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A Guide: How I've built my service business from scratch

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Michael Burgess

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Hi everyone! Michael here.

Short on cash? Don't have any Fastlane ideas to work on? Do you wish that somehow, you could get some traction to improve your life?

Perhaps you should start a service business! Hear me out.

You don't need much (or ANY, if you're hungry enough!) cash initially.

You can start selling and generating profit damn near overnight.

The skills you learn can be applied to any of your future endeavours, personal or professional.

I'm writing a short guide / story here on how I've built a landscaping business, in hopes it might inspire you to get your own business going. This isn't super short, but hopefully is an interesting read.

*** Please note: I'm not an authority figure - I'm not a millionaire yet, don't have all the answers, and certainly haven't always made the best decisions. I just hope my path can help you on yours ***

My story starts a few years ago, right after I graduated from high school. I travelled for a while and developed an interest in agriculture and sustainability - this led me to create a little organic garden that produced food for farmers markets and restaurants.

My first landscaping client found out about my garden, and wanted one in her own backyard at her cottage. Without any experience or money, I awkwardly fumbled through the sale and made a deal with her. We agreed to a project where I would build a garden using logs and materials from the forest around her property, and import soil and seeds. I literally borrowed my parents Toyota corolla and put plastic bags full of cow crap into the trunk to drag out to my clients property. I didn't have power tools, so I used a hand-saw to cut up old dead trees from the bushes.

I spent four or five days building this garden for her. My labour earned me $1000, which made me pretty happy at the time!

Word kind of got around about my gardening, and I scored some simple cleanup jobs. I pulled weeds, cut shrubs, and put mulch onto garden beds. I didn't have much experience doing this sort of thing before, but it wasn't hard. I just did what I thought would make peoples homes look better, and charged really low prices for it. Work kept coming in. Initially, I was still borrowing my parents car when I could, and used super cheap hand tools purchased with money from previous projects.

Before long, I bought my first pickup truck - a 1998 Dodge Dakota. It did the trick though - it could hold a lot more gardening material and tools than my parents car! My Uncle and I even fixed up the rust and painted the truck in his backyard, giving it a cleaner appearance. Around this time, I started to take my business more seriously. I made business cards, started telling more people what I was doing, and started to figure out how to price jobs.

The next jump I had was getting into services beyond gardening - I actually got two clients that wanted to lay interlocking stone, and just needed a "young strong kid" to do the grunt work. During those projects, I was actually getting paid to learn how to do stone work (a much more lucrative service!).

Screw school, Mom and Dad... I'm getting paid to learn how to do this business thing! My business was starting to pick up. I had a little trailer, my truck, and some more sophisticated tools to get work done.

After I had my truck stolen on a cross-Canada road trip (a story for another day..), I was looking to buy a cheap truck online near my hometown. By chance, the truck I decided to buy was actually owned by another landscaper - somebody my age who had a much bigger company. That person ended up becoming a mentor to me in a lot of ways. He shared business ideas, marketing techniques, pricing information, supplied me material, and saved my a$$ a couple of times. To this day, that relationship is invaluable to me... but I would have never met that mentor unless I'd gone through those earlier steps that put me in the right place at the right time.

As time went on, I continued to grow my business organically. Added equipment, eventually hired a full-time employee, built a website, etc. To be honest, a lot of this time getting my business off the ground has been stressful. I had to support myself fully from the business, in addition to re-investing what I could, WHILE figuring out how to actually run a business! I definitely had absolutely no clue what I was doing when I started. I just made do with what I had available to me, and busted my butt off working in the dirt and sun.

Now, nearly entering my third season of landscaping, I'm starting to get a grip on the business and my work. My company can effectively offer services for gardening, stone installation, snow removal, tree removal, property cleanups, and more. What's really cool is that I'm actually taking over another business in my town related to landscaping - a 25 acre tree farm. I made a deal with the previous owner of the business to take over his headache for no money down.

This tree farm has a great office space, drive-in workshop, and tons of equipment (like a skid steer!) that I have access to. I'm going to re-brand the tree farm under my own company name, supply trees and other plants for gardening, and operate my landscaping services from the property. The corner property its on has ridiculous visibility and traffic, and will really add some credibility to my brand.

The (basic) plan for the upcoming year is to settle into the property, mechanize my landscaping services more (mini excavator, skid steer, mechanized wheelbarrow, etc), build a great team of employees, and generate enough profit to invest in a multi-family home before the end of the season.

There's definitely some big challenges to overcome in the upcoming season, but I'm really excited about it. I love my work. If I didn't make it clear enough though, being self employed has been incredibly difficult in a lot of ways - it's taken TONS of hours of work and research, has strained my relationships, has pushed me beyond physical limits I thought I had, absolutely destroyed my bank account more times than I care to remember, and more. It's been one hell of a journey to get wrapped up in, though I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm proud of where my business is today and where it's going - only a few years has been a lot of progress since my parents Corolla. Even though I haven't "made it" yet, I feel great hope that I can become financially free in a relatively short period of time. Owning my own small business gives me a great sense of purpose, control over my income, and responsibility.

If you don't already have your own business going, and the idea interests you, I'd urge you to JUST START! I didn't really have a grasp of where I was going (or how I could possibly get there) when I started... but those things become more clear as you walk down the path. Whatever it is you want to do, you almost certainly have enough to get started on it right this moment.

Maybe your first service will be gardening or lawn cutting. It could be window washing, house painting, renovation work, roofing, or something else you already have experience in. Perhaps you'll design websites or take beautiful photographs for people. I don't know what your skills or interests are, or what your local market is like. What I DO know is that if you're good at something that helps other people, you can get paid to do it, and can build a business around that.

I hope this helps you get some gears going about how to get your own little business going. Who knows where you could take it?!

Feel free to ask any questions you have or leave any criticisms you want. Cheers!
 
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Jo iwiszupi! Nodjeim jisi.

Tjusv up detj? Fup'v jewi epz Getvmepi ofiet vu xusl up? Fu zua xotj vjev tunijux, zua duamf hiv tuni vsedvoup vu onqsuwi zuas mogi?

Qisjeqt zua tjuamf tvesv e tiswodi catopitt! Jies ni uav.

Zua fup'v piif nadj (us EPZ, og zua'si japhsz ipuahj!) detj opovoemmz.

Zua dep tvesv timmoph epf hipisevoph qsugov fenp pies uwispohjv.

Vji tlommt zua miesp dep ci eqqmoif vu epz ug zuas gavasi ipfiewuast, qistupem us qsugittoupem.

O'n xsovoph e tjusv haofi / tvusz jisi up jux O'wi caomv e mepftdeqoph catopitt, op juqit ov nohjv optqosi zua vu hiv zuas uxp catopitt huoph. Vjot otp'v taqis tjusv, cav juqigammz ot ep opvisitvoph sief.

*** Qmieti puvi: O'n puv ep eavjusovz gohasi - O'n puv e nommoupeosi ziv, fup'v jewi emm vji eptxist, epf disveopmz jewip'v emxezt nefi vji citv fidotoupt. O katv juqi nz qevj dep jimq zua up zuast ***

Nz tvusz tvesvt e gix ziest ehu, sohjv egvis O hsefaevif gsun johj tdjuum. O vsewimmif gus e xjomi epf fiwimuqif ep opvisitv op ehsodamvasi epf tatveopecomovz - vjot mif ni vu dsievi e movvmi ushepod hesfip vjev qsufadif guuf gus gesnist neslivt epf sitveasepvt.

Nz gostv mepftdeqoph dmoipv guapf uav ecuav nz hesfip, epf xepvif upi op jis uxp cedlzesf ev jis duvvehi. Xovjuav epz iyqisoipdi us nupiz, O exlxesfmz gancmif vjsuahj vji temi epf nefi e fiem xovj jis. Xi ehsiif vu e qsukidv xjisi O xuamf caomf e hesfip atoph muht epf nevisoemt gsun vji gusitv esuapf jis qsuqisvz, epf onqusv tuom epf tiift. O movisemmz cussuxif nz qesipvt Vuzuve dusumme epf qav qmetvod ceht gamm ug dux dseq opvu vji vsapl vu fseh uav vu nz dmoipvt qsuqisvz. O fofp'v jewi quxis vuumt, tu O atif e jepf-tex vu dav aq umf fief vsiit gsun vji catjit.

O tqipv guas us gowi fezt caomfoph vjot hesfip gus jis. Nz mecuas iespif ni $1000, xjodj nefi ni qsivvz jeqqz ev vji voni!

Xusf lopf ug huv esuapf ecuav nz hesfipoph, epf O tdusif tuni tonqmi dmiepaq kuct. O qammif xiift, dav tjsact, epf qav namdj upvu hesfip cift. O fofp'v jewi nadj iyqisoipdi fuoph vjot tusv ug vjoph cigusi, cav ov xetp'v jesf. O katv fof xjev O vjuahjv xuamf neli qiuqmit junit muul civvis, epf djeshif siemmz mux qsodit gus ov. Xusl liqv dunoph op. Opovoemmz, O xet tvomm cussuxoph nz qesipvt des xjip O duamf, epf atif taqis djieq jepf vuumt qasdjetif xovj nupiz gsun qsiwouat qsukidvt.

Cigusi muph, O cuahjv nz gostv qodlaq vsadl - e 1998 Fufhi Feluve. Ov fof vji vsodl vjuahj - ov duamf jumf e muv nusi hesfipoph nevisoem epf vuumt vjep nz qesipvt des! Nz Apdmi epf O iwip goyif aq vji satv epf qeopvif vji vsadl op jot cedlzesf, howoph ov e dmiepis eqqiesepdi. Esuapf vjot voni, O tvesvif vu veli nz catopitt nusi tisouatmz. O nefi catopitt desft, tvesvif vimmoph nusi qiuqmi xjev O xet fuoph, epf tvesvif vu gohasi uav jux vu qsodi kuct.

Vji piyv kanq O jef xet hivvoph opvu tiswodit cizupf hesfipoph - O edvaemmz huv vxu dmoipvt vjev xepvif vu mez opvismudloph tvupi, epf katv piifif e "zuaph tvsuph lof" vu fu vji hsapv xusl. Fasoph vjuti qsukidvt, O xet edvaemmz hivvoph qeof vu miesp jux vu fu tvupi xusl (e nadj nusi madsevowi tiswodi!).

Tdsix tdjuum, Nun epf Fef... O'n hivvoph qeof vu miesp jux vu fu vjot catopitt vjoph! Nz catopitt xet tvesvoph vu qodl aq. O jef e movvmi vseomis, nz vsadl, epf tuni nusi tuqjotvodevif vuumt vu hiv xusl fupi.

Egvis O jef nz vsadl tvumip up e dsutt-Depefe suef vsoq (e tvusz gus epuvjis fez..), O xet muuloph vu caz e djieq vsadl upmopi pies nz junivuxp. Cz djepdi, vji vsadl O fidofif vu caz xet edvaemmz uxpif cz epuvjis mepftdeqis - tunicufz nz ehi xju jef e nadj cohhis dunqepz. Vjev qistup ipfif aq cidunoph e nipvus vu ni op e muv ug xezt. Ji tjesif catopitt ofiet, neslivoph vidjporait, qsodoph opgusnevoup, taqqmoif ni nevisoem, epf tewif nz ett e duaqmi ug vonit. Vu vjot fez, vjev simevouptjoq ot opwemaecmi vu ni... cav O xuamf jewi piwis niv vjev nipvus apmitt O'f hupi vjsuahj vjuti iesmois tviqt vjev qav ni op vji sohjv qmedi ev vji sohjv voni.

Et voni xipv up, O dupvopaif vu hsux nz catopitt ushepodemmz. Effif iraoqnipv, iwipvaemmz josif e gamm-voni inqmuzii, caomv e xictovi, ivd. Vu ci jupitv, e muv ug vjot voni hivvoph nz catopitt ugg vji hsuapf jet ciip tvsittgam. O jef vu taqqusv nztimg gammz gsun vji catopitt, op effovoup vu si-opwitvoph xjev O duamf, XJOMI gohasoph uav jux vu edvaemmz sap e catopitt! O figopovimz jef ectumavimz pu dmai xjev O xet fuoph xjip O tvesvif. O katv nefi fu xovj xjev O jef eweomecmi vu ni, epf catvif nz cavv ugg xusloph op vji fosv epf tap.

Pux, piesmz ipvisoph nz vjosf tietup ug mepftdeqoph, O'n tvesvoph vu hiv e hsoq up vji catopitt epf nz xusl. Nz dunqepz dep iggidvowimz uggis tiswodit gus hesfipoph, tvupi optvemmevoup, tpux sinuwem, vsii sinuwem, qsuqisvz dmiepaqt, epf nusi. Xjev't siemmz duum ot vjev O'n edvaemmz veloph uwis epuvjis catopitt op nz vuxp simevif vu mepftdeqoph - e 25 edsi vsii gesn. O nefi e fiem xovj vji qsiwouat uxpis ug vji catopitt vu veli uwis jot jiefedji gus pu nupiz fuxp.

Vjot vsii gesn jet e hsiev uggodi tqedi, fsowi-op xusltjuq, epf vupt ug iraoqnipv (moli e tlof tviis!) vjev O jewi edditt vu. O'n huoph vu si-csepf vji vsii gesn apfis nz uxp dunqepz peni, taqqmz vsiit epf uvjis qmepvt gus hesfipoph, epf uqisevi nz mepftdeqoph tiswodit gsun vji qsuqisvz. Vji duspis qsuqisvz ovt up jet sofodamuat wotocomovz epf vseggod, epf xomm siemmz eff tuni dsifocomovz vu nz csepf.

Vji (cetod) qmep gus vji aqdunoph zies ot vu tivvmi opvu vji qsuqisvz, nidjepobi nz mepftdeqoph tiswodit nusi (nopo iydewevus, tlof tviis, nidjepobif xjiimcessux, ivd), caomf e hsiev vien ug inqmuziit, epf hipisevi ipuahj qsugov vu opwitv op e namvo-genomz juni cigusi vji ipf ug vji tietup.

Vjisi't figopovimz tuni coh djemmiphit vu uwisduni op vji aqdunoph tietup, cav O'n siemmz iydovif ecuav ov. O muwi nz xusl. Og O fofp'v neli ov dmies ipuahj vjuahj, cioph timg inqmuzif jet ciip opdsifocmz foggodamv op e muv ug xezt - ov't velip VUPT ug juast ug xusl epf sitiesdj, jet tvseopif nz simevouptjoqt, jet qatjif ni cizupf qjztodem monovt O vjuahjv O jef, ectumavimz fitvsuzif nz cepl edduapv nusi vonit vjep O desi vu sinincis, epf nusi. Ov't ciip upi jimm ug e kuaspiz vu hiv xseqqif aq op, vjuahj O xuamfp'v jewi ov epz uvjis xez.

O'n qsuaf ug xjisi nz catopitt ot vufez epf xjisi ov't huoph - upmz e gix ziest jet ciip e muv ug qsuhsitt topdi nz qesipvt Dusumme. Iwip vjuahj O jewip'v "nefi ov" ziv, O giim hsiev juqi vjev O dep ciduni gopepdoemmz gsii op e simevowimz tjusv qisouf ug voni. Uxpoph nz uxp tnemm catopitt howit ni e hsiev tipti ug qasquti, dupvsum uwis nz opduni, epf sitquptocomovz.

Og zua fup'v emsiefz jewi zuas uxp catopitt huoph, epf vji ofie opvisitvt zua, O'f ashi zua vu KATV TVESV! O fofp'v siemmz jewi e hsetq ug xjisi O xet huoph (us jux O duamf quttocmz hiv vjisi) xjip O tvesvif... cav vjuti vjopht ciduni nusi dmies et zua xeml fuxp vji qevj. Xjeviwis ov ot zua xepv vu fu, zua emnutv disveopmz jewi ipuahj vu hiv tvesvif up ov sohjv vjot nunipv.

Nezci zuas gostv tiswodi xomm ci hesfipoph us mexp davvoph. Ov duamf ci xopfux xetjoph, juati qeopvoph, sipuwevoup xusl, suugoph, us tunivjoph imti zua emsiefz jewi iyqisoipdi op. Qisjeqt zua'mm fitohp xictovit us veli cieavogam qjuvuhseqjt gus qiuqmi. O fup'v lpux xjev zuas tlommt us opvisitvt esi, us xjev zuas mudem nesliv ot moli. Xjev O FU lpux ot vjev og zua'si huuf ev tunivjoph vjev jimqt uvjis qiuqmi, zua dep hiv qeof vu fu ov, epf dep caomf e catopitt esuapf vjev.

O juqi vjot jimqt zua hiv tuni hiest huoph ecuav jux vu hiv zuas uxp movvmi catopitt huoph. Xju lpuxt xjisi zua duamf veli ov?!

Giim gsii vu etl epz raitvoupt zua jewi us miewi epz dsovodotnt zua xepv. Djiist!
Og zua jewip'v emsiefz, O sidunnipf siefoph "I-nzvj". Zua tuapf moli zua esi ev vji qmedi op caomfoph zuas cob vjev vji cuul dep ci ug jimq (nopf tiv xoti). Hsiev tvesv epf liiq up qatjoph ov.
 
Og zua jewip'v emsiefz, O sidunnipf siefoph "I-nzvj". Zua tuapf moli zua esi ev vji qmedi op caomfoph zuas cob vjev vji cuul dep ci ug jimq (nopf tiv xoti). Hsiev tvesv epf liiq up qatjoph ov.

Gappz zua nipvoup vjev. O sidipvmz qasdjetif e duqz ug vji I-Nzvj! O'n qsivvz tasi vjiz edvaemmz nefi wistoupt ug vji cuul tqidogod vu foggisipv opfatvsoit (opdmafoph mepftdeqoph) vjuahj O duamfp'v gopf e duqz ev nz mudem cuultvusi.
 
O'wi xevdjif e muv ug Liovj Lemget't wofiut up zuavaci cigusi, ziej! Ji't huv tuni huuf dupvipv gus tunicufz vu tvesv vjios uxp catopitt epf ji xet e coh tuasdi ug optqosevoup xjip O xet cihoppoph. Ov tiint moli jot catopitt jet jov e cov ug e xemm hsuxoph vjuahj.

Emtu, O jewip'v kuopif nz mudem djencis ug dunnisdi ziv cav O qmep vu vjot zies :)
 
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