Golf Course Maintenance, J.L. Ward Co.
Description:
I found a job maintaining the landscaping (mowing greens, tees, fairways; sprinkler repair; supervision of others) at a local golf course in my hometown of Bend, OR. The owner of the golf course, J.L. Ward, was a very wealthy developer, and paid particular attention (in compensation) to employees who showed good work ethic. I worked there in the summer before all four years of high school, and by my senior year my hourly pay was $11.50, (easily $5 more than most of my friends). Mr. Ward even helped me financially when I moved away to go to college with a scholarship.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
Mr. Ward rarely had to advertise for vacant positions because most of his new employees came through the network of his current employees, (through word-of-mouth). One of my church friends told me about an opening. Once I realized the pay potential at J.L. Ward Co., I tossed out all other notions of working for minimum wage at fast-food restaurants and movie theatres like most of my friends. I knew that the work at the golf course would be more physically demanding than other jobs, but the pay was well worth the sacrifice.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
I often struggled with having to get up very early (around 4:30am) in order to get started mowing the greens and tees before the golf course opened. The tradeoff that I soon realized was that I was done with work around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, allowing me plenty of time off each afternoon and night to play like teenagers love to do.
What I learned:
It pays to get up early and do the job that others think is too hard. Mr. Ward (as I’m sure other wealthy, self-made multi-millionaires do) paid me for an honest days’ work, not based on some preconceived market-norm wage. He also taught me the value of loyalty and thrift. As an additional bonus, I got to play all the free golf I wanted, a sport I still play frequently today.
Landscaper
Description:
Once a week I would visit all my accounts (properties) and mow the lawn, trim bushes as needed, pick up all trash and blow out the car ports. It was a lot of work and involved a lot of planning and care.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
My dad managed the properties, and he was paying a landscape company to take care of the accounts. I offered to do it. It was hard at first because I didn’t have any professional tools, I eventually purchased commercial mowers trimmers and blowers.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
I had too much work to handle by myself all in one day, so I hired a friend for 10 bucks an hour and we accomplished more work doing it together and he was well reimbursed. I also allocated the time evenly to be able to accomplish everything in a reasonable amount of time.
What I learned:
I learned the importance of keeping good records and getting work done before it builds up, and to be responsible for other people’s property.
Landscaping Supervisor
Description:
This job includes landscaping and maintaining grounds of property using equipment and power tools. Different jobs would include mowing, trimming, planting, watering, fertilizing, digging, raking, installing sprinkler systems and sod laying. It also involves supervising and managing other employees and all projects.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
Spencer found this idea from a neighbor down the street and a man in our ward. Brother Larsen has his own business and gave Spencer a few clients and he therefore just built off of those few and found more through advertising. It was nice that Brother Larsen gave him a head start and therefore it gave Spencer more motivation to find more clients.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
A few of the challenges included finding proper equipment, finding good clientele, and hiring a few others to help. Spencer over came these by finding cheap equipment online and Brother Larsen sold some of his old equipment for a very good price. Spencer found more clients through making phone calls, flyers, word of mouth, and friends and family who knew of people that needed landscaping done. He did find two boys to help but one quit after 3 weeks and so Spencer and the other boy had to just work hard and keep up with the work load. They both did make good money though between the two of them.
What I learned:
Spencer learned that work ethic is so important to being successful in this life. He also learned that don’t expect to become successful right away but be patient and continue to work hard. By being dependable and hard working, you will more likely pick up more clients and your business will prosper more readily.
Lawn Care and Yard Work Service
Description:
A couple of my friends had their own lawn care and yard work service (LCYWS) in which they did exactly what their job opportunity entails. They both started at a young age doing lawn care and yard work in their own homes with their families, but as they grew older and became more independent they started expanding their services to their own neighborhoods and eventually to the city. From mowing lawns to cutting small branches off trees, they were able to fulfill a wide variety of services to their customers. Their service especially appealed to those who were older and those who were unable to perform lawn care and yard work on their own. Their LCYWS primarily consisted of the pair working together, but occasionally had help from some friends if they had several appointments or if the job was an extremely large one.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
They got the idea for this service by doing their family’s own lawn care and yard work. They eventually decided that if they could get together, they would be able to earn some extra money and expand their services even more and get things done in half the time because there was the two of them.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
They had an array of different challenges and usually found successful ways to overcome them. One, they had to make sure they had all the necessary equipment to perform the wide range of services they were physically able to do. In order to solve this, they invested in a few pieces of equipment that were most common for a typical job, and in other cases they asked the owner of the property if they had any equipment they could use in case they did not have their own. Another challenge they faced was that of getting themselves from job to job before either of them obtained a driver’s license. There wasn’t much to be done about this problem because both their parents shared the same view of that if they can’t provide transportation, they have to just stick to the area they can without the need for a car. So up until that time they were able to do fewer jobs in a day because they were not able to get from place to place. Another problem was deciding how much to charge each customer because all lawns aren’t exactly the same size and some are flat, or hilled or steep and so they decided to visit each of the sites and give customers an estimate of how much the completed job would be and then they could negotiate a price if the customer objected to the price they proposed.
What I learned:
Their LCYWS is one that is seasonal and from their choice of service they provided, it shows that when you need a little extra money, you could do something that is very simple. There will always be a need for LCYWS because there will always be grass that needs to be cut or branches that need to be taken care of. And plus, it’s a great way to help out the community.
Lawn care service
Description:
My brother is currently eighteen years old. He has been providing lawn care for the past five years of his life. The first three years were in the town where he had lived all his life. So, the neighbors and family friends had watched him grow up and knew he was a great worker. However, after our family moved to a smaller town, he was forced to leave his network of lawn care service behind and start from scratch. He had minimal work when he first moved. But, over time, he was able to get his name around and his workload was increased. He began with just one client. Because of his precociously hard work, his name was passed around. During this past summer he was able to work a full-time job and provide lawn care service on the side for three clients. Along with lawn care, various people around town frequently call him for one-time weekend jobs. With a high school classes and involvement in sports, it is not realistic for him to maintain a full-time position of work. These side jobs are perfect for him. He is learning great things from his employment and bringing in adequate income. His hard work in lawn care has definitely paid off, as it has provided perpetual opportunities for him to earn money.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
The biggest thing that has helped him increase his employment opportunities is his consistent good work ethic and willingness to serve others. When he first moved to his current town, a neighbor needed help cutting some wood. As a free service to his neighbor, the woodcutting may have seemed insignificant at the time. However, it is the root of all of his current opportunities. This neighbor is a prominent member of the town. Thus, she passed his name on to others in need of services.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
The biggest challenge for him was moving to a new location and leaving his network of opportunities behind. He had to start from square one to build his client base. However, with his solid practice of hard work, it did not take long for his name to get around. This attribute of hard work will be an asset to him through out his life.
What I learned:
One thing that he learned is the importance of organization and planning ahead of time. He said, “when I first started out, I didn’t really do things when I said I would. I’ve learned to be on time. That’s another way to get your name around because people see that you really care about your job. One of my bosses told me that if you are early to your job than that shows that you care. So, I try to be five minutes early to all my jobs.” Another way that he has proven success in getting his name around is in being fast and producing quality results. He has also learned “not to get discouraged looking at a big project, but to break it down into small sections; [I] beautify that one section and move on to the next.”
Overall, several great lessons have been instilled in him through his hard work in lawn care service and countless side jobs. His experience as a teen will definitely be the basis of his financial success in the future.
Lawn Care Worker
Description:
In my early teen years, before starting my job at the local hardware store, I mowed lawns. I would also clean up shrubs, or I would do any other yard work that was necessary. It was fairly stress-free and was a great job because I was able to spend time outdoors.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
My dad became in charge of the grounds committee at church, and he needed some “employees.” My brother and I volunteered, as our older siblings already had jobs. We first started simply mowing the church lawn and doing other yard work. My brother and I soon realized that we were making quite a bit of money and it was fairly simple when we’d work together. With our dad as our guide, we decided to set up a lawn mowing business. My dad stayed in charge of all the financial things, and was indeed our “boss.” We came up with the name DAVA Lawn Care (because of the initials of our names) and began to quickly find other places to work.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
We did not really come across many challenges, but there were often some weeks where we would have four or five lawns to mow and yards to clean up. Depending on the size of the yard or the weather, it was sometimes difficult to finish with just my brother and I. To overcome this challenge, we would ask our older sisters to come and help out too. Once we got more “employees” the work went by even more quickly, and we were still making the same amount of money.
What I learned:
Working for our lawn care company for my early teen years (11-15), I learned a lot about work ethic and how to manage my time. There were many times we would have several lawns to mow, so my brother and I would have to sit down and decide which lawns to take care of first so we could finish them all on time. I learned a lot about hard work and although I won’t be a professional lawn-mower for my future career, I learned a great deal with starting work at a young age.
Newspaper mowing
Description:
Through a newspaper route a teen will create relationships with those he sells the paper too. At that point he/she offers their services as a lawn mowing/yard care worker.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
I had a paper route through most of middle school and high school, by the time I got into high school, my mom gave me the idea of offering to mow lawns to people I sold the newspaper too. It was a pretty easy job because my newspaper route was right next door to my parent’s house so I could easily walk my lawnmower to any of the houses I would deliver the newspaper too. Gaining employment as a newspaper carrier is a fairly simple task. Call your local newspaper and ask about any opportunities for newspaper carriers. Usually they are in need of many. You could even call competing newspapers and see who needs one the most and what they are will to do for compensation for a new hire.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
The most difficult aspect of this job was keeping each separate. A lot of times people would ask that it be included as a service of paper delivery, but that is a little illegal to use the newspapers name and logo for ones own purposes. I would go house to house while I was collecting money for the paper route and tell the people on my own time what I wanted to do and I gained customers that way.
What I learned:
This was a really fun project because I liked the manual labor. I learned that to be an effective newspaper carrier one needed to figure out different ways of collecting the money to pay for your papers. The times that you needed to go to catch people while they were at home differed depending on the house and the people who lived there. I also learned that when you use your own lawnmower to mow another lawn, it is a good idea to clean the blades before and after so there is no weed transference either way. I also learned that its easier to just get up in the morning and deliver the paper, rather than laying there and rushing to do it before school because I slept in.