As this spring season gets rolling, you may find yourself reflecting on some of the systems you have in place. Or thinking about the systems that don’t exist yet, but need to. During this time of reflection, you may be asking yourself the following questions:

- Do I have a system for getting in touch with customers to see if they will be working with me again this year?
- Do I know what services they want?
- Can I accurately project my revenue for the upcoming season?

If you are reading these questions and don’t know where to start in answering them, don’t worry, that's what we are going to address in this post!

I used to be disorganized and a bit frantic when it came to advertising and taking on different services. I was always behind and playing catch up. I would advertise for spring cleans-ups with yard signs, door hangers, and postcards, but by the time my materials came in, it would be time to advertise for the next thing, so I constantly felt behind.

Another issue I was havin...

With spring comes craziness. Of course, we all have plans, but weather or man power might derail them. This past week I wanted to work four ten-hour days, but did that happen? No, because we were fighting the weather and were down a crew member.

This time of year we are all in the same boat. We have lots of work to accomplish and very little time to do it. When things happen like having an employee out, or rain, or snow, it’s easy to get frustrated, but don’t let the frustration take over. We have to remember to be thankful that nothing catastrophic has happened.

For all of you that think I’m Mr. Positivity, it really comes down to not having a choice. I suppose I could be angry and upset that it’s raining or that I’m down a guy, but how will that serve me? How would that serve my team, or my family? It doesn’t, so I choose to laugh my way through it. Sometimes we laugh because if we don’t, we’ll cry. I’m here to tell you, we all know what that’s like. What’s that saying... laugh a...

Over the last six months we’ve teamed up with GPSTrackit to put their innovative telematics and fleet management tools to work in our business. GPSTrackit has been a fantastic tool to keep tabs on our crew and monitor our fleet. Whether your fleet is two trucks, or twenty trucks it’s nice to have that piece of mind on where your team is.

As baby time approaches I am relieved to be able to rely on GPSTrackit. I know that my team will be out working hard when I need to be home with Liz and the new baby. Consider it an insurance policy, you will always know where your trucks are.

GPSTrackit is just one of the many ways a business can evolve with technology. Using new software can make your business more efficient and effective and as well as potentially offset workforce and fuel cost challenges. Technology has the potential to grow your landscape business to new heights. Check out these three areas where you could embrace technology this year:

Advanced Equipment Technologies
There are s...

Let’s talk about financing…

Everyone has their own opinion on financing. Some people think it’s a good idea, while others think it’s not. There are so many questions around financing… When is financing a good option? What should you finance? What is a good interest rate? When should you think about paying off the loan? The questions go on and on.

My opinion is that financing is out there to alleviate the bottleneck of growing your business.

Let’s say you need a new mower and the mower you’re looking at costs $10,000. You can finance that mower at a 0% interest rate for 42 months, which would make your monthly payment less than $250. That mower that you are paying $250 a month for should now be able to bring in $2,500 a week in revenue since it is far more efficient than your previous mower. That would mean in an average month you’d be bringing in $10,000 on a $250 investment.

Now you might be thinking, why would I finance when I have the $10,000 in the bank? My answer is why wouldn...

Accomplishing any business goal requires the pursuit of progress not perfection. You don’t have to be the best, you just need to make it happen. I want you to think about what you want this year to look like. What would make this year a good year? Once you have an idea in your mind of what would make this year a good year let’s start to break it down into tangible goals.

I encourage you to set goals for the “now,” not five or ten year goals. Your business will change, pivot, and evolve, so think about what you want to accomplish this year. I try to set either monthly, quarterly, or annual goals. The method I use to set these goals is the SMART goal system. Keep in mind I’m not making some fancy colorful chart with my goals, but I am being mindful of what the SMART acronym stands for when I create my goals.

S - SPECIFIC
For me, this is the most important aspect of a goal. So many people say they want to make a lot of money and the words “a lot” are relative. $5 may be a lot to one perso...

In this day and age hiring is tough. There is no quick fix to getting the perfect team. My hope is that these few tips can help you recruit better employees.

#1 If you are going to hire someone you need to be comfortable firing someone.

Before you even think about hiring, you need to be prepared to fire someone. Reality is not every employee will work out, so you need to know how to let them go when the time comes. Prior to having my own lawn care business I worked for Little Caesars. At that time I ran a store with about 25 employees, so of course there was turnover. Some employees quit, some got fired, all the while continuing to hire new employees as needed. My job was to make the store the best it could be and personnel is a key part in that. Because of my prior experience, I knew I was comfortable firing employees. You never want to keep an employee that’s not serving your business in a positive way, so you need to be able to take the action that’s best for your business.

#2 ...

Let me tell you, I know what it’s like to not have confidence. I know what it's like to not know how to price a lawn. I know what it’s like to be losing my shirt on a lawn because I priced it too low. I know what it’s like to not make price increases because of my fear of customer reactions. I have been there and I have done that! But over the years I have gained so much confidence and I want to help you get to the other side and realize your worth!

Back in the beginning of my business, I wasn't expecting much out of myself, so how could I expect anything out of my life? I was the $20 lawn guy, so how could I expect to make much of a profit? I was getting what I was demanding and at the time, that wasn’t much.

I eventually realized that I was letting my customers take advantage of me. It most certainly wasn’t intentional, but I was letting my relationship and care for them get in the way of profit. What do I mean by that? I was undervaluing myself because I cared what the customer mi...

As a business owner, dad, and husband there is a lot to juggle. I must maintain and grow my business, maintain family relationships, maintain friend relationships, and so much more.

Here are just a few of the many thoughts a Lawntrepreneur may experience this time of year...

Did I order those parts for the mower to be ready for spring?
I need to post the open position.
Have I finalized my lawn list for spring and reached out to customers?
Have I advertised to bring on new customers for the spring?
Oh no it's snowing... I have to put my plow on.
I was supposed to bring my daughter to music class, but now I have to plow.
I have to replace the brakes and tires on my enclosed trailer.
I need to send letters to the customers I am dropping in the spring.
I have to make it home for dinner with my wife at 5pm because I will probably be out plowing for the next two days.
I want to make sure I get something for my kid's Easter basket.
And the list goes on and on...

On Ep 478. Block Scheduling, Boo...

Being a business owner means putting yourself out there. That can be scary no matter the capacity. You don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers or followers for it to be terrifying. You put yourself out there when you put your time, energy, and heart into mowing a lawn; that’s a scary thing. To continue putting ourselves out there we need to choose to build up our mental toughness. Being mentally tough doesn’t mean being mean or rude to others. It simply means that you don’t let others’ negativity get to you. I wish it was as easy as waking up one day and deciding to be tough, but it’s not that simple. It takes time to grow confidence in yourself and understand your worth as a business owner. 

Imposter syndrome is a very real thing and it causes your mental toughness to take a hit. Imposter syndrome is believing that you are not good enough to be in the position you are. Who are you to be owning a business? How could you possibly be successful? You don’t know what you...

When should you go full time in your lawn care business? The question everyone wants the answer to…

Unfortunately, there may never be the perfect time, but I have some tips that’ll set you up for success.

First, let me tell you a bit about my experience going from part time to full time.

When I first started mowing lawns on the side I was working for TruGreen. I would work from 6AM to 3PM for True Green and then spend the rest of the day until about 9PM at night mowing lawns for myself. As you may have heard in my podcasts or in my book, Zero to $100K, I had what I like to call my "Baywatch moment." I was working for TruGreen and across the way I saw a mowing crew and they had all the qualities that I longed for in my day to day life. Right then and there I knew I had to get into the lawn care industry for myself.

Now, my journey from part time to full time was less than ideal. When spring rolled around I went into work for TruGreen and when I got there they were surprised I ha...