Advise And Help!!!! Please

[LawnCowboy]

Thank you for your time. I am new to the forum and I am seeking advise on considering starting my own lawn and landscape business. I am 28 yrs old married with two kids. We both work two jobs and are unhappy in our current situation. (debt, stress, financial strain, etc....) The idea came after talking to a friend of mine who sugessted we start our own business. I live in an area were there are many lawn companys some that are here today gone tommorow and others that are doing really well. I know there is money to be made in this industry, but is it worth it?
My wife is verry creative and loves to landscape she does a wonderful job of designing and implementing what she has designed. I would like to know if this is something that could be lucrative to pursue. Could it support a familly? Would it be a stable income? What about health, medical benefits? I would just like some direction on this.
I do not own any equipment. I would need to invest in everything. (truck, trailer, mowers, edgers, trimmers, ect....)
If this is something that I should undertake with my wife what do we do? A,B,C, and so on? What are your opinions and advise. I know there are people on this board who have done verry well in this business and are living comfortablly. Is there future in this?
Please help a fella out. Thanks for your time and info.

[out4now]

Theres a good book that may start you in the right direction by Joel LaRusic. He's done some web casts stuff with Team Gopher. It's a good starting place. You can ask questions here too but it may be a handy book to have. Investment will be what you make it. Some guys start out with just basics, mower weedeater a few handtools and build from there. One thing that stands out though is that you said there wree lots of others out there already. The here today gone tommorows are probably pricing too low to get the work. It may take some time before you start making money. THere are lots of guys on here supporting families with their businesses. What can you budget, cut back on at home? There are so many variables in the question. A well thought out start up plan would be a good place to start. What are the guys that are still in business charging? You may or may not be able to survive off what they are gettting. They are most likely working from ecopnomies of scale and get better prices on things you may not be able to. Its the same with every business, research as much as you can. Up at the top there is a search box, any and I mean almost any topic has been discussed here and can be found quickly that way. You can spend weeks litterally looking up stuff. What Equipment dealers are in teh area, what do they carry? Are you going to add on additional services as you grow, do you need a pesticide lic for what you are planning, what about the accounting, who will handle that? INsurance, will you have employees? How much is workmans compensation insurance there? Where would you store the equipment? Theres tons of questions to answer. In the off season alot of guys do leaf clean-ups and then snow plowing, what will you do in the off season? Making a list of everything you can tap will help too. A Costco or Sam's business account may help, they do credit card processing now from what I understand. Hope that gets you started.:waving: