Student operates business for extra funds
Business major Jason Bowen owns Sabre Services, a lawn care and landscaping company
Nikki Wilson
Issue date: 11/8/06 Section: Lifestyles
- Page 1 of 1
With the price of college supplies and life's little essentials on the rise, students are looking for new ways to keep more money in their wallets.
Jason Bowen, a junior business major, works weekends at Sonic Drive-In but his real spending money comes from Sabre Services L.L.C., a landscaping and lawn care business that is owned and operated by the 19-year-old Winthrop student.
"I started doing it when I was eight years old and I was just mowing lawns," Bowen said. "I talked to my dad and he told me a lot of money could be made with lawn care so I decided to try it out as a business."
Sabre Services was started last summer and offers any service that deals with the upkeep of landscaping. The name Sabre was picked by Bowen because it is his middle name.
Bowen has been working outside with lawn care since he was a child. After helping his parents in the yard, he has worked with other landscaping businesses part time to earn extra money and to help out the other businesses. After learning the essentials and different tools needed to operate his own business, Bowen decided to look into starting his own company and registering it with the state.
"I filled out all the paperwork for South Carolina and now I'm working on North Carolina," Bowen said. "I'll be registered in both states and although it costs more to do that, I'm hoping it will pay off."
The business received funding when Bowen's Mitsubishi Eclipse was totaled after getting hit by a York high school student. Instead of putting the money from the insurance company into a new Eclipse, Bowen bought lawn care supplies and a pre-owned truck that he uses to operate his business. His truck now has the company name and number presented across two windows.
"I used the money from my totaled car to buy little things for the business," Bowen said. "I ended up needing more supplies so I took all the money I had and put it into starting my own business. I put in about $3,000 and still needed more so I borrowed the rest of the money and started my company."
Between classes, working at Sonic and operating a business, Bowen doesn't have a lot of spare time for extra activities but said it is not as bad as people imagine because owning your own business allows you to set your own hours.
"I get to set my schedule so it works pretty well for me," Bowen said. "The weekends are busy because I'll do landscaping from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. then have to be at Sonic by five. I get really tired so I try to have set days to work on landscaping."
Sabre Services has open hours and can operate early or late. Bowen attempts to set all the work on weekends, Fridays and Mondays. The rest of the week is dedicated to classes and any free time that might be left over.
"I do any lawn care whether it's commercial or residential," Bowen said. "It involves mowing, planting, gardening and basically anything you can think of that has to do with grass."
Jason Bowen, a junior business major, works weekends at Sonic Drive-In but his real spending money comes from Sabre Services L.L.C., a landscaping and lawn care business that is owned and operated by the 19-year-old Winthrop student.
"I started doing it when I was eight years old and I was just mowing lawns," Bowen said. "I talked to my dad and he told me a lot of money could be made with lawn care so I decided to try it out as a business."
Sabre Services was started last summer and offers any service that deals with the upkeep of landscaping. The name Sabre was picked by Bowen because it is his middle name.
Bowen has been working outside with lawn care since he was a child. After helping his parents in the yard, he has worked with other landscaping businesses part time to earn extra money and to help out the other businesses. After learning the essentials and different tools needed to operate his own business, Bowen decided to look into starting his own company and registering it with the state.
"I filled out all the paperwork for South Carolina and now I'm working on North Carolina," Bowen said. "I'll be registered in both states and although it costs more to do that, I'm hoping it will pay off."
The business received funding when Bowen's Mitsubishi Eclipse was totaled after getting hit by a York high school student. Instead of putting the money from the insurance company into a new Eclipse, Bowen bought lawn care supplies and a pre-owned truck that he uses to operate his business. His truck now has the company name and number presented across two windows.
"I used the money from my totaled car to buy little things for the business," Bowen said. "I ended up needing more supplies so I took all the money I had and put it into starting my own business. I put in about $3,000 and still needed more so I borrowed the rest of the money and started my company."
Between classes, working at Sonic and operating a business, Bowen doesn't have a lot of spare time for extra activities but said it is not as bad as people imagine because owning your own business allows you to set your own hours.
"I get to set my schedule so it works pretty well for me," Bowen said. "The weekends are busy because I'll do landscaping from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. then have to be at Sonic by five. I get really tired so I try to have set days to work on landscaping."
Sabre Services has open hours and can operate early or late. Bowen attempts to set all the work on weekends, Fridays and Mondays. The rest of the week is dedicated to classes and any free time that might be left over.
"I do any lawn care whether it's commercial or residential," Bowen said. "It involves mowing, planting, gardening and basically anything you can think of that has to do with grass."
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