08/06/2021
We've had a great year with all this rain. Although we complain about mowing it, it still looks good. I've had many customers praise the results but yourself on the back! What we do I 1/3 of what he lawn needs - fertilize to make the turf healthy and thick. Apply herbicides to eliminate w**ds which compete for nutrients and water.
Your mowing is 1/3. Weather is the other 1/3. I realize that some customers become tired of mowing and lowered their blades in the hope of reducing the frequency required. I didn't leave a comment on the invoice on most knowing this was the case. I have neighbors that scalp their lawns and their lawns are nothing but w**ds. They wait until it's 4" to mow, which after mowing at 1" their w**ds go to seed. Look at your neighbor's lawns to your south and west. That's the direction the wind blows in summer. Get 6-10" of rain on top of that. That's why we are spraying so much w**d control at this time. All the w**ds we're spraying are young, not large like they were missed the last application.
My neighbors on both sides scalp their lawns. Each has mowed one width onto my property, resulting in that spot being nothing but w**ds with a long road to recovery.
Now we aren't getting any rain and the lawns are in drought stress. If you're not watering stop mowing until we get rain next week. The grass blade stores the plant's water, there's none in the soil for it to bring up right now. You cut off 1/2 of the grass blade you just took away 1/2 of its stored water. Rapid decline begins. You can go a month without food but only days without water.
On the pest side...I had to replace my computer this year in May. What's this got to do with Pest Control? Yesterday I had to schedule a Bedbug Follow-up for a commercial property that had a rental with a severe infestation (don't ask - you don't want to know). I realized this is the First follow-up I've had to do since I got the new computer because I had to create the service Bed Bug Follow-up. Talk about One-And-Done treatments! Want to grow your business? Try the best service and results combined with the lowest cost to the consumers.
Now for my 2 cents ....there's a lot of comments online berating small business owners about their pay. Every small business owner is a gambler. You spend $100 to buy products or supplies and labor in the hope that your experience and expertise with create $125 in revenue. Does that mean you, the owner make $25? Maybe, maybe not. If you make $25 you have to support yourself after taxes. I'm a widower, which to the IRS means single, which is the higher tax bracket. There were many times the first couple years when we wondered if we could make the mortgage payment that month (when my wife was alive - married filing jointly to the IRS). All this is a lead-in to say I'm glad I'm NOT A Landlord. There isn't one that I've serviced - large and small - that hasn't had at least one tenant not pay rent, utilities, etc. for a year or more. I made this comment to a small landlord 3 months ago and his comment was "We're not landlords, we're Sponsers. We are still paying the mortgage, water, gas and electric on the units and still fixing what they break". In the last 30 days I've seen horrendous things. Tenants had no intention of paying for anything, didn't try to work just living off stimulus checks. They finally get forced out - we've been there treating for their massive infestation of roaches and bedbugs in filthy conditions throughout the Rona. As an added touch they purposely left food in the fridge and freezer, unplugged them with the doors opened and opened the windows when they left. They never swept or mopped the floors when they lived there. Walk in and the smell from the rotting food is enough to gag a maggot. A landlord told me yesterday that an evicted tenant moved out Wednesday and left all their junk and trash. They turned off the air and left the house closed up. Thursday the cleaners go in and the tenants left their cat, with no food or water and Shut Off The Air! How low can you go? I see new lows weekly. The cat was alive. The landlord called the Humane Society and gave them tenant info and pictures.
As always, Be Rich In The Things Money Can't Buy!
