Expanding Business?

[BrandonH]

I've been mowing lawns for the last 10 or so years in the small town where I live. I am to the point that I want to make this my full time job, but am not sure what is the best way to go about it. I had to drop most of my accounts a few years back due to college, but have now moved back and bought a house. So although I've been doing this for some time now I am pretty much going to be starting from scratch again. Currently I am a one man crew and do all the general lawn maintenance such as mowing, edging, trimming, shrub trimming, etc. I've never done any type of landscaping or new instalations of any kind. I am trying to think of ways to advertise and pick up new clients, and the search function of this website is being very helpful in that aspect. My main concern is can I make a living at doing just the lawn maintence part of the job, or do I need to get into the landscaping end of things? If so where and how is the best way to start learning?

Where I live on Texas the growing season may slow down a bit in the winter, but it never really stops. Since this is the case do you think it would be a wate of advertising $ to try and get new clients now, or should I wait until after the first of the year?

I'm open to any and all suggestions that can possibly help me startup and run a successful business. Thanks,

-BrandonH

[Moguy]

Not sure if you seen the thread about starting & growing your business thread by Sean Adams but, it might be what your looking for.

http://lawnsite.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54698

[BrandonH]

Thanks for the quick reply. I emailed him a few days back when I first stumbled upon the site, but haven't heard anything back yet. I went ahead and posted on the thread since he may have not gotten my email.

-BrandonH

[thill]

Brandon,

We are just a bit north of you.... Georgetown and Round Rock, TX

We have picked up several accounts during the last two months, all from word of mouth. Yup, quality breeds quantity.

This was not the case last year (our first year). We did a fair amount of advertising during the winter months with little return. That is until late February. Our marketing in late February and March was very well received.

If I were just launching (or re-launching) I would do a bit of advertising for the next three months and blitz all of Hempstead starting in late February.

Best of luck

[BrandonH]

thill,

Thanks for the advice. I plan on targeting Hempstead some, but my main targets will be the outskirts of Houston. I would like to get into some of the newer subdivisions that are only about 20-30 minutes away from here. Hempstead is pretty small, and most people that pay to have there lawn maintained already have people that they are happy with doing the services. If you don't mind me asking about how many accounts do you have after your first year in business?

-Brandon