Landscaping Opportunities

Aeration

Description:

I started a lawn care service, but the most successful part of it, comparing time to revenue, was aeration. Aeration is the action which is done with a large heavy machine, called an aerator, that creates small holes in the ground in order to give grass more room to receive air and grow. I didn’t own an aerator, but I rented one to do the jobs I received. Basically, I made a flyer and called several lawn care clients I already had in order to commit them to my aeration. I did several small things, such as an exact scheduling and marking obstacles in the yards, to ensure that once I rented the machine that I was charge for on an hourly basis, that I would be able to go straight from house to house to maximize my efficiency. Even though it is a seasonal job, I put a lot of work into it, and I got a lot out it. When all of my planning and preparation went just right, after a hard sweaty day of labor, I could end the day with enough money to last me for months.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

Well, it all starts because of my dad making me mow the lawn. He did not pay me to do so, but made it a duty of mine as his son. Also, he didn’t just let me mow it, he had me groom in a wide variety of ways. Every once in awhile somebody would ask me to mow their lawn when they were out of town, and I realized that people pay quite well when you mow their lawn. So, I decided to offer up my services on a weekly basis. Because of these small jobs here and there, people actually came to me. They knew that I did a quality job and that I was reliable. I never wanted to have a large company as a teenager, because I didn’t want work to take the place of fun, rather I wanted it to fund my fun. I didn’t have as much experience aerating as mowing; in fact I had only done it once before when a youth group I was in was trying to raise money. But after a little research I found out that there is a high demand for it and that it really isn’t very hard to do. Because I knew that I would have to rent the machine, I did some probing to see if I would even have enough business to make it worth while. Because I was well known in my neighborhood for dependability and high quality people readily accepted me.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

The biggest problem that I faced was time and schedules. Basically, I had to find a day in which I had several hours, my parents had several hours, and my clients would all be home. First of all, I wasn’t old enough to drive, so I had to have someone with a large vehicle come with me to help me load the machine and take it back to my neighborhood. Also, wasn’t old enough to actually rent the machine, I had to organize with someone to pay the deposit and sign for the aerator. Then, because I was paying by the hour I had to have people’s yards lined up and ready to go before I actually got there. Simply, the answer to all of this was exact planning, good communicating, and using my resources. I not only set a day, but exact times and an order in which I was to operate. I made sure that everyone knew the plan, and I even hired my sister to go before me and makes sure that when I got to each house that I could just start right in.

What I learned:

I mentioned earlier that I aerated because it was not hard; what I meant is that the process was fairly simple to understand, not that the work was light. There is no way to earn money for nothing. Aerating was physically exhausting; hard work is a value necessary for success. I also learned that people really value the way you do a job, not the job you perform. It is not about getting the job done; it is about getting the job done right, because you are really working for others, not yourself.

Full Service Landscaping

Description:

He does it all: mowing, trimming, mulching, weed control, fertilizing, flowers, and seasonal aeration. While providing these services, Blake gave the following advice to others looking to start a similar business.

1. Know how to work! It takes an extreme work ethic, especially to get the business off the ground.

2. Don�t give up! Success did not come easily or quickly at all.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

As an eighth grader, Blake was looking for a way to make money, and after an inventory of his talents (�what can I do well?�), arrived at the idea of landscaping. He started simply by knocking doors, many doors, before finding his first client. After going door to door, he encouraged those first customers to refer him to friends. Since then he has also put up fliers to advertise, but relies mostly still on word of mouth referrals. He currently serves around 18 to 20 regular clients.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

1. Keeping the equipment running. At first he used his family's lawn care equipment, but used his profits to purchase all his own equipment mowers, edgers, trailers to haul it around, etc. Making sure this is all in good working order requires effort, organization, and money.

2. Customer service, especially working with unsatisfied customers. He prides his company on quality, but concedes that in a very small per cent of cases, some people just refuse to be happy with the service they�ve been provided.

3. Keeping up with the logistics and administration of the company. He particularly named dealing with invoices (which have become tricky as almost all the actual labor is performed by his employees), and keeping the lawn care schedule organized.

What I learned:

The most important lesson Blake says he learned is how to budget money, and how to allocate it for the various needs of the business. Money needs to be budgeted carefully towards employee wages, upkeep of equipment, and other overhead costs. He also learned the importance of quality in work. A name cannot be established without good quality, and it is very difficult to keep customers with sub-par service. Other skills acquired were leadership skills and managerial skills, and how to lead and serve those who work for you. Blake specifically mentioned how much better the work goes when he is being a good leader-manager, and developing good, genuine relations with employees. This takes patience and giving people the benefit of the doubt, but is well worth it.

Land Retail: Orchard/harvesting

Description:

This is my friend Calvin's experience:

Bought an orchard from a relative with money saved up from working for that relative for several years. Harvested the orchard’s crop for a couple seasons, making a nice profit doing so. Maintained (pruning is a big effort) the orchard well so it increased in its retail value. Then traded it for a modest home (about $40,000) from that same relative. This was done before reaching the age of 18.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

From a class in High School. They had a project on entrepreneurship where they asked the students to find an opportunity to demonstrate this concept. The relative offered to help by selling an orchard for under $20,000. Since the money earned while in employment to that relative was enough, the trade was made, and the orchard-harvesting business was started.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

It was a small orchard, yet at least 20 acres, so to harvest all the fruit before it rotted was a challenge. And choosing to invest all the money saved up this far was a challenge as well. But with friends, and a desire to invest in a venture with at least a small profit in store, those obstacles were overcome. And at the end, the prize was worth it.

What I learned:

To be creative, and have a goal in mind once you plan on investing in an entrepreneurial opportunity. And once you do choose to go for it, apply every effort you can in making it succeed. It’s worth it, no matter the outcome, as you learn confidence, how to maintain your schedule, and be cost-efficient. The benefits from doing this venture is a modest home that can be rented out till it needs to be used, and when it is ready to be used, there’s no need to worry about a mortgage.

Landscape Maintenance

Description:

One summer during high school I did not have a full time job, because my family and I were gone for most of the summer. I still needed to make some money so I started my own landscape maintenance service. I printed up fliers and distributed them throughout my neighborhood, and I told everybody that I knew about the service that I was providing. I did get several clients and while I was home for the summer I mowed the lawn, weeded and pruned the plants for several of my neighborhood and people in the surrounding area. While the number of clients never became huge, I did receive several callbacks from fliers and established several contacts during this time period. To this day whenever I am home I still do yard work for some of these clients to supplement my income.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I got the idea from my dad and from talking to other people and teenagers who had done similar things in the past. I knew that I could not apply for a typical teenage job due to the fact that I would be gone for extended periods during the summer. My dad and I discussed different ways that I could potentially make money. He said that forming a lawn care service is a fairly common entrepreneurial activity amongst teenage boys because it is a skill that many of them acquire as they are growing up, and so it is something that they can market. I had done a lot of yard work growing up so I decided to give it a try.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

It is not always easy to attract clients. In my neighborhood, most people already had a lawn care or some kind of gardening service. I had to show people that hiring me was a better choice, by either doing a better job or charging a lower rate.

What I learned:

I learned that it is really important to have contacts and good relations with people. If people like you they are more likely to hire you or recommend you to somebody else. Also I learned that doing a good job and working hard is equally important because even if you are a good people person, if you do not do a good job, it is unlikely that you will be competitive in your field. While I did not make a huge amount of money during this process it was a good experience for me because I saw what it was like to try and make money on your own. No one is just going to hand you money. You have to work for it.

Landscape Management Services

Description:

I have a very good friend named Todd Petersen from the state of Oklahoma. During his teenage years, from about 17-19, Todd dedicated his summers to gaining a little money mowing lawns. He started in his local neighborhood working through referrals from current customers. A customer would be pleased with his service and recommend a neighbor or friend Todd’s service. Through his first summer he maintained multiple customers and grew significantly. His first summer resulted very profitable.

When school started it proved more difficult to maintain the same schedule, so Todd used his earnings to buy 2 more lawn mowers and hire his brother and a friend to help him out on the weekends. The next spring and summer business began to grow more rapidly once again and Todd worked as much as time permitted. When he found himself unable to keep up with demand he would get a new lawn mower and hire a new employee.

With time, Todd found himself with a considerable amount of clients and employees, and he saw an opportunity to broaden his services. He began to offer general landscape management services. It was a simple increase to trimming shrubs, trees, and weeding gardens. With this increase he was able to find more clientele and charge more with relatively low increase in assets. He purchased a few trimmers but nothing else. Overall, Todd was very profitable in the few years he worked.

When he had reached the 19 years old he sold his equipment and business to his younger brother and used his accumulated earnings to serve a church mission. It general this is an impressive demonstration of entrepreneurship that helped him financially and gave him valuable experience.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

Todd got this idea through his doing chores. Each Saturday his parents made him mow the lawn. One day while working he thought to himself, “I should get paid to do this.” This inspired him to ask his neighbor if he could mow their lawn for only $5. His neighbor agreed and the process was progressive. He continued to ask close neighbors, and with references from current clients, he created his own lawn service business.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

The biggest challenge that Todd faced was that of competition. Whether from some other lawn care service, or from the client who wanted to the do the job themselves, he was able to overcome the challenge in two ways. He would either prove through a free first trial his quality and timeliness, or he would make mention that his earnings would be benefiting his college and mission savings funds. Usually when a client saw the quality, and/or knew that the money was going to a good cause, they would give in and try out Todd’s lawn care service.

All other challenges such as lack of time or assets were easily resolved by either hiring employees or buying more equipment.

What I learned:

To start a business requires desire, dedication, and creativity. Also, it doesn’t require a lot of resources to start a business. Todd started off with the family lawn mower and a little initiative. There are business opportunities all over using things that we normally take for granted. Todd learned first learned the importance of quality performance. Later, as his business grew, he learned both responsibility as well as management skills. He was responsible of ensuring the quality of his employees and the timeliness of their work. Finally, Todd learned communication skills. Much of business depends on your ability to sell a product. Todd learned that he was selling more than his lawn services; he was selling himself. Plus this assisted in advertising. The best and cheapest way to advertise is word-of-mouth. Customers have more confidence and when they know friends who are already using the same service. Since, the customer had to trust and depend on him, friends helped. By learning and applying these attributes Todd ran a successful and prosperous business that may be a model for many others.

Lawn aeration

Description:

Lawn aeration is the removal of small soil plugs or cores out of the lawn. Core aeration recommended for lawns that have compacted or regularly used turf. Heavy play, sports activities, pets, and vehicle traffic can all cause a lawn to be compacted, reducing pore space within soil that normally holds the needed oxygen to grow and absorb nutrients and water. If compaction exits, poor top growth and lawn deterioration often result.

A mechanical aerator can be rented for a period of time from a local lawn care or machinery rental location for a relatively small price. The idea for the job is to go around your neighborhood and offer to aerate their lawn for a given price. Most of your neighbors will know what aeration is and its importance, meaning they will be happy to pay for the service. A great price that has proven to be acceptable is $50 per lawn aeration, and after just a few lawns, the rental of the mechanical aerator will be paid off and the opportunity of a very modest profit exists, pending on how many lawns you are willing to aerate. Exact instructions and a more complete description on lawn aeration can be found at this website: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/turf/430-002/430-002.html

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I had a youth adviser at church who was very good at efficiently saving and earning money. He suggested the idea of aeration to me because of the great amount of success he had with it in the past. He said the process is just as easy if not easier than mowing a lawn (because grass is not needed to be dumped), and the possibility of a very large profit is very real because simply going lawn to lawn is such an efficient process and low time-consuming profit. Doing aeration at $50 a lawn, my advisor earned hundreds of dollars in just a matter of days.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

I faced relatively no challenges finding information on aeration and how to aerate a lawn. The only challenge of the job is the physical labor, but any fit teenager can literally aerate dozens of laws in a day and earn a very good profit.

What I learned:

I learned that many people know of aeration but do not know how/do not want to rent an aerator. If a nice teenager they know from the neighborhood knocks on their door explaining the importance of aeration and offers to aerate their lawn at that very moment for a price, the person will almost always oblige. With just a little planning, a rental of a mechanical aerator, and a few Saturdays out of the month, a teenager has an opportunity to make a hefty amount of cash!

Lawn Aeration

Description:

Lawn aeration is the removal of small soil plugs or cores out of the lawn. Core aeration recommended for lawns that have compacted or regularly used turf. Heavy play, sports activities, pets, and vehicle traffic can all cause a lawn to be compacted, reducing pore space within soil that normally holds the needed oxygen to grow and absorb nutrients and water. If compaction exits, poor top growth and lawn deterioration often result.

A mechanical aerator can be rented for a period of time from a local lawn care or machinery rental location for a relatively small price. The idea for the job is to go around your neighborhood and offer to aerate their lawn for a given price. Most of your neighbors will know what aeration is and its importance, meaning they will be happy to pay for the service. A great price that has proven to be acceptable is $50 per lawn aeration, and after just a few lawns, the rental of the mechanical aerator will be paid off and the opportunity of a very modest profit exists, pending on how many lawns you are willing to aerate. Exact instructions and a more complete description on lawn aeration can be found at this website: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/turf/430-002/430-002.html

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I had a youth adviser at church who was very good at efficiently saving and earning money. He suggested the idea of aeration to me because of the great amount of success he had with it in the past. He said the process is just as easy if not easier than mowing a lawn (because grass is not needed to be dumped), and the possibility of a very large profit is very real because simply going lawn to lawn is such an efficient process and low time-consuming profit. Doing aeration at $50 a lawn, my advisor earned hundreds of dollars in just a matter of days.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

I faced relatively no challenges finding information on aeration and how to aerate a lawn. The only challenge of the job is the physical labor, but any fit teenager can literally aerate dozens of laws in a day and earn a very good profit.

What I learned:

I learned that many people know of aeration but do not know how/do not want to rent an aerator. If a nice teenager they know from the neighborhood knocks on their door explaining the importance of aeration and offers to aerate their lawn at that very moment for a price, the person will almost always oblige. With just a little planning, a rental of a mechanical aerator, and a few Saturdays out of the month, a teenager has an opportunity to make a hefty amount of cash!

Lawn Care Provider

Description:

My close friend John, after working for several lawn care companies, decided to open his own business. As his employee, we mowed grass; weed whipped, hard edged, weeded, sprayed fungicides, insecticides, pruned trees and bushes, and installed sprinkler systems. Each week, we approached the customers and asked if they were satisfied with our service. Each month, he provided each customer with a bill for our services. Due to our excellent work, many clients referred the business to their friends and the business expanded.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

Both John and I had worked in the lawn care industry for a while and gleaned knowledge from our previous experiences. We gathered the strengths and weaknesses of each company we worked for to make an appropriate business plan with set objectives. There are several people who would rather hire others to provide lawn care and he capitalized on this fact. He marketed his business by creating a mass mail-out targeted to the affluent neighborhoods in the surrounding area. Twenty five customers responded the first year and it took off from there.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

With any company, there are associated costs. John had to purchase a truck, a trailer to place his equipment in, an expensive riding lawn mower, a push mower, weed whips, a hard edger, a leaf blower, shovels, rakes, a chainsaw, pruning equipment, sprinkler supplies, and a storage unit. These start up costs were monumental, but he was able to pay off all of his debts with the money he earned the first year. He had to deal with difficult customers who are never satisfied and made mistakes that caused him to lose customers, etc. He rose above these hardships, continued to work hard, and realized that most of his customers were extremely satisfied. He learned to focus on the positive and realize that he performed to the best of his abilities. His profits were much larger than he initially expected and he capitalized off a wonderful idea. John constantly tells people to follow their dreams. His most important caution however is to be well educated before making any serious decisions about beginning a business. If you are well informed, have good ideas, and an excellent work ethic, you can do anything.

What I learned:

John learned a great deal about business from this experience. He formed a corporation, he learned how to save money through tax cuts and write offs associated with corporations, he learned the value of word of mouth and advertising, he improved upon his customer service skills, and learned that he could have fun doing the job that he loved to do. John is an excellent example of a man with a plan and with dreams. He learned to follow his dreams, they brought him great success.

Lawn care service

Description:

As a teenager, I worked with my younger brother for about four years with our own lawn care service. We provided all types of lawn care but focused on mowing lawns, trimming hedges and weed-eating. At our high-point we had about 15 different lawns that we managed. Most were in one specific neighborhood where we spent most of our time but we found work wherever we went. We owned two mowers, a trimmer, blower and weed-eater. We used a truck to haul all the equipment around and usually did two or three lawns each day. We charged on average $35-$40 per lawn and could finish one in little under an hour. This meant we each made about $15-$20 an hour, more than sufficient for our needs.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I had been taking care of my family’s lawn for a few years when a family friend asked if I would mow his lawn. I told him I’d do it for only $5 (big mistake). After I did that for a few weeks I realized people were willing to pay me a lot more than only $5. Neighbors would stop me while I was working and ask if I would be interested in doing their lawn too. I talked to my little brother and we agreed it would be a good job for us to maintain. We made some flyers and distributed them in a few separate neighborhoods we had picked out and the calls started coming in.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

At first my brother and I didn’t really have money to buy our own equipment so we used our family’s lawn mower. After we had enough money we bought our own. Honestly, another challenge we had was laziness. Mowing a lawn in the Texas summer heat really isn’t that enjoyable. Maybe that’s the reason you can make good money doing it, people would rather pay than suffer. Another challenge we saw was publicity. We didn’t know how we would grow our little business. As previously mentioned, we passed around flyers which helped a lot and word of mouth from our customers brought us new business.

What I learned:

I can honestly say that from my business, I learned that it’s not difficult to make money with a little determination. We just decided what we wanted to do and stuck with it. I learned that with a little work you can reap a large reward. The money I earned helped me pay for some of my mission and part of college.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

As a teenager, I worked with my younger brother for about four years with our own lawn care service. We provided all types of lawn care but focused on mowing lawns, trimming hedges and weed-eating. At our high-point we had about 15 different lawns that we managed. Most were in one specific neighborhood where we spent most of our time but we found work wherever we went. We owned two mowers, a trimmer, blower and weed-eater. We used a truck to haul all the equipment around and usually did two or three lawns each day. We charged on average $35-$40 per lawn and could finish one in little under an hour. This meant we each made about $15-$20 an hour, more than sufficient for our needs.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I had been taking care of my family’s lawn for a few years when a family friend asked if I would mow his lawn. I told him I’d do it for only $5 (big mistake). After I did that for a few weeks I realized people were willing to pay me a lot more than only $5. Neighbors would stop me while I was working and ask if I would be interested in doing their lawn too. I talked to my little brother and we agreed it would be a good job for us to maintain. We made some flyers and distributed them in a few separate neighborhoods we had picked out and the calls started coming in.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

At first my brother and I didn’t really have money to buy our own equipment so we used our family’s lawn mower. After we had enough money we bought our own. Honestly, another challenge we had was laziness. Mowing a lawn in the Texas summer heat really isn’t that enjoyable. Maybe that’s the reason you can make good money doing it, people would rather pay than suffer. Another challenge we saw was publicity. We didn’t know how we would grow our little business. As previously mentioned, we passed around flyers which helped a lot and word of mouth from our customers brought us new business.

What I learned:

I can honestly say that from my business, I learned that it’s not difficult to make money with a little determination. We just decided what we wanted to do and stuck with it. I learned that with a little work you can reap a large reward. The money I earned helped me pay for some of my mission and part of college.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

This was primarily a lawn mowing/trimming job that I did for several summers during my early teenage years. I had several lawns around my town that I mowed either once or twice a week (depending on how often they wanted it mowed). For the most part, I would do this job by myself, but on occasion I would “hire” someone else to take over for a week or two whenever I was unavailable to mow. On some lawns, I used my own mower, and on some I used the homeowners’ own mower, depending on their preference. I found that the longer I serviced a certain customer the amount of compensation that I received generally would increase. I would generally charge people a different price depending on how large or small their lawn was, which I gave them in a “quote” when I would begin the job.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

Frankly, I got this idea because I was forced to mow my own yard, and I always thought that I should have gotten paid for it. Then the bright idea came to me that I could be paid for it, if I was mowing other people’s yards. I started off by making flyers, and going door to door first around my neighborhood, then throughout town (I grew up in a small town), and as I would talk to people I would leave them a “quote” of sorts giving them an estimation of the amount I would charge per job. Some people accepted right there on the doorstep, most didn’t. I found that the greatest success was found in neighborhoods containing elderly persons, especially when I would go out in early spring before they would already have hired other people to mow their lawns for them already.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

At first I did not have much success in finding too many customers. Over time though, I found that if I would start off with a lower price in my quote, I could generally get more customers. Then over time (usually sooner than later), they would on their own offer to pay me more for the job. This at first caused some heart-ache, as it seemed the job I was doing was not worth the money I was receiving, but in the end this made the entire venture much more profitable as I had a larger quantity of jobs yielding profit much greater than I could have done beforehand.

What I learned:

I think the greatest lesson I learned from mowing lawns during those long, hot summers, was organization and communication. I had to keep all the customers’ names and numbers straight (I think being personal is very important), and simply being able to communicate with customers to relay the information that I need to can be very challenging for most teenagers. I was no different, although I believe this helped me gain the confidence in personal communication that I can carry with me throughout my life.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

At age 12, I began my own lawn care service. I put an ad in the newspaper with my contact information and the services that I would provide. I provided lawn mowing, trimming, weeding, and general clean up of yards. One of the keys to getting my first few customers was that I also advertised a promotion of the first week of service being free. I didn’t have any other employees that employed my first few years but, over time, I employed both my brothers and several of my friends. My business grew from originally only mowing 5 lawns by myself and making about $800 a summer to mowing over 40 lawns with several employees, owning 8 lawn mowers, 3 trimmers, and a trailer, and earning about $8000 a summer.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

When I was 12, my dad suggested that I find some kind of summer job to do that would keep my busy and that would help earn me enough money during the summer that I would not have to work during school. He gave me a few ideas that I could try and I decided to pursue lawn mowing, mostly because I was too young to get a job working for someone else and because my dad was willing to help drive me around and provide the lawn mower.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

I faced several different challenges in starting my business. One was that I really had no idea of what prices to charge people. When I first began giving estimates, I charged way too low. Over several years, I learned from experience how much I should charge people. I would recommend that anyone starting their own lawn business talk to someone else in the business and find out about what the market price is for different size lawns. I also faced challenges of a growing business like getting new equipment, learning to write bills, paying for expenses and so on. My parents helped me out with some of the financial things necessary to get started like my first mower and trimmer and driving me around but I paid most expenses from my income and bought several new lawn mowers and other equipment like a trailer from my own money as well.

What I learned:

I learned a lot of things from my experience. The business is still going strong in my family today. My little brother is still running it and we’ve had over 40 customers before. I think some of the key things that I learned was how to take responsibility and get things done on time and done well. I also learned how to work with people and how to handle complaints. I learned how to manage money. It was a great experience and one that I would recommend to anyone!

Lawn Care Service

Description:

During the summer while I was in high school, I ran a lawn care service in my neighborhood. I worked providing lawn care every Saturday during the summer months. Services included were mowing, edging, and disposing of clippings. I provided my own lawn mower and clippers, and charged around $10 per lawn, depending on its size. I used to share this job with my brother, but when he quit for a different job I found that the time I spent working only slightly increased, while my income doubled since I didn’t have to split it with him. This may be because I mostly did small quick jobs; perhaps for bigger jobs it would be more efficient to have multiple workers.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

My older brother was the one who started this business, and I took over when he left for college. When he was in 9th grade, was looking for a way to earn money for marching band. The first thing he did was think of what services people in our neighborhood needed. There were many elderly people in my neighborhood, which would probably benefit from paying someone to do manual labor and yard work for them. He then decided which services he wanted to provide, which was mowing and edging. Next, my brother did some research on similar lawn care businesses in the area, and set a competitive price. He then went from door to door in our neighborhood, advertising and passing out fliers.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

One thing that was a challenge for my brother was trying to decide which services to provide. He considered continuing service into the fall and raking leaves, but decided that that time would be better spent focusing on school. He decided to keep the services limited to mowing and edging. By doing both the customer could feel like he did a complete job, and by keeping it limited he had more time to accommodate more customers. One thing that was challenging for me was trying to stick to a schedule and still being able to go on family vacations during the summer. I had to figure out what I would do about days I would be out of town when I was scheduled to work. To solve this problem, I talked to customers ahead of time to see if altering the schedule would work for them. If for some reason that wouldn’t work, I had a reliable friend that knew how to do the job take over for me. I didn't get any income when that happened, but the customer knew that they could depend on someone being there to take care of their lawn.

What I learned:

From this experience I learned that you can take an idea and make it a reality. If you have an idea you can succeed through hard work and persistence. It helps to do some research as well. You may have to try a few different methods before you find something that works, but you can learn something from every attempt that doesn’t work out. This job also helped me learn to be more responsible. I learned that it is important to provide good quality service, so you can keep your customers and they will refer you to others. I also learned the importance of keeping commitments, and that working hard will bring a feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

Very basically, mowing lawns is the idea. You start off with a basic lawnmower and trimmer/edger (parental help and initial investment may be needed). You go around the neighborhood and ask to mow people’s lawns and ask for referrals. You obviously start small, but you take on as many accounts as you have time for. If you want to increase the business, you hire on buddies that you know and upgrade equipment. You don’t take on more lawns than you think you can handle because you want to make sure that you can do quality work and keep your customers. Also, you can add other services such as trimming bushes, weeding gardens, and other small things that add to your pay.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I had many friends who did this job. In Michigan, the grass most often grows very quickly. So, there were many lawns to be mowed. I actually worked for a guy who started in his teen years with very little experience and resources. He slowly built his company, hiring on many friends. Today, he operates the same company he started as a teenager. He has many loyal customers and only works through referrals. He also only hires through referrals, making it easier to find loyal employees.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

Some of the challenges that my friends and boss faced was vacation time. If you are the only employee, or one of only a few, you cannot take a week-long vacation in the summer. You basically have to sacrifice your summer vacation for the job. You also have to find help during the school months that the grass is still growing, because you don’t have enough time to do school and mow all the lawns. You also run the risk of having a dry summer and not getting as much business as you may desire. You can’t really overcome the weather issue; you have no control over that. You can tell people to water their lawns when it is dry, and that might help. To overcome the issue of the school year, ask siblings or your parents to help. You can also temporarily hire help for weekends, and get all your lawns done in one or two days.

What I learned:

Referrals are key to a successful business. My boss never had to advertise, which eliminated one of the major costs of owning a business. I learned also that you don’t have to do something new and bold to be an entrepreneur. He recognized a need, and chose to take advantage of it!

Lawn Care Service

Description:

I started a Lawn Care business with a friend of mine when I was 14 years old, and ran the business every summer until I was 18 years old. We provided basic lawn care services for people in our neighborhood and around the community, including mowing, trimming, and edging sidewalks. Originally we had other services such as weeding and landscaping, but as the business expanded we got rid of those services. After a few years of running the business and becoming pretty proficient at lawn care, we started to hire on more employees under us. We also started charging more money for our services, since we were no longer novices. After a while, we had a fairly large business, with over 50 customers and several people working under us.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

We just knew several people around the neighborhood that would be willing to pay for lawn care, and we knew some older college students that had made a lot of money so we decided to pursue this business venture. I was looking to get some kind of job at the time, and I had a couple of options lined up. Most of the other jobs I was looking at though were fairly low paying employment jobs, such as a cashier/bagger at a grocery store. I decided that being and entrepreneur would be a good experience for me, and I knew that even though it was a lot of work, I could make much more money doing that than I could at a dead-end minimum wage job like McDonald’s. So we wrote up our business plan, decided how much to charge, bought our equipment, and then went knocking door to door passing out flyers in our neighborhood to get new customers.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

There were plenty of challenges at the start, one of the biggest ones being finding new customers. We needed a lot of customers so we could have a steady flow of income to pay off all the equipment as well as other expenditures like gas and supplies. One fantastic way of finding new customers (and this applies to almost any job) is to run some kind of referral program for your current customers. We offered one free week of service to our customers for any friends or family members that they referred to us for business. This was an extremely successful way to get new business. After a while we had to discontinue that offer because the business was growing faster than we could manage. Once our business was established, the only other problem we had was time management. We needed to be very efficient in order to be able to quickly and efficiently service all of our customers. We quickly learned how to save gas, how to mow a lawn in the shortest amount of time, and how to arrange our tools and equipment in the trailer to make loading/unloading extremely fast. After a while, we were able to whip out a lawn in 20 minutes or less and charge the customer 30 to 40 dollars for our work. That’s around a hundred dollars an hour – not bad for a teenage kid.

What I learned:

The biggest things I learned were hard work, discipline, and how to manage a business and myself. I began to be much more efficient with my time and energy, not just in the business but in school and other areas of my life. Running my own business definitely made me a more responsible and independent individual.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

The services provided were a full lawn care service for people in the neighborhood. Hedges were clipped, fronds were taken from the palm trees, the lawn was mowed, and even pressure cleaning of the drive way at appropriate intervals. There were no other people employed for the services. Other responsibilities aside from the weekly mowing included fixing of any problems with the yard during the week not on the full service days, one of the clients is frequently on business trips so newspapers and mail was also taken into the home.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

Word of mouth served as the means to getting the job. There are many able teenagers in the neighborhood, but the main reason that this person was able to start this lawn care business was because he was known as a reliable person that would fulfill his responsibility. He was able to do this because he had a reputation of mowing his family’s lawn every Saturday without fail. After seeing him each week neighbors started wanting to him mow their lawn and after seeing the business opportunity he went ahead with it. The greatest thing was show people you’re reliable and when you see an opportunity to go after it with ambition and smarts.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

One challenge was that due to business trips of the neighbors he was not regularly paid. This made him budget his costs to be able to be sure to have enough money just in case he wasn’t paid when he was expecting. He kept his books up to date and saved most of his money because of it. The other problem was self- discipline. He had to budget his time and classes and practices and discipline himself because the clients weren’t always there to check up and see if he was actually taking care of the yard. Advice for overcoming challenges is you must be self-motivated to do your work and like it.

What I learned:

First off he learned how to be more independent and realized that if you plan you can accomplish a lot, he learned more about the importance of social skills as he had to create relationships with adults and talk with them, good work ethic was learned as he motivated himself and was honest in fulfilling his duties, and finally he learned that after working and doing a job that a feeling of fulfillment comes for having worked for yourself.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

As a young teenager I didn’t have a lot of time to work because I was involved with sports so I decided to take some jobs mowing and taking care of peoples lawns. Once a week I would go to the houses of the people that I worked for and edged along the sidewalks, mowed the grass then bagged and cleaned up the grass clippings. This job was ideal for me because I was self employed and had the flexibility of working at my own convenience. The number of lawns that I took care of was small enough that I could manage them on my own so that I didn’t have to employ anyone else. Each job had a set payment rather than an hourly wage so that I got paid for getting the job done rather than for how long it took me. This was an advantage because the more efficiently I worked the more money I made in less amount of time. I was able to make good money in just a few short hours a week.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

Each of my older brothers had done lawn care when they were teenagers. They, along with my parents suggested that it would be a great opportunity for me to make some good money. When I chose to do the same kind of work it was easy because we already had all of the equipment. My parents also suggested that they would be willing to support me with rides until I got my drivers license. Finding lawns to mow was also easy because I took over the clientele my older brother had been working for because he was starting a new job.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

The biggest challenge I faced with this job was being self motivated to work. As a teenager I was more interested in sports, friends and girls and it didn’t always seem fun to go mow lawns. It was easy for me to overcome this challenge because I had made a commitment and I had a responsibility to make sure these people’s yards looked nice. There were a few weeks that I missed and didn’t get the job done which resulted in not being paid. I learned from that that it is up to me to make sure things get done or I can’t make money and be successful.

What I learned:

There were several valuable things that I learned from my experience of doing lawn care. I learned discipline by taking time to work rather than hanging out with my friends. I learned responsibility and commitment to those that I provided this service for. I also learned to take pride in my work, to do a good job and do it right. I learned there is satisfaction in doing good work rather than giving a partial effort. It was extremely valuable to work for myself, to be able to gain the experience of being in charge of deciding what gets to be done rather than being told what to do. Being able to work and have money for the things that I wanted and needed was very rewarding and a great advantage to learn when I was young.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

I was responsible for the care of 15-20 lawns of customers in and around my home town in Texas. I stuck strictly to taking care of the lawns themselves even though I was approached for addition job opportunities by customers. My objective was to be the best lawn service the customers have ever had, thus supplying me with future work and a good reputation for possible growth. I had up to two employees working for me during the summer months. Prior to the lawn cutting season I gave out business cards to current customers as well as to selected neighborhoods.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

When I was around twelve years old, my dad started to train me on lawn equipment (which he bought and we already had) so I could help him with our yard. Eventually a few neighbors saw my work (either they were older or really busy) and asked if I could do their lawns as well. This went on for a few years until I bought a small truck so I could expand my small lawns service. Eventually I had to acquire another lawn mower and additional equipment to be effective and work independently of my dad. During high school this job usually only took up my Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings to late afternoons. I quickly realized that I could make more money in a less amount of time than a minimum wage job, this got me hooked.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

In the early stages of my job, I had my dad drop me off and pick me up afterwards. Problems arose when equipment broke or I had forgotten to bring extra gas. I did not have a car or a phone which hindered communication and work progress. Eventually both of these problems were solved and proved to be a crucial necessity in conducting effective business. Another major challenge was going on vacation and making sure the lawns were taken care of. To cope with this situation I found a friend who I thought I could trust and brought him along with me to get familiar with the jobs I had and what the customers wanted. When I left for a week or two vacation everything was in place for my friend to be my substitute. In this type of a service the weather can be difficult to deal with as well. Rain would often slow work down hindering the equipment because of mud and wet grass, but more importantly the lawns would not look as nice. I either shifted my schedule and asked the customer when they would like the lawn done, or in some instances had to just work in the rain.

What I learned:

Now I know exactly what I need to do to start a similar successful business. I need to know the customers and what they want. I also need to perform the best I can(better than the average Joe) on every job. This pays off when I don’t have to try very hard to get happy new customers. People really want someone they can depend on and not have to worry about, so in a way I need to prove my reliability to each customer. I have learned personal independence, responsibility, financial management and people skills. The things I have learned from my lawn service can and have helped me in many aspects of my life.

Lawn Care Service

Description:

My cousin and I one summer began a Lawn Care Service. Our primary way of Advertising was to pass out flyers door to door with our names, pictures, numbers, and a brief description of our services. We soon had about twenty different lawns to take care of. We charged fifteen to twenty dollars per average lawn. So we easily made four hundred bucks every two weeks. We had one other partner to split the money with, and when we couldn't mow the lawns we'd hire my cousin's little brother to do it for us.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

My dad is an entrepreneur and encourage us to do it. Also, My cousin Eric was a main driving force for our business.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

I was extremely lazy and did not care whether the business succeeded or not. My cousin Eric helped me out by bringing me with him to help mow the lawns and work the jobs.

What I learned:

I learned that nothing can replace hard work. Also I learned the value of rewarding yourself, for at the end of the summer, my cousin Eric and I took a trip to Canada with the earnings we made over the summer. We had a great time and made memories not possible without having worked during the summer.

Lawn Care Services

Description:

When I was in High School, I started a lawn care business. It started out as a simple service, using my dads mower and mowing my neighbors lawns. After saving up a lot of the money I made doing my neighbors lawns I began to venture out. I made fliers and business cards and I got a lot of referrals from my neighbors who already trusted me. When I began to get more business, I was in need of a trailer for my mower, I also bought a better, more efficient mower. It got to the point where I needed help, so I hired five of my friends to help me with the job. The key to my success was saving the money I made and not spending it on stupid things.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I just needed a little extra money and something to do during the summer, and it seemed like a simple, easy idea.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

The biggest challenge was transportation when my business began to grow. I had to save for a few weeks to make enough money to buy a trailer…(although part of it was an interest free loan from my dad!)

What I learned:

I learned that it is very important to focus on what your objective is. I easily could have just continued to mow my neighbors lawns and not ventured out more. If I hadn’t saved money I wouldn’t have been able to venture, but because I had the funds, I made cards and did other things to get my name out there.

Lawn Care Services

Description:

This was a lawn care service provided by my friend Chris. He cut lawns, trimmed hedges and bushes, and weeded if necessary. Occasionally when he had a big project ahead of him, or when he had more business than usual, he would temporarily hire someone, usually a friend (me in some cases) to help him get done quicker. In return, he gave them a cut of the money he earned. He provided all the advertising, which was usually word of mouth or flyers with his number and name of business which was Grass Cuts. Very original, I know. This all started with him wanting some extra cash, so he decided he’d offer to cut his neighborhood’s grass. He asked them to refer his company to their friends, and so on. This led him to a small business that provided him with the money he needed. The school even hired him to organize the homecoming parade and other events at the school because of his leadership and organization skills.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

My friend Chris did not go into very much detail on how he got the idea for his company, just that he knew he needed money and he had a basic skill of cutting grass. Knowing not everyone is good at, or more appropriately likes to cut grass, he decided to make a business out of cutting grass and charging them a reasonable amount that they would be willing to pay not to have to do this themselves. He added extra to the cost of those who had bushes or shrubs to trim or weeds to be pulled. I actually made a decent amount of money working one job for a customer who just liked him a lot and was willing to pay more than he asked for his services. Having the customers like you is a vital part of having a small business and the main things Chris had going for him was that he was a hard worker and he was very likable.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

Chris knew he was good at cutting lawns, and already had the truck to transport the equipment, but he knew he needed additional equipment to be able to do a job that would not only satisfy, but impress his customers. He definitely did not have the cash to go out and buy new equipment before he started his business, but lucky for him he had a father who would loan him the money for new equipment for a certain period of time until he made enough money to pay him back. Even for a high school student, this was a big investment which left him with little choice but to succeed and work hard to earn back his initial investment. But after only a few weeks and a lot of sweat, he had earned back his investment and was working on his profit. He also had no customers when starting his business. Rather than pay other large amounts advertising, he decided to start going door to door to his neighbors who already knew him and offering his service. When they accepted, he did the best job he could, and then asked for referrals of their friends who he could cut their grass as well. Pretty soon, he had a very impressive customer list and was hiring people to help him on almost a weekly basis. After that, he had a pretty solid business which earned him a steady income every summer until he moved away to college.

What I learned:

I learned a valuable lesson from Chris’ business. Even though it was a small business, he showed that with hard work and perseverance you can be successful. I’m sure this will apply to all the jobs and endeavors he will attempt in his life. It also allowed him to see the power of word of mouth advertising in a company, and how valuable it is to have the customer’s trust. The attitude Chris had about his company leads me to believe that he will run his own business some day, and some day soon. I also got to see first hand how much profit I could get with a small amount of planning and effort that I’m willing to put forth. I’ve since done few small jobs with friends for people, earning a small amount each time. It may not be a striving productive business, but hopefully it will prepare me for one.

Lawn Care/ Landscaping

Description:

Your own company where you mow lawns, airate, blow out sprinkler systems, landscaping, etc during the spring and summer months. This is a job where you can set your own hours, work as much or little as possible, and get paid really good money. Average lawn costs are $20-30 which can only take an hour to do. The more lawns you can get the more money you will make.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

I have a friend named Rob Floto who was very successful in high school. He always seemed to have extra money and lots in savings. The way he became so successful was by starting his own lawn care company. Every year he would get more and more lawns and more and more clients. By the time we graduated from high school his business had increased tremendously. He has and is very successful due to his ability to look for more opportunities to gain more clients for example, by blowing out sprinkler systems before winter time. This is a very fast but profitable task that everyone needs during these months. Currently, his business is still growing and Rob is making around $40,000 in during the spring to fall seasons.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

The challenging aspects of this job are getting started. Once you get some cliental things start building very rapidly. To overcome this problem, it’s important to start before the need is at hand. For example, going around neighborhoods a few months before people’s lawns start growing getting their business

What I learned:

I learned from talking to my friend Rob that he has had a great experience with his small business. Thanks to his good decisions he has been able to be very successful and his business has grown. He has the experience now to be a successful business man and has the savings to continue his education.

Lawn Mowing Business

Description:

Description: My friend Derek Pando started a lawn mowing business when he was in his teenage years. He told me that he made over $4000 over the summer and it was very successful and fun for him to run his own business. It consisted of just mowing lawns without having other employees. He was busy all day every day as new callers wanted to make appointments.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

How I got the idea/ found the employment: His parents encouraged him to do something unique over the summer. His dad specifically encouraged him to start a lawnmowing business and it took off from there!

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them: It was hard work. He had to be the one to motivate himself to get up every morning and to make the phone calls necessary in order to get to where he wanted to be. Fortunately a lot of will power was key, also, keeping the vision of his future goal in mind aided in his abilities to succeed.

What I learned:

What I learned: He can start and maintain his own business. It was hard work, but a professionally conduct and persistence is key in keeping a business running.

lawn service

Description:

The company is known as “Lawn Sharks”. The slogan is “taking a bite out of lawn care.” The company is really simple and anyone with a lawn mower can do it. Lawn Sharks provides basic lawn care for individuals that don’t want to do it themselves. Rates and pricing is set on an individual basis depending on size of lawn, frequency of visits, and services provided.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

The idea came from my 14 year old cousin. He could not get a job anywhere and wanted to make some money. He had been doing the lawn care around his home for a couple years and decided that he could provide that service to other people in his neighborhood.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

The main challenge was building up cliental. He made business cards and flyers and went door to door advertising his company. After a few weeks he had a handful of clients. That number continued to grow through referrals until he had more work then he could handle.

What I learned:

The main lesson learned was that if you have experience in an area you can make money with it. You simply must draw up a business plan and put your expertise to work.

Lawn/Yard Care

Description:

The tasks that my friend and I did consisted of mowing the lawn, edging (with a weed eater) the lawn, pulling any weeds, trimming bushes and hedges, and making sure to clean up any messes made by sweeping or using a blower. This service only consisted of my friend and me, and we were of equal rank in the business. We would use my friend’s truck to haul my lawn mower, weed eater, blower, and other various tools to the houses we provided our services for.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

My cousin was performing the exact same service where he lived, and he invited me to come along with him once. It paid well and the jobs could be performed fairly quickly, and since lots of people have grass, bushes, or trees in their yards, it sounded like there’d be a pretty solid demand for such a service. 100% of our employment came through word of mouth. This way, there wasn’t any money spent on marketing and we were still plenty busy because everybody knows everybody where I’m from.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

At first, I wanted to do this service completely by myself so I wouldn’t have to split profits with anybody, but I didn’t have a way to haul my tools necessary for doing the services, so I asked my friend if he wanted in on this business and he accepted the invitation. Then we realized that we’d have to purchase fuel for the tools, fuel for the tool-hauling truck, and garbage bags to put grass, leaves and branches into. Whenever we needed money for these purchases, we’d just split the costs 50/50. If I was advising or mentoring another teen, I’d tell them to ask real estate agents if they needed yard care for houses they were selling, and chances are they’ll have quite a few.

What I learned:

I learned that a little bit of hard work on Saturdays could mean lots of money to invest, and that the money earned could build up to be quite a lot. I also learned that hard work would always pay off in the future. Lastly, I learned there is no finer feeling in the world than coming home dirty and sweaty with a fat wad of cash in your pocket.

lawn-care service

Description:

One summer, as a high school student, I decided to start a lawn care business in my neighborhood. I provided a limited number of services, including mowing and edging lawns and garden care. I did not have other employees working for me. Once or twice I paid a family member or friend to help me.

My responsibilities included contacting potential customers, establishing verbal contracts with them, discussing the dates of employment and their desired type of law-care service, and negotiating prices.

I contacted potential customers initially by writing a letter of introduction and intent. I sent this letter to about 100 neighbors, whose information I got from a neighborhood directory to make it more personal. The letter was simple. It went something like this: “I am your neighbor and a high school student. My name is ___ and I live at ___. I am involved in ___ organization and ___ team. When I get older I want to be a ___. I will be available this summer to maintain your lawns while you are on vacation or if you don’t like doing yard work. I like doing yard work, and have done it in our home since I was in middle school. Depending on the size of your lawn, I intend on charging $___, which is less expensive than commercial lawn-care service companies. I am also willing to negotiate. I offer mowing, edging, weeding, gardening, and watering, and I am open to other tasks. Please call me if you are interested. My phone number is ___.” Instead of spending money on stamps, I hand-delivered these.

Usually people contacted me over the phone. Some people called when they were going out of town, and some people wanted regular service. When they had interest, I visited their house and let them show me around their yard. (One lady had very specific gardening requests that she liked to explain to me very explicitly. She took great care of her garden.) Once a verbal contract was reached, I performed the requested service.

I had to purchase lawn equipment supplies (my father let me use lawn equipment he had previously purchased for our family’s use), maintain the lawn equipment, and purchase gasoline. Since all of the customers lived in our neighborhood, I did not purchase a trailer. Instead, I walked.

When I completed the service, I visited with the customer to discuss their satisfaction. If dissatisfied, I worked to settle any complaints by catering to their desires. If they wanted something done differently, I was willing to do it. Finally, I collected payment when the customer returned home from work or vacation and discussed my next assignment or any people they could refer to me.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

My father always had my siblings and I do yard work with him on Saturdays, and my mother, when I was younger, had us clean the inside of the home with her on Saturdays as well. So I am very familiar with house work and yard work.

I also like yard work. I find pleasure in it. When my older sister married, I took up a number of projects in our family’s house and yard to prepare an open house held in our home. I love working, planting, and maintaining a beautiful yard.

The idea initially, I think, came from some older boys in my Church who were doing the same thing in their neighborhoods a few years previous. However, they did so on a larger scale, and bought personal lawn equipment and a trailer. They had many more customers than I did, and more time, I think.

I also saw my sisters making good money babysitting the children of neighbors and family friends. A lawn-care service was an appropriate equivalent for that, I thought. It’s untaxed income.

I liked the fact that I could decide my hours and my work load. I liked the fact that I could listen to music while working. I was making much more money than I would at a regular job, too. Lifeguarding, I would have been earning $7/hour or so, but when mowing lawns, I earned at least $20/hour.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

I did face a few challenges. One was scheduling. During the summer I was on a swim team that practiced every day. Also, I was doing an internship sponsored by the community in my county’s local government office. So, even though I could choose my own hours, sometimes I felt crunched for time. But most of the time I liked that. When I had too much work to handle, I called a friend (because everyone wants to make money, and it’s good money for a teenager!) or asked my family to help.

Another challenge was, at times, not feeling like I had enough customers. I wanted to work more, but people weren’t calling. I didn’t do much about it then, but if I were doing this business now, I would do a lot about it. I would send out another batch of letters to another 100 people. I would expand my services to pet care and send a notice about that. I would more actively seek referrals by simply asking: “Who of your neighbors or friends are going on vacation this summer? May I contact them and offer my lawn-care service?” I would strive to do a better job at my current customers’ houses—and even do a little extra that they could notice and about which they could be impressed.

Sometimes I was tired, but it was great exercise. I loved being in the sun, working hard.

What I learned:

I learned that all it takes to gain respect is a little bit of hard work and honest employment. A few of my parents’ neighbors when they get together continue to comment on my business and continue to ask about me. I can improve in a lot of ways. I can work harder. I can be more honest in my dealings with others. I can be more prompt. But I learned that I can earn respect by making an honest effort to accomplish good goals.

I learned how to do some tasks like edging and taking care of specific types of plants that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. I learned how to find people with interest in a service and how to contact them over the phone and in person.

I also gained a certain amount of self-respect and confidence. I learned that I am capable of starting things and continuing them. I am capable of keeping my part of a contract. I am capable of supporting myself and earning and honest living. In fact, I learned that I like doing all of these things.

Lawn-mowing & aerating

Description:

Aerated, mowed, and trimmed weeds. It was basically a lawn-mowing business.

How I got the idea / found the employment:

A friend of mine came up to me one day and asked if I'd like to start a lawn-mowing company with him. After talking about it, it required very little capital for us (the aerator was rented for $50 for one day after that it was basically gas prices that cost us the most). I thought it to be a great idea, so I agreed.

Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:

Our biggest challenge was advertising. We made and printed flyers, then went to neighborhoods with smaller-sized yards and went door-to-door dropping them off. That was really our only line of marketing. After a few phone calls, we began getting referrals which expanded our market share a bit.

The next challenge was scheduling. Because of school and school-related activities, we had to work around both of our schedules. We eventually got in touch with each other before the week, went over our schedules, then planned our work appointments accordingly, so we both could help each other out.

What I learned:

I think the biggest thing I learned out of it was the principle of just doing it. Before, I had though a lot about starting a business, however I never took the initiative. My friend, however, was willing and he helped motivate me to take action.

I also learned a lot of discipline. I gave up a lot of Saturdays and after-school time to maintain our business. It wasn�t always fun, but it was rewarding!

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