Welcome back! I am very excited to introduce to you my second blog post. In this post, I will be discussing my story as a small business owner. As I mentioned in my first blog post, I graduated from Lake High School in the spring of 2021. I always had the passion for doing yardwork around my house, as well as other family members houses. Let me paint you a picture. One day in February, during an indoor tennis practice, my good friend Adam Burkett approached me and asked “Hey Aaron, are you still doing landscaping this summer?” I replied “Yes, I will be mowing a few yards to save up some money for college.” After practice, we talked about starting a landscaping company together, as a partnership. I then went home and immediately opened my laptop and began researching. In the landscaping business world, start-up costs are quite high, compared to other industries. As a high school student, I did not have thousands of dollars to buy all of the equipment needed to start this business. One evening, I pitched the idea to my parents over dinner, and they were on board. It was a great opportunity for me and my friend. My dad had recently bought a truck for personal use. He offered to let me use his truck to get this business going. So we had a truck, we still needed a mower, and a trailer. Luckily, my parents allowed me to use our mower that we used at home. This mower was a “sit down” John Deer garden tractor. All we needed next was a trailer. We took our first “risk”. After doing some research, we decided to buy a $1,000 5x8 utility trailer from Lowes. Lastly, we needed some hand tools to perform landscaping work. So, we headed back to Lowes and bought a plethora of hand tools to begin our fleet of equipment. In less than a week, we had a truck, trailer, mower, and hand tools. We were all set. Next up, we needed customers. Following the purchasing of the equipment, we crafted up a small flier and posted it on Facebook. Clients started flowing in, mostly friends and family members. We had started our business. Still nameless, my mom and I worked diligently to come up with a business name. Pristine Green Lawn and Landscape. Following the formation of our name, we filed our LLC and registered for insurance to cover our business. Pristine Green was underway, and we are now business owners at the age of 18.

            What’s Next? Pristine Green was BOOMING with business, and we began to hire a few of our friends, and started to form a few crews. This growth and innovation continued for three great years, until May of 2023. Adam and I sat down and had a conversation. We mutually agreed to begin the process of parting ways. Once again, it was mutual. Adam was not attending college, while I was which created some conflict. Also, we started to see that we had different philosophies of conducting business. Upon agreement, Adam bought me out of Pristine Green. I then started planning for my new adventure.

            On September 28, 2024, the buyout finally was closed, and I began my new landscaping company, Martin’s Lawn and Landscape LLC. I was very excited to own my own company and make every decision with my own knowledge! So you might be wondering, what does my company look like today? My company is very small right now, an example of a classic small business. I am the sole operator. I currently have everything that I need to get started again. I have a truck, trailer, mower, push mower, weed whackers, backpack blowers, and various landscaping hand tools. Since September, I have been constantly planning and marketing to build up my clientele again. Right now, I am all set for the “Spring-Rush” to start. Mowing routes have been established, and landscaping estimates are being accepted and scheduled! I am anticipating tremendous growth within the next three months. This is a dream come true of mine, its time to put it into reality! Thank you for reading. Until next post.