Landscaping is made for side-hustlers. And what exactly is a side-hustle? It’s a money-making activity you do outside of your regular job. It’s like a hobby that makes you money while you stay employed.
This week I purchased Chris Guillebeau’s new book “Side hustle” and if you’re thinking about starting something on the side go buy it.
If you’re thinking about earning extra cash with landscaping, keep reading this blog post. Perhaps you can create freedom for yourself.
Why hustle?
One: security! Employer loyalty isn’t always great and when things go badly your main source of income could be cut and gone. Side-hustles are your fallback plan. They provide you with an extra source of income and they boost your confidence. It feels great to build something new yourself on the side while you work a regular job.
Two: benefits! When you create a new money-making side hustle your confidence grows. And as Guillebeau points out in his book, once you start one side hustle, it becomes easier to start others. You start seeing new opportunities.
Money is another obvious benefit. You can pay down your debt, travel or save it for your future.
How to side-hustle
So how exactly do you side-hustle? Guillebeau offers us three main points. Follow them and kill it. Then leave comments on my blog. I’d love to hear your successful side-hustle stories. Especially if the side-hustle involves green work.
- Start with something you already know. If you are a landscaper then this should be fine. I’m assuming you have all of the basic skills to maintain and install landscapes.
- Don’t spend money. Or not much anyway. Most landscape companies recognize that workers get approached about landscape work. Some even lend you their trucks and machines. But not all employers do that. Just ask. They definitely don’t want to see you signing annual contracts on the side. It’s more like helping your neighbour or friends. If you can borrow machines then your costs will be down to fuel.
- Work hard and have fun! Hard work is assumed. Your side-hustle clients expect great service. And fun is also assumed. If you can’t get up on Saturday morning then it’s not really a hustle. If you can’t face it, find another hustle. Guillebeau offers lots of non-landscaping ideas. There are opportunities everywhere.
Landscape side-hustle examples
The landscape industry is ready made for side-hustling. But the key to doing it well is working on project basis, NOT by the hour. For example, say, you charge your client $25 to cut his lawn and it takes you twenty minutes. Perfect. You don’t want to be there for an hour.
Let’s look at some examples.
Residential work is obvious because strata type complexes don’t qualify for side-hustle status. To nail a strata property annual contract you have to spend money on equipment, insurance, etc. Additionally, it’s also unlikely you can do this on weekends because people are home and don’t want to hear your machines.
I have had people approach me at work asking me about helping them. Sure. See you after hours.
I have brilliant clients without lawns. All I have to do is prune and clean up. And I love it. All I need is some hand tools, snips, and a small blower. Green waste goes in their bins.
Commercial sites. Incredibly, my day job boss hooked me up with commercial sites which can be done anytime. The flexibility is absolutely brilliant. And my boss knows I have two cute kids to feed. I use company trucks and equipment and my pay is added to my regular paycheques. This still qualifies as side-hustle.
Second company. I was approached by another landscape company desperate for help so I spent a few seasons there working almost every Saturday during the season. It was a good experience because the sites and company set-up were different. I just didn’t have a life.
Professional blogger. One of my friends redesigned his landscape company website but he was too busy to post blogs. So I submitted a few short technical blogs to fight the blank spaces on his website. He liked it and hired me to write more blogs. I’m still hustling for him. Check it out at www.properlandscaping.com/blog
E-books. So far I have published four landscape e-books on Amazon.ca. My actual income is tiny but we can still call it a side-hustle. Share your landscape expertise and profit from it. The exposure could land you more private clients.
Online courses. I’m still finishing two online courses for new landscapers and I assume it will generate some income. There is cost associated with the platform.
Tree reports. If you are an ISA certified arborist you can get paid to sign off on tree reports. For example, new home construction demolished 10 trees. The municipality collected a hefty fee to be returned when those 10 trees were replanted. Your job would involve visiting the site, counting the trees, checking the species list and signing the papers. Easy money.
Turf commissions. I know a guy who installs fake turf when people get sick of maintaining real grass. If you find work for him he will pay you 5-10% for brokering the deal. He does the quote and work. Easy money.
Side-hustling in today’s economy is practically mandatory. And it comes with many benefits. Read “Side hustle” by Chris Guillebeau.
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