Welcome Charlie

[Steve]

This is a message sent to us from our new friend Charlie.

Quote[/b] ]I am justt settling down in Central Califronia and was looking or hunting for a job. My wife and I are actually staying at my parents and I noticed in my dads garage that he has an amazing amount of lawn equipment. He buys lawn equipment at garage sales and everything is close to if not new. I really started to think about starting a lawn service because I have the trailer and all the equipment needed which would cut my starting costs down to almost nothing. My question is can I just go out there and start advertising door to door and with fliers or do I need to aquire a license of some sort. I dont want to start out in the business doing illegal practices. If you could give me a little info ..ing out I am really itching to get out there and make this work. Thanks again for your youtube videos great info.Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

Charlie

Does anyone want to jump in here and respond?

[Steve]

Hi Charlie!

Here are my thoughts. If you want to mow under your name and have checks made payable to you then you don't need to register a business name, although I think it looks more professional when you do. Even If you registered Charlie's Lawn Care or something like that because then you could open a business bank account and keep your personal and business money separate.

You would register your business name with the county and the county court house. It's cheap ($50 or less).

You made need a contractors license in your township. The best way to check this is to either ask around if you have a few friends in the lawn care business in your area or go to the town clerk and ask them.

You will also want to get business insurance. Contact a local insurance vendor and see what they can offer you.

As far as marketing goes, I would get business cards and tell everyone about your business. Hand out business cards to everyone you know and then yea go for flyers. Go out in the evenings or weekends and meet people in your area. Talk to them and give them a flyer and a price quote to do their lawn. It all comes down to letting people know you are in play. You are ready for business. The more people who know you cut lawns, the more word of mouth will spread.

Congratulations on getting started and let me know if you have further questions.

Thanks!

[Steve]

Charlie wrote back to me

Quote[/b] ]I would like to do a test run and see what the response % is around here.I was also thinking of taking your advice and actually knocking on the door to get to know possible customers personally.

and I responded.

I'd suggest getting business cards. You can get them cheap, like at vistaprint.com Get a 1000 and hand them out. Make it your mission to hand out x amount of cards a day. Get flyers up at local store bulletin boards.

It is very important to meet people. Think about why you are asking me about this. Because you saw our website and videos. You have seen me and that connection made you want to reach out and ask a question. People buy from people they know or know of. If you didn't know me, you wouldn't ask me. So it's all about human interactions and relationships. The more people who know you will want to reach out to you for lawn care.

Can you send me any pics of your equipment setup so far? I'd love to see. Also what were all those pics on your myspace site? Are you involved with a relief organization in South America? Let me know. All of this can be used to build your marketing campaign!

Here is a picture from his myspace site (myspace.com/118561309).

Charlie is a missionary from Mexico!

"Sharing my faith and love with the people of the Oaxacan mountains."