Short-form advice from Mike Andes addressing a new lawn-care business owner struggling in month four. Andes explains the first two years are the toughest, early profits often get reinvested into growth, and recommends pausing expansion to focus on raising prices, refining services, and improving efficiency to reach profitability before scaling.
Hey, Mike. Yes. My question is how do you keep your head in the future when this is my fourth month in business and we're struggling to pay our rent and we're just down? It's a really tough spot, right? The first year and second year in business are the most difficult. The third year is where you'll start. I always tell people that's when you'll start to see, like, oh, like this is a business and like, I can make money doing this. But the first year or two is brutal because any sort of profits that you're making are likely going back into the growth of the business. Now if you're not growing and you're in month four, time to say, hey, maybe I shouldn't keep growing. Maybe I should raise my prices, really focus on the services I want to provide and become ultra efficient and profitable before I start to scale.
