New name for the business?

[treeman82]

Alright fellas, I am gonna get really personal here so I don't really want to hear any negative feed back. Forrest, if you so much as THINK about responding to this... boy oh boy will you hear me get nasty.
There are some things that I have been needing to do with my business over the past couple years.

1) I fired my "partner" after only being in business with him for about 2 months. Name of my company is "HL Tree Turf and Landscape, Inc." H was for Hagen (partner's last name) L was for Lang which is of course my last name.
2) Needed to get new checks after I switched phone numbers over a year ago.
3) Get a new insurance carrier as my former company was making me into their ?????. (Just got dropped for non-payment of bill)

I am meeting with my neighbor / accountant within the next few days to go over declaring Chapter 7.
Right now I am in a good amount of debt which I cannot pull myself out of as I have no work coming in at this time which would be large enough to make any head way on my bills. I picked up a small tree job this week but it is really quick (1 day) and I won't make enough off of it to really pay any bills. The dealer I used to go to is now having me pay 3 times for a bill that should have been taken care of almost a year ago. I am owed some money, but whatever that is will have to be used for paying taxes and spending money up at school which starts up again in another 4 or 5 weeks. I do have work coming up, however it is not for at least another couple of months. So after I finish a minor job here or there I have nothing to pay my bills with. I have been talking with a lot of guys during the past 2 weeks or so and EVERYBODY is hurting now. 1 guy who I know who usually has 20 guys working for him at minimum is now down to 12 guys plus himself and I believe 1 driver for the logging truck. The guys at the nursery I deal with, when I talked with them I can quote them as saying things are "deader than dead" The heavy hitters (guy's who do the big jobs only) are taking on smaller jobs as nothing big is out there now. 1 guy who I know who this spring was at him and 3 or 4 guys is now down to him and 1 guy and they are struggling to keep busy. Apparently the only guys who are doing "ok" is the ones who cut grass, and even that is really slow now due to the drought, which coincidentally is keeping most others from planting for fear of drying out wells or getting fined by the towns for violating water restrictions. Believe the fine for using a pressure washer is $500.00

Really sorry for sending out this negative "vibe" but I figured I would let you all know what's goin on.

Anyways... if I can get started up again this fall from the work I supposedly have booked... what would you all think would be a good name for the company? Inc. or Corp. No D.B.A or that stuff.

Reminder... Forrest - keep your mouth shut.

 

[DDM]

How about Chop-N-Top !

 

[Jumper]

Bummer times.......

How about Phoenix Tree Service? Arisen from the ashes and all.

Sorry to hear things are going sh*tty for you! I think things are a lot worse in the USA than they are here, but the effect will be felt soon I am sure. It is like a mouse being in bed with an elephant...every little fart or movement has a major impact!

I am no stranger to being underemployed, and as is the case ight now, unemployed. Keep busy at something else if you can until you end up back at school. Tomorrow I fully plan on going out and having someone fire hockey pucks at me.

 

[Nirvanachick]

Man I have no clue for a name, I just want to say I salute you for going through all that, and wanting to start over WHILE putting yourself through school. I think you deserve a standing ovation personnally, sorry I have no advice, I just hope your luck changes.

 

[o0_TreeMan_0o]

keep it simple. Lang Tree Service, Lang Tree & Stump. Simple says exactly what you do. Whatever you chose, remember you will have to look at it on cards, doors, etc. AND for heaven's sake do not use Tree Expert. lol

Let us know what you chose and I hope things go your way.

 

[Kevin]

If you were a hack you might use TITS UP TREE SERVICE

I`ll try and come up with something better ...

ok ok here`s another ...
UP YOURS TREE SERVICE

no that`s no good either ...
I`ll keep thinking.

 

[DDM]

Tree Man in the MiniVan!

 

[treeclimber165]

Matt,
How much equipment/overhead do you have now? It might be a good time to pull back and regroup. Seems like you have a few contacts in your area, might you be able to sub yourself out as a freelance climber? Virtually no overhead, and you don't have to spend all the time selling/collecting/dumping trucks/maintaining equipment.
Most guys in the business are better tree guys than businessmen, and get so buried in debt with expensive equipment, ins., payroll, etc. that they end up working for wages anyway. I have to force myself sometimes to NOT start buying a bunch of equipment because I know I won't make any more money doing it. I'd end up working for the dealers and banks, taking home the same amount of money.

 

[Higherup]

Hey I read your post and am sorry to here things are so slow in NY, I just started my own business (well I actually bought a down sized tree company) and Ive never been so busy, however my friend in the landscape business called to see if I can keep one of his guys busy for a couple wks, so the drought really doesnt affect the tree care industry so much as it does the landscape here in cincinnati ohio, I was in a partnership prior to this venture and I had thoughts of a partner again but I remember what a wise business man once told me, if a partner can make up for your weakness's or bring to the table something I dont and vice versa then we would have a good chance of feeding off of each other and be successful, my problem is that no one works as hard as I do nor do they give 110% to make it work like I do so I decide to stay alone, Its alot of work but so far so good and Im 3-4 weeks behind at this time and could be more if I wanted.so I hope this helps a little, one thing I did to shake the tree and get a lot of work is I found a address and label program on the internet and I focused on local zipcodes near the shop we send out 100-150 day and the response is unbelievable, Im convinced i could pack up and move to any city and do the same thing as ive done here so give it a shot I very seldom travel more than 2 mls to a estimate because of the pin point of zips, I also bought a brand new f-150 white and had it vinyled to look like a big bill board and that cost 15000 but its worth it for 300 a month
so take this for what it is I also picked a name thats express's arborist (which is important here) and is first in the phone book ADVANCED ARBORIST'S AND ASSOCIATES your welcome to use it as long as you dont come to cinti.....

 

[treeman82]

Brian, right now my liabilities are between $10,000 and $15,000.
$4,200 to a sub who ????ED me
$3,300 on one credit card which is maxed out
$220 to a mower shop
$2,800 to another mower shop because the first one ????ED me
$1,000 on one credit card
$700 on another credit card
$600 on my phones
$2,000 max of misc debt.

I have some equipment right now, but not a lot.
2 trailers which are both POS'
couple chain saws, ropes, etc
Compressor, misc shop gear
Couple trimmers / back pack blowers / etc.

A big part of it is that I can't make my monthly payments... but also a good part is that I have wrecked my credit thus far by not being able to pay my bills, so this would in a sense give me a fresh start.

 

[kf_tree]

if you feel like strapping on the spikes and traveling to brooklyn i may be able to get you some work. partners are a hard thing in this business especialy when one feels like he's doing all the work. plus theres alot of cash you have to keep your eye on. as far as a name keep it simple bla bla tree care or bla bla tree experts. too bad theres already a ryans tree svc. if you use your last name you could always get a check written to just the name to was a little bit of money. sorry to hear about your problems. i also know a great ins agent thats real help full i'm just not sure if he has coverage in your area. comp you probly have to get from the state ins fund, that sux. i was talking to my boss the other day and he said if he only knew he could make the money climbers are making now he never would have opened a business. he would have just stayed gun slinging. the only reason i started climbing again after selling my business was because of all the offers i was getting. lately i'm making killer money with no head aches.(unless the spike police hunt me down)

 

[kf_tree]

dude you really are not in a bad position money wise. i know a company that is desperate for a climber. you could make that up in a a few months if your a capable climber. i'll pm you my phone # if your interested.

 

[treeclimber165]

wish I had a place to stay in NYC

I'd jump on being able to make a few hundred a day for a month or two. It would clear up a lot of my debt from being out of work for a year. Might be worth looking into, Matt.

 

[treeman82]

As far as being a freelance climber goes, LOTS of spanish guys are climbing now. I have tried to get some of my contacts to pimp me out to their friends... but they haven't done anything yet. I asked them to get me out there months ago, and still nothing. I was talkin with Nick a little while before he left for Europe and he mentioned that my area was hit the hardest in the country from some survey that was done recently. I will try calling a couple companies though to see if they have anything for the next few weeks.

 

[Treeman14]

Matt,
You're really doing yourself a disservice by excluding what's-his-name from this thread. You know, he's the only one on here who has any business smarts. But hey, its your thread.

Here's my .02. I'd avoid bankruptcy if at all possible. It may haunt you for a long time. Maybe you could consolidate those bills into one low-rate loan. Hang in there if you can. It can only get better, right?

 

[kf_tree]

last sunday i climbed for a new tree svc. i had 2 pin oaks to remove. the bigger one was about 80 ft. i asked him how long it would take his climber to put them on the ground. he said about 4 hours a tree. i roped 1 out of the other and had the both down in 2 1/2 hours. he was so happy he gave me a 100.00 tip. i felt so guilty i even stuck around to cut wood for half an hour.

 

[o0_TreeMan_0o]

 

[DDM]

Brett!

 

[treeman82]

Brett, I have been tryin lately to get a loan like you are talking about in order to consolidate my debts, but I can't find any.
In order for me to get a loan I would need for my parents to co-sign for me which they refuse to do. Or at least while I am still in school.

 

[treeclimber165]

Yup, Brett's idea is great in theory, but it cannot work. I had offers coming out the ying-yang for 'debt consolidation' loans when I had everything under control. But after being 30 days late on a few, I can't get squat. Now I could use a consolidation loan and cannot get one.