A Salina teen is living proof that hard work can pay off. Alex Disberger started a small lawn service mowing in the summer when he was 14-years-old. He is now enjoying the fruits of his labor, as his lawn care business is booming as he is now in his first semester of college.

Disberger started ARD MOWING, LLC when he was in the summer of of his  7th-grade year, heading into his 8th-grade year. He tells KSAL News he  started out by getting the commercial contract for the neighborhood he lived in, and mastering the art of mowing over that summer.

The following summer Disberger expanded to Craig’s List and quickly added five residential lawns throughout Salina. He learned how to drive a truck and trailer, and got a farmers permit driver’s license. He went alone to his 5 lawns and mowed them weekly.

The next summer, Disberger created a Google listing, got reviews from customers the summer before, and gained ten new lawns instantly. He also decided to diversify his abilities into tree trimming. He started with smaller tree jobs and eventually began removing full-size trees just from doing in-depth research and practicing on smaller trees.

In the summer of his junior year of high school Disberger expanded to nearly 50 customers, and was employing two people. In his senior year summer, he took a risk and bought out another local lawn care company and doubled his clients and equipment.

Disberger’s lawn service has grown to over 120 customers and employs several full-time people. He is is fully insured and has expanded his business to service commercial and residential, performing a series of jobs that range from cutting the grass, trimming and removing trees,  and installing sod.

Disberger says he has learned so much and has loved doing this. For the short term, he will be overseeing his business and his college studies at the same time. He is attending Kansas State University, majoring in finance and minoring in computer science.