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Thanks Man!

Knock anyway. Say “sorry” if they call you out.

@@kcb5336 Sometimes they are the neighborhood patrol and they call the cops & I have high anxiety! It’s happened multiple times.

I feel you brother. Not owner op but I can only imagine what you went through. I’m a company driver right now and it’s nice and all but my end game is to be a business owner.

@TheEducatedTrucker if you decide to go owner opp, (trucking/hotshot) I'm sure you probably know, but go ahead and get insurance on your truck. Then get your mc number before you quit company driving. It will be rough but do that for about 6 months because nobody will touch you with a 10 foot pole. That way, you're still making money while getting " experience " on your mc number. I pray everything works out for you!

@TheEducatedTrucker Also, if you're trying to get into lawn care. I just bought a scag tiger cat 2, 0 down 0% intrest for 48 months. They have that promo going on till the end of the month.

@@levi9kirk I most likely won’t become an owner op. It’s too much stress and wayyy too much risk involved for me. I’m definitely starting up a landscape business. I’m buying a ride on mower soon, then trailer and then all the smaller purchases.

@TheEducatedTrucker we got almost the same mindset I used to do land clearing before I started up my trucking company. The trany gave out in my dozer, and my tractor needs a new engine. That's what I'm going to get back into after I get this lawn mowing business up and going

Facebook marketplace really caught on when they realized that people were making money with their business and not having to pay for it so they changed some things around. I have heard the same things from other people that it is not the same. I did see the other day on marketplace that somebody put a couple pictures of a lawn striped and a price of $40 and I'm not sure how long that lasted but it was up for a little bit with this company advertising for mowing. Otherwise, they really want you to get on their business plan and start paying them to market for you. I don't think that it's a bad idea but when you want to stick to your budget, that's when I went the marketplace route putting a mower up for sale and then the ad description being me advertising to give free quotes out for lawn care... I had to pull a quick one on them making it look like it was a for sale ad. I guess a lot are getting taken down but some make it through and stay up for a little bit. I hope the best for your 2024 season!!

I haven't noticed too much but we are in a growing area with new housing over the last 20 years and I'm also a big believer in my work. If I lose a customer to someone who is cheaper or someone that doesn't like my work, then I respect that. You got to stay true to who you are and also improve as much as you can along the way. Have a good season!! Thanks for watching

I'll get to the point quicker on things. I was a little too chatty in this one. Thanks

I respect you for how you took the criticism

That's a very normal struggle to have as you grow your company. I went through the same thing. Started out younger with 21 inch and riders lol. Older gates seem to be 36 in unless it's a double. But I noticed in my area newer gates were able to fit 48-in mowers so it was nice because I could have a 48 in and do both the front and back instead of switching mowers or having to cut everything with a smaller mower. I think I'm going to implement getting rid of the 36-in mowers and have 48 and 52's and If I can't get in their backyard, either I find a solution with their gate or I try and suggest the lawn to another company for a referral fee. I'm just sick of switching mowers because the time it takes, also your more expensive mower is out front exposed as you're in the back with the cheaper mower.

@@vibrantlawns2444 glad I’m not alone in this struggle! I’m going to implement that same thinking and pick up the 48” so I can grow the business and start getting rid of these yards with the smaller gates. Will make my life easier in the long run and maybe a little down the road I can pick up a used 36” just to be able to take on a couple gated yards to pay for a newer mower or something along them lines.

Yeah I feel that. I was opposed to employees because at one point I did have a couple of people helping me out. It gets difficult having employees that try and care about the lawn as much as you do as an owner, and also show up on time. I don't know how many times we waited for somebody to show up and it puts everything behind. Also the excuses are no shows for employees were almost hilarious sometimes and so yes doing solo work is really hard but, dealing with employees sometimes is really difficult also. There are some good guys out there that do show up and care as long as you take care of the money-wise, but these days it's really hard to get people to even show up to work sometimes so with having some of those experiences, going back solo was almost relaxing but it is a lot of work

Thanks. I practice a lot. sometimes it makes sense sometimes it doesn't but I've become really good at it over the years man I appreciate it. Give me a topic and I'll YAP something for you, let's see how this goes LOL

Wix

If you live in Oregon and looking for some consistent work and you are good at what you do, pm this property manager. I just spoke with one today and finalized a couple jobs. It is a little difficult to find people that are consistent and do quality work. typically when working with a property manager you are net 30 and 1099 having to provide a W-9. I'm not sure if that's the same case but it's not a bad gig because if you can be reliable and good at what you do there's a lot more work they can hook you up with. Typically you will need to take before and after pictures so they know the work has been done as they can't be in the same area all the time. HOPE YOU CAN FIND SOMEBODY RELIABLE FROM VIBRANT LAWNS!!

Are you referring to the hydro tank?

Yes sir

@@vibrantlawns2444 usually a clear plastic tank. One above each drive.

Thanks!! Have a good season!!

I appreciate the feedback. I can be long winded and I'm working on it!! Thanks for watching

I'll keep this short for ya.. Appreciate the comment 😉

Still too long

I really appreciate the prayers for my dad. I hope you have a successful 2024 season and I really appreciate you watching and praying!!

I really really appreciate the prayers and thoughts for my dad. Thanks for commenting on that and watching!!

Thanks David. I appreciate you watching!!

It's always a good idea to get a dealer close to you especially if you have customers counting on you to show up. A good dealer is highly sought after and they know that you're trying to run a business, so often times they will help you out as much as possible. The Cadet standard is a strong piece of equipment and when I got it the price was significantly less I'm not sure if the price or availability has changed. Thanks for watching!!! Have a great season

That sounds awesome!! Not having to waste your own time, money, and gas going after someone. Especially if you don't have time for office personnel to call 19 times to try and get the money. Great thing to look into!!

@@vibrantlawns2444, I just need to say that that’s not legal or financial advice. I actually saw that on another RUclips video. But, the way I figure it, if you’re not getting the money anyways, at least you can write it off on your taxes. Then the IRS does all the work of making everything right with the world. I had one one time where a real estate agent had a house they were trying to sell and the grass was 2 feet high literally. The people had moved back to South Korea and just needed to sell the house but the city was about to start citing them. She put me in touch with the client who said yeah go ahead and do it and we will mail you a check, from South Korea. Lol. I said no I don’t think so. I charge them $500 and I said you, Western Union that here and as soon as I get the money, I will go cut the grass. He hemmed and paused and needed to talk to his wife. Five minutes later he said we’re heading to Western Union now. A half hour later I got the money and we went and did the job. That’s kind of an extreme example, but I got it right that time, at least

A lot of things have crossed my mind that would be really great and probably make me feel better about the situation. But after a certain amount of time is gone by with no response you got to learn to move on 😂😆

its like builders/ concreters destroying their work thats wasnt paid for ahaha, just get on the yard with ya car and do burnouts

I've been thinking about doing a real short video just going over that quote card again. But thanks for watching and yes, being able to put a price on an estimate card really worked great for me. And route density for sure!! I hope you have a great 2024 season!!

I love that you have them on a weekly pay or upfront monthly. that is awesome. I like all of those practices that you use. it really protects you and if somebody has a problem with it being an inconvenience then they can go someplace else that charges monthly. I'm just not getting screwed over again and neither are you.

Thanks for watching!! Appreciate you

That's one of the reasons why I made this video. Larger companies either have in-house collections or can afford to go to small claims court. It just doesn't make sense for some of us guys even for $1,200 which isn't a small amount. My wife could tell you that if somebody stiffed me for $1,200 she would probably be annoyed of hearing about it so much. I completely get that it's hard to let go of. That's another reason why you shouldn't treat every customer like they are a bad person because you did get ripped off. Putting credit cards on file or whatever works for you in place to help in case you run into this situation again.. Somehow you were going to have to get over the $1,200 unless they live close then you can maybe visit them once a night lol. But, sincerely I'm sorry to hear that and hope you find a process that works for you and gives you peace of mind

I stopped taking on overgrown lawns as well. It got old having to walk the lawn to make sure there were not any stumps, huge rocks or rebar that I was going to hit. Plus all the wear and tear on the mower is absolutely not worth it. That's a solid way to handle your invoicing and seems to work for you. I can't believe my friend when he told me how long it was when they hadn't paid. Plus he did mention that he had been trying to get a hold of them without any response. Once you've been doing any types of sales for a while or in business anyway, you start to realize that feeling you get when you don't get responses the first couple times. I know starting out for me was different this time but, I mentioned a customer that the card declined. I started running cards mobally on the job and sending a receipt when I would leave. I know that sounds petty but, I have to survive out here and I've been screwed over a few times so I really don't care what it looks like at this point. I've had no complaints. Thanks for sharing your methods and I appreciate you watching

@@vibrantlawns2444 Yeah I try not to put up with BS anymore. If something isn’t going good like they aren’t paying, I drop them and keep going. Yeah it sucks to have to do that but the work comes back pretty fast because you’ll get more calls leading to better clients.

I have used the mower now for a full season and more and noticed I actually started to like the cub a lot more. I believe it might have been a faulty cap or whoever put it on didn't thread it right. I took the cap off and cleaned the oil off of it and it never seemed to do it again.

I started looking at the yards that I felt like I was making a pretty good profit on, then I looked online at yardbooks or a property measurement app to see and measure how big those yards were. I came up with a price that way. Sometimes you have to live and learn through mistakes that you should have charged $10 more than you are. I can easily go to a lawn right now and look at the front and back and give a price quote. And that's not because I measured it out or anything. Just been doing it for a while. Online forums are good but sometimes not realistic. They are helpful but a lot of people overcharge or have inflated egos in some forums...but they can be helpful at times. It's not a difficult thing to determine but, it is hard in different ways. I might be able to finish a yard faster because I can edge quicker, trim faster and have a faster mower. Be done with a lawn mowed, trimmed, edged and blown in 12 minutes... But that doesn't mean I should charge less than a guy that has equipment that takes longer and still learning smarter ways to trim an edge quicker. I'd definitely start off and think about a minimum price and you don't go below that no matter what. Like $35 / $40. you have to make it worth your trip especially these days with how expensive everything is

That's a way to go about it. Sounds like you've been stiffed before. You'd think since you know where they live, them not knowing you (who could be a little bit crazy), would be enough incentive for them to pay, but it's not.

I appreciate it!! And thanks for watching!!

My website is www.vibrantlawnskc.com

Thanks for watching!!

Congrats on getting inspired to start your own company!! Don't overthink things too much but still be organized. My suggestion is based in my area the grass being taken care of will need to be mowed once a week. I wouldn't give people options to do bi-weekly I would assume that they just want a weekly service. I did have some exceptions where people mentioned if they could do every 2 weeks and I told them yes but it would be a little bit more. Lets say if I was to do bi-weekly with somebody, and their yard was a $50 weekly yard, I would tell them I could do it bi-weekly for either $75 or $80. I would go with the $80 because you can explain to them that if they want to save money and that's what they're doing.. that in a month they're going to only spend $160 instead of $200 if they were on a weekly $50 plan. But again, I would try to keep things simple and do weekly. when you get into those every 10 days scenarios it throws your entire schedule off. Your schedule is going to be the most important thing for you especially if you're still in school. Customers like to know if you're going to be there weekly that they have a certain day sometimes but they also understand that things happen throughout the week like rain and unexpected things that might set you back. so I would be up front with them and say let's start you out on these days but if it's been raining a lot, just expect that I might be a day or so late. And if you have a few enough customers you can actually let them know that by text or call. I'm not saying that you have to mow it on the same day each week but for you and your schedule it makes it so much easier for you to plan out your week instead of being very sporadic and unorganized. you don't want to accidentally forget somebody or miss somebody so when you are more organized it helps you out to be able to plan to do things with your family and friends, and also a lot of the clients like that as well. Also, just relax going into it and don't overthink the weekly the bi-weekly, because every instance is going to be a little bit different sometimes, and starting out you might have to make some adjustments as you go and grow. With pricing, I'd keep doing what you are doing and stay on forums and watching videos on how people will do pricing and even possibly link up or talk to somebody in your neighborhood that has either had lawn care done and see what the price is and right around what people are paying for lawn care service in your area for an average quarter acre house lot. Going by square footage would be more for larger properties but at the end of the day I'd still want to go out and see them because they could be a nightmare if it's acres it could have hidden rocks and rebar and things that will destroy your mower and might not even be worth your time. For me when I was just starting out I had a minimum of $40 this last year. and a lot of guys around me have a minimum that's a lot higher than that. I didn't see why because we're still making good money. But, I'd focus on customer service, your quality, and if you realize when you get into a job that it's a lot more than you thought it would be and taking a lot more time, if you have that customer service down then they will most likely be receptive to hearing that you made a mistake and it might be a little bit more.

I've had from 72" decks to 36" and believe me... If it were up to me, I would love to mow 1 acre or more properties all day. You're on the mower longer relaxing, possibly thinking about the acre and a half fence line that you're going to have trim lol.. But, the truth is a lot of people that I know that have larger properties typically have their own mowers. There are a lot that do use lawn care services but, especially in my area there's a lot more quarter acre to 1/3 acre lots of land that are in cul-de-sac and neighborhoods. I've done a couple that were over an acre and I've had some that were 10 acres. The market in in my area is a lot of families that possibly moved from apartments up and then out to a nicer neighborhood and that's like 85% of our market right in my area. The people that have acreage a lot of times buy a zero turn mower almost when they buy the house. I wish I could just do 5 large properties a day. But, again working in those smaller yard neighborhoods you seem to meet a lot more customers that have a lot more needs.