I've always had an interest when it comes to trees you could say. In high school, I used to spend hours at a time on beautiful warm days just sitting up in the trees around my property reading books. And in the evenings / nights I would just sit up there and watch the neighborhood. There was also a time where we had a tree fall in a storm and I decided to cut the whole thing up with just an axe and hand saw. Among other times I did some tree work, etc. I spent a lot of time as a kid working outside in the yard, etc.
The funny thing is there was a time where I said I would never touch a chainsaw. I was afraid of them kicking back, etc. The first chainsaw I used was an electric one, and then I eventually bought a gas one and looked for every and any excuse to cut wood or branches because I was hooked!
For the first few years of my adult life I did quite a few outdoor jobs for people I knew helping them out in the yard, doing some tree trimming, tree removal, etc. I always looked forward to an opportunity where I could cut trees lol.
There was a local tree guy in my town who I hooked up with very briefly but never actually got the opportunity to do any jobs with him. He had stuff going on his life, and it just wasn't a good situation. I ended up starting to work in the towing and recovery industry instead.
Continued to do misc. jobs here and there for people I knew when the opportunity arose.
I decided to invest in some basic climbing gear at some point and actually start climbing with gear. I climbed regularly whenever I had the opportunity, in all the trees on the my property. At the time I was working as a towing and recovery operator.
Eventually I decided to look for a new job and tried out for a few days with a local tree company. They were good, but I ended up not pursuing it and decided to try working for myself.
And so I was working out of my car with some basic climbing gear, a chainsaw, a rigging rope, and either taking on no cleanup jobs or paying people to cleanup for me. One job I even loaded my car up with brush in the backseat and trunk. It was certainly a learning experience in the beginning and I did go back to the towing a few times as well as work a brief stretch with a tree company where I got some crane experinece. Then when I decided to go into it full time again I started by investing in some equipment so I wouldn't have to rely on other people, and that in a nutshell is the story of how I became a tree climber / started to work in the industry.
