HAVE ROTOTILLER WILL TRAVEL

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Another pointer: Always talk to the garden's owner before you start work. Once I didn't do this-because I had arrived early in the morning-and I had already been hard at it for about 20 minutes when the householder came out, looking quite annoyed, and told me to stop. He had been under the impression that I operated a tractor-mounted tiller. "if I'd wanted a crummy 'little machine like that,," he told me, "I'd have rented one and done the job myself. What do I owe you?" Since he refused to examine the tilling I'd already done. I answered, "Nothing". That freaked him out and he stuffed a $5.00 bill in my pocket.

My disgruntled customer was a member of the "bigger is always better" fraternity. This is the same kind of guy who gets nervous when you tell him it's best to wait a week before making the final till on new ground. His response is to get a bigger-no, the biggest-whatever and grind up the earth until it looks like the plot his neighbor has been gardening for 20 years. Humor such folks and seduce them to your methods. Put in extra work and care on their land and give them all the advice you can, for they truly need to be converted.

I assume, though, that you're not going into business just to min people to your ways and you're probably wondering how I've made out financially. First, my costs for the spring 1973 tilling season:

Gasoline $ 5.00

Oil .90

Advertising 23.32

Miscellaneous

(Coke, candy, cigar, etc.) 1.20

TOTAL $30.42

I traveled 591 miles, and-if we use the federal standard deduction of 12d a mile-it cost me $70.92 to operate my vehicle. For those of us who don't buy a new car every two or three years, though, that figure is unrealistic. The truth is probably closer to 64 or 8d a mile.

For a period running from April 17 to May 26, 1 took in $582. 1 kept track of my time, both tilling and traveling, and grossed $10.00 an hour through the season. Using the 12( -a mile deduction, I reckon my net profit to be $450.66 or $8.00 per hour. (if you intend to report your rototilling income, incidentally, you can deduct your telephone bill, depreciation of your equipment and-if you buy your tiller on time - the interest on the payments.)

This result from my first year in operation encouraged me to continue. I decided I'd like to expand my volume by about 25 percent, and made plans to ask all my customers for their repeat business the following season (besides running my ad again).

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