http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/15950 en-us This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ Business Discussions on lawn care marketing, business and on being an entrepreneur. Join our forum at getgopher.com, watch the GopherHaul show on youtube. Get involved, learn and grow! Create your dream business! This Podcast was created using www.talkshoe.com 720 http://www.talkshoe.com/custom/images/icons/TC-15950-MainIcon.jpg http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/15950 100 100 Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Lawn Care Marketing Business Discussions on lawn care marketing, business and on being an entrepreneur. Join our forum at getgopher.com, watch the GopherHaul show on youtube. Get involved, learn and grow! Create your dream business! This Podcast was created using www.talkshoe.com Gopher Lawn Care Software support@gophersoftware.com clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-152492.mp3 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:00:00 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-152492.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-152492.mp3 Lawn care business owners are always looking for a way to keep their name and phone number in front of potential customers. Here is an idea to make sure you stick around. Why not get some magnets. But not just any old magnet, how about one that pays for itself and could even make you a profit. Here is what you can do. Get a list of local important numbers in the area. Town numbers like the mayor, police, library, water and sewer dept. You can find most of these on your towns websites. Then list other numbers like local pizzerias, sub shops, and others. Maybe get a local electrician, plumber, carpenter, roofer etc. They could potentially help you buy some of these magnets and hand them out themselves as well, to help offset the costs. Then have a section for lawn care and list only your phone number. Stick these on doors in your area and be sure that your number will stick around for quite some time. You could also have different discounts for services through out the year. One of our forum members' Rob had such an easy time selling them. Why? Because he knew most of the people he was presenting the idea too and they trusted him. http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7522 http://lawnchat.com/?p=224 This is a great lesson in how the more people you know, the more you can sell. So if you are looking for a wild way to get media attention, why not consider this idea. Run for president! http://lawnchat.com/?p=239 http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7548 If you put up lawn signs along the road and they are for your lawn care business, they will get pulled by your local township. But what if you were running for president? Your lawn signs would stay up and the local media would want to know all about what you are doing. Wouldnâ??t this be a great way to get noticed in your area? Is it crazy? Yes it is. Crazy enough to get you attention. Why not do this. Register a domain bobforpresident.com Have that domain forwarded to a subfolder of your lawn care business This will then allow you to get the people visiting your political website to then be forwarded to your business website where you would have a separate page for your political campaign. Create political signs with your picture on it. Create some kind of platform you are running for. The more quasi-serious you keep it, the better the chance it will get picked up by your local media. Ask people to write you in on the ballot. Create door hangers and flyers for this. Hand them out. Meet people in your area. When the election is over, everyone will still be talking about you. Create a video of you talking about your platform and upload it to youtube. Get all your friends involved. Have them put signs on their car doors and trunks. Your political party could be the grass roots party. Which leads me to another marketing idea. How about these new free does lawn care make you crazy postcards? http://lawnchat.com/?p=236 http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7559 I also put together a new free lawn care business irrigation winterization postcard design http://lawnchat.com/?p=246 As well as a new fall leaf clean up postcard design http://lawnchat.com/?p=233 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 28 - Landscaping and Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show. Lawn care business owners are always looking for a way to keep their name and phone number in front of potential customers. Here is an idea to make sure you stick around. Why not get some magnets. But not just any old magnet, how about one that pays for itself and could even make you a profit. Here is what you can do. Get a list of local important numbers in the area. Town numbers like the mayor, police, library, water and sewer dept. You can find most of these on your towns websites. Then list other numbers like local pizzerias, sub shops, and others. Maybe get a local electrician, plumber, carpenter, roofer etc. They could potentially help you buy some of these magnets and hand them out themselves as well, to help offset the costs. Then have a section for lawn care and list only your phone number. Stick these on doors in your area and be sure that your number will stick around for quite some time. You could also have different discounts for services through out the year. One of our forum members' Rob had such an easy time selling them. Why? Because he knew most of the people he was presenting the idea too and they trusted him. http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7522 http://lawnchat.com/?p=224 This is a great lesson in how the more people you know, the more you can sell. So if you are looking for a wild way to get media attention, why not consider this idea. Run for president! http://lawnchat.com/?p=239 http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7548 If you put up lawn signs along the road and they are for your lawn care business, they will get pulled by your local township. But what if you were running for president? Your lawn signs would stay up and the local media would want to know all about what you are doing. Wouldnâ??t this be a great way to get noticed in your area? Is it crazy? Yes it is. Crazy enough to get you attention. Why not do this. Register a domain bobforpresident.com Have that domain forwarded to a subfolder of your lawn care business This will then allow you to get the people visiting your political website to then be forwarded to your business website where you would have a separate page for your political campaign. Create political signs with your picture on it. Create some kind of platform you are running for. The more quasi-serious you keep it, the better the chance it will get picked up by your local media. Ask people to write you in on the ballot. Create door hangers and flyers for this. Hand them out. Meet people in your area. When the election is over, everyone will still be talking about you. Create a video of you talking about your platform and upload it to youtube. Get all your friends involved. Have them put signs on their car doors and trunks. Your political party could be the grass roots party. Which leads me to another marketing idea. How about these new free does lawn care make you crazy postcards? http://lawnchat.com/?p=236 http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7559 I also put together a new free lawn care business irrigation winterization postcard design http://lawnchat.com/?p=246 As well as a new fall leaf clean up postcard design http://lawnchat.com/?p=233 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. 10:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-146015.mp3 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:00:00 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-146015.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-146015.mp3 Title: GopherHaul 27 - Lawn Care Software Business Marketing Forum Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 27 - Lawn Care Software Business Forum Show Intro. First off I'd like to say hi to everyone after this summer's hiatus from producing the GopherHaul Show. There has a lot that has been going on. If you haven't noticed, the Gopher Forum has gotten a make over and a new website. Http://www.gopherforum.com I have been busy trying to organize all the great lawn care business content on there to provide you with an easier way to read and learn. Also I got a bunch of lawn care business and lawn care marketing books published. There are some on sale too so jump on this. Click on the link on the Gopher Lawn Care Business forum. Here are a listing of the new lawn care business books. Stop Lowballing! A Lawn Care Business Owner's Guide To Success The GopherHaul Lawn Care Marketing & Landscaping Business Show Episode Guide. How to get customers for your landscaping and lawn care business all year long. Volume #1 & #2 The Big Lawn Care Marketing Book How to use Gopher Lawn Care Business Billing & Scheduling Software. The landscaping and lawn care business plan startup guide. This one is just about to be published. Fall leaf clean up letter. I want to thank Gary for sharing with us this fall lawn care business leaf clean up letter. Before fall comes along, why not send out this letter in your invoices to your lawn care customers. Ask them how you should handle their leaf clean up and also offer other additional fall services like gutter cleaning. Gary also suggested when bidding out your gutter cleaning, he charges $60 per hour. This should help you when you are estimating your jobs. Read more about this discussion and download the letter here http://www.gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7455&page=2 http://lawnchat.com/?p=213 How to get your lawn care business on commercial lawn care bid lists? Ron wrote â??Hi me and my brother have mainly had residential accounts and a couple commercial accounts. We are trying to get 2 to3 town homes this next season. The only problem is that we are not sure how we get a meeting with the association. We are hoping that somebody could help us out on this, and maybe tell us how they came about getting townhomes. If you are looking to get commercial lawn care accounts next year, now is the time to get on their bid lists. This also applies to home owner associations and condos. There is a new free lawn care business letter for this in the letter section. http://www.gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7209 Lawn Care Marketing Idea This fall when your lawn care business is looking for more services to offer, why not consider offering your lawn care customers, stump grinding services. Our friend Bob from plan-itgraphics.com put together this great flyer concept to help you sell your stump grinding services. Why not get some of these flyers printed up and then hand them out in your area. Try and schedule as many stump grinding services as closely together and then rent a stump grinder for a couple of days. You could also consider placing an ad in a local paper and mentioning 10% off stump grinding services if you contact us by xx/xx/xx. Or you could use a catchy headline like GET RID OF THAT EYESORE STUMP. Service your lawn care customerâ??s stumps and make some great money to get your through the winter! If you are unsure about how to price your stump grinding services consider this and visit the post on this discussion at the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. Large stump grinding services range around $150-$300. Small stumps are about $75. http://lawnchat.com/?p=214 http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7356 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 27 - Lawn Care Software Business Marketing Forum Show Title: GopherHaul 27 - Lawn Care Software Business Marketing Forum Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 27 - Lawn Care Software Business Forum Show Intro. First off I'd like to say hi to everyone after this summer's hiatus from producing the GopherHaul Show. There has a lot that has been going on. If you haven't noticed, the Gopher Forum has gotten a make over and a new website. Http://www.gopherforum.com I have been busy trying to organize all the great lawn care business content on there to provide you with an easier way to read and learn. Also I got a bunch of lawn care business and lawn care marketing books published. There are some on sale too so jump on this. Click on the link on the Gopher Lawn Care Business forum. Here are a listing of the new lawn care business books. Stop Lowballing! A Lawn Care Business Owner's Guide To Success The GopherHaul Lawn Care Marketing & Landscaping Business Show Episode Guide. How to get customers for your landscaping and lawn care business all year long. Volume #1 & #2 The Big Lawn Care Marketing Book How to use Gopher Lawn Care Business Billing & Scheduling Software. The landscaping and lawn care business plan startup guide. This one is just about to be published. Fall leaf clean up letter. I want to thank Gary for sharing with us this fall lawn care business leaf clean up letter. Before fall comes along, why not send out this letter in your invoices to your lawn care customers. Ask them how you should handle their leaf clean up and also offer other additional fall services like gutter cleaning. Gary also suggested when bidding out your gutter cleaning, he charges $60 per hour. This should help you when you are estimating your jobs. Read more about this discussion and download the letter here http://www.gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7455&page=2 http://lawnchat.com/?p=213 How to get your lawn care business on commercial lawn care bid lists? Ron wrote â??Hi me and my brother have mainly had residential accounts and a couple commercial accounts. We are trying to get 2 to3 town homes this next season. The only problem is that we are not sure how we get a meeting with the association. We are hoping that somebody could help us out on this, and maybe tell us how they came about getting townhomes. If you are looking to get commercial lawn care accounts next year, now is the time to get on their bid lists. This also applies to home owner associations and condos. There is a new free lawn care business letter for this in the letter section. http://www.gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7209 Lawn Care Marketing Idea This fall when your lawn care business is looking for more services to offer, why not consider offering your lawn care customers, stump grinding services. Our friend Bob from plan-itgraphics.com put together this great flyer concept to help you sell your stump grinding services. Why not get some of these flyers printed up and then hand them out in your area. Try and schedule as many stump grinding services as closely together and then rent a stump grinder for a couple of days. You could also consider placing an ad in a local paper and mentioning 10% off stump grinding services if you contact us by xx/xx/xx. Or you could use a catchy headline like GET RID OF THAT EYESORE STUMP. Service your lawn care customerâ??s stumps and make some great money to get your through the winter! If you are unsure about how to price your stump grinding services consider this and visit the post on this discussion at the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. Large stump grinding services range around $150-$300. Small stumps are about $75. http://lawnchat.com/?p=214 http://gopherforum.com/showthread.php?t=7356 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. 07:50 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-125649.mp3 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:00:00 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-125649.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-125649.mp3 This is Steve with GopherHaul. Check out the GopherHaul video show on youtube and download Gopher Lawn Care Business Software at http://www.gophersoftware.com I am here today with Keith Harper of www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com A recent question on the Gopher Lawn Care Business forum had to do with bidding government mowing contract. Keith has experience bidding and winning large scale government contracts and he is willing to share some advice on the procedure. GH: Keith, how does a lawn care company go about finding which contracts they might want to bid on? SALCB: There are four primary avenues to finding contract on which to bid. 1) Newspapers: Many local governments have a set schedule to place public notices in the newspaper classified section. Normally they are placed Mondays or Wednesdays. Keep an eye on your local newspaper in the classifieds section under the "Public Notices" heading. 2) Purchasing Departments: For anyone wishing to bid on a contract it is imperative for them to get their name known at their local purchasing department. Many smaller contracts are knows as "no bid contracts." The threshold of when a contract is no-bid depends on the contracting agency. Often, any job under $250 can be a no-bid contract. The purchasing department is your primary source for this information. 3) Bidding Lists: Bidding list are handled through the purchasing department. A contractor requests being put on a bidding list. He will normally sign an acknowledgement that he has read a statement of conduct outlining the basic regulations of bidding jobs. 4) Agency Website: Most government agencies now put their contracts up for bid on their websites. Do not rely on any one of these avenues. An LCO should follow through with each one. GH: You mention Purchasing Departments. Where do you find the purchasing department? Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul discussion on how lawn care business can get government bids. This is Steve with GopherHaul. Check out the GopherHaul video show on youtube and download Gopher Lawn Care Business Software at http://www.gophersoftware.com I am here today with Keith Harper of www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com A recent question on the Gopher Lawn Care Business forum had to do with bidding government mowing contract. Keith has experience bidding and winning large scale government contracts and he is willing to share some advice on the procedure. GH: Keith, how does a lawn care company go about finding which contracts they might want to bid on? SALCB: There are four primary avenues to finding contract on which to bid. 1) Newspapers: Many local governments have a set schedule to place public notices in the newspaper classified section. Normally they are placed Mondays or Wednesdays. Keep an eye on your local newspaper in the classifieds section under the "Public Notices" heading. 2) Purchasing Departments: For anyone wishing to bid on a contract it is imperative for them to get their name known at their local purchasing department. Many smaller contracts are knows as "no bid contracts." The threshold of when a contract is no-bid depends on the contracting agency. Often, any job under $250 can be a no-bid contract. The purchasing department is your primary source for this information. 3) Bidding Lists: Bidding list are handled through the purchasing department. A contractor requests being put on a bidding list. He will normally sign an acknowledgement that he has read a statement of conduct outlining the basic regulations of bidding jobs. 4) Agency Website: Most government agencies now put their contracts up for bid on their websites. Do not rely on any one of these avenues. An LCO should follow through with each one. GH: You mention Purchasing Departments. Where do you find the purchasing department? 09:50 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-116487.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:00:00 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-116487.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-116487.mp3 Title: GopherHaul 26 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 26 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show GopherHaul breaks the 1,000,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us! New 1-on-1 private lawn care business consulting forum added. I just added a new section to the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. This section will fill a gap that I have seen for quite some time. I have met a few very talented businessmen and lawn care business authors who are able to assist in answering questions on the forum. However they were not able to dedicate the amount of time that they could have because of other commitments. So I asked them, if we set up a private forum area where a reader paid a subscription fee of $19.95 a month to get 1-on-1 business consulting advice, would they be able to make time to assist the forum readers? They both agreed, so lucky for us, we now have access to tap into their insights and thoughts for business advice. If you are running a lawn care business and are in need of business advice that will put you ahead of your competition by leaps and bounds all for less than the price of mowing one lawn per month, we have a great service for you. To sign up, either visit the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum or visit Keith's site at http://www.startalawncarebusiness.com or visit Ken's website at http://www.lawnguru.net and you can sign up for a subscription from either lawn care business expert. New Lawn Care Business Book I just got our latest Gopher Lawn Care Business Book â??Stop Lowballing, A Lawn Care Business Owner's Guide To Successâ?? available online. It's 122 pages packed with great information we learned over the years on the forum. You should get this book and read it to help yourself grow and succeed. To order the book visit http://www.createspace.com/3342248 or check it out on amazon.com in the next few days. Also I am putting together the GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Show Episode Guide and I want to include as many of the forum members as possible. So please send me your photos for the book cover and a short bio I can use to promote your business. Visit this post to learn more and see what others have sent me so far. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=NW;f=22;t=7967 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 26 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show Title: GopherHaul 26 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show Show description: Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 26 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Forum Show GopherHaul breaks the 1,000,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us! New 1-on-1 private lawn care business consulting forum added. I just added a new section to the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum. This section will fill a gap that I have seen for quite some time. I have met a few very talented businessmen and lawn care business authors who are able to assist in answering questions on the forum. However they were not able to dedicate the amount of time that they could have because of other commitments. So I asked them, if we set up a private forum area where a reader paid a subscription fee of $19.95 a month to get 1-on-1 business consulting advice, would they be able to make time to assist the forum readers? They both agreed, so lucky for us, we now have access to tap into their insights and thoughts for business advice. If you are running a lawn care business and are in need of business advice that will put you ahead of your competition by leaps and bounds all for less than the price of mowing one lawn per month, we have a great service for you. To sign up, either visit the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum or visit Keith's site at http://www.startalawncarebusiness.com or visit Ken's website at http://www.lawnguru.net and you can sign up for a subscription from either lawn care business expert. New Lawn Care Business Book I just got our latest Gopher Lawn Care Business Book â??Stop Lowballing, A Lawn Care Business Owner's Guide To Successâ?? available online. It's 122 pages packed with great information we learned over the years on the forum. You should get this book and read it to help yourself grow and succeed. To order the book visit http://www.createspace.com/3342248 or check it out on amazon.com in the next few days. Also I am putting together the GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Show Episode Guide and I want to include as many of the forum members as possible. So please send me your photos for the book cover and a short bio I can use to promote your business. Visit this post to learn more and see what others have sent me so far. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=NW;f=22;t=7967 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. 09:30 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-109720.mp3 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-109720.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-109720.mp3 Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 25 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show In this episode we will be talking about GopherHaul breaks the 900,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us! Lawn Care Business Question: â??I need help selling my accounts.â?? Greenmind wrote us â??I am selling my accounts this week to a local landscaper. He wants to pay me in 3 payments. Over a 3 month period or 90 days as people stay with the new company. Also he does not want to pay the initial payment until all customers are contacted. Is he buying my business or my customers? Also is the 90 day period normal or am I being to generous, I have talked with several people and they seem to think that he is taking some risk by buying my accounts and thats part of the business and some suggest that I charge more for letting him pay over 90 days. What do you guys think? Any help with someone with experience in this area would be very helpful. I don't want to get taking on this transaction. I worked very hard to get and keep these customers.â?? A bunch of the Gopher Lawn Care Forum members responded in this post http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=28;t=7823; Lawn Care Business Podcast Discussion: I had a great podcast interview with Author Ken Lavoie. Of lawnguru.net 1. We talked about the pitfalls of buying too much new too soon, Ken calls this 'Iron Addiction.' 2. How ego effects business decisions and how to control it. 3. Then we talked about what marketing ideas worked and what didn't. 4. When and how you should integrate your first employee into your business. 5. And this was a fantastic topic Finance, Debt and Growth - "The 50/50 Rule and stay in the black with the 20% Rule!" If you find yourself making a lot of money but at the end of the year wondering where it all went, it's very possible you are growing too fast. In Ken's 50/50 rule, he suggests not financing any more than 50% of the equipment price. If you need to finance more than that, you shouldn't be purchasing the equipment. Listen to this podcast in it's entirety at our podcast directory http://odeo.com/channel/412313/view Join our discussion on this podcast here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=22;t=7744 Lawn Care Marketing Material Review: Chuck posted a post card design he was considering sending out and said â??Here's what I've been contemplating sending out. I know I have no fancy logo or nice looking lawn photos on it but I can't fit them with all the text I'd like on it.â?? He asked everyone to give him a review of his lawn care marketing material and we got a lot of great responses. If you would like us to review your marketing material, please feel free to make a post and include it. You can read the lawn care marketing material review here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7623 Tips on Buying Used Lawn Care Equipment. Chuck, a member of the Gopher Lawn Care Forum asked a great question today I wanted to pass on to everyone. He asked: â??I came across this in my local area on craigslistâ?¦.is 3000 hrs alot for a diesel mower? I know it is for a gas machine but I donâ??t know..â??? To find the answer to this question visit the discussion here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=28;t=7791 Free Lawn Care Marketing Flyer Chestin gave us a lot of great lawn care marketing tips this episode and to further illustrate how important it is to create a great flyer, he even posted a flyer you can download and edit to use with your own lawn care business. Thanks Chestin! Visit this post to join the discussion and download the Free lawn care flyer template. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7521;hl=new;st=40 Book of the Month: Think Big and Kick Ass by Donald Trump Conclusion 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 25 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 25 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show In this episode we will be talking about GopherHaul breaks the 900,000 view mark! Thank you everyone for watching us! Lawn Care Business Question: â??I need help selling my accounts.â?? Greenmind wrote us â??I am selling my accounts this week to a local landscaper. He wants to pay me in 3 payments. Over a 3 month period or 90 days as people stay with the new company. Also he does not want to pay the initial payment until all customers are contacted. Is he buying my business or my customers? Also is the 90 day period normal or am I being to generous, I have talked with several people and they seem to think that he is taking some risk by buying my accounts and thats part of the business and some suggest that I charge more for letting him pay over 90 days. What do you guys think? Any help with someone with experience in this area would be very helpful. I don't want to get taking on this transaction. I worked very hard to get and keep these customers.â?? A bunch of the Gopher Lawn Care Forum members responded in this post http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=28;t=7823; Lawn Care Business Podcast Discussion: I had a great podcast interview with Author Ken Lavoie. Of lawnguru.net 1. We talked about the pitfalls of buying too much new too soon, Ken calls this 'Iron Addiction.' 2. How ego effects business decisions and how to control it. 3. Then we talked about what marketing ideas worked and what didn't. 4. When and how you should integrate your first employee into your business. 5. And this was a fantastic topic Finance, Debt and Growth - "The 50/50 Rule and stay in the black with the 20% Rule!" If you find yourself making a lot of money but at the end of the year wondering where it all went, it's very possible you are growing too fast. In Ken's 50/50 rule, he suggests not financing any more than 50% of the equipment price. If you need to finance more than that, you shouldn't be purchasing the equipment. Listen to this podcast in it's entirety at our podcast directory http://odeo.com/channel/412313/view Join our discussion on this podcast here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=22;t=7744 Lawn Care Marketing Material Review: Chuck posted a post card design he was considering sending out and said â??Here's what I've been contemplating sending out. I know I have no fancy logo or nice looking lawn photos on it but I can't fit them with all the text I'd like on it.â?? He asked everyone to give him a review of his lawn care marketing material and we got a lot of great responses. If you would like us to review your marketing material, please feel free to make a post and include it. You can read the lawn care marketing material review here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7623 Tips on Buying Used Lawn Care Equipment. Chuck, a member of the Gopher Lawn Care Forum asked a great question today I wanted to pass on to everyone. He asked: â??I came across this in my local area on craigslistâ?¦.is 3000 hrs alot for a diesel mower? I know it is for a gas machine but I donâ??t know..â??? To find the answer to this question visit the discussion here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=28;t=7791 Free Lawn Care Marketing Flyer Chestin gave us a lot of great lawn care marketing tips this episode and to further illustrate how important it is to create a great flyer, he even posted a flyer you can download and edit to use with your own lawn care business. Thanks Chestin! Visit this post to join the discussion and download the Free lawn care flyer template. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7521;hl=new;st=40 Book of the Month: Think Big and Kick Ass by Donald Trump Conclusion 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. 10:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-106168.mp3 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:01:08 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-106168.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-106168.mp3 This is going to be a great and insightful podcast when I get 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! Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Lawn Care Business interview with author Ken LaVoie This is going to be a great and insightful podcast when I get 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! 1:04:20 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-104769.mp3 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-104769.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-104769.mp3 GopherHaul 24- Lawn Care Software Business Entrepreneur Show Business Question: A member of our Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum, Michelle asked about buying a lawn care business. How much should she be paying? In response a member wrote: "General rule of thumb for buying customers is that they are worth about 1 month revenue. If they are commercial you'll pay a little more and if there is a signed multi-year agreement in place ( which you said there is ) then this will push the price up too. So it could be worth as much as 2 or 3 months revenue depending on the situation." Mike then joined the discussion and talked about how many customers would stay with him after he bought their accounts. "I did lose a few here and there, but I only paid 2.5 times the mowing price, and usually got at least 3 mows before they quit me." "Have you checked some of his accounts to make sure they are priced in accordance with what you would charge? One of the lawn companies I bought out was considerably higher in pricing than mine, so I ended up raising all my original customers up to that standard." Read more or join this post here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Should you offer to buy lawn care accounts on craigslist? http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Fernando joined the discussion and said he posts ads in free online sites in which he offers to buy lawn care customer accounts. Here is the ad he posted in craigslist. Check out the full ad on our forum. "-Too Tired over the Summer? ...or can't keep up during the hot season? -Too Hard to work from Sunrise to Sundown? -Too busy to take care of ALL of your accounts during the "Crunch Time"? -Customers complaining about not cutting the lawn on time? I am willing to buy Lawn Accounts" All this information is great if you are interested in knowing how to buy lawn care accounts but what about selling them? How do you sell lawn care accounts? This poster wants to sell his accounts. How much and how should he do it. One Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum member made a post about how best to make the transition when you sell lawn care accounts to a new lawn care business. "I bought out 3 lawn companies, and all we did was send a letter to the customers, describing what happened(a new lawn company would be taking care of your yard) If you want to meet each and everyone of them, then do it. The new lawn care business owner may want you to sign a non-compete clause so you can't compete to take the customers back." Read more about this post and join in on the discussion here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Product Promotion Kenneth LaVoie III wrote a book and starting a lawn care business entitled "How to start a lawn care business a whole NEW way." One of the many fascinating things he discusses in the book is about pruning customers once a year. If there are customers that you find yourself clashing with, he suggests not to raise their price but to simply cancel service for them and replace them with newer clients you do work well with. Read more about this post here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Also Ken was kind enough to offer 50% off his book if you purchase his book from his site http://www.lawnguru.net. When ordering, use coupon code C7815 to receive your discount. Read more about his book and this great offer here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 24 - Lawn Care Software Business Entrepreneur Show GopherHaul 24- Lawn Care Software Business Entrepreneur Show Business Question: A member of our Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum, Michelle asked about buying a lawn care business. How much should she be paying? In response a member wrote: "General rule of thumb for buying customers is that they are worth about 1 month revenue. If they are commercial you'll pay a little more and if there is a signed multi-year agreement in place ( which you said there is ) then this will push the price up too. So it could be worth as much as 2 or 3 months revenue depending on the situation." Mike then joined the discussion and talked about how many customers would stay with him after he bought their accounts. "I did lose a few here and there, but I only paid 2.5 times the mowing price, and usually got at least 3 mows before they quit me." "Have you checked some of his accounts to make sure they are priced in accordance with what you would charge? One of the lawn companies I bought out was considerably higher in pricing than mine, so I ended up raising all my original customers up to that standard." Read more or join this post here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Should you offer to buy lawn care accounts on craigslist? http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Fernando joined the discussion and said he posts ads in free online sites in which he offers to buy lawn care customer accounts. Here is the ad he posted in craigslist. Check out the full ad on our forum. "-Too Tired over the Summer? ...or can't keep up during the hot season? -Too Hard to work from Sunrise to Sundown? -Too busy to take care of ALL of your accounts during the "Crunch Time"? -Customers complaining about not cutting the lawn on time? I am willing to buy Lawn Accounts" All this information is great if you are interested in knowing how to buy lawn care accounts but what about selling them? How do you sell lawn care accounts? This poster wants to sell his accounts. How much and how should he do it. One Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum member made a post about how best to make the transition when you sell lawn care accounts to a new lawn care business. "I bought out 3 lawn companies, and all we did was send a letter to the customers, describing what happened(a new lawn company would be taking care of your yard) If you want to meet each and everyone of them, then do it. The new lawn care business owner may want you to sign a non-compete clause so you can't compete to take the customers back." Read more about this post and join in on the discussion here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Product Promotion Kenneth LaVoie III wrote a book and starting a lawn care business entitled "How to start a lawn care business a whole NEW way." One of the many fascinating things he discusses in the book is about pruning customers once a year. If there are customers that you find yourself clashing with, he suggests not to raise their price but to simply cancel service for them and replace them with newer clients you do work well with. Read more about this post here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... Also Ken was kind enough to offer 50% off his book if you purchase his book from his site http://www.lawnguru.net. When ordering, use coupon code C7815 to receive your discount. Read more about his book and this great offer here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... 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. 09:50 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-99723.mp3 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0700 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-99723.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-99723.mp3 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! 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. In the letter they ask the property manager to put their lawn care business on the bidding list. This is important because when the property comes up for bid, your business will then be contacted. Download the letter template and read more about this post here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=29;t=7403;st=0;&#entry36220 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, I write the source (newspaper, phone book, word of mouth, walk up, online) on the top of my copy of an estimate or proposal because I always keep those. 2 nights ago I sat down with my wife to crunch those numbers, 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. I tracked how many from each source, What was the average amount spent by the customers from each source too. Sometimes an add in one place will bring several small spenders & while another brings a few big money accounts. Different publications have a different type or class of readers!" As you can see, this is powerful information for your lawn care business! I asked Chuck, with the knowledge you gained from tracking your lawn care marketing, will this effect your advertising spending? Chuck then said "Of course it will affect future marketing, I have a new add going into affect there asap. I can't believe we did so well with an add I only ran for about a month & a half. I kick myself in the butt for not realizing it earlier." 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: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7356;st=0;r=1;&#entry35873 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: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7386;st=0;r=1;&#entry36079 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 23 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show 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! 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. In the letter they ask the property manager to put their lawn care business on the bidding list. This is important because when the property comes up for bid, your business will then be contacted. Download the letter template and read more about this post here: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=29;t=7403;st=0;&#entry36220 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, I write the source (newspaper, phone book, word of mouth, walk up, online) on the top of my copy of an estimate or proposal because I always keep those. 2 nights ago I sat down with my wife to crunch those numbers, 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. I tracked how many from each source, What was the average amount spent by the customers from each source too. Sometimes an add in one place will bring several small spenders & while another brings a few big money accounts. Different publications have a different type or class of readers!" As you can see, this is powerful information for your lawn care business! I asked Chuck, with the knowledge you gained from tracking your lawn care marketing, will this effect your advertising spending? Chuck then said "Of course it will affect future marketing, I have a new add going into affect there asap. I can't believe we did so well with an add I only ran for about a month & a half. I kick myself in the butt for not realizing it earlier." 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: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7356;st=0;r=1;&#entry35873 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: http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7386;st=0;r=1;&#entry36079 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. 10:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95791.mp3 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:02:39 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95791.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95791.mp3 We will be discussing lawn care business topics brought up on the Gophersoftware.com forum. If you have a question or want to join in on our discussions, please visit our forum. Also check out the GopherHaul Lawn Care Business video. If you need billing and scheduling software for your lawn care business download our 30 day free trial at http://www.gophersoftware.com Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Lawn Care Marketing & Business Show 3/6/08 We will be discussing lawn care business topics brought up on the Gophersoftware.com forum. If you have a question or want to join in on our discussions, please visit our forum. Also check out the GopherHaul Lawn Care Business video. If you need billing and scheduling software for your lawn care business download our 30 day free trial at http://www.gophersoftware.com 27:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95140.mp3 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:28:59 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95140.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95140.mp3 This is a great podcast where we talked about a post on the GopherHaul forum at http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=NW;f=8;t=7386 We discussed one lawn care business owner's question on how to implement a referral program to attract new customers. Chestin from lawncaremarketingmagic.com has some great feedback on the topic. We also talked to Robert of BadBoyZTR.com and had a fascinating discussion on his dealership and marketing techniques he is using. Some of these great ideas could also be used by a lawn care business owner. If you run a lawn care business or are looking into starting one, this show is for you. You can watch our GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Video Show on youtube or at http://www.gophersoftware.com. You can also download free lawn care marketing templates like flyers, door hangers, we templates, lawn care business contracts and much much more at our lawn care business forum. Ask your lawn care and landscaping business questions on our forum. If you need billing and scheduling software for your lawn care business download and try out our Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. We have a free 30 day trial. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Lawn Care Business & Marketing Show - 2/28/08 This is a great podcast where we talked about a post on the GopherHaul forum at http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=NW;f=8;t=7386 We discussed one lawn care business owner's question on how to implement a referral program to attract new customers. Chestin from lawncaremarketingmagic.com has some great feedback on the topic. We also talked to Robert of BadBoyZTR.com and had a fascinating discussion on his dealership and marketing techniques he is using. Some of these great ideas could also be used by a lawn care business owner. If you run a lawn care business or are looking into starting one, this show is for you. You can watch our GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Video Show on youtube or at http://www.gophersoftware.com. You can also download free lawn care marketing templates like flyers, door hangers, we templates, lawn care business contracts and much much more at our lawn care business forum. Ask your lawn care and landscaping business questions on our forum. If you need billing and scheduling software for your lawn care business download and try out our Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. We have a free 30 day trial. 1:17:03 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95159.mp3 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:30:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95159.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95159.mp3 Hello everyone and welcome to the GopherHaul Lawn Care Marketing & Business Podcast recorded 2/21/08. In this podcast we discuss: How to price a lawn? Join this topicâ??s discussion at this link. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7298; How to make the jump from lawn care to landscaping and then what kind of profit potential will you see when you get into landscaping? Do you need the lawn cutting customer base to transition to landscaping or can you simply start off as a landscaper? Which way is easier? Which landscaping projects provide for the best profit margins with the least amount of work? Or friend and forum member Matt brought up a question if you should give a % of the profits to a friend/employee. How should this be handled? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=35;t=7316; Lawn painting service. This is where you would actually paint a dried up lawn, green to make it look healthy. It could be done during times of drought. $465.00 for a single application. Good idea? Would you offer it? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7298;st=10;&#entry35624 Do you use a contract? Is it different from your residential to your commercial clients? How many pages is the contract? Also if you are going to put in your contract a surcharge for cleaning your mower of dog waste, why not offer it as an upsell for $50 per month for 1 dog? Would you offer that? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=7340;st=0;r=1;&#entry35758 Luke asked this great question on the forum. Whatâ??s the best way to introduce to your customers that you are using contracts in the new season? Should you use a letter? If so what would you have the letter say? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=17;t=7343; We discuss the lessons to be learned from the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Why do rich people buy assets while poor and middle class people buy liabilities? What stops people from succeeding. Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=7309;r=1 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 Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Lawn Care Marketing & Business Podcast recorded 2/21/08 Hello everyone and welcome to the GopherHaul Lawn Care Marketing & Business Podcast recorded 2/21/08. In this podcast we discuss: How to price a lawn? Join this topicâ??s discussion at this link. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7298; How to make the jump from lawn care to landscaping and then what kind of profit potential will you see when you get into landscaping? Do you need the lawn cutting customer base to transition to landscaping or can you simply start off as a landscaper? Which way is easier? Which landscaping projects provide for the best profit margins with the least amount of work? Or friend and forum member Matt brought up a question if you should give a % of the profits to a friend/employee. How should this be handled? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=35;t=7316; Lawn painting service. This is where you would actually paint a dried up lawn, green to make it look healthy. It could be done during times of drought. $465.00 for a single application. Good idea? Would you offer it? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=7298;st=10;&#entry35624 Do you use a contract? Is it different from your residential to your commercial clients? How many pages is the contract? Also if you are going to put in your contract a surcharge for cleaning your mower of dog waste, why not offer it as an upsell for $50 per month for 1 dog? Would you offer that? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=7340;st=0;r=1;&#entry35758 Luke asked this great question on the forum. Whatâ??s the best way to introduce to your customers that you are using contracts in the new season? Should you use a letter? If so what would you have the letter say? Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=17;t=7343; We discuss the lessons to be learned from the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Why do rich people buy assets while poor and middle class people buy liabilities? What stops people from succeeding. Join the discussion here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=7309;r=1 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 1:09:43 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95163.mp3 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:30:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95163.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95163.mp3 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 â?? 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 Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Lawn Care Business Marketing Podcast 2-14-08 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 â?? 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 1:01:08 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95259.mp3 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:30:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95259.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-95259.mp3 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 More info: www.gophersoftware.com Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Podcast 2/6/08 Keith talks about commercial lawn care insurance 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 More info: www.gophersoftware.com 07:16 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-111036.mp3 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-111036.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-111036.mp3 GopherHaul Podcast 2/7/08 - with Brian of lawnandgardenwv.com and Richard of thelawnblog.com Last night Brian, Richard and I had a great discussion on Brianâ??s new lawn care business site http://www.lawnandgardenwv.com. Brianâ??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. Join the discussion on this at the Gopher Lawn Care Forum http://www.gophersoftware.com and at our Lawn Care Business Blog http://www.lawnchat.com Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul Podcast 2/7/08 - with Brian and Richard GopherHaul Podcast 2/7/08 - with Brian of lawnandgardenwv.com and Richard of thelawnblog.com Last night Brian, Richard and I had a great discussion on Brianâ??s new lawn care business site http://www.lawnandgardenwv.com. Brianâ??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. Join the discussion on this at the Gopher Lawn Care Forum http://www.gophersoftware.com and at our Lawn Care Business Blog http://www.lawnchat.com 35:57 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110436.mp3 Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110436.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110436.mp3 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. 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. 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 21 - Lawn Care Marketing Business Show 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. 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. 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. 10:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110437.mp3 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110437.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110437.mp3 just got the latest GopherHaul 20 Episode Guide online for download. ItâÂ?Â?s chock full of tons of great information. * A Thank You From Julian * Casey offers Christmas Tree removal. * Profit Margins. What should you shoot for? * Using the SuperBowl in your Marketing. * How to raise funds if you are just starting. * and more! Download the pdf version of the guide here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/images/GopherHaul20-episode-guide.pdf 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 20 - Lawn Care Forum Business Show just got the latest GopherHaul 20 Episode Guide online for download. ItâÂ?Â?s chock full of tons of great information. * A Thank You From Julian * Casey offers Christmas Tree removal. * Profit Margins. What should you shoot for? * Using the SuperBowl in your Marketing. * How to raise funds if you are just starting. * and more! Download the pdf version of the guide here. http://www.gophergraphics.com/images/GopherHaul20-episode-guide.pdf 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. 10:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110438.mp3 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:00:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110438.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110438.mp3 Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 19 â?? Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Show. GopherHaul 19 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 farmerâ??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. Itâ??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 â??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, â??This is much better better than lawn work!â?? then thatâ??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 â??outside the boxâ?? of the traditional lawn/landscape marketing material. Itâ??s my job to convert your idea into print form.â?? * 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! Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 19 - Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Forum Show Hello and welcome to GopherHaul 19 â?? Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Show. GopherHaul 19 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 farmerâ??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. Itâ??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 â??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, â??This is much better better than lawn work!â?? then thatâ??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 â??outside the boxâ?? of the traditional lawn/landscape marketing material. Itâ??s my job to convert your idea into print form.â?? * 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! 10:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110439.mp3 Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:00:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110439.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110439.mp3 GopherHaul 18 - Winter Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Ideas & Customer Retention In this episode of GopherHaul we discuss winter lawn care business marketing ideas. 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. In this episode we will be talking about: - We added a new section on the forum called Women's business issues. - One of our forum members and entrepreneurs, Sarah did two things this season to really make her business stand out. First off she got out there in the public eye and put herself in her marketing material and second off she has started a toy drive to help collect toys for underprivileged children and promote her business at the same time. Read more at this post http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - Rodman and Justin are the winners of the lawn care business holiday cards compliments of www.CardsCheaper.com - Barry sent us some pictures of his newly painted lawn care trailer. You can see Barry's new trailer pics at this link. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - I am now signed up with Chestin's Lawn Care Champion's Circle. Now I don't want to give any of his secrets away because he makes his money on teaching but there was an interesting part in one of Chestin's marketing discussions I wanted to point out. Chestin was talking with one of our forum members Barry and he was telling Chestin how everytime he seems to sign up a new customer, another customer seems to leave so his net gain is zero. Do you ever find this happening as well? Well just to find the answer in this would be well worth you signing up for Chestin's program. Even if you sign up for a month to simply check it out. You will find an answer on how to deal with this and you might want to stay on for all the new information he posts. cott from leisuretimellc found to deal with this - Another forum member Scott from leisuretimellc advises business owners to talk to their clients. He had talked to an elderly customer and found out her mowing day is the day before her trash day so he puts out the garbage cans for her and she gives him and extra $25 tip each month to do that. This is how he keeps his customers. - Our lawn care business forum member Keith, also made a great seasonal service tip. This tip is especially important for those in the Northern sections of the country. During rainy winter days it is important to keep gutters free of leaves. If gutters are clogged, rain will pool in the gutters. Then, at night when the temperature drops, the water will freeze and back up into the over hangs. This action will damage the overhang allowing more water to enter the woodwork. The wood will rot. Once problems begin, repairs can be very expensive. It is important and beneficial for lawn care companies to warn their customers of this potentially damaging problem. A quick $100 gutter job can save the homeowner thousands of dollars down the road. We also have created a free flyer for you to promote this service which you can download and edit. - If you don't like heights, maybe consider getting this gutter cleaning robot! http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - We also started our outdoor holiday decoration contest so start taking pictures. We have a bunch of prize to give away, check the forum for more info. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - 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. Business Gopher Lawn Care Software GopherHaul 18 - Winter Lawn Care Customer Retention GopherHaul 18 - Winter Lawn Care Entrepreneur Business Ideas & Customer Retention In this episode of GopherHaul we discuss winter lawn care business marketing ideas. 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. In this episode we will be talking about: - We added a new section on the forum called Women's business issues. - One of our forum members and entrepreneurs, Sarah did two things this season to really make her business stand out. First off she got out there in the public eye and put herself in her marketing material and second off she has started a toy drive to help collect toys for underprivileged children and promote her business at the same time. Read more at this post http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - Rodman and Justin are the winners of the lawn care business holiday cards compliments of www.CardsCheaper.com - Barry sent us some pictures of his newly painted lawn care trailer. You can see Barry's new trailer pics at this link. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - I am now signed up with Chestin's Lawn Care Champion's Circle. Now I don't want to give any of his secrets away because he makes his money on teaching but there was an interesting part in one of Chestin's marketing discussions I wanted to point out. Chestin was talking with one of our forum members Barry and he was telling Chestin how everytime he seems to sign up a new customer, another customer seems to leave so his net gain is zero. Do you ever find this happening as well? Well just to find the answer in this would be well worth you signing up for Chestin's program. Even if you sign up for a month to simply check it out. You will find an answer on how to deal with this and you might want to stay on for all the new information he posts. cott from leisuretimellc found to deal with this - Another forum member Scott from leisuretimellc advises business owners to talk to their clients. He had talked to an elderly customer and found out her mowing day is the day before her trash day so he puts out the garbage cans for her and she gives him and extra $25 tip each month to do that. This is how he keeps his customers. - Our lawn care business forum member Keith, also made a great seasonal service tip. This tip is especially important for those in the Northern sections of the country. During rainy winter days it is important to keep gutters free of leaves. If gutters are clogged, rain will pool in the gutters. Then, at night when the temperature drops, the water will freeze and back up into the over hangs. This action will damage the overhang allowing more water to enter the woodwork. The wood will rot. Once problems begin, repairs can be very expensive. It is important and beneficial for lawn care companies to warn their customers of this potentially damaging problem. A quick $100 gutter job can save the homeowner thousands of dollars down the road. We also have created a free flyer for you to promote this service which you can download and edit. - If you don't like heights, maybe consider getting this gutter cleaning robot! http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - We also started our outdoor holiday decoration contest so start taking pictures. We have a bunch of prize to give away, check the forum for more info. http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - 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. 10:00 clean lawn care marketing entrepreneur GopherHaul home business landscaping guru advertising mower grass landscaper forum http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110440.mp3 Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0800 support@gophersoftware.com http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110440.mp3 http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-15950/TS-110440.mp3 In this episode of GopherHaul we discuss winter lawn care business marketing ideas. 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. In this episode we will be talking about: - GopherHaul reaches a quarter million viewers. - If you want a free customized animated banner just jump onto our forum and introduce yourself! http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - I added a section on the lawn care business forum called Help me bid this job. Since the last episode we have helped a lawn care business owner land a $6,000 job. Read more about that job here http://www.gophergraphics.com/forum/c... - Are you looking for a great way to promote your lawn care business this winter?