Duration : 0:4:5

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Duration : 0:5:11

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There are a lot of new lawn care business owners just getting started this year due to many economic factors. Because they are new, they dont know where they can get away with using a verbal agreement when providing lawn care services or when they need to use a signed agreement. I want to use these recent discussion as an example to help you expand your business knowledge base.

Dean wrote us and said Here is my situation: I posted an ad on craigslist to perform lawn care for any realtors who have vacant homes that need lawn care. I was contacted by one wanting mowing, seeding, plugging, fertilizing and pine straw put out. This job was for two homes, both on the same street. I came up with a price for labor and got prices for material. I was then contacted and told I could go ahead with job. The problem is I had no address to send the bill to and had not met anyone in person. I called back and asked for an address for which I could send an invoice to and guy said the work was for someone else and he would get back to me with an address. I have not heard from him as of yet. I am looking at spending $400.00 out of my pocket for materials to do this work. I think there should be a meeting and signing of a contract to ensure I am covered in getting paid for this work. Without any meeting or something signed if whoever decides not to pay, I have no recourse in recouping my expenses. I need to know from all of you if I am right and should not do any work until there is something signed to cover me and the lawn care customer so everyone gets what they paid for. All suggestions are welcomed.

Eli: You are correct. I think you have plenty of reason to be concerned. I would not perform any work until you have laid eyes on the lawn care customer and, especially in this strange case, until you have a signed contract in hand. I think I would make sure the contract included specifically who is responsible for payment. Then I would make sure that the person signing the contract also prints his name (I would probably have a spot for him to print and another spot for him to sign rather than just having him sign and print his name below the signature.).

I think I would start out with drawing up the contract and then calling him to ask for a place to meet him or whoever is authorizing the work. Make it clear to him during your telephone conversation that no materials will be ordered and no work will be done until a contract is signed. Maybe even ask for some money upfront to purchase materials. This would help ensure they are willing to go through with the deal. I suspect someone is trying to pull a fast one on you. I would not lose a lot of sleep over the deal until you have met the customer and have that signed contract in hand.

Victor: We have had past problems with realtors and owners who are actively selling/managing foreclosure properties. We only do prepayments with signed agreements for these types of customers now. We either meet with them for signing or mail them an agreement. They can provide guaranteed full payment or a good faith deposit in cash, check or money order or via PayPal. Once payment and agreement is received/cleared then the work will start. And so it goes with ongoing service.

With renters, we asked that they provide their drivers license # on an agreement in the event of defaulted payments.

Chuck: Be careful here. Like other have said above, meet the client & get a contract signed. I have had 2 or 3 instances where a new client called, requested an estimate, I called them back & they approved the estimate by phone & gave a billing address. I did the work & got stiffed. Prepaid cell phones & BS billing addresses. I cant track anything at all, it sucks!

These are great responses from people who are in the know. Dont be so desperate to get your business started and do this kind of work only to find out when its completed that you cant find the person to pay you. If you would like to join in on this discussion visit the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum.

If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts, estimate and proposal forms. Download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. Check out my lawn care business blog at http://www.lawnchat.com and my lawn care business forum at http://www.gopherforum.com

Duration : 0:10:0

Technorati Tags: advertising, Business, care, Entrepreneur, forum, Gopher, GopherHaul, grass, landscaper, landscaping, lawn, logo, Marketing, mower, mowing, plowing, service, snow, software, tree, yard

This is my first zero turn and I have been looking at Scags and Exmarks. What should I look for before I decide? I think this is a good deal. Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

Thankfully one of our forum members is a outdoor power equipment dealer and he knows his stuff. He responded First, are you buying this from a Dealer or from an individual? If from a dealer, will they give you any warranty? Since you have been looking at new mowers of the same brand, how much would a similar one cost you new? Assuming it has no warranty and passes the test as follows below, I would pay no more than about 60-70% of the new price of a similar piece of equipment. Do you know if $3000 is the lowest price you can get on it? Have you tried to get a lower price?

Here are some questions you should ask the seller before you buy a used mower.
1. If you are buying from an individual, why are they selling it?
2. Was it used to mow their own yard only? or was it used for commercial use (to mow more than their own lawn).
3. Can you verify their answer to the first two questions without asking them directly or even indicating you are questioning their answer (they may answer I no longer need this big of a mower, or I decided to get out of the lawn care business, or.. Just think, does their answer make sense?)
4. Do they have maintenance records? Will they provide these records to you to preview before the purchase? Will they provide these records to you with the purchase?
5. Can they tell you who serviced the equipment when it was serviced? Can you verify this?
6. If buying from a dealer, have they serviced the mower including sharpen the blades, check the belts, change spark plugs, Air Filter, Fuel Filter, and oil?
7. Have they ever serviced this mower before buying it?
8. Did they sell the mower new?
9. Why did the original owners sell it? (Again, think about their answer to see if it makes sense or not. Typically power equipment dealers are considerably more honest than car dealers but there are a few here and there that may still lie to you.)

There are more questions to ask, review them here http://lawnchat.com/?p=640

If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts, estimate and proposal forms. Download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. Check out my lawn care business blog at http://www.lawnchat.com and my lawn care business forum at http://www.gopherforum.com

Duration : 0:7:35

Technorati Tags: advertising, blower, Business, care, Entrepreneur, equipment, forum, Gopher, GopherHaul, grass, insurance, landscaper, landscaping, lawn, logo, Marketing, mower, mowing, page, plowing, power, pressure, sales, service, snow, software, squeeze, tree, trimmer, upsells, washing, Website, yard

Duration : 0:7:20

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This is part 2 of a five part video series that takes a look at how to maximize the free local listings offered by the major 3 search engines.

This video is taking an in depth look at how to set-up a free listing with Yahoo Local for your small business.

Come see our new UPDATED 2009-2010 Google Maps/Search Engine Local Listings Course! Totally FREE!

Learn how to Get Your Business On Page 1 of Google Without Even Having a Website by Understanding How to Use Google Maps a Weapon to Out Rank ALL Your Local Competition

http://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/locallistings/

Duration : 0:4:38

Technorati Tags: affordable, Business, Internet, listings, local, maps, Marketing, search, SEO, small, Yahoo

If you publish websites or sell products on the web you will have built up a certain amount of knowledge in your related fields. With Yahoo! Answers you can share this knowledge with the world and market your sites or products at the same time.

Yahoo! Answers covers just about anything you can think of, from the mundane to questions about the meaning of life. It has been around since 2005, and as well as being an interesting and entertaining source of information, it is one of the best Web 2.0 promotion tools available.

No matter how specific your niche is, you should be able to find questions that you can provide informative answers to. As with all Web 2.0 promotion techniques, the better the content you provide, the better the results. Users have the ability to vote for your answers so the better your response, the higher up it will be on the page. And if it is really good, you will get the best answer slot.

Duration : 0:2:17

Technorati Tags: bookmarking, Business, Marketing, RELATIVITY, Social, SOLUTIONS, strategies, TECHNOLOGY

Duration : 0:2:10

Technorati Tags: Bradford, Joanne, Kevin, Lee, Marketing, Obsessions, Online, Yahoo

Being #1 in Google is easier than you think. Combining the power of video and social media is incredibly effective. MLM’ers are using Google, video marketing and social media to their advantage.

Using SEO to promote an ecommerce website is easier than it sounds. The work from home Internet Marketing wave is only beginning.

Scott Skinner

http://MLMLeadSystemTeam.com

Facebook Group:
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Duration : 0:5:20

Technorati Tags: #1, ecommerce, from, google, Home, Internet, Marketing, media, MLM, Part, SEO, Social, video, work

Duration : 0:1:51

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