JUST GO AND BE A CEO !!!!!
WAS CEO OF 'MATTHEWS MOWING'.
You too can be CEO.
Don't just call yourself a lawnmower man.
Call yourself CEO of "Michelle's Mowing" or CEO of "Robert's Mowing".
Buy yourself a nice good quality honda mower. I went out and bought a Honda Buffalo Pro. The salesman talked me out of a 226cc Masport Power Pro that still would of done the job nicely. But I got the tried trued reliable Honda and I don't have regrets. Change its oil when required. Try and use 95 octane to be nice to it. Give it a clean now and then. Let it warm up a moment before you go mad cutting the grass. Sometimes.... somtimes you do have to take the plastic airbox cover off.... and then take out the air filter and you do have to tap out some dust debris and bits of sand n grass what have you. It's not all the time.... It's just if you do work in messy dusty properties you will need to keep an eye on the air filter. You will notice it not wanting to breathe and rev freely and condfidently.
You can always keep the receipt and claim it on tax $$$. If you are really good.... You get an accountant... and you claim the depreciation on it too. Every year your mower gets older and older and more wear and work done,.. it wears out in age and time and you can somehow claim this easily or easier with an accountant.
Buy yourself a nice whipper snipper. I had a honda 4 stroke UMS bent shaft bent one. It was okay. It was good at changing the head. It had good performance. Was not too heavy was not too light. I was really stupid and did not put enough oil and oil changes thru it and I neglected it and destroyed it !
A bought a stihl whipper snipper and after only 5 months it was an FS 38.... I was whipper snipping under a grandmas tap and the drive shaft fell out !!!! A huuuuge metal slinky fell out and I was flabbergasted... It was the spinning metal driveshaft! My junk mail boss helped me put it back together and we bought a $6 circlip ? and washer from Pine River Bearings Brendale. And it was all fixed all good !
I finally have the milwaukee duel battery whipper snippers. I saw lots of builders building big mansions in the northern suburb of NEWPORT. And I saw they all had milwaukee tools. I jokingly went to the Sydney tools website. Had a look at their mowers and whipper snippers. And bought the duel battery big m18 whipper snipper from Milwaukee. It's strong tough reliable and ace. Its a good bit of kit. It feeds the line well. It is a bit heavy but that makes you stronger. It taps out the line well too. Its easy to reload. It gets a good furiious hard one hour one hour 15/20 minutes when your punishing it on fast rabbit mode and a bit of slow turtle mode. It spins up and revs up extremely fast. It doesnt push out noxious stinky gases. And you don't have to worry about fiddling around with fuel.
Claim this awesome piece of kit on tax. And make sure you give these receipts to your accountant so you can claim it on tax. Once again with an accountant you can probably claim equipment depreciation.
You will need a blower to, because the clippings and mess especially from whipper snipping, can make a job look untidy. I went out and purchased a Stihl 2 stroke blower. It was around $250aud. It does the job very well. It has plenty of power and is nice and light. I used STIHL pre mixed 2 stroke 4litre jerry can... It would last me three weeks to one month. Of course claim this on tax and claim the depreciation.
We are almost there,.... thanks for your patience,... You may or may not need an edger. This is kind of optional. It will make the edges easier and tidyier than a whipper snipper. But if you are confident and okay with using the whipper snipper please do so. I went out and purchased the ATOM electric Edger that is light blue and grey and made here in Sydney, Australia. It is an awesome piece of kit. It is not too heavy not too light. It was very well built. It is very powerful. It has an aimer / notch so you know where to aim and where to go as a guide. It's blades have not been changed since I bought it. And its not crazy noisy. And it doesnt produce yucky stink. And you don't have to mess around with fuel. I wanted the electric version for the ease and lack of maintence. It's just easy and stressfree.
Finally I got some nice big bins to put grass clippings in from Bunnings warehouse.. I think they were $70 dollars each. I got two. I don't always take both with me. In my area there was and is no green waste bin.... However.... the local government did finally introduce green bins not long after I bought these. I do sometimes put clippings in customers green bins but it is always best to ask first.
FINALLY ... ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT. !!! How are you going to carry all this around ?!?!!?
I have seen big utes..... little utes...... small trucks... I thought to attach a whipper snipper to a motorbike. .... I ended up buying a small box trailer from SUPERTRAILERS brendale. It was around $2300 AUD ? with registration.. I can put in this trailer. The mower. The whipper snipper (with a milk crate and old pillow) I put the edger if I need it... I take the blower too. I bought cheap but good jockey straps to secure things. I also fit on a maroon green waste bin. I do have to pay trailer REGO. I did not insure it.
https://supertrailers.com.au/product-category/new-trailers/box-trailers/
Please have a look at this man's trailers... He now seems to operate out of ROCKLEA.. according to the website.. IF you say Postman Matt turned CEO of Matthews Mowing bought a box trailer off of you a while ago... He might remember and give you a discount ;)
FINALLY ...... ADVERTISING..... the easyiest and simplest and smartest and cost effective way... is the classic business card in the letterbox... Your work will speak for itself. And mowermen and mowerwomen can be rare in that it is tough hard hot physical work and in todays soft world its getting harder and harder to find these hardworking real world decent people.
Simply have your name and number and maybe a free quotes or fully insured ( and be fully insured) ... and or your prices on there etc. I had many many many customers ONLY from doing this...
I did put one free add on gumtree and it generated 2-3 leads that did follow thru.
And if your good your customers can and do refer other customers to you.
Below is a basic nice example of what to do.
Good luck with it all .... get busy putting those business cards in letterboxes of places you want to mow... and trust me you will be very very busy. At my best by myself in the hot summer sun... I once mowed seven lawns in one day by myself... I was worn out,... I was hot,.. I was hungry I was thirsty,.. but the sense of reward is unfathomable.
Charge properly $$$ To quote a 35 years mower man Danny from Caboolture
"You are $60 dollars an hour young man,... and your minimum charge is $50. "
He is totally right.
This is not the 1990s or 2000s anymore.
You must factor in fuel in the mower,.... whipper snipper.... blower,... edges,.. ( you do not have to worry so much if things are electric).
You will be using fuel in your own car... or diesel or LPG... maybe you are using a Build your Dreams ute or Tesla... with a towball ??
You will be very hungry... I never ever packed a lunch I bought overpriced food when out.... Please TRY and pack a hearty lunch...
You will need lots of water... whether its tapwater (free) or bottled water $. You will need to stay hydrated.
Oil $$
Whipper snipper wire $
Rego once a year for trailer $$
Maintence of equipment.
Sure a customer might give you $50 note... or $100 dollars. But your outgoings will be high ... You need to charge a proper real world 2025/2026 price. Otherwise you will go bankrupt.
Finally I forgot.. You will need a towball fitted to your car for the trailer.
I funded all my mowing from selling a motorbike,.... and a nice payout of holidays from aussie post $$ I was no longer a postie,... and I was without a motorbike....
But it kickstarted my mowing career.
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