Start up cost

It sounds like you think you will be able to use a 21" mower which will help to keep your start up costs to a minimum. You don't need to go out and buy all these fancy commercial machines just yet. Start small and work your way up. Get the basics to start, a mower, trimmer and blower is what you NEED. Buy a hedge trimmer and dedicated edger when tou start having rrquests for those services. But you can run a basic lawn care company with just a mower, trimmer and blower, at least for the first couple months.

If you really can use a 21" mower, I would look for a used commercial model or buy a new homeowner model (one of the higher end ones) for somewhere in the $500-$700 range. Its tough to find good used handhelds so you may have to buy thos new. Expect about $250-$300 for a.commercial trimmer and $250-$500 for a blower depending on if you want a backpack model or handheld one. So for around $1500 or so you should have your basic equipment ready to go. Then once you start getting more customers and rrquests for more types of services, that is when you can add more equipment.
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Do not start out with employees, you would be making minimal money if any. You will be able to handle quite a few accounts on your own before needing help. You will quickly find out how much you can handle on your own. After a little experience under your belt, you will know that once you hit X number of accounts, you will need to hire someone either part-time or full-time in order to do any more jobs.

Very rarely does someone decide to start a lawn care business and then have 50-60 customers by the beginning of their first season. It takes time to gain customers, sometimes it is easier than others. But I can almost guarantee you that you won't have enough customers your first year to justify an employee.

People are going to try to sell you on certain brands of equipment, telling you that you need to get a particular brand of handhelds or a certain mower brand, but when it comes down to it, get whatever brand has the best dealer support and parts availability in your area. Echo, Stihl, Redmax, ect., it doesn't matter, they all are top brands and will do you just fine. Same goes for mowers.

Like I said before, if you know that you can use a 21" mower to do your target properties efficently, then just stick with that for now. 21" mowers are easy to operate, cheap to purchase (compared to other mowers) and cheap to operate. A larger size mower like a 32" or 36" size are surely nicer and quicker to use than a 21" mower, but they also cost a lot more. You can get by with a 21" until you build up your customer base then move up to a 36" machine (or whatever size you deem necessary) to speed things up a bit. But if you are looking to keep your initial cost down, 21" mowers are the only way to go.