I was wondering how involved your family members are with your business? Do you have your spouse, kids, cousins, brothers, etc. helping with the operation of your business? My wife is fairly supportive with me just as long as I don't dip into our personal funds.
My wife is not only supportive, she is a member of the crew.
As far as children go, our two oldest boys were homeschooled and they would get out and mow as a part of their P.E. class.
I have hired people to work for me, but my sons can work circles around some of them. Family will always be more stable than someone hired from the outside.
My family has helped on occasional jobs but no one enjoys this work the way I do. It is a struggle to get them out and I am less than pleased with the result. Now I prefer to hire someone. Someone who likes this work.
My mom and my g/f both do some of the billing for me, messages, and make deposits for me. My g/f came out and helped with leaf removal last year but i think it was a little to much for her. She says she enjoys it but i dunno.
I agree about others not appreciating the work as much as we do. Every time I walk through a green house or the lawn and garden section at local retailers it seems like I can't stop trying to smell the sweet smell of the fert., grass seed, flowers, pesticides, etc. I started my business out using the my last initial (but will change it soon to be more professional) and made it R & R. Customers always ask who the other R is and I tell them that it is my wife. She is the accountant...she spends all the money!
When I firsted started out , My business partners wife and my wife run the push mowers for one day a week on our first apartment complex job. They only helped one year until we got more larger accounts and we hired full time employees to replace them.
My wife is not only supportive, she is a member of the crew.
As far as children go, our two oldest boys were homeschooled and they would get out and mow as a part of their P.E. class.
I have hired people to work for me, but my sons can work circles around some of them. Family will always be more stable than someone hired from the outside.
My oldest son is also homeschooled and he is my only employee. He does his schooling in the evenings and on days off. He started working with me part time when he was ten. Now he's with me full time and I pay him $9 per hour and he saves almost every penny of it. It's nice to keep the money in the family. I have two younger boys who will probably do the same when they get old enough. It's great to have your children with you to teach work ethic and other important things about life. Those that send their kids off to government schools every day really don't know what they are missing. My wife does most of the bookeeping and she is truly a helpmeet. She has the book that was mentioned on the no greater joy website.
My wife runs the office, answers the phone, does quotes, follow up, invoicing, makes all deposits, co-ordinates with CPA. My 13 yr old son sometimes comes along and is good with ztr and edger, however, struggles with the line trimmer and w/b mowers.
I have a hired assistant that helps with the mowing.
I have had bad experiances hiring other in-laws and family, so I wont do that again.
My wife runs the office about 4-5 hrs a day, does the bookeeping, phones, and anything else that I cant get to during the day. Nice tax write off to for a one income household.
I pretty much do everything...the work, the paperwork, etc. (I think that's everything?) Now my sister in law last year was helping sometimes with mulching in the spring, then I got her to try mowing...she really kicks butt...sometimes she helps when I'm behind, she runs behind the mower literally :weightlifter: When she ditches the shirt and goes with just the shorts and sports bra, that's good for business and has also caused a few near traffic accidents :laugh:
My wife helps with paperwork. My dad and my oldest son (over the summer)are part of my crew. My youngest son helps with flyers.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Lawn Care Forum
7M posts
203.1K members
Since 1999
A forum community dedicated to lawn care and landscaping professionals and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!