im trying to get started. In The Gutter please help.

I am trying to get started this year and there are alot of competitors I have to do upkeep on my lawn mower and I dont own a weed eater. not to mention I dont have a pickup or trailer. I currently literally have a total of $5. Not 500 Not 5K just 5 dollars. I could buy gas and try door to door? im really in the gutter here.please help

[CHEESE2009]

Lawn care business tips

$5.00 can work! Design a flyer, have your friends print out a few hundred. They could either do it for free, or you can cough up your $5.00 to start. Tell them when you start getting clients, you will owe him back the paper/ink. Once you have your flyers printed, fold them 3-way. Go to the dollar store & pick up some nice envelopes & stick your flyers inside of them. Download "GOOGLE EARTH" (it's free), & zoom in to your area. Create a decent delivery route by getting a good estimate on how many homes surround your area. Have enough flyers to deliver to X amount of homes. You only have a mower, which is hurtful for sure. Though many people can make it work for them! An inexpensive up sell for customers, besides just mowing would be garden weeding. All you need is your hands to start, & a garbage bag. I'm sure several of your competitors don't offer garden weeding. I know mine don't. I'm one of the very few who do & I'm surrounded by competition. So keep an eye out for some gardens, & charge accordingly. You are just starting & don't have that "image" yet. So you might have to do more work than you are worth. I'd say price yourself at $15.00/hour for garden weeding. Though do not tell your customers you are charging them by the hour. What you need to do is take a good look at the garden(s), & figure out how long the weeding process is going to take. Example A: Just from what we see in the picture above, this garden can take approx 2:30 hours. 2:30 x $15.00 = $34.50 Example B: This garden isn't very big & should take you max 1 hour if you do a good cleanup around the base as well. 1:00 x $15.00 = $15.00 Eventually when you get the gear, you can turn soil, prune plants, apply mulch, etc. Gardens like the first picture, you should easily be able to charge $75.00 / visit. Give it time. Baby steps are key! Good tools for garden work, Small Bucket Spade Trowel Garden Hoe Pruning Shears Weeding Trake Cultivator Rake Small Broom Garbage Bags

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Last edited by CHEESE2009; 03-24-2010 at 02:11 PM.

[Steve]

I answered this in your other post. Keep us updated on how everything goes.