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Trusted Dealer:Anthony Custer

There are some people in this world who truly appreciate hard work and the value of the dollar. Anthony Custer of Custer Cuts in Grafton, WV, takes both of those virtues and cranks them to 11.  

As a young child, Anthony says his parents were quite responsible with their money. They taught him to save whenever possible, and instilled that there was more to life than buying unnecessary things. 

But try telling that to a third grader surrounded by friends whose parents bought them all the latest toys and gadgets. 

When Anthony was in fourth grade, a neighbor offered to pay Anthony to mow his lawn. Anthony asked his dad to borrow his lawnmower, took out a loan from his father for $2 worth of gasoline, and set about his first official commercial job. 

With the money he earned from that job — minus the $2 loan repayment to his dad — Anthony realized that by putting in the work, he could earn enough to buy his own toys without having to ask his parents for anything. 

But the lure of buying toys quickly faded. Instead, he kept in line with his parents' advice and saved his hard-earned money. 

As a high schooler, Anthony officially started his own landscaping company, which he operated through his college years at West Virginia University, and still operates, today. 

Those who own landscaping companies know that running your own business can be a grueling endeavor, and though relatively young for the task, Anthony decided to push forward. In 2011, at just 21 years of age, he bought out and took the reins of a local power equipment dealership. Custer Cuts is now a landscaping company with more than 80 accounts and a Shindaiwa Signature Elite dealer. 

On the landscaping side, Anthony recalls his first encounter with Shindaiwa when he borrowed a trimmer from his uncle. "I was impressed with how long that trimmer lasted," he says. "My uncle was very hard on his equipment – very hard. I really appreciated how durable the trimmer was. When it came time to buying more equipment, of course I stuck with the brand that really impressed me. On my truck now, I carry two Shindaiwa T282 string trimmers, and I own two T242s and a T235, as well as a bunch of EB series backpack blowers and the Shindaiwa multi-tool system." 

One question a lot of people ask is how Anthony is able to sell and service power equipment to those who are in direct competition with his landscaping business. "I have absolutely no problems with competition — even though so many people told me that I would," he says. "There is plenty of work to go around. In fact, I've even helped four new landscaping companies get off the ground by consulting with them on gear, and helping them get the permits, insurance and licensing they need to get up and running." 

Of course, with the drive and energy that Anthony has shown since his first job back in the fourth grade, it may be hard for anybody else to keep up.