Forum

Business or personal phone?

Having a separate business phone seems essential, as getting personal and business contacts mixed up is unprofessional. But how many people actually setup a business account and which network did you choose?

My personal one is with talkmobile, mainly

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Customers' cutbacks

I seem to be getting a few existing clients cutting back on the cost of there garden maintenance i.e. went to one on Tuesday to find the grass had bean cut but not edged another wants it doing every 3 weeks instead of fortnightly but only wants to pa

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Do you use key performance indicators?

Whether we do it consciously through a spreadsheet, via reports generated through our account packages or just by churning numbers over in our head, most of us will use some kind of key performance indicator.

Analysing business can become all-consumi

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Boundary disputes and threatening neighbours?

Had a job yesterday with the significant reduction of some hawthorns which were growing in a dead space between a newly erected fence which was my clients and a hedge and fence boundary of 2 properties behind it.

The houses behind are a row of semis a

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Lets try that again....

Hello there,

I ran a landscaping business for a few years, and over the past year, due to myself and my business partner not seeing eye-to-eye, It eventually collapsed. I've been working now for the local council to make ends meet. I'm looking to try

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Lawn Care Market Survey Shows Optimism Among Lawn Care Providers

An interesting US based report paralleling many of the same concerns and issues seen in the UK.

Surprisingly (and good) is the apparent optimism in an otherwise difficult economy, ie:

- Over 58% of respondents indicate a healthy marketplace

- Over 57

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Why 7.4m of us are too ashamed to use our gardens......

....Overgrown weeds and unkempt plants leave homeowners too embarrassed to enjoy the space .. http://t.co/1jdOy3pgm4 So reports the Daily Mail following a survey by Ikea. Well, that's good - plenty of untapped work then :-) Interesting insight ... I'

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Van Insurance....possible problems

Having insured and paid for the van insurance last September with one of the largest companies never gave it a thought until I tried to add a mature(over 30)named driver and was quoted £240.After quite a few phone calls later the reason for this ridi

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Working abroad

Hi
I was just wondering if anyone had experience of freelancing abroad. I've got the possibility of doing some garden design work with a (local) friend in Bangalore, India, but just don't know how much of a nightmare the paperwork would be. So I just

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Bankruptcy - would you deal with that "person/business" ?

What would your stance be if you had heard a potential client/business had previously been declared Bankrupt, but was now discharged?

How is this seen/perceived by people now?

It seems more common place to find such situations (..because of the law,

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How to avoid bad payers

We've all had them, - the customer who's never in when you go to collect the money,- but here are the steps i've been taught to make sure we get paid for ALL the work that we do.

there are 3 reasons for not paying -can't pay, won't pay and don't know

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30% of buyers state the garden is the most important feature when looking at moving houses

...so says Phil Spencer of 'Secret Agent' fame on C4.

They had two landscape gardeners attack an overgrown garden to improve the house's image.

I believe the cost quoted on TV was 2 man days @ £400 - based on an 8 hr day ...makes an interesting state

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Planning for Winter 2013/2014

Ok, I suspect some are saying "WHAT ?".

True, this year has been slow to kick off due to the weather, but cast your mind back to some of the posts late last year with members struggling to find work.

The next few months generally goes ballistic wit

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When did you decide saturation point was?

Last year, we lost several jobs because I did not realise when the work saturation point was. If I would have employed someone last year earlier we would not have lost any few jobs. This was my fault due to a major failure in my judgement.I think too

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Employee References

As mentioned previously in this post : Employing Staff in our Industry

I am starting a series of Threads in The Hub aimed at discussing & sharing experiences of important business related issues.

The first has just been posted : Employee References -

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Year End - time to look back at those Cost figures....Green Waste & Fuel

For us it is our financial year end. With final invoices dropping through the letterbox, I am working frantically to get them all on QuickBooks as soon as possible to see our draft year end financials.

Obviously I have a good idea already, and if nee

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Attempted mugging by the PPL

I do not like to listen to the radio or have it on whilst working, it ruins my concentration and makes me really irritable. I don't like background music either while I am shopping or anywhere else for that matter.

My colleagues like the radio on whil

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Money claim online service

Just used this service for the first time, for a customer who despite all their promises wouldnt pay me for some work done. Every time i spoke to them they promised to send a cheque and would never reply to follow up emails etc. I used the Money clai

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I could live on £53 a week says Iain Duncan Smith

The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has been challenged to prove that he can fulfil his claim that he could live on £53 a week in benefits.

Defending the vast array of welfare reforms being introduced this week as part of the governme

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The perfect storm for garden businesses

I cannot help thinking that the Easter weekend, the laying snow and cold temperatures will cause so much pressure and stress for already stretched garden businesses.

Even though the clocks are about to change and give everyone an extra hour in the ev

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