Ahhh I hate these decisions...

[Willofalltrades]

I 'm 18 years old. I have been landscaping on my own for two years. I have always had a second job so that I could have some guaranteed income (winter and such). Well I recently got a job that is practically putting me to work full time (between 34-40 hours a week) as well as going to school (high school). It has taken up my last three weeks of my life. I am selling new and used cars for a well known chain in Northeast Ohio (Fords). The pay is decient and reliable... I wish I could say that about my business but I have been learning lessons as I go... they just hurt financially in the process. I am advertising soon (I know its late but the new job took ALL my free time). I guess what I am asking is should I keep the few lawns I have and cut them on my one day off during the week or should I advertise, get clients, and make myself PART TIME like I was hired for? The set back to demanding less hours is I am almost positive I would get fired and then I would have to rely on landscaping... which is stinking for me right now and not paying the bills.

Oh, I snow plowed for a large landscaping company this past winter and they offered me a job this summer so I guess if I get fired I can go to them for a job (supervising a crew of mexicans).

[Willofalltrades]

....Anybody?

[Malrex]

Well bub,

when I was your age, every job that I went for was a stepping stone towards what I wanted to do as my career...or tried my hardest too. Sure, I worked a few pizza places, but I always tried to work somewhere that would give me experience later on.

In your case, my advice is this: You are in highschool, you need to enjoy yourself a bit and concentrate on grades. I would drop the car salesman job unless its something you really enjoy doing (sometimes experience that will help later is better than a big paycheck, imo). I would look into the landscaping company and try to get a job with them. Learn as much as you can from that landscaping company...focus on it, LEARN. Look at the stuff you may not know how to do...like keeping track of employees, how they advertise, etc.

Then when you get out of highschool and/or college, you will have some good landscaping experience and can either tackle running your own business then or finding a job that you enjoy doing with a company.

If you can still juggle having your own side landscaping jobs, keep em. Just make sure you have at least 1 day a week where you don't work, a day for youself...its good for the soul.