My plan to make it on my own...

[LegendaryLawns]

OK, new to the site and I love it so far! You guys are great! I love that you all share positives and negatives as well!
Some background on me....I have been mowing grass on the side for 15 years or more, but only a a handful of lawns at the most.
Today, I have 6 avg city size lawns, one medium sized account in country, and just picked up a large Church account. All are weekly accounts.
With the addition of the Church account, I made the addition to my equipment arsenal that I had been looking at for 2 years now. I grabbed a ProCat 52" commercial Z-turn from Bobcat, a great machine! I also have a decent 36" Exmark WB, 22" John Deer Commercial Push. I may keep my 42" Sabre riding lawn mower to have as a backup for a little while. My Echo weed eater has been reliable for years, and I plan on replacing my Husky Blower with a Echo backpack blower soon.
My goal in the next year is to pay off my 2003 Chevy Silverado ex cab longbed, which pulls my tandem axle 14ft trailer. Also during the next year to 2 years will be paying off the balance that i owe on the Pro Cat. Then it should just be maintenance costs on the equipment.
I am going to do some serious homework on trying to get in on some of the local city park jobs, as well as work on some serious advertising and marketing to increase my customer base for the coming year.
I have a full time job as we speak, but my plan is to be able to walk away from it next year and work for myself from then on out...
:waving:

[GravyTrain]

Words of wisdom:

1) Don't think that all you will have a repair costs. You will eventually have to replace all your equipment. Start putting money back every single month into an account somewhere to be used for the sole purpose of replacing equipment. For example, 7k for a new Z (I'm making up numbers, just go with it). Think yours will last you 6 years before replacement is needed. Put back 100 dollars every month somewhere. When your 6 years is up (assuming no interest is gained), you'll have 7200 for a new mower, pay cash for it, no financing required.

2) Everything thing I've heard on this website to this point is to stay away from government paid jobs. They always go to the lowest bidder which means that for you to get it, you will probably have to take a loss.

3) After 15 years in the business, hopefully your name is getting out there already, use that to your advantage and offer your current customers incentive to refer you to their friends, neighbors, etc.

4) Do it right. Find out what it takes in your area to run a legit business. Make sure you file your taxes right, don't do something you shouldn't without the proper permits. The main reason for this, is to protect yourself. If you do get caught, and fined for basically breaking the law, you've got to pay for it. Dropping a few bucks for the right licenses up front is cheaper than paying the hundreds of dollars in fines later.

5) GO FOR IT!!!!!

[LegendaryLawns]

Thanks Gravy! Duly noted!