A new one on me

[OkieLawnBoy]

I've been reading posts like these for the last couple months and monitoring the season for light installation. In 2010, I hope to have a single install crew and enough accounts to justify the capital investment of going with Christmas Decor or HBL. At this point, I would like to hear what the pros and cons were at the start-up phase of these franchises and what they have been like down the stretch as far as sales and service.

I've shuttered to think about adding a new division to our lawn and landscape maintenance company but I'm a little hesitant to keep letting our seasonal workforce go each year when the grass dies. What kind of advice would you give to someone looking to enter the business in this economy? What other services do you perform in the winter in addition to Christmas lights and/or after the Christmas season? We have 5-7 employees March-October, but only 2 over the winter, one being the owner and the other being myself, serving as the operations manager/foreman. Any and all advice is very helpful, thanks for your time.

[David Gretzmier]

As far as how to start this business and how to do it, I would definetely read through the other theads here going back a few years. The info you gleam from 8-10 hours reading is probably worth 10 grand in Christmas light business education. Only after reading the threads, where many of your questions are answered ( and many you won't think to ask ) I would then ask other questions you may have in seperate threads, and let different folks chime in.