Starting A Business

[dmbeathard]

Hello, new to this forum. I am an active duty Marine and currently interested in starting a tree business when I separate from the military in a year. My Father and Grandfather both owned tree service companies, my Dad currently runs a small operation in north central Oklahoma and I grew up working with him in the summers. While my Dad has given me a ton of advice I wanted to reach out to other operations to see what works and doesn't. I am currently completing my degree in Small Business Management, and yes this is actually a requirement for me to complete my business plan, but I am very interested in your responses. I will post my questions below any answers are highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

1. Was it hard finding a reasonably priced dump site?
2. How do you determine if a potential employee has what it takes to work in the trees during the interview process?
3. Is there a minimal amount of equipment needed to be successful; if so what are they?
4. What were your first steps?
5. How did you arrange financing?
6. If you had it to do all over again what would you do differently?
7. How large a part does creativity play in day to day operations?
8. What was your best marketing technique?
9. What portion of gross sales do you spend on advertising?
10. Did you hire more employees than you originally expected?
11. What makes your business unique?
12. How do you use social media?
13. Did you write a Business Plan? If not, do you wish you did?
14. Are gross profits what you expected them to be?
15. Would you do it again?
16. What is the key to growing multiple crews?
17. Do you use any of the education websites like ISA or TCIA for personal and/or employee training?
18. What are some good resources for gaining information on the tree care industry?
19. How do you deal with mishaps on the job?
20. Is it worth hiring people to take care of my pay roll, taxes, and contracts like lawyers and accountants?
21. What is your target market?
22. What is the key to bidding jobs?

 

[guymayor]

What can make your business unique in your market is a strict focus on preservation.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Welcome to Treebuzz.

You've taken a good first step by taking business classes.

Would you do me a favor? Edit your poll and number your questions. That would make it much easier to answer one or another of the questions

 

[dmbeathard]

What can make your business unique in your market is a strict focus on preservation.

Thanks, that makes sense do you have examples?

 

[dmbeathard]

Welcome to Treebuzz.

You've taken a good first step by taking business classes.

Would you do me a favor? Edit your poll and number your questions. That would make it much easier to answer one or another of the questions

Alright I numbered the questions thanks for the advice.

 

[JD3000]

1. Parks, campuses, public gardens, etc will oftentimes be interested to use as mulch.

Start small, grow carefully, keep learning, reading, and asking questions. I'm not a business owner...

 

[dmbeathard]

1. Parks, campuses, public gardens, etc will oftentimes be interested to use as mulch.

Start small, grow carefully, keep learning, reading, and asking questions. I'm not a

 

[evo]

1. Was it hard finding a reasonably priced dump site?
I only pay to dump twice a year or so, and it's cheap 5-15$ a load

2. How do you determine if a potential employee has what it takes to work in the trees during the interview process?
Still working on this. Started doing a trial period of 2 days, seems to work well, you can tell in the first 30 mins if some one is worth shit or not.

3. Is there a minimal amount of equipment needed to be successful; if so what are they?
Depends on your business model

4. What were your first steps?
F-250 and a 9" chipper, personal business loan

5. How did you arrange financing?
unique situation

6. If you had it to do all over again what would you do differently?
Not much if anything

7. How large a part does creativity play in day to day operations?
Massively

8. What was your best marketing technique?
Small community, prompt call backs, and good reputation

9. What portion of gross sales do you spend on advertising?
? 1-5% if that

10. Did you hire more employees than you originally expected?
Employee's are the hurdle for me

11. What makes your business unique?
Preservation, fine pruning based, niche market with low overhead

12. How do you use social media?
Kinda, haven't gotten much from it
13. Did you write a Business Plan? If not, do you wish you did?
Yes, and it's a must in my eyes

14. Are gross profits what you expected them to be?
No. Much more, and I've actually put effort into growing slow

15. Would you do it again?
Yes

16. What is the key to growing multiple crews?
Don't want multiple crews. Most I'd want is a solid crew that can work independently.

17. Do you use any of the education websites like ISA or TCIA for personal and/or employee training?
Minimal

18. What are some good resources for gaining information on the tree care industry?
Your right here

19. How do you deal with mishaps on the job?
Accidents will happen, small dings to bigger issues, take it in stride and stay calm

20. Is it worth hiring people to take care of my pay roll, taxes, and contracts like lawyers and accountants?
Yes only if they are good, and fair

21. What is your target market?
niche between removal crew, and more than landscaper. Taking time to actually care for the tree, and listen to client goals. I have good relations with nearly all other companies in the area, some of which I wont bid against and vise-vera.

22. What is the key to bidding jobs?
Not undercutting your self, and not ripping off the client either

 

[Stephen Moore]

Hello, new to this forum. I am an active duty Marine and currently interested in starting a tree business when I separate from the military in a year. My Father and Grandfather both owned tree service companies, my Dad currently runs a small operation in north central Oklahoma and I grew up working with him in the summers. While my Dad has given me a ton of advice I wanted to reach out to other operations to see what works and doesn't. I am currently completing my degree in Small Business Management, and yes this is actually a requirement for me to complete my business plan, but I am very interested in your responses. I will post my questions below any answers are highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

1. Was it hard finding a reasonably priced dump site?
2. How do you determine if a potential employee has what it takes to work in the trees during the interview process?
3. Is there a minimal amount of equipment needed to be successful; if so what are they?
4. What were your first steps?
5. How did you arrange financing?
6. If you had it to do all over again what would you do differently?
7. How large a part does creativity play in day to day operations?
8. What was your best marketing technique?
9. What portion of gross sales do you spend on advertising?
10. Did you hire more employees than you originally expected?
11. What makes your business unique?
12. How do you use social media?
13. Did you write a Business Plan? If not, do you wish you did?
14. Are gross profits what you expected them to be?
15. Would you do it again?
16. What is the key to growing multiple crews?
17. Do you use any of the education websites like ISA or TCIA for personal and/or employee training?
18. What are some good resources for gaining information on the tree care industry?
19. How do you deal with mishaps on the job?
20. Is it worth hiring people to take care of my pay roll, taxes, and contracts like lawyers and accountants?
21. What is your target market?
22. What is the key to bidding jobs?

Wow! That would take some serious effort to answer all of that!
What I will say is that most of these questions are self evident. For example, if you don’t know the minimal amount of equipment to start working then you are not ready to leave the monastery grasshopper. The minimum amount changes with scale.
Things like accountants and stuff... why would you hire one if you can do it yourself? Obviously if you can’t youll benefit from hiring one.
Target market. People with trees!
Financing- none. Start with the basics. Can get working with a crappy pickup, ropes saws etc. A few grand gets you in the door - very low startup great ROI ?
Bout the only thing you can’t get started quick with is - skill.
Hiring people... easy just a ground guy to pull rope and branches.
I started with a yard trailer and basic stuff.

 

[Stephen Moore]

Oh as for advertising, we used to do it, now we don’t because the phone won’t stop ringing. Ever- I only book 2 months in advance and leave room for storms and physical recovery. Being a full time climber/ bucket truck guy at my age is really hard on the body. You need down time.

 

[dmbeathard]

Wow! That would take some serious effort to answer all of that!
What I will say is that most of these questions are self evident. For example, if you don’t know the minimal amount of equipment to start working then you are not ready to leave the monastery grasshopper. The minimum amount changes with scale.
Things like accountants and stuff... why would you hire one if you can do it yourself? Obviously if you can’t youll benefit from hiring one.
Target market. People with trees!
Financing- none. Start with the basics. Can get working with a crappy pickup, ropes saws etc. A few grand gets you in the door - very low startup great ROI ?
Bout the only thing you can’t get started quick with is - skill.
Hiring people... easy just a ground guy to pull rope and branches.
I started with a yard trailer and basic stuff.

Thank you for your honesty its refreshing.

 

[dmbeathard]

Oh as for advertising, we used to do it, now we don’t because the phone won’t stop ringing. Ever- I only book 2 months in advance and leave room for storms and physical recovery. Being a full time climber/ bucket truck guy at my age is really hard on the body. You need down time.

That is very encouraging. Hope I will have the same success.

 

[dmbeathard]

1. Was it hard finding a reasonably priced dump site?
I only pay to dump twice a year or so, and it's cheap 5-15$ a load

2. How do you determine if a potential employee has what it takes to work in the trees during the interview process?
Still working on this. Started doing a trial period of 2 days, seems to work well, you can tell in the first 30 mins if some one is worth shit or not.

3. Is there a minimal amount of equipment needed to be successful; if so what are they?
Depends on your business model

4. What were your first steps?
F-250 and a 9" chipper, personal business loan

5. How did you arrange financing?
unique situation

6. If you had it to do all over again what would you do differently?
Not much if anything

7. How large a part does creativity play in day to day operations?
Massively

8. What was your best marketing technique?
Small community, prompt call backs, and good reputation

9. What portion of gross sales do you spend on advertising?
? 1-5% if that

10. Did you hire more employees than you originally expected?
Employee's are the hurdle for me

11. What makes your business unique?
Preservation, fine pruning based, niche market with low overhead

12. How do you use social media?
Kinda, haven't gotten much from it
13. Did you write a Business Plan? If not, do you wish you did?
Yes, and it's a must in my eyes

14. Are gross profits what you expected them to be?
No. Much more, and I've actually put effort into growing slow

15. Would you do it again?
Yes

16. What is the key to growing multiple crews?
Don't want multiple crews. Most I'd want is a solid crew that can work independently.

17. Do you use any of the education websites like ISA or TCIA for personal and/or employee training?
Minimal

18. What are some good resources for gaining information on the tree care industry?
Your right here

19. How do you deal with mishaps on the job?
Accidents will happen, small dings to bigger issues, take it in stride and stay calm

20. Is it worth hiring people to take care of my pay roll, taxes, and contracts like lawyers and accountants?
Yes only if they are good, and fair

21. What is your target market?
niche between removal crew, and more than landscaper. Taking time to actually care for the tree, and listen to client goals. I have good relations with nearly all other companies in the area, some of which I wont bid against and vise-vera.

22. What is the key to bidding jobs?
Not undercutting your self, and not ripping off the client either

 

[dmbeathard]

I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to answer all my questions I know it's a lot. Like you said this is the best resource, getting advise from guys who have been there and have the t-shirt to prove it; that is one of the main reasons I decided to post here. Getting right to the point is something that business owners have in common and that's exactly what you did. Thanks for the info.

 

[Stephen Moore]

Thank you for your honesty its refreshing.

Seriously man, when you get out, if you really want to get into this business I would either hire on as an apprentice to a utility crew or go work with a reputable climber. In either case, because you are a Marine you are physically fit- unless you have been injured? Hope not... One thing to consider is scale. If you were expecting to have a crew, bucket truck, mini, chip truck, chipper maybe a stump grinder or spider crane, and planned to finance that you could easily be 750,000 in the hole in a handshake. That’s a pretty big pill to swallow. And I suggest the ROI would be super poor! In addition if you had a crew, at least one would need to be a certified utility arborist to work near energized conductors. You can’t even look at a job near a powerline without this here in Canada. So that guy needs to be on retainer or staff - meaning full time! You need one for each crew.
Now if you did the contract climber gig... the contractor supplies all the trucks, excavators, cranes, etc and you show up with climbing gear. And of course some chops!

 

[Brian72]

I don't do this full-time but over the last couple years I've been doing small removals, landscaping and general handyman stuff. It all started just by helping out a few elderly people. Next thing I know, people are stopping left and right wanting me to do work for them! I get the same story from all of them. They call the local businesses and nobody ever calls them back! My advice, keep debt very low, take even the crappy jobs, be fair on pricing and ALWAYS return phone calls. You'll be amazed how much work you'll get just by showing up and doing what you promise. I've actually been considering going into it full-time myself.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

1. Was it hard finding a reasonably priced dump site?
Not easy but if you look around you will find them. Networking has been huge for us

2. How do you determine if a potential employee has what it takes to work in the trees during the interview process?
If there are no red flags in the interview, try them out. Be honest with them about the work and say it’s not for everyone. Most don’t make it and that’s ok.

3. Is there a minimal amount of equipment needed to be successful; if so what are they?
15” chipper, 16 yard truck, mini skid with grapple, pick up and dump trailer... for me. Starting out I had a pick up and easy dumper and made money to buy a chipper.

4. What were your first steps?
Get insurance!

5. How did you arrange financing?
My first chipper was an unsecured personal loan (my credit is good), now it’s much harder to get money. Barrow the absolute minimum for what you are doing.

6. If you had it to do all over again what would you do differently?
NOTHING! Every bad decision I have made has been a learning experience that earns me the right to say that I’ve been there done that got the tee shirt... and I’m not doing it again!

7. How large a part does creativity play in day to day operations?
Not so much. Physics has much more to do with it than creativity.

8. What was your best marketing technique?
Do good work! Get more work! Do more good work!

9. What portion of gross sales do you spend on advertising?
.05% maybe. Only the occasional FB add. Happy customers are better advertising than any other out there.

10. Did you hire more employees than you originally expected?
No. Not yet!

11. What makes your business unique?
Care & dedication. Not something you learn in some business class.

12. How do you use social media?
Some. I let my clients use social media. Sometimes I have to lead them to it but it works. Most days we are recommended 4 to 1 or better on requests for tree care pros in our area.

13. Did you write a Business Plan? If not, do you wish you did?
In college 19 years ago yes. Now, NO. Do I wish... no. Business is so fluid especially in the growth stage you need to be able to react to a need, not be bound to something you wrote “theoretically” as the direction you are going to go.

14. Are gross profits what you expected them to be?
In our 10 years part time we blew away any projections we ever had. Our first year FT we met our goal in August. 2nd the same and 6 mo into our third FT year we are already 25% up from last year.... but so is expenses.

15. Would you do it again?
HELL YES!!!!

16. What is the key to growing multiple crews?
Help that thinks like you and breaths like you. They have to be you or better than you. Because you can’t run both crews at the same time.

17. Do you use any of the education websites like ISA or TCIA for personal and/or employee training?
Books & mags yes. Website no.

18. What are some good resources for gaining information on the tree care industry?
Time on the job

19. How do you deal with mishaps on the job?
Calm cool and collected. Sometimes it’s best to walk away, breathe and come back clear headed and calm.

20. Is it worth hiring people to take care of my pay roll, taxes, and contracts like lawyers and accountants?
What is your roll going to be? Working with the crew and estimating work? Yes to all the above! If you are working you don’t have time. If you are sitting at the desk and hiring guys to do all the work then you might have the time. I DONT!

21. What is your target market?
People with trees and money. We are in a unique market which puts people with money to burn in yards with trees to care for.
22. What is the key to bidding jobs?
Doing it! Making the mistakes and learning from them. If someone says they have the answer to never loose on a job, RUN REALLY FAST cause they are full of $hit. Break the jobs down to their simplest operations, how long = how much. And don’t get butt hurt if you loose a job, it’s gonna happen. I might have a different view, idea to complete the work or maybe I just screwed up. I lost one last week. I low balled it because I wanted to work for the development (I was still gonna make a little money). Someone under cut me. I would have loved to watch them work the job and learn how they did it, maybe I missed something stupid easy!

 

[Stephen Moore]

I don't do this full-time but over the last couple years I've been doing small removals, landscaping and general handyman stuff. It all started just by helping out a few elderly people. Next thing I know, people are stopping left and right wanting me to do work for them! I get the same story from all of them. They call the local businesses and nobody ever calls them back! My advice, keep debt very low, take even the crappy jobs, be fair on pricing and ALWAYS return phone calls. You'll be amazed how much work you'll get just by showing up and doing what you promise. I've actually been considering going into it full-time myself.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

Holy crap! I still get more calls than I can return! When I was advertising it was ballistic! No way I could return them all! I did my best though, and most of the time I referred them to my competition. But this is a seasonal area, it goes hard from snow melt to snow fall but you don't get a single call for 3 months in the winter. So I snowmobile! A lot!

 

[Leroy]

I thought you looked familiar...

 

[CanaryBoss]

I would need to know some info about where you were going to start-not specially, but rather what part of the country. Also; rural, suburban, large cty... also, what is your competition doing? How big are they? What can your location support. If your going to do it, own the market.

This stuff about paying to dump twice a year doesn’t work for everybody. I’m in a city in Florida and pay $10,000+ a month to dump. It could be a lot more but I utilize certain practices that include proper equipment and free disposal of chips. I used to pay twice that a month. We also have to deal with palm debri that makes mulch unusable.

My company hired its first employee 2.5 years ago and we do millions a year in tree work. I have 25 employees and 2 million in equipment. The current valuation of my company is around $5,000,000. I have some debt but it pails in comparison to our annual revenue. And we are growing fast!!!!

I am a for hire consultant to the tree industry. I am willing to work with some start ups and existing tree services. Of course, the rapid expansion is not free and you will give a part of yourself to it. If your interested, pm me.