Wanna Be A Gardener? Check Out These 15 Gardening Business Ideas
Do you need some Gardening business ideas to keep you motivated? Great!
A home-based gardening business is a perfect idea for you. Well, that’s if you have a green thumb and love working with flowers and plants.
The truth is, a lot of people forget about giving their garden the care and attention that it needs. They need you to help them revamp it.
You might have also found yourself looking out the window and thinking that something just isn’t right about your garden.
That’s because your garden is just as important as getting your house to feel like home. Yes, you can put your own stamp on it and create the perfect outdoor living space for yourself.
So, if you have gotten the interest and requisite skills, you need to start giving your garden the revamp it needs. If you are into the business, you need some gardening business ideas to keep your business unique.
Here are some gardening ideas listed for you below.
1. Deck and Paving
A really quick way to update your garden is to add a wooden decking area. You can even buy kits which include the whole package for installing it yourself.
Of course, you may want to get a professional to do it for you so you have more time to enjoy the nice weather.
However, many people can install it themselves with ease. A decking area looks lovely with a set of furniture and makes a brilliant outside living space.
Have a look at any paving you may have in your garden, is it about time it got replaced?
Having chipped slabs makes a walkway look untidy and can be dangerous if you have any little ones running about.
It may not be necessary to redo all of your paving but it can be nice to update it and give that garden a new fresh look.
Be careful when having something like this done, it may be a good idea to use equipment to lift the heavier items, especially if you are needing stones or sand to complete the project.
2. Vegetable Garden
A vegetable and herb patch can be a lovely addition to any garden.
With a large variety of herbs and vegetables that grow all year round, it may be a good idea to get a few books for guidance on what to plant and when to plant them.
It not only adds colour and plants that are friendly for Bees. It will also come in handy for all the alfresco cooking you’re going to be doing.
If you’re looking for a hobby to keep you busy, this could be the perfect excuse to get your hands dirty.
You may also need to have a small greenhouse to start some of the plants off before transferring them into the patch.
If you manage to grow a good crop you may even be able to sell any surplus you have.
3. Update Gates and Fencing
Being the border of most gardens, the fencing and gates are often forgotten and left until they are falling down and rotting away.
However, there are a few things you should be doing to make sure they stay in good condition.
You should really be keeping on top of treating any fencing to ensure it lives a longer life and grease any hinges to stop them from going rusty.
If you want to make a change to your garden fencing you can opt to change them completely for a different style but often adding a coat of paint can give them a fresh look and make your garden look fresh and inviting.
4. Figure Out Your Interest
Ensure you have an interest in your area of specialization. Just in case you experience low patronage, you would have that interest to keep you going. You should also learn to find your passion in order to easily improve your services in your field of interest.
As soon as you discover your area of specialization, stick with it. It makes you a professional at what you do. In other words, do not offer a service you are not skilled at or certified to do.
Do not try what you have no idea about or aren’t good at. The truth is, when something goes wrong, you will lose a percentage of trust from your client.
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5. Choose A Less competitive niche
If you want to achieve success faster, ensure that the focus area of your business is a niche with a few competitors and if possible, none at all. You could possibly do research on areas where the service of a Gardener will be needed, then spread your tentacles in such areas.
6. Count your cost
An important factor in any business that would be successful is to evaluate the cost of maintenance before embarking on it and that includes your Gardening business.
It is good wisdom to start a business knowing what exactly you are aiming for. Learning the basic ropes of the business while practising might really slow you down. Hence, you should count your costs before embarking on your Gardening business.
7. Find potential customers
There is one thing you should avoid in a Gardening business, and it is to avoid making assumptions about those who might be interested in your services. You might actually be surprised that those you think don’t value gardens are just the ones who might be so interested in your services. In addition to that, if some persons are not interested, you should make them interested.
8. Start small
Another way to be successful in a Gardening business is to start with a residential area for experience purposes. Besides, when you gain the interest of the local people, they can easily recommend you to others in the cooperate world. If you can handle the small jobs professionally, then you will be in a better position to handle bigger official jobs.
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9. Get good equipment
Ensure you make use of high-quality equipment that will make your work easier, faster, and neater.
This includes everything from quality shovels to beekeeping supplies if that’s an area you’re interested in.
This will also prevent you from spending extra to repair your equipment when it breaks down.
You should know that people tend to trust you when you have better equipment of high grade and quality than a person who uses crude tools or equipment of less quality.
There is always a sense of safety your client gets when such implements are been used.
10. Be vast
Learn more and be familiar with the various kinds of plants that can make up a garden and their environmental requirements. You wouldn’t want to be looking like a lost puppy when your client makes a request for a particular plant.
Don’t look like you really don’t know what you are doing. Therefore, carry out research on which plant you can grow or which your clients would like, and also learn how to grow them successfully in wherever area, either with favourable conditions or not.
Know the rules and regulations guiding gardening businesses. I believe you do not want the government or any association coming after you to close down your business, or suspend your operations, as a result of not going through the due process of running your Gardening business.
Therefore, you should try to register your Gardening business appropriately and follow the environmental rules and regulations of running your business (if there are any).
11. Connect with other gardeners
No one is an island of any knowledge; hence, you should connect with others in your field of interest. There are times you might feel stranded and need help from someone who also runs a similar business like yours.
In addition, you may not always have the demand of your client or the equipment needed to carry out the services. During such times, you need an experienced person who has more knowledge of the business into the same business with you to assist you.
12. Consider Your Demographics
Determine the demographics of the area your services are needed to know what would be suitable for such areas. This could be from the kind of plants to grow, the way to grow them, or what kind of services would be possible to render in such areas.
Knowing your demographics will also determine the pricing of your service. Clients differ from each other, and the livelihoods in many areas differ as well.
Charging a high price to your clients in rural or local areas is a big risk to your Gardening business because most of the people living in such areas might not be able to afford an expensive garden. Hence, you can do a moderate and affordable garden in such areas.
On the other hand, in urban areas where the top and high reside, they really don’t have the time for their Gardens or Landscapes, so they will appreciate your services a lot and can pay a high price for your services effortlessly.
13. Be consistent
Another way to have a successful gardening business is to provide a reliable and consistent service. Your clients want to be able to smile and feel satisfied. Hence, ensure you give the best service so that you can also get referrals from past customers.
You can also ask for feedback from your clients on your gardening service to know if they are happy or not happy. This will help you adjust in areas where necessary and think of ideas which will make them happier.
14. Maintain a good relationship with your clients
Your client is a valuable asset with respect to your business, therefore, have a good relationship with your clients. Most importantly, maintain the relationship with them. You could call them once in a while to check on their welfare and how good their gardens are looking.
This could be planned into your schedule such as monthly or bi-monthly. Doing this will give them a sense of closeness to you, and they will know that you have them in mind aside from the service you provide them.
When you check in on them even when they are calling in for the services of other gardeners, they will want to patronize you again, even when they really don’t want to do it again. And fortunately for you, they might just become your devoted customers again. That’s a plus to you.
15. Know Your Marketing Strategies Well
Determine your marketing strategies. There are several ways to market your business, and you have to know which particular one will work for your proposed clients and the area where your gardening business is established.
These are a few tips to go about doing that:
- Use a mouth approach, by meeting various people to explain what your business offers.
- Ensure you market your gardening business before the peak season because, by that time, it’s either people who aren’t interested in your service or others in the gardening business who are also vying for their attention have met with them.
- Target your ideal customers. Know the calibre of people you would like to render your service to. Then focus on getting their attention towards your Gardening business.
- Use direct mail. Produce flyers of your Gardening business and put them into people’s mailboxes. You just don’t know who might be searching for your kind of services. Post offices within your area can help you to drop them in the mailboxes of people to avoid invading other people’s privacy.
- You should also make use of a business card. You could share your business cards with people you meet anywhere, from the Mart to the sports complex, to ceremonial gatherings, and even religious centres.
Another way to market your business is to get your business on online listings.
- Get a business portfolio. This is where you post a picture of your previous works and show the beauty created through your gardening prowess. You could also try the hands-on practice where you get to demonstrate a model of what you do, either physically or show a video of what you have done before.
- The media is a powerful tool of advertisement and marketing. Hence, you should make use of the media to market your gardening business. The media makes it easier for those who need your services to access you. Market your business in an irresistible way such that the target customers have no choice but to patronize your business.
- For the sake of presenting your gardening business as a professional one to your clients, you could open a business account, where you won’t have to necessarily collect the money paid for your services by cash, except in rare cases when you are dealing with clients who still use the manual way of paying for a service.
This has a way of making your clients trust that they are indeed dealing with a Pro in the gardening business.
Conclusion
Your safety is as important as your business. Protect yourself at work. Wear protectives that make you safe while doing your job. You don’t want to sustain an injury while working.
If you keep getting injured on the job, you will end up being unavailable to do other jobs. This can also make you lose your customers.
A Gardening business is a very lucrative one, which can be successful in any area, however, it depends on the way it is being run and handled.
The above tips will help you stay in business for a very long time.
So, dream big and have a successful gardening business. You are in a business that brings smiles to people’s faces and makes them feel relaxed. It is good for your client’s health as well.
Which of these gardening business ideas will you be implementing soon?
Have you got any projects that would help to revamp your garden?
Please share them in the comments section below. 🙂
