When I was twelve, my stepfather said if I wanted any money,
I would have to work for it. As he did not give me an allowance for my chores
at home, I started going door-to-door asking for jobs.
One very elderly man sitting on his porch said I could mow
his lawn. “Sir, I have no lawn mower,” I
responded.
“You can use mine,” he said.
“Do you know how to use a lawn mower?”
I said, “No.” “Well, pull that rope and start the engine,”
he replied.
He was basically crippled, so he sat on the porch and yelled
out instructions over the low roar of the gasoline engine until I got the lawn
mower started.
“No, no! Not that
way! What’s the matter? Can’t you go straight?”
He yelled throughout the whole lawn mowing adventure as I cut his front
lawn.
He yelled at me until I got it right. Then he suggested a
business venture. “You won’t get any lawns to mow unless you have a lawn
mower. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you the lawn mower for $100 and you
can pay me back by mowing my lawn every week. You can take the lawn mower and
get more jobs.”
I thought that was a pretty good deal. So, I went next door and asked if I could mow
the lawn. They said yes, and I began my
business career. The next thing I knew,
the old man was standing in the driveway leaning on his cane, yelling out
instructions until I got it right. Then
he followed me to the next yard.
With each lawn my skills improved until I got pretty good
for a young boy.
His wife would set out lemonade, cookies, and a sandwich,
and he would yell at me some more as I mowed his lawn. Since he was training me, he wanted me to do
it perfectly. Sometimes he would follow
me around and inspect all the lawns I mowed to make sure I was doing it right.
Yelling or not, this old man helped me learn a trade and
encouraged me in my young business career. When I was 15, I still had that lawn
mower, plus three professional lawn mowers and thirty people working for
me. I also hired a couple of drivers
since I was too young to have a driver’s license.
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