Turnover is Vanity. Profit is Sanity ❤

1. Depends on area. 2. Type of clients and travelling. 3. Experience. 4. How hard you work or effective/efficient. 5. Overhead costs. 6. Variable costs. 7. Tax liabilities. 8. Living costs ie your own demographic house price /mortgage costs. 9. Hours worked per day ie 6 or 10. Many earn alot but many waste money too. 11. Quoting time, onsite and emailing quotations, pricing time unearned for materials. Deliveries etc. Lots too it. Plus administration /organising.

That's no mate rob😂 well done for walking

Interesting video as usual. I'm currently in the market for a backpack leaf blower. I'm a big Husqvarna fan but my budget doesn't stretch enough for a Husqvarna 570BTS. Hence, I'm considering the Stihl BR600. Any issues with the 4-mix engine since you've had it ?

Just finishing up my second year, my brainwave about a month ago was to buy bulbs wholesale and sell them to clients for a decent mark up I made about £300 extra just on this alone and turned a potential skint winter into a comfortable one. I'm planning on tripling down on this next year with summer flowering and spring flowering bulbs Maybe I'll actually hit my targets next year from this, I'll let you know

Brilliant as always Rob

Thanks for van tour I have vw caddy .I put coffin or camp bed thing on bulk head so you can get two mower side by side underneath and tools on top boxes made on top of wheel arches for fuel takes brooms on ceiling in tubes.they do make a racket over speed bumps hope this makes sense

I started out on £6 an hour..😅 At 64 I can still get to £250 a day, and it's not a long day.

Best thing is use battery and when you can and when you do need the power and convenience of petrol use Aspen fuel.

Good vid Rob good advice as always thanks

I’m not saying this to show off… I’m saying it to show people in these comments who’re just starting out. I’m just finishing my first year out on my own and I believe the business has bought in around 50+ thousand this year. At the start of the year I watched every single one of your videos rob. Thank you for the little bits of advice. Really helped me get my head round everything.

Hi Rob, how do you go about charging for waste would it be per tonne bag?

The bigger the house or the flashier the car the less they are willing to pay.

Hardley a "comments section" if you remove them all the time 😂

Well i am going to be earning less next year as i plan on only doing 4 days a week,not got a mortgage anymore so can take it easier,will spend time in my caravan in wales ,work to live not live to work

What do you do when you are sick or have an injury?

Hi rob slightly off topic but your van is the long wheel base version? How much room do you have with the strimmer would i be able to get away with a swb version? Cheers matt

Great advice as always Rob. I'm looking at investing in a Stihl battery hedge trimmer due to fatigue as I'm not getting any younger!!😢 HLA66 or 86 for the bigger hedges and it would be nice if I could get some advice and feedback on how they perform. ❤

I use aspen 2 fuel hedge trimmers,/chainsaws . And aspen 4 fuel mowers trimmers.

Absolutely solid advice Rob as always. Wise words. A quick con with the battery gear is the battery’s don’t like being too hot or cold! Iv had problems during the hot summer days and now in the colder months. Love my battery stuff but always have fuel gear as back up.

Rob, always love your positivity! Good video 👍

Great video Rob, very inspiring. I'd love to give this a go but just not had the courage as I've always been in steady salaried jobs 😬 Does anyone do a mix of work such as gardens and window cleaning to help manage the risk of less work through the winter months? Or up sell seasonal pots and hanging baskets to customers?

Great advice. As always.

Unlikely you'll be working 5 days a week when you start. Youve got to build up a reputation and a name first. Plus youll be up against already established guys. Its hard graft. You may be lucky and get going quick but from that £ 200 a day youll be paying your overheads, advertising, insurance, waste licence, fuel, tax and maintenance on any vehicles you use. Fuel, oil and maintenance on any tools. Replacing consumables like strimmer line, chainsaw chains, mulching blades etc. Its a bit like a few years ago when the hype was become a plumber and earn £50k a year. It was just hype, and so is this.

Very sensible advice Rob especially for newbies.

I'm going to look at this strimmer. I was using a Ryobi strimmer head on my Stihl kombi and was lovely and light weight combined anyway the Ryobi strimmer attachment became too much vibration so I put my Stihl strimmer attachment back on and bloody hell it's so heavy not liking it at all will take getting used to again. How do you find the weight on the FS 70 Rob. Ps I have been using the Ryobi on the Stihl for years as they butt nicely together but as said the Ryobi has now a vibration so don't want to risk any wrist damage I may strip it down and see if there is anything stuck inside like membrane or anything. But I'm interested how you find the weight of your strimmer

Nugget Rob

Great advice for beginners Rob 👌 Marketing is key. Not many people get that.

Spot on advice for any small business sector. 👍

Morning Rob, I completely agree with your system of running a gardening business, BUT, and it’s a big but, very few within the business actually save a bit for a ‘rainy day and to pay HMRC, the attitude is, spend now and worry about things latter, I have seen this many times over a number of years, it’s human nature. Good luck, have a merry Christmas. Keep up the good advice. Mark

Great video Rob. Have you ever experienced “tuff wars” or had any grief from other gardeners since you’ve been running? For anyone thinking of starting a gardening business, is this something worth being mindful of or could it be more fiction than relevant.

I started off with a secondhand qualcast mower, McCulloch strimmer and a Homelite blower. All carried on a 3x4 trailer. Earned enough in my first year to buy better stuff and a bigger trailer. I look back now at 35yrs and wonder how the business ever got going. No internet, no advertising, just word of mouth. Just shows how good i was and am!!!!

Great advice❤

I prefer to calculate that my body can withstand 4 hours a day of effective work at £50/h. So that I can work normally again the next day, so that I am not too tired. 5 days a week. I work alone, I don't want assistants who I would pay a little. If I calculate an hour £50 on average. The point is not to work for lower hourly rates.

...with commercial work especially that is easily obtainable.plus more! .plus waste away on top. Around 6 actual working hours..with fairly local sites together..defo can be done 👍

hi rob... I was really doing well for a few years, I was usually clearing £2500 a week, during covid (2020) I was doing £3000 a few weeks but that was a bit of a one off, nowadays it's more £2000 a week but my health has dropped off a bit these days & I have anxiety from it all, hopefully next year is better for me again

They did get a Discount! They managed to save 100% on their lawn welldone them 😂

Starting is scary, sucess is earnt, the learning curve is vertigal...The cost is eyewatering, the capital you need, starts at £15000 min...Sounds easy, but vans can be unreliable, doing short journeys do not do the modern hi-tect adblue any favors, a few days off the road a few days income gone... I dont see 2025 as being a good yr, money will be getting tighter, unemployment could see more new gardening entrants, taking rates out at the bottom... Mowing down in the SW, now going to three weekly in the main, leaves on lawns being more often, i can work to Xmas on the good days, then start again mowing perhaps three weekly middle January on, some scarrifying March on, with lawn treatments, full garden service for my customers as required...

Wise words my friend, thanks for some great videos and advise this season. Enjoy the down time and look forward to the season starting soon. Cheers Rob

I was paying $40.00 a week for mowing and string trimming per week for an average size lawn. Then we had to get rid of him because he became unreliable.

Take a look at the husqvarna battery gear, we use it along side some ego gear. The husqvarna stuff is a cracking bit of kit

I started full time this April, learnt loads this year. Really enjoyed your van chats.

Good tips there in the video. Re the battery stuff a hedge trimmer is the best tool to start with; they are very economical on battery. And, yes! We need to talk about money more, looking forward to those videos.

Interesting video rob, i started on my own 1 jan 2023, was completely devoid of work by 2nd week November, also "buying" work by under charging. 2024 has been flat out and will be until 19th December, earning much better money,atb paul,

Rob, I hope you are well and getting a well earned rest. 3 things that I am steadfast about is when you are working you have to be on a pound per minute to cover all the costs, secondly, get customers on contracts where you can, thirdly, never be scared to punt a customer as there are many bandits out there who won’t pay the going rate or honour a contract. I learned a lesson this year where I had a verbal contract with a friend and bailed them right out the brown matter regarding the condition of a property they own. Come the end of summer, then again in Autumn they pulled the usual stunt, “Oh, just leave it this week, the garden is slowing down”. Come April, they will realise why their property (which they are trying to sell) looks like f**kall! No second chance to make a first impression!

I started my own gardening business this year. Your videos have greatly helped. Once thing I have learned this year, is that no 2 jobs are the same. Different services require different charges

brilliant video rob. Lots of useful tips which could also be used in other businesses and not just gardening.

Love watching your videos Rob, thanks and keep it up. You have loads of useful advice for all small businesses not just gardening ones. Brilliant! Here is to a prosperous 2025 🍻

ey up rob, i am a gardener. recently setup bark to get new leads i have paid 130 pounds. I have 2 out of 8 people potential going to book in dec , jan. But so far im not happy with what i have paid for leads. Any tips of good ways to get leads? , what has worked for you in the past. Also any other viewers who are gardeners are welcome to jump in. Come 2025 i would love to have a full diary for at least 4 weeks. Something i have yet to achieve.

Are there any gardeners in the stockport area or close by? I'm doing waste removals and would love to speak to like minded people a d work together