Need some ideas

[New2thebiz]

Hey guys basically I'm making this post because I want to expand my business. I am a Freshman and I have about 13 customers and my goal is to cut 30-40 lawns my senior year and be able to make a lot of cash when I come home from college in the Spring.

What I'm looking for are some tips/pieces of advice I can use in order to really get my business moving from where I'm at.
Here are a few ideas I've come up with for advertising, and I want to see what you think.

Since I am a high school student I don't sign contracts, so I think I should put a large emphasis on this, considering last year in Cincinnati Ohio and we had 4 weeks 0 inch lawn growth. This means people could save a lot of money, and also get their grass cut accordingly.
If you have any more ideas for me or could even help me sketch a door hanger I would really appreciate.

My business's name is Paul's Lawn care, and I really like the idea of coupons within advertisement. Thanks guys, by the way this website i awesome, there's so much good information on here.

[Steve]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to our forum!

You know you have a lot of great questions here. Just recently we were talking about a bunch of the members who are high school or college students, they play up the fact they are students.

I think we talked about this in one of the GopherHaul episodes.

What the forum members said is by marketing you are a student, you can really attract attention of members of your community who would like to hire you because they like the idea that you are working to pay your way through school.

In fact some of the forum members said they can get a premium in pay when the customer knows they are paying their way through school.

So ultimately, the more people who know this, the better your chances of making more than other businesses who don't promote this.

Do you have business cards made up so far? Are you using craigslist? Tell us more about what you are wanting to do to market yourself.

[New2thebiz]

Yeah I've mainly been using craigslist and word of mouth and I'm probably going to make some door hangers this week.

One of my questions, asking from your guys expierence, does advertising special deals for cutting vacation lawns get business? I figure its late in the spring and most people already have lawncare services but a lot of people who cut their own grass are going to be on vacation during the summer. So you could build relationships with these people and even though you are only cutting their grass you would meet a lot of people and from there pick up potential full season customers.

I really just want to give everything a try see what works best. I followed your tips on making an add and got 3 phone calls yesterday, these lawns are small though and a little out of my travel range. I have a friend who said door hangers work really well in my neighbor, so I want to learn how to make those. I'll probably also buy a sign for my trailer on this website.

[Steve]

This is a great question. From what I have seen in the past on here, there is always time to pick up new clients. We even have a free flyer on here to 'make the switch.' Where you can market yourself as an alternative to a person's current lawn care provider, if they are not happy with them.

I think your best bet is to play up that you are a student. People really seem to like to hire students.

Making a limited time offer is always a good idea as well.

Let us know what you decide to experiment with!