GreenPal Lawn Care Business Growth Show

How do you transition from a 16-year teaching career into building a profitable lawn care business with dozens of recurring customers?

In this episode of the GreenPal Lawn Care Business Growth Show, Gene Caballero interview Grant Stanley, owner of Olive Branch Lawn Care, to discuss how he built a successful lawn care company serving Fort Worth, Texas, and surrounding communities.

Grant shares the practical strategies he used to turn a side hustle into a full-time lawn care business, including customer acquisition, route density, pricing services, recurring revenue, upselling, and creating long-term customer relationships.

If you're a lawn care business owner looking to grow a profitable operation or a homeowner searching for a dependable lawn service provider, this episode is packed with actionable insights.

Topics covered in this episode include:
• Transitioning from teaching to lawn care entrepreneurship
• Growing to 40+ recurring lawn care customers
• Landing larger maintenance accounts
• Marketing strategies that consistently generate new customers
• Improving route density and service efficiency
• Why HOA neighborhoods are valuable growth opportunities
• Pricing lawn mowing, hedge trimming, and specialty services
• Selling annual maintenance plans and bundled services
• Knowing when and how to raise prices
• Red flags homeowners should watch for when hiring a lawn care company

Service areas discussed include Fort Worth, Watauga, Keller, Southlake, Haslet, Saginaw, Arlington, Haltom City, and Grapevine, Texas.
One of the biggest lessons from this conversation is that profitable lawn care businesses prioritize customer retention over constant lead generation. Grant explains why narrowing your service area, increasing route density, and focusing on recurring revenue can dramatically improve profitability.

He also shares why selling complete property maintenance solutions instead of simply mowing grass creates stronger customer relationships and more sustainable business growth.

The GreenPal Lawn Care Business Growth Show features weekly interviews with successful lawn care and landscaping professionals sharing proven strategies for growing profitable service businesses across North America.

Subscribe for more lawn care business growth strategies, marketing insights, operational tips, and real-world success stories from lawn care entrepreneurs.

What is GreenPal Lawn Care Business Growth Show?

The GreenPal Lawn Care Business Growth Show features real lawn care professionals sharing how they build reliable, profitable landscaping businesses in cities across the United States.

And sometimes you can find really good

pieces of advice on the internet, on

Facebook or whatever. And certainly I

have, but you can't follow everyone's

advice for everything. You have to

determine what do I want? Do I want it

to be a side hustle or do I want to turn

this into my career? I needed a new

career. I had a teaching career. I

needed a new career. So it started as,

you know, a side hustle, I guess you

could call it. But it was a do

everything I can to make this work

situation. but also not uh chasing every

piece of advice that is out there. You

have to determine what is right for me

in my situation.

Welcome to the Greenpal Lawn Care

Business Growth Show. My name is Jean

Cabillo, one of the co-founders. On the

show, we talk to real landscaping

professionals that have built profitable

and reliable businesses. On the show

today, I have Grant Stanley with Olive

Branch Lawn Care out of Fort Worth,

Texas. Grant, welcome to the show. Tell

us a little bit about your lawnmowing

business in Fort Worth, Texas. Hey,

Jean, thanks for having me. I'm happy to

be here and talk with you guys and give

any piece of advice we can pass on to

anybody that's trying to do this

business. So, I got into the business

about 3 years ago kind of

professionally. I did it I worked for a

landscaping company 20 years ago just as

a high schooler and kind of starting in

college and had a mowing business in

college that was truly just like I

didn't know what I was doing. I was just

mowing some grass to you know to eat

Taco Bell basically. But um I taught

high school for 16 years and my wife and

I ended up having uh five children. So,

I took high school teaching as long down

the road as I could and it, you know,

really wasn't paying the bills. And so,

I started looking for, you know,

something else that would kind of fit my

skill set and and my knowledge. And so,

Greenpow was actually something that

came up as a way to find how am I going

to get clients? How am I going to, you

know, I know how to do this, but where

are the people? So, Greenpal really from

like the first month of me trying to

start something on the side and kind of

investigating like, could I do this? It

was a tool to find people immediately.

So basically my last year of high school

teaching was about two and a half years

ago and I was just trying to build up a

business that I could you know jump out

you know as soon as that school year was

over.

Gotcha. And so roughly where are your

revenues at right now and how many lawns

are you are you mowing currently?

The easiest way to say it I'll just say

a number which is approximately 40 yards

plus other stuff. So, I kind of think of

a yard as a bi-weekly customer. Of

course, you know, some people do weekly

and, you know, I do let some people get

off with a, you know, a three-week cut

or a monthly with, you know, extra

charges. Like, I'll only come once a

month, but it's going to be, you know,

an expensive visit. But, um, I kind of

think of it as like bi-weekly customers.

So, right now, I have lopsided weeks

where,

you know, I have 50 one week and 30 the

next. And so all the extra things like,

"Hey, can you come do the hedges? Can

you, you know, redo my mulch?" Or, you

know, all all the extra things I try to

kind of pile on the lighter week, but so

I I have about an average of 40 kind of

regular customers a week. And then I

take care of a few larger properties. I

have a church and a cemetery, a few

literally just a few uh commercial, you

know, other commercial accounts. and

then and a few estates that are

equivalent to five to 10 customers. You

know, they're acre estates, but I do

like everything at their place. So, so

yeah, it's 40 plus is the long answer, I

guess.

Okay. Now, I'm curious. So, tell us a

little bit about the cemetery, though.

How did you get that? And like how

difficult is it?

So, it was the right place at the right

time. Uh the the church that I go to has

a cemetery attached and they were

getting to the place back in 2023 where

they were kind of they had a guy but

they weren't happy with him and it was

kind of time for them to move on and I

was kind of like hey by the way like I

can do this. um I got to go get a

zeroturn real quick, but just I'll be

back, you know, and and so really that

like from the second month of me doing

business, I I had a large account in

hand. But it's it's kind of weird, but I

I love doing the cemetery. It's

sometimes somber, you know, just kind of

looking around and thinking about life

and but it's it's also peaceful and it's

kind of an honor to take care of

something that is going to be meaningful

for people. And you know, you you want

to keep it nice so that when people come

to visit their loved ones that they're

not seeing tall grass or something that

makes them depressed, you know, so I

actually love it's like a 4acre cemetery

and it's it's a lot to wedi. You know,

mowing is one thing, but the trimming is

is another. So trimming around about,

you know, 800 headstones, it takes a

minute.

And how about how long does it take to

to do the cemetery? it just constant.

The the fastest I could do it and I

think I've ever done it is about four

and a half to five hours, you know,

solo. That's with a a big, you know, 61

in zeroturn and then like running with

the trimmer basically, but it usually

takes a little longer than that. And

it's it's a haul. Like I can't trim for

two or three hours straight, so I kind

of just go back and forth.

Oh man. Well, that's a great way to look

at it is like, hey, you know, you take

honor in doing something like that when

the family comes. It's like neat and

just beautiful. So, that's a fantastic

way to look at it. And so, kind of going

back into like your growth mode, was

there something that you kind of did,

maybe it was a little bit of green pow

that actually that changed your

business, moved it forward? Was it

marketing? Was it hiring someone? Was it

tightening up your routes? kind of tell

us if there was, you know, some sort of

launching pad that kind of took your

business to the next level.

I think the answer is there's no magic

bullet. There's um, you know, I I kind

of, you know, I watch reals or or

YouTube shorts or I don't really watch

Tik Tok, but I think of it as like Tik

Tok wisdom. Like you'll see guys saying,

"Oh, it's you just do this. You just

get, you know, 20 yards a day times a h

100red bucks and you're going to be

making, you know, a million dollars a

month for the rest of your life." Like

that's not how it works. And so there's

a lot of like small victories. And so,

you know, Greenpal was one, okay? And

and that started getting me a few

people, but also when you start out, you

know, on any kind of app, Greenpal or

otherwise, like you don't have any

reviews, you don't have any clout, and

so you're just hoping somebody picks you

usually, and that's because you're going

to give them a lower price than the the

guys that have been around for a while.

But that was one way. Another way that I

didn't do initially, but I've had a lot

of success with is just literally like

go to Vista Print or your favorite place

to print some, you know, and and get

door hangers. You know, check your city

regulations. But, you know, a lot of

cities, I'm in the North Fort Worth

area. Fort Worth, for example, you have

to have a permit to actually I'm not

trying to even talk to somebody. I'm

just trying to put it on, but you're

supposed to have a permit. So, I try to

do things by the books. But other cities

around me, if you're not intending to

talk to somebody and you're just putting

the the door hanger on, you don't need a

permit. So, I pass flyers out there all

the time. And and I get call I literally

have a new client that I'm doing uh on

Monday from a door hanger. And so, you

know, it's oldfashioned. It looks like

you walking for many hours just passing

stuff out and then waiting. But, you

know, each of us can individually assess

what one customer is worth, but you

know, on a yearly basis, but for me,

it's approximately $1,000 just for a

basic client that's going to get yearly

service with a few extras. Like, you're

it's starting at about a,000 bucks. So,

you know, getting one person, like

that's not nothing. Like that's So,

there's a lot of ways that you get

customers kind of trickling in. So for

me, Greenpal, the door hangers, you

know, being on Facebook or other social

media platforms next door that you know,

people the homeowner goes there to post

like, "Hey, does anybody know about who

to call for lawnmowing or whatever?" And

sometimes just being I've got customers

from being on a a neighborhood Facebook

page and going, "Well, I you know, I can

here. Let me PM you or whatever and and

just finding somebody that way." So the

word of mouth is not something that you

can control. Uh, of course, the more

clients you get, the more likely that

someone's going to, you know, tell

others about you. But it's a lot of

small things that start to add up. And

then finally, to to put my final answer

on that question, doing a good job is

really important for the referral part

of it, but for retention. So, you know,

when I go from one season to the next,

I'm taking almost everybody with me from

the prior season. And some people, you

know, move or whatever, but you know,

there's it's a leaking, you know, bucket

or whatever, but but most of the most of

my clients go with me. And so that

effort wherever you're putting it in to

find people, if you're doing a good job

for them and they're happy, they're not

going to go somewhere else to find some

other strange person to come to their

house. Like, you're their guy. So, do a

good job and you're going to retain

them. Yeah, I hear a lot of that is, you

know, I don't lose customers. Even if I

if I raise my prices by three or four

dollars because the customer, the

homeowner knows like, hey, I know what

I'm going to get. I'm going to get it

perfect every time. He's going to be

there when he says he's going to be

there. So, that just kind of falls in

line with kind of the normal when it

comes to just doing a good job. So,

that's great. And to follow along with

your door hangers, when we first started

Green Pal in 2012, that's how we

started. We started hanging door

knockers on doors in Nashville,

Franklin, and Brentwood. And uh it'll

humble you, but it's something that will

drum up business. You know, we got maybe

five or 10 people over over a summer

that that like using Greenpal because of

that. So, no matter how small or how big

you are or how small or how big you want

to be, that's a fantastic way to to get

the business going. So, um, so I know

you said you service the northern Fort

Worth. What specific areas? Is it

Arlington, Halum City, Keller,

Grapevine? Kind of walk us through all

the different areas that you typically

service.

Sure. Um, over time the my service area

has kind of come in. At first, I really

just said yes to everyone and that

quickly got out of control. Um

especially, you know, if you're starting

out and you're working another job and

you're trying to do this in the

afternoon or the weekends, like you get

stretched thin. But, uh, North Fort

Worth, Waga, Keller, I have some in

South Lake, but that's primarily because

that's where the church and the cemetery

is and some and a few large accounts,

but I don't actually really try to get

accounts there. It's just, you know, I

have one day where I'm in South Lake,

but I do it's like kind of city of Fort

Worth, but Hasllett if you're in this

area. very little part of Sagenol, but

really there's so many customers. I

mean, within a 5 minute drive of my

house, there's literally 20,000 homes or

more. So, I'm trying to come in and say

no to the outskirts, you know, over over

time. But, yeah, if you say Fort Worth,

that literally it could take you an hour

to drive the northernmost part of Fort

Worth down to the southern part. So,

So, are there any specific neighborhoods

that are better for like weekly or

bi-weekly customers in your area? Yes is

the short answer to that. Any

neighborhood with an HOA is more likely

to generate regular service and it may

only be bi-weekly service, okay? But

it's more likely to generate, you know,

those weekly yards or just a bi-weekly

customer. Generally speaking, a newer

neighborhood, which I'll just call 2000

and later, it's more likely to have

sprinkler systems and or a slightly more

affluent neighborhood, is more likely to

have sprinkler systems, which means

they're irrigating and you're probably

cutting even through the summer, even in

Texas. So, yeah, HOAs help us out

because they mandate that, you know, the

yards look all right and it's not just

you're not just waiting for the city to

find somebody. And um so yeah, HOAs are

are actually our friends as as lawn care

providers.

Yeah. Yeah. They get a bad rap most of

the time, but uh but for us,

it's necessary. So what does a typical

day look like for you?

So my my days have changed uh really

this year. I I've mostly a solo

operator. However, this year I'm already

averaging between 80 to 100 uh manh

hours for my business each week, which

means I I have a helper with me and I

have multiple people helping me. So,

it's not one person, but you know, I

I've got some college age guys and my

dad will jump in. my 70year-old dad will

come help me one day a week and he can

mow and he can blow, you know, but

that's so a normal day is either me

going to pick my guy up or him coming to

me, but getting the truck ready and

already having a really good sense of we

need to go through our neighborhoods

this way, you know, whatever the route

is and then go for it. Some some days

like, you know, we don't eat lunch, we

don't stop for lunch, we just kind of

eat in the truck if it's just a, you

know, a constant thing. If we have

bigger jobs, we'll we'll stop and have

like real lunch. But it's it's kind of

like go just get to the work as as soon

as possible. Especially on days where

you've got 20 or more even with two

guys. I I don't care what kind of yards

they are. It's 20 yards is not easy, you

know, unless they're all in the same

neighborhood. So, it's like you got to

get to it. So, how do you price your

jobs in the Fort Worth area? Is it uh

square footage? Is it by the minute? or

walk us through your pricing your

pricing methods.

So, I actually put it on my flyer now

because that, you know, I forgot where I

heard that from. It helps filter out

people that want the $25 mo. Um, and so

I I literally put, you know, if it's

this square footage, it's this price.

So, at least if somebody contacts you,

they already at least should know about

where you're at, you know. But I also,

you know, I charge per hour for certain

services. So my kind of general hourly

rate is 90 and that doesn't bother some

people. Some people, you know, that some

homeowners hear that and they're like,

"What?" Like,

well, yeah, if you want me to come stand

out here and whatever, chainsaw a tree

down, like it's that's how much it

costs, you know? And uh of course, some

services actually

I get more per hour than than that, you

know. I kind of tell them if you want

the cheapest service, it's hourly. Like

if they want do the hedges, prune this,

do these things, I'm going to say, "Hey,

this is going to be 2 hours. It's 180

bucks for that." I kind of explain it to

them like if I'm just going to give you

a price for the hedges, it's going to be

such and such amount. And I know that

like if I give them that price, I'm

probably making 120 an hour or more, 150

an hour equivalent. So, you know, I

don't know where where other guys are at

on that, but I think having even if you

don't state it directly to the customer,

knowing I need to make a 100 an hour or

80 an hour or whatever it is, so that

when you're going, okay, it's going to

take me this long for these bushes and

that long to do the mulch or the

whatever, then you you just tell the

customer a price knowing that I need 3

or 4 hours to do this and you know, so I

have this literally with me, you know,

at all times so that, you know, and I

kind of have it memorized. But, you

know, sometimes we get the bids coming

in, I'm like, "Wait, what's my price for

9500 ft?" And I look, "Oh, yeah, it's

this." Now, even though I have it on a

flyer, I still just kind of price it. If

I know that's right next door to my

other customer, I'm probably going to

give them a lower price. I'm going to

give them a weekly price for a bi-weekly

cut. Or or if I know that one's really

far out, I don't necessarily even want

this one. I'll just put a higher price.

They take the higher price. So yeah, you

got to come up with some kind of pricing

structure that's both like kind of flat

rate but also the hourly and you figure

out like what do you need to do to tell

your customer. If I can give one

specific strategy that's worked well for

me with estate maintenance like where

you're going to do mowing and you're

going to do the trimming the leaf

cleanups is to sell a block of hours to

a to the homeowner. I've had a success

with that. My biggest one I think it was

about 110 hours for the year. So I say,

"Hey, you know, sign up for this and you

know, and I told him, this is the rate.

You're you're basically buying this

amount of hours." And so that hap, you

know, that's a it's a huge 1acre, you

know, estate with lots of trimming, lots

of mowing, lots of stuff to do. And so

that's like a 2hour a week, you know,

approximately, you know, job. And so,

but what you can give to your client is

like, I'm going to take care of you. So,

if I see the weeds need to get picked or

if I see that branch is down or

whatever, they've already bought the

block of hours or they're agreeing to

pay for, you know, however you set the

pay structure up, but I'm starting to

have some real success with that on the

bigger estates. Now, people that have a

5,000 ft lot and a one little flower

bed, they don't need that. They just

need you to mow the grass and you got to

decide if you want to mow their grass or

not. But, and and in fact, I do, you

know, but um I also want the other

stuff, too. So, So, when you sell that

block, do they pay for it upfront or is

it is it monthly or how is that bill

out?

I've got a couple of them. They do it

different ways. They certainly can pay

monthly. I have one person that just

pays weekly that they just set up a

weekly zel transfer

and you know, they did it that way. The

other one I actually gave him a discount

if they paid in full at the start of the

year and I I was h I gave him a 10%

discount. And so it's a helpful thing

for us if somebody's going to hand us

money in January or February for the

whole year. A lot of us are just like

dying for the end of February and start

of March to get this going. So if you've

got somebody that will pay you either

monthly or weekly or literally pay at

the start of the year, give them a

discount for it, but you've got their

money, you know, and you can be their

guy for everything they need. Like

that's a big help. So, and what do you

think separates a profitable landscaping

or a profitable lawnmowing business from

one that that is not profitable? Well,

you don't have to be an expert. Um, you

don't have to have advanced analysis,

but you have to analyze what's going on

to know like, hey, I'm I'm driving too

far for this one person. Like, I have

nobody else over there. At some point,

you have to raise your price or you just

have to let them go and understand that

somebody else is going to mow their

yard. It's okay. You can find someone

else. Like, um, if if you're driving 20

minutes one way and 20 minutes back for

one person, there's almost no situation

where that makes sense. Unless it's when

you're starting out or if you're just

you're more desperate. I mean, quite

frankly, like if you just need the

account that bad, then go do it, you

know, and it's going to take you more

time, but if you have the time to give,

it's fine. But one way or another,

you're going to have to analyze like, is

this worth it or not? Am I really making

enough money? You know, do I need to buy

new equipment? Do I have to buy every

single thing for my truck? You know,

every accessory. No, you don't. I have

some old magnet signs that go on my

truck. I've thought about wrapping my

truck so many times, but nobody cares.

You know how many people have complained

about my magnets on my truck? Zero.

Like, um I I have a few, you know,

branded shirts and everything, but most

of the time I'm just wearing something I

bought from Academy that's plain or

whatever. It's like nobody cares about

that kind of stuff. Like there you have

to be professional in the way you

communicate and and do the service, but

you can get lost in spending money that

you don't have to spend on a million

different things that don't necessarily

make you more profitable. At some point

you got to be somewhat professional. At

some point you got to buy flyers and

whatever. But but you know, you're going

to have to figure that out for yourself

like when do I spend some so that I can

make more or when do I need to keep

using the old shovel? Do you need that

new shovel? Is the old shovel still

working? Just use the old shovel. So,

you got to analyze and just see if uh

you know, if this customer not working

out, especially if they're fussy, you

know, you'd kind of mentioned this

earlier about pricing and a few dollars

and stuff. Nobody's ever told me that

they were leaving when I told them the

price was going up, you know, and that's

if you've already built that you're

trustworthy. They're like, they don't

want to go through the process with

someone else. But even if they do want

to drop you when you raise your price by

$3 a cut, you don't want that customer.

Absolutely.

I don't I don't want to fuss about a few

dollars with people, you know? I'm not

offended either. If people want to get

the the $25 guy, go get him. Like I

don't care. Like, and it's like it's no

sweat off my back and it's no offense to

me. You know, my prices are what they

are. And if if it's not I literally say

it to people this way, like, hey, you

know, I think we're too far apart on our

price. like, you know, this is my price

and if you'll know it's there if you

want to come back to me or whatever and

they can choose to get a lower price,

you know, and we all make those

decisions as as consumers that sometimes

we want quality and sometimes we want it

to be cheap. And so I'm not offended if

people don't want, you know, my quality.

So

yeah, that that $25 guy is probably not

going to be in business that long and

that that homeowner is going to call you

right back in a couple weeks and say,

"Hey, I am sorry. Do you mind coming

back? I will gladly pay your your $3

increase price and pretend like it never

happened.

Well, I I kind of laugh when somebody

says, "Hey, I got, you know, when

they're trying to like haggle and you

know, I got this guy that'll do it for

25." I said, "Well, that's a great

price. What? You should go with him."

And they're like, "Well, actually, can

you still come for 45 or whatever, you

know, like, so what's one piece of

advice that you would give a homeowner

in in Fort Worth or Keller or Arlington?

What's one piece of advice you would

give them if they're looking to hire a

lawn a lawnmowing or a landscaping

business?

Obviously, if you've got reviews, if you

can see what other people say, that's

going to tell you, you know, when when

other people are saying flattering

things, seeing a fivestar review is one

thing. When people actually put words

that like, man, I went through five guys

before I landed on this one. as a

homeowner that tells you like, okay, the

these people are clearly doing something

that the other, you know, the other guys

weren't. I think sometimes you have to

give people a chance. You know,

obviously some some people gave me

chances because they didn't know who I

was. You know, in fact, I think most

homeowners like they don't know who any

of these people are. There's no like

starting point other than they're a

stranger and they say they'll cut the

grass. So, as a homeowner, I guess you

are taking a chance a little bit, but

certainly when you see evidence that you

know the these people are legit or if

you just see them around, if you see

they're local, like I've seen that guy

before. I've seen them in a, you know,

or you pass them down the street, like

it means they're already doing business

here and someone on the street or

someone in the neighborhood trusted

them. So, maybe they're good or not. I

don't know. But, you know, being local

or at least being in the area is

evidence that somebody said yes to them.

And so maybe give them a try.

Are there any red flags that you would

tell a homeowner in the Fort Worth,

Texas area that, hey, probably shouldn't

go with this guy?

I mean, I I'll try to be, you know,

diplomatic here. But I mean, there's

things that I see guys doing, you know,

like smoking a cigarette while they're

weed eating and sandals and jean shorts

and stuff. I'm like,

that's a good one.

Hey, whatever, man. But, you know, you

probably don't probably don't smoke on

people's property, you know, and or

while you're near the, you know,

flammable, you know, equipment and

stuff. But, I think when a big red flag

would be lack of communication or just

sort of inconsistent communication where

you don't even know like are they coming

or not. And look, sometimes it rains. It

rains today. I I had to reschedule with

people, but everybody understands if

it's raining, you can't cut the grass.

So, if you're proactive and you say,

"Hey, we're going to adjust your

schedule. You were on Saturdays, but

we're going to adjust it and we're going

to be on Mondays, whatever." Like,

almost everybody understands that. And I

would recommend if they don't understand

that, then move on. Like, if you know,

if they want you to come when it's

raining, that's not your customer. Like,

you got to move on from them. So, uh

yeah, red flags would be bad

communication. You you leave them just

sort of on on red or whatever. like if

if the provider doesn't communicate with

you, you know, that's bad. So,

it's it's not a good not a good fit,

right?

All right. Last question, Grant, then

I'll let you get back to your day. So,

what's one piece of advice that you

would give to someone looking to start a

landscaping business or a lawnmowing

business in the Fort Worth, Texas area?

So, I I kind of mentioned earlier the

Tik Tok wisdom. I mean, sometimes you

can find really good pieces of advice on

the internet, on Facebook, or whatever.

And certainly I have, but you can't

follow everyone's advice for everything.

You have to determine what do I want? Do

I want it to be a side hustle or do I

want to turn this into my career? I

needed a new career. I had a teaching

career. I needed a new career. So, it

started as, you know, a side hustle, I

guess you could call it, as I was

building up, but it was a do everything

I can to make this work situation, but

also not chasing every piece of advice

that is out there. You have to determine

what is right for me in my situation.

How much money do I have in the bank to

go spend on a mower or whatever. you

know, finding things like a specific one

would be almost every brand of trimmer

has an attachment version of a trimmer

where you can get the the trimmer head

or the metal edger or whatever, a pole

pruner. Making decisions like, hey, get

one of those and buy the attachments and

then you don't have to buy as much, you

know, of these pieces of equipment that

you can make money on. But, you know,

you can't buy a $400 piece of equipment

every week when you're starting out and

you have four yards. Like, it that

doesn't work. So deciding, making hard

decisions about I got to use a trimmer

and I got to flip edge. I can't even

afford the attachment. I'm going to flip

edge until I can afford the, you know,

whatever. So don't take every piece of

advice. Be honest with yourself about

your situation, your goals, how fast

you're trying to grow, and then you can

some of the answers will come to you

when when you've made those decisions

about what you're trying to do and how

fast you're trying to do it. If you're

more desperate, then you're going to

take more people further out. But as you

grow in your business, you'll probably

take fewer people, but closer in, you

know, and so there's a lot of decisions

to be made. You won't be able to make

all of them, you know, perfectly the the

first time. You'll make some mistakes

and some of that you have to just have

some thick skin with yourself if you're

especially if you're stepping into this

industry from something totally

different. like somebody's going to ask

you, hey, uh, do you, and then they fill

in the blank, you're like, I've never

heard of that before. I don't know what

they're talking about. And you're you

can't get on chat GPT fast enough to

figure out what do you do? You know,

being in a community like there's many

Facebook groups that, you know, guys

will some people actually are helpful,

believe it or not, and they're not just

internet trolls. And so they'll tell

you, hey, like this is what I do. Take

it or leave it. You know, this is how

much I charge to take down a tree or to

whatever it is. So, you know, you want

to seek the advice. You can't follow

everyone's I mean, I I see advice

sometimes. I'm like, that is not for me.

Maybe that's for someone else, but

that's not for me. That doesn't work.

That's not my situation. And kind of

just to wrap up the long answer here,

knowing your strengths is going to help.

There's like I have never once airated a

yard. I've never touched an airator. I

don't know what to do. Okay. So, I don't

airate yards. Maybe one day I will cuz I

I've heard it's profitable, but I've

never done it. So, I'm not comfortable

with it. I'm very comfortable with hedge

trimmers, with pruning. So, I sell that

service all the time. So, if there's

something you're good at or comfortable

with, man, just like go for that. Try to

anytime there's a chance to hedge, you

know, trim hedges, like that's more

profitable than the mowing you're doing

anyways, you know. But find those extra

services that you can sell. And if it's

just mowing, be the best mower you can

be. Get as many accounts close together.

make sure that they're priced reasonably

so that you can still make money because

this is, you know, not charity. You

know, I have a few yards that are

charitable where I I really, it's an old

lady. I'm just helping her really. I'm

not there to make money, but if you're

trying to put food on the table, this is

not charity. And so, you you do have to

make a decision about how much to charge

people and and all that. So, Oh, well,

that that's fantastic advice. Stay in

your lane. Don't try to swerve every

which way. just kind of learn while

you're in the the path that that you

enjoy and that you know the most. But

Grant, thank you so much for for joining

the podcast. Uh you've dropped a lot of

wisdom for anybody starting a

landscaping business or a lawnmowing

business. And I think that you've also

kind of shed some light from the

homeowner side of maybe what they can

expect for pricing or, you know, what to

do and what not to do when looking to

hire a landscaping professional for

their for their property in the Fort

Worth, Texas area. So landscaping folks

out there, keep going, keep mowing, and

keep growing. Until next time, thanks

Grant.

Thanks team. Bye guys.