jason ekstrom '07

What started as a "one kid" lawn-mowing operation in a Hollis, NH neighborhood seven years ago has grown into an award-winning business for business management major Jarl "Jason" Ekstrom of Hollis. Jason, whose dad is a DWC alumnus and an air traffic controller, is a full-time business management student who was awarded an "honorable mention" in the Mississippi Coastal Student Entrepreneur Awards for his business, Ekstrom Lawn Care, LLC. Jason was nominated for the award in his sophomore year by Assistant Professor Mark Harrison. "I learned a lot in Professor Harrison's management class," Jason says, "such as how I can be a stern manager without being overbearing. And how I can motivate my employees." Reza Hoshmand, the business and management chair at Daniel Webster College, noted that "Jason is certainly one of those students who has developed entrepreneurial skills at an early age. He is now honing those skills with the academic preparation he receives at DWC." Jason recalled that he started his one-man, lawn-mowing business in junior high school. "There's not much opportunity to earn money when you're 12 years old," he says, laughing. He charged his neighbors $10 per hour and expanded his business when his mother, Diane, drove him and his gas-powered mower to jobs outside the local neighborhood. Now as president of Ekstrom Lawn Care (www.ekstromlawncare.com, Jason has gone from employing one other person to having two or three full-time employees on his payroll. Also, he has enhanced his array of equipment, utilizing two (bright red) trucks, two enclosed cargo trailers, and two commercial grade standing and sitting mowers, as well as a number of other pieces of equipment to accomplish everything from lawn cleanups, to landscaping, to snowplowing. “Now I price by the job," he says. "It takes a lot of time," says Jason, laughing again as he recalled the challenge he faced as a young teen to be taken seriously as a businessman. Early on, the younger Jason discovered that the paperwork especially was one of the bigger "hassles" in running a business. Dealing with workers compensation, business accounts, and keeping track of billing for a total of 50 commercial and residential accounts required an average of 10 hours per week of his time. To handle the challenge of running a full-time business while also being a full-time student, Jason, who runs his business from his bedroom, relies on assistance from both his mom and his 16 year-old sister, who he's training for bookkeeping and administrative assistant duties. As to where the future will bring this young entrepreneur, Jason says he is not sure. He does know, however, that he will be a business owner.

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