Students using snow days to work

Sophomore Henry Frederick started his own business when he was only eight. Although he started small, working in the summer and only mowing one lawn, he now has a lot more on his plate. 

He started with mowing his neighbor’s lawn and gradually picked up business through word of mouth and handmade flyers. “I only mowed one for a couple of years when I moved to another part of town. Then I passed out flyers advertising my lawn services. I then went from one lawn to now having 10,” Frederick said.

For many years Frederick mowed lawns until a couple years ago when he decided to snowblow driveways throughout the winter. Frederick said, “I did this because I wanted to have a source of income in the winter months. Most of the people I had been mowing for also wanted me to remove snow, so I did not have to pass out more flyers.”

His business has grown to the point where he now has 11 driveways that he removes snow from and 10 lawns that he mows in the summer.

Even with a busy school and social life, Frederick is still able to balance work with the rest of his schedule. “It’s hard during mowing season because I have to work right after school and don’t get home till late,” Frederick said.

Although many see the multitude of snow days as a day to stay inside and relax, Frederick sees it as another work day. In fact, snow days benefit his schedule well as it means he has a full day to get all of his jobs done. 

“For snow removal, when we get a lot of snow we don’t have school, so I have plenty of time to get things cleared. I like snow days because I make money, but at the same time it’s a lot of tiring work,” Frederick said.

The money Frederick makes often goes into buying more supplies to join his already hearty load of tools. These include a John Deere snowblower, a trailer and multiple shovels for snow and two lawn mowers, a trailer and trimmer for mowing lawns.

While these tools help to make the job much easier, Frederick said it is still a lot of hard and laborious work. “I work by myself unless I have a lot to do. For example, when we get a lot of snow, I ask my friend Ian Flint to help me for the day.”

Frederick’s hard work pays off with the profits that he makes. He has a system as to how his clients pay him.

First, he gives them a price estimate from how large the lawn or driveway is. Then after he is finished, he gives them the actual price based on how long it took him to finish the job and how hard it was to complete said job.

It does not take Frederick long to complete his tasks as it only takes him anywhere from 30-45 minutes to remove snow or to mow.

Frederick said that he loves running his own business as he gets to “determine his own hours.”

To get in contact with Frederick about the work he does, he can be reached at 21henfre@student.cfschools.org.

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Check out this week’s episode for another feature of two students with their own lawn care, Walker Zey and Jordin Stuber.

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