Dozens of Clients, Many Lawns: The Most Surprising Things I’ve Learned About the Lawn Industry
True keen insights from over 8 years of mowing the private lawns of every-day people.
I might be the only person who enjoys mowing people’s lawns, earns a summer living, and gets to blog about it.
I’ve had the cool opportunity of meeting households with single older adults, full-house with pets, a family that leaves during the summer to be with the spouse who lives in a different state and even rental property owners who would rather hire out than have their tenants mow their lawns.
I’ve seen:
- Overgrown lawns
- Hedges
- Fences
- No fences
- Corner lots
- Large empty lots with no houses, duplexes
- Lawns that are pretty much weeds and lawns that are pretty much golf courses.
Here are my truths:
Running a small lawn mowing business is a very useful and valuable skill.
My clients really need lawn care.
Yes, we all wish we had more cool things to worry about like which best resort to go to in Greece but unless you’re a vampire who lives in the basement, nothing will stop you from seeing your lawn the last thing you leave your house to the first thing you see your house when you arrive home.
It’s nice to see a nice lawn, it’s nicer to know that lawn is yours.
Running a small lawn mowing business is a very useful and valuable skill, part #2
As things get more automated or outsourced, think of Doordash, right? Paying people to deliver our food. Unfathomable back during the days, but needed now.
People really do pay for conveniences. It’s true and this is the problem you are solving.
Sure, perhaps one day robots will mow our lawns, but I keep thinking that someone can just steal the robot though, ha!
But until then, know that this a problem you are solving for someone else.
I’ve never had a bad client or unruly client, but there’s a trick.
You’re entering into a stranger’s lawn and home life.
You must respect it.
You are giving a service and they will pay with their hard earn money. It’s my job to carry that service through to completion and clarity.
And not one more thing over.
I’ve gotten really good at setting my limits of service so that they know exactly what to expect.
It’s very easy, as the client, to say:
- Can you also mulch, just this once?
- That part needs trimming, can you add that too?
- How about moving the playground equipment?
- You mulched some last week, why can’t you do it this week too?
No need to get mad, it’s the human side of us to get deals, but as the deal maker it’s my responsibility to set expectations on what I will provide and do a good job on just that. They will honor it.
It goes by fast, real fast.
I always thought that mowing took 2 hours. Why? I don’t know, somehow two hours was the magical number.
No. twenty minutes for an average urban lawn.
Do right by scouting first and removing obstructing items, pull that cord and do what I call a ‘super speed walk’, roughly 3 miles per hour.
It never ceases to amaze me how fast the front, then sides, then back is all freshly cut and done!
Equipment: get right, not the best.
Believe it or not, I do not use a trailer. I do not use a riding or zero turn (what’s a zero turn, right?)
I only use my trusty push mower, and for the first 4 years, we used one that wasn’t even self-propelled!
When you get into the lawn business side, I was bombarded with fancy terms:
Horsepower, 22-inch wide mulcher, zero-turn, self feeding trimmer, blade chain not trimmer.
I had to look at it from a wide angle of the business that I was trying to run: Small, easy, no trailer since I don’t have storage for a trailer, 10 lawns or less.
So, instead I ask these important questions:
Does this equipment work? Can I afford it? Boom, done!
Here’s a funny story on what pushed me over the edge, be brave and started passing out my first flyer to mow lawns:
I make this loud and clear, if I’m running a 100-lawn business, an engineer set to design the world’s best mower, having a store that sells lawn equipment. — then, yes, I need the best.
But since I’m small, I just need the right equipment.
It’ll be a service that will always be around.
Earth, it spins, gets cold, gets warm again, flowers bloom, grass grows. Somehow, even right now (if you’re reading this in July) I bet the LAST thing you’re thinking of is eggnog recipe, but come November, you’re going to search for Best Eggnog Recipe.
It’s good that this service goes away for some time then comes back in roaring fashion!
My clients and my interaction with them.
I hardly see them. That’s the truth.
I mow at various times during the week (unless they want specific hours).
Honestly, they don’t even want to see me.
Come in, come out.
Please close the gate when done.
Here’s payment, thank you.
When we do see each other, it’s very cordial and friendly. I’ve never experience someone yelling at me.
I’m very thankful for my clients.
The hardest types of lawns aren’t the biggest lawns, they are actually:
The lawns that have lots of knick-knacks, garden beds, mulch beds, benches scattered throughout the lawn instead of just one corner or spot.
This adds to more turns and sometimes having to cut the parts of lawn into smaller pieces. The more turns, the more time.
Want a bit more info? Here’s my 23-step How-To start that lawn business, you’ve always wondered about.
What questions do you have?
I realize I’m talking or typing my head off, but were there any questions you have about running an easy summer lawn biz?
If you need a more visual aspect of what I do, check my YouTube channel where I cover lawn mowing topics almost daily.
If you enjoy reading informative and engaging stories on a wide range of topics written by writers from across the world, please consider joining Medium. The membership is $5 a month, and you will have unlimited access to these stories. If you join using my link, I will receive a small commission. Thank you.
