If you're out of school for the summer, I have an idea for you. Make Some Money! You probably already have a lot of ideas for how to spend it, and that's great, but I also would encourage you to save and invest a large percentage of what you earn.
If you're of legal age, there are plenty of jobs out there for you. However, I would like to encourage you to try your hand at running your own small business. I know...I know...there are all the big lawn care operations out there to compete with these days, but trust me, there are still plenty of opportunities for an enterprising young person.
Chances are your parents already own most if not all the equipment you need to get started. If they let you borrow their equipment, just be sure to take care of it, and you might even give them a small percentage of your profits to pay for wear and tear on the equipment.
When you can afford to do so, if you have storage room, maybe you could buy your own equipment using some of your profits. I would suggest a dependable walk-behind or push mower, a good string trimmer, and a good blower. Start out small but when you can afford it, get the small curved shaft Echo trimmer and an Echo backpack blower. If you take care of this equipment it will last a very long time and do a great job for you! Be sure you know which pieces of equipment used mixed gas and make sure you get it right every time. If you put straight gas in a 2-cycle trimmer or blower, you will destroy it very quickly!
Your leaf blower can be used to blow leaves off people's lawn in the fall for an extra source of income. You can learn to use your string-trimmer to edge with to save time and money, but I suggest you get someone to teach you how and be sure to get a lot of practice before trying it on a customer's yard. It's not as easy as it looks, and you could make a mess of their lawn.
The first thing you need are clients. I suggest you start out by mowing your own lawn at home. This will give you some of the practice you need to do a good job and be efficient at it. Next, let people in you neighborhood know you are available for mowing and other yard services.
You will have to do a little research to get an idea of what other companies are charging for lawn services. When people hire a teenager to mow their lawn, they are usually looking for a deal. Don't go bottom dollar, but you may have to price your services a little lower than the going rate. That's O.K. because your competition usually has a lot of overhead expenses including employee pay checks. You don't have these expenses and a large portion of your earnings will be profit.
If you work hard, are careful to do a great job, and are friendly with your customers, you will soon get referrals. This is the cheapest and best advertising you can get. If you get ambitious, you can use your computer to make up flyers advertising your services and distribute those flyers in your neighborhood or another neighborhood close by. Be sure to follow the post office rules when it comes to distributing flyers. They cannot touch the mailbox itself, but you are allowed to attach flyers to the post. You can also advertise on Craigslist for free and pick up customers that way. Any way you look at it, if you show up when you are supposed to and do a half way descent job, you should get more business than you can handle. This can be a great way to start making money to pay for that car you plan to buy when you are old enough to drive.
Just today, my oldest son made in just a few short hours of yard work close by, and secured another job for next week. You can do it too. Get out there and make it happen!
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