I used to cut grass for work and although I didn’t enjoy it, I want to show you why running your own lawn mowing business makes perfect sense.
There aren’t many work at home jobs that allow you to be your own boss and cutting some good old grass is one business I recommend.
I have never owned one, but I did work for my brother who did and it has taught me a lot about work and most especially running a business.
I was a freshman in high school and I needed to make some extra money so I decided to work for him.
Even though I didn’t own the business I have gained the knowledge of running one, which has led up to me running a successful online business.
Not the best job in the world, but I did learn a heck of a lot from my little experience.
Lawn Maintenance Guys Work Hard
Still in my lazy teen mode, I would go to work all tired and not in the mood to do squat.
I remember waking up every morning, making sure the yard equipment worked and we had enough fuel to take on the day’s job.
Doing the actual work was not the easiest either, especially when that sun started beaming down hard making me think I was going to pass out.
I would rather be at home sleeping, but I did need some extra cash to get me what I wanted, so cutting grass was what I did.
Hard Work, Poor Pay
The job was not the hardest but I got payed on an hourly basis, which I completely disagreed with.
There was no way I was talking my brother into getting a raise, so I just did what I had to do so I can get that extra dough to hang out with my friends.
I was a teen so what did you expect, right?
There would be days where I felt we’d work our butts off hoping I would get some type of bonus, but that didn’t happen.
At $8.50 an hour we could do a job that would normally take two days to finish in like 4 hours and can you believe I ended up with less than $50?
I know I was only an employee but even $50 wasn’t enough for the type of work we did.
I got my money, blew it on some nonsense, and moved on.
From Yard Boy, to Infantryman
After working as a yards maintenance dude in my teens, I decided to join the military.
I knew I needed to do something or I’d be back home hanging out with the same friends from high school without any direction.
Lesson Learned
After finishing bootcamp I came back home and of course I ran into my brother and couldn’t help but ask about his business.
Come to find out, he actually stopped doing it and that was the end of his business career.
I couldn’t help but tell him how overworked and underpaid I was, but there was no hard feelings even if I think he should’ve paid his own brother a lot more.
But, he did have a business to run and I needed a job.
I wasn’t going to sit there and gripe about how he pretty much used me for cheap labor, but I did learn a valuable lesson.
Working For Someone Else is Not the Way to Go
So yeah, I was in the military and I was far from being my own boss.
I did have it in the back of my head that I wanted to run my own business as I knew there was no way to create the type of income that regular jobs generated.
Have people work for me and making huge amounts of profit was what I wanted to do and getting out of the military didn’t land me on that perfect business plan either.
I worked a job in the government before taking a dive into my first business.
A bar.
Being that I loved to drink and socialize with my buddies, I figured that was the right thing to do since I was told to follow my passion.
Talk about taking advice and using it the wrong way.
To make a long story short, I bought a bar (which I couldn’t get a liquor license for), and had it close a year later.
That was that.
Best business plan went right down the drain real fast and had me looking for the next best thing
There was just no way I was going back to a regular job no matter what it took to make this whole business thing work.
Poor Planning Leads to Failure
Running a business and quitting your job takes a lot more thought than just giving your boss the bird.
There was definitely no planning thrown into this as I was a young “hotshot” that thought he knew what he was doing.
Obviously I didn’t and again, this was another learning experience.
Thinking about how my brother was making thousands of dollars a day, while I made my awesome $40 still stuck with me.
Having a Plan Increases Your Chances
If you can put even just a little thought into things, I know you can run a successful lawn care business.
Have the capital to get some equipment that could get you off the ground, get some projects, and outsource your work.
Get the same little teens that I was and have them do all the dirty work.
Okay maybe not some teens, but do get you some people that are willing to work and voila!
You have yourself a nice little lawn care business.
Be the Boss, Not the Employee
I’m not saying go and underpay your employees, but do know that you are the boss.
You’re the one that started the business so you call the shots.
They work for you and they get paid what they deserve, but definitely work with them as they will put out quality work if you did treat them right.
Have a few employees until you learn what it takes to manage more and then you can work at getting to the top.
Gain that experience and who knows, you might just end up doing bigger and better things.
I think running a lawn care business is a great place to start, especially if you’re good at what you do.
Now I Cut My Own Grass (Only Mine)
Great experience and life lessons learned in my early stages of my adult life, but doing other people’s yards was just not my thing.
These days you’ll find me mowing my own lawn and my only employees are my kids.
Being your own boss is still what I believe in and I have taken my business mentality with me to the online world.
No more working in the hot sun for me as I do all my business online.
My employees don’t work as hard as I did and they definitely get paid accordingly.
Should You Start Your Own Grass Cutting Business?
If it’s something you enjoy and see yourself doing, then it’s a definite go.
You can even do the work yourself until you gain more traction, but definitely do it at lest for the experience.
You can always do what I do and run your own online business, which requires a very low startup cost and still be your own boss.
If you’re willing to put in the time and effort it takes to run any business, I’m sure you’ll do great in the online world.
Checkout a program called the Wealthy Affiliate as they are the same people that taught me everything I know about doing business online.
Whether it’s online or offline, doing business is a great thing and you’d be selling yourself short if you don’t at least give it a try.
In the end, you really do decide what you want to do with your life and you wouldn’t know until you’ve actually tried.
Good luck and I wish you the best!
– John
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