The Perfect A-Z Guide to Running A Small Summer Lawn Mowing Business
The best summer side hustle guide now brought to you in an alphabetical appendix.
A- Appointment. After marketing and getting initial leads, it’s crucial to set an appointment date with the potential client.
Having face to face, connection and walking on their property will ensure you closer to having a closed deal. Here is my video in more detail.
B- Bi-weekly. Most of my clients prefer a bi-weekly lawn plan. It’s more affordable and now you the lawn service provider can get more clients because it’s half the work. It’s a win-win situation.
C- Contract. A document that specifics the parties involved, the service provided, the duration of time, the amount invoiced. This piece of document is absolutely necessary to ensure clarity on both parties.
D- Double Check. After mowing the client’s lawn, loading all the equipment, it’s best to do one more check around the entire property to close all gates, restore any flags or signs and left behind equipment.
E- Eleven modules. At Lawnup.net my digital course where I teach how to have a summer lawn mowing business step-by-step with no steps skipped; contains 11 modules from equipment all the way to winterizing and prepping for next spring.
F- Fast. Being profitable in an easy summer lawn mowing business, means you have to mow fast.
Walk at a speed walkers pace, around 3 miles per hour ensures getting an urban or suburban lawn done fast and move to the next lawn.
G- Gasoline. A gas powered mower is much preferred. Therefore a jerrycan tank of gasoline is necessary. I like the 2 gallon size.
H- Height. A push mower adjusts height under each wheel. A or the notch closest to the back of the handle bar is the lowest setting, near .5 inches. G or the notch closest to the front is the highest setting near 5 inches.
I- Installment. Half of all my clients choose the two-installment payment plan.
Half of the entire invoice is paid at the beginning of the season, the second half is paid during the middle of the season.
J- Jump at marketing. It’s the job of the lawn service provider to start marketing first.
No one will know you mow unless you tell them you do.
K- Know your offer. This is very important. Know exactly what services you provide or you might be talked into doing more services than you actually do.
For our summer lawn mowing business, it is: mow, trim, leaf blow. That’s it.
L- Like, even love the work you are providing. This is crucial for mindset and attitude.
Take good pride in what you do, take a glance back at the freshly cut lawn and know you made something a bit more beautiful.
Like the work you do and that attitude will last you all season long.
M- Marketing. Number 8 on my module and by far the biggest module in my entire lawn mowing digital course.
If I’m great at mowing but cannot connect with people, I do not have a business.
N- Nextdoor. A social media app. Good for paid ads to find potential clients. You can read more about it here:
O- Oil gas mix. Most gas trimmers and leaf blowers are 2-cycle engines and will need a special gasoline mixed with oil fuel.
P- Paypal. Paypal and Venmo are great online forms of collecting payment in this day in age.
Q- 70–80 Quart bin. This size bin is the right size to carry all the other gadgets you’ll need for the summer lawn business season.
R- Ramp. If you are a solo lawn mower, mowing all by yourself, you’ll need to build a ramp to load and unload the 100 plus pound push mower.
S- Self-propelled. Push mowers come in two different types. Traditional, where it is the most basic and the person has to push.
Self-propelled contains an additional motor or belt that helps turn the front or rear wheels making mowing much easier to push.
T- Trimming. After mowing, trimming is the next step in servicing the client’s lawn.
U- Uncertainty. Potential clients are uncertain when selecting work to be done on their property.
Ways to reduce uncertainty are: pictures of past work, testimonials or referrals from other clients.
V- Venmo. The other popular online money transaction app; commonly used apps such as Paypal and Cash app.
W- Winterizing. At the end of the lawn mowing season, it’s important to store lawn equipment away properly. Big equipment with motors should be emptied of any fuel to avoid leaking or clogging up of gaskets.
X- The box. Scrabble challenge number one, but does contain the letter. The box is incredibly useful to carry all other necessary items for the summer lawn business. Here’s a quick video here.
Some of the items include: gloves, trimmer line and folding saw.
Y- Yard. The Client’s property where the work or service is performed on.
Z- Fertilize. Scrabble challenge number two. A commonly request but specifically for my case, denied service.
My state requires a license to fertilize a lawn for business services. Check your state at your state’s commerce site.
Any questions? Let me know.
Want to know the 3 myth busters in the lawn mowing industry that will get you landing clients fast? Check out my FREE guide, I put my best of the best tips here.
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