Being realistic

[Phil Nilsson]

Ability to Sell ... ability to attract, train, motivate workers, having a market large enough to provide sales growth ... management skills ... and a strong desire to succeed.

[Allan]

Ability to Sell ... ability to attract, train, motivate workers, having a market large enough to provide sales growth ... management skills ... and a strong desire to succeed.

It's the strong desire to succeed that I think is key here. If you have that, everything else will come.

How do I know this? Because I have done it and am doing it. When I started in this business, I was really excited because I found out a way that I could make $25 an hour! I figured that it was great. This was the best part-time job that I could imagine. Then, somewhere along the line, I got the desire to succeed. All of a sudden, there is no obstacle that is too great. That 500k take home goal that I gave to Okie is my own goal.

This is a business that you have to grow into. Your person has to develop enough in order to be able to achieve major financial goals. When I first started a few years ago, I was not "big enough" to take on what I am taking on today.

So can the 500k in 5 years be done? Of course it can. But it can only be done by the "big" people - those who have grown big enough as a person to be able to handle it. The rich are different - they think different, they act different.

For those who have been in business a while and have not achieved these goals, I don't mean to insult you. I haven't done it myself yet. Sometimes the cost of success is too great. Only a fool sacrifices the eternal for the temporary.

Recommended reading: The book of Proverbs

[GrassMaster]

True that Allan!

As the Gross goes up the Net Profit goes down. But it's that way in most cases. No matter what business.

If you have a desire to get & be Big, you must get Big first & it does come at a cost. Not often can you start out Big.

I have a Buddy that did nothing but Residential & a few smaller Commercial Properties that were under a $1,000 a month

Then one Day he gets a $10,000 Plus a Month Commercial Account. He had most of the Equipment & only needed 3 more employees. He already knew through the Grapevine what the account was paying.

He had access to a Tractor with Bush Hog, he had 1 Big Dixie Chopper... His cost to perform this job, 3 extra employees & another Dixie Chopper which wasn't much.

If he had to Purchase the Tractor & Bush Hog it might have been a different story. He probably wouldn't have got the job?

The thing that hurt him the most is, he wasn't prepared waiting up to 90 days to get paid. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I know some of you get paid every 30 days & get late charges and nobody has been over 40 days late, well a lot of us don't work in the perfect world... The Commercial World.

It's very easy to get a $1,000 a month commercial property to pay on time, a $1,000 is not much money but try Choking $10,000 a month out of a Manufacturing Company on time every month or LOL charge them a late fee & make them pay in less than 40 or 60 days that's a Joke unless you live in the Perfect World, must of us don't? A Fact?

The ones of us that don't live in a perfect world know exactly what I'm talking about! Because it happens all the time!

I cut a Manufacturing Facility 1 time, I charged $1,800 for the cut they were paying about $1,200 before they started in house maintenance but they were having a Visit from the Big Boys & their mower was down. I'll never cut that grass again, I was too high but they needed me & had to pay for me that 1 time! I had the Equipment & Manpower, I was available for that one cut.

I know a guy that's never cut grass with a Mower in his Life, he landed the Miller Brewing Company Job it payed $285,000 plus extras a year. He had other big jobs he had the Equipment & Manpower.

See the Big Jobs can put you over the Edge, the question is can you handle it when it comes your way. It's about what you want & how you want it.

The right jobs, the right equipment, the right Manpower yes $500,000 a year in 5 years can be obtained but at what cost to you Mentally & Physically is the question.

It's like me, in 1995 I was doing a lot of Commercial Cutter repairs, I had 5 employees in the back & 3 up front. I carried over around $35,000 from Christmas to New years...

The stress was too much & it was to much of a Hassle, I dropped 59 to 60 Commercial Cutters out of 65 accounts...

I have 2 employees in the back & 2 part timers up front that over lap hours when needed, my Profit is with a few thousand dollars of what it was when I had all those Commercial guys, I now carry over less than $5,000 from Christmas to New Years...

Stress what is it?

I trimmed the fat, when a customer comes in I fix their equipment when they pick it up, I'm paid on the Spot. I love it. A simple life, I Own a Mom & Pop Repair Shop that most of my customers bring their equipment in the trunk of their car. They love me & I love their Money!

It's all about what you want, it's out there you just got to decide if you want it or not? Can you handle it? Do You Really Want it?

[Allan]

You spelled my name wrong!

[GeeVee]

Say what?

20 or 30 k, gross or net?

Ain't no point in going any further until you determine which of the two you desire.

Cutting grass and collecting money is certainly not all there is to it.

First year you have to pay for the equipment. Second year you bank the same money to buy new crap the third year, but also have to pay for the mistakes you m,ade in the first year. Third year you have new equipment again, but now will be trying to get the ROI in the bank for growth purchases such as people durable goods.

Its a never ending cycle.

Pay cash for equipment, lease vehicles, buy new handheld two stroke stuff every two years if not every year.


HAVE A CLUE AS TO WHAT A BUSINESS PLAN IS>>>>>>>>>>

Know how much things cost, know how much you need to keep, carry no debt.