Mario the Mower

[MARIO]

Hey guys, what's up? Just writing a little about myself. Well, this is my second season in lawn service and the business is growing faster than I imagined! I started this company because I was tired of working for other people. I was a heavy machines finish operator for about 4 years before this. I would work about 50-60 hrs. per week just to keep the kids in day care. I have three wonderful kids 2 boys and a baby girl and a great wife. They make me want to be the best in what I do, just so I can give them a good life. My wife has been in school for the past 4 years so it was pretty rough at times working a lot and day care. She got her licence for a practitioner's nurse. She started making serious cash. She suggested that it would be better if I would keep the kids at home to save up some money rather then spending an additional $900 a month on day care. I didn't mind taking care of the kids, but I missed working... I like to stay busy. I went to The Home Depot store and spent $500 on a push mower, weed whacker with attachable edger and a small gas blower. I had a truck already so I threw everything in the back, no trailer. I went to my local library and made a pretty cool flyer with an old man pushing a mower and a squirrel on his shoulder with palm trees in the background and a little man balancing a potted plant bigger then him. It was yellow with black lettering saying, Mario the Mower "Bringing Paradise to You" with a list of services and my phone number. I must of passed out over a thousand door to door that summer. When I got my first call I was so nervous and studdard all of my words I didn't know what to do or say. So started acting like there was a full schedule and told them I wouldn't be able to cut their grass until later that week. He said "yah, I know you guys are busy " so I went with it. When I got to his house his yard was a mess weeds every where, leaves, vines, flower beds totally covered with weeds. It was intimidating to me, I've never seen anything so bad before, I've always kept my yard some what decent... so I figured it would be easy to cut grass. Honestly I felt like running away. He said something about his knees that he had surgery and couldn't keep up with the lawn. So when I started, I just looked at it as if it were my yard and how I would like it to look. Man that place looked good when I was done with it. I ended up cutting that grass all summer long. Two seasons later my wife is continuing her education as an LPN graduating this April as a Registered Nurse and I'm really proud of her. We both came from nothing, her being a waitress and me trying to make $500 a week in construction(before tax). I'm very thankful for Gopherforum.com you guys are awesome! Sharing your knowledge and giving advice and inspiring those who want to make it!!http://mariothemower.webs.com

[Little's]

Lawn care business tips

Thanks for the intro Mario. Its nice to hear other peoples start up stories. Welcome to the forum!

__________________
Northern California

[Steve]

Hi Mario,

Welcome to our forum!

That is a fantastic story!

When you sit there and think about all you went through, what kind of advice do you have for the new start up lawn care business owners who don't have any customers yet and aren't getting much of a response from anyone?

What should they do? How can they keep their spirits up?

Good Luck to you MarioMowerMan. Great story!
Turfbuilder

[swstout]

My wife is a nurse also. She started as an LPN then got her RN and then her MSN. She now does private duty pediatric critical care and she is also a certified forensic nurse working for the SC State Police every other weekend.

We had 6 kids, 3 and 3. Our first born died of cancer (Wilm's Tumor) at age 17 days. The Navy doc's told us she could never conceive again. 5 years later we had twin girls, the another girl, and then 2 boys. We now have 14 grand kids. 13 girls and one boy!

Life will always fulfill your dreams is you work at life. And it looks like you are working at it. Good luck and keep up the good work

Steve