Going self employed - advice needed please - Gardening

hunnie

Hello,
My elderly neighbour and I share a gardener for our front lawn which goes right across the front of our co-joined semis. (most other semis have their lawns divided down the middle between the two houses)


Our gardener comes once a fortnight. He cuts and edges the lawn only as my neighbour still likes to see to the borders.
We pay him £15 between us and he is here for about an hour.
If a garden is at all neglected/overgrown he would charge more for the initial visit to bring it back to some order.


He uses a petrol mower so it doesn't matter if we are in or not (except for him getting his payment there and then)
He puts all the cuttings in our green bins and so doesn't have to take away any waste from us.


Good luck with your venture!

Uxb

WHA wrote: »

A happy customer will recommend you to their friends, neighbours and family and will ask you back the next time they want some work doing.

No they won't recommend you to others - the smart ones won't anyway, the stupid will.

It works like this:
If you are good the very last thing your customer will want is for you to get more business - that way you will be less available to them and as a result of your success your prices will go up as you become more in demand.
So by making a recommendation about you they will loose out.

That is the way it works round here - if you have a good gardener, cleaner etc TELL NO ONE AT ALL about them EVER.

MuffinTops

I've just done a quick google search using the term "gardening forums" and there are lots available, so maybe join one of those too to get all the gardening advice you need too?

I don't agree with the secrecy of happy customers statement. Some people may not want other gardens looking as pristine as theirs, but those people are in the minority. Plus, you'll be outside working so if my neighbour was secretive about who you are, I'll find out for myself by approaching you when you're working on their garden.

Lastly, I'd say don't wait until you feel perfect. If you have the right personality, a decent skillset, will work hard and treat your customers right then you're ready. I'm close friends with a head gardener of a large public stately home. He loves his job and is still constantly expanding his knowledge.

As we are late in the gardening year I'd definitely recommend getting some hands on employment experience with gardening or a nursery. It all adds to your experience and confidence.

I'm sorry to hear about your office experience. I'm in the same boat at the moment so understand parts of how you're feeling right now.

Best of luck with it all and please keep us updated on your path. I'd love to hear how it's all going.

essjaytee

tomterm8 wrote: »

My advice is not to start up this business yet. Get a gardening job with someone elses company for a year, learn the trade and see what it's really like to work in the field.

You'll be surprised how much Gardening can suck in February...

totally agree with this....


My teenage son started an apprenticeship in gardening in April and so far has loved every minute of it but who knows how keen he will be come winter!!


He has mentioned that he would ideally love to be his own boss in a few years but for now he is happy to be earning a regular wage whilst learning his trade and also gaining a qualification.

lamb1102

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

I agree with everything else in your post, but just wanted to comment on this. Obviously rates of pay will vary massively depending where you are, but I don't think those rates are anywhere near realistic for basic tasks like mowing lawns and a bit of weeding and pruning. Where I live, even £10 an hour would be on the high side. Unfortunately this is unskilled, entry-level work - if the OP wants to earn more than this then they're going to need to widen their skillset.

As somebody has mentioned, anything below £10\hr and its just not viable.You would be pretty much on minimum wage after expenses and travelling/downtime. I have done this type of thing for extra money and charged around £12/15hr though I priced per job rather than hourly so sometimes it worked out a lot more and occasionally I ended up working for peanuts but you live and learn. This was in Yorkshire too where we are 'careful' with money.
You seem to have the right attitude so go for it, do some learning and research for confidence and get straight into it.Treat your clients with respect, turn up when you say you will, do what they ask not what you think is best but also do just a bit extra that they will notice. Always be thinking what could improve their garden and ask if theyd like you to do it, if you paint the picture with words theyll probably go for it but dont push it too much.You will soon know what folk would really like and whether they are willing to spend.Main thing is sell yourself , be friendly and go a bit further for good customers.

Best of luck and dont give up at the first setback because you know everbody has a setback

Newdirection

Great stuff. Well it is nice to come back and see some replies and great advice. Again thank you so very much and for the pm's with tips.

I have written down plans and ideas and have files and document son my pc saved and a point of reference so I am organised in planning and thoughts.

I have made a list of what I need to do before setting up thanks to some of the tips left on here.

Insurance
licences
company name and advertising
Telling HMRC I will be self employed

these are the main things I need in order to start up and its all go on the advertising, planning, working etc...

I just wondered if anyone has experience of what are the best ways to advertise for this line of business.

I will be leaving cards in newsagents and shops, flyers in pubs,shops etc and local ad papers.

Please anyone if you have other good placxes to gain work form if you could advise that would be great and I will add to my lists if it is not on there.

Thank you again and it really is nice to come to a forum where I can ask for advice and get it, I just hope I can return it one day to people on here myself.

Thank you.

Savvy_Sue

I found my new gardener because she's married to my tree surgeon (obviously I don't have a personal tree surgeon on call, but he's in my contact list and does a good job on the rare occasions he's done things for me!) I mentioned to my neighbour's son that we had given up the unequal struggle and hired one, and he asked for her number as his mum needs more help than her current chap can give (older chap, been doing it for years, starting to develop health problems).

If she starts gardening for my neighbour, then EVERYONE will hear about it, because my neighbour knows everyone and everything which goes on locally, and tells everyone who passes what they don't already know.

I'd also asked the builders who re-built our garden walls, because they do a lot of outside work and there's sometimes re-instatement needed. Their only contacts were too far away to want the work.

I'd phoned someone whose card came through the door, but he only wanted to cut grass and we need a bit more than that.

I've had other cards through the door, but for me, word of mouth is always the best way to go.

Now, that's difficult when you start out, so if you're going to leaflet, I'd make sure I regularly leafleted any gardens which appeared in particular need of my attention. :rotfl:

lamb1102

I advertised on Gumtree,VivaStreet and several other online things like free index. Church magazines are quite good and coffee morning type meeting places, in fact pretty much anywhere people gather and talk, you could take them a free plant with your details on the container and ask to put a card on the notice board. Don't rule out knocking on doors and introducing yourself when working in an area where there is potential for more business. Once you get thinking about it there are loads of ways to get yourself known.

tomterm8

Newdirection wrote: »

Thank you again and it really is nice to come to a forum where I can ask for advice and get it...

The best form of advertising is word of mouth, and being seen.
The second best form of advertising... knocking on doors with leaflets and special offers.
After that, it's probably "the others" which means church newsletters, shop windows, gumtree, local newspaper classified sections, and a host of similar ideas.

But, you'll build up your business fastest by knocking on doors...

Here's my last tip probably in this thread. Being a gardener is much more about human relationships than it is about cutting the lawn. Be nice to your clients. Become their friends. Listen to their moans, and have a nice cup of tea or coffee if you prefer. If you do that the clients are going to advertise your business to everyone, and you'll soon be turning down work.

There endeth the lesson.

Newdirection

tomterm8 wrote: »

The best form of advertising is word of mouth, and being seen.
The second best form of advertising... knocking on doors with leaflets and special offers.
After that, it's probably "the others" which means church newsletters, shop windows, gumtree, local newspaper classified sections, and a host of similar ideas.

But, you'll build up your business fastest by knocking on doors...

Here's my last tip probably in this thread. Being a gardener is much more about human relationships than it is about cutting the lawn. Be nice to your clients. Become their friends. Listen to their moans, and have a nice cup of tea or coffee if you prefer. If you do that the clients are going to advertise your business to everyone, and you'll soon be turning down work.

There endeth the lesson.

Thank you for the advice, I have noted alot down and your probably right in what you say. I have been delayed in starting but am about to get all my insurance and tools in and start to plan my attack on advertising. I really have thought long and hard about this change in job and after a life changing incident it really is somthing that gives me focus and somthing that excites me for the first time and also somthing I really want to do and will work ever so hard at.

Again thank you so so much to everyone whom has replied and to those that may reply again, thanks ever so much for your time and support, really nice to see.

Anyone out there that has experience or is good at this kind of thing please feel free to contact me I want to get as many ideas and views as possible. THANK YOU!