Wordpress, the software which runs this site… borked the Episode, and a few other things. Should be better now Today’s Show: Google, Starbucks, lego, Netflix, Xbox, weddings, photoshop —- Sponsored by GoToMeeting, Try it Free for 30 days For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts Try GoDaddy Code Blu84 for 10% off —- Our RSS feed had some issues, make sure you have the [...] Less

Part 4 in the Basement Finishing Series The Handyguys are becoming the “Basementguys” in this new fourth installment of the basement series.  The Handyguys discuss basement materials and revisit some old advice they gave about mowing lawns. First up… a discussion about some advice that Handyguys gave in Episode #15 on lawn care.  Is it true what one of the Handyguys said regarding your mower height?  Handyguy Paul said that if you mow the lawn lower, the grass will grow faster in order to get more sun and generate more food for the roots.  It sounded too good to be true so he sought out to prove his own advice.  Paul performed a little experiment his backyard.  We could show you a picture here but Paul was a little embarrassed.  He cut a 30 foot swath down the middle of his back yard an inch shorter then the outside edges of his yard.  He wanted to see if it would grow any faster then the rest of the yard.  What was the result?  You will have to listen to the Podcast and see if the Handyguys offered good advice or bad advice. The Handyguys then discuss the many choices that you have in regard to basement materials.  You want to finish your basement but what materials will you choose? Should you use steel studs or wood?  What about the pre-fabricated basement systems?  Drop ceilings or sheet rock? The Handyguys also discuss sound blocking options. Photo © 2008 Bungalow Chronicles Good design will help your basement blend in with the rest of your house and not feel like a cheap addition. Planning and good material choices with a good decorating sense will go a long way. Material talk and more discussions about your basement on episode #19 of the Handyguys Podcast. Thanks for Listening Less

The Handyguys discuss annual spring maintenance for your lawn mower For many of us in the northern parts of the USA , it is that time of year when we get the lawn mower out for the first time. Most of us probably use tradition walk behind mowers with combustion engines. Like our cars, these tools require maintenance to keep them humming along from year to year. The Handyguys discuss how you can handle these basic maintenance items yourself: We start off by talking about mower safety and some crazy mower stories before we get into the basics of spring mower tune-up. Basic Spring mower tune up consists of checking and maybe replacing the spark plug, cleaning or replacing the air filter, sharpening your blade, cleaning the deck and changing the oil. Changing the spark plug – The spark plug only needs to be changed if its black, burnt, or damaged. If it looks clean when you remove it only replace it if you are having trouble with the mower running smooth or not starting. This picture is an example of a badly fouled plug that needs replaced. Replacing an air filter – make sure you get the correct air filter. There are many sizes and styles. The filter can be cleaned with compressed air or a brush. If its really bad just go ahead and replace it. Some filters are foam and can be washed in warm soapy water. Do not re-install a washed filter until its completely dry. Sharpening a blade – You can use a file or a grinder to sharpen your blade. Make sure you use the same angle as the previous sharpening. Handyguy Brian got this heavy duty grinder for only $25, including the stand, at an auction. An inexpensive grinder will be fine for this task. A Dremel tool or even just a plain old file will do the trick as well. A sharp blade makes a better cut and helps keep your grass healthy. Cleaning the mower deck – Sorry I don’t have an after picture. Use a scraper and a wire brush to clean up the mower deck. This is especially important for mulching mowers. If you have rust, sand that and hit it with some primer and paint. Changing the oil – Do this every year. Make sure you use the proper oil and the correct amount. Most mowers will use SAE 30 oil. Do not use 10W-30, its different and will likely void any warranty you may have. Regardless – Check your owners manual first for the correct oil. Learn more by listening to this installment of the Handyguys Podcast! And remember – You can always ask The Handyguys a question about your DIY or home improvement project by calling us at (615) 676-0877 or using the contact form. We respond to all questions and may use your question in a future episode. Our podcasts are made possible through revenue at our store. Our store is a partnership with Amazon. Some of our favorite tools are listed here Less

Richard Murphy of thelawnblog.com talks about lawn care marketing strategies he is using this year when trying to attract new customers to his lawn care business located in Canada. Find more discussions on lawn care marketing, business and on being an entrepreneur. Join our Lawn Care forum at getgopher.com, watch the GopherHaul show on youtube. Get involved, learn and grow! Create your dream business! Don’t forget to download our Free trial of Gopher Lawn Care Software. Less

This is a great and insightful podcast. I got a chance to talk with author Ken LaVoie. He wrote the book “How to start a lawn care business a whole new way.” Some of the topics I hope to be discussing will include: - Talking about his experiences of getting started and what happened when he bought too much new equipment. - The pitfalls of buying too much new too soon. - How ego effects business decisions. - Then we will talk about what marketing ideas worked and what didn’t. - When and how you should integrate your first employee into your business. - And this will be a fantastic topic Finance, Debt and Growth – “The 50/50 Rule and stay in the black with the 20% Rule!” So don’t forget to call in and ask Lawn Care Business author Ken LaVoie your questions too! One of our Gopher Lawn Care Forum members reviewed the podcast and said, “Well this is a forum and it is open for discussion, so here’s my commentary. In the first ten minutes that I listened to, if you check out the previous post I submitted in Dec 2007 you will find I had made post on the new vs used equipment, (keeping up with the JONES) the 20% growth rate but I posted 25%, also the first guy that called in is exactly right if you purchase any NEW equipment there better be 40% revenue over and above the cost of such equipment. example $10k mower there better be $28K just to cover that mower. This is basic business 101. I will say this again if you cant do the book keeping your self then hire a CPA or at the very least a good book keeper and they will tell you if you can afford a new piece of equipment from your revenue to debit reports. Just because you have that one big contract and you think your on the highway to big money, doesn’t mean you can afford it, to many unpredictable things can happen at any given time. MOST of all your business should never rest on one customer being over 20% of your business, if you have all your business or over 50% depending on the revenue generated by one client you are headed for disaster and you better start working harder on getting more customers to balance your business better. HINT we have a projection of 200k + in revenue this year (2008) and not one customer totals more than 20% of that revenue. BTW April 1st was our 1 yr date. this is only our second season and we survived the worst drought in 30yrs, most didn’t. How did we? by not putting all our eggs in one basket, buying new trucks and equipment, I bought used mowers and when we generated enough to buy more I did but only when I had 2 times the cost of that equipment, We just bought a NEW Super Z 72? got it for almost 11k and its paid for, we own it! Last year we wrote off over 8k in bad debit to add to the unpredictable things that can happen. So think long and hard, think of all the bad things that could happen before you jump and start having big equipment payments. As you know I never have anything bad to say about anyone, and I want everyone to know and understand I’m not now either, I just never heard any straight answers, I haven’t read the book, so I have no real opinion of it, what I hear sounds like a lot of business information gathered together and put into an order. I do not agree with the low-balling doing it for 10 dollars less just to get the job kind of guy, I don’t agree with the grab what ever you can theory, nor do I agree with the picking only certain types of customers to market, I was burned by a very upper class family and once by a department President of P & G when the family broke up and the President was FIRED! So that theory goes right out the door to me. I have been and will continue to provide excellent service at a fair and reasonable rate and I will let the client decide if they can afford it. I was surprised once by the looks of a property, when the man handed me 10 k in cash before I even stated and when I completed he paid that day in cash. Now this client never appeared to have 2 nickles, but looks are deceiving in all neighbor hoods. Think about it, don’t limit yourself, and always protect your self in some way, shape or form.” Thanks again everyone for joining into this lawn care business podcast. Remember to visit our site to download Gopher Lawn Care Software. We also have hundreds of FREE lawn care flyers, Lawn Care Doorhangers and much more FREE lawn care marketing material. Less

Title: GopherHaul 23 – Lawn Care Marketing Business Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 23 – Lawn Care Marketing Business Show In this episode we will be talking about GopherHaul breaks the 700,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us! Inspirational Story: You don’t need a new truck when you are starting out. Check out Dave’s truck as an example. Join the discussion here: A while back Bill wrote us on the forum and posted a picture of him hauling his lawn mower around from job to job, in the back of his car’s trunk. No longer though, Bill has been able to upgrade his lawn care business vehicle this year from a car to a pickup. Check out the pictures and join in the discussion on this post here: Lawn Care Business Marketing Idea: One of our new Gopher lawn care forum members Emerald Green Lawn Care was kind enough to post a sample letter they use to contact property managers. Download the letter template and read more about this post here: Business Question: Are you keeping track of where your new customers initially heard of your business from? If you aren’t you might be wasting a huge amount of advertising dollars. Let’s jump to a post Chuck made in our lawn care forum. In his post Chuck said “I keep track of everything, My findings were surprising. about 65-70% of my business thus far has come from 1 source & at an advertising cost of just over $10 per customer! Pretty cheap. ” Our friend Justin also jumped into the discussion and posted an excel sheet template to help you track your lawn care business advertising dollar. To download the template and get involved in the discussion join the post here: Another great topic Chuck brought up, along a similar line, is the question, are you answering your business phone during the day? It is amazing how many small lawn care businesses don’t answer their calls during the day because they are busy working. The problem with this is many potential customers won’t leave a message. Instead they will simply call the next lawn care business on their list. If you are interested in joining this discussion, join the post here: Lawn Care Search Engine Optimization: Read this post thoroughly because it could make a big difference for you and ask your web programming questions here: Lawn Care Marketing Idea Have you ever experimented with offering a referral program to your lawn care customers? Emerald Green Lawn Care created a great referral coupon template that they posted on the forum. Check out the post and see what the best way is market your referral program to your current customer base in order to reach out to more customers. Join in on the discussion here: Book of the Month: This month’s business book of the month is Robert Slater’s “No Such Thing As Over Exposure.” If our show or forum has helped you, or if you have any business questions, please let us know and send an email or make a post about your experience! I hope all these ideas have helped you expand and grow your business and mind. So until the next time, always remember to Dream it, Build it, Gopher it! If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher. Less

Hello everyone and welcome to the GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Marketing Podcast. This episode was recorded on 2/14/08. We recorded this podcast with 6 members of our Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum, through Skype. If you are interested in taking part in future podcasts with us, download Skype and add GopherHaul to your contact list. Also check our forum for the date and time of an upcoming podcast. In this episode we discuss a bunch of topics posted in our forum. Should you use a 1-800-vanity number for your business. Say for instance 1-800-lawncutter Post Link: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=26;t=7118;st=0;r=1;&#entry34256 Should you hire your 11 year old nephew to work in your lawn care business. How young of a relative would you hire? How young of an employee would you hire? Post Link http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=29&t=7038&st= Would you do commercial property maintenance without a contract? Talk about how Tim said a commercial job this size without a contract is not worth doing. Post Link http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=35;t=7029;st=0;&#entry33730 Suggestions on what you should charge for late fees. How to handle late payments. Post Link. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=6955; We talk about this environmentally friendly lawn care business. Do you think they will break through? Blue Sky lawns – push mowers and electric trimmers with no trucks. Post Link http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=34;t=7265;r=1 Background checks, do you use them? What do you check for and who do you use to check? Is it a good idea? Post Link http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=17;t=7255; If you have lawn care business or marketing questions, please visit our forum. Also download our Gopher Lawn Care Business Billing & Scheduling Software. We offer a 30 day free trial. We also have the largest collection of free lawn care flyer templates, door hanger templates, logos, web templates, business contracts and business plans. Visit http://www.gophersoftware.com Less

Keith from http://www.summer101.com talks about commercial insurance for lawn care business owners and bonds. Keith gives us the low down on how much insurance a commercial bid may require and how much the insurance or bonds might cost a lawn care business owner. Join the discussion on our Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=22;t=7206;r=1 Less

Last night Brian, Richard and I had a great discussion on Brian’s new lawn care business site http://www.lawnandgardenwv.com. Brian’s really building up a great collection of lawn care and gardening shows, including our very own GopherHaul show. If you get a chance check out his site and listen in on how you can create your own green industry show, even from a webcam and upload it to his site. Richard, from http://www.thelawnblog.com also sat in and joined us during the conversation talking about a bunch of helpful ideas that should help any lawn care business owner improve their work productivity as well as get a better understanding of what RSS feeds are and how they can help your lawn care business website. Less

Title: GopherHaul 21 – Lawn Care Marketing Business Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 21 – Lawn Care Marketing Business Show. In this episode we will be talking about GopherHaul breaks the 500,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us! For a more in depth reading of our show, make sure you download the latest GopherHaul episode guide in pdf format. You can download this and previous episode guides here. Inspirational Story: When you are having trouble envisioning yourself starting your own business and you just can’t imagine it happening. Or you feel the odds are stacked against you, I want to share with you two stories that will inspire you to say yes you indeed can get your business started. I was able to get a chance to meet two great entrepreneurs who run their own lawn care business. What’s so unique about them? They are both 14 years old and don’t even have a drivers license yet! The first entrepreneur I want to talk about is Mitch. He wrote me a short time ago to say “My name is Mitch, and I’m fourteen years old, and own my own lawn care company, DreamScapes Landscaping. I started when i was ten, mowing my neighbors yard and things have grown a lot since then! Either my dad or my grandma tows me around with my dad’s Jeep and this year I can drive with my permit with my new truck! I just bought a 1999 Chevy 2500.” Check out the post he made and see pictures of his fleet with includes his truck, trailer and several mowers and trimmers! Mitch is an inspiration to us all. Now let’s also meet Luke. Luke wrote to us “Hi I’m Luke with LG Yard Service. I’m only 14 but already in the lawn care business. I’m just getting started with Gopher but am looking forward to it! Let me tell you how my business is going. In the mowing season, I have approx. 5 good,weekly customers. I don’t own the most advanced equipment but it works. Just recently I purchased a new trailer and can’t wait to use it this summer! Any way’s, right now, I’m having a rough time with the lawn care business. Winter is setting in but i have no jobs! What is the best way to get snow removal jobs? Also, I’m wanting to do some Spring marketing with flyers,door hangers, etc. Please let me know how to gain some new customers and “step” up the business. Any ideas will work! Thanks!” Read more about how we all were able to help Luke out with some business advice and check out the pictures he sent to us of his fleet. Luke and Mitch are both out there now, running their lawn care businesses and reaching for their dreams. There is no doubt you can go out there too and do this! If you need marketing material, we have many many free lawn care flyer, door hanger and post care templates you can download and edit. Use all our resources to help your business push forwards. Valentine’s Day Lawn Care Business Marketing Idea: If you run a lawn care or landscaping business, you are always looking for more ways to creatively market your services. Here is a suggestion from our friend Keith of startalawncarebusiness.com. Keith wrote with this suggestion: “If you haven’t thought about it yet, Valentine’s Day is coming up. I know the traditional gifts are Roses and Chocolates for girlfriends and wives. Lots of guys also buy presents for their Moms. Instead of buying $100 worth of flowers that will die within a week, tell your customers to pay you $100 for a flower bed “VALENTINE’S DAY – SPRUCE UP SPECIAL” For $100 you can drop by the Mom’s (certain girlfriends and wives love this too) house, blow leaves out of her flower beds, trim shrubs, pull weeds, and add a bag or two of fresh mulch. As an added touch, hand her a Valentine’s Day card saying the service is compliments of her son….and don’t forget your business card. This is a great service to offer around Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.” We put together a Valentine’s Day promotional free lawn care flyer you can download and edit and posted it in this discussion. One of our forum members Matt has already taken it and edited it. Then he posted it on his myspace site and created a bulletin of it, which was sent out to all on his customer email list. You can join this discussion and download the free flyer template here. Entrepreneurs team up with Co-Marketing: My friend Andy contacted me about his co-marketing idea he has implemented with his friend Jody. Andy wrote: “This is a new thing we are going try. Mrs. Greenthumb is owned by a friend of mine, Jody, who just started up last year. She wants to just focus on landscape and design. Where I want to streamline and stay with Lawn care & fertilization. So we are double our advertising coverage, we are able to bring better service, and use each others ideas in more of a tag team thing. We can cover more together than by ourselves. And the Trucks look cool together .(each our own design)” See the picture of them and their trucks here and join in on the discussion. Free Giveaway: Now let’s get to a giveaway. Since our last show, Rod, owner of http://www.redwoodbridges.com contacted me and allowed me to give away a free landscaping bridge. If you are interested in winning this bridge, simply jump on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum and make a quick post to say hi and that you are interested in taking part in this giveaway. What to do? Next up. What do you do when you recently bought a lawn care business and your largest client leaves? Let’s find out. Our new friend Amy got on the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum and told us how she bought a landscaping business and lost a big client and now might lose her house. Read the post she made here. She wrote “I bought a commercial lawn business a little over 2 years ago and it has been nothing but heartbreak ever since. Lost our biggest customer (about 40% of revenue) and we’ve been going downhill ever since. I am desperate to hold onto this business since I am in debt up to my eyeballs. I’ll lose my house if I don’t since it was used as collateral for the SBA loan.” “My big push right now is cold-calling, letter sending to commercial accounts, etc. Which do you think is more effective and does anyone have any tips on letters?” Tim jumped in and had offered these suggestions: He said “You can crawl out of this,” and had a list of things she should consider doing. First thing is to contact your Accountant and do a complete audit on the business. Look for every possible expense cut you can make, this is restructure time. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT go out there looking for that one big job or contract to get you out of this, chances are greater you’re not going to get it in a fast way, If you do great but most probably not going to happen. Look for quantity, the more recurring you can generate the stronger your business will be, do not limit yourself to only commercial, get out there and hit up the res market just as hard as if you where just getting started in business, hit those res areas multi-times not just once. Then slam those small businesses the same way with letters and mailers, cold call, and phone calls. Get in their face. Step it up a notch. The accounting dept. or GM of the larger commercial facilities are the ones to contact most generally for being put on the bidders list. Amy then posted a sales letter she was considering sending out to commercial facilities in her area and asked for suggestions on editing it. Tim edited the commercial lawn care sales letter and posted it here, where you can read it and possibly edit it to fit your own needs. Entrepreneur of the Month: This episode of GopherHaul is in memory of Richard Knerr founder of Wham-o. He and his boyhood best friend started the company in 1948. He brought the hula hoop, the frisbee, hackie sack and many other great products to all of us. Please join the discussion about him here. If our show or forum has helped you, or if you have any business questions, please let us know and send an email or make a post about your experience! I hope all these ideas have helped you expand and grow your business and mind. So until the next time, always remember to Dream it, Build it, Gopher it! If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher. Less

Title: GopherHaul 20 – Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Forum Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 20 – Lawn Care Forum Business Entrepreneur Show. In this episode we will be talking about A letter from a viewer. Julian writes us to thank us about GopherHaul and the site. Join the discussion on this post: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=26;t=6848; Here is the letter: “Hello, well after gardening & landscaping for myself & a few paying customers over the last 30 years. I decided if I ever wanted to be my own boss, I better try now before I get much older. As crazy as it may sound, until I found this Gopher website, I never really gave it much thought to go full time. After reading many posts & looking over the many free template’s available. I thought “hey I can do this”. So far I have just 2 customers who have signed a contract with me for the following season, more shall come. Again, thanks Gopher for all the information your site provides! Julian” If our show or forum has helped you, please let us know and send an email or make a post about your experience! Casey Shield’s website offers the service of removing Christmas trees after the holidays for $25.00. It’s a great idea to reach out to more potential lawn care customers. We make a free flyer for this that you can download and edit, Check our free flyer section. Join the discussion on this post: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=6&t=6655&st=0&&#entry31308 Rob asked about what profit margin he should shoot for and if his business’ profit margin was his paycheck. Join the discussion on this post here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=17&t=6525&st=10&&#entry31051 Rob asked “Just starting out we ask what should we be charging? And the only way to know how much to charge is to figure out what your costs are first. Then determine your profit margin from there. That should be right. Well no one ever says what kind of profit they are making per hour after expenses. Shouldn’t there be a general range we should all be in?” Tim responded “15-20 % profit depending on the job” Now keep in mind, Profit is what is left after you pay your self and all other expense. If you are only making enough money to cover your business expenses and what is left is your paycheck then the profit is 0%. Profit is what the company made. You must be able to separate the two, you never touch profit for personal uses, profit is what makes the company grow, if you are comfortable with this then it’s all good and works for you cool, but if you want to grow you must leave some money for the company. Remember you have to pay taxes on what you earned personally from the business (owner draws) and what the business earned (profit). Rob asked “Well I don’t really know how much I should be paying myself.” Don’t take more than is required to cover household expenses the first year or 2 then you can re-evaluate your business earnings and adjust how much money you pay yourself. “big part of this discussion is about keeping your expenses low” That is the hardest part of the whole thing, keeping your expenses low, your just starting and there is a lot of upfront cost that you will never recover, so the first year or two you may not show much of a profit but you made it through the tough times so this is a big deal to everyone just starting. If the average man/woman goes out and starts a company he/she is doing it on a shoe string budget. With the SuperBowl coming up, we are seeing more and more lawn care business owners jump on the buzz of the end of the football season with their own football themed marketing. Matt put together a door hanger design to promote his lawn care service and he used the image on his myspace site. This ad is working and it’s free. He is getting responses and jobs from this bulletin and he posted some of them on the forum! So don’t just wait until spring, keep advertising and marketing your business all year long. What are you doing to promote your lawn care business and tie it in with the SuperBowl? To join the discussion on this post click here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=6834;r=1 It’s a new year and many new entrepreneurs are starting their business. But how do you get funding? Our friend Andy was able to utilize a site called prosper.com to raise $1,250.00 for his new lawn care business. If he can do it, you can too! See how he did it and join the discussion here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=6726;st=0;r=1;&#entry32042 Our GopherHaul business book of the month is “Operators Are Standing By!” by Michael Planit. Have you ever watched late night TV and seen a commercial for the Boogie Bass? It was the bass that would move it’s mouth while it sand a song? Well Michael created that product and many many more. Learn how he invented these products and learn how he used TV to sell them. The skills you pick up in this book can be applied to your lawn care business because ultimately if you want to sell anything, from boogie basses to lawn care, you need to be a showman. Learn how Michael did it and apply it to your business. I hope all these ideas have helped you expand and grow your business and mind. So until the next time, always remember to Dream it, Build it, Gopher it! If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher. Also please log onto our lawn care business forum at http://www.gophersoftware.com and tell us about your business and if you have any business questions, please ask them. TAGS: lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum Less

Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 19 – Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Show. In this episode we will be talking about Please continue to submit your pictures for our outdoor holiday lighting contest. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=6159; Our lawn care business forum member of the month is Tim. Tim has shared with us three new contracts including a lawn cutting contract, a full service lawn care maintenance and a snow plow contract. You can download them here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=1&t=877&st=30&&#entry30713 I added a new link on the left side of the forum for our lawn care business forum member to submit books they have read. I also added a new business book of the month to our list. The book is Guerrilla Marketing Success Secrets by Jay Levinson. Our friend Tony submitted this great marketing idea to the forum. He prints out stickers that include your business logo and then puts them on buckets of ice melt. He suggests handing these buckets out to your current customer base to help promote your snow removal services or you could use them as a marketing tool to hand out to homeowners in your area who you would like to service with snow removal and lawn care services next spring. If you live in a warmer climate you could also offer potted plants instead of ice melt. Review the post here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=33;t=6541;st=0;r=1;&#entry30532 Our lawn care forum member Tim suggested buying poinsettia plants in bulk and handing them out to your current customers along with a holiday card. You could also give these out to potential clients you would like to provide snow plow or lawn care services to. Tim said he also sells the plants at a farmer’s market booth. He purchases the flowers for $2 and resells them for $5. Great idea! Read more about this post here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=6488;st=0;r=1;&#entry30090 Brian from Lawn & Garden Web Vision sent us this promotional video to show off his new website http://www.lawnandgardenwv.com Check out his site. It’s full of many on demand education and training videos for the lawn and garden industry. Forum member Tim posted that now is the time to send out letters to businesses asking them to put your company on their 2008 bid list. You can download the letter here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=1&t=1541&st=0&&#entry29810 Bob from Plan-it Graphics has posted a design challenge http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=23&t=6434&st=0&&#entry29599 There will be two winners chosen. Bob said “You do not have to do anything graphic wise. You can simply submit your ideas in text. If your idea is to have a guy riding his motorcycle with the caption, “This is much better better than lawn work!” then that’s all you have to do. We are not looking for the best designer, we are looking for the best/unique way to market. Hopefully we can come up with ideas that are “outside the box” of the traditional lawn/landscape marketing material. It’s my job to convert your idea into print form.” In the previous episode of GopherHaul 18, we talked about how you should stay off ladders as much as possible. One of our forum members posted a shop vac device that is a long extension pipe with a u bend at the end which allows you to suck leaves out of the gutter while safe and standing on the ground. Read this post for a product review http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=17;t=6603;st=0 I hope all these ideas have helped you expand and grow your business and mind. So until the next time, always remember to Dream it, Build it, Gopher it! If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher. Also please log onto our lawn care business forum and tell us about your business and if you have any business questions, please ask them. Less

Hello everyone and welcome to Gopherhaul! If you haven’t started your business yet, what are you waiting for. If you don’t start your business this year, you’ll be at least 1 year older when you do so get started today! GopherHaul is a show for entrepreneurs and new business owners. In it we discuss business tips and tricks we have learned over the years and share with you some real world experiences on how to help your lawn care business or any other business grow. Thanks for watching. Our lawn care entrepreneur business forum has just been jam packed with amazing business and marketing ideas since our last show and I am in no way going to be able to cover it all now but I do hope to cover a bunch of it. If you want to read more get on the forum at www.getgopher.com In this episode we will be talking about: Our friend Teresa. She is the owner and operator of a lawn care business, a single mom and is going through a divorce. We get a chance to talk with her and come up with unique marketing ideas to help her push her business forwards and help her find continued success. We talk about some more marketing techniques for Halloween. One idea includes setting up a Halloween scene in your front yard involving a mower and using it as an example to talk about mower safety. We also see how you can get custom printed m&m’s to promote your lawn care business. I put up a couple new free lawn care flyer templates you can download and edit to fit your needs. This one is designed for you to use in the fall when business is slow and you want to offer mower winterization services. We also announce the winners of our free lawn care business sign giveaway compliments of Tony from amw-graphics.com If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher. Also please log onto our lawn care business forum and tell us about your business and if you have any business questions, please ask them. Always remember to dream it, build it, Gopher It! Less

Hello everyone and welcome to GopherHaul. GopherHaul is a show for entrepreneurs and new lawn care business business owners. In it we discuss business tips and tricks we have learned over the years and share with you some real world experiences on how to help your lawn care business or any other business grow. If you are going to be in business, don’t ever give up. If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher. Less

Hello everyone and welcome to GopherHaul. GopherHaul is a show for entrepreneurs and new business owners. In it we discuss business tips and tricks we have learned over the years and share with you some real world experiences on how to help your lawn care business or any other business grow. A few nights ago I got a phone call from a friend who’s father had just died. He had worked for 35 years and dreamed of his retirement. When he retired he suffered a heart attack. Declining health followed for two years before his body finally gave out. He had dreams of going on a cruise to Alaska with his wife. He had dreams of fishing on his favorite lake. All these dreams are now gone. My message to you today is to make your dreams happen today. There may not be a tomorrow. Do it today. Enjoy your life today. Don’t wait until you retire to have fun. Time is fleeting! Have fun and get your business started today! Now let’s get started with the show. What’s the big story of the month? Our friend Lee Cathey of Tiger Time Lawn Care has really done it. He has managed to attract international media coverage for his lawn care business. I can’t ever remember any lawn care business being able to get so much advertising for free. How did he do it? Bikinis. He was mentioned in China, India, Australia. On the front page of CNN’s site, on Fox & Friends, The New York Times and even in the monologue of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. If you have been active in our business forum, you probably already know how just 3 months ago, Lee left his job and decided to start a lawn care business. He posted on the Gopher lawn care business forum that he was looking for ways to attract customers. After going through a few ideas, he decided to go with the bikini lawn care service. Here is Lee giving a plug to us on Fox & Friends Lee is now franchising his Tiger Time Lawn Care business. If you are thinking about getting into the lawn care industry but have no idea how to get started, why not contact Lee and get started in a Tiger Time Franchise. Lee was kind enough to allow us to give away 3 free franchises. Normally there would be an initial franchise fee of thousands of dollars to get started. If you contact Lee and mention you saw the free franchise deal you saw here on the GopherHaul show, you might be one of the lucky 3 who get a free franchise. Lee also wanted me to make note he would love to see people within a 200 miles radius of Memphis Tennessee contact him, but ultimately he will be choosing those applicants who are the most enthusiastic to make their franchise grow. What can we learn from the experience of GopherHauling Lee’s lawn care business? If you are going to go into business, you need to stand out. Ask yourself, how do you differ from your competitors? What makes your business unique? What unique services can you offer that will generate media buzz about your company? If your business could use a GopherHaul and you need new ideas how to make your business grow send us an email at support@gophersoftware.com Who knows maybe some of the ideas will help your business grow as much if not more than the international media attention Tiger Time Lawn Care was able to achieve from the brain storming that went on for his GopherHaul. We have a new sponsor for our lawn care business forum and GopherHaul show. It’s Fluid Film. We have 50 free samples of fluid film to send out. All you need to do to get your free sample is to visit our forum and click on the fluid film link. This is an amazing product. It keeps your green industry equipment lubricated and rust free. If you’d like a free sample of this product while supplies last, send an email to Dan Williams at dwilliams@eurekafluidfilm.com and tell him you saw Fluid Film on the GopherHaul show and you would like a free sample sent to you. Another neat thing we have recently added to our site was new bumper stickers and t-shirts. Visit our lawn care business forum where you can see the latest “Honk if you watch GopherHaul.” If you purchase a bumper sticker, please send us a photo of where you put it. The GopherHaul business book of the month is L.L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon. In this book we see how L.L.’s first attempt at getting into business was when he created a new hunting boot. He borrowed money from his family to send out ads to residents with hunting and fishing licenses. He was amazed to find that he sold 100 pairs of boots! Within a short period of time 90 boots were sent back because they were defective. This could have sunk his business and he might have never tried another business again. What did he do? He refunded those 90 sales and reengineered his boot and tried again. What’s the business lesson we can learn from LL Bean? NEVER GIVE UP! If you fail at one attempt, review what happened and learn from your mistakes. Then give it another go and try to make it better the second time and the third time and the forth! Everyone makes mistakes but not everyone learns from their mistakes and tries again. If you are going to be in business, don’t ever give up. If you are in need of free marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts. Also download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. If you are on myspace send us a friend request. We are located at http://www.myspace.com/teamgopher. Less

Hello everyone and welcome to GopherHaul Watch the GopherHaul video at http://www.gophergraphics.com In each episode we discuss lawn care industry issues. We also Talk about different tips and tricks to improve your lawn care business This show’s goal is to get you excited about running your business and excited about life. If you haven’t started your own business yet, what are you waiting for? To paraphrase Warren Miller, If you don’t start your business this year, You’ll be at least one year older when you do. So get started today! In this episode we are going to be talking about: Lee, the winner of our help a veteran marketing campaign He also happens to run a bikini lawn care service We are going to see new ways to distribute flyers from your vehicle What’s the biggest trend emerging in the lawn care industry? Its going electric, we will learn more about that A new lawn care business owner wrote us to figure out why he hasn’t been able to get enough new customers We’ll find out why and these reasons will help your business too. We are also going to meet an entrepreneur who manufactures electric powered mowers plus much much more Now Let’s get to work! Do you like to read? Well as a business owner you should always be reading. It will help you and your business grow If you are a business owner you know that running a business can be a monster. This monster can take over your life and destroy everything. It can make you bankrupt. You can lose your family. You can even lose your mind at times. Which leads me to this episode book of the month Written by Joe Berlinger, the book is called Metallica, This Monster Lives. This book gives you behind the scenes insight into the filming of Metallica’s movie, Some Kind Of Monster. The movie follows the band going through counseling and rehab for substance abuse after their bass player left in 2000. If you or someone you know is suffering from alcohol or drug abuse, please get help or get them help. It’s tough enough trying to start and run your own business when you are healthy, If you are going to have any chance at all of finding success, you need to live a clean lifestyle. In this book, It is really is amazing to see that such a huge band with so many resources at their finger tips, still deals with the same issues you and I deal with in our lives. I hope reading this book will leave you with this thought. Whatever is bothering you in your life, whatever difficulties you find yourself in whether they be substance abuse, financial issues, family issues or whatever it is important for you to talk about them. Don’t hold it in. It’s important for you to talk. We all care about your well being. If you haven’t seen the movie, go out and rent it and read this book. I think you will find their journey to be inspirational. In our last episode of GopherHaul, we ask the lawn care business owners viewing this show to go out into your community and help a veteran with their lawn care. Send in your photos and we would pick a winner to receive some magenetic truck signs from amw-graphics and a lawn care business training package from summer 101. Thanks for your submissions. The purpose of the promotion was to teach you how to create goodwill between your business and your community. The more goodwill you create, the higher your business will be looked upon and thought of when your community needs lawn service. Our business challenge winner is Lee Cathey and his staff at Tiger Time Lawn Care. They were really up to the challenge and assisted veteran Ed Debarry. Ed, who is a widower and no longer able to care for his property, is a veteran of WWII. Lee said he was able to meet Ed Debarry through a friend and was able to cut Ed’s lawn and redo his flower beds to create more curb appeal. Lee sent in some great pictures. Another interesting business item about Tiger Time Lawn Care is a they recently began experimenting with a bikini Lawn Care service. If you remember, we had discussed another lawn care operator utilizing this marketing concept in a previous GopherHaul episode. Seeing Lee’s staff wear a bikini as they mow lawns has really gotten people to talk about his business and it is growing by leaps and bounds. Will these marketing gimmicks last? Who knows, business is all about experimentation. Sometimes such outrageous marketing concepts can really bring a lot of attention to your business and that can help push it to a new level. Just today Lee posted on our forum that A local radio station, Rock 103 called and asked about the bikini cut service. Lee said he was floored. They put him on live radio and talked about it A lot of good promotion came from it he said Have you thought of some wild and outrageous marketing concepts? Have you experimented with them? If you have, send us some pictures of what you did. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? Try them out today! Congratulations again to Lee and his staff. I look forwards to seeing your pictures with your new truck signs. Next up is Flyer distribution. How often are you trying to come up with a way to drive through your neighborhood and distribute your flyers as fast as possible? Have you come up with some crazy ideas on how to do it? Well, we have seen the best way to do it is usually the most time consuming. That is going door to door and meeting people as you hand out your flyers. If you are not going to do that and you don’t want to mail your flyers, Please what ever you do, don’t do this. Here is a flyer that was thrown from a passing truck. It is enclosed in a sandwhich bag and weighted down with some small stones. When we were talking about this on the forum, the point that came up is how mad it makes people. Home owners consider this littering and not very earth friendly. If you get your potential customers mad at you, they are not going to call you for service. If you insist on throwing flyers out of your truck as you drive down the street how about stapling a small bag of grass seed to it? It’s a unique marketing concept and the grass seed is a free gift from you to help the homeowner grow grass on bare spots. If you need a free flyer template visit our site at www.gophersoftware.com and click on the flyer link at the top of the page. The next big thing in lawn care is quiet. Have you heard of whispercut? Check out there site at whispercut.com The company was started by Richard Evans who once worked at a hedge fund in Delray Beach, Fl. On his weekends, he looked forward to sleeping in on the weekends. But every Saturday morning, the sound of neighborhood cutting crews woke him up like a blaring alarm clock. The screeches of leaf blowers drove him out of bed an hour after sunrise. One Saturday, he decided to do something about all the noise. He started Whispercut. A lawn care service that “quietly runs on the sun.” Electric powered equipment. A new wave of electric powered lawn care equipment is on it’s way. Check out this video our friend jon from Global Neighbor Inc sent us. Jon and his company have been featured in many national publications. Remember, if you have an idea for a product, why not experiment and bring the idea to life? Jon did. Now let’s check out his product. When you are trying to come up with a marketing angle that will help you stand out from competitors why not consider electric powered equipment. It’s quiet and it’s earth friendly. Can you imagine how much you could work that angle to gain customers? You could become a local hero in your town by being the first to do this. Next up – here is a section we call “Ask Team Gopher” A question came in from our forum member Darrin . He wrote, you said “If your business could use a GopherHaul, please email us.” so, I’m contacting you. I have seen your flyers and such on your web site/forum. I have been in the business part time since 2005. I made my own flyers based on what I saw on those web sites. The first year I had 8 customers, This year I spent $3,300 on new equipment and repairs and advertising. Put out about 1500 flyers so far this year (I’ll include them) and only got about 3 calls. I really need help BUT, I don’t think I can afford it. Anything you guys can do would be greatly appreciated. The “free lawn service 4” flyer was put out once, about 200 of them in one area, I got 2 calls, no jobs. The coupon flyer was put out in another area at about 100, no calls. Purrfection flyer 4 has been put out at about 1000 houses, 1 call. As you can see by the numbers, something is wrong, VERY wrong. I did not expect any jobs out of the flyers but, more than 2 calls would have been nice. Thanks in advance Darrin Here is my take. First off I really like what you are doing. I think your flyers are creative and being creative is a good thing. Since you said you aren’t getting a good response, I think I would get rid of having the customer need to sign a contract. That might be scaring people away. When you are just getting your lawn care business started, you really want to put as few barriers between you and your potential customer, as possible. Don’t make them jump through hoops. Keep things simple until you start getting a feel for what your customers want Then experiment with different marketing elements to see what works and what doesn’t. Above and beyond all that, think about, What else are you doing to network? Flyers are a just a part in your marketing campaign. What else are you doing to build buzz? Are you handing out business cards to everyone you know? Are you talking with your neighbors? Are you using community bulletin boards in local stores? Are you doing anything to get media attention in your area? Performing good deeds to others is a great way to accomplish this. Do you have truck or trailer signs? Another important step in flyer distribution is are you simply putting the flyer in the home owners door or are you knocking first and talking to the homeowner? Our Forum member “Littles” pointed this out and said He knocked on about 200 doors and left business cards with the people that answered, He left the business card at the door if no one answered. Of the 200 doors he knocked on, he got about 10 customers. It took about 2 weeks for all the calls to come in. Darrin then replied he wasn’t knocking on doors What have we learned from this, knocking on doors and talking to home owners is a very important step don’t forget to do this. Around the time Darrin wrote us, a friend emailed a very simple lawn care flyer to us. In the email he said he signed up with this particular lawn care operator. The flyer is painfully simple. At the top it says MOWING, followed by edging and blowing, free estimates and the name and phone number of the lawn care operator. As the lawn care operator was servicing this lawn, a neighbor walked over and asked him to mow his lawn too. Two clients were landed in that one day! Now that is keeping it simple. When you are just getting started, keep your marketing simple. If you need more suggestions download our free e-book, be a lawn care business rebel from gophergraphics.com. Also if you need business advice, please either post your question on our forum or email us at support@gophersoftware.com Do you need more viewers to your site? Post our show on your forum, blog, or website and we will promote it in a future gopherhaul episode GopherHaul audio version is now available for FREE through Apple’s iTunes. We are also on myspace at www.myspace.com/teamgopher. If you are on there as well, send us a friend request! I’d like to send a thanks out to Lee for promoting our GopherHaul show on his site at tigertimelawncare.com Can you help us promote our show? Post our show on your site or forum and we will promote your site in a future show. Send to support@gophersoftware.com Download our new free lawn care business book – Be a Lawn Care Business Rebel Lastly don’t re-create the wheel, use the lawn care business software, professional lawn care business owners have been using for the past decade. Gopher Billing & Scheduling Software will help you schedule your jobs and get your bills out on time. You will be amazed how much easier the right tool can help your business grow. We offer great add on modules as well. Such as the Gopher Palm Software and Barcode reader. Did you know Gopher also links with Quickbooks? With our software currently on sale starting at just $99.95 and a free 30 day trial download, we make it easy for you to take the hassle out of billing and scheduling. Visit www.getgopher.com for your free download. There are also free lawn care contracts, flyer, door hanger and web templates all ready to download as well. Thanks everyone for watching the show. Keep learning and keep making your dreams come true. Remember always to dream it, build it, Gopher It! Check out http://www.gophersoftware.com for more information and download the free trial of our lawn care business software. Also check out our FREE lawn care / landscaping / landscaper business contracts, door hanger, flyer and web templates available for free download at http://www.gophergraphics.com Less

Watch GopherHaul on youtube http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=TeamGopher GopherHaul is a show for lawn care operators, small business owners and entrepreneurs. In this episode we are going to be talking about: -How to stop customer churn and improve your customer retention. -How to assist a member of the military and get some free goodies from us. -How can you use high fuel prices as an advantage to gain new customers? -Check out the GopherHaul toy of the month to help you enjoy yourself more this is the Dixie Chopper monster truck. -We are going to see a new invention that has come in from a lawn care operator and GopherHaul viewer. And talk about our new free lawn care business book – Be a Lawn Care Business Rebel. Check out http://www.gophersoftware.com for more information and download the free trial of our lawn care business software. Also check out our FREE lawn care / landscaping / landscaper business contracts, door hanger, flyer and web templates available for free download at http://www.gophergraphics.com In each episode we discuss lawn care industry issues. We also Talk about different tips and tricks to improve your lawn care business This show’s goal is to get you excited about running your business and excited about life. If you haven’t started your own business yet, what are you waiting for? To paraphrase Warren Miller, If you don’t start your business this year, You’ll be at least one year older when you do. So get started today! In honor of armed forces day which was May 20th we wanted to reach our to our viewers and let them know there are ways they can help our soldiers and veterans. One of our friends Rodman owner of PNP Lawn Care has put together a site a great site. http://www.mowingfortroops.org Visit the site and you will learn more about project evergreen. Lawn and landscape maintenance becomes a definite hardship when a family’s major breadwinner is on active duty away from home. GreenCare for Troops is designed to show the green industry’s concern for this situation, helping affected families maintain their homes’ green spaces. We would love you to get involved and help an active or retired member of the armed forces. Contact Rodman or simply reach out in your community to see if there is a resident you can assist. Take some pictures and show us what you did. Out of the photos we will pick an lco who went above and beyond to help out a member of the military and we will send them (2 magnets 12?24…2-4 colors for their truck or trailer compliments of Tony From AMW-Graphics.com). And A Professionally Produced lawn care business program consisting of Business Tools, Manuals, Start-Up Guidance, Forms, Bidding and Estimating Tutorials, Estimating Calculators, Training Videos and much more designed to help you operate a successful Lawn Care Business. compliments of our friend Keith from summer101.com Send your photos to us at support @gophersoftware.com Next up – here is a section we call “Ask Team Gopher” A question came in from our forum member Gman. He asked”I am always getting new customers, but then I lose 1. There seems to be a big turnover all the time. Is this how it is in the lawn biz? Just wondering if this is normal or am i doing something wrong. I think that I’m offering my service too cheap for the amount of work that I’m doing for all my clients. When I’m there I am always doing a extra small job for every client to improve the yard. And nine out of ten time I’m no charging anything. I was talking to another lco, and he was telling me that I’m charging way to low. He would charge alot more then what I’m changing for the adverage lawn.” For answers to how to resolve this we turn to our friend Troy owner of Tiedeman llc. a Central Michigan provider of environmentally responsible lawn care. Troy say: “Perhaps you just have the wrong type of customers and it has nothing to do with you. Because of how low your price is you are attracting the price shoppers. Raise up your price and don’t be disappointed that when customers tell you that you’re too much. Don’t expect to land every single account. If you do land every account, then “yes” your prices are definetly too low.” Let me throw you an examples of different phone conservations that you might have with customers and in the conversations I am going to have what you SHOULD say and do. C=Customer and G=You Situation 1: G: This is Gman lawn care how may I help you. C: I am looking for someone to cut my lawn G: Are you looking for a one cut or seasonal service? C: I am just looking for a one time cut while my mower is serviced. G: Well, I am sorry, we do not offer one time cuts. Sorry I couldn’t help you. Conclusion: Do not take on one time mowers. You will gain nothing from it in the long run. All they want is a cheap fix, not a long term solution Situation 2: G: Hello, this is gman lawn service how may I help you C: How much would it be to mow my lawn? G: Well, I would have to come out and look at the property first to determine your price. C: Can’t you give me a ballpark over the phone G: No, Sorry I can not. Conclusion: Do not take on a customer that wants an estimate over the phone. Now if they ask you that they would like you to come over and give them an estimate, then that is a different story. Situation 3: G: Hello, this is gman lawn service, how may I help you? C: I would like an estimate for lawn maintenance. G: Now this is for the entire season, correct? C; Yes G: Great. I will just take down your address for I can meet with you for the estimate and to talk about the contract C; Contract? I am not signing a contract. G: I am sorry, but all lawn maintenance accounts are required to sign a contract. C: Forget it then Conclusion: Why would they want to refuse to sign a contract? More than likely they probably would not be a good customer that would try to stiff you out of money. Situation 4: G; Hello, this is gman lawn service, how many I help you? C; I need an estimate for lawn maintenance. G; Not a problem, I would be more than happy to give you an estimate for seasonal weekly mowing. C; No, I just need it mowed every 2 weeks. G; I am sorry, but we only offer weekly mowing services. Conclusion: This weeds out any bi-weekly customers lawns that may get super tall and super thick in which you would waste time and money on in the long run Thanks Troy for the great insight you have to share with us. To remind us all that life can’t be all about work and no play, Let’s check out our GopherHaul toy of the month As your business gets bigger and your profits grow where are you going to spend some of that hard earned money? Well here is our suggestion Check out the Dixie Chopper monster truck. The folks at dixie chopper sure know how to have a good time. This not only looks like an absolute blast to drive, it also serves as a marketing tool. It gets the dixie chopper name out to their target audience. I bet you many people who buy dixie chopper mowers love monster trucks. I know I do. Now let’s listen in a little to learn about this truck. What a blast. Great job Dixie Chopper. Ok so the season has started now and fuel prices are high. How can you use that as an advantage to gain new customers? Forum member Grounded wrote us with this tip: On your routes that have dead spots, print up a flyer for the neighborhood that could read something like: “Has your current lawn care company tried to impose a fuel surcharge, or have they told you they quit because they cant afford the gas – keep our number handy, Were local!” Here is a flyer we made and you can download it for free from our site www.gophergraphics.com then click on the link to the flyer designs. With some real effort – this could be a way to get your name out after the season rush has ended. We get calls from “dropped Customers” and they explain that the LCO wants more money because of travel. “ I have tried this and yes, feedback is great! I can understand hiding a fuel charge in the “per cost/cut” but you cant put a surcharge in a customers face and expect them to pay it! Thanks for the great tip grounded, I certainly hope other lcos are able to use this idea and benefit from it. We are always promoting you should experiment and explore. This episode of GopherHaul we are going to look at Dave Long’s invention the Blademate wrench. Dave wrote us and said “The BladeMate is a special wrench I invented and patented for changing the blades on mowers.” Check out this product he invented and then signed an exclusive deal with Oregon Outdoor Equipment Products to sell his invention. If you have a product you created and would like us to promote it to 10 of thousands of our viewers, send us an email at support@gophersoftware.com Do you need more viewers to your site? Post our show on your forum, blog, or website and we will promote it in a future gopherhaul episode. I’d like to thanks Matt’s Lawn Care Blog for including GopherHaul. Also did you know the GopherHaul audio version is now available for FREE through Apple’s iTunes. To listen to the podcasts simply load up your itunes and do a search for gopherhaul. We are now on myspace at www.myspace.com/teamgopher. If you are on there as well, send us a friend request! Our new free 100 page lawn care business e-book – Be a Lawn Care Business Rebel is available for download. Get this book and read it. It’s chock full of marketing tips and suggestions as well as information on how to run your lawn care business. Visit http://www.gophergraphics.com. Lastly don’t re-create the wheel, use the lawn care business software, professional lawn care business owners have been using for the past decade. Gopher Billing & Scheduling Software will help you schedule your jobs and get your bills out on time. You will be amazed how much easier the right tool can help your business grow. We offer great add on modules as well. Such as the Gopher Palm Software and Barcode reader. Did you know Gopher also links with Quickbooks? With our software currently on sale starting at just $99.95 and a free 30 day trial download, we make it easy for you to take the hassle out of billing and scheduling. Visit www.getgopher.com for your free download. There are also free lawn care contracts, flyer, door hanger and web templates all ready to download as well. Thanks everyone for watching the show. Keep learning and keep making your dreams come true. Remember always to dream it, build it, Gopher It! Less