LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR

start a landscape maintenance business part i by steve fleming w hen i was finishing up high school and getting ready for college my dad was facing a late in life career decision his trade was a dying technology in the printing business he was the last person practicing his craft in san diego ca but the shop he worked for was closing up the only other positions left in this trade on the west coast were in los angeles he really didn t want to move his hobby had always been gardening it occurred to him that perhaps he could stay in san diego and work as a gardener in his own business so he bought a landscape maintenance route and became self employed his new business flourished and soon he needed help this is the part of the story where i came in i needed a part time job as most teenagers do soon i was learning about landscape maintenance at first i just pushed the mower and edger when i started we didn t have line trimmers so that work was done with hand clippers i love the guy who invented the line trimmer then i learned the other basics of trimming and plant care part time jobs come and go and this one was no different my dad sold the business after a few years and ended up moving to la after all i continued on with college years later i found myself at a crossroad i was doing well in a management career but was unhappy in the field i was working what to do i felt a bit trapped read the whole article here the secret to gardening success by don engebretson the renegade gardener w henever someone asks quot how did you learn so much about gardening quot i answer quot i joined the minnesota state horticultural society quot when most people hear the word quot horticulture quot particularly in its noun form quot horticulturalist quot the mind conjures up images of an oak paneled drawing room wherein lie a handful of sharp nosed white whiskered old men ensconced in leather backed chairs clutching their pipes while nodding knowingly to their fellow arborists botanists and the like it s easy to imagine them in tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows and when they speak it s best to grant them british or at least upper class canadian accent read the whole article here being a pro here i am by steve fleming t he successful business is known to all of its potential customers the only way to do this is to let them know you exist you have to reach them and say quot here i am quot only then will you have the opportunity to show them your product or service so how do you reach all these people you certainly can t go out and meet every one of them face to face not today anyway so what do you do advertise that in case you were not aware of it is the magic word in the capitalist marketplace read the whole article here trimming around sprinkler heads by tom gowman p rior to the invention of pop up lawn sprinklers or sprinklers that popped up only an inch or so the gardener was faced with a dilemma the sprinklers were too low to spray over most grasses or were set to high for most mowers the solution came in three forms the first was obvious trim around the heads with grass shears lots of work but it achieved its aim read the whole article here high tech landscaping by walter olson t he world of high tech has arrived in the green industry although we do not yet have robots installing sod we do have very sophisticated computer programs to aid the landscaper gardener and architect one of the primary areas of computer use is in the design field there are computer systems ranging in price from under 1000 to over 30 000 these systems will provide anything from simple drawing aids to complete computer aided design packages no matter what computer hardware and software you may use the key word here is quot aid quot the computer will assist you but it will not do the creative work for you the computer eliminates the repetitve tasks and brings greater control and ease to your work read the whole article here regular columns the bottom line winning the sale by tom lanza l et s explore the main reasons sales are lost in the residential landscape market first of all i m sure we all agree that the residential and the commercial industrial landscape markets are altogether two different ballgames both are tremendous markets offering great challenges and opportunities in residential landscape sales people tend to make their decisions based on emotion to a greater extent than with commercial customers here is how it usually goes read the whole article here landscape amp garden book review flowers of southern africa by simon mitchem g orgeous is the only way to describe this magnificent book of watercolor botanical prints of the wild flowers of south africa it is a limited edition ours is 896 the author is also a botanist read the whole article here custom search in this issue start a landscape maintenance business part i the secret to gardening success being a pro here i am perennial profile hosta companions the truth about santa claus links columns perennial profile daylily companions irrigation internet search tips if you are looking for more information on the green industry and the landscaping lawn care and gardening business landscape contractor net has feature articles columns news and tips in each issue previous articles and information can be found in the archives for additional green industry information you can use a good search site such as google or all the web when doing a search use terms that define your interest typical search terms for the green industry are landscape contractor landscaper landscaping landscape maintenance garden gardener irrigation sprinklers waterscape ponds lawn lawn care lawns mowing grounds maintenance interiorscape nursery green industry landscape magazine garden magazine lawn care magazine lawn maintenance lawn equipment making a profit use two or three words that best describe your search such as start lawn care business you can add or delete words to refine your 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by steve fleming landscape contractor net copyright copy 2009 by pgb media amp sales inc page notes for web sites that wish to link to this page here is some relevant information that you may use to describe this page and it s information title landscape contractor net a website for professionals in the green industry description landscape contractor net is a website for people working in the green industry it also provides tips and tricks for landscape contractors lawn maintenance operators and gardeners to locate similar information important search terms to use are landscape contractor landscaper landscaping landscape maintenance garden gardener irrigation sprinklers waterscape ponds lawn lawn care lawns mowing grounds maintenance interiorscape nursery green industry landscape magazine garden magazine lawn care magazine lawn maintenance lawn equipment making a profit