So I am almost 30, and currently a police officer...I am starting to realize this aint for me and I can't see myself doing this forever...Ive really been thinking about trying to start my own tree service business of some sort, but scared of failing. Nothing huge like asplundh lol but something good enough to have a steady income and make decent money,to support and finally propose and marry my girlfriend. Maybe a service that offers removal of trees, and chipping wood and such but idk. Its literally my favorite hobby and thing to do and constantly thinking about how much I enjoy it all but worried theres to much competition and all.....Any thoughts or advice.
It's like farming. Plan on working loooong hours and not making much money. Also think you will be working a labor job. I own. Hydroponic Greenhouse you can check out on FB. Just look up forever yours farm in Minnesota on there. Start doing tree work as a weekend thing. Make sure you can like it but don't give up steady income right away and when you do make sure you have 6 months minimum of bills in savings before you quit your day job. Just my two cents from owning a biz for about 6 years. 30 Clip Magazine On My Ghost Gun
I'll have my 25 in at 45 years old. I love tree falling and doing everything trees and powersaw related. I've been acquiring every thing for the tree biz and budgeting for equipment so I can jump into it head first when "I retire".
For a business class my wife had to start a business on paper and she picked a resturant. After getting prices on building,food dishes etc. SHE had figured out she was going to make 100k the first year. Well after I looked at it and adjusted her figures for what she had left out I had her down for losing about 30K the first year. I don't know if there is a moral to the story here, but I can tell you that after growing up in a family run business that it takes an awful lot to make a living. Gary
1. Think long and hard about this. 2. Contact Scotty Overkill 3. Read all you can about the business and the technical side of it. Purchasing some DVD's is also not a bad idea. 4. Do not buy cheap equipment. 5. Realize one of the biggest costs will be insurance; on the business and on yourself, especially accident insurance as it would be in one of the most costly categories. 6. Work it all out on paper. 7. Make a scouting of your area to try to get some idea of what business there might be out there. 8. After you figure your costs and your income, adjust it....a lot. Costs are almost always higher than anticipated and income less. 9. Good luck.
Sorry but mine was not meant to be negative but only to try to prepare you. It can be a rewarding experience and you can make some dollars but you have to have all your ducks in a row first.
The insurance cost was the same thing I was thinking....not only business insurance, but paying for your own health insurance now. Bold move.
Starting your own business can be highly rewarding but is a lot of work....... My advice would be to get yourself out there and work as much as you can on the side until you have all the tools and equipment you need and they are paid for and then see if the work starts to pick up so much that you are in a situation where you are almost forced to make the decision to quit and do it full time. By then you should know if it's a side job or something you want to do full time.
Like B.S. said. I BTDT several times in my life. Sharpen your pencil and get the paper out to write on. Check on the cost of being bonded and insured first. A real big deal. Next, what are you walking away from? Salary, health insurance, retirement etc. Equipment costs. Sure you can rent a stump grinder or a chipper or a tow behind bucket lift if you can get it to the site but it takes up time getting the stuff lined up to pick up and return and when you are just starting out the rental place is gonna want some bucks before you see any from the home owner. You cant just hang out a shingle that say's "A guy, a saw, and a pickup." You are gonna get stiffed by some client at least once or twice too. Small claims court is a big PITA but trust me, it will happen. I aint trying to poo, poo your endever and dont blame you for not wanting to be a peace officer if you dont like what you are doing. And dont be afraid to stop and talk to your potential competition as to the business climate or how they charge. Most guys are pretty decent and will at least give you the time of day and they may even send small jobs or the real chit jobs your way if they dont want to fool with them. Your young yet, maybe you could do like a close friend of mine did several years ago. He was a detective in a big cesspool of a town for a number of years. I am going to attach a vid of him saving the life of a uniformed officer 1 day while my friend was just going to meet his wife for lunch one day. After this happened my friend went back to school part time for years and got a degree and now works for a large tractor mfg. here and investigates corporate crimes. Disclaimer; My buddy Jim is the plain cloths duck and the uniformed officer sustained several nasty wounds from the crack head. He had an ear almost bit off clean and part of his forehead was bitten severely. The crack head? The reason he could not put his hands behind his back to get cuffed is cuz he was dead when he hit the pavement.
You want a positive. Good luck. I wish I had the cojones to try my own business when I was younger. Try sitting down and figure how much time it will take you to do each function that you would do as a pro like how long to drop and buck a tree. But don't leave out how long to clean up the mess and the costs in time and money of dumping or shredding the tops. Now look at what you might be able to charge for that service. So far so good but that is the best you can do if you are very busy and does not include the time you will need to devote to record keeping so uncle sugar can get his cut. Now compare that return to what you get, including the 25%+ in benefits from your present job. (That 25% is a very conservative number. When doing a department budget at a large company I used numbers closer to 30% just to get it right.) If you like the answer, go for it. I love to see people take on what I was afraid to do and succeed.
My wife and I owned our own successful business for 22 years, unrelated to the tree business. At any given time we had 14 employees so we were not a big business. There are so many more issues that can arise than you will ever think of for your business plan, expect the best but prepair for the worst. Above all, do not under capitalize yourself upon your start-up. Doing so is a straight path to financial discruction. Have a full 2 years, minimum, of operating cash, including saleries, put back and not a nickel less. Don't touch it for anything but covering any shortfall in operating capital. My Father in law has had a tree service in Columbia County, NY for almost 50 years. He growes, moves and takes down trees. He said in his first year of business he learned, the hard way, to have a written agreement signed by the customer and himself and at least 50% of the job in hand before he started a truck. There is this misconception amoung those who don't own a business that most of the owner's time is taken up by counting their riches. Maybe for some but not for most. For my wife and I our business made us a fair living but more important to us, it allowed us to manage our own time off which was as, if not more, important than the paycheck. And yes, we paid ourselves every 2 weeks regardless of the business's financial standing at the time. Do your homework and do it very well and be prepared to eat, sleep and breath your business 24/7 for the forseable future. And no, it's not all doom and gloom it has great rewards but do not underestimate the difficulties. Best of luck in your endeavors and remember, you make you own luck, good or bad.
We do trees on the side, believe me I'd love to make a full-time business out of it, but in reality, I couldn't afford buy health insurance for my family and I'd probably never be able to retire, which, climbing in the trees for decades, takes a toll and makes an old man out of your bones..... So like BS and Butcher as well as others have stated, be very skeptical and pessimistic in regards to starting your own business. I say this NOT to be negative, only because you want to be certain that you're ready for all the work that you have to deal with to keep yourself and your family afloat.... And by the way, thank you for your service to the community.....my hat is off to you, my friend. We love our police officers!
Do you really want the truth with all the BS aside? Here it is. As a business owner myself (x2 actually), I can tell you that the most important thing a self employed person can do is want it bad enough. You can crunch numbers all you want, make business plans until you puke, but if you don't attack it with everything you have, all the figuring won't do much good. It really does boil down to how much you want to succeed. If you trully want it bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen no matter what's in your way. It's a lot of work, it's worrying, it's stress, it's saying sometimes just what in the hell am I doing, it's working weekends and late nights. But its also hugely satisfying to look at what your building , feeling proud about what you've accomplished and knowing what's ahead because your meeting goals and will continue to do so. Don't ever let someone tell you that it can't happen or that it's too hard to do. It's supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it and it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying. I've spoken extensively with and have the pleasure to know three great guys that are also multi millionaires due to owning their own business. One has always inspired me more than the others - a son of immigrant farm workers, who's parents couldn't afford to buy him shoes for more than a couple years when he was very young, owes his success to the absolutely, undeniable belief that he was going to meet his goals. He wanted more than his parents had, it ran in his blood and oozed out of his pours. Hes told me more than once that he was scared to death a few times along the way. He's worth north of $100 million these days, has 5 businesses, employs hundreds of people and is a fantastic family man. He simply wasn't going to accept anything other than being successful. I think he's there - he's in his late 40's, mostly retired from day to day operations, spends most days with his family and travels the world hunting now. Lastly, you cannot be afraid to fail! The only thing people really fail at is that they fail to try. If you do something a fail, all you did was gain knowledge of what worked, what didn't and you try again with your new found knowledge. How could you truly live with yourself knowing that you didn't follow your dreams because you were scared? Some of the worlds most successful people have failed miserably along the way. Your young and can have whatever you want, all you have to do is find a way to get it. Only you can decide what you want and how bad you want it. Best of luck to you.
Sawdog does have some good points. The founders of Amway failed in a few businesses first. I know that many new business fail in their first few years, but a lot of those are from mismangement by people that have absolutely no business owning a business. The other thing is do you really want to take something that you really like and make it a job? Being a Bait & Tackle wholesaler I have a lot of people say " I bet you fish a lot"! My reply is " When I do get time off the last thing I want to look at is more bait or tackle. If I were you I would be putting a ring on that girls finger if she is the right one. Everything else is stuff that just happens. Gary
Thank you for your service! I can understand not wanting to be in that line of work. Don't work somewhere if you don't like it. Try to find a job teaching Criminal Justice (basically partime) and start your business. I'm sure with your background you can find a way to make it work out. Good Luck!
Lots of good advice. I have a job where I earn a decent salary, but I am sometimes envious of my brother who took over the family business. There are times when he has a streak of good work and good luck and makes some serious $$$. There are months though when one thing after another breaks, bills are large, and it's a struggle- and this is with an established business. I also stop and realize thenincome level that I will have for the rest of life through a generous pension, where his retirement is completely self funded. Point is, it can be done but understand the actual costs and risks, including the hidden income from your job-insurance, vacation, sick time, pension, etc. Good luck.
Owning your own business is great, challenging and 10x more work then you can plan for. I would suggest getting a weekend job in the tree service industry (think of it as paid training) might as well get used to working 12-14 hrs a day 7 days a week. As far as competition half the tree service guys are hacks. Just being an honest guy that does what is agreed to at the price agreed to will build your business. Plan on it taking 3 years to just build and have steady income. You will probably have to keep policing until you get enough business to justify the career change. Best of luck and thank you for your service.
I didnt mean to sound like Capt. Doomsday in my earlier post but I have a habit of not sugar coating things such as this. It is just that in my 40 plus years of being a member of the work a day world, I have seen so many young men who didnt have a clue as to what all is involved in owning and operating a small start up business. Or even a long time established business for that matter. Try explaining to an employee why when he is making x amount per hour why you have to charge the costumer 3 times his pay rate on a time and materials job so you can hopefully make a buck on the job. Lots of good advice in this thread even though it may all sound negative but it wouldnt be fair to you if we all said "Hey, go for it man! Your gonna be rich and famous in no time." cuz this is FHC not Hollywood. Best of luck to you.
