[Rob Shauger]

I had a guy call me yesterday asking some questions about what COMPASS could do for him. He has a full time job working 10 hours a day and then puts in 4 hours doing his PT biz. He has insurance and is legit.
I think the 14 hour days are getting to him but the pay at his regular job is pretty good. He would like to venture out on his own but wants to do it right.
He offers mowing and chem care only and I believe hes mowing about 15 lawns and treating 30 with the avg lawn size at 10,000 sqft.
Here are his questions:

1. How do you know or prepare to go full time?

2.Should he treat lawns same time he is mowing and if so how does he schedule it?

3.Should he consider getting rid of the mowing and just do chem care.

I told him this was a great place for info and to ask plenty of questions but hes not much of a computer guy except for reading, so I told him I would post some questions for him so he could see feedback from a number of people!

[Matt Kulp]

Rob,
In response to your first question, I think it will be different for everybody. Without knowing his financial needs, it is really hard to say. I can tell you for me, I planned for a year, worked part time for a year and then was pushed to make the change. What I did to prepare was I started advertising significantly before I made the jump. I handled the work load be using subs, and working a ton. I kept packing some monies away so I had enough for 3 months expenses. That for me made the transition easy. Some people are going to have a harder time then others leaving the safety net of an employer. It sounds like he has a good base to work on, so it does not sound like it would take him long to make a full schedule.

#2 I say definitely treat at the same time. There is nothing I hate more then going to one of my mowing clients and see that the chem guy came, and he was not on schedule. It just makes things much nicer when you can schedule your apps after you mow the property for the week.

#3 I think this guy should definitely keep the mowing and the apps. Reason being when you first start out you are looking for all the work you can, and there is nothing like mowing contracts for up-selling clients on other services. Depending on the type of mowing he is doing I know the margins are not the best, but what he can recoup from other services will be worth it at this stage. After a couple of years he can be a little more selective on the services he would like to carry.