JJE Garden Maintenance
In the Autumn of 2007 I was made redundant after over twenty years at Norfolk Lavender. My next job ended the same way the following spring and I considered becoming self employed.
Unsure as to whether to take such a big step, I was helped out when fate took over. My other half bumped into an ex-colleague who had been a self employed gardener for ten years. He was soon to retire and was looking for someone to hand his customers over to! JJE Garden Maintenance was born and I inherited half a weeks worth of customers too.
Initially I was driving a Vauxhall Corsa which was not very practical! This was very quickly replaced with a Citroen Berlingo van and a wooden trailer was soon added too. After a year or so the trailer was upgraded to a new metal one with mesh sides and then the van was replaced with a Land Rover Discovery. Since then I have worked my way through a Mitsubishi L200 crew cab pick up truck and a Jeep Cherokee.
Within the first twelve months of business I acquired more customers, all by word of mouth. In fact my only advertising costs were to buy business cards and a sign for my van. The majority of my customers are elderly and unable to look after the garden themselves, but I also have some younger customers and one or two holiday homes to keep tidy.
I now have a full round and in the winter undertake general maintenance work, including picking up the occasional loaf of bread or prescription!
The most common question is not "are you busy ?" or "what do you charge ?". It is "what does JJE stand for ?". The answer is my children's names; Jessica, Jake and Emily. The arrival of a new baby in 2010 obviously caused a problem with the business name. My suggestion that the baby should be named "Garden" did not go down well so JJE Garden Maintenance continues without an additional letter R for Rowan James, even though he says that one day he will take over from me!
Unsure as to whether to take such a big step, I was helped out when fate took over. My other half bumped into an ex-colleague who had been a self employed gardener for ten years. He was soon to retire and was looking for someone to hand his customers over to! JJE Garden Maintenance was born and I inherited half a weeks worth of customers too.
Initially I was driving a Vauxhall Corsa which was not very practical! This was very quickly replaced with a Citroen Berlingo van and a wooden trailer was soon added too. After a year or so the trailer was upgraded to a new metal one with mesh sides and then the van was replaced with a Land Rover Discovery. Since then I have worked my way through a Mitsubishi L200 crew cab pick up truck and a Jeep Cherokee.
Within the first twelve months of business I acquired more customers, all by word of mouth. In fact my only advertising costs were to buy business cards and a sign for my van. The majority of my customers are elderly and unable to look after the garden themselves, but I also have some younger customers and one or two holiday homes to keep tidy.
I now have a full round and in the winter undertake general maintenance work, including picking up the occasional loaf of bread or prescription!
The most common question is not "are you busy ?" or "what do you charge ?". It is "what does JJE stand for ?". The answer is my children's names; Jessica, Jake and Emily. The arrival of a new baby in 2010 obviously caused a problem with the business name. My suggestion that the baby should be named "Garden" did not go down well so JJE Garden Maintenance continues without an additional letter R for Rowan James, even though he says that one day he will take over from me!