Can you "fast-lane" a landscaping biz?

[SeanKelly]

Hey guys,

I've been working on a different type of service of business, but I sold my last business (landscaping) to my younger brother. He's been running it for about 6 months now bringing in only about $8,000 revenue/month because he's not as knowledgeable as me YET.

Because he's my brother, I obviously want to help him however I can. I'm thinking of a couple things I can do...

• Have him read MJ's book, keep teaching him, etc and keep him in the same direction of building his lawn maintenance business.
• Invest in his business for some equity and help grow it while I continue to run my home maintenance business
• Let it ride and possibly encourage him to think of new fast lane ideas to pursue

I think there is a lot of opportunity in landscaping/lawn maintenance because the industry is SO far behind technology wise. The customer experience is typically terrible with 9/10 companies.

What are your opinions guys?

 

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[Bigguns50]

http://www.toddsservices.com/

Maybe this will give you some ideas. He's only in MI and has been around forever. I even see his ads on the forum.
The only thought that comes to mind is franchising.

 

[SeanKelly]

http://www.toddsservices.com/

Maybe this will give you some ideas. He's only in MI and has been around forever. I even see his ads on the forum.
The only thought that comes to mind is franchising.

That's my hang up with this idea. I don't want my brother to be joe schmoe landscaper 30 years from now. I'd like to guide him in a direction that is more fast lane. First I wanted to try to help him fast lane his current business though before moving on to something completely new.

 

[smartman]

What's to say that this can't be the first step in your brother's journey to the fastlane. He can experience a lot of the ups and downs of owning a business now, when the stakes are only some shrubs getting ripped up, or a set of flowers getting mowed over, instead of losing a quarter of a million dollars on a software malfunction. We all need start up capital, and 8k a month is a great place to start. Plus, there's absolutely nothing wrong with running an honest, physical, service based business. Hopefully he can expand upon his business and have several crews running at once and have him reap the rewards. I wish him and you luck!

 

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[SeanKelly]

I really appreciate that! I just want to see him do well. I'd like to see what he can do, really. There are some huge landscaping companies so it can be done

 

[yveskleinsky]

Look at other companies that are similar and copy what they did right. Two men and a truck comes to mind. This is a simple service--2 guys and a truck who help you move. They made this fastlane by franchising it. I would think you could do something similar with landscaping.

 

[JasonR]

Hey Sean,

If I remember right, you talked about this business a few months ago. In fact, you had a kickass guy ready to mentor you, and I was waiting for you to reach out to me.

I also remember that you talked about starting a different venture a few weeks ago.

Anyways, you asked this exact same question. Now, it appears you sold the business to your brother.

I think you know the answer, you just haven't accepted it yet.

However, I'm not saying you can't tweak the business to make it more scalable.

Make a decision, and give it 120% effort. Good luck.

 

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[Simon Ashari]

In Australia we have 'Jim's mowing'. A lawn care business that was successfully franchised out. Worth looking it up.

The owner of Jim's Mowing then branched out into many other businesses and franchised them out.

A great book is 'The E-Myth Revisited' by Michael E Gerber. The book talks about working on the business system and making operations manuals. In other words, treating any business like a franchise business (even if it isn't).