Need help with a situation

[exmarkking]

That's great! That's what I'm going to do over the winter. I'm going to get a map and plot every customer on there and see who fits the route and who doesn't. I'm going to time every property and compare that to what we are charging. If your far away, we will have to raise prices or get rid of them. It's hard to turn down work but there is no point in servicing a property if it isn't profitable. After that's what we do this for. To make money. I'm going to restructure everything like you said from scheduling, policies, ect. I think then I will have a clear view of what's making money and what isn't. I'm going to only pickup jobs that fits our agenda to make money. Also setup a service area that will will service and advertise only that area. Where I live there is tons of big neighborhoods with lots of houses. Build a tight route and charge accordingly.
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[azjojo99]

Originally Posted by BLS 2002

If you have some down time this winter Read/Study/Live the book E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber - it has fundamental business strategies that are proven to be successful to help you establish a foundation and grow your company. It's not industry specific; and it doesn't have to be. Everyone in business for themselves cannot just be the technician doing all of the work. We all where many hats, sometimes too many at once, but if you have a strategy, plan, goals, (dreams) and revisit them on a regular basis. You will develop a plan to grow and start delegating those duties to others with in time. As a business owner you're also the leader - establish your vision - always be aware and look ahead to ensure you're headed in the right direction.

There is a new book out "The E-Myth Landscape Contractor", It is by Gerber and Tony Bass, the guy from Super Lawn Trucks. I highly recommend the book, it has examples and insights from Tony specifically for landscape companies. This book is helping me big time, I have a total mess, close to 1000 customers and very few systems.

[cpllawncare]

I've been looking into "Landscape management network" Software don't know if anybody has looked at it but it seems to be a good way to get ahold of the numbers aspect of the business IE: pricing, estimating and generaly running your company by a strict budget based on real numbers not just shoot from the hip kinda stuff. If anyone has looked at it let me know what you think.

[McFarland_Lawn_Care]

Subscribed...I would just like to say thank you to all the helpful advice in this thread. I also have not done enough business planning and need to take the bull by the horns here and plan and budget, write manuals etc. Thanks - my winter time projects.

Jason

[THEGOLDPRO]

I turned all my billing over to my sister, she used to do medical billing for a large company until she had twins and became a stay at home mom, So i pay her a couple hundred a month to keep on top of my billing and make sure it all gets done.

It helps her because she gets a few hundred bucks a month to work from home for a few hours, and i dont have to deal with the hassle of billing any more.

[THEGOLDPRO]

Also, I used to have a problem keeping everything organized as well, so i made a route sheet up with check boxes after each persons name, i use it the whole month and put a check every time i mow the lawn. At the end of the month its easy to look back and count the number of times i mowed it.