David:

[0:00] Well, hello, my friends. Today, I'm excited to have with me Joel Wilson from A Plus Lawn Services. Joel has been in business for about 24 years now. God has blessed him with 11 children, and I actually became friends with him over 10 years ago through his brother who I met in college. So it's been a longstanding relationship, and it's been neat seeing him and growing his business, and especially using his kids as workers in his business. So, Joel, welcome to Redeeming Business Podcast Today. I'm glad you're here.

Joel:

[0:36] Thank you, David. Good to be here.

David:

[0:39] Yeah, so one question I'd like to ask the people that come in is, what is one way you believe we can honor God in our business that others may not know about?

Joel:

[0:50] I suppose it's just raising godly children with character building. I don't really see it as them workers. I just kind of developed it because I wanted to build character in my children. and I could be with them more. So I think the fruit of my children is probably the best fruit my wife and I have.

David:

[1:07] Okay. Very good. So you've been doing this for, basically, how did you get into mowing lawns? How did you get into doing that to support your family?

Joel:

[1:17] Well, it goes way back when my dad needed his grass cut. We had two acres of mowing for a little town. That was kind of unusual. I have that much grass to mow. And he gave me a lawn boy, a 22 inch mower and said, go at it. And I was nine or 10 years old. And honestly, there's a lot of factors in why you do what you do. And I guess the biggest one was that, um, I wanted to please my dad. I was born second. So I was really motivated to, um, I guess, prove that I wasn't weak. My brother was stronger, bigger, smarter when I was young. And when you're, when you're that age, you don't see the age factor. And so I just wanted to, as kind of grew up with always wanting to prove myself, which may or may not be good, but that's the way it was uh and so um when he told me to go out and cut the grass i did with the lawn boy and i kept saying to myself there's got to be a better way there's got to be a better way and uh and so things would happen where i said hey they've got this new type of mower or uh anyway i just always enjoyed making my dad happy yeah so that's kind of where it started and went to college did the same thing just enjoyed uh working outside because he was appreciative. My dad was appreciative of it. And I think his being thankful for my work just motivated me to do it and do it better. So that was the start.

David:

[2:43] Okay. So you started off just mowing your dad's lawn and then you went from there mowing other people's lawns, right?

Joel:

[2:49] Right. And when I was in Texas, my principal, he had like 20 yards to mow. And he saw that I liked it so he hired me every now and then to do most of his customers.

David:

[3:00] Very good so yeah been doing that for a long time i i did a mowing for a few years and it was enjoyable going out and uh getting things done it's i like the immediate satisfaction here's tall grass and here's nice neat grass when you're done yeah right right so so what do you do for winter work you can't mow in the winter what you do there?

Joel:

[3:24] Yeah. Because of God's word, I've got the idea, the concept that I'm like a bee, considered a bee, thou sluggard. I tend to be kind of lazy. So I think, hey, I can take a break as long as I save up during the summer. So I just try to work extra hard, extra hours, try to pay my debts off, don't have debt. And that allows me to have money for the winter to get through the winter. And then for actual busyness, I just helped remodel our house because we had a big family. I needed to remodel my house. I always get busy just trying to save money through my own work, doing things myself.

David:

[4:00] Okay. No, that makes sense. Very good. So you have 11 children and you've hired your children down through the years. What are some benefits from hiring your children versus hiring people that you don't know about?

Joel:

[4:15] Yeah, I mentioned earlier character building. That's to have them grow up learning truth and being available to them helped me out a lot. Another benefit would just be that they have their own money. We went ahead and paid them by the hour all the time. So they get a savings account more than most kids because they're starting to make money at 19 years old. And they know how to save it because we teach them how to tithe. We teach them the principles of God's word. And then now they got cars before most people do and they're paid off so that

Joel:

[4:46] would be another benefit of their own money and uh character building so those are two big ones.

David:

[4:52] Sure yes character building and learning how finances are huge and learning how to use your finances well it's not just it's going to help you in many aspects of life very well so did you feel like you've ran into any challenges because you have hired your kids versus hiring somebody else? I mean, like disciplinary issues or encouraging them to work harder. How was that a challenge for you?

Joel:

[5:19] Yeah, I suppose the biggest thing is I did kind of take advantage of their time element. If we had a long job to do, I would just keep them at it or give them a break, but we'd go back at it again i couldn't really i i think i i used him a little too much uh on this clock uh, and i had a few incidences where i put him in danger i didn't realize all the um.

Joel:

[5:46] How do you say it? I wasn't a safety conscious guy. I'll say it that way. I should have been more safety conscious. And because of that, I didn't. They're on my own children, so I didn't have to watch the codes, the OSHA stuff. I was able to bypass a lot of that because of my own children. I suppose that is a benefit. But I wasn't as safe as I should have been. I had an incident, I remember, with my daughter. I was having her load up a trailer. But at the time, I didn't have proper ramps. and I didn't have I used just boards uh and they went up to the trailer and I turned around to do something and she was loading up this big trailer she's like 13 years old and she didn't have a good ramp set up as two boards connected to the trailer and the mower slipped down and put a good gash in her leg and I I heard her scream and I turned around and saw blood and we had to quickly go to the hospital. Thankfully, the hospital was close, but I cringed thinking about my own lack of awareness of their safety. I just took advantage of them, and I shouldn't have been doing some of that. Yeah. Okay.

David:

[6:56] Yep. Sometimes that happens, and yes, God, I've done stupid things in my life

David:

[7:01] before too, and God always seems to override and protect us and take care of us. That's good good so how do you think your relationship with god has had an impact on your business

Joel:

[7:15] Yeah, quite a bit. I wanted to honor God through it. I knew that I was out there in the public on it. So, except for cases where I had to humble myself down and admit these problems, I think it made me better person, made me realize that I'm not, I have to let my walk match my talk. And so I had to be honest. I had to swallow my pride a lot of times.

Joel:

[7:46] It did give me a platform to share the gospel. I've used it many times. I'm so thankful for our country where we have freedoms to use our business or use what we have as a tool to evangelize. And so wherever I'm at, it helped me think of people as a door of opportunity to share the gospel. And when I pray that prayer in Ephesians to look for a door of opportunity, he's always providing it. It's just whether I care or not. Am I up in myself? Am I caring about myself? Or do I care about what God's word says about these open doors? And when I think about that open door around me, it becomes powerful open door when I'm praying it, that I can share the gospel. And it's exciting to have that tool of the business to do that. So, yeah, I love sharing his love. It's a great motive because he gave it to me freely and I need to try to give it to others freely.

David:

[8:50] Very good. Very good use of your time in your business. I like that. I like that.

David:

[8:55] So do you have any interesting stories about your children or about the business that you like to share with us?

Joel:

[9:03] Well, I guess I was thinking of one incident where I wasn't safe, but God turned it all. You know how he can turn something terrible into something good. I was up in a tree trimming because I felt like I needed to do this job. I was going higher than the ladder. I was using ropes. But, um, and I was tied in, but, uh, this branch, I didn't know which way it was going to go. And I, sorry about the noise, the background, uh, highway there, motorcycle, but the bottom line was, I didn't know which way it was going to go, but I took a gamble and cut it anyway. And the, the wind or something happened. And, and all I can remember is, uh, waking up with this chainsaw running, this tree branch She came down and hit me in the head, knocked me out. And I'm tied in and I wake up and this chainsaw is running. And I don't know how long I was there, but I just know that I was saved. I mean, I could it could have been a lot worse. Nobody was hardly I just decided to do this job without anybody around me. And that's not very smart either. But I was just spared. It could have been a lot worse because the chainsaw running could have come down on my arm or something.

Joel:

[10:16] But that caused me to get out of that part of the business. I didn't want to do tree work anymore. And I had a great friend who wanted to get into tree work. And so from that point on, basically, I was always referring people that want to do trees to somebody else. And he actually practiced safety at Pioneer, another factory. His name is Mark Sill, Beaver Dam Tree Service. I just refer people to him. And I feel like it just gives me more time in other areas of my business. So I was just happy to use that as a propelling thing to get out of the tree business myself and try to just stay on the ground, mowing, landscaping, stuff like that. Yeah, it's just one story of how God does something terrible and turns it into something good.

David:

[11:04] Oh, yeah. Yep. God is always there protecting you. You do more than yard work now, don't you? Don't you do landscaping or a few other things?

Joel:

[11:15] Right, right. And because the family grew, and I've got some of our family members that came back and helped me, we've got two mowing crews and one landscape crew. My son, my oldest son, is just getting crazy good at this stuff of using a skid loader, of loading up rock, of cleaning out an area. Just Friday, he got two pavers. He cleaned out the dirt from two areas and then put the stone in the areas all in one day. I wasn't even there. I had to go to a funeral and some other things. So just seeing him do well in the landscaping areas is exciting to see, release it, I don't have time to do everything anymore anyway. So it's kind of, I don't have a choice. It causes me not to micromanage. I just, I got to get out. So yeah, he's, it's more than just, yeah.

David:

[12:08] Very good. Very good. So how can my audience find out more about you? I don't know if they're all, they're not all in the Kosciuszko area, but if they were and they wanted to hire you for a, or learn more about your business, how could they get ahold of you?

Joel:

[12:24] Well, thanks for asking, David. I mainly just use a cell phone like I'm doing now. Text me. My phone number is 574-551-3202. My email gets loaded down too much. Emails don't work too well for me, but if you want to reach me through email,

Joel:

[12:42] just text me or call me and then I'll look for your email but my phone is a great method great.

David:

[12:49] Great way to go okay very good so in in closing then um what is one challenge that you have for us today us who are wanting to uh advance seek god's kingdom through our business what is the challenge you have for us today

Joel:

[13:09] Uh just put god first seek he first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you as well. By getting God first in your life, you love. And when love's not our motivating factor, things go sideways. And he disciplines those he loves. So if you don't put him first and he shows he loves you, you're going to have to reap the consequences of not putting him first. And it just happens, you know. And when we are disciplined, it's a good feeling because you know he cares. So don't begrudge troubles in your business. I guess the challenge is to be happy for problems, be excited for challenges because it makes us better and it perfects us better. So I just challenge you to love, love problems because they guide us and direct our lives.

David:

[13:59] Yes. And that is something different because most of us don't love problems. But that makes sense that God will bring trials and problems if he's disciplining us because we need to love more or do what he says. That's a very good point. Thank you very much. Well, Joel, thank you for giving me some of your precious time this morning, this afternoon. We greatly appreciate it. And friends, that's all for now. So as you go about your day, remember that time has limits. You can't do everything. So choose wisely.