Clint Jones’ founded his lawn service business, A Cut Above, during a six-month unemployment gap. Now, nine years later, the business is obtaining contracts and steadily growing.
“I asked the Lord if he would help us in this business,” Jones said. “He’s always been in the forefront.”
Working full-time in I.T., Jones lawn service business is both profitable and philanthropic. A Cut Above has long term contracts with several businesses, but also has a two-pronged approach to giving back to the community. His business provides donations through work and seeks to give skills and opportunities to workers who would otherwise go without.
Residents might have seen A Cut Above workers mowing lawns at Masonic Lodges, trimming trees at a church or edging at one of the buildings of veterans organizations. Jones said his business has always provided landscaping, tree trimming and other lawn maintenance to organizations and community members in need.
“It depends on the situation of the individual that we are providing services for,” he said. “Sometimes we do give them a break on some of their prices. I do have some people that we provide services for that cannot or are not financially capable of paying us … but it’s on a case-by-case basis.”
Charitable manual labor aside, however, business is growing. Jones is looking to expand, but not just for monetary reasons. He’s in the business of providing physical support, but also providing financial support by hiring more workers and teaching them skills.
“The purpose of this business is to make money, but not just make money, to save people from doing things that they don’t normally do,” Jones said. “And if this is an outreach program that can provide assistance for them, than that’s what we will be.”
As a proponent of “teaching a man to fish instead of only giving fish,” Jones said as long as someone was on the path of doing right and making changes, it was fine by him.
“The bottom line is, as long as you have a positive outlook and a positive outreach, you can have a positive result,” he said.