Ready To Go!

[StarCity]

98 Blazer 4.0 V-6<br>36&quot; Exmark Metro<br>21&quot; Craftsman bagger/mulcher<br>Echo string trimmer<br>Echo blower<br>Little Wonder edger<br>5X10 trailer w/ramp<br>Wife & 2 Sons<p>We are in eastern Nebraska and are ready to mow! We put out 350 flyers in our neighborhood yesterday......maybe a little early? But the weather has been sooooo nice....spring conditions forcast for the whole week. We will do more flyers, run an ad in the service directory in the paper and a local cable channel that just runs adverts. Will the customers now come???? Please say yes! <br>

[michael bucher]

<br>sounds like your covering your bases well. One other thought would be to put up some flyers in your local senior center if you have one in your area. This has always proved successful for us as an additional source of advertising.

[lawrence stone]

Maybe just some insurance, about<br>3 fifty five gallon steel drums with the tops<br>cut off place in the front of your trailer to<br>handle the yard waste. A stand on sulky so<br>you can handle some &quot;big' jobs and to increase the already dismal production of<br>the 36&quot; deck.<p>That 21&quot; craftsman will be dead by June so<br>look around at the mower shops for a used<br>Toro commercial or even a consumer model with<br>the 2 cycle engine.<p>You will also need to have a spare string trimmer and hand blower.

[GrassMaster]

Hello:<p>I wrote a small article about &quot;Are you really ready for spring&quot;? Check it out, it's at the very top of my home page. It doesn't cover everything but it will start you to thinking & that's why I wrote it.<p>----------<br>GrassMaster - Home: www.lawnservicing.com<br>My Start Up Page www.lawnservicing.com/startup/

[Lazer]

21&quot; mowers are useless, unless you're in tiny areas.<p>Hand blowers are worthless.

[HOMER]

Starcity, something my mama used to tell me: &quot;MAKE DUE WITH WHAT YA GOT TILL YOU CAN GET BETTER.&quot; You're on the right track and bigger things await you. Establish yourself with the equipment you have and build up from there slowly.<p>Good Luck,<p>Homer

[Eric ELM]

Lazer, What you talking about, those hand blowers are great for blowing out candles. :) <p>StarCity, Try passing out the fliers on the weekend when people are at home. I did and was able to talk to some and got jobs by just talking to them. <p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<p>

[slagerlawncare]

star city...<br>putting flyers woked well for me last year..do you offer a special? that helps...<br>also target a neihborhood that you would like to get accounts in and flyer them to death.stay away from senior DISCOUNT centers..you'll get enough of them through your flyers..just my opionion<br>lazer,<br>do you have back pack blowers?

[Yard]

StarCity- Sounds like you're heading in the right direction. Remember not to low ball your prices just to get accounts, it's not worth it. You'll be a lot better off being known for quality work and being reliable than for being cheap. Get insurance if you don't have it.<br>If your going to use that Craftsman much you better think about getting a decent commercial 21&quot;.I think the blower is a matter of personal choice, I've been using hand helds for over 10 years for blowing grass clippings off walks and drives. Unless you have properties with long walks and/or drives the hand held will be fine. When it comes time to blow leaves out of the shrubs that may be another story. <br>Good luck! John

[StarCity]

Thank you all for your input and information. We did put a coupon on the flyer for the 4th mowing free. We also offered free &quot;proffesional&quot; edging for anyone signing up for service before March 31st. We are doing edging as part of our regular mowing package anyway.....We just thought it might be an extra incentive.<br>As for the Craftsman......we'll run it into the ground and then worry about a comercial. It was hard enough spending the $ on the equipment we do have when we only had 1 customer! <br>Our second blower will be a back-pack but until then....we'll make due.<p>By the way....we just got our first call from the 350 flyers we put out yesterday! Hopefully there will be more. <br>Thanks again for all your help.

[John Deere]

Star City, where in Husker land are you from?<br>We service Lincoln and Kearney.

[Lazer]

slager,<br>Yes, we have back-pack blowers. I think we've got 11 or 12. Stihl BR400's & Echo PB6000's. Going to sell all the Echo's this spring.

[StarCity]

John Deere,<br>Hey, what do ya know! I was born in Kearney and grew up in Axtell. We are in Lincoln now and are giving lawn care a whirl on the side. I have a full time job in a print shop but my wife and I like the outdoors and she actually likes to mow and our 2 boys are just getting old enough that they can help out so we'll see what happens? How did you end up in Kearney AND Lincoln. You must have a good operation. Look forward to hearing more.<p>Steve<br>

[thelawnguy]

I have one of those cheapy $100 echo handblowers for the walks and drives, most of the time I dont get the big blower out unless the grass is real heavy on the lawns. The hand blower usually gets stolen before it wears out thats why I get the cheapest one.<p>Bill

[GrassMaster]

Hello StarCity:<p>Don't worry about equipment you got plenty to start with, what you need is work & plenty of it.<p>I started out with a truck, snapper rear engine rider, borrowed trimmer, handtools & broom. Also had the desire to make a living & be successful!<p>I never trimmed bushes before & as close as I got to edging was using a shovel.<p>5 years later I walked off with 100K, 2 trucks, & 10K in equipment. Think if I did that 4 times in 20 years which would be easy to do. I also made a real good living 3 of those 5 years. <p>----------<br>GrassMaster - Home: www.lawnservicing.com<br>My Start Up Page www.lawnservicing.com/startup/

[Eric ELM]

I too, started out with a hand held blower. They will do the job, but where a 62cc back pack blower really makes a difference is on a driveway that is wet from rain or spinkler systems and you get some clipping on them. It will blow the snot out of the clippings, water, what ever is in the way. We have big driveways, which took forever with the hand held, but it did do the job. Good luck on your lawn maintenance adventure.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>

[Charles]

I understand you have start somewhere. What size yards will you be serving? If they are around half an acre. You are just spinning your wheels starting off with a 21 inch mower. And bagging at that. You are not putting yourself in any kind of position to even upgrade. If you are not in a position to buy a new commercial mower. At least buy a larger used commercial one. Your first year you are going to have to make enough to get you through the winter. Unless you have another job or doing small yards only. Well lets put it this way. If all your market is is small yards. I wouldn't even try this business. Be hard to support a family doing small yards. Speed and quantity and quality are the three main things in this business.

[Getmow]

Don't woory about what you are starting with. Worry about what you are working towards. I started with homeowner equipment 11 years ago. A snapper self propeled and McCulloch trimmer and blower. Man how did I ever make it. Just keep upgrading to meet your needs. 11 years and a bunch of bad purchaces later we finally have a winning combo. Dixies, Toro and Echo.<br>Hey lazer let me know when you want to sell some of the echo pb6000 blowers.<br>

[Charles]

Well there are many bigger homeowner type mower out there than a 21&quot; We are suppose to be helping people not make the same mistake that some of us did when we started. I started out with a 44&quot; Sears. Then within a year bought a 60&quot; john deer. From there I kept moving up.

[John Deere]

Hey Getmow, you are bringing back a lot of fond memories! That is definitely funny to think back at all of the crap I've bought over the years, but that's how you learn. Just thought I would add that since I can really relate.

[lawnnut]

I have only 36 payments left on my<br>19&quot; Lawnboy Fixed Deck

[lawnworker]

Star city<p>Hey u are good to go exmark 36 is a awsume little machine for 1/2 acre and under yards<br>get u a set of gater mulching baldes forget the bagging and let the exmark eat grass like they do best!! hand blowers do fine for small residential work big time coomercial guys will not like them though P.S. with a 36<br>u wont hardly ever need to use your 21 so craftsman are not it should last many years been there done this thing a long time good luck

[curlawngreen]

I only lost $1000.00 on my JONH DEERE mower. It wold not cut bahia. Took it back 6 times with less than 20 hours on it. LAL (live and learn)

[gene gls]

Don't knock small yards. I have a friend that only does small yards,$1.00+ per minute.Its a high end area,doctors and such.

[Grassboy]

Hey Lazer,<p>What blower do you like best? Stihl or Echo, you said you use both of them.<br>Also, is Red Max or Shindaiwa any good? They look very powerful. Are they durable?

[Charles]

OIC $1 per min huh? I guess all the yards are side by side? And all the rich people live in one area? And there is no travelling involved? And all the rich people have small yards? With no blowing off the drives? No weedeating? uh huh

[MJM Landscaping Inc]

Lazer,<br>I too had all echo blowers untill about 2 years ago.Tried out a stihl that was on sale and now replacing all of the echos with stihl. They seem lighter and have more power.<br>Echo made some changes over the years that i just didnt like. I still use echo trimmers though.<br>Mark

[lawnworker]

dont know about them blowers but red max trimmers look pretty good so do the kawasaki trimmers.I might buy a red max weed trimmer this year to replace my homlite Lowes special