Help W/ New Season!

[firehairbomb]

Hi, I'm from Hutchinson, Kansas area. This is the year i plan on finally getting 5+ all year long accounts. Currently have 3 clients,(1 neighborhood rental, 2 family). I need to know how much advertising i should do. At the end of this season i should have $100 left over(im 13 yrs old). I need to also know the best form of advertising to look into. So if you guys could answer these questions...
1)How much to spend on ads?
2) How to spend that money i.e. what form of ads.
3) Is $45 a week good pay for a 13 yr old with 3 clients?
4) Should i offer a senior discount?
5) Should i offer anything besides the basic(mowing weedeating etc?)

[firehairbomb]

anyone there?
Still looking for answers!!!

[grassmedics]

:laugh: I would say go get some posterboard or something of that type, and handwrite lawn care on it with your phone number. As far as offering anything else offer whatever you can handle the more you offer the more jobs your gonna get. good luck with it, stick with it, and by the time your 25 you'll have a crew doing the work for you. LOL

[TandM]

Hey I am 14 and have8 clients at the time best way is flyers and to go door to door.

[dapeoplesbarber]

Vistaprint.com has FREE postcards they look great I ordered some and there awsome the give you 100 for free just gotta pay shipping like 5 bucks.There look at more professional that way! Good Luck Im in the same boat!

[Matts lawn care]

You are off to a good start but 45 a week divided by 3 clients is only 15 per lawn. If you plan on making any money in lawn care you need to have a minimum price to come out and work depending on your cost of doing business. In my case the minimum is 30 for a townhouse sized lawn. If you have $119 you can go to gotprint.com and get 2.5k 4x6 postcards with full color on both sides. Also check out vistaprint.com make an account and they will send you emails to get 100 free postcards 25 free brochures and things like that. Just DON'T sign up for vistaprint rewards (they bill you 15 a month for nothing.)

[topsites]

Probably your best bet is to tell some of the neighbors you know and your parents about your plans, also friends who live in your neighborhood and let word of mouth work for you... This is assuming you don't have a car, it would likely be easiest working in your own neighborhood, as your figures appear realistic for this to work.

Hang on to that $100, keep building on it, it takes time but more is always better and afaik there is no such thing as too much $. :laugh:
You could, if word of mouth doesn't work out so well, design and print a flyer on your pc, then go run off a few hundred copies someplace like Staples, put these out in the 8-10 residential blocks that perimeter your own house, probably run you 5-10 bucks.

Peace out, good luck.

[firehairbomb]

Thanks for the input everyone!
Still need to know about senior discount.
Also my family wont give me an increase in wage.
My 1 nonfamily job is a rental house and i get 25 per mow
Thanks everyone

[KS_Grasscutter]

For what its worth, I am having a $30 minimum next year. Think MOST guys in town already do this. Also, dont waste your money with the Hutch News classifides. Big waste of money, I have had an add in there all summer, and haven't had a single call in the last month. Senior discount-no.

[Stillwater]

Hi, I'm from Hutchinson, Kansas area. This is the year i plan on finally getting 5+ all year long accounts. Currently have 3 clients,(1 neighborhood rental, 2 family). I need to know how much advertising i should do. At the end of this season i should have $100 left over(im 13 yrs old). I need to also know the best form of advertising to look into. So if you guys could answer these questions...
1)How much to spend on ads?
2) How to spend that money i.e. what form of ads.
3) Is $45 a week good pay for a 13 yr old with 3 clients?
4) Should i offer a senior discount?
5) Should i offer anything besides the basic(mowing weedeating etc?)

I started around your age and learned the hard way, my advice is sound, you dont have to learn the hard way,.... like I did.

1) 0
Tell everyone what you are doing and ask them to tell everyone.

2) Given your situation, Do not! spend capital at this point on advertising this would be a seriously bad business decision.

3) No it is not good pay and your age has (Nothing) to do with it
I don't care how small the lawns are you should be generating more money for mowing 3 lawns.

4) No!!! absolutely NOT!, you should NOT offer any discount for mowing lawns to Senior citizens just as anyone should not expect you to be paid cheaply because of your age. I cannot stress this point any harder do not offer discounts NO! re-read your own question # 3

(should you be paid cheaply becouse you are 13?)

5) Yes absolutely!, edgeing, mulching, rakeing, weeding, gutter cleaning, sweeping/blowing

[firehairbomb]

hey KS! Nice to see ur still around! I already have a couple biz cards, should i make more or just use word of mouth?
esh...i'm gonna try doing all that, I need to think of a better name than Snickerdoodle Lawn care for all that stuff!

[TandM]

Yea that is not proffessinal at all you will think of something

[MOWEMJEFF]

Don't offer gutter cleaning. Bad things can come of it.

Do offer dog poop removal, sounds gross but at $12/dog you can make over a dollar a minute and all you need is a bag. I do this for 3 customers everytime I mow them and it takes 5 minutes.