I'm from the pro end - landscape maintenance. To echo what LG said - I'm a one woman show and work out of my house/van with no loans on equipment, vehicles and no payrolling of staff which makes this recession easier to cope with. I also deal with materials on a cash and carry basis and this is how I have my accounts setup with vendors rather then pay later. I drive around in an old green conversion van - I took all the seats out and put load shocks on it a few years ago to accomodate all the equipment and ammendments I tote around (after my pickup truck was totalled by an uninsured driver who did a hit and run). It is mechanically sound with no rust so it looks respectable when I pull up to a client's house. It was cheaper then purchasing an actual cargo van or another pickup truck. Sometimes when I'm driving around I can't help but wonder what the bank note is on some of these large landscape maintenance trucks - just the diesel to run them must be huge. And then because the cab is big you have to justify the cost by filling it up with about 4 - 5 guys. When you have a lot of overhead you have to have the larger jobs or lots of little jobs to survive right now! My business went up about 10 percent last year - but my bread and butter has always been maintenance and garden installations are gravy. We've also always lived very frugally (I can be found quite a bit over on GW's money saving forum - :)) I also try to stay diversified as much as possible - I will do anything from taking care of gravesites to garden coaching, plans for DIYers like gardengal, holiday decorating, winter pruning, general yard maintenance and some hardscaping with natural stone. I have some longterm clients that have been loyal, I get referrels through word of mouth, Angie's List and always keeping a stack of business cards ready to hand to people at trade shows, on jobsites, in conversation. I don't have a website yet - but I'm working on it right now as another marketing tool. I also try to get a feel for what everyone else is charging and be in the middle - it gives me more room to negotiate without cutting my own throat. My biggest competition has been the immigrant mow and go guys - they'll try and undercut me so I try to stay around their price point or just above and stress quality, horticultural knowledge, the English language, and great customer service and reliability. Also when conducting sales calls I carry around a huge portfolio filled with mouth watering progression photos of gardens I've installed, renovated and/or maintained throughout the years. If I can get in the door that's usually what seals the deal - a picture's worth a thousand words which is important because I don't unfortunately do lawns or plow snow which are my two greatest weaknesses compared to the competition.

This is a great thread. I first have to say that I had my husband look at some of this, and I will say upfront that he is totally engaged (he does most of the cooking). But I'm terrible. My family is here and rated me at a 9.5 out of 10 for being a witch the hours before a party. I remember yelling at my daughter because I had just hung up a perfect clean towerl on the hanging ring and went in, they had used it, and wadded it up over the ring. I yelled at them, and still feel bad about it today. Most importantly because I don't want them to think that entertaining is awful and never have a dinner party because they remember it being hell day. I grew up with my mother keeping a horrendous house. It was a mess, and I mean a mess. Counters piled with crap, dishes not done for days, and she didn't care. She was always having friends stop by. Even as a young child, it embarassed me to all heck. I can still remember coming home from babysitting at midnight or so when I was 12 or 13 years old (I started young), and I would clean the kitchen from top to bottom. It would take a couple of hours. I was different than her even back then. When my dad remarried, it was Martha Stewart land. She had to have it spotless. Every Saturday was crack and corner day. We quite literally had to pull the couch out and vacuum under it at least every other week, and we had to bleach the counters. Crazy the other way! So, I can't seem to have anyone over unless my house is totally cleaned! And our parties themselves are quite memorable to everyone who comes. They talk about it afterward for weeks. I do enjoy having wonderful parties but I also wish I could relax about my house. I know its wrapped up in my childhood psyche. I will even make sure the main counters are clean as guests are arriving for a dinner party. And that's while we're using the kitchen! But I'm also so proud of our kitchen and want to show it off. Now one time, we had a Chinese extravaganze where we covered our desk with Chinese ingredients, friends came over at noon and didn't leave until midnight. The men mostly cooked and it was a blast. Every inch of every counter was covered with crap. I remember walking in the kitchen, the dust was flying from someone rolling out potstickers while someone else was frying a whole fish over the wok burner, and someone else was mixing something up. I didn't care what the kitchen looked like that day. I'll never forget that party. I don't know if I'll ever change about the clean house though. It's so engrained in me. Well, my husband is making London Broil so I'm off to the kitchen!! Great stories though. I think we have more in common than we realized.

I just gave up the medication entirely. I was compeltely and utterly stable on one medicaiton-Symbicort (which, by the way, I LOVE!). I'd taken Advair and another inhaler, but was supporting it with Sigulair. Only 20% of the population has good success with Singulair, which it worked for me, but little did I know it was truly the cause of my two problems. Which brings me to my next thought... "allergist said it could cause those problems in high doses, but only once you are above 480 mcg or higher per day." That's all fine and good if you're "typical", but if your genetic makeup means you metabolize it at different rate (high metabolizer) you could be getting a dose that is not right for your body makeup. They could be very wrong. But only genetic testing could quantify that. Ask them if it makes sense to try something else or a lower dose for a week or two. My docs will let me do that. It's how we found out I only needed one med even though I'd been on two for years. I wanted to get off of it all. One is the least I can get by with though. Here is a link that might be useful: Short and incomplete description of high metabolizer

I wish I could give you some feedback, but I've never heard of them. Carla mentioned infrared products above; maybe she's heard some comment. I will say I didn't think much of their "Customer Message." A splint and surgery for Raynauds?? Makes no sense. Sounds like this person had carpal tunnel instead. Also, I question part of their claim: Far infrared rays gently penetrate the soft tissues of your hands and begin a number of therapeutic processes that lead to the rejuvenation of tiny capillaries, blood vessels, and nerves. This process helps to prevent and reverse the damaging effects of repetitive Raynauds attacks. I may be wrong, but I don't think the nerves get damaged. If they did, I wouldn't be in such acute pain every winter. It's tissue (and nails in their infancy) that gets damaged. In Raynaud's Syndrome, the capillaries shut down at a certain temperature. This temp can vary from person to person. I don't understand the "rejuvenation" they're talking about. Sounds like a snake-oil sales pitch to me, but again, I'm not an expert, even though dealing with the condition is a major issue for me. Dr. Andrew Weil recommmends 100mg of niacin twice a day for Raynaud's, and also 120 to 240mg of ginkgo. I've taken both, but rather randomly. I'll try a more regular dose next year--although today is ridiculously cold and windy. And rainy!