[ds99ds]

Hi, thanks for the opportunity to put this out there. I'm very interested in hearing any of your thoughts on my intentions as I don't know just how many elements of my plan would indicate that I am out of my mind.

I am about to go into the garden design business in a few weeks and am doing it cold! As if that were not bad enough I am 56 yrs old, in good shape but certainly do not have the stamina that I once had. I have a beautiful set of gardens and a pond and 50ft stream that I built myself - I am a gardening and even more so, a plant/horticultural fanatic. I have taken many landscape design courses at the NYBG (NY Botanical Gardens) and I'm quite knowledgeable in marketing, sales, contracts, client management in general, and reasonably knowledgeable about garden design and NE range of plants for most horticultural segments: ground cover/perennials/shrubs, etc.

My goal is to stay small by creating small gardens for homeowners. My goal is to make a profit of about $20,000 the first year, $40,000 the second year and plateau at about $50-$60k thereafter. I live in an affluent area - Fairfield county, CT, so all costs, prices, expectations would be more at the high-end of any $ range. I would hope to do this for maybe the next 6-8 years. That’s it.

I don't want to compete with the more professional services so I'm looking for a niche where I can survive. My primary service would be to sell designs for, and install as needed, perennial flower beds. Additional services would be creating more natural-looking residential properties using some massing of ornamental grasses and understory trees, and building small ponds and streams. I would use day laborers, as I have in the past for my property and a few small jobs I've done for others. I know that might be an issue where I haven't fully considered all the ramifications. Overhead would hopefully be extremely lean.

My primary advertising "angle" would be to advertise a "plant by numbers" service to homeowners who think they want to do the garden themselves. I would come to the property, locate and design a bed, and offer to acquire, sell and ship the plants to the homeowner, mostly through specialty nurseries. I would charge $200 for the single visit and garden layout. I would expect some of these buyers would turn back to me to do the install. I will have a website, and will advertise through: direct mailers, local paper, penny saver, buy some google adwords, and try to speak at local libraries, try to network through local nurseries and people in the trade.

I expect some huge learning curve this first season along with surprises, exhaustion, and who-knows-what-else, but expect to be in decent shape come 2009 which begins in just a year from now. I expect to be fairly slack in the summer months and nov-feb, of course.

Can this be done? I'm I delusional? What do you think I’ll find come late april, no sales? Deluged by cheap-ass customers? Angry wife?

thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for your responses. David