5 Things I would do diffrent after 2 years in business...

[MMYardService]

1) Area too large – The area size may seem like a easy way to get more customers, but all your doing is creating more travel time from house to house or job to job. It will also make it much more difficult to get to new customers quickly. (See more details below on new customers) 2) Purchase right equipment the first time – There are few things that you will purchase that you will not repurchase if you get the wrong things. Cheep lawnmowers will just rattle apart, keep in mind that even when you’re small doing 30-40 yards a week, you will use your lawn mower more in one week then the average home owner does all year. Get equipment that is stronger and you will only have to make the purchase one. This does not only apply to the mowers but also all your tools, you’re going to be using them day in and day out and with any luck for hours and hours every day. 3) Limit or Focus on Type of Work – Pick what you are good at and stick to it, I added a lot of things when I first started that I was not very good at or did not have much or any experience this will cost you a lot in bad estimates, wrong tools, bad customer service, and even a lot of extra product cost replacing or redoing things that you did not realize you needed when you started. 4) Payments on Credit Cards or Prepaid – Getting paid is the biggest problem that I created, I thought that it would be easier to just bill my customers on a monthly bases, well for the ones that pay that works awesome. I am just this week changing this to Credit Card on file for day of service billing, customer must prepay or there must be payment on site when job it started. I have 11K is accounts receivable, and yes the contract for a $30 mow is nice to have when they are $120 behind is payment, but the $80 is legal paper work it just not worth it. 5) New Customers One Day Service – The best way to get new customers is to the new job TODAY. When someone calls and tells me that they would like to start service, I make time in the next few hours to go start the process. Get them cut the first time, and stop them from calling anyone else. As soon as you say “Yes, I can come over and do that work now” they stop calling anyone else, they are not your customer and only you can lose them with bad service.

[mark123]

Lawn care business tips

The one thing I would change is that I would have started 20 years ago. I can only imagine where I'd be had I started right out of high school.

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Boughter's Lawn Care Services Mowing and Fertilizing in New Castle, PA

[Steve]

3) Limit or Focus on Type of Work

Great post! I think this is something a lot of new business owners do. Can you tell us a little about the services you initially were offering that you have since stopped performing and how offering them had hurt your business?

I have 11K is accounts receivable

I am sure a lot of business owners quietly try and battle with this. Whats the best way you have found to knock this number down and collect on those outstanding payments.

The one thing I would change is that I would have started 20 years ago. I can only imagine where I'd be had I started right out of high school.

Mark, why do you feel this was the case. Did you have any desires at all to start when you were younger or did it not occur to you until much later?

[jklawncare]

I like marks comment it really encourages me to build onto my company and to help it grow.

Im only in my second year of high school but finding a job is hard. Iv'e applied about everywhere and no one is hiring.

Also im not very smart when it comes to school although i do try. I have a lack of focus and will to learn. I cant study or memorize anything and math is a horrid puzzle to me.

Everything seems so impossible yet i know so much
im a smart kid but school just gets me so college will be hard to get into let alone graduate. The only thing im good at in school is wood shop, small engine class, and technology classes. Im a very hands on kinda learner and ive always been good at building things, taking things apart and putting them together, and computers come natural to me.


When i do math on the job it comes to me. its like common sense and i like that.

Labor is great to cause i love outdoors and im a healthy kid that it dosnt bother me a bit to walk from house to house 20 times a day and mow all there lawns.

I can only pray that i can succeed in this business and it can carry me on through life as a career. It would be a miracle even.

[Steve]

I can only pray that i can succeed in this business and it can carry me on through life as a career. It would be a miracle even.

Keep watch on your expenses and make sure you are bringing in more money than you are spending and over time you will grow. Don't doubt yourself. You can do this. Just take it step by step and don't allow yourself to get overwhelmed.