When my parents moved out to their new house surrounded by a spacious yard, my father asked for my opinion to come and meet the person responsible for the garden design. This was my first time meeting a lawn care business owner. At that moment, I realized you could make perfect money while managing a fun business like lawn care. This post will help those interested in the industry with general tips on the field and grants for starting a lawn care business.
Let me tell you how that story went.
When I met the lawn care person, he explained why we should hire him instead of anybody already available. I encourage you to consider these in your business too. So here are his reasons why:
- The business offers long-term plans for lawn care, ensuring sustainability with the customer.
- The business uses highly durable equipment.
- The team is available to support you every week to ensure the lawn is handled best.
There are many other reasons that I remember from the conversation. However, the main takeaway I am highlighting here is that the lawn care business plan ensured high-quality, team-based, and sustainable solutions. Remember to have these planned well for your lawn care business too.
Now, let’s dig in to learn more about some of the grants available for a lawn care business:
Grants for starting a lawn care business
Environment Grant
Since many business trends now involve acquiring and using sustainable and environmentally-friendly methods, you can easily find environmental grants to apply for. Here are two tips to help you get an environment grant for your lawn business:
- Draft an organized and practical business plan. The plan should clearly show how your lawn business uses methods that help save the environment and planet.
- Sustainability is a keyword. Your business model should adhere to and follow sustainability measures. This also proves to grantors that your business will continue running even after the grant has stopped.
Also, some grantors call these green grants. I strongly encourage you to apply for these if your lawn care business uses low-emission tools and machines and aims to reduce waste.
Social Entrepreneurship Grant
The keyword here is social impact.
Your lawn care business can be making profits while also having a positive impact on the lives of others. This can be put into practice in many ways, such as:
- Training and hiring marginalized communities in your lawn care business. By doing so, your lawn care business has created jobs for others and helped improve the community.
- Your lawn care business can help by contributing part of the profits to the different social causes in your community or the area.
There are many existing problems that your business can contribute to solving. If your lawn care business has a social idea while operating, you will more likely attract concerned investors.
I encourage you to follow Ashoka‘s work as an example. The organization identifies and supports social entrepreneurs (people, not projects) with ideas for social change.
The critical question here is: How to get these grants and others?
What is really important here is to know how to apply for and acquire any grant that comes your way. To be able to do this:
Be on the lookout
I did not bombard this post with many grants because opportunities change daily. To get this right, you must be attentive and follow the industry and the emerging opportunities daily. Subscribe to newsletters, attend events, and research how things will help your lawn care business in the best way.
Get your portfolio together
While following and searching for all the relevant grant opportunities, you will need to make sure you have all your business documents together to apply for grants. You can do this on your own or ask for the support of grant writers to create consistent and concrete content for you. Please always remember to include mainly those with experience in lawn care businesses. This will save you a lot of time and effort.
Network with all relevant parties
Back to my intro story, as a project manager working in an organization that supports social entrepreneurs, I could have helped the lawn care business owner I met with if he was looking for grants to keep his business. Then, out of nowhere, we meet people we need to network with to help profit our businesses.
Be very clear on your objectives
If you managed to pay attention to all the previous steps but were not clear on the objectives of your lawn care business, then all this went in vain. First, you must have a clear vision for your business. For example, why do you need grants for your lawn care business? Will the funding be used to expand the business or to improve the current internal processes? You must have direct answers to these and many more to be able to achieve the plans you have for your business.
Closing thoughts – Grants for starting a lawn care business
If you are seeking grants to start a lawn care business, I strongly encourage you to follow the same course of action that the owner I met did. Simply put, be ready to tell others why they should use your business’s services and offer you grants to run your business. Then, with clear objectives, sound research, and a strong portfolio, you can acquire the grants you need for your business.
And as I usually conclude, if you would like a consultant to help you plan this, reach out to one of our freelancers.
Meet The Author Of This Article
I’m Jenny Ayman, a project manager in the development field with specific knowledge and experience in capacity building and entrepreneurship programs. I aspire to transfer the hands-on experience I gain in my professional career through writing.
Also, if you need help planning your business, I recommend checking out some of our freelancer’s business plans or pitch decks!