Super Small Business

[Guest]

So I'm a teen, and I was wondering if anybody really knew how to start a business raking leaves, mowing lawns, and things of the sort. I think that over the years, people have turned away from kids doing jobs, and I just didn't know if there was a good way to approach people so that I could make some money. Ideas?

[YaBoiWill]

First, get some experience that is going to help, ask around to see if people are willing to take you on. 

Then, get some fliers with your basic info, stuff about rates, services, experience, contact details, working hours. 

Post these around the neighbourhood and see if anyone bites. 

Work out what's its going to cost an hour to run, assume that you won't be a one man band? factor in the cost of tools, fuel, bla bla bra

You also need to considers what laws and regulations that you need to provide and adhere to, taxes, insurance, you name it you need to research it

You will probs need to form a company and register it with your government (I assume) 

Thats just a start point, do a load of research on what you might need

[Guest]

I just meant an informal thing, not a full time business that you would have to file patents and stuff for.

[KuJoe]

Your best bet is advertise locally, maybe printing out and handing out flyers to your neighbors and and neighborhoods you're willing to drive/walk/ride to. If you have reliable transportation you can post something on Craigslist and let them know you're just a student looking for some regular customers. Keep in mind that if you do a good job and charge a fair price you'll get recurring clients and depending on your area that might be good or bad. Where I live, during the summer lawns need to be mowed weekly and if you skip a week it's killer on your mower (and if it rains expect to spend at least twice as long mowing it).

 

In my old neighborhood the kids who mowed lawns on the weekends would just go door to door every weekend asking for $20 to mow people's lawns and I did it quite a few times when I really didn't want to go battle the heat myself. The problem was they missed a huge opportunity by not asking people if they wanted it done every weekend, at $20 a house they could have hit the same 15-20 houses each weekend but instead they would spend time going door to door sporadically during the day.

 

Now of course if you just want to do it as a one off thing that's fine, but if you want to do it to earn some money each week/month then focus on being efficient. Spend less time working to maximize profits. In the case like I mentioned above, the kids were spending time knocking on the same doors every weekend and when somebody would say yes they'd mow the lawn and go back to knocking on doors.

 

Here's what I would have done:

 

1) Go on VistaPrint or one of the many places that lets you print out a hundred business cards for free and get a box of them with your name, phone number (I recommend a free Google Voice number for privacy reasons), a short list of what you're willing to do (i.e. mowing, edging, tree trimming, cleanup, raking, etc...), and a picture of a lawn mower or something like that and put some text on it like "Name's Lawn Service"... something that explains what you're offering without being too business-y looking. BONUS: Pay a few bucks to get magnets printed, they never get thrown away and are super effective for manual labor work.

 

2) Go knock on doors (focus on houses with tall grass first), if they say yes do the work and when you go to tell them you're all finished ask them if they'd be interested in you doing it weekly for them and then add them in whatever calendar app you have on your phone so you can keep an easy list with reminders. If they don't want you to do any work leave a flyer/business card/magnet with them in case they change their mind. Keep doing this until you've run out of doors to knock on, the sun goes down, or you've got enough lawns.

 

3) Next time you go out hopefully you'll have a list of lawns to work on first before you start knocking on doors. When you finish that list, go around and knock on the doors with the tallest grass first (repeating step 2 above). Prioritize houses that didn't get your flyer/business card/magnet already.

 

4) Rinse and repeat until you have enough regular clients.

 

I'm sure there's a lot more I can add, but I'll leave that here for now. As you can probably tell I really love writing business plans and working out ideas like this.

[Canada EH]

3 hours ago, hiitswilliam said:

how to start a business raking leaves, mowing lawns, and things of the sort.

It is super easy, just go and get your Sole Proprietorship license, city license, tax license and get to it.

Buy the equipment and tools needed and record every transaction for tax purposes.

You could have a catchy name and then you can trademark it, or not.

Old people love younguns mowing and raking their lawns.

 

 

I know around here it used to be $50 for a Sole Proprietorship license, tax license was free or minimal, and city license the same. Do not mess around with the taxman, he can throw sand in the wound and not even blink.

[Guest]

I feel as if people have become less acceptant of kids doing their work for them, and instead they would rather have a professional company come out and mow their lawn, even if it costs them 2 or 3 times as much.

[Guest]

Assuming you know your neighbors or your friends’ parents you can ask them to start out. 

 

A kid down my street mowed my next door neighbor’s lawn because he asked. Another kid I went to school with put up posters & knocked on people’s houses. 

 

Advertizing is the best way to get business starting out. 

 

Depending on the political view of people in your neighborhood, you could flex a point of view that you should get paid to do it. 

 

Spoiler

Don’t start a political discussion. I won’t entertain it-I’ll Just report you. 

 

You can also say that you want to learn the meaning of hard labour & earning your weight in the world. Many people can be persuaded by confident children saying inspiring things about hard work meaning they want to be a hard working person later in life. However you showing up to try and do yard work is quite enough considering how many kids play Xbox. 

[Canada EH]

6 hours ago, hiitswilliam said:

I feel as if people have become less acceptant of kids doing their work for them, and instead they would rather have a professional company come out and mow their lawn, even if it costs them 2 or 3 times as much.

Each region and economic bracket is different. You have to study the marketplace and find out what people want. People do not want to spend 2 or 3x as much unless you are in Beverly Hills or something. If the homeowners/renters are seeing you work hard, and they like your work ethic and you go above and beyond what they asked for then they will continue hiring you. When I was a preteen many many decades ago I did lawn care, and I learned quickly to judge the income bracket people are in by the condition of their home and lawn. I'd skip the houses that were shit piles and put my $0.01 flyer in their mailbox. I earned a lot of money back then and I was able to buy me what I wanted and when I was of age to legally drive I bought me a nice vehicle.