If I had to pick which business decisions have made the largest impact on my small business, Jill’s Office would certainly be in the top three. After you figure out your marketing and grow your business to a point, you are going to get a lot of phone calls from people in your area. So many in fact that it will keep you from actually working.

That is what happened to me, and Jill’s Office was the answer to my problems. For starters, Jill's Office is a receptionist business that can answer phone calls for you, and book clients. Here I am going to go over the whole process I went through and what happened once I finally decided to call Jill’s Office.

I Was Drowning

I am the type that will always work as hard as possible. When a part of my business is lacking,  my first reaction is to work harder. The problem is, I only have so many hours in the day. I was getting so many phone calls that I could not keep up with the actual landscape work. Plus, my phone...

It doesn’t happen very often, but every now and then, I will find something that I really enjoy or benefit from, and I just have to share it with you guys. The Equip Exposition is one of those things. This is the exposition/conference to go to if you are in the landscaping industry. The amount that you can learn at this event is absolutely wild. I have been in the business for a long time and learn something new every time I go.

You may have heard of the Equip Exposition before. It was formally called the GIE Expo. GIE stands for Green Industry Equipment, but the expo has morphed into something more than just a landscaping event. So to properly represent what you are going to see, they renamed it to just Equip Exposition.

You will see plenty of landscaping equipment and classes, but there will be plenty of goodies for other types of outdoor industries as well. If you want a quick overview, check out this video I did at the last one. You will not want to miss all of the awesome...

As a landscaper, pressure washer, or window cleaner, it is easy to get stuck in a “nose to the grindstone” mentality. Don’t get me wrong, you should be working as hard as you can, but every now and then you should take a step back to see if you can do anything in a better way than you are now.

That’s where the Huge Convention comes in. If you can carve out the time to attend this convention, I promise you will learn something new that can improve your business. Plus the cost of the time you lose and the price of your ticket will be quickly outweighed by the new money you are able to make with the knowledge you get from the speakers and vendors at the Huge Convention.

If you want to save $25 on your Huge Conventions ticket, make sure you use my link to buy your ticket!

What Is the Huge Convention?

The Huge Convention is the number one trade show in America for the home services industry. They live up to the name too, this is the largest convention you...

When you are going from job to job, you need to make sure your equipment is secured. It is not too awfully hard to rig up your own racks, and that is just what I did when I started my landscaping business. Those worked just fine until a shovel fell off my truck while I was driving.

Everything turned out to be fine and the shovel did not hit anyone, but it could have. So that woke me up and I realized I needed much better racks on my company trucks and trailers. To get those racks, I went to Equipment Defender. These guys have made a rack for everything and they are awesome.

Since I liked their racks so much, I reached out to Equipment Defender to see what I could do for my followers. I worked out a deal to get you guys 10% off when you use the code “keith10” at checkout. I love these racks, and I am sure you will too. Let’s look at their racks a little closer and see which ones are right for you.

Trimmer Racks

Their trimmer racks do more than what you would...

(Kory & Lindsay Ballard)

When you run your own landscaping business, there are so many things that you need to buy and replace on a seemingly daily basis. There is always something that breaks or runs out and you have to order it or go out and get it. Personally, I prefer to buy a handful of the things I need at a time from Ballard inc. They have so many products for landscapers that it is honestly amazing. I always find exactly what I am looking for, and I can get all of my gear in one place.

So I wanted to take some time to show you a few things from Ballard and show you just what you could get from them. As always, I would never recommend a product or service that I do not 100% stand behind. I have known the owner, Kory Ballard, for a while now and I love the way he does business. Not to mention he sells quality products. I am going to start by looking at some of their mower-related gear, but if you want to go ahead and check it out for yourself, visit Ballard here and save...

(Me & Dan Platta Blue Skies CEO)

I have spent years building up my business, and I have made plenty of mistakes along the way. One of those mistakes was trying to do all of my bookkeeping on my own. I used to spend days trying to record all of my transactions and balance my business expenses, and at the end of all my hard work, it was still a mess.

After trying it myself and giving my statements to my tax accountant, they basically had to scrap it and do it themselves. That cost me hundreds of dollars and wasted a lot of my time, and it was fairly embarrassing. So the next year I got a bookkeeper to do all of that hard work for me, and when I turned it in to my accountant the following year, they were super impressed with the quality of the work, and it helped me out a ton throughout the year.

What a Bookkeeper Can Do for You

If you only have a few things going in and out of your business account, you can probably do your books yourself. Although as your business starts...

I am super excited for the Marketing ROI live workshop this year. It is taking place on March 25th & 26th, and I personally believe it could be the most impactful thing you do for your business this year. I wholeheartedly think that marketing was the one thing that held me back the most. If I could have attended this workshop when I first started my business, I would have skipped over years of mistakes. 

Marketing Is More Difficult than It Should Be

You are going to learn a ton about business at this workshop, and most of it pertains to marketing. Marketing as a whole is relatively complicated, but it does not have to be. There is no doubt that you should be doing a whole lot of marketing in your business, but remember, you still have to run the business.

Some people get so caught up in marketing that the rest of the business starts to slip. In my opinion, you should take what you learn from this workshop and double down on a few key aspects. You do not have to try...

The most important thing you can do for your business is to get your money right. Ironically, making money is not the hardest part of business. Managing it is. If you mismanage your money, you can get yourself in trouble quickly. It is only a matter of time before bills pile up higher than you expected, or you get audited by the IRS.

So I made a business money Blueprint course where I go in-depth about how I manage my money and tell you everything you need to know to do it on your own. This article is going to be a brief overview of what you can expect from the hours of video you will get in the full course. If you want your business to succeed, you should really check out this course. 

Getting Your Business Legal

The first step to making a successful business is making sure you make it legal. Once your business gets big enough(making multiple thousands a month) it is time to create its own business entity.

This is where you should hire a tax professional. These tax...

When you start a landscaping business, it can be difficult to feel like you can find enough work to go full-time. Well, I am here to tell you that finding customers is not near the problem you think it is. You just have to learn the basics of marketing and finding customers honestly feels super easy. Plus while you are just getting started, you can find those couple hundred dollar package deals all day long if you know where to look.

So let’s take a look at everything you can do to find new customers. A few of these things are something you can go out and do right now, while others build up over time. Physical marketing definitely has its place in the business, but having your own website and marketing online is a must if you want continued success.

There Are So Many Customers Out There

When you first start looking for customers it can be hard to realize just how many people out there need your services. Let me tell you, there are way more people out there that NEED you than...

I have used ExMark mowers for years and I have been very impressed with not only the mowers but the company as a whole. They make awesome mowers that are super high quality, and they have a mower for everyone. They are easy to work on and easy to get parts for. Plus, you will definitely have the best mower in the neighborhood if you are riding on an ExMark. Let’s take a look at exactly what I love about ExMark mowers.

They Make Quality Mowers

Everything on an ExMark has been optimized for performance. Their parts are made to prevent failures, and if they do fail they are easy to replace. Their hydro drive system is “painless” because it is designed in a way that eliminates hoses and other typical failure points. Plus the tow valves can be operated without the use of tools.

Their ultra-cut deck is just amazing. Their top-tier engineering ensures that the cut always looks good, and more importantly, the mower keeps cutting. These mowers have been optimized to reduce...