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Thread: Things that make me grumpy

  1. #2791
    Member Rye Victoria great nature's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    woops again
    step right up to witness the event of all time. the BATTLE TO THE DEATH
    Monkey Boy Ian VS Simmo Long Post

    Who reign supreme?

  2. #2792
    Senior Member happymowin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    lol, good one GN

  3. #2793
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Dont put me down as ref I havnt a clue there is too much reading for me
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  4. #2794
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    "Quote from Simmo
    "So i will ask you this question... who said anyone has to go and mow a lawn at cost? You have created this story that there needs to be a choice of one over the other. Your logic is, if you put the customer first, they aren't going to pay you a positive return (profit).
    Why is your example, 10 people can provide you a survive, but 500 clients will make you stave? It's Your thinking! If you can survive with only 10 customers... why cant you then profit on the other 490?"

    You're the one who created the story and said customers are more important than profit so by extension it is more important to keep a customer even if they're not profitable,otherwise the customer and profit are interdependent with neither less important than the other at least from a business point of view
    I'm simply saying that i see no point in having a customer unless you're making profit from them otherwise you will spend all your time working for nothing and not making a profit and clients who don't return a profit still have a potential to create a loss for you
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  5. #2795
    Senior Member happymowin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Lawn Mowing Professionals View Post
    .....
    Why do we put "lids" on our potential... we tell ourselves, we can only earn X amount... I can tell you why! You earn what you do because that is the value that you accept in your mind.

    Take this industry, Most value there time at $60p/h from my research... however, an Aborist values their time at $200 p/h.

    I can almost Guarantee that there are people mowing lawns that can make $200p/h. I will agree it would need to be "sold" to the client in a different way than the person that sells a $60 p/h mow... It takes Knowledge to demand your price!

    ....
    Simmo.


    i'd have to agree with this statement wholeheartedly.

    i have met a guy locally who does lawns for $50 - it takes him about 90 minutes on each site to do them. He has 2 next door to each other, and doesnt even schedule them together, he lets them drag it out and does them seperately.

    i am always pushing the boundaries on what i can charge.

    i am now charging mowing at $75 an hour (with 10 minutes on top for travel) - PLUS extra for green waste if its an unreasonable amount of clips to take away

    hedges and pruning $95 an hour for cutting, $75 an hour for cleaning up and green waste charged on top (with labour included in the waste charge to drive to the dump) PLUS 10 minutes on top for travel, 10 minutes on top to clean up the chainsaw if i used one.

    gutter cleaning, name my price. (average house $145 to $195 - i wont even get on the roof for less than $120, even for just a patio gutter- most of these jobs take less than an hour too.)

    ride on, when i had customers, lol, was $95 an hour with 25 minutes on top , as i have to load and unload the mower at home


    sure, i miss out on a percentage of my quotes, but if you win all your quotes youre just not charging enough, and imo, the customer is laughing at you behind your back.

    this was brought home to me at a party when i heard a lady who's a solicitor tell everyone she had a "boy" (her actual words) working for her on landscaping, who did 4 hours work for less than she earns in an hour. she was outright LAUGHING at his hourly rates.


    example, yesterday i did a gutter cleaning job for $300.

    took me 30 minutes on the roof, 10 minutes clean up on the ground (i know some dont do the maths this way, but thats $450 an hour)

    i also did some other work for him which took me just over an hour, and i charged $210 for that bit. (but used $30 in materials for that bit)

    So i went home after 2 hours work with $480 profit.


    i can charge what i do because i have the experience and the knowledge to do the work, and by my experience i can do the work QUICKLY. Some guys i know would take 4 hours to do the gutter cleaning. One company locally vacuums the gutters out, and its a 2 man job for 4 hours to do it. Cant see how the guy makes money tbh.


    some guys would charge a LOT LESS for their time - do you think the customer would say to them, oh no, here, take the $500 ? (very rarely have people just up and offered me more money - surprisingly,now i value my time more, i have had "tips" given to me, whereas in the early days when i worked CHEAP, i got nothing extra)


    if you dont value yourself, no one else will.

    and i'll say this too, about 50 % of guttercleans are yearly repeat business for me - so i must be doing something right !!


    still havent got time to scratch myself yet, bring on winter i say, i need a break !!!



    value yourself or no one else will.

  6. #2796
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    one thing that amazes me is when people will do a $45 lawn in 1/2 an hour but then say they can't charge $60 for gardening i think ok even allowing for travelling you're getting more than $60p/h for mowing but will take less than that for gardening why would you want to do gardening
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  7. #2797
    Senior Member happymowin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    yup, agree totally ian, gardening (weeding included) seems to be the poor cousin of mowing - hard to get paid decent money for it.

    i now pretty much outright refuse to do gardening work, and only hand weed for VERY good customer, and charge a premium for it.

    now when someone wants some weeding done, i say, "poison or whippersnipper?"

  8. #2798
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    "Quote simmo
    I also laugh when people say they prefer to have lifestyle over money... What a stupid statement... who say's you need to choose one over the other! An uneducated person that's who! I would perfer to be broke and spend quality time with my kids... Insane statement to make. If you want to be broke, that's fine... that's a great way to do it."

    so do you really laugh when you hear people say they choose lifestyle over an illusion and why wouldn't you choose a happy life over an illusion i find this confusing but if you would prefer to have an illusion and a sad life that is your choice and i wouldn't want to stop you

    as for "I would perfer to be broke and spend quality time with my kids"
    i can agree with this as i would also prefer to be poor and have quality time with my children than wealthy and have no relationship with them if these are the only two choices going
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  9. #2799
    Senior Member Lawn Mowing Professionals's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by ian View Post
    "Quote simmo
    I also laugh when people say they prefer to have lifestyle over money... What a stupid statement... who say's you need to choose one over the other! An uneducated person that's who! I would perfer to be broke and spend quality time with my kids... Insane statement to make. If you want to be broke, that's fine... that's a great way to do it."

    so do you really laugh when you hear people say they choose lifestyle over an illusion and why wouldn't you choose a happy life over an illusion i find this confusing but if you would prefer to have an illusion and a sad life that is your choice and i wouldn't want to stop you

    as for "I would perfer to be broke and spend quality time with my kids"
    i can agree with this as i would also prefer to be poor and have quality time with my children than wealthy and have no relationship with them if these are the only two choices going
    All I am going to say is WOW... Can someone else please explain it to Ian that you can be Wealthy and have a good relationship with your family.

    Maybe it's a glass half full vs glass half empty issue?

    Now, I'm heading out with my family for the day... After all, it's Sunday.

    Maybe this thread should continue on grumpy...?

  10. #2800
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Lawn Mowing Professionals View Post
    All I am going to say is WOW... Can someone else please explain it to Ian that you can be Wealthy and have a good relationship with your family.

    Maybe it's a glass half full vs glass half empty issue?

    Now, I'm heading out with my family for the day... After all, it's Sunday.

    Maybe this thread should continue on grumpy...?
    Don't understand why you think i need this explained to me i know and have known very wealthy people who seem to have great relationships with their children and poor people who have bad relationships i have also known people of middle level wealth who have mid level relationships with their children i think the difference is i acknowledge the fact that some people seem to have to choose between wealth and lifestyle be it through lack of education,inability to learn,disability or just bad luck and i don't look down my nose and laugh at those who put their family before wealth
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  11. #2801
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by happymowin View Post
    yup, agree totally ian, gardening (weeding included) seems to be the poor cousin of mowing - hard to get paid decent money for it.

    i now pretty much outright refuse to do gardening work, and only hand weed for VERY good customer, and charge a premium for it.

    now when someone wants some weeding done, i say, "poison or whippersnipper?"
    It's not hard to get decent money for gardening just have to refuse to do it unless you do
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  12. #2802
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by great nature View Post
    woops again
    step right up to witness the event of all time. the BATTLE TO THE DEATH
    Monkey Boy Ian VS Simmo Long Post

    Who reign supreme?
    missed this post or i would have said you shouldn't be so unkind to monkeys
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  13. #2803
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    There is unreal money in gardening, Turf, Pruning, Spraying, mulching, landscaping and unlike mowing its steady all year round. You can leave a worker sitting there all day long pulling weeds or moving mulch with a barrow money for jam..
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  14. #2804
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Anyone who has a good relationship with their family is wealthy
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  15. #2805
    Senior Member bb1's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by AJD Mowing View Post
    Anyone who has a good relationship with their family is wealthy
    X2 - Money is nothing in comparison

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