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Comment by Mike Long on June 25, 2012 at 9:19

Often my expenses seem to be around £600/£700. I have a spread sheet that I keep year on year....one with projected P & L and one with actual P & L....sometimes two very different things! I'm nearly into my third year of trading now so things are ticking over a bit better but, at the start, despite having continuous work it takes a good 6 months to a year to actually learn your own business! At least that's what I found. Oh....also, my website is the only 'advertising' I have ever spent out on. Approximately a £1000 spent on month 1 of trading got me all my work, never have I advertised in newsletters or papers....or especially the yellow pages (the devil and a right pain in the ass....always phoning you)!

www.genesislandscapes.co.uk

LANDSCAPE GARDENER SUFFOLK

Comment by Darren McSorley on June 11, 2012 at 9:00

I don't have a problem with the delivering of the 20,000 flyers I have a extra pairs of legs ( my brother) so we will get 1000 at least done a day in pre selected areas to maxamiz the success rate. In what way do u mean invest in the. Internet ( web site or online advertisement)

The cost I put for petrol/diesel is for lawn mower strummer hedge trimmer and van. It will change due to the level of work that I get but I agree it might be a bit on the low side. I might mark it down as
Petrol/diesel -£200 - £240 can't see it being much more than that as?

PRO Member Comment by Jen@A&J Owenwindows&gardens on June 11, 2012 at 7:25

I also include a percenage for vehicle and tool repairs and replacements. Appreciate these will not come in each month but 2 years ago we got in a big mess when we had to spend a lot of money on the car.

I look at previous years annual spend and divide that by 12 and add that to my monthly running costs so that I can ensure there is money in the bank to cover.

Does your petrol/diesel figure include van as well as equipment running costs? If so, I'd say that's on the optimistic side!

Comment by Busy Bee Garden Services Limited on June 11, 2012 at 6:30

I found leaflets were like the lottery, you either got a good response which I did when I started or nothing, we find a 4% enquiry rate from them, 20,000 will take a while to deliver and then you have to have the time to do the quote. I find the web a beter investment. And choose your area wisely!

Comment by Darren McSorley on June 10, 2012 at 21:44

Thanks for the feed back. As you say every business is different but just the fact the a business owner has cast there eye over it and not been shocked is a good response lol. I was wondering about advertisement and what sort of response I could expect from delivering 20,000 flyers per month? The way I have planned it is this
1% of 20,000 = 200 inquires and out of they 200 I hope to get 50% of them to be accepted there for the min charge is £20 so based on that assumption I should earn at least £2,000. That's part of my marketing plan would u say this is realistic?

Comment by Busy Bee Garden Services Limited on June 10, 2012 at 21:30

Our monthly running costs are variable due to work load so can't offer you figures as each business is different, but we use to plan our budgets staff, diesel, petrol/oil, things we buy for clients and then sell back to them, dumping fees, rental, repairs, uniform & safety equipment, office, subcriptions, insurances, fixed assets, advertising, accounts, bank charges, phone/net, training, fuel refunds for using private car in business, vat, corporation tax.

 

Its clealry pointless telling you what we pay out as our businesses are very different.

 

Hope this helps somewhat in developing a detailed monthly budget.

http://www.busybeegardenservices.co.uk