It is relatively easy to start your own business of lawn care on a shoe string budget. In fact, you can use your credit card to fund your new business. However, before you do that, you need to have some basic understanding of the lawn care unit.
1. Depending on the season
Lawn is a seasonal business. The period of main business is usually from April to October. This is subject to the climate of the place where you operate. During the spring season, you must start your aggressive marketing department to gather enough customers to you last summer. In the fall, you should be preparing for winter lawns and doing other tasks such as raking leaves. If you have delinquent accounts, it is also a good time to start collecting them. Winter is considered a time out for lawn care, but you can consider offering additional services such as snow removal to keep the cash coming in.
2. Types of Services
If you are just starting out and working alone, you may want to offer only basic maintenance such as lawn mowing, edging and trimming. Once you have a regular customer base and are more competent in planning your schedule, you may want to offer additional services such as cropping and bush cover. It is also a good time to bring in a business partner to help share the workload and possibly expand your customer base.
If you are considering applying with chemicals for weed and pest control as an additional service, make sure you get the right certification before announcing. The lawn care and maintenance is a highly regulated one and you just need certification before you are allowed to handle hazardous materials industry.
3. Equipment
Keep your lawn care equipment in top shape. This means that you need to clean the mower blades at the end of each day. You can also use a wheel to keep your blades sharp.
To extend life of your engine mower, use a weight balance. It will also reduce the chance of you developing white finger, which is a form of the disease, occurring in people who frequently work with vibrating machinery.
You also have to change the air and oil filter your lawn regularly to reduce engine wear and improve performance.
4. Security
Needless to say, you should take precautions when working. When you work with your mower or handling of hazardous materials, you must wear gloves and safety glasses. Since mowing will be a big part of your duty to lawn, consider wearing a pair of earplugs to protect your ears from the noise of the mower. Never put your hand in the discharge chute or turn the mower when it is in operational mode.
As most are gas mowers, make sure your mower has spark to prevent the possibility of a fire when working in a sector that is experiencing drought. Another thing to remember is to let the mower cool completely before you gas up.
5. Competition
Consult your competitors before starting your business. You can check the yellow pages to see what type of services they offer. Take note of their promotion techniques too. You may be able to offer an additional service that your competitors do not have. However, try not to get into a price war, because it would hurt your business and profits in the short-term survival.
Just like any business, you will face many challenges in the process of building your lawn care business from scratch. Be confident and believe in yourself. Evaluate and make minor improvements to you and your business every day. Soon you have a lawn care that you can be proud company.
1. Depending on the season
Lawn is a seasonal business. The period of main business is usually from April to October. This is subject to the climate of the place where you operate. During the spring season, you must start your aggressive marketing department to gather enough customers to you last summer. In the fall, you should be preparing for winter lawns and doing other tasks such as raking leaves. If you have delinquent accounts, it is also a good time to start collecting them. Winter is considered a time out for lawn care, but you can consider offering additional services such as snow removal to keep the cash coming in.
2. Types of Services
If you are just starting out and working alone, you may want to offer only basic maintenance such as lawn mowing, edging and trimming. Once you have a regular customer base and are more competent in planning your schedule, you may want to offer additional services such as cropping and bush cover. It is also a good time to bring in a business partner to help share the workload and possibly expand your customer base.
If you are considering applying with chemicals for weed and pest control as an additional service, make sure you get the right certification before announcing. The lawn care and maintenance is a highly regulated one and you just need certification before you are allowed to handle hazardous materials industry.
3. Equipment
Keep your lawn care equipment in top shape. This means that you need to clean the mower blades at the end of each day. You can also use a wheel to keep your blades sharp.
To extend life of your engine mower, use a weight balance. It will also reduce the chance of you developing white finger, which is a form of the disease, occurring in people who frequently work with vibrating machinery.
You also have to change the air and oil filter your lawn regularly to reduce engine wear and improve performance.
4. Security
Needless to say, you should take precautions when working. When you work with your mower or handling of hazardous materials, you must wear gloves and safety glasses. Since mowing will be a big part of your duty to lawn, consider wearing a pair of earplugs to protect your ears from the noise of the mower. Never put your hand in the discharge chute or turn the mower when it is in operational mode.
As most are gas mowers, make sure your mower has spark to prevent the possibility of a fire when working in a sector that is experiencing drought. Another thing to remember is to let the mower cool completely before you gas up.
5. Competition
Consult your competitors before starting your business. You can check the yellow pages to see what type of services they offer. Take note of their promotion techniques too. You may be able to offer an additional service that your competitors do not have. However, try not to get into a price war, because it would hurt your business and profits in the short-term survival.
Just like any business, you will face many challenges in the process of building your lawn care business from scratch. Be confident and believe in yourself. Evaluate and make minor improvements to you and your business every day. Soon you have a lawn care that you can be proud company.
