Ideas

[Thesnarlingbadger]

Why not work at becoming "life rich" rather than money rich. I know lots of people who are life rich and not many of them are what you would call "minted".

 

 

Wise words

[gdh]

Nothing wrong with using some initiative to make some money. As has been said going into firewood any bigger is expensive so I would concentrate on getting the most profit out of your current wood.

 

If you're processing by hand the timber doesn't matter so much - get as much as you can free from your main business and maybe even offer to remove it for other people.

 

You could even try going around local farmers. If they have a fallen tree in a field or on a fence offer to remove it for them, it's hard work but could save you £50-60 a ton.

[ash_smith123]

If time or money isn't on your side don't bother processing anything. Find a good local supplier that you can buy processed/seasoned/kiln dried from and just buy and sell. Get a decent website, get yourself on google and you will be away. The days you would have cut/split a few cubic metres and had to wait a year for it to season you could have delivered 5+ cube and made a few quid. It's not big money but it's the best way to get going. Before long you should have a good round going, build up some money and if you did want to buy some kit you know you have the demand and customers there to pay for it in the long run. The key is to get a good supplier!!

[matelot]

I think if you want to earn more money you have to learn new skills and/or get a new profession. I work in road construction, some of the tar squads earn stupid money....

 

How about joining the territorial army? A hobby and part time job rolled into one.

[Tom87]

I work 8-4:30 at my fathers business doing gardening and general maintenance and that's Monday to Friday! On weekends I have 2-3 gardens I maintain and do them so they are ticking over nicely! I sell a bit of firewood but not had huge numbers of people for it yet due me not advertising a great deal.

 

I'm wanting to make more money and ideas??

I work hard and try hard but feel I should be getting a lot more for the effort I put in, granted I'm only 23 but I still feel I should be doing better than I am!!

 

I would suggest getting yourself a reliable but cheap log splitter to keep your costs down but maintain a steady flow of stock and keep it dead simple, contact tree surgeons and try to get hold of arb arisings.

 

The second option would be to go the whole nine yards, get yourself a quality processor and buy in a few hundred tonnes of cordwood in one hit but that's going to dent your finances very hard. If you don't have a large customer base already it will take you a good few winters to build that base up and match the amount of stock you need to push compared to the number of clients.

 

I will hold my hand up and openly admit that I live on a farm and have plenty of space plus access to a telehandler 24/7 so I am extremely lucky. Without those luxuries I think if I had to pay ground rent or have to buy a telehandler/forklift, i'd rather do something else especially knowing the amount of work that goes into the end product then the burdon of relying on good weather to get people using up your stock, which is obviously completely out of your control.

[Mick Dempsey]

If you want to make serious money your in the wrong job mate,i know lots of arb workers,gardeners and landscapers-not one of them is well off.

Count yourself lucky you HAVE a job and can put food on the table,not everyone is so fortunate.

No offence but you sound a bit money mad...it aint everything u know

 

Nothing wrong with a bit of ambition, fella wants to get on, more power to his elbow.

My advice, start getting some machinery, splitter, small tractor, advertise, build a client base.

Good luck to you.

[Mick Dempsey]

Why not work at becoming "life rich" rather than money rich. I know lots of people who are life rich and not many of them are what you would call "minted".

 

Oh come on! "Life rich" or "rich" the two aren't mutually exclusive.

[Paul Barton]

Oh come on! "Life rich" or "rich" the two aren't mutually exclusive.

 

 

He didn't say they were. Often there's a choice involved though...e.g long hours, stress vs family time, leisure time.

[headgroundsman]

I used to make great money looking after smallish lawns. I did a course at college that was for green keepers and had a background in farming and gardening so understood about weedkillers and fertilizing just needed to know how to apply it to grass. I could also mow in straight lines (its not as easy as son think) so once the grass was looking greener and the stripes in the grass were straight I had loads of people in the areas asking if I could do theirs too. Started small and within a year I was doing as much as I could whilst keeping a part time job going in the mornings. Most important is to be reliable!!!!!

[biggarlogs]

go into partnership with dad and develop existing contracts and grow the business slowly from within,add extra services like logs as you go along and finance from profit made from existing jobs.if your dad is old and is looking to retire shortly then gradually buy him out ,if your dad is young and wants to carry on working used his experience to guide you but gradually increase your stake in the business cos one day it will all be yours.then you will be rich as machinery is paid for and work is plentiful not buy old scrap machines and think they will do ,buy the best you can afford new or used.good luck. i started my business with £2k and now i have overdraft.but £200 k worth of machinery all paid for