Offer a service where you fertilize people's lawns for them. You will need the fertilizer, then spread the fertilizer on the lawn and then water the lawn after. Many people do this every year, or more often, and some people would like to fertilize regularly, but forget or don't find the time to do it. You can save them a lot of time and frustration by offering this service. You could charge about $20 per hour.
This will probably require you to use a truck, van, or trailer. You will need to carry the lawn fertilizer in your vehicle. This can be very heavy to transport to each lawn job. It would also be a good idea to use a fertilizer spreader that will cover the lawn evenly with the fertilizer. You may even want to carry an extra hose and sprayer with you, just in case you do not have access to one when caring for some lawns.
Since lawns customarily need fertilizing on a regular basis it is important that you keep very good records, so that you can offer to do each lawn regularly. If you are able to convince your customers to agree to a contract to fertilize their lawns on a regular basis, be sure to have contracts on hand with you at all times. This can help you build your business quickly if you have a regular group of customers that rely on your service.
Remember to keep very good records so that you always take good care of your customers. These records are also important at the end of the year, because many of the expenses that you will have, can be deducted from your taxes for running your business.
You could charge about $20 per hour for this service. Lawns can come in many shapes and sizes, so this is probably the best way to gauge what to charge for your services. Remember that if you are charging by the hour that you work quickly for each hour taking care of a lawn. Don't pass up the smaller lawns either, these will add up quickly if you are able to find several in one local area.
It is very important that you water the lawns well after each application of fertilizer also. After you do this, you may want to put a few little signs on the lawn, letting people know that the lawn has just been fertilized. This is a good way to make sure that your customers know you have been by and fertilized their lawn, and it also warns people to stay off and keep their animals off for a few days after. If you are able too, you can come back, remove the signs a few days later, and check to see if the lawn needs watering again.
The signs that you leave behind could be a great source of advertising for your business also. Invest in a small sign that has your business name and contact information that you can safely plant and remove from the lawns you work on. Include warnings that people and animals should not step on the lawn while it is being fertilized for safety reasons.
You might target neighborhoods that you want to work in. Leave flyers at each home informing them of your service and fees. When you finish a lawn in one area, you might also walk to nearby neighbor's homes, explain that you have just finished fertilizing their neighbor's lawn, and ask if they would like you to also fertilize their lawn while you are in the area that day. You might be surprised at how quickly you will pick up added customers by doing this. This will also help you to keep your appointments close to each other, so that you will not have to travel too far between lawns and it will save you money on your gas expenses for the day.
Helpful Resources:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG3338.html
http://www.scotts.com/smg/learn/learnLanding.jsp
http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html
October 24, 2009
