Text message
My phone alerted me to a text message this morning: a lawn care client no longer required my services. Hmm. Ok. No big deal. I thanked them for letting me know and closed my eyes again.
Here’s a pro tip: once you set your pricing, stick to it. This client is hardly a great client. They called me last year, clearly desperate, because the city was after them for not maintaining the sidewalk lawns.
It looked like a meadow, so I cut it and left. And, driving away, I thought the $50 charge was hardly worth the labour and the abuse my mower had to take. Still, it was easy revenue, athough the lady had to wait until pay day to e-transfer me the $50. That’s already a huge hint.
Fast forward to 2026
Then, last week, I got the same desperate text message to come cut the meadow. And it was awful again. Long grass, more morning glory than grass, massive trophy weeds, and the lady’s boyfriend leaning against the wall watching me.
I mulched the lawn, trimmed it, and cut down the one massive weed growing against a chokecherry tree. Maybe a minute later the boyfriend reappeared to ask me about the trophy weed, again. That’s another huge hint. He had watched me cut it down and couldn’t recall it a moment later.
Take a look: there’s more morning glory than grass, morning glory is slowly strangling the tree, and hedges keep getting bigger and bigger.
Find the right clients
People like this are a source of revenue but you must find the right clients. Your ideal clients. I thought I would help these older renters with their lawn obligations, but clearly, they can’t afford to pay $50 for a cut. Unfortunately, that’s my minimum charge. I’m running a business.
Right after this gig, I drove back up the hill to work on a $3.6 million dollar estate home which is currently on the market. It’s night and day when you go from neglected lawns and trophy weeds to an estate home that’s regularly maintained.
It feels good to work at a nice place, for rich clients. It also feels good to have a lot of work available. I just don’t need to mention it to clients who struggle to come up with $50. Life is good right now.
