Each year, 12th graders are tasked with creating a senior project as a prerequisite for graduating high school, which was the case for Summerville student Levi Cones.
Before his junior year in Tuolumne even concluded, Cones knew what he wanted to do. The 16-year-old decided in April 2024 to create a landscaping business, which he originally named “Levi’s Wacky Weeds Weedeating.”
“I got my drivers license, first car and just didn’t realize how much expenses go into that,” he said. “After gas, insurance, registration, the costs just started piling up. Aside from a little birthday money, I didn’t have much cash. I tried to go and get a normal job, went down to The Junction to walk into businesses and ask if they were hiring. Nobody was really taking me.
“The only way I was making money is my grandparents would pay me to weedeat for them. So I thought, what if I go to my neighbor’s house, knock on their door and see if they’d pay me, too. That’s where it started, knocking on doors. I had a little car at the time, ratchet strapped the weedeaters to the roof and drove around knocking on doors… It’s really blown up with the need that’s in this area.”
Cones needed a mentor for his project. Enter Vazul Hites, a 2017 Summerville graduate.
Hites went on to attend Quinnipiac University in Connecticut before returning to Tuolumne County. In the nearly seven years since he graduated, Hites gained experience digitally, in food sales and the stock market.
Cones was introduced to Hites during a senior seminar class, where Hites spoke to fellow Bears about his various experiences, including building websites. Cones' admiration for Hites is what led to him becoming his mentor.
“When Levi initially reached out, I loved it and was excited,” Hites said. “I liked his drive, motivation and I often forget that he’s 17 years old with how he carries himself. I wasn’t too motivated for landscaping initially. As we got more involved, he goes, ‘Do you want to come out on a job with me?’ I said ‘Sure, why not.’ I kept coming out, doing it every day, all day. I enjoyed it, it’s fun and I saw the potential here.
“We talked about it, and I asked him if he wants to do it as a fun summer thing, or full time and make it big. I was all in and we went for it. As we started getting into it, we realized that there’s a huge need in this area.There was a gap in the market, so I decided to try it out.”
With an objective of sharing the company with the masses, Cones and Hites have used social media to their advantage. At the end of April, the dynamic duo published a 29-second video onto the “Angels Camp Bulletin Board” page on Facebook, promoting the business and explaining its mission.
Cones explained that his business serviced 70 households last summer and has a goal of doing over 200 this year. As of July 9, the clip has garnered over 135,000 views, 2,100 likes and 156 comments — just on Facebook.
“The first day that I did that, I got like 22 calls while I was in school the next day,” Cones said. “It was pretty crazy. It was very stressful at first trying to manage graduating from high school and running a business at the same time. I didn’t really show up to school the last two months. I had terrible attendance for the last month especially, probably less than 50%.
“I was up pretty late every night, but I was able to push through those last couple hard months. Now it’s been easier being able to focus on it full time. We’re definitely doing more work now, but I have more time to do it, so it’s easier and I’m more set up now.”
The viral video shined such a large spotlight onto the company that Cones could hardly keep up with the demand. In between classes and during extended bathroom breaks, Cones relayed his list of missed calls to Hites, who followed up with each and every one to book their services.
Less than three months ago, right before the clip circulated, the Bears pair agreed to become business partners. With that, the company rebranded to “Wacky Weedeating,” and hit the ground running.
When Cones graduated from Summerville last month, he capitalized on the moment by creating another video to promote his business. As he and his fellow Bears tossed their grad caps into the air, Cones created a clip letting people know that he just received his diploma and is available for landscaping services.
“I was sitting in my seat, waiting for everyone’s names to get called,” Cones said. “I have a C last name, so I was one of the first ones up and then sitting there bored. Then I thought, ‘What if we turned this into something that could be profitable?’ ”
Wacky Weedeating currently has six full-time employees and four company vehicles.
“I’ve had some struggles,” Cones said. “All the people I’ve known beforehand have either made good employees and I’ve kept them on, or I had to tell them that I want to be friends, but we’re joking around too much out here, need to be professional and maybe it’s not the right place.”
Cones’ initial hire was Gavin Marquardt, who is an incoming Sonora senior.
“This is my first job ever, so it was nerve-wracking,” Marquardt said. “Going to these houses and working with Levi, it’s been an experience. We’ve got a lot of growth that’s been happening recently. It has potential to be really, really big from what I’ve seen starting from nothing to where we’re at now.”
The business offers weedeating, brush clearance, junk removal, general landscaping and chimney, roof and gutter cleaning.More information aboutWacky Weedeating can be found at www.wackyweedeating.com and on social media: @wacky_weedeating on Instagram and Facebook.
“A lot of people say, ‘After high school, go follow what you’re passionate about.’ There’s a lot of artists and musicians, but there’s also a lot of yards that need to be cut in Tuolumne County to prevent fires,” Cones said. “There’s a huge need for people who can go out there, weed whack, clear brush, rake leaves, cut down trees, whatever they need… We mainly specialize in trying to get Cal Fire off people’s back to make things more fire safe.
“We’re all about quality of service and try to be the best in the market. There’s a ton of little landscaping companies around, but we’re trying to be number one, who you call with the biggest brand. We’re trying to take high schoolers who have never worked before and turn them into employees who know how to work, talk to customers, have professionalism and give them skills to be successful in life.”
Contact Shaun Holkko at sholkko@uniondemocrat.com or (209) 588-4526. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram and X at @shaun_holkko. Check out his weekly sports podcast, Stats Over Politics, on YouTube and all streaming platforms.