Will mowed a lawn for $30-$40 and spent three weeks chasing payment through fifteen calls, texts, and emails. When he confronted the homeowner's husband on the porch, the guy finally paid up. Will learned to price jobs expecting some customers won't pay at all.
I mowed this lawn. I need to get paid for this. And there was one customer in particular that I remember. Every single time I was in that neighborhood, I. I drove by that house and I would like knock on the door, see if I could catch them. Be like, hey, I called you like 15 times in the last three weeks. I've texted you, I've emailed you. This is probably like a forty dollar lawn cut, right? Or back then. At the time, it was probably like $30. One day I actually caught the husband pulling in in his truck. And I was in the company truck and everything. So I pull up, I park the truck, I get out. You know, I'm like frantically walking over there. So he doesn't just run inside the house and like, close the door. And I'm like, hey. You know, I introduced myself, I said, hey, my name is Will. I mowed this lawn about a month and a half ago. I've been trying to contact you guys, trying to reach you guys. We haven't received payment. He was like, oh, man. Again, he gave me kind of like the sob story, you know, he was like, again, she didn't pay another bill. Again, kind of like, you know, blaming it on the wife. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. I don't know. Give me like five minutes, I got to run inside, I got to do this thing and then I'll, I'll come back out. There I am on the porch for $30, waiting for this guy to go in, grab the cash and then bring it out. And behold, he did. He came out. He's like, I'm so sorry, man. Here's your $30. I'm like, cool, thanks, man. After that, obviously I'm not going to service their yard again because, like, it was a crucial pain to get paid. It taught me a very valuable lesson. There will be people that don't pay you, and that's the cost of doing business. You have to bake that into your price, knowing that there is a certain percentage of revenue that you are supposed to collect that you never will.
