Other things:
Obviously if the OP going to try to keep things under 10k, he's planning on used gear.
Writing a business plan isn't all it's cracked up to be the first year or two.
Most guys don't know how, go through the correct channels to get there, or even if they did, have the capability to follow one the first few years.
the first few years is a constant scramble of trying to adjust to everything and anything you might encounter.
A business plan is a very strict, linear "set of instructions" which often isn't flexible to ad lib.
You might think, starting out; "Im going to mow 400 $25 yards every week to make a living" and what you end up doing is doing the full maintenance on 12 estates, and never needing more work than that.
The truth of it isÂ… Landscaping/lawn care isn't like opening a restaurant, or a book store or something like that.
It;s not lineal, It's like a treeÂ… when you plant it you have no idea where that branches might lead or what fruit it will bear, because it is really as of yet, an unidentified species.
You might plant an apple tree, and end up being the most prodigious apricot tree anyone has ever seenÂ…. do you say "No dang it! I planned on apples" or just go with the flow and make $$ selling all the apricots you ended up with, that are in high demand (something you didn't plan on).
That's why, especially at first, it's so important to BE flexible.
Guys start out buying an enclosed trailer, and a ZTR so often, but what if the customer you end up getting have properties that need a 21" and an open trailer to haul all the brush you keep generating?
IF you've never done it before, and have no experience, how do you KNOW (enough to form a plan) what you will even BE doing for work.
A fisherman rarely starts out with a tackle box, rod and reel that's designed specifically for what he's fishing.
It's water, he doesn't have Xray vision, he doesn't know what he's fishing for.
So he starts out with what he guesses will enable him to fish the most possible species, because his family is hungry and he's trying to eat.
IF his line snaps, he gets heavier test, if he has no bites, he gets better bait or a lure.
Since he's trying to feed his family, he PROBABLY doesn't have the funds to get every lure in his tackle box in the first placeÂ….
(if he does he has a trailer with a walk behind, a rider, a stander, and a trim mower on it.)
The problem is eventually, you get your groove on, you realize what you end up fishing for is BASSÂ… the trout isn't in there like you hoped it was, and the pond isn't being stocked with anything elseÂ…you've got bass so now you only need the tools for bass fishing.
(which means you now have a ZTR and trim mower you don't needÂ…. the walk behind is all you will use)
But.. if you only had a 21, you can still catch the bass, just no as fast.
If you bought a pole of steelhead fishing, with heavy test, and a large hook. You will catch very few bass, if any (ZTRS don't fit in smaller yards)
See the thing is you don't know enough to MAKE a plan until you have "market analysis"
This is why knowing something about, or working IN the industry (most helpful in THAT area) is so paramount.
No one quits their job because their mom and their neighbor want their lawn cut (unless your 16, or course) so you must know what lawns you THINK you're going to cut.
But it's a bit foolish if you PLAN on trout, my everything set up for trout, and BASS are killing themselves trying to jump into your boat and you keep saying "no dammit! Im trying to get TROUT!!!" an throw them all back.
(ironically this is what you see the guy with the new ZTR do time and again)
SoÂ…. I don't think the business plan is the first thing you need.
Without market analysis (which you could get with say a mentor, or paying for an analysis or working in the field) your only other option is to stick the hook in the water and see what bites.
In the 1990s you could stick a naked hook in the water here in alaska and an unskilled fisherman could get a bite and land tremendous fish only lies could best.
The landscape industry was sort of like that in the 90s too.
Thing is people heard about that thing, with fish, happening in alaska.
So there are WAY more fisherman, and the fish and game made rules to control the people.
so fishing now, isn't like fishing then.
Are there still fish?
Yes.
Are there tons of fish?
Not so much.
Can you catch them with naked hooksÂ…. possssssibly?
Can you keep watch you do catch if you catch it? Not always.
That's kinda how landscaping is today.
Too many people heard all the great fishing stories and wanted to fish too.
and you don't know what you are going to catch until you test the waters.
