It's usually hard for kids to make money. You can't get a job until you're 14, and most places won't actually hire you until you are 16. So, how are you going to make money? Mowing lawns.

Mowing lawns is a great business. You can make a lot of money. Get ready to learn how you can start your very own lawn business.

When starting your lawn business, you have to treat it like a real company. Although you can probably get away with not paying taxes or getting a business license, there are still a few things you need to do before you start actually going out and making money. The two things you must do are writing down a mission statement and some goals. Let's let Wikipedia define a mission statement:

A mission statement is a brief written statement of the purpose of a company or organization. Ideally, a mission statement guides the actions of the organization, spells out its overall goal, provides a sense of direction, and guides decision making for all levels of management.

Basically, you need to create an overarching goal for your business. Figure out where it's headed overall, and write that down.

Goals are very important if you want your yard service to succeed. A mission statement is a larger goal that guides you company for its lifetime-- the goals I am talking about here are a lot more concrete. Some examples of goals your business could have:

"To gain three customers this season."

"To make X dollars."

"To keep my customers satisfied 100% of the time."

Goals should be challenging, but not impossible. They will keep your business on track and give you guidance on to what level you wish to take your lawn service.

Depending on what services you plan to provide, you will need certain equipment. This article is going to focus mostly on lawn mowing. The two pieces of equipment you need for lawn mowing are a lawn mower and a weed eater.

There are three options for obtaining this equipment: borrowing from your parents, buying it used, or buying it new.

Borrowing from your parents is probably going to be the easiest method. If your parents have serviceable equipment that they will let you use, I think this is the best way to go. However, if you don't have access to your parents equipment, or they simply don't own a lawn more and/or weed eater, you have your other two options: used and new.

Buying equipment used is the best option if you can't borrow it from your parents and you don't have the cash to buy the equipment new. To get used equipment, check out Craigslist, the Classifieds section in your local paper, or at yard sales. Used equipment is definitely cheap enough for you to afford. Once you are out mowing with it, I'm pretty darn sure you will be able to make up the cost for the equipment in your first one or two mows.

Buying new equipment is very straightforward. You can find new equipment at Home Depot, Sears, you local hardware store, etc. It is more expensive, but it is easier than buying used equipment and will most likely last longer.

Whenever you buy equipment, make sure to bring along someone who knows a thing or two about lawn equipment. You don't want to buy something that isn't right for you!

By now, you should have your equipment, which means you are pretty much ready to go out and mow peoples' yards. So now, you have to put yourself out there. The method of advertising I recommend is flyer advertising. To make a flyer, follow this basic template:

Business Name
Slogan (Optional)

Services
Weed Eating
Mowing

Contact Information
Phone Number
Business Email Address

We offer free estimates!

Make it pretty and use Microsoft Word.

Now that you have your flyer, you need to distribute it. Go door to door and place it underneath peoples' doormats. If they don't have doormats, get creative. DO NOT place flyers inside peoples' mailboxes. This is illegal. Big no-no. You can also staple them to telephone poles. One note, however: Use discretion when putting flyers on telephone poles. One flyer every block is fine. More than that, and the neighbors get mad.

When advertising, only tell people about your business who are within walking distance. Keep in mind how far you are going to have to push that lawn mower and/or carry that weed eater when you are looking for potential customers.

Mowing lawns for money is a very lucrative business. When you are 13 (or just a teenager in general), there aren't many other options, so if I were you, I would take one that is going to get me the most money. Good luck starting your lawn business.

For more information on how teenagers can make money mowing lawns, check out my blog at TeenLawnCare.com.