2nd year

hey folks, im in my second year [fulltime].i wish to ask a all you seasoned fellas ,how did you feel about your first year. was it everything you expected and what changes did you make, if any:blob4:

 

well we are only part time but, in our first year we had a old wheel hourse a homlite weedwacker and a yard machine push mower. now we sold our old wheel hourse. bought a craftsman and then we got a bunton love it by the way, and we got alot more work, and we had to go through alot of stress which is normal for the first year.

 

My 1st year I thought wow this work is hard and I hate my little 12 ft trailer. My 2nd I thought wow this work is hard but I love it and I still hate my 12 ft trailer so I bought a 16ft Cadillac of a trailer.
My 3rd year I thought still love the work but my truck is too small so I bought a 01 F-350.
Now I'm going on year 4 and won't quit this line of work, I will be starting another crew and for the 1st time I am advertising and snow plowing. Its amazing the opportunities snow plowing brings you I might get a $35k mant contract on lawn care because of it. I've been really happy so far its exceeded my expectations by far.
Good luck and have a excellent new year!!!

 

Starting on my 4th year part time. Started snow blowing a couple of small comericial lot plus 2 res. last year. doing it again this year.Pays for a new toy each year at spring time! This year I added a 10'x 12' shed to the gararge full of stuff. 1st year worked my #&&(@ off for not enough pay!Work was hard and hot! 2nd Year had a helper and son,Doubled my income ,got a trailer and a cheep ztr.3rd year worked less, 1/2 as much for the same amount of $$ due to a double move in summer (house upgrade) no helper.
4th year back full bore !! will be a nice 2nd income!!

 

After my first year, I found out that my learning curve was gonna be much longer than I previously thought.

 

My first yr in the biz, I took any (and I do mean any) yard I could get. I didnt charge enough for my time, did too many "extras" for free or for too little....and I would stand around waiting on my little old ladies to write out a check for me.
I started using "Service Agreements" aka contracts. I began sending bills and not waiting around on customers to write checks... I also got my prices up where they should be. Also put language in my contract stating those little time consuming extras have to be scheduled and paid for.

 

thats it in a nutshell really isnt it

 

Yes. But then again, there wasn't Lawnsite at that time to answer a lot of my questions. It was all trial and error for me then.

 

Lawnsite, has helped me alot over the last few years, last year was my first year full-time. Alot of the things I do come from Lawnsite, some times I don't even realize it.

 

Yes, thats for sure........The school of hard knocks, no sholder to cry on.. It hurt to reach into my pocket to cover a mistake.