How did you do it?

[Yard Boy]

How many of you got started in this business on a part time basis while holding down a full time "day job"? Where you able to build up gradually and ease out of your <i>bondage </i>or did you just quit cold turkey?

[rkbrown]

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Hi, Big Enterprises:

I am finishing up my 1st season getting back into this business part time. I worked for an lco years ago for 4 years as I went through college. I looked at my situation and could not break away cold turkey. I have a wife and twin 9 year old daughters. My wife home schools them, so I am the sole breadwinner of the family. The medical benefits, guaranteed income, etc., that my full time job gives me is difficult to pass up in this situation. Plus it gives me time to plan, research, study for my apps and irrigation licenses, etc. In the next 2-3 years my goal is to grow the business enough where I can't afford to remain employed full time and do this part time. []

[Yard Boy]

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My situation is similar. Married, three kids and wifey home schools them. Having steady income is comforting but insurance is not a big deal as I work for a small company and pay $600 per mo. for family coverage medical insurance.[xx(] I'm glad to see that there are some who can relate to my plight.

By the way. Thanks for the reply. I was beginning to think that my posts were invisible.[8D]

[Phil Nilsson]

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To make the "sudden" transition all you need is one or two sizeable commercial maintenance accounts to work by hiring one crew leader working two major accounts ... or ... become a player by being a very active bidder in commercial maintenance and partnering out the work in the beginning.

[Yard Boy]

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Thanks for the advice Phil. But how do you "partner" with someone on contract bids? Are you, in effect, hiring a LCO as a sub-contractor or do you simply turn the work over to them in exchange for a percentage of the profits? What kind of arrangement (contract) would be necessary to cover yourself?
BTW. Thanks to you, Gassmaster and the other pros out there who are willing to pass on info to help us be successful.

Oops! G<u>r</u>assmaster not Gassmaster. Sorry!

[Kidsweet]

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Well I have the Ideal situation. I work for Wal-mart 3 days a week, put in 36 hrs in those 3 days. Work my Lawn and Landscaping business the other four days. I advertised once last month for 89.00 and brought in 4,000 to 4,500 dollars of that ad. I have not made the transition all the way yet, but if every ad pulls in those numbers or more it won't be long or hard to do.[8D]

[Yard Boy]

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Good deal Sweet! What kind of ad did you run? Newspaper? Pennysaver? What?

[qualitylandscaping]

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Just to give you an idea..

I put an ad in the penny saver in mid- March, for 6 weeks, for $50. I'm still getting phone calls off that ad. Haven't actually added up what I made from my ad's but probably somewhere around $5,500-$6,000.

I also put an ad in the newspaper for the same length of time (Saturday paper), starting in mid-March for $43. I got alot of phone calls to do jobs in areas I don't cover, even with the "10 Mile Radius of Scottsville" written in that ad. Why are people so dumb? One call wanted to trim some bushes, probably 35-40 miles away from me.. I think I got around $1,500-$2,000 out of that ad.

I would go with the penny saver because almost everybody gets the newspaper and the more "middle and upper class" get the penny saver because it costs more, and lower class cant afford to buy it every week. And an ad can be a maze to find in the newspaper.

Just my thoughts!

[Kidsweet]

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Big It is the local newsletter that runs in the county. Lucky I was the only one running in this hopr it stays that way.

[Yard Boy]

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Hey guys, great stuff.
Do any of you do anything other than ads. Have you ever tried some sort of referral compensation deal with homeowners and commercial accounts? Maybe something like if they refer a contract customer they get a free mow and blow or something similar.

[Scott]

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oh of course. If you're good and we know that you are, referrals will be you easiest customer to get and it won't cost you a dime in advertisement. After 3 months of continual service I always give my residential customers some kind of gift certificate, 75% of them are elderly. Sounds corny but when I send them their monthly invoice w/the certificates to Applebees, some steak/seafood house, they get all excited, always call and say, "you sweet boy, you didn't have to do that, blah, blah, blah,,," If you treat your customers right they'll refer you to all their friends, elk club members, bingo buddies etc...

Commerical customer referrals,, no bennies, maybe a free tree/bush trimming but that's about it. If you mess up once they'll drop you quicker than a NY minute, claiming you broke your own contract,,,. Competition is tough in my neck of the woods for commerical. Not sure if you've followed my posts but I got underbid by $6 a week on a $150 per week job at Eckerd's. Manager claims he lost my bid, and wishes he could have found it since the yahoos that do his place now show up whenever they please, sometimes friday, then the following monday, then not again until the following wednesday. I bet they do like 317.4 yards a day and have very narrow trailers, no PPE and carry all of their equipment at the same time, whip, b/p, edger, mower, and cigarette in their mouth. Unforunately the manager is moving on and I have ties with the incoming one.