Been 7 years since I last used Treebuzz.....I need input!

Noel

Noel

Location
Springfield, MO USA
You know how you get overwhelmed with all the online interactions: Insta, FB, etc. I took a little break.

Can I reintroduce myself? I'm Noel Boyer. Have a cool little company in Springfield, MO. Was a competitive climber for 20 years, now on the other side of the clipboard. Got my BCMA about 10 years ago. Also a CTSP.
I always have lots of questions about business, so forgive me in advance if I'm a pest.

I was recently selected to the Board of Directors for TCIA. I wanted to see if I could do anything to help businesses, especially small ones like mine, get easier access to answers and solutions to the problems that keep us from being profitable and safe.

I am going to TCIA headquarters next week for orientation and my first official board meeting. I have some ideas on ways TCIA can be more connected and helpful to its members. If you have a minute, could you give me more ammunition to carry into that meeting? How has TCIA helped you? How have they let you down? How can we have positive influence in an industry that has a lot of negative and dangerous habits?
 
Having meet Robert Felix face to face in the late eighties left me with a poor impression of the NAA, the TCIA's previous name.



This was after a discussion with Felix at a national meeting where prime topics were being offered in the same time slots. When mentioning this to him his response was to send 'other members of your company' to each meeting. My response was 'I'm the only one here from our 5 man company'. We of course were trying to make a living and everyone could not just take off of work and incur traveling expenses, etc. Of course I could not attend some of the topics I needed.

Felix didn't give a **** about my concerns.

Grudges die hard.
 
Welcome back Noel, and congratz on the appointment/selection to the board. Being a muni, I would like to see more connection with the muni side. I realize tcia focuses on those in business, but it is time to reach across the aisle more. We munis need good qualified contractors and many have trouble finding good companies and then convincing their higher ups to take the better company over lowest bid.
 
As the secretariat for A300, TCIA should release the process from its current bondage to the handful of corporations that prevent small companies like yours and mine from competing on an even field.
 
Hey Noel,
I talked with you at TCIA WMC.
I have yet to email my suggestions in on how to make that conference better. My experience from the first one was positive but I can tell you my impression of the speakers was subpar. If I want a motivational speech I'll hit up youtube. We need more round table discussions with like size businesses.
You and I talked about social medias role in how the tree world communicates with each other. All the Facebook tree service groups that have grown in popularity could use TCIA and ISA representation.
I also think those organizations need to push more on local tech schools having urban forestry programs. WI has 5+ colleges with Urban Forestry degrees. Which has to be the most in the nation for a single state.
~Casey



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Noel, I’ve been chewing on two great issues in our industry that I believe are symptoms of a greater need. The two things I always hear about are companies saying they can’t find/hold onto good workers and good workers having a hard time staying with the companies they work for because they feel under appreciated and/or underpaid. The main issue I believe is leadership. It’s a quality that is sought after but rarely nurtured. Also, leadership gets confused with management, and that’s when things go sour. Machines, materials, and money should be managed. People need to be led. There is a vacuum of teaching people in leadership positions how to truly lead others in a dynamic, inspiring way.

Good leadership isn’t just about communication; it also affects how business is structured and conducted- first to the employee and then to the client. Training becomes about helping others grow rather than keeping a warm body from wasting money or dying. Healthy accountability is fostered as teammates hold each other to excellence without harsh micromanagement.

Good leadership creates order and clarity, two things often missing in our industry.

I have ideas I’d like to pursue to help change some of the negative norms in the industry, but I think having a focus on personal and leadership development will do much to shape the industry into the vision I believe many of us have for it.

Noel, I know you run a profitable team that maintains an excellent culture- signs of great leadership. I look forward to what you will bring to the TCIA board!
 
I honestly believe that TCIA is subverting knowledge int he tree care industry in order to keep smaller companies with lower overhead from competing with the big boys, Bartlett and Davey.

I have close to zero respect for whoever is writing the pruning standards... If the IT industry evolved as fast as the tree care industry we'd all still be using dial up telephones and electric typewriters..
 
Hi Noel,

You may want to search Treebuzz for the "enough of TCIA's unethical practices" thread. The TCIA publication needs improvement, and maybe that is happening. The TCIA needs to gain editorial control back from companies like Altec, and also needs some kind of improvement to the review process to prevent poorly written articles from being published. It's hard to respect the TCIA when these baselines are not being met.

I appreciated the TCIA guide to working with cranes.

As far as what the TCIA can do for small companies, I would not be looking to the TCIA for help in that department when their funding comes from big iron companies. It is an apparent conflict of interest. If you could help, one area would be a reduction in WC, which tends toward 40 cents on the dollar for small companies, after accounting for fees. See if you can limit fees, and get us down in the 20-30 cent range so we can better compete with big box companies. Or, don't, because if you tell the big companies in TCIA about this, they may leverage it against small companies, lol.

Wish you success!
 
TreeCo said:
Grudges die hard.
Click to expand...

Ya we all could use a little work on the "let us forgive others as we wish to be forgiven" motto..

Whatever I did to piss you off, happened so long ago that I have no recollection of it... But hey ... please forgive me for whatever it was.... I didn't mean it and I promise never to do it again.... Now back to giving TCIA the feedback they deserve, but will no doubt continue to ignore!
 
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Drumbo said:
Lobby the government to regulator tree work in each state. It is hard enough competing with competent companies but when willy and the boys show up with a 12 pack and their saws its game over.
Click to expand...
I understand what you're saying. But regulation without enforcement only affects those following the rules voluntarily. It feels like dealing with this on a local level often has more "teeth" than trying to enforce on a state wide or national scale?
 
guymayor said:
As the secretariat for A300, TCIA should release the process from its current bondage to the handful of corporations that prevent small companies like yours and mine from competing on an even field.
Click to expand...
This is a topic I don't know much about. Who controls the A300, and how does it prevent us smaller guys from playing on the same field? Honest question .
 
Tr33Climb3r said:
Hey Noel,
I talked with you at TCIA WMC.
I have yet to email my suggestions in on how to make that conference better. My experience from the first one was positive but I can tell you my impression of the speakers was subpar. If I want a motivational speech I'll hit up youtube. We need more round table discussions with like size businesses.
You and I talked about social medias role in how the tree world communicates with each other. All the Facebook tree service groups that have grown in popularity could use TCIA and ISA representation.
I also think those organizations need to push more on local tech schools having urban forestry programs. WI has 5+ colleges with Urban Forestry degrees. Which has to be the most in the nation for a single state.
~Casey



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Hey, Casey. Man, I'm right with you on trying to have TCIA representation in these online forms, to be available to people with questions and business needs.
There is a big push now for training students in arboriculture, and TCIA has some big ideas on the horizon. I'll try to keep you posted .
 
Crimsonking said:
Noel, I’ve been chewing on two great issues in our industry that I believe are symptoms of a greater need. The two things I always hear about are companies saying they can’t find/hold onto good workers and good workers having a hard time staying with the companies they work for because they feel under appreciated and/or underpaid. The main issue I believe is leadership. It’s a quality that is sought after but rarely nurtured. Also, leadership gets confused with management, and that’s when things go sour. Machines, materials, and money should be managed. People need to be led. There is a vacuum of teaching people in leadership positions how to truly lead others in a dynamic, inspiring way.

Good leadership isn’t just about communication; it also affects how business is structured and conducted- first to the employee and then to the client. Training becomes about helping others grow rather than keeping a warm body from wasting money or dying. Healthy accountability is fostered as teammates hold each other to excellence without harsh micromanagement.

Good leadership creates order and clarity, two things often missing in our industry.

I have ideas I’d like to pursue to help change some of the negative norms in the industry, but I think having a focus on personal and leadership development will do much to shape the industry into the vision I believe many of us have for it.

Noel, I know you run a profitable team that maintains an excellent culture- signs of great leadership. I look forward to what you will bring to the TCIA board!
Click to expand...
Wise words, good leaders are not easy to find. It's a slow road to shift the processes of a whole industry, but if the good leaders that are out there can influence others, we will keep creeping forward .
 
colb said:
Hi Noel,

You may want to search Treebuzz for the "enough of TCIA's unethical practices" thread. The TCIA publication needs improvement, and maybe that is happening. The TCIA needs to gain editorial control back from companies like Altec, and also needs some kind of improvement to the review process to prevent poorly written articles from being published. It's hard to respect the TCIA when these baselines are not being met.

I appreciated the TCIA guide to working with cranes.

As far as what the TCIA can do for small companies, I would not be looking to the TCIA for help in that department when their funding comes from big iron companies. It is an apparent conflict of interest. If you could help, one area would be a reduction in WC, which tends toward 40 cents on the dollar for small companies, after accounting for fees. See if you can limit fees, and get us down in the 20-30 cent range so we can better compete with big box companies. Or, don't, because if you tell the big companies in TCIA about this, they may leverage it against small companies, lol.

Wish you success!
Click to expand...
I'll hunt down that thread. I thing the bulk of TCIA's income is membership dues, including the equipment suppliers and manufacturers who are members. Let me look into my financial reports to back that up.
I feel like the Arbormax partnership with TCIA is a good one, I just signed up for another year with them at under 10% on my comp. But work comp rates vary by state, AND Arbormax has a minimum policy that pretty much excludes any company doing less than $4-500k a year.
 
Daniel said:
I honestly believe that TCIA is subverting knowledge int he tree care industry in order to keep smaller companies with lower overhead from competing with the big boys, Bartlett and Davey.

I have close to zero respect for whoever is writing the pruning standards... If the IT industry evolved as fast as the tree care industry we'd all still be using dial up telephones and electric typewriters..
Click to expand...
What knowledge do you feel is being suppressed? We all live on information and I feel fortunate to have access to more information on this little tablet than all previous generations combined. What are your biggest complaints with the pruning stsndards? I agree that the gears churn slow.
 
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