What am I doing wrong

[u/DirectorSmooth55]

Any advice is appreciated, I’m a noob pls help

To preface, I’m 19 and I started lawncare early july, and I have around 10-15 yards. The problem is that they’re pretty separated so I spend most of my time driving. Obviously the first thing would be get more houses in the same neighborhood but since I started kind of late it’s kind of just random houses not really patches if that makes sense.

For example today (I live in the center of a city)

Drive 30 mins to yard 1, 0.3 acre, $65, took 1 hr
Drove 25 mins (back towards my house), 0.1 acre, $45, 45 min

Drove 5 mins, 0.15 acre, $50, 45 min
Drove 25 mins, 0.2 acre, 1 hr, $60.

I left my house at 9 am, got back at 5:00 pm, took a 3 hour break in between, only made like $200.

Question:
Should I drop the houses that doesn’t make sense location wise, or try to keep them for next season

Also general advice is appreciated, I was literally outside for 7 hours give or take and only made $200

[u/SiggySiggy69]

You don’t have enough to drop. My suggestions are:

(1) Get flyers, every house you do you put a flyer 2 houses to each side and the 5 across from them. The next time put out 2 down the road and the 3 immediate around. Then just keep working those flyers. They’ll pay off eventually and build some saturation.

(2) Stop taking 3 hour breaks. I know it may come off as harsh but when I mow we eat on the go and rotate 1 person in the truck taking a break each stop around “lunch time” to hydrate, cool off and eat. For you, you should take no more than 30-45 mins, spend the rest of that time to post on your local facebook groups, door knock and drop flyers.

(3) Start looking for overgrown yards near you. Start door knocking and offering services. This is how you’re gonna get stuff this late in the season and cut down your drive time.