Hey y'all, I just joined the site today and thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Zach. I've been on lawnsite for about a year now, and I heard this site is very similar so I thought I'd join here, too. I had lots of experience cutting grass in high school, and gained a lot of knowledge about equipment brands and model numbers, especially with weed eaters and blowers. This was my first year full time, and my first year in Oklahoma, too. I'm originally from upper central California, which is bone dry, but the grass still grows almost year round, partly because people water their lawns more than average and also because we have 260 sunny days per year. Sunshine is essential for growth, just like water. I've also learned a lot from my first full time year mowing lawns, have gotten much quicker, and also learned a lot more about how to actually RUN a business. And although this season honestly sucked, because I was using an suv that broke down 3 times, and a small pickup truck that broke down at 39k miles, it wasn't a total loss. I met another guy in my town with 2 employees, 91 mowing accounts (a lot of big lawns, not just cookie cutter $45 push mow lawns), but he wants to do more spraying jobs. I'm gonna be a subcontractor for him next year, and he's already got me doing final mows and a leaf cleanup here and there. I also got my business up on Google my business so I'll see how many customers I get from that, along with the subcontracting. He also sold me his flatbed f250 gas burner which is already set up for mowing, with a ramp and weed eater rack on it, and a toolbox for gas cans. It has over 400k miles on it and no issues, except I'm gonna have to replace the front shocks on it next year because it has zero suspension. Plus, the tires are getting worn out, but I'm gonna replace those anyway because I'm not a fan of the wheels. It gets really bad gas mileage, but I don't care because route density and charging correctly are going to be my biggest things for next year, and I've already been working on that.
