All right moving on... hopefully;
At TCIA I spoke to a number of folks who own large tree companies. Each one has numerous employees. I wanted to get an idea of where to take my small business, how to operate it, and what others have done with the challange of owning/ running a tree business.
Each and every one told me to make a plan of where the business should be in the short and long term, and then decide what I wanted to do with my business.
THe options seem to be; Become a permanent manager of the day to day operations, and seek help for the 'big decisions' like capital improvements, expanding or reducing the workflow, number of employees, etc. from professional sources like an accountant, or business major, or even a firm specializing in this type of thing.
Or, become a business manager, focus on the 'big decisions', and cultivate a day to day manager for the everyday running of the business.
Each person told me that it is fine to do everything, in fact to bring a small business to a point that it is viable, an owner operator HAS to do everything themselves, in the beginning.
But over time the danger is to become burnt out and lose interest in the whole idea of having a business.
So the bottom line seems to be, cultivate good people that help with the business, and focus on that part of the business that truly interests you.
Now I just need to figure out what I want to do everyday! I really like talking to my clients, talking trees, and seeing a challanging job well excuted & writing reports.
Maybe my own personal field for the next 10 years will be bidding, writing reports, and sort of overseeing the business, but let the actual work be done by a good climber or two.
Some young buck who can hammer out the work and still keep smiling.
Frans