Even a barber shop. Most important thing you can do for most businesses and do this right.
First of all you need to learn every possable method of generating people contacting you for services.
You will need to have a working acquaintence with a computer and the internet and if you do not have, work at getting up to speed.
You can farm out your page construction work but this is an expense you do not need because if you have some time, you can learn all you need to know to get by in a day or two.
There will likely be some public library or some avenue to learn some basic computer skills and you need little more then your ability to check your email in order to make web pages on some web page Internet service providers etc.
Therefore I will leave that all to others
but let me explain why you need the internet to be in business. You are not "making" a living on the internet like a lot of people, you are using the internet as part of your business.
It is like a carpenter is not in business wihtout a hammer. You, in the customer business, time working for you, are not in business without MULTIPLE web pages.
Here is what it can do for you.
Print most anything for you in small quantity for testing ideas etc.
Post a catalog of things you handle or do that your business card can refer customers to. This will be equivalent of the store front, where they can always find or contact you, this will be there image of you. Your phone number, your email address, your hours, your rates, your terms etc. samples, testimonials of customers. etc.
If you plow or till gardens every spring, have a photo of you doing that with a happy customer and her garden in the picture. Before tilling, after etc.
What months you till, approximate prices etc. Your town and Garden tilling the key words to find you..... Anyone in the market will likely NOT go to the yellow pages they will likely go to their computer type in "Springerville Az garden tilling" in a search engine, and there will pop up your name and page... You will need to learn to do that correctly but it is not rocket science and you likely can get your nephew to help who likely knows all about it.
Once you make this page it will work for you likely with few changes for years.
If you already have an internet connection likely your provider will provide you a few pages for a site for free. If not get one that will.
Let's say there is not a lot of people doing landscaping in your area so you can offer a whole page of services. The Garden tilling you advertise and find someone equipped to do that. You farm out that work to that person at an agreed price. Or of course you can do it yourself. You can schedule three of four gardens for next tuesday and rent a roto tiller if you dont have one and do them all with one rental. If uncle Louie has one borrow his and give him a few bucks every time you use it.
This is a seaonsal thing that is boom for likely 30 days a year tops...
When you do a garden print with your computer some 8 1/2 x 11 card stock
signs that Say
Gene's Garden Tilling your phone number and web address...
tack them on a stick and after till a garden ask if you can stick this sign on the end of the row for a few days so if anyone goes by might see and think of getting their garden tilled.
We will take up pricing elsewhere, but it has to be in the ball park and you need to become knowledgeable about the current going price for certain services in your area.
We can and will go on how you use the net to promote your business and get customers every day. This getting one customer and then posting a sign at that one can keep leading to another and another all from one start. That is sort of a referral system. Your customer has your number right there in the garden when someone discusses getting his garden tilled and ready to go and can readily refer him to you
This is peak short season so you have to be ready to promote at each of these different peak seasons for different things.
You can expect to do big dollar volume in a short time if you are at the right place with the right service at the right time, and likely have it all to yourself.
You can scale all these up to big things or use these ideas for little things, and just your immediate area. use your imagination I can not write here about all possablitities so I am just grabbing small things and you can scale it up..
One of the things you can put on your local landscape services is Stump removal.
Most competitors will charge about $200 for stump removal. You can do them for $100. by renting a stump grinder for $50 if you negotiate with your rental store people that you will be a regular. Often they will have more then one stump or you can delay it til next week or so and maybe get another one and to both on the same rental peroid. Takes about 3 hours to grind out average stump. If turns out you get this regular you might advertise for buying a used grinder in area up to 300 miles around and pick a $700 machine up for $150.00,
But better yet, just leave this to unemployed Uncle Louie and send him all the stump grinding business for 25%. etc.
Remember, you can get this all working for you as an income stream and just keep getting this all on automatic, farming out not only the jobs, but getting someone competent to handle schedualing, collecting, paying subcontracters etc on a percentage or fee per transaction.
Get Louie a magnetic sign for his pick up that says...Stump grinding, Jones Landscaping, phone web address, or whatever name you are using...or a pipe fastened sign he sticks in the ground while he is doing the job so people going by will write down or remember who does stump removal so they can get that one they been thinking about getting removed for years.
Signs like this can work for you for years and though not essential at the start can keep this going for a long time, one sees the job and thinks to get theirs done too
That job generates another job and goes on and on.
More on Getting Customers...Thats what Your business is all about...Never forget that.... You never went to school for this but you can become the expert.
next..
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