By HENRY COLT
Sentinel Staff Writer
For most third graders, snow days mean sledding, hot cocoa, and no homework.
But for 9-year-old Zeylinn Joseph, Sitka’s first school snow day in more than a decade is not a day off, but a day on.
Zeylinn already holds down a newspaper route in the Indian River subdivision, but she saw another financial opportunity in the white blanket engulfing Sitka: shoveling snow out of driveways. She charges $5 per job, but will shovel elders’ driveways for free.
The Sentinel met up with Zeylinn this morning as she shoveled the driveway of Pam Samuelson, who is on Zeylinn’s paper route. It was her first paid job.
“It started snowing a lot and I would always shovel the front yard of our house, but I was thinking maybe elders that can’t do it themselves would want me to do it,” said the young entrepreneur.
But underlying her altruism is an unmistakable business savvy.
Zeylinn Joseph, age 9, gets ready to shovel a driveway this morning on Charlie Joseph Street. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Samuelson said Zeylinn approached her last week, offering to shovel her driveway for free. Samuelson took her up on the offer.
Then, after the second storm, Zeylinn offered Samuelson another free shoveling.
Then Samuelson noticed a homemade flyer that had been stuffed in her copy of the Sentinel. The ad read: “ZEYLINN’S SNOW BUSINESS. In addition to delivering newspapers, I am proud to announce to offer you: shoveling snow services. $5 or best offer, free for elders. LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW!!!”
Already a satisfied customer of Zeylinn’s service, Samuelson readily chipped in at the $5 commercial rate.
Asked what she plans to do with her earnings, Zeylinn said, “I really want to get a helmet that you could use for snowboarding. I’ve never gone down a REALLY big hill, but whenever I see a hill, I go down it.”
But while Zeylinn described snow shoveling as “fun,” she said she ultimately plans on a career in teaching or veterinary medicine.
Zeylinn has a dog named Bouncer, a cat named Mr. Bubbles, and two birds named Bluey and Yellowey. Her grandmother says that Zeylinn knows her paper route customers not by their names, but by the names of their dogs, to whom she gives treats and occasional personalized toys.
“At Christmas,” said Zeylinn, “every dog gets a toy. I sort them to know that each dog will get something they’ll like – the bigger dogs get rope toys, and the little dogs get the little toys with squeakers.”
Asked whether she foresees using her business skills to one day open her own veterinary clinic, she said, “That would be amazing!” She said she doesn’t yet know what she’d name the clinic, but that she’d take care of “mostly 4-legged animals like horses and dogs and cats,” and that “every customer would get a toy for their pet.”
But for now, Zeylinn is focused on her most immediate problem: “I think there’s going to be ice under this snow because it’s cold. It’s hard to get off, because it’s frozen at the bottom.”
