Being to young to get the job

[Matt'slawncare]

Well i am 18 years old right now and i have been mowing yards for about 8 years now and i plan on getting bigger. I have a problem though with getting bigger its that people keep telling me that all these big company's and townships arn't going to listen to a kid my age. Do any other young kids on here have this problem. So what should i do should i just try it or find someone older to go talk with them.

thanks for the help,
Matt

[plymouthvaliant73]

Don't listen to those people.

Just do it and prove them wrong.

[Expert Lawns]

References.....if they are near another lawn you service, give them the address, and let them drive by it, and even call the homeowners. but be sure to get their permission first. This has worked for me in the past. And be sure to speak well, speak at their level, not like an 18 year old (no offense). Let them know you are confident. People appreciate that.

Just a few things from my experiences. hope it helps.

[IBGreen]

Don't listen to them, just have you're refrences available and be professional.

[KDJ]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Matt'slawncare
[B]Well i am 18 years old right now and i have been mowing yards for about 8 years now and i plan on getting bigger. I have a problem though with getting bigger its that people keep telling me that all these big company's and townships arn't going to listen to a kid my age. Do any other young kids on here have this problem. So what should i do should i just try it or find someone older to go talk with them.

thanks for the help,

Just who are these people? What do they do for a living? How do they live? Why is it that you take their opinon as sound fact?

Take a good look at them, and you will see what I mean.

[mklawnman]

I've had no problem with my age, im 19yrs old. Most of my customers are very interested in what I do and how young I am on running a business. I say just show your referances of your current customers to any future customers, take pictures of work done and just present yourself professionally. Usually potential customers will be impressed when they talk with a 18yr old that knows alot about the biz and already has many accounts that does quality of work, theirs a good chance they will give you a shot at doing work for them.
Just act professional and you should get any customers that call you.
Matt
PS-Remember you wont get everyone out their, just have to be patient.

[geogunn]

Originally posted by Matt'slawncare
I have a problem though with getting bigger its that people keep telling me that all these big company's and townships arn't going to listen to a kid my age.

MATT--at 18 you are no longer a kid so stop calling yourself one.

conduct your business legally and appropriately and people will have to consider you as a competitor.

and above all, consider the source of your advice when you get it.

good luck.

GEO

[J&R]

The age of 18. I can't remember that for back. I started my lawn service. when i was 32. I wish i had the nerve like you to start when i was 18. but South East Asia needed me then. Don't worry what other people say or do. Upmost be proud of you work. your name will get out.

[Swampbeast]

Your 18 Matt, the people of America think your old enough to join the armed forces and defend thier very lives while using machines that they paid for that cost more than thier houses. What do they mean you arent competition? As long as you do high quality work, it doesnt matter how old you are. I think Bushhogboy is 15 years old.
I have always used how young I am to an advantage. People seemed to like how I was 17 and running my own business responsibly. Now I am 20, almost 21, (18 more days to go) and I run a pretty good tight business.
Dont let em get you down, try for it anyways!


:cool:

[SpudsM15]

I'm 19 and I've been cutting since I was 9 years old, Started to make use of my lawn cutting skills 2 years ago. I have never had a problem getting a job because of my age. The only problem i have is when we neogotiate the price, people seem to think since we are young they can get work done for half as much as the older folk in the biz. Well when they try to talk me down I rip out a binder with a bunch of pic of my accounts and say to them "now does this look like cheap work to you"
It doesn't matter how old you are it matters that you are dependable and do good work!

[FrankenScagMachines]

swampbeast - yes I'm 15. I do just as good of work as anyone, if not better!
Matt, don't give up, swampbeast and everyone else is right, don't sell yourself short! I like Spud's idea too, show them your work and (if you have permission) put the customer's phone number and name below each picture for referrals as long as it's OK with them. Also read the post "the last guy only charged...." that's a good one too.
Good luck,
Eric

[Matt'slawncare]

Well the kind people that tell me this is the people that are in the lawn business them selfs. So i always thought there just saying that so there's not another person bidding against them, but then i thought in the back of my head maybe they had a point. I just thought i would ask you guys about this and get the right answere. Well thanks for all of the great advice.

Thanks again,
Matt :D

[plymouthvaliant73]

Originally posted by SpudsM15
Well when they try to talk me down I rip out a binder with a bunch of pic of my accounts and say to them "now does this look like cheap work to you"


That is cool!:cool:

[fblandscape]

Getting gray hair helps a lot, from what I understand.

[lawncare3]

I'm 15 and do just as good if not better then the guys down the street that are in there 50's-60's. They have been in the business for years more then me but, they just don't make stripes.:D

[Bunton Guy]

I was in the same boat. Im 19 now and started back in 94. since then I have steadily grown my business now having one full time employee and a few part timers. I had the same problem and there is no way around it. You just have to wait till you grow up and have a larger more pro image. When I was 15-17 I tried showing them how professional I was by having contracts that were well written and bullet proof. Having a list of satisfied commercial and residential customers. Having a big list of color photos and information about my services with a tri fold brochure. IF they dont still beleive that you can get the job done put them on a 60 day trial with nothing to loose. I know have been chosen to bid on a prestigeous Estate in my local area that has been turned into a bed and breakfast inn...it has over 5 acres with 65 manicured beds and is a historic site that thousands of families come from all over to see. And I have gotten many accounts like this through sending letters out to companies that I find could use my service telling them more info about myself and the company, how we do business, how long we have been in business & that we would be proud to service their properties.

[GrassMaster84]

I'm 18yrs old also, these type of people still think your a " Kid " or something. When they call they expect some 40-50 yr old guy to show up and cut their yard. But when they see some " punk kid " they sit there and watch you the whole time and point out everything little thing that needs to be done. -- And that is what pisses me off about these people. They think you are cheating them out of their money or somthing... but obviously your not since you show up with a rig of equipment and when you've got 20 accounts to take care of.

But not all people are like this, all my clients respect and trust my work!!

[TaylorLawn]

A word of advice, I am 34 years old, my son is 11, His name is Joshua, He started his own Lawn Business, its called "Lawns by Josh" and he works with me, and competes with me, and I love it.......he has several in the neighborhood where he takes one of the John Deere's I gave him (Yes that helps) and pulls a trailer behind it with a weedeater and a blower etc....and the old ladys love it.......and I love watching him succeed.....You keep on truckin...........my son has over 1,000 in his savings account from one street of lawns.........there is potential, and besides, the old ladys love you young guys.................

[Kingspointe]

I'm 18 also...all you have to do is be mature, proffesional, and have a smile on your face when bidding and people will take you seriously. Now what will set you apart from the rest is the caliber of work you do, no matter what age. Word of mouth advertising works best but only comes through great work:)

[TaylorLawn]

Kingspointe is right, only it is professional ....................I know it is tough, but correct spelling in advertisement means the world to you young guns...............there should be no reason to differ at all in age in this business.....it is about the quality of work...and it sounds to me like you young ones are pretty capable of performing quality business......and I will tell you that I am glad you do not live here................Eric

[bob]

Originally posted by BushHogBoy
swampbeast - yes I'm 15.

Thats great that you have started your own business. Are you limited to lawns that don't require transporting your equipment?

[dlandscaping]

Im 16 and running my own biz with my younger brother. Just last week we signed up 7 new clients for year round care. Snowblowing has been in great demand this season considering we just had two 14"+ storms in a two week span. I get more and more calls each week and havent even started advertising. I am taken seriously by customers, most believe i am older than i am and i dont tell them im still in high school right now. Its better that way, when i got my truck and license it helped alot. Im moving away from the neighborhood and into surrounding towns for work. With people next door they are cheap and expect work for free. Has it been tough yes? Expensive - $22k so far. My work is great for the price. I dont have all carpet lawns but some people arent interested in that and wont pay for those services.

[FrankenScagMachines]

Bob, no I live 2 miles out of town on a highway. Lot of subdivisions but you can't drive your mower and 2 cycle stuff to them. I've got a 6x12 open trailer and my mom usually goes with me (I can drive on my permit) and waits and I am getting my license next June. For a tow vehicle I am using my parent's '92 Ford E350 1 ton van. It pulls the trailer just like a 3/4 or one ton truck. I am hoping to get a truck of my own this year if I expand enough to afford one. I guess you have seen the pics of the John Deere 38" w/b I got for a song. It is a gear drive and I hear that they are expensive to repair the tranny, so I'll probably use it till the tranny blows and get a used hydro 36 or 48" then. I still have some repairs to do to the JD but when done I will only have like $350 in it total and so far the tranny is strong and at 460 hrs the 14hp kawi is still in great shape too. When the tranny blows I will probably keep the whole unit for parts for future projects. I have run belt drives and hydros before and this seems to have characteristics of both (this is gear drive with internal wet disc clutches), the direct power of a hydro, no slippage like a belt, but smaller wheels and no true zero turns. It doesn't go all over on hills like a belt drive but isn't as smooth to turn as a hydro, or a belt for that matter. The brake levers are harder to squeeze (i'm used to tight clutches I always tighten my garden tractors up) and they have a farther travel from full speed to the stop position of the wheels. So you gotta have larger more powerful hands than you would to run a belt drive. It is heavy for a gear drive.
Here's a pic of the mower and my 2 cycle stuff -stihl, echo and kawasaki.

dlandscaping - how is it working out with your brother working with you? Is it like a partnership or you just employ him? How old is he? My 11 year old brother thinks he might want to do it some but I don't think he's ready for it, physically and mentally. Not this year anyway. How much are you paying him and how's it working out?
Thanks,
Eric

[danlawnser]

taylorlawn when I started out I drove around my neighborhood with my jd and pulled alittle trailer with my stihl equipment and then I bought the great dane scamper and put that on the 4 by 8 trailer and pulled it behind the tractor. I wish ur son the best.
Some of you'll need to think about school more than work and have a social life. I am 17 and service about 30 accounts but high school is still most important.

[CMLLawnServices]

I`m 15 and all my accounts are out of town or on the far side of town. I built my 6x10 trailer this year and just pay my dad to pull my trailer to all my accounts he does`t like me to pay him but I thinks its more professional to. The costs are basically nothing just gas and a tip. I really hate residental accounts I`m focasing on Commercail this year and some large estates or farms. Ive did 2 ball diamonds a small park, and a large estate along with the odd residental. I picked up another ball diamond late this summer. I`m biddin on 3 schools coming up for tender this year and 2 conservation parks.
I fall goes well I`ll build or buy a bigger trailer. and a 72" kubota front mount, probably hire a freind for 10 bucks an hour to run my ZTR. If I aquire all the contracts I hope to I`ll have about 35 acres of grass to mow. I`ll have about a $18000 income this year if all goes well. after cost i`ll probably have 9000 left I got to save that for a truck, Maybe Pick up a fairly new jet ski. (1 year lease than sell out and pay off difference) I`ll be blowin snow in the winter for intrest money and every friday out with the boys.
My dads got a `69 Cockshutt 1550 with a 7` Mckee blower, that I`m gonna use

[fblandscape]

Mowing schools, estates, ball diamonds, parks, etc for $18,000 a year at age 15... things must be LOT different in Canada than they are down here.:confused:

[CMLLawnServices]

Not shure what u mean Weather its too high or too low.
Thats just a rough estamte I havent made all my calculations for this year yet. I had to low ball to get the 2 diamonds Did`t know what I should have charged I got it for only 22.50 an hr. Only 1 estate and I only make $180 off it a month. Still beats the hell out of workin at a grocery store for $7.40 an hour like most of my freinds do.

[Bunton Guy]

I dunno about you FBlandscape but I would be making atleast 70,000 off of a few baseball diamonds,estates, parks, schools....around here a school goes for nearly 900 a cut with 30 cuts thats good money and im not sure what he considers an
" Estate" around here estates have 5+ acres of lush lawn and landscape to maintain and go for big mula!. Talk about lowballin

[Tvov]

Don't worry about the age thing, I started when I was 20, and got some of the "you're young" reaction. The customers actually weren't all that bad, the biggest problems I had was with nursery and landscape suppliers taking me seriously. The one landscape supplier that did take me seriously happened to be the closest, and I still deal with them today (and they have made a lot of money off me {and my customers} because they dealt with me early on!).

For anyone here who owns or manages a nursery or landscape supply, take seriously the young guys just starting out who walk into your store, because they may very well turn out to be a large company in short order.

[Bunton Guy]

I was lucky enough to become a close friend with a mower dealership owner....he is a few years older than me and since then I have been able to get things at cost...when stuff needs to get repaired usually can get it done for a rediculously affordable price.

[GraZZmaZter]

Matt - I to have been cutting grass since i was a little boy. This may sound dumb at first, but can you grow some facial hair? I still look quite young for my age, and i notice a big difference if i have some facial hair, compared to a clean shave, when dealing with potential clients. Minimize the earrings, and tattoo exposure. This may help...

[Expert Lawns]

I wore my earrings the first year i had my biz. I also had some pretty funky piercings. After some thought, I took them all out. If nothing else, it gives me a lot more confidence when talking to elders. All my tats are hidden....and the facial hair thing, well, I'm 23 and still can't grow a go-t, let alone a beard.

COUGHbabyfaceCOUGH

:rolleyes:

[dlandscaping]

dlandscaping - how is it working out with your brother working with you? Is it like a partnership or you just employ him? How old is he? My 11 year old brother thinks he might want to do it some but I don't think he's ready for it, physically and mentally. Not this year anyway. How much are you paying him and how's it working out?
Thanks,
Eric [/B][/QUOTE]

11 and too young to start helping? I bought my first walkbehind at 11 or 12 my first weedwacker was my 8th bday present. Its time for him to help. My brother is turning 15 in a month. He can get lazy but he knows how to run everything and fix everything. He ticks me off when he doesnt run the trimmer or blower on ful throttle and plays that half full half full game. He is afraid of pouring gas too and sometimes he cant reach the truck to dump the barrels of grass. Hes a scrawny kid still the wb will pick him up if he puts his weight on the handlebars. I am not good about paying him but hes a good employee. He wants 20 an hr i give him 10-15 thats what it comes out to. He doesnt care for this biz as much as i do so i dont know if hes going to take over when i move out.

[xpnd]

I have read the prior posts and I will try to give you a different and what I think a cruelly honest perspective of your situation. Do not take offense. Unfortunately this is the way many of us old farts (the average age of your target market) in your opinion think. As a 44 year old LCO, when I talk to a customer, my age alone gives me exponentially more credibility than you. My life's experiences (college graduated, former officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, facilities middle manager with Texas Instruments, married (to the same wife I started with) with 4 children) give me an immediate personal connection with my customers. On the flip side of this coin is you. An 18 year old, one maybe two years out of high school, minimal life experiences, hopefully not married yet and no kids if you aren't, and very limited if any experience in the area of professional responsibility and obligation. These are the prejudices of the market. Are they correct and just? Absolutely not however notwithstanding they do indeed exist.

My recommendations to you are:
1. Don't lose heart or quit if this is what you want to do with yor life. You will age, eventually faster than you would ever desire.
2. Don't get married but that's another story.
3. Don't make babies if you're not married. (That's another story too)
4. Check your personal appearance. There are enough shady charaters in this business that you shouldn't work at looking like one.
5. Get your butt enrolled in continuing education classes and obtain a degree- preferably 4 year. It shows you are motivated and impresses the heck out of customers. High school grads earn more than drop outs. 2 year degree program more than high school grads. 4 year degree earns more than 2 year degree. Even if the degree has absolutely nothing to do with your professional work, this still holds true.
6. Presentation and bearing. Do you present yourself as and 18 year old or do you have the bearing of a professional businessman.
7. Lastly check your prices. If your doing professional work, you charge the going rate period. There is nothing more scary to us old farts then to have some wet behind the ears kid quote a price that sounds to good to be true. Us old farts have discovered more often than not, it's not true

Sooner than you like you will have the gray in your hair to give you the credibility in your voice. Hopefully you won't end up with a chrome dome. Life is unfair and then you're dead.

[fblandscape]

Actually... the school I go to is a 2 year degree program.. however you can switch from the 2 year program to the 4 year program. Statistically... there are more people out of the 2 year program making over a million dollars a year than there are out of the 4 year program.

[mklawnman]

Near where I live their is a 2yr school that has a Landscape Horticulture degree that I am going for, while running my business which is so helpful. I know some people who have gone through the program that have businesses.
If your motavated and have a good outlook I think you can succeed with learning on the job and acting professional.
I almost consider my brother a partner to me but I'm the one that makes the business decisions. I pay him by the hour.
CMLLawnServices
Wow your 15 and cutting that much with all that equipment. Man alive now I'm guessing your paying taxes too now right??? :D
Good Luck to all youngin's
Matt

[Swampbeast]

Done my two years at a junior college and am now enrolled at a University. Going for a Masters in Business Accounting. I figure that way I should be able to make money work for me. That sounds good!



I have noticed being confident, (NOT arrogant, confident, big difference!) looking people in the eye, and being respectful help a lot. And dont say "uh" a lot either. Preferably never. Give them the impression that your smart, and they will trust you more. And chances are, since your on this site, you must be at the very least slightly above average inteligence. :D



:cool: