Young entrepreneurs plan to grow, succeed

For Carolina youth, there were the demands to stay home as the coronavirus pandemic descended. Next came the months of virtual online learning at home and being separated from friends.

Now students have arrived in the meandering days of summer.

However, there is a pair of outgoing Hidden Valley teenagers with a plan and goal.

Meet 13-year old Marquay (Quay) Young and 14-year old Joshua (Jay) McCorkle. Young is a rising 8th grade student attending Alexander Graham Middle school and McCorkle is a rising 9th grade student who will be attending Myers Park High School.

The duo asked Joshua’s dad to help them come up with a money making venture, so they launched Quay and Jay’s Cutz. They mow lawns and do yard maintenance.

“I want them to gain confidence from starting and completing a process,” Shelton McCorkle, Jay’s dad, said. “Once they do that, it will lend itself into the next venture they do.”

The elder McCorkle is helping the young men with their business strategy. He bought them a lawnmower to get started, but is having these junior entrepreneurs reinvest their money to purchase their own equipment.

They started with a couple of lawn mowers, leaf blower and weed trimmer.

Their motto: “You Grow It, We Mow It.”

“I know what hard work brings,” Shelton McCorkle said. “The fact that they took the initiative to ask me how to start said a lot.”

Even as they sat in the sun in the first of a string of 90-degree weather, both young men were eager for business. They know it’s going to be hard work, but they are looking at the long-term payoff of a successful business.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Joshua McCorkle said. “We’ll do any size yard, clean up or whatever needs to be done.”

Their prices vary depending on the amount of work that needs to be done, but they aren’t shying away from any job.

There is no doubt that these two will achieve this goal and beyond.

They can be contacted by email at QuayAndJaysCutz@gmail.com. Community members have also set up a GoFundMe page. CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

If you have an inspiring story to share, email Kevin Campbell, public affairs manager at WSOC-TV/WAXN-TV/Telemundo Charlotte, at Kevin.Campbell@wsoctv.com .

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