Looking to start!

[Roller]

I am a Police Officer here in Florida. As I write we are facing some pretty hefty pay cuts as well as some retirement benefits being taken away. As I have a family and am already living check to check I now stand to possibly loose everything. I was hopping to start a small lawn care business on the side.

I work afternoons so I would have almost all day to mow and maintain lawns. Is it feasible to think that a guy that hasn't mowed grass in 20 yrs would be able to jump on a mower and go. I know I need to do something to make ends meet but I am worried about getting in more debt with financing equipment. I have thought of working for a little while as a crew member getting trained and learning if this was something I could even do. However after reading post it seems like that would be frowned upon as I would then become competition.

I'm looking for some comments on how to get experience in the business before starting my own business from scratch with nothing and no experience.

 

[webuyanymower.com]

Hi
I have a very good friend here in the UK who was in the same position.

He started by working locally, cutting grass using the home owners mower so he did not need to purchase or lease any equipment. This kept his overhead low.

He would sell in extra services such as scarifying, fertilizing etc. he would bank up a couple of weeks of scarifying work and hire the equipment. Because this is seasonal maintenance there is no point in buying the equipment needed just to have it sat around for 11 months of the year.

Over the next few months he gained a good level of regular customers and had a steady amount of work in front of him, he then purchased a used John Deere mower off of eBay, then a brush cutter, hedge cutter and leaf blower in total he spent less than $1000. This was enough kit for him to be able to start to take on larger jobs. At the end of the first season he won a contract to cut the grass of a local nursing home so he purchased a used lawn tractor $750.

Out of season he does stump grinding, again saving up three or four weeks worth of work and hiring in the grinder.

Three years later he has six staff and is still growing

I guess the key to his success was: start small- start local- save up the specialist/seasonal work and hire in the kit.

As far as training goes common sense will get you a long way and of course there is a wealth of knowledge available on line.

Just remember your reputation is only as good as your last job, but having said that you can make a nice living out of it.

I hope this is of some help

Good luck.

 

[benski]

The business model of the fellow in the U.K. in post #2 looks like a good one. Expand as the demand goes up, and leave enough room to buy gas for the stuff you already own:wink::biggrin:.