Worm Man's Worm Farm

http://www.gopherforum.com Before you spend a dime on any landscaping or lawn care marketing make sure you play with the figures before you enact your plan. Use this new Lawn Care Marketing Return On Investment calculator to see how much money your marketing campaign will bring you, before you go through with it. You never know, you may find your initial lawn care marketing planned to be quite flawed or you might find yourself to be pleasantly surprised. Simply plug in your figures and then hit the calculate button to see what type of return on your investment you can hope to achieve. The calculator can be found at the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum http://www.gopherforum.com and also at my Lawn Care Business Blog at http://www.lawnchat.com. If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life.

John Finer

http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Hi, this is Keith with www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com I am overlooking the Tennessee River just outside of beautiful Chattanooga, TN. Today, I am going to discuss a few items you need to operate your lawn care business safely.

Footwear: You may be tempted to wear a rough pair of sneakers to mow the grass. Dont do that. I recommend a sturdy pair of work boots. You dont necessarily need a steel toe. Some people prefer it. Some people dont. I like a work boot with a high profile and a solid sole. It is vital to keep your feet healthy and protected from rocks and other objects which may strike your foot as you are working.

Work socks: A solid pair of work socks. I like to wear hiking socks which wick moisture away from your feet and are comfortable to wear and walk in for long periods of time.

Pants: I like to wear shorts when I am giving estimates and doing other non-work activities. They are cool and look professional during the summer. When you are actually working, nothing beats a pair of long work pants. Heavy material protects you from being pelted with rocks from weedeaters and mowers. If you are not going to wear long work pants, at least get a pair of shin guards to protect your legs from rocks and other flying debris.

Shirts: Brightly colored shirts give a professional appearance. A short sleeved shirt is great for work but when the sun is shining sometimes you need a long sleeved shirt. Light colored, long-sleeved athletic jerseys keep the sun off your arms and help keep you cool and wicks away moisture.

Sunscreen: If you are going to wear short sleeves get some good sunscreen. I use Banana Boat SPF 30. Thats good enough for my skin. You might need a higher or lower SPF.

Safety Vest: If you work close to traffic you should wear a brightly colored safety vest. In some states OSHA will require you and your employees to wear these vests if you doing any type of contract mowing work near traffic. Also, if you do certain types of Government contract work you will be required to wear safety vests. Before you buy safety vests, check if there are color and reflection requirements.

Safety goggles and glasses: It is very important that you protect your vision. Lawn mowers and weedeaters kick up stones, sticks, and other debris. These objects can do a lot of damage to you eyes. I recommend you never do any lawn work without OSHA approved safety goggles. Make sure your pair has side shields and fit snuggle to give your eyes maximum protection. You can get them with clear lenses or with uv protection for sunny days.

Face shield: For more difficult jobs where you are working around lots of debris flying around, do yourself a favor and purchase a complete face shield. Mine is a polycarbonate clear shield which works well. Mesh shields are also available at hardware stores. I like the full face shield as it increases protection. You should also use safety goggle under the shield.

Hearing protection: There are two types. The most effective set I have is a pair of pistol range ear muffs. They greatly reduce the noise level of lawn mowers, string trimmers, and weedeaters. Foam ear plugs are great for reducing noise too. Sometimes, I wear both sets of hearing protection at the same time if I am working with loud equipment for long periods of time. Always use hearing protection.

Gloves: Your hands are important and can be damaged while operating lawn care equipment. A pair of leather gloves can protect you from blisters and calluses. I like to wear gloves with knuckle protection strips to give extra protection.

Hard hat: Some of your work may include cutting small branches from trees. Carry a hard hat in your truck for such occurrences.

These are just a few devices which can make your job safer. This list is not all inclusive. Check the website www.OSHA.gov for complete information. Always follow all equipment instructions and best use practices for all work you do.

If you want to run a better lawn care business, check our lawn care business materials, tutorials, instructional videos, estimating calculators, and strategy guides at: http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com

Ken Chiarella…instantly.

http://www.lifeinparadise.com Lawn care business for sale in Florida. Fantastic FL. Landscape service for sale. Buy this lawn mowing company for sale in Florida.

lawn care

GopherHaul 18 – Winter Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Ideas & Customer Retention

In this episode of GopherHaul we discuss winter lawn care business marketing ideas.

Hello everyone and welcome to Gopherhaul!
If you haven’t started your business yet, what are you waiting for. If you don’t start your business this year, you’ll be at least 1 year older when you do so get started today!

GopherHaul is a show for entrepreneurs and new business owners. In it we discuss business tips and tricks we have learned over the years and share with you some real world experiences on how to help your lawn care business or any other business grow.

In this episode we will be talking about:

- We added a new section on the forum called Women’s business issues.

- One of our forum members and entrepreneurs, Sarah did two things this season to really make her business stand out. First off she got out there in the public eye and put herself in her marketing material and second off she has started a toy drive to help collect toys for underprivileged children and promote her business at the same time.

Read more at this post http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=6110;st=20;r=1;&#entry27619

- Rodman and Justin are the winners of the lawn care business holiday cards compliments of www.CardsCheaper.com

- Barry sent us some pictures of his newly painted lawn care trailer.

You can see Barry’s new trailer pics at this link.

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=4;t=6223;st=0;r=1;&#entry28171

- I am now signed up with Chestin’s Lawn Care Champion’s Circle. Now I don’t want to give any of his secrets away because he makes his money on teaching but there was an interesting part in one of Chestin’s marketing discussions I wanted to point out. Chestin was talking with one of our forum members Barry and he was telling Chestin how everytime he seems to sign up a new customer, another customer seems to leave so his net gain is zero. Do you ever find this happening as well? Well just to find the answer in this would be well worth you signing up for Chestin’s program. Even if you sign up for a month to simply check it out. You will find an answer on how to deal with this and you might want to stay on for all the new information he posts.

cott from leisuretimellc found to deal with this

- Another forum member Scott from leisuretimellc advises business owners to talk to their clients. He had talked to an elderly customer and found out her mowing day is the day before her trash day so he puts out the garbage cans for her and she gives him and extra $25 tip each month to do that. This is how he keeps his customers.

- Our lawn care business forum member Keith, also made a great seasonal service tip. This tip is especially important for those in the Northern sections of the country. During rainy winter days it is important to keep gutters free of leaves. If gutters are clogged, rain will pool in the gutters. Then, at night when the temperature drops, the water will freeze and back up into the over hangs. This action will damage the overhang allowing more water to enter the woodwork. The wood will rot.

Once problems begin, repairs can be very expensive. It is important and beneficial for lawn care companies to warn their customers of this potentially damaging problem. A quick $100 gutter job can save the homeowner thousands of dollars down the road.

We also have created a free flyer for you to promote this service which you can download and edit.

- If you don’t like heights, maybe consider getting this gutter cleaning robot!

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=6280

- We also started our outdoor holiday decoration contest so start taking pictures. We have a bunch of prize to give away, check the forum for more info. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=8&t=6159&st=0&&#entry27752

- If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher.

Also please log onto our lawn care business forum and tell us about your business and if you have any business questions, please ask them.

Ken Chiarella

http://www.lawn-care-business-for-sale.com Wanna buy a lawn care business in paradise? Live on the beach? Make real good money? You better go quick cuz this lawn care business for sale won’t last.

Ken Chiarella…instantly.

Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 19 — Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Show.

In this episode we will be talking about

Please continue to submit your pictures for our outdoor holiday lighting contest. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=6159;

Our lawn care business forum member of the month is Tim.
Tim has shared with us three new contracts including a lawn cutting contract, a full service lawn care maintenance and a snow plow contract. You can download them here

http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=1&t=877&st=30&&#entry30713

I added a new link on the left side of the forum for our lawn care business forum member to submit books they have read. I also added a new business book of the month to our list. The book is Guerrilla Marketing Success Secrets by Jay Levinson.
Our friend Tony submitted this great marketing idea to the forum. He prints out stickers that include your business logo and then puts them on buckets of ice melt. He suggests handing these buckets out to your current customer base to help promote your snow removal services or you could use them as a marketing tool to hand out to homeowners in your area who you would like to service with snow removal and lawn care services next spring. If you live in a warmer climate you could also offer potted plants instead of ice melt. Review the post here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=33;t=6541;st=0;r=1;&#entry30532
Our lawn care forum member Tim suggested buying poinsettia plants in bulk and handing them out to your current customers along with a holiday card. You could also give these out to potential clients you would like to provide snow plow or lawn care services to. Tim said he also sells the plants at a farmer’s market booth. He purchases the flowers for $2 and resells them for $5. Great idea! Read more about this post here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=6488;st=0;r=1;&#entry30090
Brian from Lawn & Garden Web Vision sent us this promotional video to show off his new website http://www.lawnandgardenwv.com Check out his site. It’s full of many on demand education and training videos for the lawn and garden industry.
Forum member Tim posted that now is the time to send out letters to businesses asking them to put your company on their 2008 bid list. You can download the letter here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=1&t=1541&st=0&&#entry29810
Bob from Plan-it Graphics has posted a design challenge http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=23&t=6434&st=0&&#entry29599 There will be two winners chosen. Bob said “You do not have to do anything graphic wise. You can simply submit your ideas in text. If your idea is to have a guy riding his motorcycle with the caption, “This is much better better than lawn work!” then that’s all you have to do. We are not looking for the best designer, we are looking for the best/unique way to market. Hopefully we can come up with ideas that are “outside the box” of the traditional lawn/landscape marketing material. It’s my job to convert your idea into print form.”
In the previous episode of GopherHaul 18, we talked about how you should stay off ladders as much as possible. One of our forum members posted a shop vac device that is a long extension pipe with a u bend at the end which allows you to suck leaves out of the gutter while safe and standing on the ground. Read this post for a product review http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=17;t=6603;st=0
I hope all these ideas have helped you expand and grow your business and mind. So until the next time, always remember to Dream it, Build it, Gopher it!

If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher.

Also please log onto our lawn care business forum and tell us about your business and if you have any business questions, please ask them.

Ken Chiarella…instantly.