I don't make a very good cog in the machine...

Smart people make shitty worker-bees.

As my Sophomore year of college wraps up most of my friends are searching for summer jobs and internships, either to make some spending money or to gain enough work experience to attract a top level employer one day, or both. For them it makes sense, they are in search of a job that will pay them a comfortable salary and allow them to move up in position as their skills and knowledge progress and they become more and more valuable to the company. They will become so invested in the company that it would never think of terminating such a valuable employee, not after all these years and all they've done for the company. And then they are let go 2 years before retirement.

A one and done career path, to me seems like the riskiest investment anyone can make. We live in an unbelievably complex and dynamic world, developing a highly specific skill sets is a very poor waste of energy when your skill set can easily be replaced by a more efficient person or process. It's important to focus on developing a wide range of skills and different angles of intelligence. Make yourself broad so that you support a wide range of activities and you will become valuable and indispensable.

The Website Isn't The Product

This is the website as of today. The home page is looking better as it evolves but it still needs a personal touch and a polished look before I'll be happy with it. I like the look and direction but I still need a clear audience to target. I need to find a niche. Scott Weiss kicked ass making the logo today, never having tried creating a logo in Photoshop before. 








Since quitting my job and starting this project, I've felt better and thought more positively about the future than I have in a long time. Maybe that's just because it's only been a week since my last day and I haven't been slapped in the face by reality yet. 

One component that still hasn't been worked out is where exactly I can purchase all the necessary equipment to run this business. A garden center that I held a job with for the last two summers canceled their lawn mowing and landscaping services this year and now has mowers, leaf blowers, edgers, trimmers, shovels, pruners, everything I would need to get this business off the ground.

The Website is Functional

After quitting my job last week it seemed obvious to me that continuing to place myself into entry level worker bee positions in industries that I have no interest being in is a terrible investment of my time. I'll never be happy or successful working for someone else, but I might find happiness working to meet my own goals and finding my own success. It's time for me to begin building my business.

After a day or two of soul searching I settled on a home yard care service. I'm an expert in the field already so 'it's an obvious choice for my first business. Checking out the competition online, the local lawn care services put a negligible amount of energy into their website. They likely don't have the knowledge or skill to utilize the web to their advantage, but I do and Elevation Yard Care will be different.

Here is one local competitior
And another

Both sites are grossly over-informational and Brunner divulges too much about their prices but in all reality it probably doesn't matter because these companies aren't trying to send traffic to their website. They don't realize that in the digital age, your website is the face of your business when it has no physical location (or even when it does)

Here is my work in progress

It's got a long way to go but I'm still learning how to use Wordpress and by no means am I expecting a polished product right away but the website is already looking professional-ish and I've got a clear vision for the final product I need to get this business off the ground.