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  • What's lead to your success?

    Just a question that pondering may be fun. If you could look back at any point in your carreer in the lawn service industry, or look ahead to your future in the lawn service industry, What do you think you defining moment was, or might be in the future?

    Was their a time when you realized this is the business for you, if so, what made you first think that?

    Was their a time when you realized, "damn, I might just make it in this biz", when was that?

    What will it take for you to realize your success in this business?

  • #2
    [
    Was their a time when you realized this is the business for you, if so, what made you first think that?

    Was their a time when you realized, "damn, I might just make it in this biz", when was that?

    there................ lol................. that is when i thought it was for me. just messing with you ....... their.

    steve
    "THE BADDEST LAWN APE ON THE PLANET"

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    • #3
      Originally posted by delasgh
      [
      Was their a time when you realized this is the business for you, if so, what made you first think that?

      Was their a time when you realized, "damn, I might just make it in this biz", when was that?

      there................ lol................. that is when i thought it was for me. just messing with you ....... their.

      steve

      I thought about being and English teacher, but when my grammer failed me, that's when I realized Lawnservice was for me...lol

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      • #4
        does anybody do winter work if so can you give me the going rates for driveways ice snow removal

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        • #5
          Originally posted by angelic
          does anybody do winter work if so can you give me the going rates for driveways ice snow removal
          holiday lighting

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          • #6
            I think that you have to enjoy your job and be self motivated for this career to work.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by angelic
              does anybody do winter work if so can you give me the going rates for driveways ice snow removal

              a little off topic of the tread, but yes, I do snow removal and holiday lighting. Actually I refer to the service as seasonal decor. This is something I just started adding as an "add-on" for all my yearly contracts.

              I offer in one package; snow removal, holiday lighting, halloween/fall decor, and easter decorations.

              I have successfully sold this package to only two of my customers, but I think it will be a big seller in the future once my customers have pondered it over more.

              I charge $399.00 for the yearly package and then a "lighting fee" for the rental of the lights and decorations. This price also includes snow removals and Ice melt throughout the winter.

              as for pricing, I charge the same as my flowerbed rates. $45.00/hr for a 2 man crew, plus a $35.00 trip charge (that's just for the snow removal, not the flowerbeds) for residential.

              commercial is broken down by the sq. ft. of area needing cleared and I don't care to give my commercial rates.

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              • #8
                As stupid as it may sound, when I picked up my first cabover mowing truck designed specifically for this industry, I felt pretty good. Then came the shop rental, then purchasing a shop a few years ago.

                I guess I'm in it pretty deep now! But I am backing out more and more to let the employees do more and more (know what I mean?). That goes for one of the foremen especially. I am trying to get him ready to take over what I do completely. But that will take a few more years.

                I really love this type of work and will always do it. But I want to do other things as well.
                a.k.a.---> Erich

                www.avalawnlandscaping.com


                Build a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day.
                Set a man on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

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                • #9
                  hey this is the oldest profession in the world.... garden of Eden, if that aint good enough for you what do you think they paid with to the other oldest profession? fruits and vegi's ! gardeners. anyway I love what I DO I LIKE THE instant gradification I get when I look back a t job I just finished I like the money. and It certainly beats an inside job. I just love doing what I do and it is amazing I get paid well for doing it! SHOAL

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Shoal
                    hey this is the oldest profession in the world.... garden of Eden,
                    never thought of that....but, very true.
                    Thomas Huxley - "All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I thought the oldest profession in the world was prostitution. I guess we have some similarities... j/k

                      That's kind of my thing as well. I love looking back at the lawns I do either right after completing them, or driving by a day or so later and seeing them being the nicest looking yards in the area and knowing I'm resposible for that.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Back when I was a Young Boy...

                        Sometimes it takes close to failure to learn what true success is? What is true success?

                        When I was just starting out, as the weeks & months went by I made more & more money. I wasn't working 40 hours a week. Work was hard to come by because a Professionally ran lawn service was rare. Beck then some people would go to a house using the home owners equipment.

                        In most cases the home owner pick them up & take them home. They would work a whole day for $20 to $40, plus a sandwich for lunch. Some were good & some were bad, but they would spend a whole day in the yard & still not be finished. In about 2 years time over 4,000 people lost their jobs due to plant closure, people would do anything & work cheap.

                        Anyway, as time went on, I was making fairly good money considering that everybody said I would fail at it because it wasn't recognized as a real job or profession back then.

                        So I decided I wanted all the money & I would do all the work by my self. That went real good until one day I was blowing off a roof, some how I fell off the roof & my hip caught the A/C unit on the way down. I mean it really hurt & I thought I had broken it.

                        The seconds seemed like minutes, all I thought of was all that hard work gone because I couldn't do the work no more. All I was trying to do was make $40 in less than a hour. After I laid there maybe a minute I was able to get up, but I was in real pain. Limping real bad but thank God nothing broken.

                        By the next week I hired my first employee. It was straight up from there. Back then $6.00 an hour was good money for a helper & I could make more money in less time. It gave me a little more free time to do other things.

                        As time went on the business grew & grew. In my 3rd year I had 3 Trucks & 3 Trailers. I had 5 full time & 1 part time guy. I was making the bucks too. Remember we got paid more back then then you guys get paid now. I was only Licensed, Insured, paid workers comp, signs on my vehicles & employees wore company T Shirts. I was in high demand & got more than the so called competition.

                        If I woke up one day & wanted a $8,500 mower & then take it to a welding shop & have a GrassMaster custom designed grass catcher on it. I just wrote a check for it. One day I decided I wanted a 30'X40' shop. A month & about $15,000 plus later I had it.

                        We quit all advertising except a very small ad in the Yellow Pages. Work was coming in left & right. I turned down more than I got. Yes I picked my work & got paid dearly for it.

                        At this time we were custom building Grass Catchers at $1,500 a pop for Yazoo Mowers. Very high demand for them. We were also building & modifying killer loading ramps for trailers & doing a little repair work on them and a few local farmers.

                        Let me see, I had 5 to 6 guys coming to work at 8:00AM, I got them on their way. I sat at home on the phone & doing book work. Around 10:00AM or so I went in to check on previous jobs done, give bids or picked up parts or what ever. I catch up with guys to see if everything OK, beepers back then no cell phones or to expensive at that time.

                        We would break for lunch, sometimes we go our separate ways. I normally got an hour or two, one of my customers let me run a tab at his Mexican Restaurant, it was like my office in town... :laughing:

                        Then I catch back up with the guys & depending on work load I would go home around 4:00PM. They normally came in around 5:00PM Monday through Friday, then they go home.

                        At 6:00PM to 6:30PM my shop crew came in it was normally 2 to 3 guys working in shop fabricating or repairing. They worked normally to 10:00PM, off on Friday. Then the ones that wanted to could work Saturday & Sunday from 1:00AM to 6:00PM depended on what was going on.

                        If my lawn 5 acre lawn didn't get done during the week, a couple would come in on Saturday & knock it out for me. 5 weed free acres & all watered with water hose. Round up was my weed killer.

                        I was making a very nice living. During the hottest part of the year, I needed a larger breaker service box so I could run another compressor, welding machine and a few more things.

                        My out of work Buddy that needed money real bad came out & wired up box. He did it wrong & fried my breaker box. The crew got home early that day & did part of my lawn but I wouldn't let them maintain equipment. No power no work.

                        So I sent them home. I called the shop crew & told them what happened & no work that week end. I decided Saturday I would finish the lawn & maintain equipment. It was 103 degrees that day, not the ladies heat index temp either.

                        I'm bullet proof & heat didn't bother me since I had worked in a lot hotter temperatures at Firestone Tire & Rubber in Curing where temps were 120 or so, even in the winter. I finished the lawn & was maintaining in the shop, no moving air, it was thicker than pea soup.

                        The wife came out to check on me, some time prior to that I had a bad heat stroke. I busted the blood cells in my right eye, no white just blood red. I couldn't talk or make sense.

                        My wife got me inside. I was really bad off. I got the shop crew to finish all the jobs they were on & stopped the shop operation. The maintenance crews worked as usual. I couldn't drive or do much of anything. It was hot & putting a hurting on me since the heat stroke.

                        I had a guy drive me job to job when I was able to. I couldn't think straight for almost 2 weeks & it was a month before I tried to drive. During that time the guys were finishing work earlier & earlier?

                        In a months time they were doing 5 days work in about 4 days or maybe an hour or 2 on Friday. I had to schedule more work, my pay went up over $400 a week due to me not working with them & holding them back.

                        I also discovered I had a family that I barely knew due to me chasing the all mighty dollar for years past. I lost interest in the being gone all the time & chasing the dollar bills. By then I lived on 5 acres with nice home almost paid for, had 5 acres in another county paid for & hard 8 duplexes in another county paid for. Yes 3 different counties. It wasn't like we did without anything, if I wanted something I wrote a check for it.

                        I sold my business to a CPA that used to work for Phillip-Morris. I took a year off getting to know my family & visited family and friends that I was too busy to see for the past 5 to 10 years due to greed. I sold my home, my duplexes & moved to Columbus, Georgia a 100 miles away.

                        I then bought out a small Mom & Pop Outdoor Power Equipment Dealership, that started out as a hardware store & bicycle shop back in 1903. I took over owner ship at 8:00AM, February 2nd 1992. I also got interested in computers, in 1994 I joined AOL.

                        In late 1996 I started www.lawnservicing.com to help people in the business to not make the mistakes I made. Now 5 web sites later I'm here.

                        I work at the shop part time, basically doing what I want to do. Enjoying life with the family. For years I would watch the kids go to school & be there when they got home. LOL, I'm a stay at home Dad, a married man with a van.

                        I don't make near as much money but I'm real happy, being debt free helps a lot too. If I get upset at shop about something, I'll stay away for a few weeks or a month. The shop is small & on auto pilot. 2 people can run it easily most of the time.

                        Oh, I really dislike being a retail & service center combined. I hate the being open regular hours it too confining. One day I'll get lucky & sell the shop.

                        Then do something else, I don't know what & really don't care. Maybe get my wife & daughter a beauty shop, dig ditches, operate a strip joint, detail cars or get a job at Lowe's or Homedepot in lawn & garden.. Oh No? It don't matter, I really like sitting on a leather office chair playing on the computer.

                        Hey how about a job for the city as a street light inspector. LOL, Yeah that sounds good. Whatever, again I'm very happy just being with the family as much as possible.

                        My step father has had a couple of heart attacks over the years & when needed I go down there & stay a week or 2 helping them out. That's a lot better than making $5K or $10K in a week or so. I was able to spend a lot of time the last 10 years of my fathers life in good quality time! That was very important to me.

                        What ever you do, be the best you can, have a business plan, most important have a exit plan too, you never know what's going to happen to you later today. There's most likely a family & several employees and their families that depend on you! All of mine (them) will be taken care of, they know it & treat me real good about it too!

                        It took me 2 big scares to wise up, I'm still learning, I still don't know crap, I read on the computer about things I don't know about several hours a day for many years. I love what I'm doing now & it can't get much better than this!

                        PS: I watched my 16 year old daughter with tears in my eyes go to work for her first day yesterday (Friday). She's tired of Dad giving her money all the time, she wants to be independent and self supporting. Thursday, she got her second letter from a college wanting her to visit them. She got her first letter in the 6th grade from Duke University, they are interested in her Math skills. Why can't she just stay my little girl that's 16 years old forever? Life is not fair at times?

                        Sometimes life is hard in more ways than you can imagine at times, so make the most of it while you can. I am truely a blessed man!
                        GrassMaster, LSF Administrator!
                        LawnPro - Lawn Care Business Software:
                        www.lawnbook.com --- www.lawnservicing.com

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          wow...

                          that's all I can really say grassmaster.

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                          • #14
                            Success as defined by what?

                            If you'd talk to me, I'd be reluctant to say I've personally fullfilled what I'd consider success. I continually push forward towards my goals. Until those are met, I haven't been a success.

                            Was their a time when you realized this is the business for you, if so, what made you first think that?
                            I can't really answer that with complete confidence. I'd love to say college helped confirm the notion this field is for me, but that'd be a lie. Growing up I was always outdoors, snowy days, rainy days, hot-as-hell days. It didn't matter what-so-ever. I just hate being stuck indoors. Combine that with my apparent interest in horticulture from the get-go. (If I remember, I'll post a picture of yours truely at a young squirt) I remember back when I was in kindergarden when I'd collect fallen branches and sticking them in my mother's garden in hopes they'd grow into trees. I remember buying my mother a small geranium for mother's day when I was a small child....I still remember the smell. To this day, geraniums (Geranium macrorrhizum) is one of my favorite annuals...perhaps for that reason? As I said, I can't answer with complete confidence - only to say "it's in my blood."

                            Was their a time when you realized, "damn, I might just make it in this biz", when was that?
                            There's never been a doubt. By 'biz' I assume you mean the green industry as a whole? One of the reasons I stuck through college eventually to graduate was to allow myself to be more marketable, whether that be with my own business, or if I'd have to go on and work for some other company in the future. I refuse any other job as this is what I love to do; I wouldn't have it any other way.

                            I think I realized I could do much better than others when I left to work for a nursery for 2 years (eventually to intern on their landscape install crew for 4 months as well). While there I realized a lot of their service was flawed. The owner sucked monkey balls - didn't really care about his employees one bit - as he treated them as his little "money makers." I figured I could do better. Afterall, treat your employees with repect and they'll return the favor....right? I know I could have worked my arse harder, but he sure as hell didn't make me want to.

                            To sum it up: I learned a great deal while working at the nursery - much about customer service, but also much about employee care. See, the owner had always worked for himself....never had his own boss....never knew what it felt like to be the employee.

                            What will it take for you to realize your success in this business?
                            I don't know how to answer this - since I continually set my goals higher?? Back in the day I was striving to stay a one-man show. You can make good money. But the back breaking work will catch up with ya. Not to mention, once you read GM's mile longers, they'll change your mind. I'm not striving to be one of the top companies in my area....I refuse to get involved in the bidding wars they place amongst themselves. Rather, I want to live comfortably...having a company with several employees, but not too many that I lose focus on them...being able to have the time available to run off for as much as 2 weeks in the summer while things are run flawlessly back home. Having the time at night to watch as my family grows. If I can't do these things, I wouldn't think I'm a success.

                            I've talked about this and that....leaving out a bunch of crap which is probably important to weave everything togther for a complete understanding. ......So allow me to ellaborate on the road thus far:

                            My Life Story for the Past 10+ Years...if you might grow bored, I urge you to not continue on.

                            I'm gonna skip to highschool - neighboorhood mowings don't count here.

                            Began mowing lawns throughout my town before I could drive. Somehow or another my mother offered to drive me around to my jobs. I still don't know why???? Anyhow, as time went on my company grew. I struggled to learn the ropes....I didn't really know how to charge properly. I recently looked back upon old records and found some lawns where I was only charging $6 to mow/trim/blow!!! That's insane, but it gave me a start I spose.

                            Eventually I went on to hire my friend to help me out. At this point I believe I had something like 60 lawn clients? Continually grew, next year hired on one of his friends (so now a crew of 3) with a clientel of 100 (give or take). The average was probably $15/lawn at this point.

                            This would also be my first year in college. Trying to keep up with the 100 lawns and still finding time to study became VERY hard. Equipment was aging and I didn't have the money to replace it (since in retrospect, I wasn't accounting for equipment replacement in my overhead!!...I still didn't know how to charge properly) . I grew fustrated at the whole situation. I decided to sell the business to focus on college. Afterall, if it only took about 4 years to build up the company from litterally nothing, how hard could it be to start one up again in the future?

                            Things became washy after this. Since I no longer was committed to owning a business, I felt liberated. I actually had the time to travel!!! For my major, it was required that I complete an internship. I didn't want to intern here in Kansas....too redundant, afterall I was born here....I'd like to see other places. For some dumb reason I thought I'd look for internships my freshman year. Flew to Portland, OR to interview with Teufel and Dennis's 7 Dees (two of the top companies there). Needless to say, I didn't get an internship, not experienced enough for one, the other didn't have a landscape design internship program that current year (bad economy in Oregon at the time). Anyhow, I loved the scenery while I was there...not to mention my girlfriend re-located to Portland a few months earlier. Yeah, young and stupid in love, I had full intentions to get up and move there. For some dumb reason I planned to finish my skooling at a local community college (some crappy 1 year hort certificate). Planned on working my way up the ranks at a landscaping firm.

                            As soon as I fell in love I fell out of love. I didn't move up there. I stayed here. A few weeks before spring break I began working for a nursery nearby my town. It was a change for me, since I had never worked in a nursery. I learned a great deal. It was awesome to apply what I had learned in college in a real-life situation. Such as realizing the nursery was ghetto...greenhouses where not sanitary....realizing the greenhouse manager didn't know her crap when it came to this field. Working there was all cool in the beginning, but after I made the mistake of showing the boss what I was capable of, I was thrown into more responsibilty. Soon I sat in a skid-steer or upon a tractor more often than I'd sit in the greenhouse as I once had. The boss soon had me building crap outta wood for him....had me delivering firewood to his house....had me check the well meters once a month....had me mantaining the drip system for all the shrubs/trees on the lot. Eventually it seemed as if I was doing more than the manager was doing....it got to the point that I'd go off and do my thing and she wasn't in control of what I did anymore. It sucked honestly. At this piont I was earning a whole whoppin $8/hour. Well...the time had come and I hadn't fulfilled that internship requirement. I was out of options. I was poor. I couldn't afford to move outta state for a summer. As a last resort, I easily got an internship at the nursery. I did learn much, but at the same time I was still frustrated. The boss had me painting bathroom doors.....demolishing unused vintage greenhouses. I only spent 3 days a week on the install crew, the other 2 where spent back at the nursery doing what I had always done. Needless to say I DID NOT recommend interning for them to any interested students.

                            This same summer I began "moonlighting" mowing lawns for my former customers. The idiot I sold out to basically began with 100 lawns. Come two years later...0. I kept what I did fairly limited....something like 15 lawns? My boss caught word of this. Questioned me on it, afterall, he knew what I used to do. Hell, it's wasn't my problem. I worked for so-and-so Nursery in a different town. He also owned so-and-so Landscape in my town. However, I wasn't employeed by the company in my town. Therefore, technically speaking, I wasn't in direct competition with the Nursery, since I stuck to work only in the town where his so-and-so Landscaping company was.
                            :laughing: (he has since merged the two together with one name)

                            It was hard starting out again. I sold all the equipment I had. I nearly maxed out what little credit I had sitting on my credit cards. I felt like a douche bag, but all I could afford was a crappy little John Deere 111 rider which I bought on ebay for $500? I also bought a crappy little crapsman blower, but insisted on a used Stihl FS-80. All this was bought on ebay. I found a cheap little used trailer, 5x8', for $300.

                            That summer I worked nearly 70-80 hours per week. (50+ at the nursery, 20 mowing lawns) I only began mowing for the extra income. My neighbor joked that I'd go full throttle again, I only relpied, "nah, I wouldn't want that again." To which he said, "Sure....that's what you say now..."

                            I was exhausted after that summer. A few months down the road I somehow realized the $8/hr at the nursery was crap when I was off making many times that mowing. During the semester I could only work Saturdays at the nursery the way it was....bringing home no more than $200 per month. Meanwhile, the flexibility I had with mowing, I was able to bring in many more times that. Needless to say, I eventually left the nursery after being employeed there for 2 years.

                            'Bout a year later I graduated from KSU with a BA in Horticulture spec. in Landscape Design. Somehow or another I ended up with a 3.2 GPA (I believe?).

                            After graduation I hit this business full steam and haven't looked back. I became a certified pesticide applicator during my last semester at school (late to class after having to drive an hour back from the pesticide exams!!)

                            In retrospect, my first business was a flop to begin with. Experiences along the way have taught me much, that along with growing much more mature. I'm continually finding myself learning more and more about this field and business in general each day.

                            I still have yet to work an entire year full-time (as I've only been out of college for about 6 months), but in the past 2 some years I've been able to grow my current business to surpass what my last 'flopped' one was.

                            Next year will bring many new and exciting changes....I guess I've just learned along the way to bite my lip and proceed as the growth takes me.

                            Still not success by any means....but perhaps eventually I'll be there? The road has just begun...

                            (there are tid-bits of miscellaneous information missing - some time frames might not be correct - but you get the point??)
                            2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and future 2015 LSF RECEPTED AWARD recipient!

                            Hortikulture Kolledge Grad + Licensed Master Irrigator + Certified Backflow Technician +
                            Licensed Fert & Squirt Applicator = Jack of all trades, master of none.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Shoal
                              hey this is the oldest profession in the world.... garden of Eden, if that aint good enough for you what do you think they paid with to the other oldest profession? fruits and vegi's ! gardeners. anyway I love what I DO I LIKE THE instant gradification I get when I look back a t job I just finished I like the money. and It certainly beats an inside job. I just love doing what I do and it is amazing I get paid well for doing it! SHOAL

                              I agree with Shoal, this is esactly how i feel.. but im a little confused with the garden of eden thing though haha

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