As the economy loses more and more steam, people are beginning to think more seriously about starting their own business. If you’re one of those people and are in a quandary about where to start, there aren’t many business opportunities that qualify for being able to start-up on a shoestring budget. But there is one that you can start-up (if only part-time to begin with) and be up and running within 48 hours. And that’s the lawn care business.
Indeed, one noted lawn care specialist, Daniel Pepper, suggests taking it one step at a time. “I’ve got a lot of customers that want to start the business part-time, and you can totally do that, because you control how many customers you want to take on. And for a lot of people, that is the way, and that’s what we recommend. That’s the way to start part-time. Take it step by step, take it slowly, let the business mature naturally, and so even though someone may have a full-time job, they can still on the side, after work, on the weekends, take on one, two, three, four customer accounts, and just go from there and grow it as a part-time business.”
As far as the kind of lawn care equipment one needs in order to get started in the business, you can pretty much get away with the bare minimum: a mower, a trimmer, and a power blower or broom. That’s all Daniel had when he started his business at twelve years of age. “I mean, anybody can start this business. It’s amazing, it’s unlimited, and as long as you’re disciplined, as long as you can just pick up the trick of trimming right, and pick up just mowing straight lines, and cleaning up after it, I mean anybody can do it.”
One of the things that Daniel emphasizes in the startup process to make money with lawn care is to just keep things simple. He says that generally these days, people don’t have or want to spend the time it takes to maintain their lawns. People will see “an advertisement or some form of marketing, and they’ll give us a call, and we’ll come out, give them a quote, and if it looks good, they’ll give us the green light, and then we’ll begin to look after their property for them.” And then there are the different cut intervals: do they want it done weekly or do they want it done bi-weekly? “Some companies even offer lawn cuts every 10 days, but that’s essentially the way that it works. It’s a very, very simple business…”
You can start with residential customers if you like, as those are probably the easiest to go after; but don’t forget the commercial prospects. There are small business owners, gas stations, apartment complexes, business office parks, and retail stores whose property has grass and trees that need tending. You could target a few commercial prospects and build your business on that alone if you wanted. There’s an unlimited customer base from which to choose to build a customer roster. You just need to look over the potential market and choose who you’re going to approach.
As far as marketing techniques go, every market is different, so you have to test for what works in the market you’re in. You can use a variety of techniques to gather intelligence, and then stick with the ones that work for your area. For some people, door hangers, hanging a flier on the doorknob of a home works well to get the word out. You could also, if you have a small budget, have the flier inserted in a local newspaper. Of course, there’s also classified ads. Many businesses simply use that, and thrive off just having a little classified ad, a three or four liner in the classified business section of their daily newspaper or weekly shopper. As Daniel says: “Every market’s different so it’s tough to nail down exactly what will work. Nothing is ever going to work the same in every market. You’ve got to test.”
What it all comes down to in order to be successful in a lawn care business is: knowledge and the execution of a business plan. For most people, mowing and trimming lawns is something they already know about or can teach themselves very quickly. Where people most often fail is in the planning stage. They don’t have a map for where they’re going or how to get there. They’re not aware of the pitfalls that can pop up and how to handle them. In short, they are unprepared to enter the business world and to do the things they need to do to become successful.
If you are serious about going into this business, then you would be doing yourself a favor to seek out the advice of someone who has already succeeded in it. Daniel Pepper has prepared a lawn care business course that covers all the ins and outs, the ups and downs of being able to run this business successfully. He calls it his Ultimate Lawn Care Business Formula. If you are seriously thinking of entering this field, you won’t find a better, more comprehensive legitimate guide to help you make money with lawn care.
Daniel’s lawn care business course is well worth looking into as it can not only help save entrepreneurs from making costly mistakes, but save them money in the start-up and operation of their business. Be wise and spend some time looking through the links below. If you’re serious about this, you won’t regret the time spent.
