private forum

[dpld]

i for the life of me can not see any benefit there would be in a field as competetive as landscaping where a "private forum" would be of any use. the only guys willing to share company information with other businesses are newbies. no established company is going to offer start up advice or give pricing info or methodology to a potential competitor. it is a fact of life and you might as well show them your client list while your at it and give them a atm card with a pin number from your account as well. secondly, we are not considered professionals by the population at large and that professional mumbo jumbo is only mentioned at seminars and expos. to the general population we are considered lawn monkeys and in their mind this is what you do when you failed at getting a education and a real job. it is not the way i veiw myself or others but it is the way most people outside the trade do. the only real difference between a big guy and a little guy is how big their business is and how organized they are and how much money they make and how many people they hire and how much equipment they have. the way i see it i am driving down the road with a couple hundred thousand dollars of equipment and all my employees and pumping out 50 g's a month but in the end of the day outside of volume and being in business for my 23rd year i am no different then the guy going around with a push mower in a station wagon. his mower cuts grass and so does mine and regardless of how long it takes either to do the job, the job gets done. when it is all said and done you can not command any more money for the lawn. every level of business has it's pro's and con's and i remember when i was younger and starting out i used to think that when i finally had the amount of work i have and make the money i make now that i would be on easy street and sure i am making a good living but easy street it is not as well as i have far more things to worry about and cause me grief. there is 10 times the pressure to keep things going and keep your employees busy as well as more things to break and repair. when i was little and i was cutting the grass and doing most of the work nothing ever broke and even though i physically worked harder things went so much smoother. now you got to keep up with your customers, equipment as well as always put fires out with your employee's and deal with all their personallity disorders. when you have multiple employee's thing break more often as well as disappear more often and even though you can limit that it requires your time and constant attention that all adds up to one more thing to do each day on top of the already many things to do. as far as a private forum is concerned it really don't matter and if it means that much to you to be concerned about people seeing what you say then maybe you should sign up again for the forum with a different name other then your business name. it really is that easy. the people i work for have far better and more important things to do in their lives then stalk their landscaper on the world wide web who they already think is beneath them and worry about what is being said about them. my customers will do a background check and a credit check if they are that concerned and as long as they feel you are not america's most wanted or in dire straits financially where they have to worry about you robbing them and you do good work that is all they care about.

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Last edited by dpld; 06-25-2012 at 08:18 AM.

[willshome]

Lawn care business tips

dpld, I understand thinking letting others knowing your "pricing info or methodology" is a problem but they can just have a friend call for a quote. I think talking to others and helping them understand the cost of doing business only helps all of us. I don't mind losing a job to someone trying to make a real living but to someone charging $15 an hour is like having my job shipped to china

__________________
Brockton Lawn Care
Easton Lawn Care
Fall Cleanup Brockton

[CHEESE2009]

To get back on track,

Some people believe privacy isn't an issue, and that our clients could care less about what we post.

Others would much rather not have their companies linked to this forum at all, and I don't need to explain why.

We can do our best to refrain from posting our information - but that would defeat the purpose of this forum. We need to post our material, and we often need second opinions on just about everything. Most importantly, we need a place to bi7ch and complain, because it's loads of fun to do!

"Your clients wouldn't care" is a slack solution.


Most forum members care about what their clients are capable of seeing, regardless if the chance is very low. Google absorbs everything, searching for your company name could show related posts you've made on this site, or even images you've uploaded.

I am going to predict the next pieces of conversation on this thread;

Nancy: "Well the poster should have known better".

My response to that: "Blow me, a lot of people are unaware of how the web works."

Nancy: "Well they should of learned how the web works, and not be such an idiot."

My response to that: "You are being rather pretentious. Some people take pride in knowing bits of information and actually decide to belittle everyone else who has no idea.. we can assume this person has a small penis.

Nancy: Only new business owners, or idiots would have something to hide.

My response to that: Get the f'k outta here. Seriously?

-



-

Every time I post, I am taking a risk. Because I love you all <3

[CHEESE2009]

For example.

I have nowhere to post half naked photos of 'friend'.

You have to resort to this



Privacy would be nice, no?

[dpld]

Originally Posted by willshome

dpld,
I understand thinking letting others knowing your "pricing info or methodology" is a problem but they can just have a friend call for a quote. I think talking to others and helping them understand the cost of doing business only helps all of us.
I don't mind losing a job to someone trying to make a real living but to someone charging $15 an hour is like having my job shipped to china

it is not really a question of wanting to share information or not i don't really care about that.
the answers to what to charge are right there for anyone with business sense to figure out.
operating costs are the determining factor in what to charge and my information as to what my cost are and what determines my price is useless for anyone else.
what i mean is that i have 8 employee's plus myself and with all the equipment and insurance and payroll and taxes all add up to a different number then a guy with 20 employees or just by himself.

we can all charge the same rate that the market will bare and we do but how we use that and convert that to your own particular situation varies greatly.

lets say you charge 60.00 per hour labor rate per man and you go do something by yourself and i charge the same but have my 8 employees and myself.
you price the lawn for 60.00 and it takes you a hour you did well, you worked a hour and got payed your rate a hour.
in my situation i obviously with the large crew will get things done lickity split but i have to and a 60.00 lawn needs to be done in like 7 minutes.

i know it is not the best of examples because i do commercial work and would not be sending 8 guys to cut a sixty dollar lawn.

with all that said, i would always be willing to help someone and offer advice and give them the information they need to figure it out but there are some things you just don't talk about.
money is generally a private thing, it is just like when you work somewhere and someone says " hey what is the boss paying you per hour? " it is none of your business.

this forum and forums just like it are very usefull and provide a good means for guys in the trade to talk shop, vent frustrations, equipment issues, plant health care issues and general business talk. but some things in life you got to figure out for yourself and there are no free passes and the sometimes horrible experiences of pricing poorly need to be lived in order to make your business strong and prosper.
plus, to top it off we are all over the country and canada on this forum and the costs of insurance's and taxes and regulations from region to region as well as what each regions market will bare vary so greatly all our numbers would not jive anyway.

[Hedgemaster]

"Talk shop" sometimes includes things that may not be obscene, yet may not be viewd favorably by someone on the "outside".

I could give two sh!ts about "trade secrets", but it would be nice to have a place to speak freely, without concern for who may be listening.

I like you guys and would like to "hang out" and tell you about the lady in the bikini top, but that just wouldn't be acceptable to some people - even if I said it without being crude.

[CHEESE2009]

If she spat in my food, does that mean we kissed?

[CHEESE2009]

Originally Posted by WorkForMySelf

Yes and you now have hepatitis without even getting to the fun part.

It's kind of like having super powers, powers to make other people ill.

Optimism at its best!

[WeekendWarriorLawn]

yes, we need a private area in these forums. just one forum thats not indexed by google. just one portion of the site.


people who want to post in it can. others who dont, dont have to.

i bet it would take right off though. no doubt.

[Shark1611]

Originally Posted by WeekendWarriorLawn

we need a private forum around here. this way people can't look up our company names on search engines and find us posting here.


otherwise, are we able to change our ID or cancel the ID and start a new one?

I agree. I asked the same question about a year ago. Glad I am not alone.