Gainesville, Florida

[wglyons]

Hello... I joined the forum a couple of months ago, but haven't really been active in any postings yet. My business is a part-time, weekend thing, but it has kind of exploded. I started in Mid-May, and after just over 2 months in business, I have 24 regular weekly or bi-weekly accounts, and have just surpassed $8,500 in revenue. I am at a point where I need to decide if I want to continue the growth and hire a part-timer or two, or if I need to pull back on the marketing and hold what I've got. All total, if I work by myself, I put in about 15-20 hours per week, depending on the workload and extra services. I have been having a little help the last couple of weeks (which has been nice!!!), so I think I'm getting a little spoiled. Of course, I get to sit on the zero-turn while the poor guy that helps gets stuck with the edger and line trimmer. I think I'm at a point where I could hire someone to work those 15-20 hours per week, pay him a good rate, and still make a good bit of money to cover overhead. If I do this though, I'd probably want to up the marketing and advertising and try to get a solid 40 hour week established. I could still work 15 and then have the balance handled by a part-timer... Steve, I know you're gonna read this - is there a forum that discusses labor, or can you point me to a link where I can read up on the pro's and con's??? Oh, and since I know you're gonna ask, CRAIGSLIST, CRAIGSLIST, CRAIGSLIST....from that comes word-of-mouth business and additional services. The bottom line is, Craigslist has gotten me to the front door to meet with people. Professional Salesmanship followed up by superior service is at the backbone of the growth. Spend time with people at the initial estimate. And when you come back to do the work, if you see them outside, turn off the mower and go spend 5 minutes with them - shoot the breeze, ask if anything needs special attention, and make them feel like they are the boss (after all, they really are) Greg

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I think I'm at a point where I could hire someone to work those 15-20 hours per week, pay him a good rate, and still make a good bit of money to cover overhead. If I do this though, I'd probably want to up the marketing and advertising and try to get a solid 40 hour week established. I could still work 15 and then have the balance handled by a part-timer... Great question. What is the plan with the employee? Would he be working with you? Or working solo? What is your plan to make the transition to running your business full time? Or is that not the plan?

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[arthur712]

Welcome to the forum!

[wglyons]

Well, as of now, he's helping while I'm out there. But, I'm considering having him work solo...I'm just not sure if I want to make that leap...

As for conversion to full-time, I don't see that in the future. I'd have to be able to generate a $110k annual salary, plus 401k, pension, insurance benefits, company car, etc (my full-time gig is pretty sweet)...

[Steve]

Do you have a plan laid out as far as where you want to take your business?

You do sound like you have a great full time job. What got you interested in even starting this part time? You are doing great!

But, I'm considering having him work solo...I'm just not sure if I want to make that leap...

From what we have seen on here in the past, it is next to impossible to have an employee working for a lawn care business solo without any supervision. The two big reasons why are first, there is no way to maintain the quality of service and secondly, the barrier of entry into this business is low.

The employee may decide to quit and start their own business or offer additional services on the side without you knowing about them.

Do you have thoughts on how to deal with those situations?