For sure!!

[Landscapes-r-us]

The 2nd year is the best! :weightlifter: I've been in the business a while but always working for someone else, and that's hard when you're making $10 an hour, watching your boss sitting in the truck listening to the radio, making a few hundred a day. BUT I couldn't thank him enough for the experience. Without it, I wouldn't nearly be able to provide as good of a service.
I started in March of 2005, hammered the area with fliers, sent some post cards, posted some ads and got an OK response, I had like 10 year round contracts and 10 seasonals, plus I got some decent landscape jobs during the summer. So back in January I knew I had to come up with a better idea because I couldn't keep running the business with only 10 contracts, after taxes, there wasn't much left! So I totally changed my advertising strategy, and hits the trails again in March. I now have 45 contracts (which is all I accept, if I accepted everyone that called me, I'd easily have 80-100) for weekly service and do some side jobs on the weekend when I have time.
I'm thinking about hiring a "crew" to do the 45 jobs a week, then getting another 25 for myself which I could easily do in 2-3 days then having the rest of the week for landscape jobs and getting a helped for like Wed-Sat landscape jobs.

Anyway, enough rambling on.. Just wanted to say, never get discouraged, provide quality work and your people will stick with you. I know it's easy to slack off and maybe not edge as well as you should or weedeat around that last tree, but your customers WILL notice!

Oh and I don't know how you guys have such good luck with doorhangers! I had some really nice color ones printed up, I paid a couple neighborhood kids to go to 2,000 houses EACH and got a really crappy response.. :dizzy:

Good luck this season everyone and it's NEVER too late to pick up new clients!

[topsites]

You discovered the same thing I found: It really is all in the advertising, and at least in my case we ain't talking word of mouth.

Funny, my 3rd year wasn't so hot but my 4th and 5th are... So yeah, it keeps getting better but watch yourself and don't rest on the laurels too long.

[Landscapes-r-us]

Yep advertising is KEY! Without it, you're nothing. Word of mouth worked OK for me, I mean that's what got me my first customers but I certianly don't rely on that. I thought up an advertising plan, I hit the streets and got much more business than I could handle. Like I said, I could easily have double the clients I have now but I turned down a ton.