Why do people say it's tough in Florida?

[John From Florida]

Originally Posted by Ric

John

There is real money in the green industry but Grass cutting and Bush trimming is not where the real money is. Grass cutting can be a great lost leader for the more profitable SKILLED SERVICES of the green industry. Some people do make a survival wage cutting grass, but Grass cutting takes the least amount of education and every out of worker carpenter is cutting grass.

Landscape design and installation can have HUGE markup. Successful installers of course need both Design Education and People talents and are rewarded for it. Irrigation once again is a skilled trade with a higher profit margin as is Pesticide application on lawns. Once again these are skilled areas of the green industry and areas you might want to target instead of Grass cutting.


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Sounds like I should look into the different aspects of this industry while I'm still young!

[gregory]

i agree with ric i would look at adding more to your services then just cutting grass. be different then the 100's of out of work pill heads with a mini van and a craftsman riding mower...

[Landscape Poet]

Originally Posted by Ric

John

There is real money in the green industry but Grass cutting and Bush trimming is not where the real money is. Grass cutting can be a great lost leader for the more profitable SKILLED SERVICES of the green industry. Some people do make a survival wage cutting grass, but Grass cutting takes the least amount of education and every out of worker carpenter is cutting grass.

Landscape design and installation can have HUGE markup. Successful installers of course need both Design Education and People talents and are rewarded for it. Irrigation once again is a skilled trade with a higher profit margin as is Pesticide application on lawns. Once again these are skilled areas of the green industry and areas you might want to target instead of Grass cutting.


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I agree with you that if possible to expand into other areas it helps increase your chance of making money while "Just cutting grass" while at the same time I do not think it is impossible to make a "good living" just cutting grass. Now that does not mean to imply that I think everyone who grabs a mower is going to make what I would call a good living, but maybe it is a good living to them I don't know. I do however know that I make more than I did ever working for someone else while applying my college degree. I also do so in fewer hours than I would working for someone else and best of all I write off a large number life expenses that also happen to fall within reason of running a business.

[unkownfl]

Lawn Care isn't a fast business. It takes years to make what you could earn working as a server most of the time. It takes a lot of time. You learn to adapt and grow to survive. If it's something you plan on doing for 10 years then sure. If it's something to make 300-400 bucks a week while in school sure. Other than that it would be better to work for someone else.

[jvanvliet]

it's smart to offer a bread basket of services. people like one stop shopping, I'd suggest contacting a licensed pest operator (small guy) & a sprinkler co, and talk to them about combining services with you & you can offer complete packages.

Also, include landscape installations, mulch, turf, etc. They are great add ons. There is plenty of literature available for landscape design and remember each region has different design elements and preferences. For example, down here people love mountains of colorful impatiens this time of year, especially along the beach, other areas tend to prefer a more subdued landscape.

Everybody here will have an opinion and what's best, but your market is localized so take what you need here, take the rest with a grain of salt & leave the criticisms's altogether.

By the way, don't wait for the phone to ring, it won't. Go out and meet people, go to church? join the men's group, tell everybody what you do, don't be shy about telling them you could use the business. People love to help. The more people know you, the more they are likely to do business with you.

Don't quit before the miracle!

[wildstarblazer]

I have had problems working for friends before. You have to treat them as business and that's sometimes hard. They are for some reason the ones who pay late or not at all.

[lammergriffin]

I live in Florida and found the biggest rip-off is search engine optimization SEO. $180 monthly for a website to get optimized for a three month contract led me to a $724.16 bill I was sold by a very major league telecommunications company. Plus I was not at all looking for search engine optimization for my small business when their phone call hit. How many prospect calls resulted from having my business SEOD? Much less than 10 monthly - after the first month I tried to cancel, but to no avail. I could only cancel after 3 months ran by finding out our residential number had also been published online as our business number.

[John From Florida]

Originally Posted by lammergriffin

I live in Florida and found the biggest rip-off is search engine optimization SEO. $180 monthly for a website to get optimized for a three month contract led me to a $724.16 bill I was sold by a very major league telecommunications company. Plus I was not at all looking for search engine optimization for my small business when their phone call hit. How many prospect calls resulted from having my business SEOD? Much less than 10 monthly - after the first month I tried to cancel, but to no avail. I could only cancel after 3 months ran by finding out our residential number had also been published online as our business number.

Whoa, sorry that happened. But you live and you learn. That's life. We've all been mislead by advertising at one point or another during our lives, I'm sure.

On any account, that's way too much money for me to spend, although I can see why it'd be appealing.

[jvanvliet]

I'd like to know how many legitimate hits turn into sales from an LCO web site.

[lammergriffin]

What's an LCO site?