Almost give up?

[Steve]

As we read all the different happenings that go on with small businesses on the forum, it seems to me at any one of these moments, a business owner could throw their hands up in the air and say I GIVE UP! Did you eve have such a moment when you were getting started and how did you get passed that moment?

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[swstout]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by Steve As we read all the different happenings that go on with small businesses on the forum, it seems to me at any one of these moments, a business owner could throw their hands up in the air and say I GIVE UP! Did you eve have such a moment when you were getting started and how did you get passed that moment? I've been through a lot in my life. I didn't give up The death of my first child - I didn't give up made 5 more POW for 14 months - I didn't give up Almost filed for bankruptsy - I didn't give up. I worked through it Went back to school at 50 - I didn't give up. Earned my BS Lived through many depressions - I didn't give up. Things always got betteer Been shot twice Sure, I've had down times - many of them - but that's life. I never even dreamed that they wouldn't get better. If you think you are going to fail, you will. If you know you're going to survive, you will. Build on your past successes and realize you make mistakes so you can learn from them. Steve

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[CHEESE2009]

Originally Posted by swstout

I've been through a lot in my life. I didn't give up

• The death of my first child - I didn't give up made 5 more
• POW for 14 months - I didn't give up
• Almost filed for bankruptsy - I didn't give up. I worked through it
• Went back to school at 50 - I didn't give up. Earned my BS
• Lived through many depressions - I didn't give up. Things always got betteer
• Been shot twice

Sure, I've had down times - many of them - but that's life. I never even dreamed that they wouldn't get better. If you think you are going to fail, you will. If you know you're going to survive, you will. Build on your past successes and realize you make mistakes so you can learn from them.

Steve

That is what I call inspiration!

The only time I feel useless is when everyone turns against me because I'm too preoccupied with trying to make something of myself. People get in my way & waste my time, & I end up lashing out at them believing they are not even on my list of priorities, and in fact my only priority is business.

It's like I've gotten used to having a lashing out attitude, trying to make people be more productive instead of interfere with my life. I've given the girlfriend a good shout about how our silly little problems aren't worth my time & that slowing me down will keep us from a nice future (she has yet to understand this). I also seem to say things to many friends like,
"If your not here to work, I don't have time for you" which I agree is horrible, but it's necessary.

I have nothing to lose but the hope in owning a successful business, everything else can fall apart. In my mind, once the business is doing well, I will give a damn about everything else.

Originally Posted by BREEZE2009

I have nothing to lose but the hope in owning a successful business, everything else can fall apart. In my mind, once the business is doing well, I will give a damn about everything else.

I don't think I agree with this philosophy but perhaps I am not understanding what you are trying to say. My personal opinion is that family and friends need to come first. And family and friends, if they are true friends, will help you along. We probably all have those who use to much of our time, but then I have to ask, are they true friends? I think of my friends as people who I want by my side through the thick and thin. I personally believe that if I have no time for them now, I will never want to have time for them. Because if I wait to have time for them until I am successful then I will think that the only reason they want to be my friend then is because they want to mooch off me. And to top it off, at what point do you say "I am successful enough to have time for my friends?" Just my personal opinion.....

Eli

[CHEESE2009]

Originally Posted by SuperiorPower

I don't think I agree with this philosophy but perhaps I am not understanding what you are trying to say. My personal opinion is that family and friends need to come first. And family and friends, if they are true friends, will help you along. We probably all have those who use to much of our time, but then I have to ask, are they true friends? I think of my friends as people who I want by my side through the thick and thin. I personally believe that if I have no time for them now, I will never want to have time for them. Because if I wait to have time for them until I am successful then I will think that the only reason they want to be my friend then is because they want to mooch off me. And to top it off, at what point do you say "I am successful enough to have time for my friends?" Just my personal opinion.....

Eli

One day, I plan to be a short old balding rich man with attitude. Lol

Well it's something I really can't help, It's my mindset unfortunately. I'd love to say friends & family come first, but if they aren't supporting me the way I need, I have to wear the struggling business attitude until I can be comfortable with failure & have experience & skill to grow out of a slump. Once I'm there, is when other things will matter.

Wow, writing all this makes me look like a complete ******* lol.
I still go about hanging out & being a person when I can, but once I need to get moving is when I get strict.

An Old Proverb goes like this: "A failure is not the man that falls, but the man that falls and dont get back up!"
not sure who wrote that but my father told me that once years ago and it stuck. So I knew i did not want to be a failure, so every time i fall i get back up, brush myself off, and go at it again.

[jasonw]

Originally Posted by BREEZE2009

Wow, writing all this makes me look like a complete ******* lol.
I still go about hanging out & being a person when I can, but once I need to get moving is when I get strict.

Agreed. It is my personal opinion that as soon as anything gets between family or gets put before family you have failed in your ultimate business. But thats just me. Different strokes for different folks.

[jasonw]

Originally Posted by VPS Lawn Care

An Old Proverb goes like this: "A failure is not the man that falls, but the man that falls and dont get back up!"
not sure who wrote that but my father told me that once years ago and it stuck. So I knew i did not want to be a failure, so every time i fall i get back up, brush myself off, and go at it again.

I believe you are referring to rom 24:16 "For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity."

Also reminds me of Archimedes "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."

[Fresh Cut]

It was about 3 weeks before Mothers day, I was helping another guy cut down a tree. It was the last day we were working on it and we were cleaning up. We finished about 6:30pm.

I had gotten a message earlier from my aunt that lives about 30 minutes away saying that she couldn't get her lawn mower started and wanted the grass cut. I told her I'd come out and get it done when I finished up on the tree.

So once I was finished I jumped in my truck and flew out there, 30 minutes, mind you. I was rushing because I was running short on daylight. I got there and started right on the yard, didn't even talk about how much.

Well, about 15 minutes into cutting I ran across a real thick area and my tensioner fell apart. The bearings in it weren't greased and went everywhere. So I spent another 10-15 minutes trying to get her push mower started. Finally, it started and I finished the front yard with it.
By this time it's dark and I can't edge with my trimmer in the dark, so I load everything back up.

She asks how much she owes me, I say, "how much can you afford?" She says, "all I have is $24." Pause...

Now I know y'all don't know, but my family, most of 'em, are selfish as hell. She lives in a $200k house that she and her husband just bought last August and can't keep the grass cut.


I told her that I would charge her $75 to do it on a regular basis, then I went down to $65.

The first thing that came out her mouth was, "What happened to the family discount?"
I said, "What happened to supporting family when they are trying to do something?"
I proceeded to ask her how much her house cost. She said, "what difference does that make? It doesn't matter."
I said, "It does matter, because when I went to real estate school they taught us how to estimate the cost of home maintenance into the cost of a home. If you or your agent didn't do that then you or they did you an injustice."

I then told her that I'd charge about $120 for a yard her size, front and back, if it was anybody else. She said, "$120?! " Mind you, I didn't do the back this time, because it was already dark.

Her husband came home in a Jaguar while I was in the middle of trying to get her push mower started. We spoke, he watched for a minute and went in the house.

I just got the $24 and got the hell on. The following business day, I had to go to the lawn equipment store to get a tensioner and spring, it came up to $43. Now, I thought to myself, "I didn't even make enough to cover gas to and from her house, I broke my walk behind mower, and didn't make enough to buy the parts I need to stay in business. Stuff like this bothers me to no end.

This is what I come from


Then a few weeks later I was in her area doing an estimate for somebody else and decided to do her yard on my way back in. Nobody was home, she's a teacher. I did the front no problem, edged it up like a surgeon, then opened the door to the back yard and it's waist high. I'm 6'2" and her grass was WAIST HIGH. So I dig in, starting w/ my trimmer. 3.5 minutes into her back yard I decided I don't have the time to do it all and run the risk of possibly breaking my walk behind again. She has a wooden privacy fence around back yard, so I'm just going to trim all the way around the inside of the fence. I spent 30 minutes doing that, it was work y'all.

After I trimmed, I loaded and left. She didn't call me, I didn't call her.


I get a call a few weeks later asking if I'll cut it her back yard. She said, "somebody already did the front, I think my husband got somebody to it. I said, "I was just out there and did the front and trimmed the back."

The first thing out of her mouth wasn't "Thank you", or "Oh really, I appreciate that", it was "why didn't you do the back yard?!

I told her, "I really didn't have the time to cut any more free grass that day." We talked some more and I basically told her $60 to cut her back yard. She tried to jew me down to $40, I wasn't going for it. I told her I'm not doing it. Haven't talked to her since.

[majoe7]

freshcut,
All I can say is WOW!!!!!!