what we offer.

One of the funnest pieces of equipment at this year’s trade show is the Spyder radio controlled slope mower. This company has been at the expo the last few years and their slope mower is always fun to watch. Too bad I’ve yet to be able to talk the operator into letting me drive it. I’ll include a picture below.

Spyder Slope Lawn Mower

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Tanaka TBL-7800R 65cc 4-2/7 HP 2-Stroke Backpack Blower with Tube-Mounted Throttle

Oct 28

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn equipment, leaf blowers | No Comments

Hi Everyone:

I just ran across this deal on Amazon.com and want to throw it your way in case you are looking for a new leaf blower. According to Amazon there are only 4 of these units left. They are selling them for $525 with free Super Saver shipping. Buying from Amazon means you (probably) don’t have to pay sales tax. I am not in the market for a new leaf blower right now but if I were, I would buy this today. I will include the link for you below. Also, while you’re looking, don’t forget to purchase your sight and hearing protection. If you buy this leaf blower, let us know how it works out for you.

Lawn Care in Florida

Oct 28

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, lawn care contracts | No Comments

While the Tennessee days get shorter and the nights get cooler, I took a late October weekend and flew to southern Florida for a few days to learn more about lawn care in the southernmost of the 48 contiguous states. From a business standpoint I am envious of the seasons Florida lawn care professionals enjoy. It is still toasty warm in southern Florida and lawn care crews aren’t missing a beat mowing, blowing, and picking up palm fronds.

Though much of my writing on this blog has focused on leaf pickup and autumn lawn care projects. While leaf pickup is not the most prevalent chore to be done on Florida lawns (if you exclude palm fronds) there are many aspects of the lawn care business that Florida lawn care professional need to focus.

Our lawn care business package has a tremendous amount of information on how (and when) to bid commercial lawn care contracts. Florida’s lawn care season is extended far beyond what many of the northern states experience. I believe contract bidding is distributed more evenly throughout the 12 months than it is for the rest of us further north. Because of this dispersal of lawn care contract bidding times, it is very important for lawn care professionals in Florida to learn proper bidding procedures.

If you are in Florida (or any other area of the country with an year-round mowing season) it is very important for you to learn how to bid contracts and price your services effectively. Missing even 1 or 2 contracts can cost your company thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

For those of us in more temperate climates, we also need to be keenly aware of the importance of proper contract bidding. None of us want to miss out on a large scale contract because we didn’t follow the bidding guidelines or because we improperly priced our services causing our bids to be dismissed.

If you are in Florida (or any part of the country) and want to bid lawn care contracts next year. We encourage you to purchase a copy of our Start A Lawn Care Business training course. There is a tremendous amount of information on how to bid large scale lawn mowing contracts. The price of the program is under $50 and you should easily be able to pay for the course with just one successful bid on a lawn care contract.

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

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October 15, 2010 – Tax Extension Deadline for your Lawn Care Business taxes.

Oct 15

Posted by Lawn Care Business in Lawn Care Business Taxes | No Comments

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

Heads Up: today, Friday October 15, 2010 is a Tax Filing Deadline.

Though it has been 6 months since most of us filed our 2009 income taxes, many busy lawn care business owners filed for extensions in April. Well, today is the day of reckoning for those extension filers.

If this task is still looming over your head, you’re not alone. Thousands of “late” filers are expected to complete their forms today. I wonder how many people filed for the extension because they just needed a little more time to get their paperwork in order. Today, six months later, how many of them are still rushing around trying to find receipts and tally up their income from 2009. If that describes you, we wish you best of luck today.

Organization is an important step in operating a successful lawn care business. If you want to learn more about making your lawn care business a success, be sure to check out our Lawn Care Business training package. It is PACKED with very helpful information and business tools.

Learn more on our main website: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Instantaneous Profitability with your Lawn Care Business?

Oct 14

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn business strategies, start a lawn care business, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

by: Start A Lawn Care Business

My good friend Steve with the LawnChat.com lawn care blog recently asked how long it takes before a lawn care business becomes profitable.

I remember taking business classes when I was in school. The professors often lectured that many businesses take up to 5 years before they ever turn a profit. “An entrepreneur should have a minimum of 6 months working capital before starting any small business” they would preach. I remember sitting in those classes thinking that I wanted to be profitable within 6 DAYS of starting my business (whatever it was going to be at that time) not 6 months. “Were they crazy?” I would think to myself, “6 months is an eternity.” Well, as I get older I realize that 6 months is not an eternity but I still believe it is certainly too long to wait to become profitable in a small lawn care business.

When we finally started our lawn care business in 1992, I was lucky that we did, indeed, have 6 months working capital. However, we did not feel that was an excuse to waste time and money trying to become profitable. Listen, we’re talking grass mowing here. We’re not designing the next super computer or building an automotive factory complex with billion dollar financing.

We are big believers in steady controlled growth of a new business concept. We have truly never understood lawn care business owners that borrow $10,000 (or more) to purchase great lawn equipment before they’ve ever even cut their first lawn. There are benefits of starting with $10,000 in business loans but it’s just not our style. Look at the huge success stories in the business world today. Microsoft, Google, Walgreens have never had any significant debt and they are at the top of their industries.

I personally believe lawn care is one of those businesses you can start with practically no debt. A smart LCO can grow his equipment list as his client list grows. Starting small and growing steadily is preferable, to me anyway, than having a constant worry of mortgaged equipment. Starting at this level means you can, practically, be profitable with your first few lawns. “Yeah, well, what about advertising” my professors would say. Do you know what I say to that? Get off the couch, hit the street and start meeting your potential customers face to face. It’s the best advertising you will ever have…and it’s FREE.

Can you imagine starting your own company on Monday and turning your first profit by Thursday? Though this might not be practical for all lawn care business owners, my old business professors’ ears are likely burning when I say such things.

In the Start A Lawn Care Business training course, we show you methods of starting your own lawn care business with the idea of becoming profitable almost immediately. We can’t promise that you will be profitable by Thursday. However, we show you principles of the lawn care industry that will have you up and running, and hopefully profitable, than you would have ever thought possible.

To learn more about the lawn care business training course and estimating software,
please visit our website: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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