Case Study: Mowing and Handyperson Business Startup

We knew there was increased market demand for a good mowing and handyperson business who was fair priced, reliable, capable, attentive to detail, respectful of property, had business skills, people skills, etc. 

We also knew the market would respond to a business that utilised ‘fun design’ using items like ‘ladybugs’ as part of the branding. 

Within two weeks we had done the following, in the below specific (strategic) order:

1. Created a simple advert graphic and posted it to community Facebook Groups within the intended geographic market area. We combined this with some easy to ready approachable sounding words.
2. Designed a logo that was bright and used a fun-looking Ladybug illustrative design as the graphic.
3. We did the bare-bones-basics of planning the business. 
4. Set up a Facebook Business Page.
5. Designed and built a SEO-optimised conversions-focused mini-website, that also contained a blog system. We knew this would be well-received by Google very quickly. The website is here.
6. Designed and printed business cards. We got them printed using our Wholesale Printer on the Sunshine Coast. 
7. We created our initial pricing structures. We were competitive in our prices, but definitely DID NOT want to be the cheapest in the market. We DID NOT want to be “on a race to the bottom” which creates a ‘J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) instead of a legitimate business that can grow; able to become profitable, can gain capital, can produce enough capital for next-stage growth (scaling).
8. We started doing jobs for people. We requested testimonials from customers. We then added these into the website. We also wrote blog posts about some of the jobs we did.
9. We set up the Google Business Profile and began optimising it. 
10. We then added ‘SEO landing pages’ to the website to target specific geographic areas
11. We began sending out eNewsletters to customers and prospective customers semi-regularly. Some of these included limited-time special offers.

We also did other things. Some of which included:

• Posting posts every month or so to community Facebook groups.
• Ran Ads in a Primary School Newsletter
• Every time we did a job, we would put our business card in at least 10 neighbouring letterboxes
• Would do drive-bys in various streets and drop business cards in letterboxes.
• A few other trusted friends also dropped business cards for us in letterboxes while they were out and about on their afternoon exercise walks. 
• We designed and printed A4 size posters. Certain businesses were happy to display them in their shop-front windows and on walls.
• Some businesses were also happy to display our business cards on their front-counters.