Local Youngster Starts Business Lyric’s Lawn Clippings, Helps Others
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Most kids are concerned with playing video games, hanging out with their friends and avoiding their chores. Lyric Shallow, an Avon sixth grader, isn’t like most kids. At the tender age of 12, she already has experience starting and growing a business, and she has no plans of slowing down.
In the summer of 2020, at the end of fourth grade, Lyric and her dad Rob started Lyric’s Lawn Clippings by taking the family’s push mower and knocking on neighbor’s doors.
Lyric didn’t just get a wild hair to start working, however. She had motivation.
“I really wanted to make money because my favorite spot to visit is California,” Lyric says.
Ever since she visited her aunt’s farm there in third grade, she’s wanted to go back. She has a deep love for the outdoors, and she loves looking at the city lights of San Diego at night from the mountains.
It’s not just a trip to California she wants. Her tastes are a little more expensive than clothes and gift cards.
“I also wanted a Corvette – a ’63 Corvette split-window – and a motorcycle,” she says.
Instead of being overwhelmed at the size of her wants, she decided to do something about it by starting her business. She was inspired by her dad, who used to mow lawns for $5 a yard when he was little.
As adventurous and fearless as she is, knocking on doors was, and still is, the scariest part of the job.
“The first time I knocked on a neighbor’s door I was scared to death,” Lyric says. “You never know who’s going to answer. I’m still scared of it.”
Their very first knock led to their first client, and things have hardly slowed down since. She and her dad continued knocking on doors through the first summer, eventually creating fliers and passing them out. Their services, all included in their price, were lawn mowing using their lawn mowing tractors to make quick work of any lawn, trimming, weed removal, hedge trimming, shrub removal, seasonal cleanups and mulch application.
“Then we got big enough where people noticed us,” Lyric says. “My dad quit his job for this business. At the start of the 2021 season we got our first zero-turn mower and a 6’x10’ trailer.”
She loves to tell the story of how she’s better at driving the zero-turn mower than her dad, laughing as she describes her dad driving it for the first time right into the lake behind their house.
“My favorite thing to do is go in circles and make tire marks all over the driveway,” Lyric says.
Lyric still had to attend school like any other 12-year-old, but the minute she got home, her dad was thankful to have her tag along and help him finish jobs until dark.
Even though it’s hard work, Lyric loves it.
“I love meeting new people,” Lyric says. “I’m actually not that social as a person, but I do enjoy meeting clients. When I’m cutting the lawns, I love listening to my favorite music.”
While growing a business and working has been challenging, Lyric embraces the process.
“I love getting it to go farther and pushing harder,” Lyric says.
She uses her money as a typical kid might, buying herself things like a moped, a motorcycle and new shoes, but that’s not all she does with her income. She also uses it to support local nonprofits like Family Promise of Hendricks County and Racing With Crohn’s, a charity organization that advocates and raises funds for Crohn’s disease through racing.
Helping others has been something she’s done for a long time. For the last five years, Lyric and her dad have gone to Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis with pizza or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and simply walked the streets passing food out and praying for people. Even now, they still try and do this on holidays.
Lately there haven’t been many homeless people on the Circle, but Lyric still wants to help. She and her siblings go to 36 Barber Lounge for haircuts regularly. During a recent visit, they noticed a collection box for Family Promise of Hendricks County.
“We didn’t get to do our normal thing on Thanksgiving,” Lyric says. “We wanted to help out, so we went to the Dollar Tree and pretty much bought all their gloves, mittens and hats. We left a couple things to be nice and we donated it all.”
For Lyric, her business allows her to afford her own fun items while also helping others. It’s not one or the other for her – it’s both.
“I love helping people,” she says. “It feels good inside. I also love the other part of it – saving for things and rewarding myself. It’s fun.”
The lessons she’s learned along the way are invaluable, and that’s not lost on her. She says she’s learned about saving money, spending money, how to talk to clients and how to use equipment.
Her mother Jaclyn has seen tremendous growth in her daughter and says it has brought her closer to her father.
“This is a great outlet and a good way to steer her energy,” Jaclyn says. “She and her dad are two strong personalities, so it’s funny when they’re having business meetings at the dinner table. It’s definitely been good to direct her energy to something productive.”
The business seems to fit Lyric’s personality. She loves being outside, playing in the dirt, riding her moped and motorcycle, and listening to music. Even in her passion for percussion, her leadership skills can’t help but make an appearance.
“I love playing percussion because you’re the leader of everything,” Lyric says.
Lyric has big dreams for the future. She intends to have a huge property where she’ll build her dream house. On half of her land, she will build a community of small houses for homeless people and their families to live in. She’ll also have exotic animals like tigers and monkeys.
“Every kid my age should have a business,” Lyric says. “It will make them more successful in life because they learn early what they’re capable of.”
For more info on Lyric’s Lawn Clippings, go to facebook.com/lyricslawnclippings.
