Kevin Evely: Enterprising Throughout His Life

After graduating High School and working at a machine shop for a very brief time, Kevin came to the conclusion that he did not want to live his life hearing an alarm clock in the morning and going to work punching a clock. He started his first official business at age 17 and never looked back. Kevin remained self-employed throughout his lifetime.

A spray bottle, a roll of paper towels and a stack of flyers is all that it took for Kevin and his friend Paul Joiner to get a commercial cleaning business going. Paul stuck with the business for a short time and then decided to pursue other endeavors. Kevin continued to build his business, signing new accounts and hiring a couple of employees as the business continued to grow. Kevin's commercial cleaning business was called After Hour Office Cleaning.

In his mid-twenties Kevin purchased a dump truck and tractor and started to get heavily into the landscaping business at the same time that he ran his cleaning company. He cleaned at night and put in new yards in the Cleveland area during the day. During that time he purchased 17 wooded acres outside of Hartsgrove Township and started to build his alternative energy cabin.

In his late twenties Kevin was audited by the IRS and learned a hard lesson that led to his eventual incorporation as Evely Solar Products, Inc. He scaled his cleaning and landscaping businesses way back. He just kept a couple small cleaning and some lawn mowing accounts that he worked himself until his passing in 2011.

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In the late 90's he started to manufacture replaceable LED light bulbs, put up his first website called Evely Solar Products and started selling the bulbs online at his website, on eBay and to the local Amish communities. Kevin was one of the first people to manufacture replaceable bulbs for LED lights. He stopped making the bulbs when he could no longer compete once the heavy influx of bulbs made in China started.

During the same time he also started to retail solar energy products and became very active with the Green Energy Ohio organization. His alternative energy cabin was featured on the Green Energy Ohio tour from 1997 to 2007. Kevin was living completely off the power grid way back in 1995. At the time that he was trying to sell solar energy equipment most people didn't really believe it was a viable option. After a while Kevin did get discouraged and left the solar business.

One of the next things that Kevin got involved in was the nursery business. Kevin designed and built his greenhouses and started to grow and retail shrubs. He also started to grow hydroponic tomatoes in one of the greenhouses. He only grew shrubs for a couple years but he did talk about perhaps getting involved in it again in the future. Kevin did expand on his tomato operation. He started his produce growing operation that eventually led to planting thousands of tomatoes, peppers and various other vegetables from seeds each season. His produce was sold at his produce stand located at Hartsgrove circle.

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His gardening led him to yet another venture, the invention of the Original Wheelbarrow Screener, a topsoil and compost screener that fits on top of a wheelbarrow. Kevin could not find a ready made product on the market so he designed and made his own. Once he had his screener perfected, he started to market it at gardening shows around the country and started to sell it at various places online. His screener is loved by gardeners across this country. Kevin did add a couple additional screeners to his line-up later on and also started making re-coatable edible birdhouses from the scrap material left over from the screener production.

Kevin's love for gardening also led to the development of TeaGro. TeaGro was an organic plant fertilizer that was a tea brewed by the sun from aged sheep manure. He started to market TeaGro online in 2010.

There are also three DVD's starring Kevin Evely that were available for purchase online. The Alternative Energy Cabin video was originally made in 1995 after the completion of his cabin and was transferred to DVD in 2009. How To Built A Cheap Greenhouse was recorded in 2009. How To Grow And Sell Produce For Profit was made in 2010.

Kevin also silk screened a line of clothing called Hobo Gear and sold it online. You can still obtain a variation of the I AM HOBO clothing from this website. If you would like to find out more about Hobo, check out the Comedian link on this website.

Kevin's very last endeavor was the production of maple syrup. Kevin passed away in his sugar bush while he was preparing to make maple syrup.

These are just some of Kevin's endeavors. Rest assured there were others. Kevin was a very busy man.