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I often tell people that one of the best financial investments I’ve ever made was hiring a lawn service.
It’s actually quite amusing when this gets brought up in conversation because I find often I’m met with stares of judgement!
I can basically hear what they’re thinking:
“What – is he lazy or something?”
“What a complete waste of money! Why would you pay someone else to do what you can do yourself?!”
The truth is I’m young, I’m able-bodied, and my yard is actually pretty small, I can absolutely mow my own lawn. In fact I’ve mown the lawn for years, I used to own a lawn business!
But that’s not the point.
So why on earth don’t I mow my own lawn then?
Because I don’t want to.
Seriously, I don’t.
Over the years, I’ve learned a very important lesson: Nothing is more precious than my time. (If you haven’t realized this yet, you will.)
See you can always make more money, but you can’t make more time.
Mowing your lawn is time consuming, especially during the spring and summer months. At peak season you’ll be mowing your lawn once a week, and the time and effort involved there really begins to add up!
Think about all that’s involved:
Mowing, weed eating, edging, raking, bagging = at least 2 hours per week, or 8 hours a month, you spend mowing your lawn. That’s an entire work day per month, lost.
Oh, and don’t forget to include lawn mower and weedeater maintenance. Cost of gas and oil, the time that it takes to go to the gas station or the parts store and keep your lawn equipment up to par.
Now there’s another factor that weighs in, and actually this is what probably affects us even more than the time and money we invest in mowing our own lawns.
When I would come home from work and see the grass was high, I’d get this heavy, burden feeling that would distract me and keep me from fully enjoying whatever else I had in mind to do.
In the back of my head I knew the clock was ticking before I had to go and tackle the lawn.
One summer we were so busy with work, church activities and camp, that I once had to mow my lawn at 6am, and another time at 9pm. It was the only free time I had to mow based on our schedule. That’s ridiculous!
And here’s the honest truth, the 8 hours or more per month that I’ve lost, (plus maintenance, gas etc) it wasn’t upsetting because I wanted to spend time with my wife and family, MOST of the time the “burden of the lawn” weighed heavy on me because I was wanting to work on my businesses.
I want to work on the projects that cause me to advance in life, not just maintain.
That’s what I’m passionate about, that’s what I’m excited about, that’s where I’d rather be putting my hand. To building the businesses God has put on my heart.
Think about that last statement, I want to be working on what God has put on my heart, and I venture to say, you want the same thing.
So why wouldn’t I outsource the task of mowing my lawn to someone who:
- Has a passion for lawn beautification
- Is BETTER at it than me
- Can do it faster than me
- Mows my lawn and sees it as a blessing because it is growing the business God put on their heart!
I don’t have to worry about how high the grass is if I’m having people over, I know it’s always going to look amazing.
The company does a better job than I could ever do, they have professional equipment and experience, and plus they ENJOY doing it it!
So I say, let’s let people operate in their gift, and bless their business at the same time!
People will say, “Ya but I enjoy mowing my lawn Travis.”
Hm, maybe.
I think what you really mean is that you can’t justify spending extra money per month on something you can do yourself. You picked that attitude up from your grandpa.
What if you made $100,000 a month? Would you “enjoy” it then? Nope, you’d outsource it in a heartbeat. And so would your grandpa.
In peak season my lawn company only costs $140 a month. That’s a drop in the bucket for the return of freedom that investment brings me.
Essentially, I’m paying a fellow entrepreneur $140 to free up a portion of my life so I can do things that are more important to me.
That is more than worth it in my book.
Another way to look at it, if I sell just one extra product per month from my drop shipping businesses then the extra $140 expense is more than covered.
Why You Should Stop Mowing Your Lawn
So should you stop mowing your lawn and go hire a lawn company?
Maybe. I’d even say probably.
Here’s why:
I want you to start thinking bigger, like a millionaire, start thinking like you are financially free.
Let’s get in the mindset that you are the type to focus on things that move the needle.
You focus on the things that bring advancement in your life.
You’re working towards your goals, and spending your Saturday mowing isn’t one of them.
That’s one of the keys I’ve learned from successful entrepreneurs, leaders and even pastors.
They focus on things that bring progress, things that take them one step closer to their goals, and then they outsource or delegate the rest.
What about your own life?
What things would you like outsourced so you could focus on more important matters?
One of the things I’ve always wanted was a personal chef.
When I’m dreaming big, one of the main things I want to do is hire a personal chef to cook healthy and delicious meals for my family each and every day.
So I started doing some research and found there are quite a few personal chef plans out there, and most were less expensive than I thought they would be.
During this research phase, a friend told me about a company called Freshly.com.
For a monthly fee, their team of professional chefs cooks a healthy and delicious gourmet meal that you select and delivers it to your door!
Your meals arrive fresh, in a refrigerated box, you heat them up, and boom, your healthy meal is ready!
The price is great too. They often runs deals for your first few orders, so the first one was only $36 flat for 6 meals.
Oh, and these dinners were delicious too. My wife, (who loves to cook!) and I both said something along the lines of, “Oh wow this is so good!” no less than 5 times during our first meal.
Now, we’re not going to completely outsource all of our cooking to the experts, but, since I work from home most days, it would be great to use Freshly.com and plan out all my lunches for the week. That way I get healthy, fast lunches that won’t bog me down while I’m working.
Can you imagine all the time and money this service would save you?
Between the time it takes to drive to the grocery store, shop at the grocery store, (often with kids!) then drive back, look up a recipe, prep the meal, cook, eat, clean up, and run the dishwasher…you’re looking at easily 2-3 hours of time, maybe just one hour if you already have the ingredients.
Or…You could pay $36, get 6 amazing meals and use all that extra time, energy and money, and go on a walk with your family!
What about hiring a maid service once a month to come by and do your deep cleaning?
Costs about $120 and they’ll do the floors, bathrooms, kitchen, get inbetween the tiles, the showers, all the gross and time consuming stuff that just lingers over you every time you walk by it.
You could bless your wife one night and have a cleaning service come by while you take her on a date…
I’m just saying, start thinking about it.
Take some action steps today and price out 2-3 lawn companies. I bet you’ll find it’s less expensive than you think.
I’m on this earth one time and there are certain things I find I would rather not do, but leave it up to someone who actually enjoys doing it, and can do it better than me.
Now I get to focus on my family, on building businesses and doing the things I’m excited about doing!
P.S. If you want to try Freshly.com for just $10 on your first order of 6 meals, click the link below and give it a try! You’ll get to try some free meals, and I’ll get a free meal bonus too! Hey, why not give it a shot?
Try outsourcing your meals to the pros: https://refer.freshly.com/s/zdoci
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