Running a Teen Lawn Care Business

Business Overview:

If you’ve spent your pre-teen years mowing lawns and pulling weeds for your parents and neighbors, you should consider running a teen lawn care business. Starting your own business means you could continue to service the lawns on your block and you could branch out and hire other teens to mow and groom lawns in the whole neighborhood. Mowing lawns, raking leaves and weeding gardens are chores that most homeowners would gladly pay someone else to do. If your lawn care services are high quality and your prices are reasonable, demand for your services could quickly increase to the point where you would need to concentrate only on managing your team and marketing your business. In the beginning, however, this business idea will only be successful if you distribute fliers around the neighborhood (telephone poles, doorknobs, etc.) and have your friends and family spread the word about your new business. You will likely be doing most of the work yourself at first so it’s important to prioritize your new business with any other obligations you have (school work, sports, etc.). However, once demand increases, you can step back from the hard work and concentrate on the business. Owning your own teen lawn care business can teach you valuable skills that will translate into life skills as you get older.

A Day in the Life of a Teen Lawn Care Business Owner:

This article brought to you by Business Ideas! If you enjoyed this article, make sure to subscribe to the Business Ideas Newsletter to get ideas sent straight to your email inbox.Your day will begin with a check of your appointments to see what lawns need to be serviced that day. You will load up your equipment (if using your own equipment) and head over to the job site. If you have a team of teens working for you, you will coordinate assignments with them and check in with them afterward to ensure the job was done properly. You will also check in periodically with your customers to see if the current level of service is satisfactory. Between jobs, you will spend some time distributing marketing materials around town.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be homeowners in need of high quality, reasonably priced lawn care services.

What You Need to Start:

• Marketing materials
• Lawn mower, rakes, garden gloves, etc. (You may be able to use some of your clients’ equipment, especially mowers)
• Transportation
• Lawn care staff (if desired)

The Good:

• Running your own business teaches valuable business skills.
• Owning your own business looks great on college applications.
• Start-up costs are minimal and you can charge enough for lawn care services to make a healthy profit.
• As demand for your services increases, you can hire a staff of teens to do the work for you.
• The majority of your customers will be repeat customers who will pay you regularly to care for their lawns and gardens.
• Working at a job that keeps you physically active is a great way to stay healthy.

The Bad:

• Lawn care is a seasonal business in some locations.
• The hours may be long and the conditions may be very hot.

Resources:

• Professional Landcare Network
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Grounds Maintenance Workers
• Small Business Administration Teen Business Link
• Wikipedia on Lawns and Lawn Care

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