This week we celebrated
our 7th Birthday here at Ark Fencing & Garden Services. And boy those seven
years have gone by quick! Sometimes starting something new is scary, and when
we began, it was! But luckily, with lots of hard work and perspiration, things
have worked out well! The year we began this business was also the year we
got married. After being together for eight years already mind you! People used
to ask "how do you manage working together every day as husband and
wife?" we just used to laugh. It was great. The best days were of course
the days when the sun was shining and we were working hard on looking after all
our garden maintenance jobs. That feeling when you get home after a hard day’s
work, skin warm from the sun, money in your pocket and knowing it was all your
own doing was fab. Of course there were hard times too, through winters
and the financial crisis. But you live and learn. And we are still going so we
must be doing something right.
In
2010 we were blessed with our beautiful little Summer Rose and that summer she
came to work too. That was some juggling act, but she was a good baby and quite
content which of course made it all that little bit easier.
In
2011 we took on our first labourer and I took a back seat on that side of
things to focus on raising Summer at home and catch up on all that paper work
and marketing! We still had the odd day out at work though, which she loved,
and so did our customers! And here we are today. The main thing is to stay
positive. It can be hard going working with the general public! You can't
please everybody all of the time. But we all work hard, put maximum effort in
on getting a great job done and that's what makes the difference. When you try
your best, nothing can stop you.
So
there's a little piece of our history there for you! But right now, spring is
springing up and the days are brighter and a little bit warmer. Now comes the
busy times!
I
briefly mentioned lawn care in the last blog. It is a good time now to add some
top dressing to your lawn and more seed to thicken things up and add some new
healthy growth. It won't take long for the seeds to germinate now and you'll
soon see the results. If you're lawn is in pretty good shape anyway, it will
benefit from regular mowing to keep it looking good.
If
you have young children, you'll like to know that now is the time to plant
those sun flower seeds - right where you want them to bloom. I can't wait;
these are definitely one of my favourites since I’m such a big kid! It's also
time to get those hedges tidied, if you haven't done so already.
We
still have ongoing fences to build since all the storms back earlier in the
year. We really have had a busy few months. One thing we have noticed this year
is the price increase on timber! And all the suppliers seemed to put up their
prices early, in February. Lately we have seen a steady increase in calls for
garden maintenance. If things go well, you never know we might have room for
another member in the team!
That's
all for now, thanks very much for reading. If you want to find out more about
us, take a look at our facebook page, we try to keep that up to date with our
latest projects: www.facebook.com/arkgardenservices