Start A Lawn Care Business

Make money with a lawn care and landscaping business.

Tail Lights for your Lawn Mower Trailer

Jun 29

Posted by Lawn Care Business in customers, enclosed trailer, equipment, lawn equipment | 1 Comment

by: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Smashed against a tree.

Knocked off when backing into the equipment shed.

Destroyed by an errant runaway lawn mower.

I cannot count the number of times I have had to repair or replace lawn mower trailer taillights. I remember fitting a new set of taillights on a trailer and the very next day a dropped weedeater caused a wire to come loose and I had to repair the connection before driving back to the shop that evening.

As frustrating as they are, tail lights are a necessary component of lawn mower trailers for your lawn care business.

As it was getting dark one night last week, I snapped a photograph of this lawn care business owner’s lawn mower trailer.

Hauling a lawn mower trailer with nonworking lights causes three potential scenarios:

1) You send an unprofessional business image to your potential clients. If a potential client sees that you are willing to operate your equipment in a nonprofessional manner, they may very well skip your company and choose a company that takes better care of its lawn care equipment.

2) Police can ticket the driver for nonworking trailer lights. This is especially true if the police catch you driving like this after dark.

3) You might cause a road accident. Other drivers that don’t see your trailer might cut behind you too close and clip your trailer. Also, if your vehicle’s taillights are obstructed by your lawn mower trailer or landscaping equipment on the trailer, other drivers might not see your brake lights and crash into you when you are stopping.

In your lawn mowing business, always make maintenance and safety a high priority. Lawn mower trailer lights should be functional at all times. As for me, I will attempt to not drop any more weedeaters on wiring harnesses or smash into trees when backing up.

If you are looking to operate a professional lawn care / landscaping business, take a look at our “Start A Lawn Care Business” business course. It is FILLED with information and business tools to help you be a success with your business.

You can find it on our main website:
http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com
Start A Lawn Care Business

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June 15, 2010 Quarterly Tax Payments

Jun 15

Posted by Lawn Care Business in estimating, lawn care business, Lawn Care Business Taxes, lawn care estimating, taxes | No Comments

by: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

This is a quick heads up.

If you are running your own lawn care business, you need to remember that today (June 15, 2010) is quarterly tax payment day. If you have generated income this year with your landscaping business, you are likely required to make estimated tax payments throughout the year. Todayt is one of those tax payment days and your estimated quarterly payment must be postmarked before midnight tonight to comply with federal tax regulations.

Running your own grass cutting service is fun but as a small business owner you have to keep up with the paperwork that keeps your business legal.

This blog does not provide any professional tax advice. So, if you have questions about your particular business needs, please consult with a qualified tax professional.

For great information and business tools to help you start and operate your own successful lawn care business, look at the professionally produced business package on our main website at: www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Lawn Care Estimating – How To Estimate (Bid) Lawn Care Work

Jun 11

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

by: StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Lawn Care Estimating

Our Lawn Care Business program is jam-packed with information about starting and operating a lawn care business. There is tons of information on business startup, how to advertise and acquire customers, how to bid larger jobs, how to purchase lawn mowers, weedeaters, hedge trimmers, & leaf blowers, and there is also information on how to strip lawns and give professional looking cuts.

As informative as all these sections are, one of the most important sections of the lawn care business course deals with knowing how much money to charge your customers. New lawn care entrepreneurs have difficult times telling their customers how much they are going to charge to cut their grass. We dealt with the estimation problem ourselves our first year in business. I still remember some of the first customers I estimated. I would tell them the price and they would almost always balk and say I was too high. Being new in the business and not wanting to lose customers, I would almost always drop my price immediately…sometimes as much as $10 per cut.

When I think back to those early days now, I left a ton of money on the table because I was too inexperienced to know how to give a good estimate and stand firm on my price. I probably lost thousands of dollars the first six month in business because I didn’t know how to give proper estimates.

If you are new to the business and you feel that you are just not making the money you know you should be making, I urge you to get our Lawn Care Business training coursebooks and training videos. The program includes a REALWORLD description teaching you how to price jobs and how to keep from having your customers turn away from reasonable estimates.

We have the lawn care business coursebooks, video training guides, estimating software, and business toolkit on sale right now through our main website. Learning how to estimate lawn care work properly might save you thousands of dollars of lost revenue this year in your lawn care & landscaping business.

You can order the lawn care business program through our main website: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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You've Goat To Start Your Own Lawn Care Business

Jun 2

Posted by Lawn Care Business in customers, landscaping, Lawn Care Advertising, lawn care business, lawn mowers, start a lawn care business | No Comments

Starting a Lawn Care Business?  Think about alternative and creative services to offer your customers.

Once again, cities around the country are using goats to gain control over weeds and other vegetation in hard to mow areas.

In our city, Chattanooga, Tennessee, goats have been employed for the last 15 years to fight the relentless creep of kudzu vines.  Kudzu was imported many years ago to help fight erosion on the steep mountainous terrain that circles the city.  Kudzu is great at stemming erosion.  The downside is that it grows rapidly and engulfs trees, telephone poles, and roadways.  Since it is often planted in hard to reach areas, there is no practical method of using lawn mowers or trimmers to keep it at bay.

In the 1990’s, our public works department made a contract with a local goat farmer.  He brought his goats to areas of heavy kudzu growth.  The grazing goats worked non-stop at gnawing the tenacious vine.  Though there were several problems with the goats (wandering off, chased by dogs) the goats proved beneficial to the landscaping upkeep of the city.

We are just one of hundreds of communities using goats for various lawn care and landscaping upkeep duties.  There are even many environmentally conscious corporations and small businesses that use goats as their lawn care companies.  This goes to show you that if you are thinking about starting your own lawn care business, you shouldn’t rule out alternative services to offer your customers.

Though we have never used goats in our own lawn care business, we have been involved in the industry for 18 years and we always enjoy learning about new and creative ways to make money mowing grass.  If you are looking to start your own lawn care business or if you are just looking to make some extra money this summer mowing grass, you will benefit from our experience.  We have produced a very helpful lawn care business guidebook and software package. 

The lawn care business guidebook and software package is for sale right now through our main website and you can read more about it here:  http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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How Much Money Can I Earn with a Lawn Care Business

Jun 1

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

How much money can I earn with a Lawn Care Business?

Many of our readers wrote to comment about our blog posting from January where we linked to our lawn care “earnings potential”  calculator.  The posting was designed to give you a goal for 2010.  Along with the posting, we linked to the Lawn Care Estimating calculator to help you discover how much money you could make (weekly income) during 2010.

If you took the challenge in January, we would love to hear how you are doing with your goal.  Are you making more money than you thought you would make or are you slightly behind schedule?  If you are behind schedule with your earnings, there’s nothing to worry about.  Though the year is almost 1/2 over, the season has barely begun.  June is a PRIME time to gear up your lawn care business and start picking up bigger and better customers.  The next few month are the time to really prove yourself.  With a bit of motivation, we know you can still reach your earnings goal for this year.

If you want to use the calculator to figure your earnings potential doing lawn care, check out the link here:

Lawn Care Estimating Calculator

We would also like to remind you that our Lawn Care Business Course is currently on sale through our main website.  The course will show you how to start and operate a successful lawn care business.  With your purchase of the lawn care business course, you will also receive the full set of lawn care estimating software to help you with your estimating and bidding. 

Check it out on our main site:  http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Stolen Weedeaters, Trimmers, and other Lawn Care Equipment

May 25

Posted by Lawn Care Business in enclosed trailer, equipment, lawn business strategies, lawn equipment, lawn mowers, leaf blowers | No Comments

by: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

As you begin to acquire new lawn care business equipment, take into consideration that your equipment needs to be protected not only from the weather but it also needs to be protected from thieves.

One of our readers sent us an article on a lawn care equipment company that was targeted by thieves earlier this month. This article makes me want to remind you to keep and eye on your equipment while you are servicing your lawn care customers. I have heard many stories of string trimmers mysteriously vanishing while the lawn care business owners are in the back yard cutting grass or blowing off the back deck.

If you can’t keep your equipment within eyesight, consider buying locks for the equipment, keeping it in a locked van, or use and enclosed trailer to keep your equipment safe.

It is very disappointing to work hard making money, pouring that money back into your business by buying expensive and reliable equipment, and having that equipment stolen. Not only is the equipment expensive but it takes time and effort to buy the correct equipment. Being without your lawn mower, trimmer, or blower can cost you a lot of money in down time and you might even lose customers as a result of not being able to service them properly and in a timely manner.

So, do yourself a favor and lock your equipment when it is not in use at your job site. Also, lock it at night when it is stored at your home or place of business.

Be safe out there.

Be a Professional. Our “Start A Lawn Care Business” training manuals and business software will help you develop a professional lawn care business strategy for your business. Want to make more money this year with your lawn care business…check our our course: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Protective Landscaping

May 21

Posted by Lawn Care Business in customers, landscaping, landscaping photography, start a lawn care business | 2 Comments

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness

What are your selection procedures when choosing landscaping plants and materials?

As landscapers, we have great opportunities to make significant positive differences in our customers’ lives.  It goes without saying that one of the differences we make is for the simple aesthetic beauty of their properties.  We also make nature areas for increased wildlife and song birds, properly prune shrubs and trees for better health of the landscape, and clear scrub brush and over grown shrubs to give an open feeling to the yard and better views of surrounding landscapes.

Using pathways, watergardens, and sitting areas, we help our customers enjoy their property with areas to relax after stressful days in their jobs.

You may have never thought of it before but landscapers can also help our customers feel safe within their homes.  There are certain landscaping techniques that can help protect a home and make its occupants feel safe. 

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, homeowners should trim shrubs and trees that might give criminals a place to hide or climb to second stories.  Thieves often hide behind dense or tall landscape plants that hide windows or other entrances to homes.  Lowering the height of and thinning these shrubs reduce the invisibility that robbers seek.   Planting prickly shrubs is also a great idea.  Plants such as this Adam’s Needle will help deter people from snooping close to windows.

Protective Landscaping for your Lawn Care Business

Knowing your landscaping customers’ desires for their landscaping will help you make suggestion on types of landscaping.  The Adam’s Needle pictured above was planted for a single female who was living on her own.  The deterrent offered by the plant makes her feel safer in her home at night as it offers some protection against people trying to spy through her window.

Do you want to make money with your own landscaping and lawn care business? We have developed a very detailed account of how to start and operate a successful lawn care business. You can read more about the course at:

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Refillable Propane Tank Debate Rages On

May 12

Posted by Lawn Care Business in lawn equipment, propane, start a lawn care business, weedeaters | 10 Comments

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Judging by the quantity of email we received last week on our recent post about the viability of propane powered weed trimmers and their taking over the lawn care 2-cycle engine market, we feel we are correct in thinking that propane is making a strong toe-hold into the lawn care market.

There is one question we are continuously asked; “Is it legal to refill and transport 1 lb. propane canisters in the use of my Lawn Care Business.”

To be quite up front and honest, we are not 100% sure of the answer to this question. There is lots of debate to this question and without a clear understanding to the answer, our stance is that you should research the correct answer yourself. If you find a complete and easily understood answer, please let us know.

We have heard differing theories on this law. A commenter on www.Instructables.com posted this information:

There is no federal (U.S.) contraint whatsoever on refilling a tank, nor for that matter on transporting such a tank whereever you want (provided it is not a federally-controlled road with restrictions on hazardous materials, which is a section of the CFR that nobody here has bothered to point out). There could not possibly ever be any such global constraint on your right to do so under the 10th Amendment. The cited regulations and laws deal specifically with transport in commerce, that is, transport across state lines for the purpose of selling the tank or using them in support of a commercial enterprise (and, under several federal court cases dating back to the 1930s, commercial transport on federally controlled roads – the so-called “implied commerce” argument that gave us the FDA and EPA). The second item is this talk about it being illegal to transport, even in commerce, REFILLED tanks. That is nonsense. It is not illegal to transport a refilled tank, it is illegal to commercially transport improperly LABELED tanks – if you read the citation for 49 U.S.C. 5124 (that’s the one with the prison sentences and all) you’ll see that it establishes penalties for violation of 21 U.S.C. 5104. Section 5104, in turn, is not a REFILLING statue, it is a LABELING statue. The moment you refill a tank you may or may not have created a fire hazard, but you a very definitely created a mislabeled product – and that’s what is illegal.

If you are considering refilling 1 lb. propane bottles, using them in weedeaters or other lawn care equipment, and/or transporting them as a due course of your business, our main fallback answer is to tell you to read the label of your 1 lb. propane bottle. It clearly states:

Never Refill This Cylinder. Refilling may cause explosion. Federal law forbids transportation if refilled – penalty up to $500,000 and 5 years imprisonment (49 U.S.C. 5124)

Look at #5 in this picture:

refilling propane bottles is dangerous and against the law if transported

If you are running propane powered lawn care equipment, we would love to hear from you.  Leave a comment.  Also, if you are operating a lawn care business and want to learn about the latest lawn care equipment, check out our lawn care business guidebooks and estimating software located at our main website:

Start A Lawn Care Business

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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Celebrate Mother's Day with a Beautiful Lawn

May 5

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

If your lawn care customers are tired of buying a potted plant or a pretty scarf for their Mothers on Mother’s Day, tell them to pay for lawn care service for their Mom’s instead.

Mother’s Day is this weekend May 9, 2010. At this very moment, millions of sons and daughters (and husbands) are scrambling in search of ideas for their mothers. You know very well that most of them will buy something lame at the last minute to give to their Moms. “It’s the thought that counts” she will exclaim as yet another figurine gets placed on the shelf as a dust collector.

Instead of buying something silly again this year, tell everyone you know that they should buy a lawn servicing or a landscape project for their Moms this year. When you think about it, lawn care is an ideal present for Mother’s Day. She won’t have to nag her husband about it and the grass will finally look good for a change.

In fact, why stop at one lawn care servicing job. If all the kids pool their money, they can buy lawn care service for the entire year and their Moms will know that they never have to worry about the grass again. If they don’t have big yards or if their husbands insist on doing the grass cutting, landscaping projects such as a large planter installation or a flower bed make over make ideal gifts.

If you operate your own lawn care business, don’t miss out on marketing your business during Mother’s Day weekend. You should be able to pickup quite a few new clients.

Also, if you are still unsure about how to price your jobs and how to make the most money for your lawn care company, check out our lawn care business guidebooks and estimating software at: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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What can your Lawn Care Business learn from Cinco de Mayo?

May 5

Posted by Lawn Care Business in bidding lawn care, competition, customers, lawn business strategies | 3 Comments

Your lawn care business can learn a lesson from today’s Cinco de Mayo celebration. Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican defeat of a larger French army on May 5, 1862 at the Battle of Puebla.

New lawn care businesses are often intimidated by larger, well-established landscaping companies. Relegated to small and low-profit customers, new lawn care business owners feel that without the proper equipment and experience they are unable to target large and highly profitable clients. Being pragmatic about equipment capacity and personal ability is a good for a new lawn care business owner. However, abandoning hope of getting the best lawn care customers in town at the very start of a new lawn care & landscaping business is a big mistake.

Being unable (or unwilling) to bid on the best accounts will trap you into forever cutting grass for those lousy customers who pay the minimum amount for their lawn care work.

We believe in knowledgeably and aggressively marketing a lawn care business. Acquiring the best lawn care customers in town is the only way you will make the money you deserve in this business. If you are tired of spending all your time mowing those low paying customers while other lawn care companies are making great money mowing mowing highly profitable clients, just remember Cinco de Mayo and the small Mexican Army’s ability to defeat a much larger competitor.

Do you want to learn how to be competitive on the best lawn care jobs in town. Take a look at our Lawn Care Business Guidebook and Estimating package http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

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