13 Things I’ve Learned From My Lawn Mowing Business After 8 Years
It was lots of trials and errors but in the end it was all worth it.
“Invention is the mother of necessity” — it was 2014 and I was in a pickle. Homeschooling my then two boys, ages 9, 11. They discovered video game consoles and wanted a Nintendo 2DS, each.
Luckily, and I mean really lucky: I loved mowing my own yard and secondly, my boys were old enough to lift heavy equipment. Let’s mow lawns for money!
It would take an entire season to tell you my ups and downs of our little summer side hustle, but here are 13 little nuggets that I think you would learn this very day.
1. It’s important that it’s a seasonal need.
Our lawn mowing business season lasts from the last week of April to the first week of October, roughly 22 weeks. This is important because it has a beginning date and end date.
It doesn’t last forever and my children like that it doesn’t last forever, only a certain time to make the most money we can.
People pay more for seasonal items because they come only so few times a year.
2. Facebook Marketplace is my best friend.
I got most of my equipment from Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist. Actually, I’ve never bought anything new! Wait, I did buy my folding serrated knife new.
My point is that, our overhead, starting capital cost is very low. That’s what I like about a lawn business because after we got all out equipment (cheaply and readily available) it’s all about getting ready to work and the occasional stop getting more 87 unleaded gasoline.
3. It taught my children of basic financial money principles.
This is where it gets teary-eyed important. Stemming from own money wounds, I deeply wanted my children to know the importance of every singular dollar and how to treat that dollar.
So, here’s what my husband and I teach them. Whenever they get money from hard work, they must put a small amount away invested. Luckily, their dad is our private money manager and invests in 2 or 3 x index funds with selling call and put options.
Then give 10% to charitable contributions. Then after that with budgeting, they can spend on whatever their heart desires, even Nintendo games.
It’s that easy. Even though it took a long hard time getting here.
4. It taught my children principles of hard work.
This is teary-eyed and straight up frustrations. I still remember living in a time where I had to remember peoples’ phone numbers and use a rotary dial phone.
Or that I had to take the city bus to visit my friends or go to volleyball practice. My parents had it even harder.
Now my children and their generation have so many things automated, even I fall victim to its convivences. I feel that there is a disconnect with work, hard work, physical work that I still cannot be a peace with.
All I know is that I’m glad my children know how the weight of the lawn mower (125lbs), pushing it in the hot sun, collecting payment and going home to rest. Plus food tastes so much better after a good hard day’s work.
5. It taught me that I created something of value that someone else needs.
I still remember the very first time I got paid to mow someone’s lawn. It was a neighbor down the street. They had very shoddy equipment and barely mowed or sometimes used their neighbor's mower.
When I saw the Zelle money transferred of $125 for the first 4 weeks of mowing…I thought I saw $1 million dollars!
As I put our equipment away, I made the connection that I was giving someone of value: convenience that they will never have to drag out their shoddy, dusty mower — instead we can do that!
6. Depending on the city, you can get fined for having overgrown grass.
One of my client has rental properties. They have one lawn that I do not service, but saw a letter that came to the house.
The city of St. Paul was going to charge $280 for a one-time cut fee for over grown grass of eight inches.
Good thing is that we only charge $45 per cut — and no stink eye from city inspectors or neighbors too.
7. Always remember to charge your batteries.
Not all my big 3 equipment are gas powered. Now a days, there are great trimmer and leaf blowers that are battery powered, in this case my trimmer is a battery powered Black & Decker Grass Hog.
But.
I kept forgetting the charge my battery when I got back home! leaving the next day to a half charged trimmer.
So, to combat this, I put the charger on the steps to my house to always remind me ‘Don’t forget to charge my battery’ idiot-proof step.
Always remember to charge battery powered items.
8. Always blow off debris from the gas cap.
Something I learned that’s so tiny but I think shows extra care.
Surprisingly even with many lawns, the gas tank can go quite a long while before re-fueling. Anyways, when I do open the gas cap, I remember to quickly blow off any debris from the top of the motor and surrounding area to prevent it going into the gas tank, then pour more gas in.
I think it’s quite a good habit.
9. Love sharpening my blades — deeper meaning to this.
I used to only sharpen my blades once-a-season! I cringe just thinking about this. I posted this on my YouTube channel and someone suggested that I do it weekly.
I took that challenge and now I sharpen it every two weeks and I love it!
I love that I’m taking care of my equipment that brings value and money to my family.
I love that I can carry that principle to my home life, health life, relationship life.
See? Deeper meaning.
10. It’s 100% possible to do it solo.
Year 5 of our summer lawn mowing business, we toyed with the idea if ‘what if my son wanted to do more lawns on his own’ since he could drive.
Challenge taken! I needed to build a ramp, and build a ramp I did.
The Home Depot lumber yard with a great ramp kit made that possible.
Now sometimes my oldest goes to mow on his own.
11. I don’t care if someone laughs at my gear.
On my YouTube and TikTok (yes, even TikTok) I post about my easy summer lawn business. Welcome the comments section.
“You have a push mower?”
“At least get a 30'’ wide’’
“I have a zero turn with trailer’’
Want to know the truth? All my PAYING lawn mowing clients do-not-care what equipment I have. They care if I cut on time, in and out of their yard fast.
So, go ahead and laugh. I’m laughing all the way to the bank.
12. Say ‘‘of course.’’
Being a lawn mower is something. Having a lawn mower BUSINESS is something else. I need to satisfy my clients in a reasonable matter. They will ask if I can do this or that, like weeding or mulching.
I’ll try my best to say no, but say in a way to know that whatever services I do provide is of best quality and consistency.
13. The best part: double checking my work and see a beautiful fresh cut lawn (and getting paid for it).
I teach my children my 5 point check list before leaving a client’s property, but it is this…
I never get tired of looking back and seeing a freshly cut lawn. I feel like I made the earth one step more beautiful, contributed to cleanliness and left it better than how I found it. Knowing that I passed this on my children is priceless!
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