[sheltervalley]

Hello,

We are two second year university students from Ontario and are setting up a landscaping company for the summer. Specifically, we want to specialize in walkways, herb gardens and small ponds.

We were wondering if you had any general tips and also wanted to know what is the best marketing strategy. We live in an area with many subdivisions so right now we plan on approaching directly as well as using flyers.

Thanks.

[Utah Guy]

Make it easy on your selfs and don't do small ponds, do pondless. You can make good money and its not to difficult.

[jshilan]

Make it even easier on yourselves. Work for an established company for the summer. You'll learn a lot and actualy make money. There is plenty of time to go on yor own. I know this isn't what you want to hear, because it does not seem as glamorous, but it is much more sensible. Ambition is a wonderful quality, but so is being practical.

Have fun, work hard and ask a lot of questions.

[Malrex]

I agree with all the above posters...except the pondless. Pondless are great to do, but don't be afraid to do small or even larger ponds! They may take longer, but they can be relatively easy to do (I may be partial as its my passion). Just my 2 cents on that.

2 things you should pay attention too from the above posters. All have great advice. But #1, work for a landscape company first. It's not to say you can't do it or you aren't qualified, but..... You state you are both second year university students...what happens to your business when you go back to school for the third year? Getting a company going, gaining rep., learning the ropes...it all takes time. Gaining repeat customers is excellent..what happens when they want you to come back to do something new, but you got a report to write and some class projects?

#2...advertise! I'm running into this problem myself. I'm not very strong in the whole marketing deal, but learning and trying. I just got flyers delivered to me and plan to go out tomorrow. A little late? yes! Should of done it in May or even sooner, but to hell with it, I'm going out tomorrow and throwing them up to some target neighborhoods. Why? because I had a little run of jobs, but now I only have one job lined up in July and nothing..before and after that. That sucks! I've done the phonebook, a phamplet that's handed out in theaters/plays, and have an advertisement in a monthly mailings/phamplet, not to mention I have signs up on my truck and at the site where I'm working. This is my second year..it can be hard getting your name out there, so you will be facing that. If people haven't heard of you, no jobs!

If you are your friend are really into landscaping...bite the bullet...work for crap money at a landscape company for the summer and LEARN all you can. Consider it an investment. The money might suck, but I can guarantee the knowledge will be priceless (I worked for a landscape company before I got fed up with BS and started my own).

One last thing. This is just my opinion! I've heard mixed results on this, some success, alot of failures. I know you probably like your friend, but be careful when going into a business together. Be sure to jot down some rules or something that you can call each other on. As the person is your friend, it may be easy to let things slide, but it may end up one of you is doing all the work, or perhaps your friend is operating in a way that you disagree with....ALOT of variables on things that can happen. I almost started my business with a friend...he ditched me at the last moment for another job and I'm sorta glad it turned out that way. It was scary as hell to go with my plan of operating my company by myself (a force of one mind you--no employees), but once I learned some things (and still learning), I'm glad I don't have a partner. Alot of people on the forums may disagree with this--I know there is a few who have partners that both visit the forums and sound like they are successful and get along..but just be careful!

[FungusMudGrub]

Hmm, walkways - every landscaper does walkways. Herb gardens - Highly specialized. Small ponds - also quite specialized. This mix of services seems a little schizo to me, and difficult to work into one marketing plan. My advise is pick one of the specialties and become the masters of that domain - the big fish in the small pond, as it were.

[agla]

I agree with FMG in that these are all different specialized areas.

One thing that I see all of the time is that beginning landscapers are much less "specialists" than they are "limiting their services" to what they think they can make more money on or because they think they can handle those limited pieces of landscaping. Very soon they find out that they have to offer wider ranges of srvices to keep busy and that it is very difficult to become a specialist.

Most specialized landscape companies have moved from broader ranges of services into the specializaton as they established a reputation from what I have seen.

I don't believe that a couple of college kids are going to take work from established landscape companies based on marketing materials. There is just too much advertizing out there for the limited clientel to to bite at right at the time that they are ready to buy. People shopping for these landscapes generally call in more than one company to discuss the project. Every other company will have a portfolio of built work, these guys don't. The others will have more knowledgeand experience and will be very much more used to getting that across to their prospects.

This is one business that your customers find you much more than you finding them.

My opinion is that if I were a college student looking to get something going over the summer, I'd work friends and family a lot harder than anywhere else. This stuff is bought based on confidence that the job will come out right. The one who removes more doubt from the client is the one who gets the job. Friends and family will trust you more and are more likely to buy on potential alone than any person who does not know you. All you need is 4-5 weeks of work (which will take 8-10 weeks to do without experience and equipment).