Below is a list of IRS forms you need to complete for each new employee or contractor you hire.

I suggest you do not let your new employees work until all of these forms have been completed.

For contractors, do not pay them more than $600 before their forms have been completed.  I suggest you hold their contractor check until you have the paper work in hand.

For all employees and contractors I also recommend you get a photocopy of their social security card and drivers license if possible.

A well organized file cabinet and folder system to keep up with this information will save you a lot of time later.  At our company we both file the paper forms and scan and attach an electronic version of the forms to our employee and contractor records within Service Autopilot.

Employee Forms:

Form I-9 (I also recommend photocopying the employees social security card)

Form W-4

Contractor Forms:

Form W-9 - keep on file a minimum of 4 years

Form 1099-MISC – you must file before January 31st each year for every contractor paid over $600

Request EIN – if your contractor needs an EIN number

Other Forms:

Links to Your State - to locate additional forms or research tax questions

Spanish Version of I-9 – DO NOT submit this version to the IRS.  Use it only as a reference when helping Spanish speaking workers complete the English version.  This is only accepted in Puerto Rico.

Spanish Version of W-4

Spanish Version of W-9


Notes:

New Employees fill out the I-9 and W-4 and receive a W-2 at the end of the year.

New Contractors fill out the W-9 and receive a 1099 at the end of the year.  Contractors do not have to complete the I-9.

In addition to the IRS forms we have each employee sign a short employee agreement and each contractor sign a contractor agreement.

We also have a short information sheet we complete for each employee (this information is also keyed into Service Autopilot).  It asks for emergency contact information, drivers license expiration date, keeps up with uniforms assigned, pay rate, birth date, marital status, etc.

All of our hiring packets are pre-assembled.  This makes it easy to ensure all the forms are completed on time.  For example, if you hire 20 new employees / contrators each year prepare 25 packets every January.  Then, when you hire someone you simply grab one of the packets.

This simple process every January will ensure you are in compliance with the IRS at all times.

Question: Do you have any information you keep up with that I didn’t mention?  — please click on the post and comment at the bottom

I am a big believer in online marketing.  It’s becoming expensive.  But it works if done right.

Google Adwords Explaination

Google Adwords… also known as PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising is just one form of online marketing.

Long term it’s probably one of the more expensive approaches to online marketing but it’s the one that has the potential to generate the fastest results with the most control.

In the image above, the two areas outlined in red show where, within Google’s search results, the Google Adwords ads are displayed.

Adwords is a service that allows you to create short three line ads and choose keywords.  Keywords are phrases related to your business.  Such as landscape tampa fl.  These phrases are what your potential clients are typing into Google when looking for a company like yours.

When potential prospects search Google using one of your keywords, your ad may appear in one of the two areas shown in the image above.

There are many forms of online marketing.

One of the most popular is SEO (search engine optimization).  This is the process of optimizing your lawn care or landscape business website so that it is shown by Google for free when a user types a search phrase that pertains to your business.

SEO takes a while to get results.  I prefer SEO over Adwords.  However, while you are waiting on results from your SEO — PPC is a great alternative to get immediate web traffic.

You pay for Google Adwords through clicks.  Basically every time someone sees your ad and clicks on it, you pay Google.    Even if the prospect doesn’t buy – you pay.

Personally, even after you get your SEO going, meaning your website(s) are ranking well in Google, I believe you should continue with PPC.

I’d recommend you do both.

Google Adwords Basics

If you find this topic interesting and you’re considering PPC advertising for your business — I recommend Perry Marshall’s Google Adwords book.

He is the guy to learn from when it comes to Google Adwords.  His website is http://www.perrymarshall.com/google/.  He is highly reputable and he knows what he’s talking about.

Key Definitions:

Regarding the image above…

A. Clicks – This is the number of times your ad was clicked on during a specific period of time.

B. Impr – Impressions are the number of times your ad was shown.  It is essentially the number of times your ad could have potentially been clicked on.

C. CTR – Click Through Rate is the number of clicks divided by the number of Impressions.  This number is shown as a percentage.

D. Avg CPC – Average Cost-Per-Click is the average amount you pay for each click.  This number is based on the amount you paid for all your clicks divided by the number of clicks you received.  AdWords allows you to set a maximum amount you are willing to pay each time a user clicks on your ad.  This is referred to as your “maximum cost-per-click bid”.

E. Conv – Conversion happens when a prospect that clicks on your ad makes a purchase.  Or takes a specific action such as requesting more info, filling out an estimate form or signing up for service.

Conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the total number of clicks.  Conversion tracking is a feature that must be activated in your Adwords account.  It also requires a bit of customization to your website.

G. This area is the break down of all your individual keyword phrases and the specifics of how each keyword has performed.  The sum of these results form the averages at the top of the page.

Additional important terms…

Average position (Avg. Pos.) – On average, this is the display position of your ad on a search results page, when someone types in one of your keywords.  For example, if your Avg Pos is 3 than your ad typically shows as the third ad on the page.

Landing page – This is the web page on which your customers will ‘land’ when they click on your ad.  Said another way… the page Google sends them to when they click on your ad.

Negative keyword – This is very important if you use broad keyword phrases.  You can read about this topic on Google’s website or consider buying Perry Marshall’s Adwords book.  A keyword with a minus (-) sign before it will prevent your ads from showing on any search that contains that term.  Again, I only mention this topic because it is an important one you want to learn more about.

Quality Score – This is a score Google assigns to each of your keywords.  It is calculated using a variety of factors and measures how relevant the keyword your using is to both your business and potential customers.  Again, I suggest learning more about this topic.  The better your quality score the less you pay for clicks.

Important Thoughts About PPC:

1) You can blow a lot of money fast if you don’t pay attention (get a beginners book – it will save you a lot of money).

2) PPC is an awesome way to test marketing ideas fast and cheap – you can split test (rotate) two ads to see which gets more clicks.  Use this idea to inexpensively test your marketing headlines for your print marketing.

3) Great way to generate immediate traffic to your website.

4) Part of SEO results is traffic to your site — this is a good way to get traffic fast.

5) Not that hard to measure results.  You can easily understand which marketing messages best resonate with your potential clients.

6) Test Test Test – split test your ad copy constantly.

7) Don’t make your ads boring.  You can test fast and cheap.  Try everything you can think of.  You’ll be surprised what works.

Don’t be lazy — improve your landing pages, ad copy, add more keywords, use negative keywords, etc.

9) Google couldn’t care less about you or your money – they don’t need you – follow their rules or they will ban you for life.

10) Don’t set an ad and forget about it.  To pay the least amount of money possible for each click and to get the best position possible you must constantly tweak your ads (and keywords).

11) Small changes make a big difference! Try to spend 30 minutes per week working on your campaigns.  When you first start, spend 30 minutes per day for the first week perfecting your ads and watching your click cost so it doesn’t get away from you.

Click To Hear My Answer

Summary of my Answer below (and a bit more info)…

I’m often asked what software we use at my lawn care maintenance company and how we handle payroll.

Likewise, I’ve been asked a number of times if lawn care companies should use QuickBooks.

The audio above is from late 2010 but it answers a number of the questions I’m asked over and over again.

In a future post I will talk more about QuickBooks.

Here are some quick notes about the software setup we currently use at our lawn care company…

1) Service Autopilot runs the company

2) QuickBooks for accounting sync’d with Service Autopilot

3) We do not manage our own payroll or use QuickBooks for Payroll.  We track hours, salary and bonuses in Service Autopilot and call payroll into McBee weekly on Mondays before 12 noon.  The payroll checks are overnighted to our office.  They are stamped with my signature and we hand them out on Wednesday.

4) Some team members use Mailtrust.com for email but most use Gmail.  (Gmail checks non Gmail email accounts so Gmail essentially replaces Outlook)  I do not like Outlook because it is slow and not accessable from anywhere – so this is my preferred approach.

5) We use MS Word and MS Excel.  As Google Docs continues to improve I anticipate we will eventually move all of our documents to the cloud and off individual computers.

6) We backup our internal data (docs, images, etc.) to Mozy.

7) We do not have to back up any of our primary business data as it is all stored within Service Autopilot.  SA automatically encrypts our data and handles all the internal and external backups.

We still run the desktop version of QuickBooks so we back it up to Mozy.  Long term, we plan to move to QuickBooks online.  However, the online version of QuickBooks hasn’t been as reliable as it needs to be for us to make the move and it’s feature set is lacking.  I’m hopeful the online version of QuickBooks will be an option in 2012.

For new lawn care or landscape businesses or young lawn care businesses I do not recommend QuickBooks.  I think something like Service Autopilot is sufficient.

We’ve been running a ‘work from anywhere’ business since the beginning of 2005 when the company was officially launched.

Back then we didn’t have Service Autopilot so I wrote a web based program to track calls, schedules, customers and to do’s.  We’ve always been web based and it’s the only way I would run  the business.

The only other significant software that I can think of — that we use daily — is the software that comes with Fleet Matrics which is our GPS system we have in 25 of our trucks.

In the audio file above I mention moving away from iPhones and moving to Sprint.  We did not make that change.  We use AT&T for our phones and Sprint for the air cards in the laptops in our trucks (not all the trucks have laptops).

Other than flowers and mulch we generally stay away from landscape work or hardscape work — so we do not use landscape design software.  We do irrigation installs and sprinkler repair but we run all of that through Service Autopilot.  At this point our irrigation install jobs are not so large that we need design software.

I think the best stand to hold your laptop or iPad in your lawn care / landscape truck is a Ram Mount stand.

I’ve been asked many times if we use iPads, mobile phones or laptops in our trucks.

The device we use depends on what the crew / tech / manager does in the field.  Many of our trucks are fitted with (and will be for a while to come) inexpensive refurbished Dell laptops.

They are inexpensive and give us a lot of power.  Most important they have a full keyboard that is fast to type on.

It is much easier and faster to type notes, call details, estimates, etc. from a full keyboard than it is from a small iPad keyboard.

We use a Ram Mount laptop stand.  You can visit their site at www.ram-mount.com.

Over the years, we have tried inexpensive stands but they have not been worth it.  Ram Mount stands are the best.  The laptop stays still while driving and does not bounce while typing.  They are very much like the stands used in police cars.

If you want to mount your iPad in the truck they have a stand for it as well…
http://www.ram-mount.com/NewProducts/AppleiPadMounts/tabid/2614/Default.aspx

I am a fan of the H2B Visa program.  For any company that needs a lot of workers and truly intends to use a 100% legal work force it is absolutely necessary.  However, based on both past and new legislation, regarding the program, I believe it is intentionally being destroyed.

If you participate in the program and are unaware… as of October 1st 2011 you must adjust the wages you pay H2B Visa workers.  You cannot wait until next year.

If your lawn care & landscape business utilizes the H2B Visa program I strongly encourage you to contact your H2B Visa lawyer to make certain you are on top of these changes and will be in compliance come October.

Also, you should seriously consider writing, calling and emailing your local Congressmen and the US Department of Labor.  We have done so.  I hope you will as well.

I suggest that you let them know that the current legislation will potentially render the H2B Visa program useless.  The program has reached the point of becoming too costly and too complicated.

Your Congressman must understand that the most recent changes to the program will increase your wages beyond what is reasonable.   This program, I believe, now forces employers to pay foreign workers more than U.S. workers.

How can that be right?  Hence, my belief the program is intentionally being slowly dismantled through legislation.

Let your Congressman know that you do not participate in the H2B Visa program because it is easy or saves you money – you participate because it is necessary in order for you to find the essential legal temporary workers you must have to operate your business.

In my opinion, available skilled labor continues to be one of the absolute biggest issues within the industry.  These legislative changes only worsen the problem.

Additional Resource: http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/H2B_PWDNPRM-6-28-2011.pdf

This video I recorded demonstrates how careful you must be when selecting trailer locks for your lawn care business. This $50 trailer lock can easily be opened with the back of a 50 cent ball point pen. Trailer and lawn care equipment theft is common, be careful to pick the best trailer lock, a trailer lock that is hard to pick. The locks we use are about $130 each.

This is a interview I did back in 2009 about my lawn care business.   It’s about 30 minutes long.  It has a number of good business ideas and tips that I believe you will find valuable.

We had a few of our trucks at the shop this morning so I recorded 3 minutes of video to show you the custom beds we put on our trucks that service residential properties under 20k gross sq. ft.

These beds hold 3 21’ inch Toro’s, 3 blowers, 2 stick edgers and 2 line trimmers.  Normally, we only keep one stick edger on a truck because line trimmers can act as a backup if necessary.  Likewise, two backpack blowers are adequate.

A few things to note…

1. Look at the floor of the beds – the mowers roll into position so they do not move around – no tying anything down
2. Place for water jug
3. Place for line trimmer line
4. Place for 5 gallon gas cans
5. Box behind cab for tool box, additional gas cans, blowers, bags and misc supplies– lifted so mowers can roll under it
6. One of the trucks has a folding drop gate – we don’t like it.  Non-folding drop gates are better – not as attractive but faster to use with less chance of pinching a finger.  Less moving parts – less maintenance
7. 4 positions to hold stick edgers and line trimmers.  They can be locked down on each side by rotating one bar
8. Drop gate and slanted tail of bed make one man loading quick and easy – minimal chance of injury
9. These things cost us 1800 to 2000 each installed.  We sell the original truck beds on Craigs list
10. These beds hold their value.  You will be able to get back the majority of your money if you need to sell the bed someday.  They are a true asset.  And one that retains most of its value.

Some very conservative math…

• a custom truck bed will save you a minimum of 15 minutes per day per crew
• assuming a crew works 5 days per week
• 40 weeks per year
• That equals 50 hours per year in savings
• Multiplied by 3 men per crew
• Equals  150 hours per year saved (minimum)
• Average cost per man per hour of $11 (very low – there are lots of other costs that should be considered in this calculation – but not all of them – not all of your overhead cost)
• This is how I arrive at a very conservative $1800 per year in savings per crew

However, I look at it this way…

• we save more than 15 minutes per man per day
•  the money we save is not on the front end – it’s on the backend – meaning we are saving over time payroll dollars.  So, if your average worker is $11 hour when he’s into overtime  you’re paying out $16.50 an hour.  This bed is saving me $16.5 per man per hour not $11/hr.  the minimum calc was based on $11
•  no trailers equals better safety and less risk
• trucks can maneuver quicker when not pulling a trailer
• trucks stop faster without trailers – SAFTEY
• less training of workers  to pull and back up trailers
• easier to park in front of homes – especially tight streets – don’t have to block mail boxes – less surface area covered to potentially hide and therefore leave behind hidden lawn clippings not cleaned off the concrete
• no trailer tires to replace
• no trailer to pull equals better gas mileage
• there’s more – you get the idea

Worse case, I save $1800 a year and get all of the above benefits.  It’s a no brainer.  Again, I believe $1800 is a very very conservative number.

Trucks depreciate, lose value, break down and cost you money.  Trucks are lousy assets.

Trailers and custom truck beds hold the majority of their value.  They may be depreciated down to near zero in value overtime on your books but reality is they carry true value.  Should you eventually sell your company or need to liquidate your assets your trailers and truck beds will have retained significantly more value than your vehicles and equipment.

If you need to sell them you will get back most of your money.  The math…

• You buy the bed for $2000.  Use it 5 to 7 years.  Sell it for $1800 after a fresh $200 paint job to make it look brand new again.  (this is realistic – nothing breaks – it’s made of metal)
• Cost of ownership over 5 years — ($2000 + $200 paint job  + $100 in misc repairs over the 5 years =$2300 total invested in the custom bed over 5 years
• Assuming you sell it for $1800
• $2300 invested – $1800 sell price = $500 cost of ownership over 5 years
• $500 cost of ownership divided by 5 years of ownership equal $100 per year cost of ownership

Would you pay $100 per year to save a minimum of $1800 per year plus get all the other benefits I mentioned?

Again, I save more than $1800 per year per truck.

This is why I use custom truck beds.

I believe there are 3 keys to success…

1. Get the foundation of your business in order (your computer systems and procedures)
2. Get the right people doing the right tasks consistently
3. Optimize your business

This topic falls under optimization.  It’s not your first priority.  If your young in business I highly recommend you stay out of debt and optimize your business later when you have the cash.

By the way, for commercial I recommend Isuzu NPR box trucks.  However, a 16 to 18ft trailer is a great way to start when you are trying to keep your costs down (avoid debt).

Also, we now use Isuzu NPR’s with custom designed box beds for our spray trucks.

I prefer enclosed over open for commercial 1) because it helps prevent theft and 2) you can offset the cost of a mini storage or warehouse by leaving the equipment in the truck and 3) you can reduce payroll hours by leaving the trucks loaded.

Regarding theft, enclosed (truck or trailer) will not completely eliminate this problem.  Our last major loss was from a job site.  They took the truck and trailer (everything).  Enclosed only helps prevent theft.  Also, storing your equipment in the truck or trailer only makes it easy for your equipment to be stolen (you have preloaded your trailers for the criminals).

If you’ve got a friend in the business (anywhere) that this might help – forward it to them now before you forget.