When Anderson Goldmon started mowing lawns full-time in 2000, he had one goal in mind. The prison job he left was paying $35,000 annually and he was bringing home $28,000 mowing lawns part-time. Within the next year, he wanted to make as much money mowing lawns as he had been making in his job. His goal, then, was a modest $7,000 increase in sales.

Tom and Lori Couture started mowing lawns in a rather unusual way. After selling their 27-year-old commercial printing company, they purchased 40 mowing accounts on Craigslist. That was five years ago. Now, Pine Ridge Property Services in Naples, Florida maintains only a handful of those original properties. Yet its sales have grown, as has the owners’ knowledge of what it takes to be successful in the industry.

Kory Knutz owns Valley Green Landscape Maintenance LLC in McMinnville, Oregon. He has been mowing with Walker Mowers for over 20 years and he still owns his original 1995 and 1997 Model T’s, each with over 3000 hours on them.

Frank Granata has uncovered a niche in Glendale, Arizona. That niche is apartments, 33 of them to be exact, ranging in size from 200 to 700 units. Five crews provide the weekly maintenance, two offer installation and enhancement services, and yet another tends to palms and other trees. Greenscapes also fertilizes its properties five times a year and installs and maintains irrigation systems, the lifeblood for desert Southwest properties.

Brad Dieken drives truck during the day, something he’s been doing for 34 years. His wife, Tammy, has been an assistant school librarian for more than a decade. They have two sons. The oldest, Wayne, works construction. Eric is a full-time student at Illinois State University in nearby Normal, Illinois. For the busy family, time is a premium. So they mow after work, on weekends and during holidays.

Four days a week, B.J. Godfrey repairs equipment for an area landscape contractor. Then on Friday, Saturday and Sunday he operates his own equipment, maintaining 23 properties in and around Acworth, Georgia. In between, he plays drums for three bands. Busy, you say? Absolutely. And in all three cases—repairing equipment, making music and mowing lawns—he’s doing something he loves.