I agree with Ric, the key to getting past your first year is maintain a VERY high standard and quality to your final product, as well as offer cheeper prices than your more seasoned competitor. Pride yourself on your work and DONT skimp on crappy equipment...it will fail and then force you out of business. If your serious enough, and you have faith in yourself, then get a loan and get good equipment to start. Use software like Jobber or Lawn pro to schedule and maintain your clients, offer amenities like accepting credit cards and maintain a very good profile with lots of positive reviews.
It's not easy putting together a quality lawn care company, some of us may make it look easy, but it takes an absurd amount of hard work!