owner operator lifestyle

Steve Connally said:
I struggle with balance. I struggle with being happy. It's either so busy I hope for a rain day or there's nothing. When there's nothing I'm worried about not having work. My business is tanking this year. What I did to try to maintain my sanity is to get myself in a financial place where I don't have to panic if I don't have any work. I also put myself in a place where I can make the choice to lower my rates and get work or keep the rates and not work. I have enough capital I can stop working today and not have to sell the truck for about 10 months. Maybe a year if I cancel my insurance and just cover the truck parked. Work limps in and rite now the goal is to cover all the expenses. I've been able to do that except for FEB MAR APR. I lost money all 3 of those months. As long as I dont have to dip into the account to cover the bills I'll let it ride out and see what the future holds. If it comes to the point where I'm loosing a lot of money every month then I'll have to decide if I wanna sell the truck or not. If I do, I have no idea what I'll do. I'm not the climber I was 6 years ago. My skills and knowledge are way surpassed by the next generation of climbers. I'm old and fairly grumpy. I don't know anybody that would hire me and that I'd be willing to work for. I have no desire to grind hard. Really I just wanna do crane work as a climber. Its so strange. Not having work makes me not wanna work when I have work. I hate the time off but dread having a full week of work. Up is down, left is rite, nothing makes sense anymore. I have to say this is the most strange and confusing time I've ever experienced in my own personal journey. SO much internal dialogue. I'm not sure I'm the one I should be hanging out with all the time. LOL. The balance thing is a common bond but manifests in so many different ways. I think, for myself, the best effort I can put in to not give a shit and just let the universe guide me, might be the most sane approach for now. This business pattern has broken the mold from what I've experienced in years past. Thanks goodness I get a retirement check from the FD to help.
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That's some real talk, Steve. Thanks for posting that up and being open. I struggle with a lot of the same stuff. Really wanting to land the job, then you get it and it's like damn, now I gotta do that! Seriously though, I can relate to a lot of what you said here and unfortunately don't have much advice but can offer solidarity or commiseration at least.
 
IMO:
You need a vision of what you want your life to look like and try to build around that in a realistic way.

You saying you want to manage everything yourself helps me understand where you're coming from.

With that said, it can be a slippery pitfall to do it that way. I can speak from experience. The tough thing is just how much admin time is required when you’re busy, and how rough it can be when feeling behind on production. Admin can so easily take a back seat that it’s hard to face when the time comes.

It’s really all about discipline in the end. You can’t really be out to say “yes” to everyone and fail to deliver. You have to maintain a strong grip on how long your back log is and convey that to new clients. They deserve to know long it will take to get to them, and that results in frequent communication with folks your about to serve as you work through your schedule.

It really is a full time job for someone else, unless you can be ok with “capping” your income at whatever level you can meet with limited production days during the week. Just keep careful tabs on all aspects of the business and make sure it all stays in balance.
 
If you love what you do you will never work a day, this rings true for me.

My company is predominantly line clearance hazard trees and large commercial projects in aus, with myself and 8 full time staff.

We typically work away from home full time, working 4 days a week 12hrs a day.
I’m on the tools full time and do site visits for quotes during the work day when I can, paperwork done at the hotel room of an evening before tea with the crew.
Maintenance done on our 5th day if needed and the weekend spent with my family.

I love working in trees and enjoy running a business, with the end goal to have a business that my kids can one day work in and take over
 
Really interesting responses here. I appreciate everyone who said a bit about their lifestyle, I like to contemplate the mindset of other peoples and seeing what makes ya tick. I admire the hard workers out there and everyone else too, that's one great and interesting thing about this tree world. So many different beautiful folks make the whole thing go and there's usually a space open for anyone who wants to play nice.

For my part, my owner operator lifestyle is about freedom and I am eternally grateful to my local community for sharing the resources around and helping me keep this lifestyle going. Likewise to this digital community that has helped me immensely on this journey, I appreciate you all so so much. I know for sure that my participation here has given me an advantage in many situations.
 
I work part time most of the year every now and then I have a run where I'm working 5+days a week. I like 3 good days a week even decent half days my wife is the primary $ money maker for us rns make great money here plus benefits etc, so it's just nice if I can bring in the extra to cover unforseen expenses take care of home repairs vacation etc.
 
Steve Connally said:
I struggle with balance. I struggle with being happy. It's either so busy I hope for a rain day or there's nothing. When there's nothing I'm worried about not having work. My business is tanking this year. What I did to try to maintain my sanity is to get myself in a financial place where I don't have to panic if I don't have any work. I also put myself in a place where I can make the choice to lower my rates and get work or keep the rates and not work. I have enough capital I can stop working today and not have to sell the truck for about 10 months. Maybe a year if I cancel my insurance and just cover the truck parked. Work limps in and rite now the goal is to cover all the expenses. I've been able to do that except for FEB MAR APR. I lost money all 3 of those months. As long as I dont have to dip into the account to cover the bills I'll let it ride out and see what the future holds. If it comes to the point where I'm loosing a lot of money every month then I'll have to decide if I wanna sell the truck or not. If I do, I have no idea what I'll do. I'm not the climber I was 6 years ago. My skills and knowledge are way surpassed by the next generation of climbers. I'm old and fairly grumpy. I don't know anybody that would hire me and that I'd be willing to work for. I have no desire to grind hard. Really I just wanna do crane work as a climber. Its so strange. Not having work makes me not wanna work when I have work. I hate the time off but dread having a full week of work. Up is down, left is rite, nothing makes sense anymore. I have to say this is the most strange and confusing time I've ever experienced in my own personal journey. SO much internal dialogue. I'm not sure I'm the one I should be hanging out with all the time. LOL. The balance thing is a common bond but manifests in so many different ways. I think, for myself, the best effort I can put in to not give a shit and just let the universe guide me, might be the most sane approach for now. This business pattern has broken the mold from what I've experienced in years past. Thanks goodness I get a retirement check from the FD to help.
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I don't know if I've ever related more to a post on here. Thanks for saying what I'm thinking a lot of the time. I just moved to an entirely new area due to my wife getting a promotion so now I'm starting over, or maybe not. Might just sell everything.
 
Analog said:
I don't know if I've ever related more to a post on here. Thanks for saying what I'm thinking a lot of the time. I just moved to an entirely new area due to my wife getting a promotion so now I'm starting over, or maybe not. Might just sell everything.
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Best of luck to you and you're welcome
 
What I've noticed lately is that I feel like an old steam engine. I've been leaning on carpentry a lot over the past year, and I open my job site, look at this empty space where I need to get a bunch of pine standing up in the form of some shed or fence. I look. It takes me longer than ever to get going. Then once it starts happening, there is no stopping; I don't need food, water, music, it's just electricity and sawdust.

Independence.. the reality that our fate, our results, are ours. Elevating beyond blame. Looking in the mirror. Boom and Bust. Knowing ourselves. Continual interaction between self-image and the perceptions of the public.

Things get slow. Clueless where to turn. Finally change the energy. Clean the workshop, start sharpening chains. The phone rings with the next Act in the Show.
My own cosmic prayer of being Authentic, Real, and expressing my power and prowess on Earth. Honoring every drop of blood that pumps and flows.

Mystical journey of self-discovery while living in the honor of providing value for others; supported and paid eye-to-eye. Most recent string of clients are so grateful I exist.. who can help not be flattered; and I earn it, I create it; the true challenge of Man in the Physical, with our grandest kin, the Trees.
 
I think Craig makes some good points in this podcast that relates to the owner operator lifestyle. Especially when he talks about screening customers. I do the same thing. Everything goes to voicemail and a lot of times, I ask for pictures before I come out. I don’t want to spend a couple hours driving to a property for them to show me a spruce that “looks sick” because of needlecast.


 
Huge perk of running your own show is being able to bring the kids to work, imo. Nothing makes me happy than to see my kids learn practical physics and learn how to affect a change with their minds and bodies. Also, the client interaction is so valuable for them to see imo. Go out, shake hands, do the job, get paid, go get tacos, espresso, rinse and repeat. Not a bad life. Seeing the kids light up when the client give's them some cash, they make the connection. :rock:
 
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