Deciding to build a business from the ground up or join an established brand is a hard decision to make. You might want to reap the rewards of making a name for yourself all on your own, but you’re concerned about how much time and effort goes into establishing your own branding and livery.

If you’re undecided on the best course of action, especially regarding a lawn care business, you’re in the right place. Here are just a few of the many benefits associated with joining an already well-established brand.

All the Marketing Materials Are In Place

Marketing materials can take a significant amount of time, effort, energy, resources, and money to put into place. Even if you have an idea of the type of logo you’d like to use for a lawn mowing business, you still have to think about fonts, colours, meaning, positioning, and so much more.

This can be on top of already trying to build up a client base and providing a wide range of services like tree trimming, lawn mowing, and gardening. It can be a lot to handle.

When you align yourself with a well-established brand, you do not need to worry about marketing materials. Joining a franchise can mean that you’re provided with everything you need to hit the ground running, including a logo, a branding guide, promotional options, and more.

Customers Already Know the Brand

Building brand recognition is one of the most complex parts of starting your own business. No one knows who you are and what you do, and it can take a significant amount of time for people to see your branding and immediately understand your offerings.

However, if you were to take on a franchise within an already established company, that’s an issue you’re unlikely to encounter. Other franchises within the company have already done all the leg work, which means you can immediately reap the rewards. All that’s left to do is carry on the company’s reputation by providing a high-quality service for all your valued clients.

It Attracts Clients

Business owners must work hard to attract clients, and they do so by offering incredible deals and standout service. While providing your customers with the service they deserve is crucial, you don’t have to start from nothing.

A well-established brand is already attracting clients, especially when there is more than one franchise. When you purchase a franchise and get your business up and running, you might notice that it’s immediately attracting clients. People know and trust the brand, and you reap the rewards.

Enjoy Brand Consistency

When branding isn’t your forte in the same way that lawn mowing and hedge pruning are, it’s hard to be consistent. You might think you can play around with logo colours and use different vehicle and uniform branding styles, but it doesn’t help with branding recognition.

While it doesn’t hurt to brush up on your marketing and branding knowledge, you can capitalise on what has already been implemented for other franchises within the company. Everything from marketing materials to vehicle branding and uniforms has already been pre-designed for your convenience.

Support With Marketing

When you’ve never had to worry about branding before, it’s only natural to be nervous about what lies ahead. You might know you want to make a name for yourself for all the right reasons, but how on earth do you do that?

Many of the best companies with franchise opportunities in lawn care in NZ offer marketing support. Alongside providing you with helpful resources, uniform branding, and vehicle livery, you can also enjoy training opportunities where needed.

Whether you need support setting up your Facebook page or want to learn how to remain current in the digital sphere, you can get the help you need from the company with which you hold a franchise.

You Can Receive Customer Leads

Many companies have franchises throughout the country, allowing customers from many regions to access high-quality lawn care services. However, many leads come directly through the head office instead of to individual franchises.

This means that even if you didn’t approach a customer directly or hand out marketing materials in your area, you might still receive leads. Some of the best lawn care franchise companies even provide you with a full list of regular clients so that you can immediately start making money. That’s unlikely to be the case if you were to create your own lawn care business from scratch. 

Are You Ready to Purchase a Franchise?

Lawn care is a worthwhile career option. You can work your own hours, enjoy being active, and spend plenty of time outdoors in nature. Now might be the right time to weigh up the pros and cons of franchise business opportunities and see if you’re ready to take the leap.

Whether you’re a new lawn mowing business owner/operator or considering upgrading your business vehicle, you might have wondered whether a van would suit your needs.

Purchasing a new vehicle is a significant decision to make, so it’s likely not one you want to make on a whim. Before you hand over your hard-earned money to a vehicle salesperson, take a moment to weigh up the pros and cons of van ownership in the lawncare industry.

Pro: Your Lawn Mowing Equipment Is Safe and Secure

While burglaries are allegedly declining throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, that doesn’t mean all business owners are confident that their valuable equipment and tools are safe. You might even worry about having fuel containers, lawn mowers, and other equipment sitting on a ute deck while you’re assisting a client with their lawn care needs.

That’s normally less of a concern when you use a van. Rather than storing gear on the open deck of a ute, you can place it in your locked van and feel more confident when parking it on an average NZ residential street.

Con: Strong Odours

Lawn care can be a bit of a smelly business. While few smells are as sweet as freshly mown grass, it can be a bit overpowering when mixed with the pungent odour of fuel from petrol-powered equipment.

When you have a ute or a trailer, you can typically avoid these odours, but it can be much more challenging when there is no separation between you and your equipment during transportation.   

Pro: You Don’t Have to Tow a Trailer

Towing a trailer can sometimes be frustrating. You’re limited in where you can park, you have to drive 10km slower on main highways than other drivers, and you have to adjust your driving style to suit the extra load.

You might not need to worry about that if you purchase a van. Many vans are large enough to transport push mowers and even some ride-on mowers with plenty of leftover space for other power equipment like leaf blowers and line trimmers.

Con: You Need to Stay Organised

When you run your business with a ute and trailer, you don’t typically need to worry about staying organised because you have plenty of space to work with on a trailer and ute deck.

However, the average van has less space than a ute deck and trailer combined, which means you might need to get creative with how you store your equipment for transport. If you decide to purchase a van, you might need to have a storage system in place to easily find items and remove equipment from the van quickly and conveniently.

Pro: Affordable to Buy

Vans are a tradesperson’s best friend here in Aotearoa, so there is typically no shortage of options on the market. Whether you’re buying new or secondhand, you’re bound to find something within your budget.

While there’s certainly no shortage of utes for sale in NZ, they often come with higher price tags. This is partly due to their desirability for town and country dwellers alike, but also because of the ute tax the government has imposed. This tax means Kiwis will pay approximately $3,000 more as a penalty under the Clean Car Discount package.
If you’re on a budget during your hunt for a new vehicle, vans can undoubtedly be an option you consider to keep expenditure to a minimum.

Con: Inferior Suspension and Towing Capacity

If you pay attention to the specs of any vehicle you buy, you might notice how impressive the towing capacity and suspension are of many new utes for sale. Sadly, this area is often lacking in the average van.

It can be worth keeping this in mind if you’ll need to tow a trailer to haul a ride-on lawn mower and other equipment. You might find that a ute has more ‘get up and go’ than the average van.

How to Set Up a Van for a Lawn Care Business

If you’re adamant about using a van for your new lawn care business, you might be curious about how to set them up. Everyone’s needs are different, but you could start by learning about the most necessary items and equipment to include in the average van.

At a minimum, you’ll need your client job information, lawn mower, power equipment, and fuel if you aren’t a green lawn mowing service provider. A toolkit, wet weather gear, spare parts, and a first aid kit also need to take pride of place in your van. And don’t forget your lunch box!

If you typically provide a lawn clippings removal service, you might need to tow a trailer occasionally. However, if you’re aware of these jobs in advance, you can line them up one after another to reduce the number of days you’ll need to use your trailer.

Van or Ute – You Decide

There can be so much to organise and plan when you purchase a lawn care franchise and start your self-employment journey in earnest. Now that you’re aware of all the pros and cons of van vs. ute ownership, you can make an informed choice and purchase a new vehicle with confidence.

Many Kiwis are starting to reevaluate their careers, especially as it can sometimes seem like you spend every waking hour working rather than enjoying life to the fullest. With that in mind, there can be value in exploring your options around lawn franchise ownership. Alongside working for yourself, many other benefits might pique your curiosity.

Before you dive right into making a decision, why not weigh up the pros and cons of a lawn franchise? We’ve listed a few of the most obvious ones below.

Pro: Limitless Earning Potential

When you work for someone else, you often only earn as much as they’re willing to pay per hour or as part of a salary package. Even as costs rise, along with inflation, your earning potential doesn’t always rise with them.

However, that can all change when you own a lawn franchise. You really can earn as much as you want. You have the freedom to set your rates, hire workers to expand your reach and profit potential, and work as many or as few hours as you please.

Pro: Work Hour Flexibility

Many parents hate missing out on their children’s schooling and sports events. But as they often take place during the working day, it can be nearly impossible to make time for them all.

Flexible working hours are one of the most desirable benefits associated with a lawn mowing franchise. You can choose to be an early riser and keep your afternoons free, or sleep in and work later into the day. You can also set your own breaks and lunch hours and have the complete freedom to attend any meeting, appointment, activity, or errand without having to run it by a boss.

Pro: Full Support and Training

Starting a new business can be daunting, especially when you’ve never been your own boss before. However, compared to a startup, a franchise can be a breeze. You can take advantage of a proven business system that works, especially since multiple franchisees are usually already under a national brand.

You can also benefit from training to learn the ropes, a support system for those trying times, and all the help you need to familiarise yourself with the average day in business until you build up confidence. If you were to start a lawn mowing business in NZ on your own, very little of that support would be available to you.

Pro: Customer Leads

You can provide lawn mowing services for as many or as few customers as you would like while advertising to your heart’s content in your local area. However, you don’t need to rely on your own efforts alone.

Often, when you align yourself with a franchise, you benefit from customer leads provided by your head office. This benefit can be extremely valuable during your early days in business when you’re trying to establish a name and reputation for yourself.

Pro: Help With Health and Safety

Understanding and learning how to follow the various health and safety guidelines can be daunting. You know you must keep yourself safe, but now you also have to think of your customers and their needs.

When you align yourself with some of the best brands in the industry, you’re provided with all the information you need. Before long, you can be skilled and well-informed of the latest health and safety codes so that you can provide a safe and reliable service for your clients.

Con: Inquiries Can Drop Off In Winter

Lawn mowing services can be in hot demand during the warmer months of the year, but inquiries can tend to drop off once winter arrives in earnest. Many franchise owners find it helpful to spread their earnings over the year to compensate for the decreased revenue.

Although, that’s not to say you can’t earn as much in winter as in summer. Many franchises have national contracts, which means you can retain the same clients throughout the year.

You also have the freedom to diversify your offerings and provide other services like garden tidy-ups, tree and bush pruning, hedge trimming, water blasting, and more.

Con: You Don’t Get to Choose Your Own Business Name

When you decide to start your own business, you get to play around with fun business names and branding. Aligning yourself with an already-established brand means you don’t.

Although, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. All your marketing materials are taken care of for you, and you get to build on your national brand’s reputation rather than starting from scratch. You also don’t need to worry about putting all of the hard work into establishing brand recognition since many locals would already be familiar with your business name and what you’re all about.

Is It Time to Buy a Lawn Mowing Franchise in NZ?

If you’re tired of working for someone else and want more control over your working life, now might be the right time to review your franchise options. While starting a new business can be scary, you might be surprised at just how well-supported and encouraged you are when a national franchise takes you under its wing.

There can be many benefits associated with buying a franchise in NZ, such as having the full support of the franchisor, a proven business model, and even a potentially higher chance of securing finance to start your new business venture in earnest.

However, as desirable as franchise ownership can be, you still need to put time and effort into making it a success. For the best chance of doing just that, you might like to take note of these key principles.

Choose the Right Franchise For You

When you make the life-changing decision to buy your own business, it’s easy to get lured in by the profit potential of several options. They might offer significant earnings beyond your wildest dreams, and it seems like the perfect business for you.

However, there can be more to owning a successful franchise than buying one with significant profit potential. You also have to consider whether you’ll like the job you’ll be doing and have skills and passion for your daily work.

For example, a lawn care franchise might catch your eye if you love being outside, dabbling in a bit of gardening, and mowing the lawns. You might not have the same passion for a fast-food chain or cleaning company.

When you think about the type of work you’d like to do when working for yourself, you might be surprised at how easy it is to narrow down your franchise purchasing options.

Follow Franchisor Guidelines

Franchisors have generally been in the business long enough to know that their business model is one that works. They provide marketing and branding guidelines and basic operating procedures to ensure consistency across the brand.

If you want your franchise to be a success, familiarize yourself with franchisor guidelines and requirements before signing on the dotted line. You can then get a feel for how the business operates and the expectations of the company to ensure you’re the right fit.

Failure to consider these guidelines might mean you’re unhappy in your new job if you find out that it operates differently than you anticipated.

Create a Winning Marketing Strategy

Even though franchisors generally provide new franchisees with all the marketing materials and branding guidelines they need to hit the ground running, you might find that you have total freedom to create promotions that broaden your reach and expand your customer base.

For example, if you decided to purchase a lawn care franchise in NZ, you might offer a half-price lawn mowing service if a customer signed up for a regular lawn mowing service. Alternatively, you might provide free lawn clipping removal, edging, or leaf blowing as a desirable benefit for new customers.

As long as you remain consistent with your branding, there can often be no reason why you can’t experience great success with your marketing strategy and unique approach.

Develop a Business Plan

Business plans can be crucial for any new business, regardless of whether they form part of a franchise. Business plans outline a company’s goals, marketing objectives, financial projections, operations, marketing, and more.

Business plans can essentially function as your road map to success, helping you to get back on track if you ever lose sight of your goals or objectives.

Alongside creating a business plan, you might also like to perform a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and helps you put your business in the best possible position for success.

Draw a large square, divide it into four parts, and name each box one of the four terms. Under strengths, you can write down everything you’re good at, including things your business can do better than your competitors.

In weaknesses, write down anything that might stop you from achieving your goals, areas you need to improve in, and resources you might lack. Opportunities might cover any external conditions that might help you achieve your goals, and threats might describe anything that could damage your business, like the economy and your competitors.

Get Help When You Need It

Working in any new business is tough, and you might feel stressed and overwhelmed by the prospect of building up a new franchise. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it because doing so might just contribute to your success.

For example, if you’re having trouble staying on top of your accounts, consider hiring a bookkeeper or accountant to assist. Or, if you’re having trouble with a particular part of your new business, reach out to your franchisor, who might be able to advise you on the best courses of action for specific scenarios.

No matter your problems or concerns, you will surely find that friends, family, and professionals will be available to lend a helping hand.

Are You Ready to Buy a Franchise?

Working for yourself can be incredibly rewarding. Is now the right time to buy a franchise? There are many different options available, including lawn care, where you’ll be able to work your own hours and be your own boss.

Being a business owner in any industry can be challenging. You’re responsible for all your own successes and failures, and you’re the one paying all the bills and making all the decisions.

However, there can be a unique set of hurdles in the lawn mowing industry, and many new and seasoned lawn mowing professionals face them throughout their careers. If you want to be prepared for any challenges thrown your way, here are some of the most common hurdles and how you can overcome them.

Seasonal Earning Potential

Winter can be a challenging time for some lawn care service providers, particularly those who only offer a single service – lawn mowing. Homeowners rarely need their lawns mown as frequently, and weather conditions can also dictate when you can visit your clients’ properties.

Fortunately, winter doesn’t actually need to be an impossible problem to solve. You have many different solutions at your fingertips.

For example, you might decide to branch out into other services more fitting to the colder weather, such as section tidy-ups, leaf removal, mulching, tree trimming, and hedge pruning. While you can scale back these services once the mercury rises, they can be an ideal interim solution to ensure you’re still able to maintain a stable income.

Alternatively, you might like to look at budgeting for those colder months of the year while you’re still providing your summer services. Talk to your accountant about managing your money and spreading it out across all months of the year.

Administration and Accounts

No one can be good at absolutely everything they put their mind to. You might be the Picasso of the lawn mowing world, but that doesn’t mean you’ll know how to manage your books for organisation and tax purposes.

Many lawn mowing business owners find it challenging to handle the administration and accounting side of their business as well as the actual job of lawn mowing. If you know that your books possibly aren’t as tidy and well organised as they should be, an ideal solution would be to hand them over to someone who can tackle this task for you.

Accountants can be relied upon to make sure you’re fulfilling all your tax obligations, while an administration worker might handle those more finicky tasks like booking new customers and managing their payments.

Underquoting Work

When you start a new business, it’s only natural to be concerned about not getting as much work as you need to cover your bills. You can generally alleviate this problem by purchasing an existing business, but many people find themselves underquoting just to take on new clients.

While effective in the short-term for building up a client base, it might hurt you in the long run when you’re unable to make the profit you need to run a sustainable business.

If you’re about to start your own lawn mowing business, research what your soon-to-be competitors are charging. If you have the same equipment, services, and level of experience, there’s no reason why you also can’t charge the same.

Ineffective Equipment

A low-end lawn mower is more than suitable for a homeowner with a small patch of grass that they mow a couple of times a month in the summer. However, such a lawnmower is likely to be unsuitable for a commercial operator.

By purchasing ineffective, low-end equipment, you run the risk of needing to perform far more maintenance and upgrade sooner than if you bought a more suitable commercial model. As you start exploring your lawn care equipment options, take the time to read reviews and compare various brands.

The more time and effort you put into research before purchasing essential gear like lawnmowers and grass-cutting accessories, the more confidence you can have that you’ve made the right decisions.

Marketing Your Business

Once upon a time, any type of business could rely on word of mouth to have the customers lining up in their droves. However, competition is now fierce, and we need to think outside the box to be noticed, especially regarding marketing. 

Although, marketing doesn’t have to be a complicated, expensive undertaking. You might decide to purchase a franchise business, with the head office supplying all marketing guidelines for you, or you might hire a marketing guru to assist with your advertising and social media presence.

There might still be a reasonable amount of word-of-mouth marketing, but you have far more avenues to explore than simply relying on customers to notice you on the streets.

Begin Your Business With Confidence

As terrifying as starting a new business can be and as many hurdles as you might face, there’s no reason why you can’t start, own, and operate a successful lawn mowing business. Now that you’re aware of some of the most common problems, you can be in a much better position to overcome them.

Branding, livery, and marketing are not always easy to wrap your head around. You may know you want to get your business name out there, but doing it in the best way possible is not always straightforward when you don’t know what’s effective and what isn’t.

Many people who get involved in lawn care and buy a lawn mowing business can be so focused on providing superior customer service that they forget to even consider the benefits of spending time on their image. In particular, their vehicle branding.

If you’re about to ramp up your marketing efforts and put your NZ lawn care business in the public eye, take note of the following information.

Sign-Written Vehicles Stand Out

The average vehicle on the road doesn’t stand out, especially when it’s an everyday car with a standard paint scheme. However, as soon as you start adding graphics, words, and exciting colours, that all changes.

People take notice, both while they’re walking or driving past a parked vehicle and when they’re driving near one on the road. They read the words that are written on it, take notice of the colours, and might even make a mental note to find out more about what’s written on it, as well.

A Vehicle With Branding is Professional

Every lawn care business owner wants their customers to think they’re professional. If they’re seen as professional, customers can feel confident relying on them for lawn care tasks like lawn mowing, weed eating, tree trimming, and more.

While having an unbranded vehicle doesn’t mean you’re not professional, it can make some people believe that lawn care isn’t your primary business offering and that you’re possibly not an expert in the field.

Branded Vehicles Are Moving Billboards

You generally benefit from pre-established branding and marketing materials when you purchase a franchised business. There’s no need to worry about starting from scratch or having to build up a reputation. It’s already there for you to take advantage of.

By adding your business information to your vehicle, you’re essentially driving around in one giant billboard. People in need of your services can find out who you are, the services you offer, and how to get in touch.

Many lawn care service providers even find that while parked outside the property of a current customer, they’re able to benefit from the business of neighbouring properties. Before long, it’s possible to have several clients on a single street, cutting costs and bolstering your bottom line.

What to Include On Your Vehicle Signage

If the benefits above sound attractive, you may be ready to start looking at your business vehicle branding options. When you work with a franchise, all the recommended design elements are readily available for you to take advantage of. That way, you can ensure your business vehicle aligns with the company’s image for the sake of brand recognition.

However, if you’re starting from scratch, you may not know what you should include in your vehicle’s signwriting or wrap for maximum effect. We’ve included a few helpful pointers below.

Your Branding Colours

Over time and with enough exposure, we start associating particular colours with businesses. When we see purple, we associate it with Cadbury, and the big golden arches are undoubtedly McDonald’s.

Therefore, it’s crucial to include your branding colours to establish that brand awareness and recognition. Once again, when you align yourself with a franchise, the hard work has been done for you, but using your new branding colours on your vehicle can also put you on the right path to being noticed and recognised in your community.

Service Offerings

Every lawn care company is different. Some offer push mower services, while others provide both push mowing and ride-on lawn mowing. You may even come across lawn care companies that offer a complete range of services like garden tidy-ups, edging, tree trimming, and hedge pruning.

Including a list of services on your vehicle wrap may make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for.

Contact Information

Most importantly, provide information on how a potential new customer can contact you. Contact information can be phone numbers, email addresses, websites, or even social media pages. The more avenues you offer, the more people you may be able to reach.

This information should be large, bold, and clear so that anyone – whether they’re walking, driving, or biking past, can see it visibly and take action if you have a service they could benefit from.

Take Care of Business Branding Today

If you’ve decided that a business in lawn care is something you’re interested in purchasing, looking at your branding requirements can be crucial. Don’t underestimate the importance of not only aligning yourself with a reputable company that offers well-established branding and marketing practices but ensuring you do everything in your power to make your vehicle and business stand out from the crowd.

When you tire of the nine to five grind or working in a depressing office cubicle, you may start toying with the idea of starting your own lawn mowing business. You get to set your own hours, work outside in the beautiful sunshine, and make all business decisions for yourself.

However, one of the most challenging parts of starting a lawn care business is knowing what equipment you need to purchase to get your new venture off the ground and begin providing a range of lawn care services. It might be time to add the following equipment to your shopping list.

Lawn Mowers

When you start a lawn mowing business, it makes sense that your first purchase should be a lawn mower. However, picking the right one for your needs can be a lot more challenging than you might think.

There are many different options to choose from, such as walk-behind lawn mowers, zero-turn mowers, ride-on lawn mowers, and even robotic mowers. Each type has its pros and cons, and not all makes and models will be suitable for your business needs.

However, at a minimum, consider the purchase of a commercial push mower and, if tackling large commercial properties, a ride-on mower, as well.

Whipper Snippers and Line Trimmers

Lawn mowers are an essential tool of the trade, but nothing makes a lawn the picture of perfection as effectively as a whipper snipper or line trimmer. These tools can be useful for edging gardens and lawns and clearing long grass that your mower isn’t capable of tackling until it’s much shorter.

While shopping for a new trimmer, consider whether you’d prefer electric, battery, or petrol-powered. While petrol-powered tools are sometimes more powerful, they require the use of costly fuel and can require a significant amount of maintenance.

Electric line trimmers are clean and lightweight, but you’ll need access to a power supply at each client’s home. That leaves battery-powered trimmers. These tools of the trade only require the use of batteries which you can charge at the end of each working day. They are among the most popular options in the business.

Hedge Trimmers

If you plan on offering hedge trimming as a service, it makes sense to include a hedge trimmer on your list of essential equipment to purchase. Long-reach trimmers are among the most versatile and safest options, preventing the need to use ladders and other heights equipment.

Leaf Blowers

Autumn and winter can take their toll on a property. Leaves, dirt, and debris can end up scattered everywhere, and yards can look generally untidy. Rather than manually brushing pathways and courtyards by hand, you may see the value in investing in a leaf blower.

There are many different battery-operated options on the market, many of which can clean up all manner of debris to leave your clients’ properties looking clean and tidy.

Pruning Tools

Some lawn care service providers offer lawn mowing as a service and nothing else, while others dabble in anything yard-related. If you decide to provide other services like tree trimming and rose bush pruning, then pruning tools will be necessary additions to your shopping list.

Do your homework before purchasing any random pruning tool you find, as some are made with better quality materials than others. The more well made they are, the longer they may last.

A Vehicle & Trailer

Now that you’ve decided which essential equipment you need to start your own lawn mowing business, you now require a suitable vehicle and trailer to get it from your home to those of your clients.

What you buy and how you choose to transport your equipment is a personal choice, but there’s no harm in being observant and seeing how other business owners do it. Some buy all-inclusive vans that house everything from lawn mowers and PPE to hedge trimmers and everything in between.

However, one of the most popular options is a truck and trailer combination. You may decide to purchase a purpose-built trailer or use a standard model and adjust it to suit your needs.

These trailers need to be large enough for a standard lawn mower and/or a ride-on model if you decide to purchase one.

Personal Protective Equipment

Most people are familiar with personal protective equipment (PPE) in a medical sense, but did you know it’s also essential in the lawn care industry? WorkSafe offers practical protective clothing guidelines to help you make informed choices about what you buy.

These might include safety glasses, sun hats, long-sleeved shirts and pants, covered-in shoes, gloves, and earmuffs. If you are in close contact with your clients, the use of a mask may also be necessary for their protection and yours.

Start Your Lawn Care Business Now

Now that you’ve got a fair idea of the basics you need to start a lawn mowing business, why not turn those business dreams into reality? There are many well-established lawn mowing businesses for sale, and a career change may be more within reach than you think.