Summer jobs usually involve working at the local ice cream shop or taking lifeguarding shifts at the community pool, but for some young Downers Grove entrepreneurs, their summers are filled with mowing lawns and hacking weeds. Seniors Will Barnett and Emmett Grisenthwaite have been running a lawn care business since 2019, and seniors Jimmy Janicki and Quin Matune have been growing their business for the past two years.
“We wanted a way to make money without having to work regular, generic jobs,” Grisenthwaite said. “I was 13 and he was 14, so we couldn’t get normal jobs, especially since we both didn’t have work permits.”
Barnett and Grisenthwaite have expanded their business into surrounding communities such as Woodridge, Westmont, Lisle, and Oakbrook.
“In the beginning, we just had my brother driving us around because we didn’t have licenses and we didn’t really have a set plan,” Barnett said. “It was a lot of one-time jobs, whereas nowadays we have repeating and returning clients.”
Barnett and Grisenthwaite’s company doesn’t just stop at mowing, they also provide weeding, watering, and clean up services. With the amount of business they have, balancing school and work can become difficult.
“At the end of the year, our schedule is to get out of school, have an hour and a half tennis practice, and then mow lawns until 7:30 p.m.,” Grisenthwaite said.
Janicki and Matune have grown their enterprise similarly. Their company started small two years ago, but it has since turned into a reliable job.
“Quin and I have been friends since elementary school and we have always liked working outside,” Janicki said. “We wanted a job that we could do weekly and make good money doing.”
Janicki and Matune run their services year-round, but they mention that, for them, the hours are manageable.
“Let’s say we have around six lawns to do, that takes us around three hours in total. All we have to do is find three hours out of our day to work,” Matune said.
Though the hours are flexible, the job itself is hard work. Both duos sighted significant fatigue, bruises, and cuts after a long mowing shift.
“I have gotten a ton of cuts and scars because it is hard work that you have to get dirty and make sacrifices for. I love that kind of stuff though, it’s what I signed up for,” Janicki said.
The most significant mowing-related injury was by one of Grisenthwaite and Barnett’s ‘sub’, senior Jesse Justice. He was filling in while Barnett was on vacation for one of their regular clients.
“He tried to clean the shoot of the mower with his bare hand. He sliced off the tip of his finger and had to go to the emergency room,” Grisenthwaite said.
Even with these injuries, Grisenthwaite, Barnett, Janicki, and Matune enjoy the job and wouldn’t change it for another. If you would like to reach out to either duos for their services, reach out to them on Facebook at Will and Emmett’s Lawn Care or J&Q Mowing.
