Retired Climber
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Everything posted by Retired Climber
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Ah, finally something we can agree on.
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A bloody snowflake; you lot crack me up.
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If you want to argue about the psychology of why people do things, you are going to need to find someone else. You are way out of your depth trying to win points against me. You've been looking for an argument since I made you look like a Wally when you were posting homophobic nonsense. I shall repeat, for those who are 'hard of thinking', I'd be quite interested to see arb sites that have been built recently. I'd be very happy to be proved wrong, and find a good one.
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I mentioned that, only in the context of explaining why it wouldn't be fair for me to give an opinion. This conversation came about after I mentioned (in passing) that tree work websites generally tend to be poor, for the reason made clear by Skyhuck. I then simply mentioned I'd be interested to see Marks website when it was done. I didn't ask anyone else to provide a link to their site, and only really explained why it would be fair to offer an opinion on it when someone did.
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How is any if that relevant to the conversation? No, I'm not Scottish, a cleaner or an idiot.
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It's very little to do with design; design is of very little importance for a site like that. I'm not going to go into details as it's very easy to sit here and criticise work that was probably done a long time ago for not a lot of money. If it generates the required amount of work, it's doing its job. With websites though, the build is only one stage; you can't just let it sit there.
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If it's the https://lowimpactforestry.ltd/ site, it wouldn't be fair for me to give an opinion. Running a couple of quick tests it would seem as though it was made a long time ago when some of the stuff that we know is critical today, wasn't so important (or its importance wasn't as well known). Many of it's basic problems are things that will soon have a much more detrimental effect though, so it may be time to think about a rebuild sooner rather than later. Equally, from a content perspective, businesses pay me many thousands of pounds just for my opinion. It wouldn't be fair for me to judge a site you've paid a few hundred quid for, based on my standards. Anyway, my real interest (call it professional nosiness) was Mark's site that's currently being built as its brand new and will be built based on more modern best practices.
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I'd be very interested to see the website when it's done. @Mark Bolam
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I realise it seems that I'm being deliberately argumentative; that's not my intention. I hear these kind of things every day though " so and so's day rate is a grand, so he must be on 240 grand a year". In my experience, many professionals only end up actually charging themselves out at their hourly rate for a few hours per day. I myself spent a lot of time putting systems in place to make sure someone is paying me for every hour I'm working. Most people don't manage it though. Anyway, it's been interesting to hear the opinion of someone who's ' in the trenches'. No, there's no money in journalism and I have neither the patience nor focus to write a novel. I am writing a book (based mainly on the psychology of how people make decisions and how we can influence those decisions), but at the moment my bread and butter work involves advising businesses along similar lines. I basically tell people how to persuade other people to do things.
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No I don't, I'm not even basing my comment on an assumption. Let's just agree to disagree as I can't see us getting anywhere useful with this. Edit. Just to add, you won't get anyone capable of doing your business any good trying to sell you such a service. Building websites for small businesses isn't really financially viable for anyone good enough to do it well. They certainly won't be bothering you on the phone trying to sell you their services.
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I'm not saying they should care, I'm simply saying that there are tell tale signs that a company is run by someone who is a better arb than business person.
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Is it the one that often has a banner ad at the top of the site?
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I'm not confused; quite the opposite in fact. Whilst I completely agree that a company with a decent marketing strategy may not even need a website, some of the very common mistakes made on such sites simply wouldn't happen if the owners were business / marketing minded.
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😀 That's the problem with a lot of small businesses. It's a bit of a paradox really; those who tend to end up running the businesses are usually those who've been good at the actual work, but are not necessarily any good at running a business. It's probably why tree surgeons websites are pretty much universally bad.
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I don't really see it like that; I was doing tree work because I enjoyed it and it was what I wanted to do at the time. I never did it as an employee, only ever on my own terms. I could pick and choose the jobs I wanted to do, so only ever did the jobs that would be appreciated. I knew at some point I'd have to grow up and do something else, but I enjoyed it whilst I was doing it.
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Between 12 ½ and 13, depending on how much time I spend sitting around.
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When I was climbing a lot I was usually just less than 10 stone, at about 5'11. I was built for small percentage reductions, not lumping heavy stuff around.
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Strange how we are all different. I love a good reduction. I'd have probably done that whole thing with a silky so no need for chainsaw trousers or boots. A day scampering around a tree in a comfy pair of trousers and some old comfy boots is a great day. I'd much rather a technical climb, than dragging a big heavy saw around the place and rigging big heavy bits of timber.
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Do you actually know any consultants who regularly earn 100 grand a year, or are most scraping a living for 30 or 40 grand a year as I suggested? I left the industry entirely. I'm now a writer.
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You've said what I wrote was nonsense, then gone on to prove my point. You could earn any of the salaries you mentioned driving a lorry or choosing other similarly unskilled jobs. You could earn the lower ones driving a bus. The expert witness rates are ok, but only if you have that work to do every day. Realistically, wouldn't they just expect to earn that money on a few days per month, with the rest of the month bringing in a more average kind of rate?
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As long as it stops light, allows water through, and doesn't rot, you can't really go too far wrong.
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Do what everyone else does. Plant them a foot away from a fence and then wonder why the hell there's a sodding great tree right on the boundary in 20 years time.
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Customers asking to pay cash to avoid VAT.
Retired Climber replied to benedmonds's topic in Business Management
My professional answer is that if a client asks if there is a discount for cash, simply say "No, actually it's more expensive if I need to deal with cash", followed by a reason. Studies have shown that it doesn't really matter what that reason is, as long as there is one. -
From a business point of view you've got it a bit back to front. The normal way to do things is to find out how to make what you have most valuable, and then go from there. Why did you cut them to those sizes? Are they for a particular use?
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Customers asking to pay cash to avoid VAT.
Retired Climber replied to benedmonds's topic in Business Management
No.
