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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mowing down his expenses


Joe Myers, 13, mows his front lawn on Broadway in Spokane Valley. 
 (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)

Joe Myers is outgrowing his mother’s wallet almost as fast as the lanky 13-year-old outgrows shoes.

His wants are as endless as his needs, which is why Nancy Myers led her son out to the garage three weeks ago for an introduction to the oldest cash machine known to parenting – a red 4-horsepower push lawn mower.

Now, handbills are plastered in every car lot and grocery store within pedaling distance on the teenager’s mountain bike.

The sales pitch goes something like this:

“Hello, my name is Joe Myers. I’m a 13-year-old kid looking to make some money. I do yardwork at a low cost. My parents say that it will make me responsible. …”

How does that saying go? “Be careful what you ask for”?

Adults reminiscing about their first turns at the blade mostly remember the money they made. Any sting from the experience is washed over by near-patriotic sentiments about hard work. But the reality of the situation is a little different.

That first lawn-mowing job, standing alone in a customer’s back yard while your friends pedal off to the boulders of the Spokane River, can be tough. It involves doing a job, unsupervised, to the very end, maybe for the first time. The lawns aren’t always of Better Homes and Gardens caliber.

Joe Myers hasn’t had many hits yet, but the ones the shortstop for the Spokane Youth Sports Association’s Silver Backs has had have been grueling. He just finished trimming a sprawling yard on the South Hill where the grass was chest-high, too tall for the family mower, too much work for Joe to turn a profit according to his established large-lot price of $25 a job. (He gets $15 for a small lot.)

Three days after setting foot on the South Hill, the Centennial Middle School eighth-grader was still up there, watching his profits dip below $1 an hour while he painted a patio, a task that had been added onto the job without a change order. When the young entrepreneur announced the deck would cost extra, Joe’s customer postponed the rest of the project.

Of course, Joe Myers still has his own yard to mow, too. As he puts it, “Dad says we have to take care of our own yard before we take care of other people’s yards.”

The young Myers also has a gig pruning a large rose bush and another mowing a neighbor’s lawn.

What he’s learning, according to his father, Roy, is the challenge of self-employment, of not knowing where your paycheck will come from two jobs down the road.

Roy Myers is a self-employed house painter. His business, JMB Painting, is named after his three boys, Joe, Matt and Brandon. Earning bread for this blue-collar family from west Spokane Valley is an endless job.

Roy Myers empathizes with his son’s efforts to chase down work.

“I think it’s pretty much his idea. He got on the computer and designed a flier and put them up himself with no parental pressure,” Roy said. “I think that’s pretty cool.”

Nancy Myers knew her oldest son was doing well at his job when he came home a week ago and offered to buy pizza for his little brothers. He’ll buy his shoes and school clothes this fall. If there’s a “cool” inflationary factor to what Joe wants compared with what his parents are willing to spend, he’ll be chipping in.

“It gets me what I want,” Joe said. “I can’t complain.”