Do you love plants and know how to maintain them? Do you want to monetize your knowledge of plants and make a career out of it? If yes, why don’t you start a gardening business? It’s a profitable business, especially if you explain to your clients which plants make their gardens look beautiful. Remember, you would have various tasks in your hand, such as digging, planting, raking, watering, hoeing, trimming, and leaf blowing. If you are comfortable with these activities, then start a gardening business.
Can you consider gardening as your full-time business? You may be skeptical about considering gardening as your full-time business venture. Many questions come to your mind, such as the following:
- Does it provide enough profit?
- How much time will it take to become an established business owner?
- What are the working hours?
- How much should I charge?
Not only you, but also most people who start businesses for the first time have these questions in mind. First, consider it as a full-time business. If you are dedicated and passionate enough, you can acquire clients slowly and steadily. When it comes to charging your customers, find out the ongoing rates. It’s better to start at a relatively low price compared to your competitors. This attracts the attention of your audience, and they may want to give you a try.
Are Gardening and Landscaping the Same?
No, they are not. There is confusion among many people regarding this matter. There are more earning opportunities for a landscaping professional than a gardener. However, there are more responsibilities of a landscaping professional. Study landscaping architecture and get a college degree. The course includes the steps on how to build pools, irrigation systems, rock formations, and fountains in gardens. It’s a time-consuming process and it may take years to become a professional.
Gardening is a comparatively easier job if you know about different plants that people usually grow in their gardens. From using the right fertilizers and pesticides to knowing the tricks of how to plant different plants and trees, be aware of these things if you want your business to flourish. Genuine interest in plants will help you succeed in your gardening business. Earn your customers’ trust by obtaining in-depth knowledge of growing plants like alocasia polly.
Starting the Gardening Business
While working with flowers, plants, and trees seems like a thrilling idea, consider a few things about the business before you finally start.
- It would primarily be an outdoor job and you may need to spend hours under the scorching sun to make your clients’ gardens look beautiful. Since you are starting new, visit the houses of your clients personally and provide the services they need. Later, hire another expert to share your job load as your business grows.
- Staying outside under the sun may lead to skin tanning and dehydration. You shouldn’t have a problem with these things. It’s always wise to carry enough water so that you don’t faint after dehydration. Also, wear protective clothing to avoid tanning.
- Gardening can make you a fitter person than you are now. It involves squatting, bending, and reaching out while taking care of the plants. Make sure you are fit enough to perform these exercises.
- Winter is not the best season for gardening. With snow around, you would hardly get any calls from your clients. Therefore, make enough provisions to pay your bills for that time of the year.
Essential Things You Need
It is important to have the following things before you start your gardening business:
1. Gardening Tools
You need a few basic gardening tools to go about performing the activities that make gardens look incredible. Some of the necessary tools to carry everywhere you go are a trowel, lawnmower, weed eater, rake, hoe, and shovel. These tools are easily available in hardware stores. Most importantly, you wouldn’t have to spend a fortune on them. Just make sure that the lawnmower is of good quality. Otherwise, many lawnmowers can’t cut through thick blades of grass.
2. License and Insurance
Each state has different requirements when it comes to license and insurance for a gardening business. Check what rules and regulations to follow to start your gardening business in your respective state. Clients usually prefer to hire someone licensed. Therefore, it’s better that you start your business only after acquiring the license to start your business.
3. Marketing Ideas
You can’t expect people to call you if you don’t make attempts to reach out to them. Almost everyone who starts a business these days has some sort of marketing idea. For example, use social media to tell your friends, relatives, and colleagues to share your business page as much as possible. If you can spend some more money, then hire a web designer to build your website. Opt for SEO services so that your site ranks at the top of the search engine.
4. Physical Health
As mentioned earlier, gardening involves various poses that resemble different types of exercises. If you are too overweight or can’t move properly, it can become a challenge to provide the gardening services that customers expect. Therefore, you should be fit enough to keep performing at your highest level every time a client calls.
Services to Provide
Here are a few services that to provide as a gardener:
- Mowing the lawn
- Installing roll on grass
- Pruning, planting, and raking
- Brush cutting
- Re-potting plants
- Watering the garden and lawn
- Blowing and sweeping pathways and clearing dead leaves and twigs
- Controlling weeds and removing them whenever they make other plants look bad
- Spreading appropriate fertilizers in the garden and lawn
- Clearing mulching rubbish
- Hedge trimming
Conclusion
It may take some time to kick-start your gardening business. However, once people know about you, they might consider your company if it provides satisfactory services at affordable prices. The key is to reach out to as many people as possible in the first place, and then convert the leads into customers.
