Grant Osborne has run his Jim's Mowing franchise for 27 years. He turns over more than $500k a year with himself and one staff member. In this episode he explains why going out on your own is harder than most people expect.

Grant works the Hunter region, the mining capital of Australia, where he has broken into commercial and industrial contracts long held by large national firms. He shares how Jim's franchisees band together to win schools and big sites, why brand recognition beats a better mower, and how the network generates around 1.1 million new leads a year with roughly 200,000 going unserviced.

He covers the full-package mindset, his move to battery equipment, Jim's Life Coaching, and the real cost of running a mowing round. If you are weighing up a lawn mowing franchise in Australia against going solo, this is a candid look at what 27 years teaches you.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Why one solo operator admitted it was not so easy on the other side
How Grant turns over $500k a year with one staff member
The way Jim's franchisees win jobs big companies claim they cannot cover
Why chasing cheap leads on community Facebook pages is a losing game
What the switch to battery gear cost him and why he made it
How the full-package mindset earns more from every single customer

CHAPTERS
0:00 Why going solo is harder than it looks
1:11 Meet Grant Osborne, 27 years in
1:31 Breaking into commercial and industrial
3:08 New compliance demands on big jobs
4:26 Lone-worker safety and real incidents
5:25 Strength in numbers wins big contracts
7:21 Owner pride beats big-company crews
8:36 Custom van and trailer setups
11:11 Why mowing only leaves money behind
13:02 Gear to speed up lead response
14:06 Life coaching and extreme ownership
16:15 200,000 unserviced leads and brand power
18:08 Longevity: work smarter, protect yourself
24:40 The real cost of running the business
26:19 Going fully battery: the $30k switch
29:20 Solo vs franchise: the marketing reality
33:47 Using the Jim Penman name to win work
44:08 Insurance, duty of care and skin safety
46:40 New turf products worth knowing
53:00 Buy from a dealer, not a big box store

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Jim’s Group is Australia and New Zealand’s largest home services brand with over 580 divisions. Our franchisees complete 5 million+ jobs every year.

Here’s what you’ll find here:

Straight advice from Jim Penman on business and franchising

Franchisee success stories and behind-the-scenes insight

Practical how-to guides for home and business services

We’re also recruiting. In 2024 alone, 245,000+ leads went un-serviced. If you want guaranteed work, full training, and the backing of Jim’s, we’d love to hear from you.

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