TACOMA — Just a month after striking out on his own to start his new landscaping business, Andy Aydelott figured he must have made a mistake.
He was trying to push a mower through thick, rain-soaked grass on his neighbor’s lawn. He’d underbid the job, and the rain was showing no signs of letting up as the lawn mower choked again and again on the long grass.
"I remember looking up at the sky, and thinking ‘What have I got myself into?’ " said Aydelott, owner of Pristine Landscaping Inc.
Aydelott, who had been pulling down close to six figures in the computer sales industry, almost quit then and returned to his old career.
Instead, he pushed through the job and continued to build his Puyallup-based business, which now has contracts for grounds maintenance with 54 King County and South Sound churches.
While watching his workers trim up an unruly hedge at a Tacoma church recently, Aydelott recalled feeling so much stress from his former job that he was afraid he’d be in a road rage story soon if he didn’t change careers.
In addition, he said he missed being with his children when he was away on business trips, and the high pay just wasn’t motivating him anymore.
He tried starting his own computer consulting business, but that didn’t work out. Finally, he found out a friend had started his own lawn service business.
"I was talking about buying into a business, and he said, ‘Why don’t you start your own?’ " Aydelott said.
So he used some of his savings to buy the basic equipment and a truck, and started his business in Kent. He later transferred the business to Puyallup when he moved south last year.
He trained himself in the profession, using an innate ability to figure out how to fix things. His knowledge of cars and trucks came in handy when one of the four vehicles in his fleet needed repair.
Aydelott has managed to expand his business by managing to find a niche market in the church accounts and promising a quality work environment for his staff.
Now, Aydelott said, he can arrange his schedule around his kids’ activities "without worrying about whether the boss is going to fire me or not."
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