Rick started his Jim's Mowing franchise in Bathurst with no existing Jim's presence in town and no client base.

Twelve months later he has more than 70 regulars, a gutter cleaning niche nobody else wanted, and he turned his leads off in December because he was too busy.

In this episode of the More Than Just Mowing podcast, Rick sits down with his regional franchisor Mitch to walk through the full 12 months.

He covers the pay for work guarantee and how he used it, cold calling the unserviced client list going back six months, and how getting his face on local Facebook pages built the business faster than anything else.

He is honest about the hard parts. He mowed 10 to 15 lawns a day behind a self propelled push mower until a bulging disc nearly stopped him, then invested in a stand on mower and started seeing a physio monthly.

He worked six and seven day weeks through summer to clear a startup loan before winter.

He also breaks down pricing, route density, timing his mows to find the profitable jobs, the solar panel upsell he adds to every gutter quote, and the AI hedging calculator he is building.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

How Rick used the pay for work guarantee and the unserviced client list to start from zero
Why he built a gutter cleaning niche instead of competing on lawns
The equipment changes that saved his back and his business
How route density lets him mow 15 lawns a day
Why he skips mows for customers and how that builds trust

CHAPTERS

0:00 From correctional officer to mowing lawns
0:46 Twelve months in and a full financial year done
2:02 The first day and waiting for leads
2:41 How the pay for work guarantee works
4:22 Getting his face on local social media
5:06 Why he took on the gutter cleaning
5:45 Cleaning gutters from the roof
7:04 Cold calling the unserviced client list
8:04 Turning free mows into regular clients
10:47 Out of winter with 17 regulars
11:14 Picking up clients when the last mower stopped turning up
13:01 Referrals replacing system leads
13:58 The fourth month in business
14:38 Timing social posts around his schedule
17:21 Mentoring new franchisees before they start
20:35 Using AI and building a hedging app
24:20 Fifteen lawns a day and route density
26:45 The bulging disc and the mower that fixed it
30:15 Changing push mowers to save his back
32:47 Physio and treating the body like an athlete
33:54 Jimbo, Marketplace and trading clients
41:31 Turning the leads off in December
43:05 Fertilising between mows through the dry
45:27 Back to back big weeks in March
48:13 Paying off the loan before winter
50:18 A slow April and an unpredictable season
53:09 The goal he set 20 years ago
56:50 Learning how long jobs really take
58:27 Customer service is communication
1:00:36 Building trust by skipping a mow
1:05:03 Filling winter with one gutter cleaning email
1:12:53 Getting Google reviews before you need them
1:15:18 The solar panel upsell on every gutter quote
1:18:22 Mulching garden beds
1:22:36 How he quotes a job he rarely does
1:26:15 Would he ever become a franchisor
1:29:11 Getting his boys out on the mower
1:31:23 The unbillable time in every job
1:36:37 Battery versus petrol gear
1:40:41 Taking a week off as a sole operator
1:42:12 Building a holiday bucket
1:45:15 Employee, subcontractor or neither
1:47:33 Timing mows to find the profitable jobs
1:49:30 The perfect trailer setup

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Jim’s Mowing is Australia’s #1 lawn and garden franchise with 2,000+ local owners. Founded in 1989 by Jim Penman, we’ve become one of the country’s most trusted names in home services.

Here’s why people choose Jim’s:
✅ Fully insured and police-checked franchisees
✅ Backed by the Jim’s Workmanship Guarantee
✅ Local family businesses supported by a national brand

And we do more than mowing. Our team can help with hedging, pruning, landscaping, rubbish removal, and complete garden care.

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