Turf Wars

Last week we left off with: I had only ventured to houses within a block or two of my home since I had to push the lawn mower to get to the job. But then my father did a wonderful thing. ----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- And now continuing: He came home with a brand new shiny Jacobson's self propelled lawn mower with attachable grass catcher! And he said I could use it! Well then. The world had just became a much better place. I decided to venture further from home with the mower to get even more jobs. But then it happened. Turf wars. Competition. A new lesson in life. As I knocked on doors 3 blocks away, people started to tell me that Stevie was mowing their yard already. Stevie? Who is Stevie? Why is Stevie mowing my yards? I never saw Stevie, but everywhere I went it seemed he was ahead of me. I never experienced this selling greeting cards, or grit, or anything else. I continued knocking on doors and I picked up a job or two. When I came across a Stevie customer I asked them if they would give me a chance. They said if Stevie were to quit, or not do a good job, then yes they would. This of course motivated me to make sure I was doing a good job with my customers so as not to lose them to Stevie. But I started to notice something. I never came across a Stevie customer within 2 blocks of my house. This awakened a very competitive spirit within me. I felt I found Stevie's weakness. Stevie only wanted a few yard jobs. I wanted more. I wanted to be the lawn King. And so I made it a point to visit every one of Stevie's customers every week. I asked how Stevie was doing, and they said he was doing a fine job. That is, until about 5 weeks later. One week, Stevie had not been around to mow the yards. I asked if I could do them. Most said that they would wait to see if Stevie showed up. Several days later Stevie still had not shown up. A few of the customers said they would let me mow their yard one time, since it needed it. But if Stevie came back the next week they would continue to let Stevie come back. Stevie did come back the next week. But I kept visiting. You can read all the chapters of "How To Be an Entrepreneur" by going to http://salessuccessmagazin e.com. These stories are copyrighted by Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. 1995 thru 2005. Any person using this article must publish it without modification and include authors bio and links.