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I have been looking at opening a lawn care business to supplement my income. I currently work for a grain elevator. My work week schedule can easily afford me to operate a small "part time" business. Schedule is three days on and three days off. I have been reading a lot of literature and speaking to several people already in this field. Most are telling me to get started, however some are telling me to stay away because it is a very costly business that will take years to show a profit. So at this point, I'm still on the fence. So, what can some of your pros share with me?

Thanks,
budspop

The 'nice' thing about this type business... You can start as large or small as you can afford...
Do a great job & people will help you grow...

Treat your customers like You would like to be treated and if you enjoy outdoor work & people ... you should do well...
Don't try to buy your way into a business that you should grow your way into....
Your situation sounds ideal for a "build from scratch" business... :smile:KennyV

There's special forum on LMF devoted to people who mow for a living. Click Here.

Budspop said:

I have been looking at opening a lawn care business to supplement my income. I currently work for a grain elevator. My work week schedule can easily afford me to operate a small "part time" business. Schedule is three days on and three days off. I have been reading a lot of literature and speaking to several people already in this field. Most are telling me to get started, however some are telling me to stay away because it is a very costly business that will take years to show a profit. So at this point, I'm still on the fence. So, what can some of your pros share with me?

Thanks,
budspop

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What people are telling you is basically correct on both accounts. There are pros and cons to the business, it's all in how you approach and set up the business. You can go down and get a license (Tax Number) buy the Insurances and set up with the proper equipment and it will be costly.
Personally if I were you I'd get my license, start small with some type of riding mower, Trimmer, Edger and Blower and work my way up from there, add better equipment through time or as you build your business and reputation and can pay for it, NEVER FINANCE ANYTHING, if you do you'll not see any real profit for a number of years. Remember word of mouth is your best advertisement, do a good job, keep you clients list and routes close so you can cut your gas expenses and spend more time cutting and be sure not to under bid jobs look for at least $15 a cut minimum nothing less. (and that's cheap enough)
Remember not only can it be costly to get into the business it's just as costly to maintain it so look forward to putting a good percentage of any profit back into the business if you want to keep it running.
If you try cutting as someone else suggested using the mow and go or cut and run attitude with those cheap prices you'll not only get a bad reputation with people, you will also build that reputation with the competition and business is cutthroat enough without being known as a Hack.

WELCOME to LMF

I moved your thread to the Professional Lawn Care & Landscaping Forum. :smile:

Hi There,

If you're planning to start a lawn mowing business in your hometown, then, I would suggest you, starting an online app based lawn care service that will give more success to your business. Peoples always prefer to get everything in a stay at their home. In many popular cities, Lawn mowing service providers launched their own website and mobile apps to provide a more convenient booking service to their customers. So It will be a perfect way to expose your lawn care business to peoples from different locations and also increase your business visibility. I will recommend you to take a look at SpotnRides like on-demand lawn mowing app solution providers.

Rainjoash, I doubt that the OP is still around, as this thread was started in 2011.

Rivets said:

Rainjoash, I doubt that the OP is still around, as this thread was started in 2011.

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? ?
heh heh heh...

but seriously rainjoash, what in the world.
but its okay, at the end of the day you were still trying to help

hey guys, this is my first post on this forum!
I liked reading the advice that was given -- a lot of wisdom there!
I wish we knew what OP decided to do

Yogurt, don’t you realize that the web and this forum reaches the entire world. Sometimes the translations are not available. Finally, you are showing your immaturity as usual, grow up and watch your language!!!

Rivets said:

Yogurt, don’t you realize that the web and this forum reaches the entire world. Sometimes the translations are not available. Finally, you are showing your immaturity as usual, grow up and watch your language!!!

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dang it, I'm sorry I'm trying to change i promise, i can see I'm going back to my old ways, and I'm going to try to stop.
and i hope to gain your trust and respect back, and gain everybody else trust and respect back, as you've said before, the ball is now in my court. and I'm going to use it wisely.
im slowly limping there, but ill get there, i promise.....

We will see, but you’ve said it all before and I’ve seen no attempt to change.

Rivets said:

We will see, but you’ve said it all before and I’ve seen no attempt to change.

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yes, I'm aware that I've said it before, and even when i said it i still didn't change, but like i said, now i AM telling the truth, i will surprise you, and i will change, because you guys are great people, and i don't want to lose contact with you, or get blocked just because i didn't use my brain.....

now, i think i should be leaving the forum now as for i don't want to be hammered for hijacking this thread