Guys, you need to get into this!

[swstout]

Originally Posted by turfmaster I am excited to get started. There are only 5 organic lawn care company's within 2 counties in my area! None of them use Nature's Magic and some of them don't even spray. Turf Another product you spray is Nematodes. www.arbico-organics.com/nematodes Check them out also Steve

__________________

[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by tomustang That is where I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. if they aint doing it themselves they got someone doing it for them and it's more than a 5 years. My market here is almost tapped, but I'm still trying There are so many services one can offer the homeowner beyond lawn mowing and make a killing at it isn't funny. I started my research in September of last year, started buying equipment in January when things were slow as I knew I could get good pricing, I did a five year business plan, just for my own reference as I financed the company myself and launched it in April of this year. I am on the revenue side almost at the end of year two and I am shocked, lawn mowing represents about 2 percent of our revenue. I keep an eye on clients property, keep the staff well informed and listen to feedback, we talk about things clients want, some do not interest me, many do. If we hear a request for the same thing 3 or 4 times, I offer the service and see what happens, if it's positive I buy the equipment, it works every time. We have two more offerings on hold as we can't keep up with the services we are offering now, the latest was pressure washing, bought a commercial unit last Friday, bought another Sunday and have to buy another tomorrow. I simply sent an email to our 137 clients we have done work for plus 2,300 woodworking clients and the demand is through the roof. For some reason roto tilling is going nuts the past few days and they are very large jobs, I tilled 5 acres tonight for one client for $590.00, took me 2 1/2 hours, aside from the equipment I only used $2.90 worth of fuel. Anyhow try other services, many do not cost much to get into. I was asked today by the Manager of Public works for the city if we were going to offer graffiti removal as they have a few weeks worth of work for someone as they can't find a provider....long story short, I have ordered the attachments for the sprayers to allow us to do this. Good Luck, been another 15 hour day, I am dead tired. Andy

[swstout]

When Andy speaks, I listen! He has not steered me wrong yet. I don't just read his posts, I digest them! What I learned from him prompted me to take out this add in the Home Show section of out local paper due out tomorrow (normally comes out on Monday but today was a holliday)

Why we went green

Synthetic lawn chemicals i.e. herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers endanger human and animal health and damage the environment. Scientific studies have found numerous negative health consequences associated with the synthetic chemicals found in traditional lawn care products. A report by the National Academy of Sciences shows that the health of 1 in 7 people are negatively impacted in some form by lawn pesticides; numerous studies link lawn chemicals to cancers and other long-term diseases; several studies also link exposure to artificial lawn chemicals to an increased risk of cancer and other health problems in pets. Children are especially at risk for negative health consequences due to their size, physiological development and proximity to the ground. Studies from Yale University, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and several others point to children’s health risks associated with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Synthetic pesticides and fertilizers destroy the naturally present beneficial organisms in a healthy lawn’s ecosystem making it biologically sterile. This destruction then transforms your lawn into an increasingly needy "junkie,"requiring more and more chemicals to sustain it. A green lawn does not mean a healthy lawn! In addition, up to 60 percent of synthetic nitrogen applied to lawns ends up contaminating ground water.

Even though going Green meant purchasing new equipment, costly employee training, enhanced application and mixing methods, and a companywide culture change, we went Green May 1st.

Our products actually build soil (Humus) over time. One gallon of our soil-conditioning product is the equivalent of seven tons of manure. Our products contain beneficial microbes, 30+ vitamins and nutrients, plant growth hormones, and are all 100% biodegradable. Our products help Nature help Nature. A healthy turf is weed free, disease free, utilizes water more efficiently, and increases home value with greater curb appeal.

We are extensively trained, licensed, insured, and ready to serve. We give free estimates and consultations to residential and commercial clients, offer active duty military family and senior citizen discounts.

Stout Services Lawn Care Plus
(843) 639-5229

Http://www.swstout.com
information@swstout.com

The ad hasn't even come out yet but I have 3 calls from the paper's employees. If it was not for Andy I would not have taken the chance and spent the big bucks and taken the chance.

My excitement is growing by the hour. Tomorrow will tell. Forecast is for thundarstorms so I should be able to monitor it starting in the afternoon.

I did three tilling jobs last week on lots with more sand than grass and rolled, sprayed, and seeded them. Received 5 calls from my lawn signs left on them.

I hope soon to be at Andy's point; more work than I can handle. Added one more truch last week and planning to add another next week.

Follow Andy's lead and then become a leader yourself. The leader of lawn care in your area!

Steve

This is the ad I placed today for next Monday's Home Show Insert of our local paper.

Why we went green

Synthetic lawn chemicals i.e. herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers endanger human and animal health and damage the environment. Scientific studies have found numerous negative health consequences associated with the synthetic chemicals found in traditional lawn care products. A report by the National Academy of Sciences shows that the health of 1 in 7 people are negatively impacted in some form by lawn pesticides; numerous studies link lawn chemicals to cancers and other long-term diseases; several studies also link exposure to artificial lawn chemicals to an increased risk of cancer and other health problems in pets. Children are especially at risk for negative health consequences due to their size, physiological development and proximity to the ground. Studies from Yale University, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and several others point to children’s health risks associated with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Synthetic pesticides and fertilizers destroy the naturally present beneficial organisms in a healthy lawn’s ecosystem making it biologically sterile. This destruction then transforms your lawn into an increasingly needy "junkie,"requiring more and more chemicals to sustain it. A green lawn does not mean a healthy lawn! In addition, up to 60 percent of synthetic nitrogen applied to lawns ends up contaminating ground water.

Even though going Green meant purchasing new equipment, costly employee training, enhanced application and mixing methods, and a companywide culture change, we went Green May 1st.

Our products actually build soil (Humus) over time. One gallon of our soil-conditioning product is the equivalent of seven tons of manure. Our products contain beneficial microbes, 30+ vitamins and nutrients, plant growth hormones, and are all 100% biodegradable. Our products help Nature help Nature. A healthy turf is weed free, disease free, utilizes water more efficiently, and increases home value with greater curb appeal.

We are extensively trained, licensed, insured, and ready to serve. We give free estimates and consultations to residential and commercial clients, offer active duty military family and senior citizen discounts.

Stout Services Lawn Care Plus
(843) 639-5229

Http://www.swstout.com
information@swstout.com

[picframer]

Hey Steve,

Hadn't been to your website before, man you did a bang up job!!!

Something you may be doing but if not here is a tip, because I offer so many services I had a massive list of keywords, more than 20 on the home page, in my experience is not favored by the search engines, so what I did was spread the keywords over every page we have within the site and it's working.

The past three or four days people have been telling me they have been looking and searching for xxxxx service and stumbled across our website by accident, well they call it accident but they finally searched a word that was more specific.

Something else I do, I would guess 40% of our work is in subdivisions where the homes are very close, the other 60% is very large properties, I had a professional sign made for the side of the trucks & trailers that has suction cups that hold it in place, at the bottom is a holder for our post cards (I have to get rid of them somehow as mail drops aren't working) Basically the sign reads You Don't Have A Pen???? Stop by here for a free flyer on our company, check out our company and if you see something that interests you, give us a call, As always estimates are free" It's pretty big lettering and a bright green on a white background, it is working.

Some of the crews are on a site for most of the day, this would be the construction side, people are out and about, take a post card, I know from feed back or comments they are going home, visit the site, go back out to see if we are still around, ask if we can come over, staff take the client name, telephone number and what they are interested in and email it to me on the spot, I call the customer within 30 min and set up an appointment, we receive a tremendous amount of positive feedback on how we are using technology as the prompt replies and calls have won us a pile of business.

We are looking at adding another truck next week also, this will be #5, I am buying Rangers that were leased, most are two years old, low mileage and I am getting them in the $10,000 range. The only issue I am having is no room and a lot of the equipment is out elsewhere, need to take some time to clear trees on the property and make a parking lot, this winter will be an issue as this stuff should be under cover and a garage is not in the budget, I am basically reinvesting every cent of product in tools and equipment, balance sheet sure looks amazing

Andy

[swstout]

Originally Posted by picframer

Hey Steve,

Hadn't been to your website before, man you did a bang up job!!!

Something you may be doing but if not here is a tip, because I offer so many services I had a massive list of keywords, more than 20 on the home page, in my experience is not favored by the search engines, so what I did was spread the keywords over every page we have within the site and it's working.Andy

Thanks Andy,

My site is a work in progress. I am constantly updating/changing it. I use primary R&D. That's Rob and Dupliccate! When searching the web, competitors sites, suppliers sites I try to take notes on what catches my eye try to incorporate it into my site.

As for keywords, here is this mornings results for Google for the Hartsvill SC area searches:

Organic Lawn care 2-4
Lawn Care 1-5
Natural Insect Control 1, 4-5
Nematoes 2-3
Lawn mowing 1-4
All Natural Insect Control 1-3
Flowering Hedges and Fences 1,3-4,6
Organic Mosquito Control 3-4,6
Chemical Free Mosquito Control 1,3-4
Natural Aeration 1
Nateral Dethatching 1,3-5
Soil Conditioning 1-4
Organic Soil Conditioning 1-2

Yahoo and MSN results are in line with Google

I am concentrating on my local area so a little goes a long way. I spent a month building search engine ratings. I am happy with these results and am spending time marketing and finding new services that profitably fit in with what I am already doing rather than building search engine rtings. When things slow down, I probably will resume the rating quest.

Steve

[Tiley]

Hey Steve,

You've got me interested in this. I was just wondering if your $24 per 1000sq price was for one spraying or if that included multiple sprayings.

Thanks!

[swstout]

Originally Posted by Tiley

Hey Steve,

You've got me interested in this. I was just wondering if your $24 per 1000sq price was for one spraying or if that included multiple sprayings.

Thanks!

That is for each spraying (Nature's Magic, Fertilizer, and dethatcher). All three are mixed and done together. For Insect guard, I get $18 per 1,000 sq ft.

I give discounts for larger lots. 8k to 10k - 2.5%, 10k to 15k - 5%, 15K - 20K - 7.5%, 20k - 25k - 10%, 25K+ - 12.5%. I also give customers referral bonuses. Either a WalMart or Lowe's gift card. 1 referral = $10, 2 = $20, 3 = $30, 4 = $50, and 5 = $100. Many are going for the $100 cards. It works!

Steve

[XtreemGreen]

Hey Steve,

Do you know how the fertilizer would do on our southern turf and mostly sand soil?

chinch bugs are very common problem down here..
Do you need a license for fert, mosquito spraying etc...? Or is it all considered "food"?

[XtreemGreen]

Steve... Turn on your PM's... I have an idea for you..

[swstout]

Originally Posted by XtreemGreen

Hey Steve,

Do you know how the fertilizer would do on our southern turf and mostly sand soil?

chinch bugs are very common problem down here..
Do you need a license for fert, mosquito spraying etc...? Or is it all considered "food"?

I am in South Carolina which is mostly sand and it works great here. The Nature's Lawn products actually build humus (the living part of the soil). Here most lawns have at best 3/4" humus. Nature's Magic, Aerify, and biological dethatcher gives new life to the humus layer and has remarkable results.

No license required100% safe

Steve