Lack of hours

Well guys, it is looking a little grim on <br>my front here. I have a ton of <br>classes/hours of school this semester. <br>Fridays are completely losted. Another day <br>I am in class until 4:00. Classes end <br>around May 13 or so. During the summer I <br>have all day. What I need to know is how <br>should I go about <br>scheduling/approximating/estimating the <br>number of hours I can work during school? <br>Mon. 9-1 in class<br>Tues 10-4<br>Wed 9-1<br>Thurs 11-12<br>Fri 9-5<br>I guess what I am asking is starting in <br>march what time can I work to/will the <br>client not want me there later than? How <br>many times will I probably mow in <br>march/april (live in zone 6). I figure if <br>worse comes to worse in march and april I <br>can split the client list in two and <br>schedule 1/2 on week 1 and 1/2 week 2 until <br>it becomes weekly. By then I'd have a <br>better gauge of time, clients, and almost <br>be done with school. By the way, I have <br>some great classes this spring:<br>contracts and bidding<br>landscape maintenance and installation<br>nursery management<br>soil science<br>history of landscape architecture<br>plant propagation and <br>herbaceous plants

 

mattingly,<p>Sorry I can't help you, I'm new to the lawncare game. But what I did want to know about is the zone 6 that you mentioned. Where do you find what zone you are in? What defines a zone(climate, growing season, etc..)? I live in eastern Washington.

 

Just don't spread yourself too thin. You will have people mad at you, and you will get a bad rep, and you don't want that right off the bat. There will be plenty of time later to grow and expand.<p>Another thing, if you devote too much time to work, and not enough time to school, need I say more...<p>That is what I did in high school. All I wanted to do was make money. I would go out after school, and forget about studying and homework. All I knew was that I could make in one afternoon what my buddies worked all week at McDonalds for. As a result my grades dullered. I even &quot;felt ill&quot; on a few occasions, and had to leave school, I sure felt better out on the turf!!!<p>I would not recommend this to anyone. An eduication is too valuable to waste. Focus on that, and believe me, there will be plenty of time to work.

 

To the post concerning zones, you can look those up in any gardening book. I would suspect that Washington state is zone 5-6. It is real easy to check they usually have a multicolored map that will display your zone. I agree with the above post. An education is the most important thing you can have nowadays. Now, I have had the opportunity to start the landscape maintenance business without getting this second horticulture degree. But, I decided it was too important to have and that this is the best investment in the future of this business. Don't worry, I have a lot of respect for those who are successful and haven't had any schooling, I just believe to be successful(I mean big time bucks) you need the degree. I also understant the importance of not spreading myself too thin. I just don't think too many people will want me to maintain their lawns on weekends. Well, that is my response to the above posts. Don't worry about the grades, I got straight A's in all five of my classes last semester.

 

Stay in shool and finish.Those are some good classes.Go your clients and tell them what is going on.If you have had them a while they will more than likely work with you.Just don't kill yourself and get burn't out.I,ve kept about 30-40 accounts myself since 1986 and worked a fultime job during the day.It can be done.Good Luck.

 

Your attitude will determine what times you can work more than anything. I would work until dark. Your customers will know you're in school and will have to deal with the postives and negatives of that.<p>I was in college full time, had 11 employees, 4 mowing crews, a landscape crew and still pulled a 3.8 GPA. <p>It can be done.