Cut Your Own Grass, Make a Million Bucks

It’s Saturday morning. Lawn tractors all over the country are in high gear (except for the fact that every last blade is scorched in heat wave ’11). If you listen carefully, you can hear something over the hum of the over-horsepowered engines–it’s ideation in high gear.

Push Lawn Mower shared under CC license by @ryanz

How many times have you heard someone say, “I had a great idea in the shower this morning” or even “when I was on the mower, I had a thought?” On the other hand, when have you heard “I had an idea while I was answering email today?” While weed eating, we actually have nothing else to do than think.

Several of my friends have a “lawn service,” and I feel sorry for them. 🙂 They are depriving themselves of the opportunity to have undistracted thought time under the guise of personal economics–“my billable is 3 times that of the lawn service.” Here is the problem with that, most of my knowledge working friends have the input on high gear and quiet time on mute. Who knows what million dollar idea will be hatched from the safe perch of a Cub Cadet this weekend.

So, what’s your idea haven? Have you ever had brilliant ideas on a mower? (leave a comment below)

As a bonus, here’s a great little piece about lawns in the us from CBS Sunday Morning:

 

 

Thumbnail and main image used under creative commons license.

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Jeremy Floyd

Jeremy Floyd is the President at FUNYL Commerce. Formerly, he was the CEO and President of Lirio, Bluegill Creative, a marketing and communications firm in Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to managing the digital strategies, Floyd was an adjunct professor for the University of Tennessee Chattanooga MBA program teaching digital strategies and social media. Floyd blogs at jeremyfloyd.com and tweets under the name @jfloyd. Jeremy is licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee and holds a law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from MTSU in English and Philosophy.

  • David Legg

    Thanks Jeremy, you are the nail hitting on the head today.

  • Thanks David. I know that you have mastered “thinking time.” I would love to hear about your favorite places to think.

  • David Moore

    Sometimes I dream of a yard service to pamper my whims. Yet, I still push-mow with a mower I bought in 1998. While mowing I have had song ideas, sorted out life’s difficult problems, ranted, raved, and praised Jesus! In my last mow I thought how I wanted to keep the push-mower so that my children could learn the meaning of work and keeping expenses down instead of buying conveniences. I guess that is like I hope to teach my kids how to drive a straight shift transmission…

  • I too had the lawn service aspiration. For me I know that I’m a much happier lawn amateur. 🙂

    Hard work is almost a lost art these days as we find conveniences at every turn. Maybe you and Gabrielle could start the “hard workin lawn service” twice as long, half as cheap. Haha.

  • It’s shortly after 3 pm on Saturday afternoon and I am just finding time to sit down after my son’s baseball practice, and mowing and weed eating the yard. I have 1.2 acres and it takes a while, even with a riding mower. I hate lawn care but agree that it gives you time to think. I often reflect on what I need to do for work or around the house, but sometimes I stew over situations that I wish I had more control over.

    Exercise, when not painful, can be another outlet for coming up with ideas, daydreaming, or just thinking about stuff. While I haven’t yet made a million bucks, I have saved the world a couple hundred times as I play out my John McClane daydreams. Yippee-ki-yay, Mother F$*&er

    Thanks for the post. I hate lawn care a little less now….but only just a little.

  • Ha! I have debated the “enjoyment” since college. Professors said I was out of my mind 😉

    Exercise is indeed a good time to reflect as well. The iPod however can creep its way into most quiet activities. Part of the discipline is “not” adding unnecessary input.

    Thanks for the comment.

  • I own a landscape business in Knoxville. Although I assume I know exactly what you mean, I have to say that I consider myself incredibly fortunate. How many other businesses could function effectively while the owner operator is planning next week, next month, and next year. I am running equipment about 85 percent of the work day and I wouldn’t trade it at this point in the game. It gives me the time to really think about where the business should be heading. I can toy with advertising ideas, complete checklists, or just completely zone out in “non-thought”.

  • Welcome to my blog, and thanks for posting your comment. It lends perspective to the professional side!

  • David

    Funny, Jeremy, as usual. Madeleine has turned out to be quite a work horse:) Personally, I like the amateur status. I worked for a lawn/landscape service for a summer. Sadly, I rarely got to play with the big boy mowers. I spent most of my time with a Shindawai (sp?) weed trimmer and by summer’s end my right shoulder was 3inches higher than the left from the constant shrug to keep the line hovering…

  • Perry

    Your friends who hire a 
    lawn service  actually probably have more time to think without the hassle of lawn work! :) 

  • I usually listen to music on my headphones while I’m mowing, but yes, I know what you mean. Mowing gives you time to clear your mind and think. Very relaxing actually!

  • Pihcbone

    I don’t have time to maintain my yard. I have a very busy life, I am off to office early in the morning and I do not want to have to work in my yard on weekends. I found a company called Houston Yard Service. They gave me a Free Estimate, showed up on time, did a beautiful job on my yard, beds and trimmed my trees. And, they were the lowest bid I got for the work. They are a family owned business. Check out their website at http://www.HoustonYardService.com.  

  • Just wanted to say that this post is still paying dividends. Although it was over a year ago when you posted this and I read it, I have thought about it every time I’ve mown my lawn since. After a “good mow” this weekend, I thought I should finally get around to thanking you for it. 😉

  • Thanks Michael! I was thinking about this the other day–how much passive information do we carry around from our social media connections. There are hundreds of tidbits that I’ve never retweeted, liked, commented or favorited, yet it is part of me. So thanks for the heads up that you’ve been ruminating on this.