advice please

[Will Ayers]

Will,I was earning £320 a week before tax in 2003 & i had loads of experience & qualifications back then. Yeah you can earn alot more self employed but with can you guarentee enough work to keep you living comfortably? I hope you can & say good luck & take my hat of to you.

 

that'd be more than enough for me to tick over on at the mo, you live to your means and my means are meager

 

cheers mate, perhaps i'll do a post in a few months saying how ive done

[Treewarrior]

that'd be more than enough for me to tick over on at the mo, you live to your means and my means are meager

 

cheers mate, perhaps i'll do a post in a few months saying how ive done

If you are saying £320 a week or slightly less would be enough, then why are you doubting yourself?

 

You only need 2/3 jobs @ £160 per week and you are on target!

 

Stop being the doubtful dodger, you have a wife that is 100% behind you and supportive. for christs sake man, you have been given the chance of a lifetime. What? IF? But? they are all negatives!!

 

You should be thinking........hey this is great, my wife is working to support me short term, I can do this and more, we can do this and build a great company! Go for it mate and the best of luck, not that you need luck, you will make it, believe in yourself!

[combined tree services]

go for it mate , see it as an adventure and enjoy it . i was earning 205 a week and was being taken the p**s out so i started out as a jobbing climber i was only charging 80 a day and was supling everything exept a chipper eventually i started taking on my own work , now i have my own busines and have never looked back , yes i had some quiet times but who doesnt , its better than having a boss lay you off . if i were you a would go with my heart and engoy it !!! either way good luck mate

[dangerous brian]

remember behind every great climber theirs a better groundie lol.

[Ross Turner]

Well said Brian,lmao.

[stoxs]

It`s not that bad lineclearance!!

 

18 months under my belt and most of the time enjoy it.

 

 

understand your concerns for poor quality tree work but that is in your hands, understand siding up trees ain`t the best thing for trees but they do ok what i have seen.

 

You will find most of the time it will be easyer than commercial work and i still find time to do private work at weekends.

 

look forward to meeting you one day {i see your name on the team sheet)

 

cheers stoxs

[Will Ayers]

i dont want an easy life stox i want to enjoy my work, you have outlined how to not hate line work but not how to love it. i know im not suited to it, my original question was should i follow money or should i follow my heart.

 

apart from the steady income i cant see many benefits from linework. i dont like easy days i like ocming home shattered, i dont agree that siding up trees is acceptable i think it is a terrible thing to do to a tree. the axium of uniform strength that trees have ensures that the tree is balanced while taking in to accoount the wind and angle it must grow to get sunlight. this is an amazing thing that trees do, when we hack half of the canopy off they react poorly, you may say that they react well as you have seen rapid regrowth on the side which is cut but what the tree is doing is rebuilding its balance. this means it has less strength to cope with pathogens, make flowers and fruit and has a reduced overall growth rate. next time you side a tree up go round the other side of the tree about a year later and you'll also see die back in that side.

 

knowing this i certainly couldn't find enjoyment by siding trees up.

[stoxs]

Hows it going?

 

Have you started yet?

[Rob D]

Have a go yourself - you can always get a job doing line clearance or working with another firm if things don't work out ... The more varied the work you do i.e maybe a bit of gardening in the summer, then the better chance you'll have of success

[Will Ayers]

it's going brilliantly! dont have much money to show for it but i have a new truck and loads of shiny gear, the money is steady enough and work is picking up. i am so glad i made the choice i did as i have been so happy working for myself. i have had the most awesome work sites both for myself and for other companies and its all looking rosie.

 

thank you to all of you that gave me the push i needed and thanks to those of you who tried to stop me as you made me think long and hard about it all.

 

this has been such a help, thanks arbtalkers.