How realistic?

[bkdlawnCo]

how realistic is it that i could get 28-30 accounts for next season...i currently have 2 that are onboard for sure for next season....?

[LHSlawnman86]

since i am also 16 i can honestly tell you that you will have to bust your ass to accomplish that. if you work hard you can prolly get about 12. i currently have 7 and i have it made, my uncle who owns a lawn business is moving and selling me 25 of his yards. and if you get any decent amount of yards you will need a commercial walk behind to take the beating. good luck dude

[JimLewis]

If you bust your butt and put our door flyers every time you have some free time, you could do this. I remember back in the early days of my business, we were growing by about 30-40 new accounts each year.

[DistLawns]

I think your going about it all wrong. The number of accounts you have is irrelevent, its the dollar amount you want to take home. Figure out how much you want to make a week, and think realisticly how to get it. Bidding on some smaller to medium size commercial might be a quick jumpstart to your goal. Throw in some residentials with a couple commercial, you may just be surprised how much cash you can realy make. Good luck

[DistLawns]

Just realized your only 16, commercial wont work for you if you got to go back to class in Sept. Stick with resis for now. But just out of curiosity, how would you handle thirty residentials when you have class all day and baseball after school?

[ArizPestWeed]

I picked yo a 120 new ones this year

[Kelly's Landscaping]

No problem I get 65-75 new accounts each season for the last 3 years. Here's the trick quit your job and have no other income if you want to eat you're get those accounts.

[JimLewis]

I think your going about it all wrong. The number of accounts you have is irrelevent, its the dollar amount you want to take home. Figure out how much you want to make a week, and think realisticly how to get it. Bidding on some smaller to medium size commercial might be a quick jumpstart to your goal. Throw in some residentials with a couple commercial, you may just be surprised how much cash you can realy make. Good luck

I'll have to disagree with most of this. I think the number of accounts is a very important thing. It means you have the ultimate security. Sure, you could get 4 big commercial accounts and be making $40,000 per year with those 4. But what happens next year when they open up bidding again and you lose 3 of them? Then, you've lost 3/4 of your income! Don't think that can happen? Let me introduce you to a guy who had that happen to him.

On the other hand, it might take you 40 residential customers to make that same $40,000 per year. But if 3 of them cancel the next year, it's really no big deal. First, they are fairly easy to replace. Second, that's only a small chunk of your entire income.

There's real security in having a large number of accounts.

[bkdlawnCo]

well i can handle about 2 residentials a day(depending on size) with school and baseball to about the 10th of June...so somehow i would have to make contracts and agreements that start after that... and then i can do them till september 1st or so...

[bkdlawnCo]

i could get a couple commercials and have 2 commercials that i have to do each week till i'm out of school...then i could still do then when i'm in school...i get out of school at 1:25pm everyday so i could be to a commercial account by 2-2:30pm....working it arround baseball is i would have to do it after days that i have practice...which means i would be able to be at an account by 4pm...

[garth1967]

dont die wondering

[daveintoledo]

i could get a couple commercials and have 2 commercials that i have to do each week till i'm out of school...then i could still do then when i'm in school...i get out of school at 1:25pm everyday so i could be to a commercial account by 2-2:30pm....working it arround baseball is i would have to do it after days that i have practice...which means i would be able to be at an account by 4pm...

your not old enough to get insurance or sign a contract,,,,,

stick to the residential...and dont forgt to enjoy being a kid, lots of time to work when your older

[PMLAWN]

Not sure of your market but you should be able to GET them. The question is can you do them. Also keep in mind that you will have a lot of work to do even when you are not cutting. Maintenance to equipment and paper work, sales and advertising.
And if weather knocks you out for a few days can you catch up?

[DistLawns]

Jlewis has a good point in having security in numbers, I think a good medium between commercial and resis is the way to go.Sure your gonna lose jobs every year, both commercial and residentials, but thats how the business goes, I certainly wouldn't shy away from the big jobs in fear I'll lose them later on. Even if you do lose the big job, you can still bid on others.

[joedaddy]

Do about 8 to 10 accounts until you get out of school. After you graduate, go by a ZTR and go to town. Don't load teh wagon to full or the mule won't be able to pull it.