Thread: Any past or present Jim's Mowing Franchisee's here??

Wow, thanks for all the input, advice, and useful information guys.

A lot of great information, and most if not all pointing me in the direction away from franchising (not that that's a bad thing).

I'm a bit of a "secure" type of bloke... Someone who likes to know that the pay is going to be in the bank on Thursday's. Don't get me started on the missus.

Anyway, that's what made me consider the franchise option. From reading the information available (mind you, I have spoken to anyone directly yet), it seems that you get a guaranteed a weekly income with the franchise option.

I could well just go out on my own, but that probably wouldn't happen for a little while yet, and it may not happen at all. I've owned a business before, but I was working a full time job on top of that so it all became too much unfortunately.

Like I said, thanks for all the great input... Much appreciated.

Hi Brenno,

I had a mate that had a Jims mowing franchise. He was given a territory and wasn't allowed out of it because he would have been encroaching on another Jims franchise owner. In the end he had to take a second job because the people's whose lawns he used to mow went with private guys, who didn't have the overheads that the Jims guys have and were cheaper. He ended up virtually giving the business away and it nearly cost him his house.

Forget about the regular income, there is no such thing. Go out on your own, do a letterbox drop in your area and pick up some clients close to home. Once you get a couple of clients maybe you could offer them a spotters fee or a free mow for some successful leads.

The best form of advertising is word of mouth!

It will be quiet in the cooler months and you will be working your butt off in the warmer months.

Good Luck

Jim

Little extras,
Like rolling up the hose, not to a little ball, but looped neatly on the ground if there is no hook.... maybe xmas bonus' for good customers (something garden related...rain guage or something, with a sticker on it?)

make a big difference...


Some ideas...(not good but on the spot..)
"If it needs hoeing, sowing, growing, mowing or time for it to be going, call us!"
"Land Lover Gardening"
"We’ll make you feel at Eve in Your garden of Eden"
company in the U.K. called "The good garden company",
and a U.S. company motto is "Better, greener, cheaper"

I loved those two..


Good luck and (for what its worth) I think the non franchise is the way to go...

Whilst waiting for a client to turn up late for an appointment at his home, I had a good yarn with a Jim's Mowing franchisee. This guy was quite disillusioned. He swore he thought, and was led to think, that he got an area defined by lines on a map and a number of initial clients, and any new enquiries would be referred to him.

He came across another Jim's working in his territory an bailed him up. "what the FH are you doing in my territory?" "I could ask the same of you" says the other Jim. He thought he had been sold a geographic territory also. Aparently what they got,and the sales staff were trained not to reveal this unless pushed, was a run of initial clients, not a georaphical territory.

The master franchisee would take enquiries and if they had enough to make up anotherrun would sell as such. Of course this was their preference as there was more money in this. If not enough enquiries then they ould be passed on to an existing franchise and a fee charged.

Have worked with not for a number of franchise operations over the years.

You really need to investigate the one you want to become involved with and fully understand exactly what they are offering you and for what cost.

Some of them seem to be designed to keep the master franchise in a very comfortable lifestyle based on the sweat of the surfs who actully do the work. Have seem one where you paid a fee to start up, then spent 200k on site fit out and once trading paid 15% of turnover (not profit) made up of various costs. A cynic might say that the basis of this seemed to be that if the franchise was kept in enough debt they would not be in a position to make waves.

None I have seen promise any kind of guaranted income. Exception was one that did off a wage for the first 12 months. Catch was it was against your projected earnings and if you did not earn enough over the 12 months you owed them the difference.

You take the financial risks while the master franchisor banks on the law of averages providing enough winners to bank roll them.

What ever you decide you have to be comfortable with it. I do know many franchisors who are content with the deals they have made.

Franchise agreements can be very tricky.
Can can get up to 7% from gross turn over.
Read the fine print.
They do however give good back up as part of their agreement.
Well, they are suppoosed to.
We use 3 VIP guys on very regular basis.

2 of them are very happy, they are fencing contractors and they get tons of work through their head office.
The other a lawn and garden care business.
Not bad but he is not motivated enough to get his own so I figure he has himself to blame.

A very important thing is branding if you want to go bigger.
Get people to work for you very soon so they don't ask for you to cut their lawns because you do such a great job.
Than you are just buying yourself a job. Unless that is what you want to do.
Get people to do the hard work, you find the clients and make them happy. At the end of the day, its like buying spare parts. you dont ask who assembled them just how much and will they fit and are they any good.

Do the same and you be laughing.

Hi,

I've got a few mates that have vip franchises. they're doing quite a good trade in terms of turnover, profit and also the hours they work. maybe look at them as well as Jim's. If you have business background, in particular good old fashioned customer service you may be able to go out on your own - do a price comparison of what the franchsie system gives you compared to what you have to pay for yoru own business.
advertising
lead generation
insurance
equipment
what happens if you are sick / iunjured
how far are you travelling
do you need training on different aspects of the gardening as opposed to just pushing a lawn mower around

Originally Posted by 3toes

Some of them seem to be designed to keep the master franchise in a very comfortable lifestyle based on the sweat of the surfs who actully do the work. Have seem one where you paid a fee to start up, then spent 200k on site fit out and once trading paid 15% of turnover (not profit) made up of various costs. A cynic might say that the basis of this seemed to be that if the franchise was kept in enough debt they would not be in a position to make waves.

Read "multi-level marketing" a la Amway. A legalised form of pyramid selling.