Starting your own business

Wednesday I made a nice sum of money by providing unique yard work to my grandmother. I used a power sprayer that I have about 15 years of experience with to spray every spec of concrete in her yard until it looked new, and blasted mildew off the overhang of her back porch. I also did various weed eating a trimming to areas of her yard.

It was brought to my attention that she paid $1000 to man who washed her house and deck just a few years before.

I have the equipment and the experience so I'm thinking about starting up a little house washing business to make some cash to be used for school and entertaining myself throughout the school year.

Has anyone else here done anything similar? What exactly do I need to know and do?

Being insured would be a good idea to keep people at ease. Just in case you break a window or something they know it'll be fixed at no cost and hassle to them. Starting small as a handy man or whatever is easy and then you can grow from there. A kid I went to high school with started his own landscaping service right after we graduated. I'm pretty sure he's still doing well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rumpy

Being insured would be a good idea to keep people at ease. Just in case you break a window or something they know it'll be fixed at no cost and hassle to them. Starting small as a handy man or whatever is easy and then you can grow from there. A kid I went to high school with started his own landscaping service right after we graduated. I'm pretty sure he's still doing well.

---

When you say insured, do you mean that I promise to pay for anything I break, or do they offer some sort of insurance for landscapers?

if you actually do this, i wish you the best of luck. Running your own business can be very hard, something like 3 out of 4 businesses end up closing down. If you have another source of income, you'll obviously be more financially stable but your business will suffer, while dedicating yourself to your business entirely is putting your neck on the line. That said, I'm sure it would be more rewarding than working for someone else and if your business does well you'd be raking in the money.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IronPlant

When you say insured, do you mean that I promise to pay for anything I break, or do they offer some sort of insurance for landscapers?

---

That may be enough to start with, but larger companies have insurance companies backing them. Just starting out with just you, I'm sure you'll be fine with next to nothing. It's when your client base gets bigger where things get more complicated. To start it would be no different than a kid offering his neighbors to shovel the snow from their driveway (which is what any good landscape company does in the off season). Try doing it for some family and friends and if they like what you do it's all word of mouth and whatever advertising you decided to do. And if they ask about what happens if you break something you could always say you can put it in writing that you'll pay to fix what breaks. Each person gets a copy and it would be a binding agreement. I'm sure someone else here knows more.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by arjue

if you actually do this, i wish you the best of luck. Running your own business can be very hard, something like 3 out of 4 businesses end up closing down. If you have another source of income, you'll obviously be more financially stable but your business will suffer, while dedicating yourself to your business entirely is putting your neck on the line. That said, I'm sure it would be more rewarding than working for someone else and if your business does well you'd be raking in the money.

---

Eh, I'm not really planning on doing this for a living, just during the summer to make some cash.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rumpy

That may be enough to start with, but larger companies have insurance companies backing them. Just starting out with just you, I'm sure you'll be fine with next to nothing. It's when your client base gets bigger where things get more complicated. To start it would be no different than a kid offering his neighbors to shovel the snow from their driveway (which is what any good landscape company does in the off season). Try doing it for some family and friends and if they like what you do it's all word of mouth and whatever advertising you decided to do. And if they ask about what happens if you break something you could always say you can put it in writing that you'll pay to fix what breaks. Each person gets a copy and it would be a binding agreement. I'm sure someone else here knows more.

---

For advertising I figure I can just make a business card with my cellphone and email address on it. Also, when driving I can stop and talk to the owners of businesses that have dirty buildings. It shouldn't be too hard to talk them into the service if they have the cash to spend. It is pretty well known that your average person judges things on appearance so a clean new looking building says positive things about a business that a dirty mildew covered one does not say.

Good luck; I tried a start-up spyware removal business but it fell through rather fast. Apparently people think its normal to have popups the instant you connect to the internet.

Go up to houses that are up for sale and say "shit man, your house will grab more cash after I clean it for you."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Error

Go up to houses that are up for sale and say "shit man, your house will grab more cash after I clean it for you."

---

This is very true. People are pretty stupid when it comes to judging things in regards to their looks. I hope to capitalize on this fact.

It sounds pretty sound, I mean, what do you have to lose? Its not like you're going to have any bills hanging over your head if no one wants to get nice and squeaky clean, right? You've got the tools to make the houses cleaner, shinier, better.

And besides, no one can say no to neck hair.



But really, good luck, I had 2 friends that held a little landscaping business all throughout high school and it worked out pretty well for them. Make some cash and go to some metal shows.