Landscaping Entrepreneur Program

Turn your green thumb into your perfect career with our online Landscaping Entrepreneur Program. You will learn how to draw out your ideas and blend flowers, trees, shrubs and groundcovers into pleasant, practical designs. At the same time you will be learning how to create the business you want.

Landscaping

This Landscaping course provides the basic knowledge and industry information needed to be successful in the field of landscape design and architecture. Focusing on three areas of professional practice; design, contracting, and management, traditional topics such as design, plant installation, and pricing, as well as topics not found in most other resources, such as interior landscaping, xeriscaping, water gardens, and safety are discussed.

Successful landscapers and lawn care professionals reveal their secrets to success in this $20 billion industry. With all the homes, business parks, apartment complexes, shopping malls and hospitals that need landscaping, you can tailor your services and create your dream job. Your business can range from the simple-mowing and edging lawns, raking leaves and clipping hedges-to applying chemicals and fertilizer, trimming and shaping trees, designing landscapes and more.

Our landscaping course offers quality career training filled with a number of professional landscaping ideas and tips. The course even includes information on how to start a landscaping business. If you're interested in starting a new career, want to learn more about landscaping, or just want to spruce up your yard, then this course is for you!

Start Your Own Business

Have you ever eaten a Mrs. Fields cookie? Used an Apple computer? Listened to a hip-hop CD? Entrepreneurs brought these products to your world. People that start their own businesses and work for themselves are called entrepreneurs. For an entrepreneur the sky is the limit as far as earnings are concerned. An entrepreneur is someone who has recognized an opportunity to start a business that other people may not have noticed -- and jumps at it skillfully. Entrepreneurs can shape and create an opportunity where others see little or nothing -- or see it too early or too late.

This Start Your Own Business class will help you create the business you want. Throughout this course you will be working on your business plan and creating a quick comprehensive overview of the elements you want in your new business.

Prerequisite: None

Landscaping

Landscaping Module 1
Landscape Designing

• Using Drawing Instruments
• Learning Lettering
• Graphic Materials & Techniques
• Design Sheet Layout
• Understanding the Site
• Performing a Site Analysis
• The Landscaping Process
• Interviewing the Client
• The Outdoor Room Concept
• Plant Selection
• Plant Nomenclature
• Plant Grading Standards

Landscaping Module 2
The Principles of Design

• The Foundation for Designing
• Flowers in Landscaping
• Flower Beds and Flower Borders
• Xeriscape: Water-wise Landscaping
• The Seven Principles of Xeriscaping
• Hardscape: An Umbrella Term
• Water Features
• Outdoor Lighting
• Landscape Enrichment
• Technology in Landscaping
• Pricing the Proposed Design
• Presenting a Proposal

Landscaping Module 3
Landscape Contracting

• Landscape Calculations
• Understanding Contracts and Contractors
• Contract Documents
• Importance of Specifications
• Staffing & Human Resources
• Installing Landscape Plants
• Selecting the Proper Grass
• Lawn Construction
• Landscape Irrigation
• Interior Plantscaping
• Water Gardens

Landscaping Module 4
Landscape Maintenance

• Maintaining Landscape Plants
• Pest Control
• Pruning Trees & Shrubs
• Plant Injuries: Identification & Care
• How Insects and Diseases are Spread
• Weeds and Fertilization
• Care of the Lawn
• Winterization of the Landscape
• Pricing Landscape Maintenance
• Safety in the Landscape Industry
• Customer Service

Landscaping Module 5
Starting a Lawn Care or Landscaping Business

• Industry Snapshot
• Business Basics
• Staffing Your Business
• Types of Landscaping Businesses
• Scope of Services
• Conducting Market Research
• Naming Your Business
• Legal Aspects
• Money Managing
• Tools of the Trade & Equipment
• Office Equipment
• Industry Associations
• Marketing Your Business
• Your Cyber Salesperson
• Writing and Producing a Newsletter
• Networking with Others
• Income and Operating Expenses
• Your Formula for Success

**Outlines are subject to change, as courses and materials are updated.**

Start Your Own Business

Start Your Own Business Module 1
Entrepreneurial Pathways

• Defining Entrepreneurship
• What Entrepreneurs Do
• Free Enterprise Economies
• Finding & Evaluating Opportunity
• Examining Profits
• Creating Business from Opportunity
• Creating a Feasibility Analysis
• Developing a Business Plan
• Defining Your Business
• Analyzing Your Competitive Advantage
• Viability Testing
• Valuing a Business

Start Your Own Business Module 2
Integrated Marketing

• Exploring Your Market
• Marketing vs. Selling
• Market Research
• Market Segments
• Positioning Your Product or Service
• Developing Your Marketing Plan
• Marketing Mix
• Pricing Your Products
• Breakeven Analysis
• Smart Selling
• Effective Customer Service
• Principles of Selling
• Successful Sales Calls
• Customer Relationship Management

Start Your Own Business Module 3
Cost Analysis

• Understanding & Managing Costs
• Identify Required Investment
• Analyze Fixed Operating Costs
• Calculate Gross Profit
• Financial Record Keeping
• Financial Statements
• Income Statements
• Examining a Balance Sheet
• Financial Ratio Analysis
• Calculating Return on Investment
• Same-Size Analysis
• Quick, Current & Debt Ratios

Start Your Own Business Module 4
Financing Strategy

• Cash Flow Management
• Cash vs. Profits
• Cash Flow Statement
• Cash Budget
• Taxes
• Filing Tax Returns
• Financing Preferences
• Types of Business Financing
• Debt vs. Equity Financing
• Identifying Sources of Capital
• Stocks & Bonds as Investments

Start Your Own Business Module 5
Operating For Success

• Addressing Legal Issues
• Managing Risk
• Business Legal Structures
• Contracts
• Commercial Law
• Intellectual Property
• Protecting Tangible Assets
• Operations in a Business
• Production-Distribution Chain
• Supply Chain Management
• Managing Suppliers
• Managing Inventory
• Facilities Location & Design

Start Your Own Business Module 6
Growing Your Business

• Management
• 10 Basic Tasks Handled by Managers
• Leadership Styles
• Organizational Cultures
• Organizational Structure
• Human Resources Management
• Ethical Leadership
• Incorporating Social Responsibility
• Ethical Practices
• Growing Your Business
• Franchising
• Licensing
• Cashing in Your Brand
• Methods for Valuing a Business

**Outlines are subject to change, as courses and materials are updated.**