Finding the person to spend the rest of your life with can be an enduring journey. As for Todd and Joy Zandstra, they found each other in high school.
Both having attended Protestant Reformed Christian School and Heritage Christian High School, the couple got married a few years after graduating.
“It was about a year or two before I graduated,” Todd Zandstra said. “Joy was a grade below me. One day, she was waiting after school because her friend got detention. I asked if she needed a ride home and we started talking more from there.”
That would spark just the beginning of sharing their lives together. Today, they even share a business together. They are co-owners of Redwood Landscape. The business, founded in 2008, started shortly after the couple finished high school. The business offers services from cutting grass in the summer to plowing small residential driveways in the winter.
According to Todd Zandstra, running a business has its ups and downs. He considers being able to share ownership with his wife Joy Zandstra as a great opportunity.
“She’s always been a great help,” Todd Zandstra said. “She’s very knowledgeable. I like to go outside and work for the most part, so she’s always willing to jump in whenever there’s something I don’t like to do. It can get a little busy in the office, which can be unfortunate at times when you have a family of kids. We love what we do and always work together when we can.”
While some people would embrace the opportunity to work with a spouse or family member, not everybody is presented with that opportunity. Todd Zandstra is grateful that while there are many instances where it doesn’t work out, working at Redwood Landscape with Joy Zandstra has been nothing short of a success.
“Normally, people say that it doesn’t work out very well in the end,” Todd Zandstra said. “In the cases that do work out, it’s important to know that they are the right fit. Don’t have them jump into something that’s already established when they’re starting out. That might be difficult to figure out, but having the right fit in a business is a necessity.”
Outside of working for Redwood Landscape, the Zandstras’ spend most of their time together.
“Lately, we’ve been taking the kids to sports in the summer and signing them up for martial arts,” Todd Zandstra said. “We really enjoy the family day at church on Sundays. Occasionally, we’ll even go play some pickleball to try and stay active.”
In the big picture, the Zandstras’ remain focused on family. Even with Redwood Landscape, their business strives to create designs or services that are specifically geared toward each customer.
“We hope to continue living a free life,” Todd Zandstra said. “We want to be able to do whatever we need for our children and the rest of the family to keep everything moving along smoothly.”
One goal that the Zandstras’ have for Redwood Landscape moving forward is to have it running in a variety of locations. They are excited to make more positive memories together within both their family and the business.