The Lawn Care Low Down
Sitting in the office … dreaming about being outdoors? Looking for a part-time gig to pay the bills and pad your wallet? Just not that into joining the “real world” workforce. If you’re still reading, you’ve no doubt thought about starting your very own lawn care business. Low start-up costs and a near universal demand creates one huge downside: everyone else is trying to get into this market, too.
How do you get a leg up on the competition? We’ve rounded up and carefully curated some resources for you to take a look at:
So Wayne Mullins started his own lawn care business after leaving his job and turned a small, $25,000 a year side business into a $200,000 business that he sold. And he did it in 3 years. Now he’s on to writing books and guides to help other people(like you, lawn care business wannabe). You better believe he brings a fantastic passion to his writing and gives some tangible, great advice. It’ll cost you $50, but as a start up investment, definitely be worth your time. Click Here!
Another option is franchising, and there are several opportunities out there for that:
Scott’s Lawn Care Service is one. Start Up fees are in the 20-30k range, though. I’m not sure that counts as a micro business start up. And my guess is if you had 20k sitting around, you wouldn’t be using it to start a super fancy lawn care service.
If you do want to buy instead of starting from scratch, however, check craigslist. There are tons of small businesses in the lawn/landscaping/cleaning service category for sale. What would you expect to get if you buy a business? Equipment and a roster of great paying, profitable clients.
As a side note – don’t forget to check out licensing, permitting and insurance information in your state. You don’t want to find your successful business in legal hot water down the road.
Crafting a Successful Side Business
You know the story, your very cute stuffed bunny gets rave reviews at an office party baby shower. “You could TOTALLY sell those.” And you can, especially with the uptick in interest in handmade arts and crafts. From Etsy to your local craft fair, there are many different outlets (and potential revenue streams) for your lovingly stitched wares.
We’ve done the leg work for you and came up with these excellent resources for starting a crafting business:
Craftbusinessblog.com – great tips specific to crafting as a business. Another great, valuable tool we’d recommend is this book their book. For less than $50, you get step-by-step instructions on starting a craft business, industry statistics and demographics, an industry veteran’s guide to the ins-and-outs of craft fairs, a business resource directory, a craft pricing calculator, ebay selling special report and a time management guide. If you’d like to spend less time hunting resources and more time on your products, this is a must have.
Etsy.com – picking through the user forum is a great way to get a feel for crafting as a business. Word to the wise…this can turn into an epic time-suck black hole, so make sure to come up for air every once in awhile and check yourself: is what you are reading helpful and relevant to starting your business.
Craftmba.com – a fantastic site once you have your business off the ground, Crafting an MBA puts business strategy to use in the creative crafting and design world. Great writing, intriguing and active discussion boards and tons of practical information make this a site a useful part of your business tool box.