Sacrifice is a strong word and when it comes to actually doing it we tend to turn our tail and run away! It takes a lot of guts to follow your passion and put everything into something you believe in. At SureCan we are no stranger to sacrifice and starting a new business from the ground up as our owner put his own blood sweat and tears into building the best gas can on the market!
In this My SureCan Story, we caught up with Ramona from Mullins Lawn Enforcement to share her story of sacrifice and how her and her husband to following their passion to build an amazing lawn care business!
"I am Ramona Mullins. I started Mullins Lawn Enforcement LLC in 2010. I started this business due to being forced to shut down my before and after-school program when our HOA decided to change the bi-laws. They did not want to allow any business to be ran out of the homes that brought traffic into the neighborhood. Now this left an income gap in our home and sent me into a deep depression, questioning what God had in store for me next.
My husband Wesley was going to deploy soon to Afghanistan. I knew we needed a mower and weed eater to service our own yard. Myself being the business minded being that I was I asked Wesley what he thought about me starting a Lawncare business?! To my surprise he was supportive. Wes being a man that prides himself on providing for his family, I was expecting some resistance. But clearly God had something to do with that.
That day he took me to Home Depot, where we met this kind man named Wolfie. He helped us make the best choice for my next venture! That day we purchased a trailer, a 52-inch Cubcadet and a residential ECHO weed eater that still runs to this day. Before this day I had never operated a zero-turn mower or edged a yard to perfection. We had always paid someone to do it due to Wesley being deployed and me having my hands full with the kids and the business I was running at the time. Wolfie had a hay bale course set up at Home Depot where he taught me how to use the machine. Later that week Wes taught me how to edge our drive way on his way out to the airport. This my friends is how our adventure in the lawn care industry began.
I was raised to be independent by my parents. My mother always worked odd jobs in order to be there for her kids and she instilled that in me. I started this business because at the time I had small children, and with them only being in school part time the lawn care business allowed me the flexibility I needed in a job. Secondly it allowed me to be the mother my children needed at a time in our lives when my husband was deployed. I was always thorn between having a career, being a mother and wife. Starting a lawn care business allowed me to be both. I was able to be my own boss. I was able to make my schedule according to my family’s needs. To me as a mother this is a dream job.
Fast forwarding to the 2016. The reason I have the passion I do for this business is the fact that it has made my biggest dream come true. God only knows the days I cried and prayed for my husband while he was deployed and for him to come home safely. I don’t have to worry any more. Due to this amazing business, my husband was able to quit his successful job as a helicopter mechanic and be reunited with his family.
In order to make this dream happen we had to make a lot of sacrifices and most of all have faith in God. For Wesley to be able to quit his job we had to sell everything and start over. We put the house, the cars, the boat, four wheeler's, everything in the house down to the mattress up for sale. We only kept our camper, work truck, equipment and trailer.
Within months God was placing opportunity after opportunity in front of us. These actions were hard to ignore. First the farm house sold in two days sight unseen. Next we closed on both our homes within 30 days which forced us to move quickly. Now what, right? We chose to move into our camper with our two girls and live simple while we built our clientele list up.
Not expecting for things to move this quickly we had to find a local campground that still allowed our kids to stay in the same school district. After Staying here only for a couple months God led us to a small campground for sale 5 miles up the road. This opportunity allowed our kids to stay in the same school district which was not negotiable for us.
Having sold everything we were able to invest in the campground that also had a work shop which allowed us to take our business to the next level. The shop gave us a place to operate out of. Instead of paying rent we owned it and it was now an investment. Still living in the camper, we also had twelve other sites on this campground that we were able to rent out. This was a huge blessing in helping us with our finances during the winter months which was coming up soon. This was when Wesley stepped away from his career. Talk about faith!!!
Now almost 3 years after placing our path in Gods hands. We have been blessed to have grown our business from part time to a full time family ran business in less than 2 seasons. Networking within our own lawn care community has helped us gain more clients. Becoming members of Chamber of Commerce in our community, and online sites like Instagram helped us connect with other entrepreneurs like SureCan, Green Touch Industries, Wrapdawgz, and Jobber which have been instrumental in our success.
These relationships have helped us bring our business to the next level. We are able to look and work more professionally due to the products that we use and our professional looking trailer that is also a billboard. This journey of making our family whole once again grew a hunger in us to succeed and has led us to working in the lawn care industry as a husband and wife team!!!
To learn more about the Mullins Lawn Enforcement head over to their Instagram page @Mullins_Lawn_Enforcement_LLC
We would love to hear your story about how the SureCan has helped make your life a little bit easier. Each month we will feature a new My SureCan Story, please submit yours by emailing us at Social@SureCanUSA.com and don't forget to include pictures!