greetings from Baton Rouge.

[bthomas357]

hello all. i'm new to the site and figured i would introduce myself.

i am a 35 year old dental equipment tech living in baton rouge, louisiana and i recently just started a lawn care business. technically don't have a name or anything yet but i do have a few yards and some equipment. i moved to a new area of town early last summer and my new neighbor has been doing this for 20 years or so and he got me interested. he's an old school guy and prides himself on never having to advertise, graduating from the school of hard knocks, etc. i can't operate like that, i have to know what i'm getting into. so after grilling him for the past few months, i decided to do some research and ran into this site. i read a lot of the posts and decided to research other areas and i keep running back to this same site. so , i said what the hell? i might as well sign up. so here i am with a lot of questions (of course) and not a lot of answers. i hope that we can all help each other out. thanks for your time and i'll be seeing you around the post board.

[Steve]

Welcome to our forum!

What lessons do you feel you learned from your neighbor so far that will help get you up and running?

Also, is there anything you are stuck on?

[bthomas357]

He told me to go small to make sure I liked it
before I jumped in with both feet. What he uses
is a Dixon 30" ztr with a bagger. That way he can
get through any gate and it's great for leaves. It's the only thing he runs in the winter. I went with his suggestion and I am very pleased so far. I have had several clean up jobs that involved a small gate and a big back yard. No problem at all with a 30". Man, I couldn't imagine having to push some of these back yards. Not to mention, I haven't seen one guy using a bagger. Not one! It's a major selling point so far and my customers love it.

The process of taking care of a yard is something I didn't realize. Trim, edge, blow into the yard, cut then blow again. My first yard came about when I saw the lawn guy at my girlfriends house. Blow and go is an understatement. They didn't pick up anything and then blew it all against the fence! This is a major company here in town too! If the owner of this company can make this much money with such terrible service, I know I can do much better.

Another thing I have learned is the value of good service from your equipment provider. My neighbor has tried them all here in BR (there are a bunch) and he settled on a small dealer in the next town over. I bought all of my equipment from there and they are more than helpful. They take the time to know you by name, don't give you any hassle with warranty or questions, etc. Good service makes life a lot easier.

[Steve]

That is great advice!

Did he also offer you suggestions on how best to find new customers?