Yard Money Field Guide: One Truck, No Crew
About this audiobook
Eight years. One truck. No crew.
I started with a borrowed trimmer and a $12 an hour ad on Craigslist. No space for a mower, no idea what to charge, and nobody to tell me what I was walking into.
This is what I learned.
YARD MONEY FIELD GUIDE is not a book about scaling. No crews, no trailers, no building something to sell off. It is what the name says: a short field guide, about ninety minutes of reading, for the person who wants to work alone, stay lean, know what their time is worth, and not destroy their body doing it.
Equipment: starting with one tool instead of a truckload, and buying used without getting burned.
Pricing: moving from hourly to flat-rate estimates, and why you should never negotiate.
Customers: reading them before you take the job, and stopping scope creep once you have.
The work: hand weeding, weed-eating, mowing, pruning, and not getting hurt doing any of it.
The exit: building something that earns before your body gives out.
I am not successful by today's standards. But I started with nothing and I made it work.
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About the author
Earl Gibson is a landscaper, self-taught tinkerer, and writer based in southern Oregon. He studied art, then spent the better part of a decade in advertising and photography before the pull to work outdoors with his hands won out. His books live where those two paths meet: real field experience, photographed and written firsthand. Eight years running small engines as a working landscaper became the Tailgate Small Engine Repair series. He also makes videos on small engine repair, fishing, and life outdoors on YouTube (@earlgibson).
