Help me pick/yes or no.

[FrankenScagMachines]

I am starting my biz now. Just got a 1997 6'x12' with gate ramp (better than the 5x10 i was gonna get, it only had 12" tires) and it has a 5,000lb axle. Holds all my stuff with lots of leftover room. I have a rear engine rider that cuts wonderfully, but will soon upgrade to a walk behind. my question is someone said i should go door to door and hand out flyers, and they said i would get all the bizness i wanted that way. I was also going to put business cards at local shops (parts store, feed and grain place, etc.) do you think the door to door thing is a good idea or not? give pros and cons. I'm 14 1/2, so it may not be a good thing, but then again might be good too. bad maybe cause they might wanna take advantage of me, good cause they may decide i need work and know i'll be alittle cheaper than other guys, and they might wanna support someone starting out cause they remember when they did it when they were a kid. What's your thoughts?

Flyer - click here (http://www.geocities.com/ecgrounds/ecservices.ppt)

Trailer and equipment - click here (http://www.geocities.com/ecgrounds/equipmentpics.html)

[TOSLC]

I'd say I've had the best luck with fliers. Just getting your name known helps.

By the way I do some work in Columbus also.

[SJR Lawncare]

No offense but, at 14 1/2 , why do you need a trailer?

SJR

[jeffyr]

How are you going to move the trailer ?
Can you get a license at 14........and a half ?

[FrankenScagMachines]

I need a trailer to haul my stuff on. I don't live in town where I could just drive the mower. I live on a hiway outta town two miles and there's an addition - two of them in fact - down the road 1/4-1/2 mile or so. But can't drive a mower on the highway. And this would be good to haul mulch and leaves, etc. and still have room for mowers.

TOSLC- Do you know where Daily's Feed and Grain is east of Columbus on 25th st? used to be st rd 46 but some one changed it all the way out to st rd 9, 5 miles outta town, what a dumb thing. I live across from Daily's one house toward town with the circle drive and white columns. Maybe you know where it is or have seen me out in the yard? What is the name of your business, I might have heard of you. Where do you do most of your work at?

Eric

[HLC]

This is my second year in the biz. I have heard that the door hangers work well. I was going to do that but decided to send out postcards. At 21 cents apiece I figure I 'll let the postman deliver. I am sending out about 600 and it's costing me $126 in postage. I figure it would take me a week and some awfully sore feet to put that many out. I'm sure I couldn't hire someone to do it for less. Just a suggestion. I would also like to hear from some of the pros on this.....Have postcards worked for anyone else? Thanks....Joe

[FrankenScagMachines]

Jeffyr,
I guess you didn't click on the link to the trailer and equipment page. We have a 1 ton Ford van to haul it with. My mom would drop me off at a area where i have several accounts close together and get me later. I will probly take my garden tractor with a trailer ball and use it to move the trailer and mower(s) around the neighborhood. My older brother , 18, will work for me sometimes and will drive too. Then by the time i'm 16 I will probably already have a truck. I figure I can have enough for a nice one not too old in about 4 to 8 months depending on many things.
Eric

[AL Inc]

BushHog- I wish I had that set-up when I was 14. My friend and I used to cut 1 acre properties with Lawn Boys. We didn't get a 36" walk behind until we were about 17. I've also had good luck with flyers. Pass out as many as you can before the season starts or on rainy days when you can't work. You can always turn down work if you have more than you can handle. As far as people trying to take advantage of you, give them your price and stand behind it. If they don't like it, walk away. Also keep in mind that any contracts that you and your clients enter into are non-binding until you are 18, so be careful. I hope this helps you. Mike

[CS Lawns]

Most kids at 14 1/2 are not even thinking of working yet your set up looksd good for starting out hell there are some companies in my city with less HA! HA! Your flier says unavailable for viewing so I will try later. Keep your first accounts happy stick to your price and let the best advertising work for you "WORD OF MOUTH" good luck! Will that tractor pull your trailer and equipment? hope your close accounts are close and dont forget to throw in an extra gas can !

[PAPS]

- I was thinking the exact same thing !!! You are 14.5 years old !!! How are you going to move that trailer around !!! Don't tell me where you live they are handing out driver lic. at age 14 !!! My man... stick to a small little operation with 1 mower and go around door to door for new work.. you have plenty of time to buy all the equipment you want in the future !!! Not for nothing... but 14 years old... enjoy life and have fun... there's no reason to be working "full time"

[CS Lawns]

I here ya! at 14 I was more interested in chasing tail if you know what I mean :D :blob4:

[TOSLC]

I know where you live. I reconized the house. I live in Greensburg and work in Columbus, so I go past your house everyday. I own and operate TOS Lawn Care & Landscaping. I do 85% of my work in Decatur County, and the rest in Bartholomew County.

I agree with some of the other guys about not working so much. Work enough to afford the "toys" that everyone needs, but you need to play also! I started a paper route at age 13, worked it till 15, when I got a job at Burger King. At age 17 I started a job at Cummins (school to work) and delivered Pizzas for Pizza Hut in Greensburg. At 18 I started working full time at Cummins, worked for a Marina, mowed yards, and took evening college courses part time. By the time I was 21 I still had my job at Cummins, a small lawncare business, and going to college part time. I'm now 25 still working at Cummins, I maintain 28 properties a week (over 50 accounts all together including landscaping), have a degree in Electrical Engineering, currently working on a degree in Business Management, married, I'm busier than a one legged man in a butt whippin contest, and wondering where my life went!

What is my point? I'm trying to prove that it isn't worth it. Cummins pays the bills and provides insurance, the lawncare business has put my wife through college. When she's graduated (Business Management) I'm going full time for myself, and she's agreed to help with the business, and hold a job with insurance. You get so wrapped up in what your doing, then loose it all when you get burnt out. Right now I'm just trying to hang on long enough for her to finish school. YOU HAVE TO TAKE TIME OUT TO PLAY! You only have one life, take the time to enjoy it!!!

[FrankenScagMachines]

thanks guys for the advice and encouragement. I will remember to keep it small. I figure I can do 2 hours a day average and 6 hours on Saturday to keep within daylight and weather. That is just average figures, then I can do more in a day and have days without much work. And I need to remember that in leaf season it's gonna take alot longer per place too. Do those hours sound ok to you?
Eric
PS - TOSLC - stop by sometime! anytime!

[fshrdan]

bushhogboy, this doesn't address your question, but reading your scenario, you might want to consider a couple of drop down stands for the back of your trailer so you can on and off load equipment while not being hooked up to a vehicle.

[FrankenScagMachines]

Fshrdan- I have a couple jackstands that will do for now. Definately will be in use when behind my GT. (the one by my name on the left, avatar thingy)
The big Wheel Horse on the back of the trailer is not mine, it's mom and dad's. I won't be using it, but I was just piling everything on the trailer to see how much space it took up. With all three there's still room for push mower etc. and that's with the Wheel horse. W/o it as usually , there will be lots of room :D

[Likestomow]

My nephew Ryan is now 18 and has been in business for 5 full years. He started out at age 13 with a 32" Exmark Metro. In 1999 he bought a 50" Dixie Chopper and a 6.5X12 trailer. His dad or mom would spot him in a neighborhood and he'd work off the trailer. In 2000 he bought a '92 Mitsubishie 3000GT. In 2001 he bought a '95 Dodge pickup. He just ordered a new 62" Toro with the 27hp Kaw liquid cooled. And you guessed it.... he doesn't work cheap!

[FrankenScagMachines]

Likestomow - That's the same model walk behind I want, a Metro. I would prefer 36" but 32" would be fine. I'm wanting my first vehicle to be a newer Ford F250 long bed ext. cab automatic 4wd deisel or Triton V10. This trailer will last along time and I'll not outgrow it anytime soon.

Anyone know how much payments are on a Metro 32" or 36"? New one of course. Might as well get new, used ones won't be enough less to justify sacrificing the service and reliability of a new one, right?
BTW, isn't this the time of year to start getting accounts lined up? What percentage of people who get fliers usually respond? Maybe 40% (more or less????) I was gonna go door to door talking to everyone and give out 50 fliers, wanting around 20 accounts. I figure I can turn someone down if I have to and I might have a good chance of getting them later too. Do you go door to door talking to everyone, or mail, or hang on doorknob or what?
thanks in advance,
Eric

[PAPS]

Originally posted by Likestomow
My nephew Ryan is now 18 and has been in business for 5 full years. He started out at age 13 with a 32" Exmark Metro. In 1999 he bought a 50" Dixie Chopper and a 6.5X12 trailer. His dad or mom would spot him in a neighborhood and he'd work off the trailer. In 2000 he bought a '92 Mitsubishie 3000GT. In 2001 he bought a '95 Dodge pickup. He just ordered a new 62" Toro with the 27hp Kaw liquid cooled. And you guessed it.... he doesn't work cheap!

13 is sad.. plain and simple...when I was 13 my parents pushed school NOT work... Working was not even an option . There has to be some kind of law to prevent 13 year old kids from working.. thats sad.

[AL Inc]

BushHogboy-I would estimate payments on that machine to be about $100 a month. I just paid off a 36" Scag, payments were $104/month. Payment depends on $ down and # of years. Good idea to buy new. As far as flyers, I think you are being very optimistic. From my experience, I've gotten maybe 1 customer for every 100 flyers. I have always put them in mailboxes, so you may have better results if you go door to door and meet people directly. Like I said before, put out as many as you can, you can always turn down work if you have too much, or pass off work to other LCO's. Also, I agree with Paps, you should try to have fun. But if this is what you enjoy and it helps you relax from school or whatever, do it. Good luck, Mike

[65hoss]

I agree and disagree. Yes, you should be a kid. But, you should also learn to work. To many kids these days only know how to be lazy, sit at home playing video games, getting fat, and never learning how the real world works.

Yes they should have fun at that age, but they should learn to work and learn responsibility.

[JimLewis]

At 21 cents apiece I figure I 'll let the postman deliver. I am sending out about 600 and it's costing me $126 in postage.
That isn't really that cheap in comparison to flyers. We have very nice Black and White Flyers (http://www.cybcon.com/~jimlewis/Flyer.jpg) and they cost me 2 cents a piece. For that same $126 I can make over 6000 flyers. Or look at it another way; for only $12 I can make the same 600 you make, only their 8.5"x11".
I figure it would take me a week and some awfully sore feet to put that many out
Now I know the houses in my area are packed tighter together than most. But 600 in a week? I can lay 600 flyers in one day!

Not that I am against post cards. We are doing some this year and I'm sure they'll work great. But I still say flyers are the best return on investment of any kind of marketing their is.

I can make 1000 flyers and pay the neighbor kid $5 an hour to hand them out with me. Total expense is about $60. Whereas post cards cost about 44 cents each (color card stock, including postage) and costs me $440. I like the $60 much better than the $440. And that's not even including the cost of the addresses and labels.

I only do post cards because I am getting lazier these days and can afford it. But we'll still do more flyers than post cards this year and I recommend flyers for most people unless they have plenty of $$. Flyers work great!

[FrankenScagMachines]

Thanks guys. Reason I wanted approximate payment figures was that I'll need to know that to know how much $$$ to save toward machine payments and repair and maintenance. Also I will save $300 or more or so for customer insurance if i break something. Oh yea, I will keep car wash tickets around :D ;) :p
I really enjoy doing this stuff, it's my hobby, my passion, my pasttime, etc. MY LIFE! I am homeschooled so I can be at the jobsite at 3 pm. I think I may try to do about 15 hours a week until I get going and have a good idea how long exactly each will take and all. How much are sulky's for a Metro? I thought about making one also.
Thanks,
Eric

[HLC]

Jim,
I guess in my area the houses are a little more spred out. I have put out flyers before for another business I had and it was a major pain. I guess also if I were doing this full time I could have the time to put out flyers. I have a 40 hour job and just can't squeeze in a full day to put out flyers, so for me the postcards work better from a delivery standpoint. I am also only shooting for approximately 30 accounts. THis is about all that I think can handle with a full time job. Another thing about flyers, and I may be the only one in the world who feels this way. When I lived in the city my pet peave was coming home to see a bunch of crap hanging from my door knob or mailbox. I used to just throw them away but I started taking note of who the businesses were and made sure not to patronize them. I know too that for every person like me there were ten who did patronize the biz on the flyer. Again just my nickels worth.:blob3:

[PrimeGreen Lawn]

Just a quick note on MY flier experience.
I just handed out 1,000 florescent green fliers. Cost me about $60 at Staples to copy and fold! Handed them out on a day and a half. Most of these are 2-4 acre properties in very upscale neighborhoods. Out of the 1,000 fliers handed out three weeks ago....I've gotten 18 new resident contracts, and 2 good commercial accounts. The smallest property is 2 acres for about $60, the rest vary from 2.5-5 acres for $70- $180! Not a bad start to the season!
:blob4:

[dlandscaping]

im 15 just a little older than you and i have to start getting out the flyers soon. i want to add double the work i had last year so i can pay for a Z. good idea getting a trailer, working out of a van (we have a ram 2500 commercial enclosed van) was hard so last springi bought a new trailer (6.5' by 12') it has saved loads of time for mulch, leaves and mowing. i just got a pic of my brother and I mowing with our 2001 walkbehinds (great investment) and ill post it later. i also just got my truck delivered last week (1995 f250 extended cab long bed 4*4 with a 460 V8 engine) and ill post pics of that too. wait till you go look at the price of that diesel f250 you want, man some of those dealers are nutsss ($40,000+). im gonna use the used truck to get used to a long truck and driving itself and then get a new truck for snow plowing in august. good luck this season

[JSMLAWNCARE]

This boy has a good head on his sholders, for his age. Keep it up and try hard! Even when it's hot out there.

Jim M

[1grnlwn]

Go for it, I like the personel touch. Good luck!

[SLS]

I think it sounds like you've got good a plan there, young man!

Best of luck to you!:)






BTW: For a brand-new guy you sure have a lot of posts under your belt. hehehe ;)

[bad_chad48]

When is the best time to start passing out these flyers? Last year, I started about now. Is this to early to start passing them out. Also do you all perfer passing them out any certain day and time? why?
Also, do you put them in door hangers or just roll them up and place them on the doors.

[FrankenScagMachines]

http://lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=39855

Please read that and take it seriously 1grnlawn. I respect you as a member who contributes to this forum, but I think it's a bit excessive to bring back a thread that is one year old just to say you like the idea and good luck, when it has already happened!!!! Please please quit this. At least don't bring up my old ones if you don't quit all of it. We all know what happened in the past year. Now I have the equipment and some of the work. Didn't go according to the plan as of a year ago, but I do have it.
Please can we stop this already?
Eric

[1grnlwn]

bad_chad48, I would think now would be a good time. I think door hangers are good. Don't use tape! We buy a door hanging poly bag. They are pretty cheap and you can put anything in them. We use rubber bands in conjunction with the bag when there is no knob. try these guys.http://www.growpro.com/Catalog.html

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Real green

Nebs

[baddboygeorge]

the flyers work great i have done it for years an always do it really heavy in areas we are alredy workin .this is my main form of advertisement. i also use advo coupons very inexpensive 10,000 homes for 310 dollars an they mail them for ya an you can tell them what areas to send them too. i advertise very little most of our work comes thru word of mouth an that is the best advertisement. in 9 years of being in business for myself i have never had a yellow page ad an at one time i was cutting 180 properties a week with three mowing crews an i had three landscaping crews doing installs an maintainence. i think that is very awesome cause i know guys that have the fancy yellow page ads an they do crappy work thas why they have to have an ad!!

[freepoint15]

Doorhangers work well for us.They let you target specific neighborhoods and cluster lawns together.We hung about 80 out Tuesday and got 3 new customers on Wednesday and we are still a full month away from mowing.We walk about a 2 mile area around our shop to limit drive time as much as possible.Doorhangers a lot less expensive than postcards-500/$40.It doesnt take that long to distribute 500 in a couple of neighborhoods.

[darryl gesner]

Sorry, but those lawn photos look like crap. I'd loose them.

[slapshotmike24]

Why is a 3 year old thread back at the top?????????????? ;)

[spoolinaround]

Why is a 3 year old thread back at the top?????????????? ;)
I was wondering the same thing, this thread is about as old as your avatar

[captken]

Why is a 3 year old thread back at the top?????????????? ;)

someone wanted to bring up our past. If you do a search, you might find learn something or find a thread worth dragging up. BTW, FrankenSkagMachine used to be [our] "bush hog boy!" My how times the have changed....it's different now newby.