How To Become a Freelance Gardener

If you have a passion for gardening and love being outdoors, you may be considering a career as a freelance gardener. Here are a few things to consider as you begin down this career path which will hopefully help you to become successful.

Build Your Skills

While you don’t need formal qualifications to become a freelance gardener, you will need to have a general knowledge of gardening and the skills required to create and maintain a gorgeous outdoor space. Formal qualifications will also make you appear more credible and professional to potential clients.

You could look to complete a gardening and horticulture course through a local or online college or even pursue an undergraduate degree in Horticultural Science. If this isn’t something you are interested in, there are plenty of shorter courses such as the GardenAdvice Gardening Course which can help teach you the basics. You could also look for volunteering or apprenticeship opportunities with local gardeners in your area.

Focus on Marketing

One key way to ensure that your freelance gardening business is successful is to focus on your marketing strategies. 

For online marketing, social media is a great way to build up an audience and interact with potential clients. Instagram is often used for business advertising due to its free business extras where you can monitor engagement and ensure that you reach as many people as possible. On this platform, you could share before and after pictures of your work in clients’ gardens to showcase your talents.

When it comes to offline marketing, many people often disregard it but it remains a very effective business tool. For small businesses, leaflet marketing can be really powerful, with almost half of customers responding to leaflet adverts. You can put these leaflets through the doors of people in your local area or even leave them in local shops with the permission of the owner to further increase your outreach.

Get The Right Tools

It is important to buy the best quality tools that your budget allows and continually maintain them to ensure that you get the most out of your investment. Some of the key tools that you will need are shears, a trowel and spade, a wheelbarrow and a lawnmower as well as PPE. 

PPE will allow you to keep yourself safe during work, and as you are self-employed, you will not be entitled to the sick pay and absence that corporate jobs allow. As such, your health and safety should be a top priority. This means keeping covered and hydrated during summer to avoid heatstroke as well as wearing head, face, ear and eye protection when necessary. You will also want to invest in some high-quality gloves and steel-toe cap boots. 

The jobs you take will also depend on what equipment you will need. As such, more commercial gardening roles will likely require bigger equipment such as a ride-on lawn mower rather than a push mower, so you should plan for these expenses if you are looking to take on different work. 

Transport

As a freelancer, you will be required to get to and from your clients’ addresses yourself. This means that you will need reliable transport that can fit all of your tools in so you may look to invest in a truck or van to do this. You could also look at getting a car and financing it as a self-employed worker to help with your expenses.