Business Plan

Executive Summary:
I am asking for a $1000 loan to start my business. This $1000 would cover the cost of a gas
powered lawn mower ($300), a battery powered weed whacker ($200), and a 55 gallon plastic
drum of gas ($138). This would also give me some extra money for any repairs I might have to
do to keep my tools in service.

Business Description:
The industry that my business will be in is the lawn care industry. The present outlook is not
that great, as right now it’s January. Although in the summer time, there is a lot of demand for
lawn care services, as there are a lot of people in the Niagara Region that are retired, or don’t
have the time to take care of their lawn, and would rather pay a fee for it. Some of the biggest
product providers in the lawn care industry are Stihl and John Deere. These would be very good
companies to buy products from, as people will see that my business exclusively uses John
Deere or Stihl products, which they will like as these are very big and respected lawn care
product providers.

Market Strategies:
I would mostly market to people that are retired. Most retired people physically can’t do their
lawn, or don’t feel up to taking care of it, so they are willing to pay someone young to do it for
them. Also, retired people have been working and saving their whole life, so they are sitting on
a good chunk of change that they can use to spend on things like lawn care. Last year, there
was 8bn dollars of profit made in the lawn care industry, and the industry employs over 65,000
people.

Competitive Analysis:
Zarcon landscaping is a landscaping/lawn care company that has been around for almost 20
years in Welland. They have architects, professionals, and have a very good reputation for
quality service. This however means that they charge a large price for a more sophisticated
service, whereas my business will charge a much lower price for a service that gets the job
done. We can ensure that we keep customers by handing out coupons for returning customers
to use. This will encourage them to go with our services as they can save more money than if
they went to one of the big lawn care services in the area.
Operations and Management Plans:
I would not need any employees or a facility for my business. Although I would need a way to
get to peoples houses, I could walk or get a ride in my father’s truck. The daily expense would
not be much, as I wouldn’t be paying any salary, and if I got the start-up money I would have a
lot of gas. My responsibility would be to get to peoples houses and mow their lawn in a good
amount of time and at a reasonable price.

Financial Factors:
The money for gas wouldn’t be a worry. The average gas tank in a lawn mower holds about 1/4
of a gallon, and if I bought the 55 gallon gas drum with the loan money, then I would have gas
to fill my lawn mower 220 times. Let’s say that one full tank is used for every lawn I mow, I
could cut 220 lawns without buying more gas. This means I would have enough gas to mow a
lawn every day of the summer (63 days), with extra just in case. If I charged $39.99 for mowing
and weed whacking, and cut one lawn everyday of the summer, I would make somewhere
around $2519.37. With this amount of money I would be able to pay back my loan of $1000 and
take home a profit of $1519.37. I wouldn’t have very many bills to pay, but I could probably
assume that I would require about $350 of repair fees for both my lawn mower and weed
whacker from using them everyday for the whole summer. I would use the loan money to cover
these expenses so the money for them doesn’t come out of my own pocket.