Should I start a business????

[TrillPhil]

Okay, enough already. This will finalize this post as I kan't bee leave ey wuz smarrt enuf two eavan poast too thes sight.......:deadhorse:

I wouldn't take the comments so personally. The advice is true there is no substitute for experience. There are an unlimited amount of guys who go and knock on doors and low-ball jobs and there are more starting up all the time, tree work is competitive and you'd better be thick skinned. To get decent paying jobs you must be able to sell, and then exceed their expectations to get referrals. (hell I work with some guy's on weekends that low ball, I can work one saturday, and make almost what I do in a 40 hour week, gotta pay the bills and there is no shame in hard work, especially when I give up my weekend)

The truth is if you want something as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful. If you don't, then don't waste your time, the money isn't as fast or as easy as it seems. The danger and close calls, much more so.

 

[ThePruner]

You can only do as much as you believe you can.

 

[jefflovstrom]

I see a slow coming de-rail. Learn our biz before you think can do it.
Jeff

 

[beowulf343]

To the op, should you personally start a tree business? I've got to say no. You just have no experience in the business. Cutting firewood and tree removal or trimming are two completely different animals. My old man has been logging his entire life, yet i don't ask him to run rope for me on sidejobs simply because although he is very knowledgeable about felling trees, dropping a tree in a postage stamp sized area takes a completely different set of skills. I also don't agree with picking up a bucket before a chipper-most people don't realize how much brush a tree will produce and dicing it in the back of a pickup is no fun for anyone.

But i'm not even going completely say no due to your lack of experience. That can be overcome with picking up a good treeman like others have mentioned. (I'm not going to say you just need a climber, cause you need an all around treeman, someone who can climb, run a bucket, and trim or do a removal from either. Not all climbers are bucket operators.) And so your need for a treeman is going to hurt you. A good treeman can be hard to find. A guy you trust to basically run your company can be even harder. If he doesn't feel like showing up to do a job or calls off because of a hangover, are you going to climb the tree? Nope, and now you've let down a customer.
So, you are looking for a good treeman, dependable. But what do you have to offer him. Many, many of the good, dependable treemen have gone and started their own outfits. There are still some dependable guys around though who prefer not to run a business. But, how are you going to attract him? I got to thinking about this personally, could you lure someone like me away from my current job? Could you guarantee forty hours a week, a weekly paycheck that won't bounce, dependable ground guys, dependable equipment, actual treework throughout the winter (none of this snowplowing crap), full health coverage and retirement benefits, or even a salary close to my current one. That right there is the problem, the dependable guys that don't have their own business are usually in a position or are making a wage that you can't hope to match.

Anyway, good luck whatever you do.

 

[NCTREE]

not to mention having enough knowledge and experience to give customers the right advice about their trees.

 

[sgreanbeans]

:notrolls2:

 

[jrr344]

I remember when I quit my job as a diesel mechanic and went to work for a Natural Gas Pipeline and knew nothing about it when I first started all the UNION members told me I was in over my head and I need to start out cleaning trucks and sweeping floors, but common sense tells you how to do the easy stuff and I told the union guys to F$%# off and I asked the few nonunion members for help when I needed help. You people act like you need 40yrs to figure stuff out if you need that long that is probably why people are choosing lowballers over your work.

 

[lxt]

I remember when I quit my job as a diesel mechanic and went to work for a Natural Gas Pipeline and knew nothing about it when I first started all the UNION members told me I was in over my head and I need to start out cleaning trucks and sweeping floors, but common sense tells you how to do the easy stuff and I told the union guys to F$%# off and I asked the few nonunion members for help when I needed help. You people act like you need 40yrs to figure stuff out if you need that long that is probably why people are choosing lowballers over your work.

Look Jackwagon, noone said you need 40 yrs, However......you need more than desire & a chainsaw!!

In this trade you truly wont have faced every scenario untill you have around 10 years of doing it steady & even then something new pops up!! these guys that go work for someone for 1-3yrs & then think they have enough knowledge to go it on their own are seriously wrong!!!

I remember apprenticeships being 5yrs, then due to lack of labor they drop it to 2yrs....then finally to 18months, they need bodies out there & need to satisfy training requirements, in my area just this past year 2 people dead from electrocution & 1 guy 29 yrs old with a broken back, never to do tree work again!!

point..... they all had a couple years exp. & thought they knew what they were doing, they "WERE" competition, now their not! this is not the way I want competitors to go away.

Through stupidity of one without enough time in the trade or some wannabe just jumping into it for the money is the reason this trade will become regulated!!!!! So all you I want to climb, own a tree biz types without the "proper" knowledge/time in the trade.....YOU`RE DESTROYING IT....!!

Man, is it wrong that I dislike these types so much? I`d like to stick their pathetic asses up in a sycamore on a rain day to take hang off a house or powerline........how long you think you`ll wanna do this work then??




LXT.....................

 

[jrr344]

That is your argument that two guys with no or some experience got hurt people who have done it their whole life have got hurt.
You sound like a union thug you dont want competition and you think you are the only one who can do it. I am sure when you quit some one will replace you, its amazing to me that you guys think you have to have 10 yrs. of experience to do anything. It brings me back to where I used to work you could take the test ,because of the union, and get all your Qualifications, which I had all of them within two years, but you couldn't get the pay because the union thought it took ten year to get the qualifications. I am not saying he is qualified or not I don't know the guy, but I have found that if you want to do something you should at least try, everyone knows their own boundaries.

 

[lxt]

That is your argument that two guys with no or some experience got hurt people who have done it their whole life have got hurt.
You sound like a union thug you dont want competition and you think you are the only one who can do it. I am sure when you quit some one will replace you, its amazing to me that you guys think you have to have 10 yrs. of experience to do anything. It brings me back to where I used to work you could take the test ,because of the union, and get all your Qualifications, which I had all of them within two years, but you couldn't get the pay because the union thought it took ten year to get the qualifications. I am not saying he is qualified or not I don't know the guy, but I have found that if you want to do something you should at least try, everyone knows their own boundaries.

Union thug.......NO WAY!

yes those with exp. have gotten hurt....but theres a difference, They knew better!!!!!

Due to the fact you think just being qualified/certified makes you "GOOD" then go have your prostrate checked by some one who has just got their certs. or lets see how smooth that catheter goes in when nurse nancy has only done 2,

see this is the train of thought that is going to regulate our field N then nit wits who have already ruined the trade will now have to move on to cut grass!! If you think it wont happen....look at New Jersey & the other new england states!!!!

competition is welcomed & when I quit??? someone else will replace me..BUT, it will take them a long time sprout to be respected/recommended & gain the good reutation that I have..........

See the one thing you have wrong in your post is "Not everyone knows their own boundaries" especially newbees, they will take chances under supervision let alone put them out on their own.........there is a reason for the 10yr mark & it is through the Dept of Labor`s statistical data where this number comes from.......read it some time!!! BTW, 1 life lost is too many, so what more does one need to base their conclusion on? you might want to consider reading the death/injury stats in the tcia Mag.




LXT..............

 

[swyman]

How could I have been so silly to even think I could start a tree service with my lack of qualifications! I now know you have to be a MENSA member to join the ranks of you folks, I only carried a 3.5 in college. I think I will try something easier like building rockets or something?????

 

[sgreanbeans]

How could I have been so silly to even think I could start a tree service with my lack of qualifications! I now know you have to be a MENSA member to join the ranks of you folks, I only carried a 3.5 in college. I think I will try something easier like building rockets or something?????

Smartest thing u have said on this thread,much safer, rep coming your way

 

[jrr344]

Well I think the best way to start out at this business is to get an application for MCDONALDS.

 

[lxt]

How could I have been so silly to even think I could start a tree service with my lack of qualifications!

Ill just wait for you to answer your own question.... I think tommorrow im gonna start a mobile mamogram service, Ill tell all the ladies: " I have no qualifications or Certifications" I just think Ill like the work!!

Boy, Ill bet the ladies come from all around for my diagnosis, LMFAO!!! Yeah how could you think you could start a tree service? dumb Jackwagon!



LXT...............

 

[lxt]

Well I think the best way to start out at this business is to get an application for MCDONALDS.

For you thats setting a high standard, we all were thinking the ideal job for you would be scrubbing toilets at the local truck stop.........."boy you got a pretty mouth!" they`ll like you at the flyin J or 76. now theres something you are qualified for!




LXT.................

 

[treeclimber101]

How could I have been so silly to even think I could start a tree service with my lack of qualifications! I now know you have to be a MENSA member to join the ranks of you folks, I only carried a 3.5 in college. I think I will try something easier like building rockets or something?????

Start your tree service and #### all the naysayers , and you wanna why I say that because all these jackwagons started somewhere and all were new sometime , so why not , and I can say that because nothing that you will ever accomplish affects me at all we my as well be on separate planets , just be careful that you don't fall outta a tree and splat in someones back yard or accidentally cut your throat with a saw or feed yourself in the chipper , maybe you think that I am being a jerk for saying that but it happens for real its a nasty gig to be in and for someone with little or no experience it could get down right bloody ... So Be Safe and good luck ...GET GOOD LIFE INSURANCE your worth more dead than alive anymore ..

 

[Bigus Termitius]

You actually mean death insurance.

I did an estimate for an insurance salesman here in town yesterday. He wants to sell me "life" insurance.

It's funny because my idea of life insurance is safe equipment and practices.

 

[swyman]

You guys are the most ridiculous group of people I have ever chatted with and most of you dumb bastards will take that as a compliment.

 

[TrillPhil]

You guys are the most ridiculous group of people I have ever chatted with and most of you dumb bastards will take that as a compliment.

Thank you, thank you very much!

 

[jefflovstrom]

You guys are the most ridiculous group of people I have ever chatted with and most of you dumb bastards will take that as a compliment.

So why are you here? Are you a trouble making troll or just an idiot?
Jeff