When you're just starting out, it's easy to feel like you're already behind. The big guys have flashy trucks, commercial-grade gear, and full-time admin staff handling their bookings. You? You're loading a mower into your personal car, hoping everything fits. But here's the thing most people miss: You can beat the big guys by being faster, leaner, and hungrier. You don’t need to spend tens of thousands just to get started. Top-end domestic mowers will do 90% of what you need without the...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Spring Is The Time to Clean House (and Lawns) As the weather warms up, it's not just the yards that need pruning; our business does too.After scaling our little business to over 450 lawns and then downsizing Nowadays, when we get close to 200 lawns, we hit pause and ask ourselves: Do we want to grind this hard again? The answer is always a clear nope. So, we start trimming not the hedges, but the client list. We let go of: Late payers Trampoline obstacle courses Difficult-access backyards And...
3 days ago • 1 min read
At the risk of sounding like Crocodile Dundee (“You call that a knife?”), I'm going to tell you how it was way back when. Back in the ’90s, I had to cut up plastic bottles just to keep mowing in the rain. I’d slice one up and cover the spark plug lead so the thing wouldn’t cut out halfway through a job. No real waterproofing back then. If you wanted to keep your mower going, you had to get creative. Today? Petrol mowers are way better sealed. Spark plugs aren’t usually the issue anymore. But...
4 days ago • 1 min read
I’ve never bought a lawn care business in my life. But I’ve sold over 1,000 accounts. And let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot of people walk straight into avoidable mistakes. This wasn't because they did anything wrong. Because they didn’t know what to look for. When you have someone who has never sold lawn accounts before dealing with someone who has never bought them...How do you think that is going to go? In the early days, I sold some accounts to people that I shouldn’t have. They were...
5 days ago • 1 min read
I used to think a bigger mower would make my life easier. I figured I would get through more jobs, make more money, and get to sit down all day while I worked. Faster jobs. Cleaner cuts. Less time on each lawn. And for a while, that felt true. But when I finally bought one, I realized something. Big mowers come with big problems. More moving parts mean more to break down. Belts that can snap. Timed blades that work great until something happens, they go out of sync, and everything implodes....
6 days ago • 1 min read
Running a business with your partner can either double your power or double your headaches.Ask me how I know. When we first started out in our lawn mowing business, my wife and I thought we’d be smart and “share the load” evenly. Both of us took calls. Both of us handled quotes. Both of us managed the booking calendar. Sounds fair, right? It was a complete mess. We kept double-booking jobs. Clients were confused. We were confused. At one point, we literally showed up at the same property...
7 days ago • 1 min read
I had a lead come in the other day. One of the first things the caller did was talk about how bad his last contractor was. In fact, his last three contractors were “terrible,” according to him. He even told me the name of his most recent contractor and asked for my thoughts. A couple of things went through my head — although I wasn’t about to say either one out loud: First thought:“I don’t want to do this quote.” If he’s trashing his last three contractors, he’s probably hard to please... and...
8 days ago • 1 min read
There is a tool that I use quite often in my lawn care business. It saves me time, gas, and the hassle of driving all over town just to give someone a quote. It also lies to me. That tool? Google Maps. Don’t get me wrong — it’s incredibly handy. You can zoom in, measure lawns, and get a ballpark figure without leaving your chair. But here’s the thing most people don’t realize: That satellite image you’re staring at might be years out of date.(Pro tip: You can sometimes find more up-to-date...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Back in the day, whenever a mower stopped working on the job, I’d do what most people do.Straight to the shop. Wheel the mower in. Explain the issue. However, I noticed the first thing the mower shop did was replace the spark plug — and half the time, that was all it needed. It took me way too long to realise I was paying someone eighty bucks to do something that takes thirty seconds and costs just a few dollars. These days, I carry spare spark plugs in the wagon. If a mower plays up, I swap...
10 days ago • 1 min read