Taking over the family business

2

2ndGenTreeMen

Location
Rochester New Hampshire
I have recently but not completely taken over the family business, there is still a lot to do but want to expand and grow this business in several directions. We are a well established approximately 30 year old business with a great reputation and for right now a huge back log of work. Recently we had a micro burst or small tornado go through our area put an additional month to month and a half of work on a schedule that was already about two months behind. I have worked for the business for about 15 years and know most of the ins and outs of how things have to work. I also have the advantage (if you want to call it that) of growing up with it and dreaming of the day I would take over. The problem I seem to be struggling with is with the equipment staff and amount of work we produce in a year there should be a lot more funds or availability to grow and make capitol improvements but we seem to be in a place where its not as easy as I know it should be.
How should I approach this situation? I know I need to weather the storm so they say and deal with some of existing problems my parents waited to long to address, which I am prepared to do, but do I advance the business in a economy that is tricky right now, or do I go with the old adage "more people strike it rich in an economy like this than a normal economy" I am eager and have a strong desire to succeed, but I realize where my priorities lie in the company. I am just looking for feed back with other peoples opinion.
 

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You didn't give any real specifics about your business. Here's some fundamentals...

Don't grow several directions at once. Don't spend money you unless you know it will yield a positive return, preferably over a reasonably short term.

Plan, market, work your plan, work your market; hire good leaders treat'em right and let'em lead.

Don't neglect your back office, treat'em right, expect high performance.

You should probably spend most of your time selling. Once you took over you pretty much got out of the tree business and into the selling business.

If the money isn't what it should be and you have a huge backlog, demand is high, raise your prices.


That's just the basics, you probably already know all that in one form or another... think of it as a checkup and do checkups often.
 
Well some of the specifics are, that primarily we do residential and municipal removals and pruning. Our little niche is that our work is done primarily with a crane. A few people in the area have a crane as well, but our reputation carries us to a level that no other has. I do sub out some of my work to a friend of mine with a similar set up and not to far away.(it's generally work he can get in his area)
I do have a plan to grow cautiously in the future, I guess my dilemma is, I know my potential its just my father under bid work for so long we were just getting by when we should have been banking funds steadily for the future. When I took over I immediately began to adjust pricing and mixed his work with mine. I have several guys that are worth way more than the business can pay them, and now am faced with updating, growing, paying the help better and now paying my father his retirement. As far as the office staff goes, we are the office staff and I know we need people to run the business for us. So paying them will be another expense to deal with. After I raised my prices I figured out I was still getting about 85% - 90% of my bids,so I started increasing again.
I believe I am ready to get into sales on a more permanent basis, and have one guy in particular who can sell easily as well as me, but that leaves me with should I be away from the work and just selling or should I rotate in and out to keep my head in the game?
Thanks for your advice
 
Neil has helped a couple friends of mine, and is very familiar with the tree industry. Andrew Hordyk (the testimonial) is a close friend and would gladly provide feed back. PM me if you're interested in contact info.

I plan to have Neil help me out next year.

I need help from a mind not clouded by all of the things I find myself thinking about, as I run my business.
 
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