Teaching It, Learning It, Doing It!
Jace Green
Home & Office
Repair & Remodeling
615-
Jace Green learned the value of hard work early in life. He liked growing up on a farm, but discovered at a young age, that he loved to build things. His dad noticed this and encouraged Jace by letting him help with all the small building projects that come naturally on a working farm.
In Tennessee, most farms are dotted with various ‘out’ buildings, built to contain hay, shelter animals, and sometimes even an abandoned house or two when previous owners upgraded their living quarters. Jace’s first real building experience was given him when his dad turned over a run down cabin on their property for him to fix up as a workshop. A dream project for any boy that enjoys working with wood, Jace thoroughly enjoyed turning the old shack into a first class wood shop, and knew this is what he wanted to do for a living.
Jace quickly gained a reputation for being handy and a hard worker, and was offered
a part time paid apprenticeship with a small local contractor. When asked how he
managed school and a job, Jace said that he didn’t spend any time playing video games
or watching TV, he was busy doing what he loved most -
By the age of 17, he was running full crews on building projects that included clients like Dolly Parton, Bobby Hamilton (the race car driver) and Evan Stevens. Some of the highlights of his construction experiences were when his employer gave him charge of a crew that built an entire 1600 SF house from the ground up and building an 8,000 square foot tree house!
Learning how to do every facet of construction by working on a diversity of projects was the best experience someone like Jace could’ve gotten. He did say one of the biggest difficulties of running his own crew was telling men, some of them twice his age, what to do!
Jace gives a lot of credit for his success and work ethic to his father, who raised him to work hard, and with the highest of integrity. A minister, and also an entrepreneur at heart, his dad has helped Jace learn much of the paperwork aspect of business, as well as how to deal with people. Helping his dad with a feed business taught Jace that building relationships, meeting needs, and always being impeccably honest was the baseline of any true entrepreneurial success.
Homeschooling can give kids the flexibility to take advantage of opportunities like Jace was blessed with, but many parents worry about how it will affect their school, or even their desire to continue their education. In Jace’s junior and senior year of high school, he attended a local homeschool tutorial for all his classes that stretched his mind, with teachers that Jace speaks very highly of. When he decided to take some classes at Vol State in Tennessee, he surprised even himself by doing well on an ACT test taken on very short notice and little preparation.
Now that Jace is on his own in business, he realizes he still has a lot to learn. His goal is to continue to take classes and to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management.
At just 19, he’s already learned that running a business is much more than putting a sign up and finding customers. A class offered in high school teaching the basics of business would’ve been really helpful, Jace told us when we asked him about it, and has noticed other entrepreneurs overlook critical business details and end up learning it the hard way. “There’s so much more to it than you think at first”. He also would like to work under a big contractor at some point, for he says that “You learn from what they are doing right, and you also learn by watching what they do wrong!” I’d say that’s a good piece of Tennessee wisdom to keep in your hat!
His challenge right now is balancing work and school, as well as the finances of each. When I asked him what advice he would give other young entrepreneurs, he said that he would advise anyone to work or apprentice under someone doing the same type of business they’re thinking of starting. By doing that, you’ll find out if you really like the day to day routine of the actual work. You can also learn from their mistakes!
I think that’s some excellent advice, I’ve read many an entrepreneurial biography of great business ideas that came out of employees that saw better ways of doing things. Jace’s goal is to do the kind of quality work he would want done on his own house. Understanding the pressures of deadlines and price wars, Jace noticed that cutting corners on workmanship and quality doesn’t solve anything when you have to go back and do it over, or lose a customer. He believes that quality work can be done on a budget and a deadline with proper management.
If you live in Central Tennessee, and have a project you need done, or just a honey-
He can be reached at 615-
Homeschooling Entrepreneurs
. . . that are doing it!
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