I've been swamped with work!

[Little's]

Well these last few weeks I have been completely covered with work. I have picked up several new yard accounts, plus 6 tree removal jobs at about $700 each (average). I have picked up 3 brush clearing jobs. One at $600, one at $1900, and another at $4250. Though the bigger job is a barter for laser skin treatment. My wife will be have a couple small tattoos removed, and have hair removed. No she's not a hairy woman, haha, but she will be able to have all the hair removed from her legs, underarms, bikini area, upper lip, etc. It's my gift to her (and to myself too, lol) The laser business owners are friends of ours and I have done a lot of work for them in the past. Their son is in my Cub Scout den, and they are wonderful people. Plus they keep me busy, so I always do an extra good job for them. By the way the temps hit 99 degrees today! Whew, wasnt ready for that!

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Northern California

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Brandon, That is great news! Can you give us your advice on how you stay busy? What should other lawn care business owners be doing or thinking about in order to get back on track? Especially if they recently got started?

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[swstout]

Originally Posted by Little's

Well these last few weeks I have been completely covered with work. I have picked up several new yard accounts, plus 6 tree removal jobs at about $700 each (average). I have picked up 3 brush clearing jobs. One at $600, one at $1900, and another at $4250.
Though the bigger job is a barter for laser skin treatment. My wife will be have a couple small tattoos removed, and have hair removed. No she's not a hairy woman, haha, but she will be able to have all the hair removed from her legs, underarms, bikini area, upper lip, etc. It's my gift to her (and to myself too, lol)
The laser business owners are friends of ours and I have done a lot of work for them in the past. Their son is in my Cub Scout den, and they are wonderful people. Plus they keep me busy, so I always do an extra good job for them.

By the way the temps hit 99 degrees today! Whew, wasnt ready for that!

Another Boy Scout! I was a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout ,A sea Scout, and and Expolore Scout. Life is good.

Have you ever beeninvolved with Little League? When my oldest son wanted to join Little League he wasn't chosen. The coaches wanted only past super stars. I and another father formed another team. We obtained the Chamber of Commerce as our sponsorr. A team of untested players went undefeated for the season!

The other teams (akin to businesses) greatly under estimated the compitition!

99 degrees! I'm sorry!

Steve

[Little's]

Well, Most of my work comes from repeat business and referrals. Most of my new business comes from craigslist. I have never spent any money on advertising, except business cards. I have a theory that once you start paying for advertising, you will need to keep paying to keep the work flow coming, so Ive tried to avoid it from day one.

I would suggest just putting yourself out there, and never turn down an opportunity to talk about work with someone. I have started up conversations with MANY people about what I do, and the next thing I knew I was giving a bid to them, or someone they knew.

So I guess, talk, talk, talk, and put yourself out there. Let everyone know what you are doing, and don't be afraid to ask someone if they need something done. A lot of the same things you Steve have been saying.

[swstout]

Originally Posted by Little's

Well, Most of my work comes from repeat business and referrals. Most of my new business comes from craigslist. I have never spent any money on advertising, except business cards. I have a theory that once you start paying for advertising, you will need to keep paying to keep the work flow coming, so Ive tried to avoid it from day one.

I would suggest just putting yourself out there, and never turn down an opportunity to talk about work with someone. I have started up conversations with MANY people about what I do, and the next thing I knew I was giving a bid to them, or someone they knew.

So I guess, talk, talk, talk, and put yourself out there. Let everyone know what you are doing, and don't be afraid to ask someone if they need something done. A lot of the same things you Steve have been saying.

I thank you for the support. I feel most people think they have all the answers! They don't even know the questions. Talk is cheap! Constant improvement requires analysing the answers to questions.

Steve

[Steve]

I have never spent any money on advertising, except business cards. I have a theory that once you start paying for advertising, you will need to keep paying to keep the work flow coming, so Ive tried to avoid it from day one.

Brandon this is very insightful.

What I really am wondering is how can we put this into a time frame perspective. Does this apply to the new start up? Does this apply to a business that has a firm foundation? Or what is your view?

Do you feel this theory has paid off only after a certain stage of business life or is this always in play?

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

Brandon:

That's great news, indeed.

I thought about you as I was writing a recent blog entry. I had a tall pine tree that was leaning toward a neighbor's house. Since I wasn't comfortable cutting it as it would have fallen directly on their home, I hired a tree service.

The experience opened my eyes to our lawn customers' decision making processes and how we can take advantage of a few simple selling techniques.

If interested, you can read the post here:

How to get lawn care companies: a view from the other side.

BTW, I still want to visit you some year and hit Mt. Shasta...I still remember that photo you sent.

Keith

[Little's]

Anytime you are heading this way, let me know. There is some amazing, God proving things to be seen out this way!