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2,951 Posts
another one bites the dust 
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And a .......................................
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2,951 Posts
i have/had 8 customers
2- my mother and also my mother-inlaws (still have them)
1- just died (out $500 month)
2- old customers just saw the dang exmark commercial and got them one of them
2- the old lco apologized to them and took them back ( Trever go back the one i just got from lowballing and gator got back his that they came to me from his over charging)
1- i still have (i'll cut him thru sept/oct and drop him)
and the estimate i just did on wed called and said i was 2 low at $255 a month. they went with a $600 a month company
2- my mother and also my mother-inlaws (still have them)
1- just died (out $500 month)
2- old customers just saw the dang exmark commercial and got them one of them
2- the old lco apologized to them and took them back ( Trever go back the one i just got from lowballing
and gator got back his that they came to me from his over charging)1- i still have (i'll cut him thru sept/oct and drop him)
and the estimate i just did on wed called and said i was 2 low at $255 a month. they went with a $600 a month company
Sorry to hear you are pulling the plug. If your heart isn't in it, move on to something you love. Just don't forget that the only way to be successful in anything is to stick with it. Everyone here probably has stories just like yours, I know that I do. I've got many horror stories from the last 10 years. I hope things work out for you.
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21,630 Posts
No offense but that's just standard role to me.Frontier-Lawn said:i have/had 8 customers
2- my mother and also my mother-inlaws (still have them)
1- just died (out $500 month)
2- old customers just saw the dang exmark commercial and got them one of them
2- the old lco apologized to them and took them back ( Trever go back the one i just got from lowballing
1- i still have (i'll cut him thru sept/oct and drop him)
and the estimate i just did on wed called and said i was 2 low at $255 a month. they went with a $600 a month company
It does suk, I've lost a LOT of customers and had to do a LOT of work dirt-cheap in order to survive (gawd it suk'd baaad) but never once did I think of quitting or that it was over.
No sir, here in the south we fight and we fight hard. ONLY reason the north won the war is we let them win so they wouldn't feel so bad about getting whooped by a bunch of southern hillbillies.
Joined
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2,951 Posts
i am restructuring. maybe to a gedd motto if they cancel send them a bill for $300 for thanks a lot and im currently in talks with a guy to trade something of mine for a running 36" wb of his and some cash
and im currently in talks with a guy to trade something of mine for a running 36" wb of his and some cash
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636 Posts
Are you serious about running a business? or, when the tough gets going and then you just throw in the towel. Make up your mind on what you are going to do. I'm done with this thread
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507 Posts
doesn't sound like you have any ambition.
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906 Posts
Welcome to the lawn business, in fact, welcome to any business. If it was all fun and money everyone would do it. Not to be harsh but, learn to deal with it or find a regular job. It's not for everyone. Best of luck whatever you decide to do.
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6,788 Posts
After reading your "scrub" thread, this one makes me chuckle.
A lot.
A lot.
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3,754 Posts
If it makes you feel any better, last year I got down to SIX customers left, and Ive lost a whole bunch in the past 6 weeks and I may even get lower than 6 this time,plus Ive been in biz for 8 years, but I will try my best to come back again an again....I see in your profile you have been in biz for .1 years? Thats not long enough to give yourself a chance. Im probably the unluckiest LCO on LS when it comes to clients and I could not pay my bills this month, and all that does it make me madder :angry: and want to try harder :realmad: Good luck to you though, just the thought of going to work for someone else and get back in the rat race again gives me the creeps!
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4,281 Posts
I have had ups and downs too.
June was a little slow on installs and work other than Maint.
I looked at My Tractor and looked at my Bushhog and thought when was the last time I used it.
I called the local paper and ran a ad for Bushoggong and Feildmowing and have Generated over 1000 extra bucks from Bushogging alone this Month of July.
I really thought there was more people doing it.Guess not.
Sometimes we have tunnel vision and do only certain things.
Step back look at your area and you may find that there is something that you can do or learn too do that there is less competion with.
June was a little slow on installs and work other than Maint.
I looked at My Tractor and looked at my Bushhog and thought when was the last time I used it.
I called the local paper and ran a ad for Bushoggong and Feildmowing and have Generated over 1000 extra bucks from Bushogging alone this Month of July.
I really thought there was more people doing it.Guess not.
Sometimes we have tunnel vision and do only certain things.
Step back look at your area and you may find that there is something that you can do or learn too do that there is less competion with.
Joined
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2,951 Posts
i had 2 more calls sat afternoon wanting cuting & fert i told them i dont do fert and they said thanks away and bye
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4,281 Posts
Well said!!!!!
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21,630 Posts
To each their own, but I strongly disagree because:BJ 1000RR said:
- I am a specialist in my field and I only do certain things because the secret is the more you do something, the better you get, so after I cut 2 thousand lawns, yes I can say I'm a fair expert at it.
For this reason, all I do is Grass-cutting (and weed control), hedge trimming, core aeration (lime/fertilize/seed), and mulch. Now I'll be real blunt: If it does NOT involve one of these 5 things, then I am NOT interested.
See, I spread 5 cu.yds of mulch in ~2 hours, takes ~3 hours total (with me picking it up), costs me 60 dollars for the mulch and I get 220 per trailer load - Dig it baby, that's 160 dollars in ~3 hours, out of which you only really WORK 2, maybe 3 (the other hour is spent driving, for which I also get paid).
So even if it takes 4 hours total, that's still 40/hour, includes the windshield.
How is this so? Because if you've never painted a house before, then it will take you LONGER and cost you MORE than if you were really good at it.
Ok, so you painted a house (or three) before, who cares? You need to paint at least a thousand rooms before you get half-way good at it.
For example, with my hedge trimmers, a full tank of gas lasts 20 minutes and I charge by fuel USED: 45 dollars per tank.
Dig THAT, 45 dollars / 20 minutes run-time, now that's bad-azz because in 20 minutes I knock out whole entire ROWS of hedges - takes 20-30 seconds for a small bush, ~1 minute for a mid-size one, and 2-3 minutes for the really big nasty 8 x 6-foot across boxwood, so in the end the customer pays no MORE than if they hired someone else but I earn More money because I've done this sooo much that I am really good at it so I earn 45 dollars every 20 minutes, hedge trimming. Ok the cost of the trim does include the clean-up, but it works out, even if it takes a full hour with the cleanup, 45 bucks.
The more you do something, the better you get.
And how do you do it?
One lawn, and one day at a time.
Don't get discouraged man, keep the chin up, we all get rough spots.
it sounds to me like you're quitting without trying. this tells me you'd fail, no matter what you would do for a living. you left failure as an option, and you are choosing failure (the cowards way out, cus it's the easiest) over doing whatever it takes to make it happen. i left my lifelong trade making decent money to cut grass. i would never do anything else. so they turned you down cus you don't fert? YOU LET IT HAPPEN! before i was licensed i did it on the sly. then, when i felt them breathing down my back, i subbed it out. this business is the easiest business to build in the world, you can turn nothing, into a pot of gold. i did it.....with almost no investment. i started with my grandmothers 21" murry pushmower. graduated to a toro 21", then to a old, crappy bunton bought for $200. i worked my butt off, and took my share of comming out on the losing end of the red/black at the end of the month. i looked at the alternative, working for the man till i'm dead. boy, did that make me not quit. now, i hand pick my clients, i service who i want, when i want, and if you are not worth the headache, i dump you. i make plenty of money, and i live the lifestyle myself and my family wants. enough money, and enough time, that's the balance. think of the alternative, even if you could get a job somewhere making $20 an hour, that's $160 in an 8 hour day. wtf is THAT? anyone who can't figure out a way to make at least $200 a day cutting grass, must be retarted. good luck at the drive thru window
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507 Posts
well said man!bobbygedd said:
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