So you have brought your equipment quite your day job and placed an add in your local paper, time to sit back and let the money roll in right, wrong, let me tell you that as a lawn mowing contractor I would strongly recommend that you start up part time while still maintaining your current employment or you have at least 3 months saved up that you can use on expenses, it is important to have a steady source of income comming in, even if you have a wife or husband and she/he works part time you should not rely on this completely because she/he may lose it and then what?
You just can not expect to start up and make the $800- $1,000 per week that you hope to make at a later stage. You will be lucky and I mean lucky if you bring in $300- $400 a week and that is before expenses and this will be you working 7 days a week just about every possible hour, if your not mowing lawns you should be dropping of flyers etc. you need to live and breath the lawn industry.
As Dean has said before the lawn mowing industry is a "growth" industry this means that it needs time to build it up, and also if it's not your cup of tea, nothing's lost you now have new equipment that you can use for personal use.
It is important to start up slow & save on cost's and keep your round as compact as possible and please don't rush the jobs you get, if it takes you 2 hours to mow a 45 min lawn (who cares) if you do the best job you can your business will grow a lot faster throw word of mouth than if you rushed the job and saved 1.15 mins .
It is also important to note especialy in this industry that if you have taken a personal/business loan, that you should get it protected it only cost's a couple of dollars a week but it is good insurance if you get injured and can not work, also public liabilty is a must talk to dean, become a life long member of ILMCOA for only $145 and get world wide competive liabilty insurance, it is a small price too pay for peace of mind.
This type information is given because everyone here on this forum wants newcommers to do well we all see new members join up daily, we value your input in the forums everyone has a story too tell & everyone has differen't skills and knowleadge that they can pass on to other's, so it is a mutally benifitcal that everyone is respected equally. The info I have provided is not meant to scare you but to prepare you for your business success, and please if you have any questions, that is what this forum is all about helping each other. cheers