Franchising Jim's mowing franchise

As per Bob reduce travel time as whilst travelling you are not getting paid.

A young friend of my son's went out on his own and I wouldn't describe him as an Einstein. Started taking jobs everywhere but quickly worked out that he didn't want those outlying jobs and he was talking 3 suburbs over.

You mention 2 cars etc but you don't need them keep your costs down get a trailer and any old car can tow it. See how you go for a whole year+ and then you can see what you can really afford. Just get the basics firt up and then get the tools you need as you go along.

You can do it alone

 

Thats the best way to go. Worst case scenario you will have a good mower that will last you years for your own garden. You will be surprised how much work you pick up once you get going. I would recommend dropping in and talking to local PMs and dropping off a flyer with some sort of special.

 

You may also have a 2-4 month period over winter when things are really quiet.
In summer I will cut our grass every 10-14 days , over winter it blew out to once a month, sometimes I will do it after 6 weeks ,and its definitely not overgrown
When we had a lawnmower guy it was a constant struggle as he wanted to do it every 2 weeks over winter , and it clearly did not need it.
In the end I went back to doing it myself.

 

Why don't you buy your own equipment, put up ads every where.
Dont commit to long term stuff such as leases or purchases
And try on your own. If it doesn't work, you've lost very little except equipment costs which you can sell

 

My suggestion would be to make sure you have insurance in place first advertise at local shopping centre or community board and local paper. Letterbox drop the neighbours and then each house that you actually do. I know Jims suggest you offer to fertilise lawns and also offer to prune trees and hedges. If they grow faster and better you will have more work in the future.This is value adding. The less time travelling between jobs the more efficient you will be.

 

Thinking about it but will have to drop my hours where I am so take the risk of looking that job while I get more business coming in

 

Worse case I loose my current job to do that and then that fails and im screwed

 

Problems is trying to maintain a income while I start things up cos I'm the sole income earner. My wage ATM just pays the bills just.

 

Unfortunately that's the way reality is.

There is risk for going into busienss but the potential reward is great.

Youre always going to be on your hourly rate with your current boss no more,

Those that take a risk may fail, but also may get ahead as well

 

Thats thy I was thinking a franchise that gauntees work till I build up a client base.

 

Everybody - EVERYBODY - is doing it in Perth, it's an extremely competitive environment over there. If the economy gets worse in Melbourne you could find yourself in stiff competition with guys like yourself who have lost their jobs and bought franchises thinking they could make money.

 

A lawyer should check that guarantee, maybe they give you crappy jobs . After qualifying in horticulture, I bought a mowing run (about 20 clients) from the newspaper with mowers etc 5k .
I had no business training though which was a problem . gl

 

Melbs shouldn't suffer the same ice hangover that wa experienced so the market should be flooded with jim's

 

My current boss has government contracts and body corporate work so be hard to steal his work lol.
So mite start with 1 day a week end and see how it goes.
I already work with a ABN number and run a loss and profit statement for wages and expenses.
Mite get the wife to set up face book and see

 

go for it. You now have me keen to look at something on the side too

 

What a lot of guys do when they first start out is just hire certain things like trailers.
Someone like Kennards would probably not be the first choice, but find a smaller operator where you can hire by the month at a pretty good price.
A lot of these smaller operators will make their bread and butter by longer term hire to tradies and small business owners .Once you build up a clientele you can move forward . The other option is a LWB commercial van or a ute with a decent sized tray

 

I already have a 6x4 box trailer with a 2 foot cage.
I probably have enough stuff but it's cheap power blower and whipper snipper. So they be first things I upgrade then mower then Hedger.
Need to buy a chain saw tho.

 

I have a ve station wagon and if I have the bosses tandam trailer with the ride in the trailer I have to put the bosses whippersnipper in the car and if I'm on a pruning day I normally fill the trailer and the box at the front so all the tools end up in the back of my car lol.