With a yard business, you don't have to wheel a lawnmower around the neighborhood, but you can offer to maintain other people's lawns as well as do any other outside chores that they might need done: landscaping, planting, weeding and others. And you make money by being out in the sun and out doing something physical-it's a win-win for everyone.



What you need

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to have a lot of lawn equipment in order to start your own yard business and make money doing it. You really just need a basic lawnmower as well as yard tools. And most of the time, you will already have these items and be ready to get started. In time, you can upgrade your equipment as it will wear out eventually if you have a lot of lawns to cut.

You will also want to keep a client listing of whose lawn you did and what you did to it. This will allow you to make money by offering to provide regular trims of the grass as well as weeding. And you'll know when they need help because you've kept track of their business. You can also make suggestions in this listing and bring up possible jobs that they might like you to do in terms of landscaping and other yard work.

You may also want to buy or create a book of possible landscaping layouts that you will be able to recreate in someone's yard. It's much easier for a client to choose from pictures than to come up with a complicated design plan. You might want to subscribe to landscaping magazines and offer them to customers who want to try something different with their lawn and thus make money for you.

Growing over time

As your skills grow and your repertoire of landscaping ability widens, you'll be able to make money in less time. You will be able to trim lawns in a shorter amount of time and thus be able to trim more lawns per day. At that point, you may want to hire more help to have multiple lawns being cut at the same time.

Along the same vein is an upgrade in equipment that can cut faster and more precisely than your own lawnmower. Try to keep up with the latest technology in lawn care so that you have access to the next best thing to make money more easily. A simple upgrade of a weedwacker can make all the difference in the appearance of a lawn.

You can also begin to offer classes in how to create the perfect lawn. This allows homeowners to learn some basic skills while also providing you with advertising for your own services. You can show people what they can do to make their lawn more attractive and then give free estimates on the work that you can do for them.

You will want to create strong relationships with the local yard supply shops so that you will be able to refer to each other as homeowners decide to make improvements on their own. When the homeowner buys supplies to create a particular effect, the supply scan recommend your services, and vice versa. That way, you both make money and both have plenty of clients.

A yard business goes far beyond cutting the grass these days, but it can still make money for you and your family.