Lawnscience

After a long city career, one year ago it was time for me to take control of my own destiny and build my own business. After much research, various exhibitions and open days, Lawnscience was the obvious choice for me and has proven to be everything I hoped for. Through its training and support structure, Lawnscience has provided me with the skills and expertise to build my business at my own pace, with revenue to date realised in line with expectations. Better still there are very little barriers to growth other than your own ambition. Lawn care is a relatively undeveloped market with plenty of potential and high margins. Lawnscience has given me the opportunity to tap into this potential with a sound and innovative business model that is free from large corporate interference.

Nigel Bishop

Prior to becoming a Lawnscience franchisee I had developed my career in financial services compliance which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, as my family started to grow up I started to want more control over my work-life balance. I started to investigate business opportunities, but lawn care was an immediate obvious option as I already took great pleasure in looking after my own lawn. Starting a new business from scratch on my own was something I considered to be too risky so I looked into four franchise opportunities, one of which was Lawnscience. After careful consideration, I made the decision to join Lawnscience because they offered a strong support structure, and I felt that I would have complete control of my own business. From the offset, Terry made it crystal clear that I would receive all the support I needed whilst simultaneously being completely free to develop my business at a speed, and to a size that suited me best. At the start, I was understandably quite apprehensive, but very quickly the phone started to ring and my business soon started to grow. Although I have never worked in a sales industry I found that I took to the process of acquiring new customers with ease. In the early days, although I technically knew what I needed to do after the extensive training I received, it was really beneficial to have the support of Terry and the whole team of franchisees to reassure me. Lawnscience has an active Whatsapp group so whenever you come up against an issue, there is always someone who has had the same issues and is willing to share their experience. This is invaluable. I’m in my second year now and I have absolutely no regrets. My business continues to grow and, in the next year or two, I’ll be ready to take on an additional technician (if that’s what I decide to do). It’s the best feeling knowing that it’s my business. I have total control of how hard I work and have a more flexible way of living as a result. I finally have that work-life balance!

Duncan Loyd

"I looked for an alternative career as my previous position became too stressful, and at the age of 50 thought that there must be more to life than that. So I researched all sorts of alternatives but I kept coming back to lawn care. Of all the lawn care alternatives, I kept coming back to Terry and Lawnscience. I bought an existing Lawnscience franchise with existing customers, which is different from starting from scratch. I have seen that my colleagues who did start from scratch have had time to market themselves properly. I didn't have that time privilege. However, they have thrived due to active marketing. I have now taken on a new full time Technician and van, due to the workload, so now I am just starting to market ourselves to grow to the next Technician and van. I expect to have 5 vans and Technicians over the coming years. That is not a pipe dream. I chose Lawnscience because of Terry's attitude and astuteness to eye an opportunity, go for it and win it. He has an impressive CV and has guided me through some tough times but has also shown me how to spot opportunities and win them. Terry is not all about us wanting to have a huge business, you can do what you want to do. There is no pressure.I can, but I haven't, call him 24 hours a day to seek advice. He is always there. What's more, we have a WhatsApp group which is invaluable. I can encounter a lawn issue which I've never seen before, take a photo, post it onto WhatsApp and ask my fellow franchisee colleagues to tell me what the issue is and how to sort it out. No other lawn care franchise provides that, as far as I know. This industry and Lawnscience has made me a different person with little stress. Yes, there are stressful times but not like the old times. Any newcomer should think long and hard about this business. It makes money through hard graft and the opportunities to sell services are endless. I still don't maximise sales opportunities, but that's me and I am taking steps to sort it out. My advice, do it, or you shall never know what could have been!

Mark Batty

“I knew that I wanted a total change in my career - I didn't want to be sitting in an office every day, I wanted to be outside, meeting people and making a difference I could see. Having researched Lawn Care companies, Lawnscience were the most transparent and appealing franchise, and Terry was more than happy to provide information and share his experiences to help me determine whether this was for me. I am not a natural 'salesman' but the results sell it for me! I have had so much positive feedback from my customers, and a lot of new customers have come from word of mouth, which is such a confidence boost. I can be flexible, determining my own working hours to suit me and my family, and I get to travel around to so many different places, meeting loads of people while delivering a service where you can actually see the transformation. Owning and running my Lawnscience franchise is the best career move I have ever made, and I wish I had done it 10 years ago!

John Carlin

"Three years ago I was at a crossroads in life, where after redundancy from a broadcasting job I had no idea what I would do next. I'd heard about lawn care so set about looking at the different franchises available. I decided to go with Lawnscience after meeting Terry, for as well as being the best value for money the focus is on providing a proper bespoke lawn care service rather than the generic programmes a lot of the other franchises offer. From the start Terry was keen to establish that it would be entirely my own business, and I could ultimately run it how I saw fit which was important to me. I've never felt under pressure to grow the business further than I'm comfortable with, although Terry works tirelessly to uncover potential new revenue streams and provides constant support and advice on how to maximise profit. Two years in I'm running a very profitable business, earning more than I ever have, with the flexibility to work around the childcare commitments of my two young children. The potential of the business is greater than I initially realised as I'm still only servicing a fraction of my designated area, I can certainly imagine ending up with half a dozen vans running around. Working outdoors is another great bonus, I'm fitter than I've ever been and I really enjoy the interaction with the customers. Terry has allowed me the space to establish a great little business on which I can further build upon once my children are in full time education".

Adam Bishop

I loved the concept right from the start. Gardening had always been a hobby of mine, but it was the business opportunity that appealed to me over anything. The more I thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. I started my search by meeting with the five main franchising players within the lawn care industry. I was just about to make my decision, when I heard about Lawnscience, almost by accident. My mind was made up after about three minutes into the meeting with Terry Nicholson. Whilst the other operations focused on ‘green keeping’, it was clear that Terry approached the business from a completely different angle. He was a marketing man, and he really understood the potential of the business. It was this focus on marketing that set Terry and Lawnscience apart from the other franchisors that I was considering. Having started up a business myself, it was obvious that Lawnscience had developed the most comprehensive marketing strategy in the UK lawn care business. I knew that having the right territory was pivotal to the running of a successful and efficient business. Lawnscience’s practice of creating bespoke territories for each franchisee was a great solution. It meant that I was in control of where I would operate my business, instead of having a pre-designed territory imposed on me. Within a few weeks, I attended the training course and launched my business. Was I apprehensive? Of course I was! It was a completely new field of business for me, in which I was a complete novice. Fast forward to today, having launched my business three years ago, I have my first employee. Next year I will focus on consolidation, and the year after that will see me focus on expansion, where I aim to take on another employee.

Dean Goodall

I knew that in order to take complete control over my income and working life, I would have to work for myself, rather than working for others. However, choosing a business to start on my own was not that simple. I was initially most drawn to Lawnscience because Terry supplied me with lots of information from the start, which helped me to understand the business. Another great advantage to Lawnscience is that they gave me the opportunity to create my own bespoke trading territory, something which most franchisors could not have done. Having met with Lawnscience on several occasions to discuss their business and the way in which they operate, my mind was made up. This was always going to be a daunting decision, but I was given the opportunity to speak with all of the current franchisees about their experiences, which gave me the confidence to take the leap into self-employment. After my three week initial training, my marketing plan fired into action and the phone rang and rang and rang. Today, after only 7 months of trading I have already surpassed my first years sales target by over £10,000, and the year is far from over. The demand for my services has been so great that I have had to take on a temporary employee to help me cope with the work and it’s still coming in! I can see myself quickly developing the business into a multi-van operation within a year or two. Occasionally I miss the banter I used to have with the lads at work, but building my business and new life for my family has been more rewarding than I'd have ever imagined.

David Stewart

The nice thing with your own business is that you are in control of your success and your future. Working for yourself is safer than working for somebody else, as you are in control. Most customers contact you. In my experience most of my customer say yes, straight away. There is no hard sell required. If you are committed, do what you have been shown to do, put in the effort, there is no reason why you won’t be successful.

Bob Pullen, Bristol

Lawn care is something I looked at quite a long time ago, I’ve always wanted to work outside. For over thirty years I had worked for two companies. Working long hours, early starts, late nights and weekends, missing big family occasions. I now wish I had left this behind sooner than what I did. After meeting up with Terry, I did kinda got the feeling that Terry wanted me to be a success in this field. Would I go back to my previous life, my previous career, no I wouldn’t. I’m happy with what I am doing.

Gary Pearce (Stamford)