Entrepreneurs spend years trying to find the right career mentor, but for 23-year-old landscaping business owner Dylan Shoup, the perfect candidate couldn’t have been closer to home.
Shoup’s grandfather and role model was an entrepreneur in his own right; he dropped out of college to launch a construction company and spent any “off” time caring for his 22 acres of land — and he brought Shoup along with him. Instead of TV and video games, a young Shoup spent his time learning about tractors and heavy equipment. “At eight years old, I was using a chainsaw,” Shoup recalled.
While he did earn an allowance helping his grandfather on the property, Shoup’s landscaping business didn’t officially take off until college at the University of Cincinnati. His grandfather, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, could no longer manage the 22 acres by himself. Shoup swooped in to help.
“Our motto is, 'Honest work for a greater purpose,' but it’s more than just a slogan."
“[My grandfather] cut me a deal,” Shoup said. “He said I could use all of his equipment to start my own business. I was in college and needed the money, so it was either go flip hamburgers or make better money doing landscaping.”
And landscaping Shoup did. While his business started on a grassroots level — think mailbox fliers — it has evolved into a landscaping powerhouse over the past 3 years. Shoup now has five full-time employees, a warehouse in Xenia and was even recognized as one of Cincy Inno’s 2019 Inno Under 25 recipients. Shoup Landscaping, the recent grad’s full-service lawn and landscaping company, officially launched as a business entity in April 2019.
While the bulk of Shoup Landscaping’s work involves landscaping maintenance like lawn care and, in some cases, hardscaping (e.g., building fences and patios), Shoup sees a higher mission for his Xenia-based company. It’s in large part thanks to a pastor 8,000 miles away.
During one of Shoup’s last co-op programs for the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner College of Business, he worked as a student minister for a church in Cape Town, South Africa. This foundational experience changed Shoup as a person, and set Shoup Landscaping’s larger mission in motion.
“While in South Africa, I got stuff out of my life that shouldn’t have been there,” he said. “When I took care of the log that was in my eyes, I could focus on the specs that were in other people’s eyes. I finally got the answer.”
From that moment on, Shoup Landscaping became about so much more than landscaping. Shoup is moving his business toward a model that supports at-risk people, and “people who would normally not be given a second chance.” Whether it’s opening a pressure-washing business branch to help his employee afford the schooling to become a pastor or giving an aspiring teacher the chance to make ends meet by leading landscaping teams in the summer, Shoup is laser-focused on ensuring his company creates the change he wants to see in the world.
“Our motto is, 'Honest work for a greater purpose,' but it’s more than just a slogan,” he said. “We’re going to do very honest work for the labor rate we deserve and the quality performed, and we do it all for a greater purpose.”
