Save your Winter money Now - Priority One!

[topsites]

Just as a reminder to all who get so excited, yes this is a very happening time of the year and it is so easy to get carried away with the big deposits one always wants to spend, spend, spend... You don't have to tell me, I know all about it.

Year after year I learned if not the most important lesson then certainly one of them is to ALWAYS save next winter's money FIRST, no matter what! I understand you need fuel and if you have to have a mower because you do not have one that works ok, but I am telling you get the money in the bank for winter by June and you have no problems the rest of the year... Ok, at least you have less problems and I mean a lot less.

Having the winter money saved by June (well yeah earlier is even better) means:
- No sweating July and August due to heat and drought.
- Take it or leave it and thank you all day long.
- Come September, a casual last run for the money to top things off but really, no problem.
- Buy equipment later with the extra overflow, now it's cash paid in full and thanks again.

And the most important reason:
- LEAF SEASON!!! LEAVES !!! LEAVES AAarrrgrghhhh if you do not have your winter money by the time leaves start to fall, you will fall into slavery and drudgery by doing one of the dirtiest, nastiest jobs for cheap and I mean dirt cheap! You will hate life, guaranteed... Money in the bank means 'me do leaves only if I get paid enough' (translation: guys without the money get to do the bulk of it).

LOL I done learned this one, thought I'd pass it along.

[JJLandscapes]

or just chill all season and have enough momney for the winter from fall cleanups

[Splicer]

EXCELLENT advice topsites:cool2: :weightlifter: :usflag:

[jsf343]

Just as a reminder to all who get so excited, yes this is a very happening time of the year and it is so easy to get carried away with the big deposits one always wants to spend, spend, spend... You don't have to tell me, I know all about it.

Year after year I learned if not the most important lesson then certainly one of them is to ALWAYS save next winter's money FIRST, no matter what! I understand you need fuel and if you have to have a mower because you do not have one that works ok, but I am telling you get the money in the bank for winter by June and you have no problems the rest of the year... Ok, at least you have less problems and I mean a lot less.

Having the winter money saved by June (well yeah earlier is even better) means:
- No sweating July and August due to heat and drought.
- Take it or leave it and thank you all day long.
- Come September, a casual last run for the money to top things off but really, no problem.
- Buy equipment later with the extra overflow, now it's cash paid in full and thanks again.

And the most important reason:
- LEAF SEASON!!! LEAVES !!! LEAVES AAarrrgrghhhh if you do not have your winter money by the time leaves start to fall, you will fall into slavery and drudgery by doing one of the dirtiest, nastiest jobs for cheap and I mean dirt cheap! You will hate life, guaranteed... Money in the bank means 'me do leaves only if I get paid enough' (translation: guys without the money get to do the bulk of it).

LOL I done learned this one, thought I'd pass it along.


You are right on the money, no pun intended. I was just telling my foreman to sock a little away for winter while it was busy. I think that is great advice for everyone, I just wish it was as easy as it sounds.:laugh:

[mow2nd]

If You Do Online Banking, You Can Have Your Bank Automatically Put Money Into Your Savings Account Each Week, Biweekly Or Once A Month. Right Now I'm Doing Over $9,000 A Month. I Only Need $3,000 A Month To Live, So That Gives Me $6,000 A Month To Save, I'm Putting Away $5,000 Each Month Leaving $1,000 In The Bank For Whatever.

From April - Oct I'll Have $20,000 - $35,000 In The Bank, So When Winter Gets Here, I Dont Have To Really Do Anything. Jan-feb Is When I Vacation.

But Good Advice If You Can Save, My First 3-4 Yrs I Never Had Money Cause I Was Paying Bills, Now Everything I Have Is Paid For, Except The House. So I Am Able To Put Back, But In The Beginning I Wasnt, So Dont Worry New Guys It Gets Better

[topsites]

It is hard the first year, I do not know if this is good advice for these guys because in my first year I'm just lucky I survived so if you have enough going on then do what you got to do first but still think of saving.

My second year I SAVED and man it was smooooooooth. It was so smooth, I refused a lot of leaf cleanup work.
My third year I was feeling so good from how well the 2nd year went, I got messed up. You can try and make things up with fall cleanups, but the problem with leaves is if you don't have the winter money saved, you will feel that desperation (well I did) and you are more likely to end up being had. - Leaves is the worst of the worst, sorry to say it but the one sentence that really sums it up is 'EVERYBODY will call you for leaves.' I got done and it was dirty, almost as bad as my first year.

My fourth year was a good year but I spent most of April-June filling up gaping financial holes left by an almost disastrous third year (over-confidence will do you everytime), thou I did manage to get my winter money in sometime during August (whew!). And yup, man it was smoooooooth. Once again, cherry picked the leaf cleanups and still had enough work to last into mar '06.

This year, I got some issues but 3.5k in the bank and all I need is 5k and that's my winter money (boy we have some financial spreads here) either way, I plan on having the 5k first, thou some bills have to be paid too, still I should be ok but again, save it first, worry about spending later.

[KCLandscape]

Wait until you have some kidZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
5K is NOTHING......
And we have a small house.....................



Gotta love the KIDZ>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[PGA]

Wait until you have some kidZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
5K is NOTHING......
And we have a small house.....................



Gotta love the KIDZ>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>





Agreed. 5k covers enough for one month of milk and food for a kid! :)

[KCLandscape]

And diapers, clothes that are outgrown REAL quick, doctors and dentists, school fees, birthday gifts for every party they get invited to, swim lessons, piano lessons...I think you get it.
I try and have 10g saved by September. The key word is "try"

[bobbygedd]

not to raise bones, but........i have heard this same line of thinking, but mostly from guys who can't get paid on time. why on earth are u thinking about jan + feb money?october, noveber + december are big months. oh, wait, i think i got it.......u have no clue when your clients will pay you, for oct, nov + dec. yup, iv'e seen it before, these guys go into hibernation asap, "just in case" thier clients don't feel like paying. how sad

[topsites]

not to raise bones, but........i have heard this same line of thinking, but mostly from guys who can't get paid on time. why on earth are u thinking about jan + feb money?october, noveber + december are big months. oh, wait, i think i got it.......u have no clue when your clients will pay you, for oct, nov + dec. yup, iv'e seen it before, these guys go into hibernation asap, "just in case" thier clients don't feel like paying. how sad

When it comes to leaves, a LOT of people out there have no clue as to how much it should cost. They are not just shocked by my estimates but I produce the lowest turnover from estimates / closed sales. It has nothing to do with getting paid after the work is done, but it has everything to do with getting them to agree to the estimate in the first place. At least when I have my winter money, the only folks I do work for in the fall are customers who have been with me at least all year. This was a hard lesson that got pounded into me via the school of hard knocks.

Now if you want to pull teeth and fight people who were thinking their 400-dollar leaf job was going to cost around 60 dollars, then be my guest because I been down that road many times. Fact is, if they were thinking 300 and my estimate comes to 400, that I can work with... But when their price range is a million miles away from mine, there is absolutely nothing you can do, except:
- If you have the winter money saved, it's take it or leave it (and you will leave a lot of work behind for other unfortunate souls who):
- Bid low, real low... Sink to levels you thought you couldn't bend down to because you don't got your winter money and now you have to do what you got to do to survive. And they WILL (and read me: they will) take advantage of you and ride you and have their way with you - To me, leaves are like summer school: Remember way back when, if you didn't do so good in school most of the year, you got to go to summer school? Yeah well in Lawncare, if you don't do so good most of the year, you get to do leaves but you also have no choice when it comes to whom you're doing them for.

I am sorry bg, but out of the two situations, I dare say your scenario is by far the more desperate. If running from folks who don't want to pay what it costs is sad, that's fine by me because someone else can run their equipment in the dirt for free, someone else can pay the customer 340 dollars to work on their yard. Every year when I have my money saved early, there are a few times I literally laugh at the whole thing, thou most of the time I'm just glad it's not happening to me again.

And it's not just for winter... Even now I got enough money in the bank that even thou I'm on a saving spree, I still walk around with a take it or leave it attitude all day long.

Money is power, money talks, and having money breeds as does the lack of it.
Because yes, it literally costs more to have no money or not enough.

[bobbygedd]

it has nothing to do with lowering fees to "get the work". i know better than that. most people i know, however, have a harder than usual time getting paid for november/december service. how u make it through the winter, shows you exactly how much of the money u took in during the season was "cash flow" and how much was actual profit. bills from services done during nov + december, should be paid in full, at the very latest, 12/15.

[topsites]

it has nothing to do with lowering fees to "get the work". i know better than that. most people i know, however, have a harder than usual time getting paid for november/december service. how u make it through the winter, shows you exactly how much of the money u took in during the season was "cash flow" and how much was actual profit. bills from services done during nov + december, should be paid in full, at the very latest, 12/15.

Ok I'm with you, and I won't totally disagree that not everybody who agrees to pay for a fall cleanup does pay - This is the reason I only do leaves for customers who have been with me the entire year, late bloomers don't count (like come June or July is pushing it, really pushing it, even late May bloomers I question {not literally}).

I also won't disagree that it is sad I have to leave work sit, but I take no more chances with the leaf bs, I done been had by some of the best and as for the rest, they ain't getting me - the final reason to have the money saved.

[daveintoledo]

and the comment about a 400 dollar leave job, and someone thinking 60 bucks.... man you hit the nail right on the head...they just dont want to pay for leaf cleanup... they dont mind paying good for mulch or anything else, but they think..(your only picking up leaves)...


and i just recently lost my other job, and have gone full time.... im just skating by, nothing to save yet, but i expect to do well in a month or so when the turnover from bad work and lco's that dont show up start to come in...another 6 or more clients, and i could start to save... im pretty sure that will happen.....:)

[topsites]

and the comment about a 400 dollar leave job, and someone thinking 60 bucks.... man you hit the nail right on the head...they just dont want to pay for leaf cleanup... they dont mind paying good for mulch or anything else, but they think..(your only picking up leaves)...

and i just recently lost my other job, and have gone full time.... im just skating by, nothing to save yet, but i expect to do well in a month or so when the turnover from bad work and lco's that dont show up start to come in...another 6 or more clients, and i could start to save... im pretty sure that will happen.....:)

Put out more advertising if you got time, now is still a very good time.

Yeah, leaves is the lowest pita of this business... It's really the reason why I want my money before the first one falls lol. It kills me too, they don't have no problem paying 35 bucks for me to zoom around and cut and trim and 30 minutes later I am done, but leaves is the minimum wage job around here if you can get them to pay that much.

I got customers still got leaves all in a pile (out of the way but), all it takes is 200 dollars for one load on my trailer and they're gone!
Nope, no way, too much omg why so expensive we were thinking 50 bucks lol.
Well YOU fill this 6x12x2 trailer with this here rake and tarp and fill the tarp nicely then hump it on there like santa claus, then take it to the landfill and then you empty it because they don't walk off even if I ask them nicely... Oh and don't forget to STOMP around the whole trailer real good at least a half dozen times to compress the bunch so you can get as many more on there lol and by the way, the landfill fee is 40 dollars and it's at the other end of the county lol lol and since you STOMPED the leaves real good they might not come off as easy as you think but it's all good, 200 dollars a load.

On that last note, next tip: I only do leaves for customers who have been with me the entire year.
Reason: This way if I get burned, it doesn't hurt nearly as bad.