Associate Editor
MADISON
With lots of elbow grease and enterprise, a Brodhead FFA member took one summer’s boredom and turned it into a successful business endeavor. For his enterprising efforts Tanner Strunz was honored this week as one of two Young Entrepreneurs of the Year.
“I’m really excited,” the high school junior said in a telephone interview this week. “It’s enjoyable knowing you’re being recognized as the best in the state.”
Also honored was Caleb Taplin, an Ellsworth High School senior, who is involved in the design of a line of clothing and in operating Clarity Clothing. The two young men were invited to the governor’s conference room Wednesday for a webcast to talk about their projects.
The program to honor young entrepreneurs is in its third year and was created by the Department of Commerce and the Department of Public Instruction. The state agencies timed the honor to coincide with National Entrepreneurship Week USA, Feb. 21-28, which also happens to be National FFA Week.
“I am delighted to announce the winners of this honor,” said Commerce Secretary Richard J. Leinenkugel. “Caleb and Tanner are both great examples of Wisconsin’s best and brightest young entrepreneurial spirit. Wisconsin’s economic future depends on the discipline and desire that these young entrepreneurs possess.”
The two successful entrepreneurs were chosen, said state Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster, for outstanding use of “21st-century skills like self-direction, financial literacy, communication and creativity.” She congratulated them for “developing abilities that will continue to contribute to their own well-being and that of our society, for years to come.”
Strunz, who is now a 17-year-old owner of his own business, was a bored kid in the summer of 2006. “My uncle asked me if I’d like to mow his lawn to make some money. I used a push mower and made a little cash and I liked it.”
By the next summer, he had six yards to mow and decided to add snow removal for all of those clients. Last year he took steps to grow his business. “I decided I needed to get my name out there. Dad said he sees other lawn care businesses with sweatshirts and T-shirts, so I had some of those made and got business cards and did some advertising,” he said.
His clientele more than doubled and he added some commercial clients, including a local bank and car dealership with 2 acres in need of snow clearing. He also added several clients over the state line into Illinois. One of those homes is in a gated community where he’s meeting with management and may add five to eight yards to his to-do list.
Tanner said he’s done most of the work himself to this point, just hiring a few friends to help out when he wanted a vacation. But with the work he’s lined up for next year, he plans on taking on an employee, one of his best friends who has done some work with him in the past.
When he started Strunz Lawn Care, he drove to his clients’ homes on the lawn tractor, towing his push mower on a small custom trailer, since he didn’t have his driver’s license. Now he can drive his pickup truck and tow the new lawn tractor he purchased.
As an FFA member, Tanner served as president of his middle school chapter. He has used his lawn care business to win a turfgrass management award and earned a silver rating and a Star in Agribusiness award from his local chapter.
His FFA advisor, Jillian Beaty, nominated him for this entrepreneurship award, sending in a rèsumè of his accomplishments. From all the rèsumès received statewide, five candidates were chosen and interviewed. That’s when Strunz and Taplin were chosen.
They will each receive a recognition plaque signed by Gov. Jim Doyle, as well as a free business counseling session through a Wisconsin Small Business Development Center near them, and an opportunity to receive business mentorship.
Tanner, who was featured in a story on a Madison television station this week, said he took orders for dozens of his T-shirts and sweatshirts at school after the feature aired. The honor is making him a bit of a local celebrity in Brodhead.
In addition to doing snow removal and grass cutting, Tanner has done tree removal for some of his clients, enlisting friends to help cut and remove firewood.
After high school he hopes to earn a “green” degree at a small college or perhaps attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Farm and Industry Short Course.
Since getting his business up and growing, Tanner said he has helped sponsor the Food for America program, which brings elementary schoolchildren to farms and helps them learn about where food comes from. He has been an enthusiastic supporter of that program as an FFA member and as a small-business owner.
.JPG)
