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PRO Member Comment by Phil Voice on September 11, 2009 at 7:28

You sound like you are very determined to get it right - the best of luck:-0))

Comment by Paul Rogers on September 10, 2009 at 21:57

Well, we are working virtually every day, except weekends.
Although we are a team we tend to work on separate jobs unless a customer is willing to pay for both of us to be on site. Most of Jan's work is maintenance related, i.e. weeding, dead heading etc. where my work seems to be mostly garden tidy ups for elderly people! I have also had a couple of hedge trimmimg jobs, a couple of regular lawn mowing customers and an up & coming turf laying job.
So far all of our customers have been really pleased with the work that we have done for them so I guess we are doing something right. My background is in IT support so I have a very good understanding of customer service and the benefits of going that extra mile within budget. I just need to charge out for what I am worth.

On the pricing front we have fixed our hourly rate and daily rate which seems to be acceptable to the majority of people I see to quote for but until I have more experience at one off jobs (hedge trimming etc) and the time they take, my pricing on these will fluctuate.

I am slowly learning more about the plants we see here (I see the same types pop up in different gardens) so my confidence in this area will grow over time.

Estimating how long a job will take is getting better but still under-estimating jobs, even in the smaller gardens.

The phone isn't exactly ringing off the hook yet so will need to take time out to put out further advertising and also to "optimise" our web site so it appears in search lists. Roll on "word of mouth" recommendations.

So far so good. Bit concerned about what we will be doing during December, January & February to bring in the pennies (Postman maybe!) but we will continue to make Jan's Gardening work. I absolutely refuse to go back to the daily commute and office politics so will do everything I can to succeed.

Paul
Well.....you did ask.

PRO Member Comment by Phil Voice on September 10, 2009 at 20:32

How is it going Paul?

PRO Member Comment by Phil Voice on August 29, 2009 at 13:31

"There is something you can help me straight away please - please direct me to the post which explains how to fit 48 hours into 24 as I seem to run out of hours trying to fit in work, family, admin, eating, sleeping............. :)"

Everyone goes through this Paul and I remember it well. I only realised later on that it is not necessary to take on so much - get the price right and you can afford to pick and choose.

Comment by Paul Rogers on August 27, 2009 at 23:41

Thanks Phil we (me actually) certainly will shout. I don't doubt the info is all here waiting for me to find it, maybe I'll need someone to clarify stuff for me at times though.

There is something you can help me straight away please - please direct me to the post which explains how to fit 48 hours into 24 as I seem to run out of hours trying to fit in work, family, admin, eating, sleeping............. :)

Nick

Love the known unknown unknowns, printed it off and stuck it up next to my PC.
Will memorise it to impress my friends and confuse my children.

Regards

Paul

Comment by Nick Steele on August 27, 2009 at 8:43

You make perfect sense - you are perhaps related to Donald Rumsfeld :

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

PRO Member Comment by Phil Voice on August 27, 2009 at 8:16

Hello Paul and Jan

What a great first post and I am as glad you found us as we have you.
There is a lot of information already posted that I am sure you will find of interest to you and as you say, a lot of it from people who have been in your position with a new business.

If you need any help at any time just shout and I am sure there will be many offers to help.

Kind regards


Phil Voice