Hello its me again

[Clean Lawn]

Hi everyone. I was asked to make another post because my new lawn care business is not the only business that I own/own with my husband.
Approximately four years ago we bought a small restaurant. It was another business I thought it would be fun to play in. Now its not as much fun as lawn service but it has its moments. We serve Boar's head Coney Island Hotdogs, footlongs, NY Sausage, sandwich meats and cheeses. We make everything we can ourselves from our North Caroline style BBQ, BBQ sauce and cole slawn. We create our own soups all year long. Last year I created New England clam chowder for the first time and sold it without ever tasting it because I am HIGHLY allergic to onions and its just one of those soups that has onion in it. We also make our own hotdog chili and desserts.
The other business we own is a comic store. We sell old and new comics, different collectible card games, toys and statues. This is another fun industry to be a part of. Right now the big comic book story lines for anyone who is not in the know of comics is, World War Hulk. Yes, the Hulk is taking names ad kicking butt. Thor has come back to earth and there will prices to pay because a naughty fantastic four leader cloned him and he did the big NO NO and killed a hero, Goliath. I don't want to be Reed Richards right now. DC has its own stuff going on with all the 52 and Countdown but I think the biggest by far was the shot that was heard around the world...the one that killed Captain America. Can you believe shot down by your own girlfriend.
But this is basicly part of my day everyday. Three business and a two year old to chase after. Who knows one day he might be running the lawn care business talking to people about when his mom got it all started.
Well I will say each one is very different in its own way but they are all very much a hands on thing.
My husband and myself are trying to sell our house so we can look to buy 3-10 acres of land and put a new house or restore and old one. We need more land so that Mrs. greenthumb can work on a greenhouse for both business and pleasure. I want a bigger vegetable garden and to start fruits too. But with a greenhouse I can work on flowers for my customers instead of having to go out and buy everything from someone else.
I'm not sure what else you want to know but that is basicly me in a nutshell. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Steve]

That is just amazing. So often I think one business can just swamp a person. What advise do you have for someone trying to run multiple businesses?

Also, have you done any cross promotions yet with all 3 of your business? Such as giving out a free meal if a person signs up for a year of lawn service? etc?

[Clean Lawn]

My husband and myself were talking about that just the other evening.
Its not an easy task to run three business trust me and I won't ever discourage someone from following their dreams because that is something everyone should have and have in their hearts to continue to go on but ours were really close together. That was just how opportunity presented itself. We have 3 business' in less that 4 years time and it takes a lot to start business from nothing and make them something. Everyone starting a business knows this, I know it 3 times more that the rest. But the restaurant is 4 years old and realisticly its still a baby in the restaurant industry. It takes a lot of hard work to make a restaurant successful. The Comic store is coming up on 2 years old this fall and its slowly growing. We moved it at the beginning of the year because its growth had haulted. But its slowly starting to grow again and that is good. But with a comic store, your comics are the bread and butter of your business. They should always pay for themselves and the general bills of the business. Anything else is icing on the cake. Most business do not realize the downfalls of them and jump in without ever talking to another business owner. I want everyone to follow their dreams and open their dream business, I want to look back in 10 years and be able to really tell young people how to make opening any of these three business cake for them. If you want to do it then do it but do it the right way. Find someone you can talk to about the industry you want to persue and talk to them until you cannot find anymore questions to ask and ask questions again and again if your not 100% sure you have it.
This webpage and forums have been amazing. I started at two different forums and got one hepful person to offer help but then nothing after 1 week (for lawn service info). Then a really nice lawn service business owner offered to send me a book on getting into lawn care that he bought and found helpful to him. We talked and he sent it to me. I have been reading piece by piece over and over again since I received it a short couple of weeks ago and it led me to this forum. I cannot thank that gentleman enough and he truly was just that a gentleman.
I receive e-mail from members of this forums asking for information for new members wanting to start business and always asking questions of me. I love it!!!!! It makes me think more and more and more about what else I can do, what else did I not think about. But I am thinking and I am gradually working. I have only been a lawn care business for 1 1/2 months now and I am still really small but I brought with me knowledge from my other business and a LOT of helpful advice from great people.
I will say what I said in a previous post about feeling overrun and swamped and what to do. If your in rush hour traffic and you think your going to scream from the stress, turn up that favorite song LOUD!!!! and enjoy it and escape for a few minutes. When you get home and no one is around scream in the shower (but don't scare the dogs)and punch a pillow. Then have a nice cold beer (or whatever your fancy is) and relax for the evening. Don't let anything else inside for that night. When tomorrow comes and its time to do lawn care again go back with a fresh approach from your night off. Your welcome always to send me a tell at cleanlawn01@yahoo.com and if I can give helpful advice I will. I am always welcoming constructive advice for myself and throwing ideas in my head around if someone can use it, its yours and I hope its a good one!
This forum is great and there is so much information here. Buy the book even if you only use one piece of information out of it. If you gain 1 yearly contract from it, then its more than paid for itself. Its worth it in my opinion and a great lawn care gentleman sent it to me.
Have a great green day everyone and blast that favorite song for me today I am in the restaurant today with no radio!!!!!!!!!!!

[Steve]

Very insightful!

Looking back on your years of running your businesses, what kind of promotions did you find worked best? Did you ever have positive results cross promoting with other businesses?

Do you think any of the marketing skills you learned previously can be applied to the lawn care industry and if so, how?