Like Tenderfoot said, it does take some time to get it moving. My Grandpa told me there is a 5 year starvation period in a new business. I started climbing while we were still logging and it took a couple years to get semi steady work. Then I slowly started to transfer over to full time tree service. I did take about 5 years but I done it slow. I don't like to stick my neck out so I always tried to have a backup plan. We did resort to doing a few logging jobs the first few years.
I done several free jobs at first. For friends and smaller jobs that were in a location for great advertising. Like the middle of town. It was either that or sit at home. And they always produced more jobs. I considered it advertising cost. You don't want the reputation of cheap bids, but a couple of donated or charity jobs don't hurt. I don't use facebook. But that seems to be a good way to advertise. And it's free. The first advertising I did was getting a sticker for the back window of my pickup. It had my company name and number. And a tree designed into the lettering. Something catchy. I like to go to the grocery store or wal mart around 5 pm when they're the busiest. And park in a good spot where everyone coming out has to see it. I'm big on free advertising. I don't spend money for tv, radio or papers. Word of mouth and people driving by the jobsite are responsible for 90 percent of my business.
Now the hard part, employees. I worked by myself for a while. It's very hard to find good reliable help. I don't even try anymore. I've had the same person for 15 years. We're a 2 man crew right now. We can do as much as 3 or 4 man crews that haven't worked together long and aren't efficient. Buy equipment when you can. It will always be there and doesn't show up drunk and don't gripe about working in the rain. And it doesn't take your gear to the pawn shops on Saturday. Percentage of jobs missed at first are higher. Once you get established and hone your bidding skills it will go up. Don't bad mouth the competition but tell the customer why they should go with you. Don't just hand them an estimate and walk off. I still do some free (minor) work if I'm slow. Maybe a little pole saw work for the neighbor of a client if they ask for an estimate. Obviously you can't do big jobs for free but if it's just a few minutes of work and you're there anyway, it sure makes the elderly feel good. And they tell their friends at church and the senior center.
It will be slow at first. There's no way around that. But it will slowly and steadily pick up. Assuming you do quality work at a fair price. Always do exactly what you say. Leave their yard cleaner than when you arrived. You can't hardly catch a fish without bait. Tell all your family and friends about your business . A shirt with your business name on the back works great. You don't have to buy 50. Just get 4 or 5. Wear it everywhere . And stand in the longest lines at the store. Leave business cards in the local saw shop, farm store, parts store. Anywhere they will let you. I've never been told no to leaving cards somewhere.
