word… if I had the $$$ to play with, I’d work for myself in a heart beat.
landscaping can be quite profitiable, but its long hours of back breaking work.
Let me know when you want your Truck’s lettered.
it is a way to pay for schooling. Just dont make it a profession. Get the business background to have someone else do the work for you.
& wear sunscreen. those 5 years can be lost from lots of things.
You lack a work ethic. opening a plow/landscape buisness will be a big investment with a plow, mowers, tractor, dump trailor, reg trailor,and gas. also investment in time. you realize at 3am there is a blizzard you are out plowing.You wont listen to anything but what you think is a good answer.Let me tell you. this will fail and you will lose alot of money.i have not met one happy landscaper and i would run into these guys over the summer on a daily occurence
Sell me your Mustang to raise funds for your business. I’ve never opened my own business but opening an LLC then using that to get your business license is pretty simple. My soon-to-be brother in law owns a landscaping company in Rochester. It’s definitly a rough business. He’s only 27 and can barely use his hands anymore and is on all kinds of pain medications for it. Whenever I see him in the winter he’s been up for a good 2-3 days because of plowing. Also make sure that you will have some clientel lined up for when you start. He makes all of his money plowing by having contracts with small businesses to plow their parking lots. Goodluck man and make sure you do your research.
Mike, go ahead and give it a shot. BUT STAY IN SCHOOL NO MATTER WHAT. I worked all through college and it was the best thing I could have done because now I have 2 degrees from Canisius and a lot more knowledge. but remember you will be working your ass off the first 2 years and not making any money. Right now I work 60-70 hours a week Monday through Saturday and took a 65% paycut to go from manager to co-owner and its going to take a while to get back to/above where I was before I invested my life into this dealership. Also, remember that if the business fails the only person to blame is yourself, you get out what you out in. Not to mention that if you invest alot you also risk losing everything you have.
Good luck, if you ever need advice or help you know where to find me!
Being self employed means no days off and no getting away from work. The plus side is it is just you, profits and the IRS. Because you are the man.
KK
who’s the IRS :snky: All of my pay from this company gets deposited into either an account that I have with BNP Paribas in France, or into my paypal account where it gets sent in other directions. Never to my bank account (not yet at least). Them being in the UK just mark their books as a overseas outsourcing, and they do not (I dont even know if they can) file a 1099.
Once i get more shit rolling with this, and it starts to become more than $300-$400/wk. then I will have to set up an LLC and pay directly into a business account but until then…
As for the no days off… I agree 100% you might think that you get to make your own schedule and do what you want, but in reality your customers make it for you.
Starting your own business is one of the most rewarding things in life, I think. I have learned so much from it… and even if your business doesn’t succeed, your don’t lose all of the valuable things you learned. BUT! It’s a steep learning curve, since you wear every hat in the company… but man, it is SO WORTH IT.
I also stress to worry about school first. Physically you can do both school and work… but you need to seriously be dedicated to BOTH, or neither will happen. Also, you need to seriously consider your personal finances both now and after school. With a business, you have to assume you will be in the negative for three years before you begin to turn a profit.
I chose to go with an S-Corp so that my personal assets were protected in case of a lawsuit or something. I wanted to make sure my personal belongings and my business related belongings had a clearly defined line, according to the law. This was the best decision for MYSELF and MY BUSINESS. I consulted with both a lawyer and an accountant before making this decision, and I would highly suggest you do the same.
If you are serious about doing this, and doing it RIGHT… go see professionals, and don’t rely on a forum for anything but market research if appropriate.
I worked 4 years at a nursery that supplied landscapers, and in those years I saw tons of businesses start and end in that time. It seemed everyone was on the verge of going under. There are also tons of companies out there, and a lot of fly by night guys, so people are often weary of hiring someone unknown. I did fill in for a few days landscaping, and I respect guys who do it every day, because I couldn’t. But the small percentage of the guys who do well seem to do really well. Get in good with a nursery that doesn’t do landscaping- people always come in to buy stuff and they will ask for the name of a good landscaper.
i just got got a job working for a landscaper making a decent hourly wage “under the table” for this summer so we’ll see how that goes. I’ve always balanced school and work very well, so I am pretty sure I’ll be able to do it, and I’m going to start small while I finish school. and thats one of the points of working for someone else this summer, so I can get an idea what it takes to maintain 10 or 15 lawns a week so I know what I’m getting into and won’t overwhelm myself with work.
I have worked a job like that, being on call 24-7 for over a year now. I’m still at it 
I can sympathize with the toll it takes on mind and body though.