Lawn Care & Other Business Resources
Some of my personal favorites
Business, investment & success books that may have little to do wtih lawncare or landscaping but everything to do with success in general
First, I would recommend EVERY book by Tim Ferris, especially The Four Hour Workweek: Though his strategies & techniques can be a little cryptic at times (Calling an online business a "muse?"), he is first rate at motivating, and delivering ways of streamlining and supercharging your business & personal life in a credible, adaptable manner. He is the 80/20 pioneer
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World
The 4 Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman
The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life
3 of my personal favorites that I just bought for my daughter
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (by Stephen R Covey)
How to Win Friends & Influence People (by Dale Carnegie)
Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century (by Napoleon Hill)
Other great books that will always be on my shelf
The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy (by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D.)
The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies for Building Wealth (by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D.)
The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life (by J L Collins)
Below are a number of sites that are worth checking out if you are a lawn care business owner or looking to start a new business soon.
General Startup Information
Entrepreneur Magazine - Lengthy 2008 article on how to start a lawn care business. Briefly covers most aspects of the business.
General Property Maintenance Resources
Landlord & Tenant Forms
Discussion Forums & Websites
LawnTimes.com - Forum on all aspects of lawn care and landscaping including starting a business.
LawnSite.com - Lawn care & landscaping business forum.
LawnServiceForum.com - Discussions on commercial lawn care and landscaping.
GopherForum.com - Gopher lawn care business and marketing forum.
Business Plan Samples
BPlans.com - One of the best lawn care business plan samples available online.
Dayne Landscaping - A fictitious business plan written by a marketing specialist.
Associations
Iowa Turfgrass - Home of the Iowa Professional Lawn Care Association.
Lawn Care Association of Pennsylvania - Organization representing the professional lawn care industry in Pennsylvania.
Ohio Lawn Care Association - The voice of the lawn care industry in Ohio.
Independent Lawn Mowing Contractors of Australia - Serving most Australian states, this site offers information for those wanting to start their own independent lawn mowing businesses. It also has a directory targeted at those looking for lawn care services.
Adelaide Lawn Mowers Association - An association of independent lawn mowing companies in South Australia. Site includes several interesting articles as well as a directory of lawn mowing
businesses.
Magazines and Other Publications
Turf Magazine - A monthly magazine with content targeted towards lawn care and landscaping business owners. This site contains a lot of free content and is worth checking out.
Lawn & Landscape - A monthly magazine that provides lawn care and landscaping business owners with the information that they need to grow their businesses.
Green Industry Pro Magazine - National trade publication that provides the essential information that landscaping business owners need for success. Includes content on lawn care.
Software Packages
LawnPro Software - Lawn care business software for billing, scheduling, estimating and more.
Gopher Software - Gopher's billing and scheduling software makes scheduling and billing easy for lawn care business owners.
Adkad Technologies - GroundsKeeper Pro is a business management software package for the lawn care and landscaping industries.
Real Green Systems - Service Assistant ® is the all-in-one field management lawn care software for businesses with a fleet of vehicles that need to schedule, quote, dispatch, route, collect payments, track vehicles, communicate in the field and more. The company also offers print, digital marketing, direct mail, and physical storage services.
Equipment Manufacturers
The Toro Company - Landscaping and lawn care equipment that you can count on.
Miscellaneous
10 Must-See Virtual Gardens In The UK
We just published an updated, comprehensive guide on how to grow impatiens / busy lizzies on our sister site, Happy DIY Home. It is completely free and you can find it here:
Lawn Care Magic: Break-Through Lawn Secret Grows Your Lawn 3 Times Faster, With Less Work and Without any Expensive Fertilizers or Special Equipment...
Garden Planting Calendar
Successful Container Gardening
Before You Make Your First Container Garden
Growing Plants Indoors & On Porches
Troubleshooting Indoor Plants
Top Herbs for a Kitchen Garden
Database of Plants Toxic to Pets
For your entertainment and intellectual stimulation, we present this YouTube video from The History Guy on the History of Lawn Care contributed by the man we use to convert our books to Kindle and ePub books, Charlie Seper. Thank you Charlie!