£38K is the current UK average wage, are business owners working for less??

[Maxnaggle]

Interesting read, coming from someone whose been doing this for 4 years, amazing to hear the difference in peoples experiences in business.

[beechwood]

The owner of a decent tree firm should be making well over £50k. Most likely a skilled climber who's set the whole thing up and invested a lot of time and money into the business. If you're struggling to find enough customers willing to pay good prices the answer lies in great marketing. Unfortunately you won't learn how to do that from any trade association, government body or college. Trying to compete for work on price is never gonna work out well in tree work. The only way is to win work whilst being more expensive than others. I haven't cracked how to do that for commercial contracts and I wouldn't want them anyway, but for private work it is certainly possible. You need some expense and work doing first to attract the right customers but the ongoing benefits are awesome. Obviously a better income, but more than that you get to work for people who appreciate good tree work, you get to hire and work with all the best staff, and you can work at a brisk but not stupid pace. And hardly ever leave site after 4pm.

 

The right marketing is the only way to get that.

 

 

'this threads about average working wages, what it should really be focussng on is the business model of firms in the uk. This is where the problem clearly is. More education is needed regarding running a business. This is more important IMO than any CS course in running a chainsaw, any diploma in aboriculture. This industry is formed from the ground up by passionate arborists who love their job and the lifestyle that goes with it, but thats not sustainable. The sooner people realise that the better.' Steve Bullman

 

These 2 comments are spot on.

Been in business for 16 years and spent the first 10 bitching and moaning, spent the last 6 working on offering a better service and selling that to my customers.

I now have a great group of guys working for me and a fantastic loyal customer base.

We never run out of work and we are never the cheapest (quite often double the price but still win the job).

You can blame everything and everyone under the sun for why your not getting what you want from your business but the only person who is going to change the situation is you.

Arboricultral Association run a good 2 day course Arb business course, I would suggest it's a good place to start.

Good luck

Regards Neil