Which way you should go no one can predict because there are too many variables and no decent formula to apply to them. It seems like a person can make decent or good money doing about anything, no matter how strange, if they position themselves into the top echelon and become an expert in their field. As a worker for anyone else, you will not make good money ... but you can gain experience that leads to it. Pursue what appeals to you most. Today you can't see what doors will appear or know which ones you should open. Later, as you gain experience, you'll be better informed and more confident about it.

I knew right away when I got into this industry I wasn't going to make money, and I thought I made that clear. I'm not looking to make bank, I'm just looking to make a reasonable living, which I consider to be around $30-40k annually. I knew being a small farmer wouldn't get me money which is why I changed my mind, and I know groundskeepers make minimum salary, but they typically get good benefits which I consider part of a good living. All in all, I'm not looking to ever drive a Benz, I just want enough money to raise a family

As I mentioned in your other posting, what you put into a career in horticulture will have a direct bearing on what you get out of it. Yes, you can make a "decent" living doing landscape design. It's been my primary income source for the last 20 or so years as a second career outside the corporate field. I have enough work that I am sometimes forced to turn down work or refer off to another designer. I would not say I am the most talented or accomplished designer to come down the pike but the work is a passion, as are the plants (so much an essential part of the deal) and that sort of passion is not hard for prospective clients to read and appreciate. I dare say it becomes almost infectious :-)) I give the clients what they ask for and my best advice and so far we all come away from the deal satisfied and happy

There is a benefit to doing something you love that easily exceeds any material aspects. You awake each day with a sense of urgency and a desire to get started. With this kind of motivation, it is pretty darn easy to put in the effort necessary to reap the appropriate economic benefits as well. The ability to sell will come with the passion for the job - the two go hand and hand.

If this is really what you want to do, go for it. And don't be dissuaded by those who may decry the lack of respect and suitable financial compensation the career may exhibit. Get out there and get established and then charge what you feel your skills and time are worth..........you'll be making a good living :-))

raise a family on 30 to 40 K?????

you might want to research that out.. before you decide on a career .... and to be sure... if you live where your clients will be ... lets say within driving distance ... you might need a lot more money than that for cost of living .... in other words ... a good market will be a large metro area ... where teh cost of living will be much higher than living out in BFE ... where it might be cheaper... but there wont be any clients ....

the biggest problem i see is that the peeps with the money to blow on landscaping... are building bigger and bigger homes.. on smaller and smaller lots... what i call McMansions on a postage stamp ...

since both work to sustain the mc mansion... they dont garden ... and dont really care .. and that is the key ...

nurseries are going out of business all around me .... and if they cant make a living.. i really dont know how the landscapers.. keep finding peeps to do a landscape ... sooner or later.. that well is going to run dry ...

i do wish you luck... they say you will make the most money.. doing something you love ... so go for it if you thinks its your love...

but do plan on a summer job in that trade... to get a hands on feel for it.. if you can find such a job ...

i wish you luck with your future...

ken

you will need a lot of hardware for this career.. trucks.. tools.. employees... machines.. etc ...

so you will be needing to haul in earnigns at least ten fold what you were mentioning ....

or if you think it will be all desk work.. then a master degree at a min ...

i am so glad for you.. that you are thinking this thru.. IN ADVANCE ...

ken

Saw this in the recent threads widgets.
I know a couple landscapers/landscape designers in the upscale suburbs of DC who make well into the six figures. They live very, very comfortably. Of course, they are probably the high end of what's typical.
Big picture here is these are essentially sales/marketing careers, when you get to that level. Both were (haven't seen them in years, but have heard about their continued financial success) very good looking, attractive, charming men. Yes, bored trophy wives of lobbyists probably ate them up and that's part of their success.
If you have schmoozy personality, sounds like you're in an area where you could do fairly well, too. But remember, you're selling youself, you're not being an artist. You have to be what they want you to be. This is one reason I realized I could never do well in the field. I'd sit in the office of one of these landscapers where I briefly worked and hear him have to obsequiously sweet talk a pesky client who was annoying by a pile of mulch being in their field of view for 4 hours too long or somesuch nonsense. And...most of them want their "design" to look like that of every other local McMansion, even if it's completely tasteless.

BTW I don't want to give you false hopes. Not at all. A LOT of landscapers probably failed during the housing bust. It's just that money seems important to you, so I thought I'd present a "best case scenario" or nearly so.

Couple more things...
don't get me wrong, I know they busted their a-ses early on to build their businesses. I'm sure they did plenty of hard physical work. Both had fairly big lawn cutting businesses by the time they left _high school_. In fact it's funny they end up as marketing jobs because other sales/marketing jobs are in my rather informed opinion some of the easiest to make big money _without_ a lot of hard work or a vast educational background. People who can sell, can sell. These guys might have made even more, and without any sore backs, if they'd gone into selling retirement plans, investments, or whatever. But at least the one I worked for said he had to do something outside. Not a sit at a desk type...in fact that's why I briefly ran his office.

Also, demographics change. The exodus to the suburbs as a trend starting in the 50s has stopped and might even be reversing. It's possible the very rich of 25-30 years from now will not care as much about living in a bunch of over landscaped fake mansions that cost a fortune to heat & cool in the suburbs. Possible...but nobody knows for sure. It's just a speculative thing to be aware of. The landscapers I mentioned surely benefitted from the biggest RE boom in history, and something like that may never happen again. Also, the DC market is pretty exceptional...lots of new housing stock and lots of people hopping from house to house and wanting to leave their stamp. I notice in the Philly 'burbs the nice big houses are overall older so there's possibly less need for design, more for mere maintenance.

I said this a few times, but again, money isn't the most important thing, it's making a modest living off of stuff I enjoy. With the reference to $30-40k making a decent living, that's also referring to having a wife that works too, and makes in say the salary range of $25k. Something I also considered is getting a steady job (which probably won't pay well) and build up a landscape design business on the side. Like someone said, I don't want to die to live, as in do work I don't enjoy

Things I'm primarily looking for is one if it's realistic,- yes.
if there's decent money,- yes.
steady employment,- yes.
and how stiff competition is.-very, and that is the best part because it drives your creativity and potential.

Be driven, be passionate , be bright, be creative and you can achieve success.

Well said D-D.
As an example of the demographic trending I talked about: I know a DISK, 2 graduate-degree (DISK-DGD?) couple in the western burbs of DC. (double income, single kid). Together I'd guess they've been making roughly 200-250k for almost 10 years. They started in a townhouse in the mid 90s, moved to a single family home, then wanted something smaller so they moved to a duplex in Ashburn, and finally when their daughter went to college they wanted to downsize, so now they are in a townhouse-style condo in Reston. He told me he was overjoyed not to have anything outside to take care of anymore. They travel a lot and have slightly different priorities than the typical white-collar resident of northern Virginia, but the point is they didn't want to be ensconced in a McMansion somewhere with 1/2 acre, even though they could certainly afford to be if that's what they wanted. OTOH I've also read media reports that "the death of the McMansion has been greatly exaggerated" - so who knows.