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From Tree Crew To Real Freedom with Rejoice Tracey, Crazy Irish Tree Service · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I am Cliff McCrae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to their big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to be joined by Rejoice Tracy with Crazy Irish Tree Service.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Rejoice, how are you today?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing wonderful.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very glad to have you on.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go ahead and jump right into things.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, who is Rejoice Tracy and what is Crazy Irish Tree Service?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I am actually, my husband and I started the company in 2015.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: And um, since then, uh, we poured our heart and soul into the company.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: We grew it from the bottom up.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Both of us were brand new at this.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I joined more of the secretary side of things.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: So doing the estimates and invoices, uh, dealing with the phones, and then my husband was the full operation side along with his crew.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so we did that along with our children at the time, just kind of coming along with estimates and being a part of the cleanup.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they were there for it all.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was definitely a family-run business.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so in 2022, we found out that we were expecting another baby.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so we decided to this would be the best time to pass the business on to someone who could take it to hearts that we we really just couldn't with the the load of the load that we currently had and uh wanting to be there for our children.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And the business was uh certainly getting large enough that was keeping us busy and busier than we wanted to be with the children that we had.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So the gentleman that was working for us at the time as our climber, um, he showed interest and he purchased the company in 2022.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: And since then, he has taken the company to places that we never could.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's invested lots of money into the best and the newest equipment.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: He's taken his skills of climbing.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: He's a professional rock climber.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's taken those skills into the tree industry and has gone through extensive courses in all types of rigging and technical climbing and then his certifications alongside what he already had as a rock climber and a trail guide.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: He has brought into the tree service industry and has taken that to a new level as well.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I have stayed alongside the company because our customers know me.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have always been the ones that they talk to.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: And believe it or not, we do have a lot of repeat customers in this industry.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So they are still talking to the same person.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And in the end, this business was our baby.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: We grew up from the ground up.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really honored to still be a part of it and still be like the face of it in some ways that, you know, lets people know that I still care and I'm still here and I'm glad to be a part of it one way or another, even though my husband's not doing the operation side of it, you know, and I'm no longer doing the estimates.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm we're able to stay with our kids and I can do this from home.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's been a wonderful, happy medium.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that is me, and that is just the short story of the beginning of Crazy Irish and kind of where it's at now.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, rejoice, tell me, real talk, you know, what's something about running a business that people think is amazing, but you actually think it's complete BS when you hear it?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that that for them, their their first inclination is like, I'm gonna make my own schedule because they hate punching an alarm clock.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: And when you when you decide to to start your own business, I don't think that you realize that, yeah, you're not working a nine to five anymore.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: You're working uh 12 to 14 hour shifts, you know, lots of times you're waking up earlier than you did when you worked your actual job.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to bed, still working later.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Your work doesn't leave, you know, when your work doesn't stop when you leave the building like it used to.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: It follows you home.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is constant.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And until you actually shut your computers off, shut your phone off, and you decide the schedule you want to make for yourself, that is the that is when you're actually creating your own schedule as a business owner.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: But as a business owner, you're so excited to see it grow and you have such a desire to just take it to all these new heights that I think a lot of people have a real, they have a struggle with that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know when to turn things off.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when they worked for the man, they didn't care.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: They were so happy to leave work.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know I certainly was.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was counting the minutes when I could clock out, you know.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: But as a business owner, you're like, well, maybe I can just take this last phone call because what if that leads to this?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and you're just so into investing in it.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really where it's hard to find the balance because you do still have to be there for your family, your children, your spouses, and your, you know, even if you're friends, you have to still have a life and you have to have a break.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that's a pretty big misconception is I'm gonna start my own business so I can make my own schedule, not have to punch an alarm clock.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: But until you've been in business a really long time and you find people that can actually take the place of some of the operations and you can buy your some of your time back, it's a quite the investment in the beginning.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and you don't have the time that you used to.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have days off really unless you really want to make up.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how do you handle that now since you've kind of you guys have kind of stepped away from that?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Are you guys a five o'clock done for the day or do you work around the clock as well?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: It on well, my husband does not have anything uh to do with the tree service anymore.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it really is just me.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: So he makes his own schedule in what he does now.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: But as far as me, I stop answering the phone at five o'clock.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: If I have a free second or two, I'll shoot some text or emails back and forth.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: But in the end, you know, I'm if the phone calls are done at five, I'm there for my kids, you know.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then I don't answer the phone on Saturdays or Sundays.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Those are my days off, and I'm there for my kids.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I am happy to return text or emails because those only take a second.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that it's not me interrupting my child to answer a phone call.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: I can still do that simultaneously because we do emergency jobs as well.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's that is a part of it.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to make sure that if someone has a tree on their house on a Saturday, I want to make sure that we can get someone out there to take care of them.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: So usually if I see that I got a message come through, I'll follow up via text and make sure someone gets out there to take care of that.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where I find the balance, stay staying there and being there for my family and my kids, but also making sure operations don't become a standstill just because it's my day off.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, understood, understood.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So what would you say was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this business could either really work or it could completely blow up in my face and I could lose everything?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't really think that we ever felt that it could blow up in our face and we could lose everything because it it was it was a very steady 10 years.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: We grew it very slowly because we wanted to pay cash for everything.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't want to go in debt.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we just had the best customers that really gave us that opportunity to do what we always wanted, which was buy land and build our own home.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so we the business was the vehicle to get us to that.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was so steady, there was never just this.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: I guess with true work, maybe it works a little bit differently than other businesses, but because it was steady and every year we got a little bit better and we grew a little bit more, but there wasn't just some substantial, you know, double, triple the income.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was just a very steady growth over 10 years that we never felt like it was just gonna blow up in our face.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think that we just decided that, you know, this is this we needed a new direction if we were gonna continue to be there for our family.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we needed someone with some younger energy.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: My husband, he's in his late 40s, and it's tiring, you know, he was climbing and uh doing all the tree work.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: He was on every job and that we never ran multiple crews.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to make sure the owner was there from the beginning to the end, making sure the quality stayed in place.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: So once we met the new owner, his name is Adam Sneddon, he had the energy and the charisma, and obviously the talent that it takes to run a business and certainly the operation side.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so kind of getting that onboarding was an easy process, not only that, but it was exactly what the business needed.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: It needed that fresh and young energy.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's in his 20s, so it was he certainly wants to take this many years down the road and keep growing it as much as possible.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that's certainly what it needed.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the great thing is, you know, we live in a great area where there's trees everywhere.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's you know, there's no lacking of trees everywhere in this area.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So you're always gonna need some kind of tree service.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, Rejoice, what would you say was the most stressful moment you've had as a business owner?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like a, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: The scariest moments are when the trees are not doing what we want them to do.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And there's been more than one instance where that's happening, where we have to pull an emergency rigging or emergency equipment to get the tree to go in the direction that we need it to go.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: And lots of times, this, you know, this happens to anyone where you won't have any wind.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then as soon as you put a cut in the tree, a huge amount of wind will come and blow the tree in the direction you don't want it to go.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that has a pretty large impact.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, with that being said, there has been very, very many scary moments with just making sure that all of the circumstances and everything, all the whole environment is controlled in many ways to make sure everything happens successfully and safely.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And thankfully, we've never damaged a home and dropped a tree on a home.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: There's been small, you know, small instances where some sidings gotten cracked or gutters or something like that.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And we're certainly licensed and insured and have those repairs made.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure the customer's happy.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: But accidents happen, and our biggest thing is first of all, making sure that we can prevent them, but also making sure that if an accident is to happen, that the customer is safe in the long run, and we have the insurance to cover anything that they need and they feel comfortable and safe, and that all our employees have the safety equipment they need to run and operate.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before you sold the business, you know, did you have you ever thought about quitting?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, what made you stop?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, we never thought about quitting because that was not an option that we did it for so long that all our eggs were in one basket.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we we both, once you become a business owner, it's really hard to go back to a job job.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think we both knew that the only option out, if we wanted out, was to sell it.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that this the sale of the business would allow us to do something different.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we never thought about quitting.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: That was just wasn't an option.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't even in the cards.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, you always think about what's what's your next chapter?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: What am I gonna do?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: What do I want to do in five years?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, where do I want to be in five years and what's gonna get me there?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that was that was kind of where we stood with that.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now I know you mentioned your you know, your kids a lot and being there for them and being around them a lot, you know, seeing them grow up.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you know, when when you're on your deathbed, nobody really says, you know, oh man, I wish I would have worked 60, 70 hours a week.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I would have wish I would have worked more coming up rather than working less.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, obviously you have a good format for you know being around your kids, watching them grow, which is important, right?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's that's really what matters in life.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Not so much uh I'm working 70 hours a week, correct?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean that's what's important in life.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So what would you say?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, was there anything you had to do personally that had to change or had to shift in order for your business to grow?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Would you say?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like in your personal life?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: In our personal life.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, me and my husband being on the same page at all times, that was hugely important because you never want to have a miscommunication with a customer because they tell him one thing and not me the other.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: So having that very open communication was very much the the first thing that we had to do.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so now me and the new owner, uh, we have that constant communication now, which makes sure that we're always on the same page no matter what.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that obviously helps the business growth and the sustainability.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the probably the first thing is communication.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then the second would be just making sure we had enough rest, and especially for my husband physically.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's very physically demanding.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: So making sure he had the rest that he needed, whether that was an actual day off or a vacation of some sort just to keep everything fresh and uh keep us loving what we did.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there was because it was ours and we started it from the ground up, we uh we did love what we did, and I still love what I do, but it doesn't mean that you don't get tired and exhausted, especially him physically.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that was important is making sure that you have like the rest that you need to keep going and making sure you still love what you do.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you get to a point where you're running a business and you don't love what you do anymore, then you're not gonna be as good at it.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you need to have a vacation, find rest, or you need to go back to the basics and you're like, well, what made me fall in love with this in the first place?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Then that's where you need to go back to to reset your mind and make sure that everything continues.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it just doesn't become mundane, you know, because that's that's gonna feed off into the customers and they're gonna realize that.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I agree.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, and this is a hypothetical question here, but let you know, let's say if someone shadowed you for a full day or or let's say even a full week, what would you say would surprise them the most about how you operate your business?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think for someone that shadows our crew for a day or a week, if they were to shadow another tree service, I think that the what they would be surprised at with the tree service that we're running on our side and the crew that we're running on our side is the care that the owner is putting into the beginning of the job and the end of the job, and that he is staying there for the extent of the time.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's not running off and doing estimates during this time.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's not um just watching the crew the whole time he's in the trees or he's cutting the trees or he's helping drag brush, he's running equipment and he's wanting to make sure that, you know, if he's doing the estimate and the customer has told him this, this, and this, that there's not this miscommunication.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: If he leaves and he just leaves the guys to do the job and they do something wrong that wasn't communicated to them properly, um, and the customer gets upset, you know, that's that does fall on us because we did the estimate and we agreed to this.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't relayed to the crew properly.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: So because the owner is there from the beginning to the end, we make sure that nothing is left undone.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the owner can come out and look at all the work and make sure that they approve it before payment is provided.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we want them to make sure that they are happy with the work that's done.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the owner being there the whole time, it m makes it for a lot less error happening with the communication side of things and that everything's done, all the trimming's done, as the the owners pointed out, the limbs, you know, and and I want this and this, but don't cut this.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that is where having the owner on site the whole job really makes it worth it.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think that's the one thing that's different about us than other tree crews is the the care that it takes to really make sure that the customer is happy and that they can talk to the owner directly, you know, and know that they're gonna get taken care of.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what would you say actually moves the needle most in your business right now?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Would you say it's delays, would you say it's referrals, conversions, pricing that you're able to offer, or your team's performance?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: I would say it's referrals.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: That is our bread and butter for sure, because with, you know, we have a higher closing rate on referrals than anything else.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: If people know that, you know, we've done a good job and they share that with their neighbor and and they can actually see the work, then we we're pretty much you know at a 90% rate of closing that customer and and getting their work too just because their friend referred them and they saw their friend's trees or something.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that is certainly what moves the needle for us.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: We can do plenty of other estimates from other random leads, but it doesn't mean we close them.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that's not moving the needle for us.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what would you say is the fastest way someone could lose their job working for you?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if they are I'm I'm the only one that does the side that I do.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say that question is referring to the actual operation side.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: The fastest way that they could lose their position is just with the lack of care and operating equipment.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because the first the first thing is safety with us.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if they can't operate something efficiently and safely, then someone's gonna get hurt or a property is going to get hurt.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's not so much about them damaging equipment, it's about what is, you know, is someone going to get hurt by their mispractice?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so if that ever happens, you know, there's there's certain disciplinary actions that are taken.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: And on the flip side of that, what what instantly makes someone valuable to your team?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: If they're willing to learn, you know, there's so much that is available to a person in this industry where they can keep expanding their skills and going to the next level and what their operation is.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so, for example, if you're a groundsman and you're feeding a chipper, you're getting paid less than the person that's in the tree piecing it out, you know, and climbing.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're willing to learn, then we're willing to teach you from knowing nothing, you know, we and we actually like that because then we can teach you the way that we want to do it, you know, and and our our way of doing things, you're not already have this mindset of, well, this is how I've done it before, this is how I want to do it.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because not everyone does the same thing.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're willing to learn, that is the fastest way to grow.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, have you ever had to make a tough call, like, you know, example like letting someone go or cutting something off?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: That ended up being the right move long term.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's it's hard to talk about turnover rate because you don't ever want to offend anyone, but it it's just a it is a thing in this industry, you know, and there's it people get sick of it and it's hot.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's very hot.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're working in heat or it's difficult conditions.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's not easy work.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, if someone just isn't applying themselves in the way that they need to, and the job's going slower because someone's not working properly, and we have to replace that person with someone who is willing to do the the work, then you know, that shows to be the right call.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: We never want to give anyone that information that they're they're no longer going to serve the company and no longer need it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: But in the end, we're we're asking someone to to work a certain way and at a certain pace in order for the job to get done in a timely manner, not only for the rest of the crew, but for the homeowner as well.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to get behind and we need it done quickly.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: So if that person can be replaced by someone who is gonna do the job efficiently, then unfortunately that's just a tough call.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, we're gonna head into what's called the quick fire round.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, how this works is I'm going to give you one word, and then I just want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear each word in regards to running your business, and then give me an expand upon it a little bit with like two or three sentences after.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: The first word is success.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Lots of energy.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then expand upon that a little bit with a couple of curve, I guess.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: The more the more energy you have to put into your business, I truly believe the more successful you're gonna be.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: That energy could be reading everything that you can possibly read about your industry, going to events that involve your industry, learning new skills that involve your industry, and just putting in the actual operation side of it, just giving it your all.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so unfortunately, all of those things require lots of energy.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: But if you put the work in, then you're gonna have you're gonna have success no matter what.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it may not be in all the forms that you think it is, you may not have millions, but if your business has jobs every day, then you're already successful because there's plenty of companies out there that don't.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Failure.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: Failure, I would say that's the lack of energy.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not willing to put every all the time in that a new business needs, then you oh you will fail.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not willing to learn everything about your industry, if you're not willing to meet people in your industry, work with other companies in your industry, then you will fail.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Burnout.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Burnout is when exactly what I've talked about before, if you are not willing to renew your mind, renew your body with scheduled days off, vacation time, then you will absolutely burn out.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: This industry is so hard, mentally and physically, mainly physically, and you have to have a break at some point.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that looks different for everyone, but if you can find it, make sure you make it a priority because it's certainly needed.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Scaling.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Scaling.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: So with scaling, I would say that is probably something that looks alongside the balance part of things with burnout.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's you could take on many.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Jobs that are too large for what you can handle.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so staying within your zone and what you know you're good at and what you know you could complete at a good amount of time, that is where you need to scale your business to what fits for you.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: If someone asks you to go and excavate and land clear 10 acres and you're only used to doing residential jobs that you can finish in a couple hours or one day, and you don't have logging equipment and tractor trailers and logging machines that can go clear these acres, don't take on that job because you are gonna regret it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna have the equipment that you need.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna underbid it because you have not experienced it enough.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you'll regret it in the long run.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Pass those referrals on and keep taking on the jobs that you're good at.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean that you could slowly expand your horizons to get there, but you have to do it very slowly.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: You have to invest in equipment and do what it takes to like actually interview logging companies, sit down with logging companies, figure out what it's gonna take to get there and do it very slowly.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Don't just go think that, well, that's that's a$15,000 job.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let me just figure it out after I get it, after I win the bid, don't do that.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: You will regret it, you're gonna lose money.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Scale the business to what you know you can do.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, pain in the butt.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's my quick hire answer.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hiring is very hard in our industry because everyone says that they're a climber, everyone says that they've done this for 10 years.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why that's the first response.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: So lots of times hiring in our industry means we're vetting people.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we give them a two-week probation.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's them proving themselves in the field.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: So if they can show us that not only they're teachable and they are willing to learn how to do things our way, then you know they make a good impression.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: So if they can handle a saw, great.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: If they can't handle a saw, we're we're happy to teach them how to do it safely.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the first thing with hiring is be honest.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't know anything, but you're interested in our industry and you want to work this industry, we're willing to teach you.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Don't lie about what you've done because we're gonna put it to the test.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you say you're a climber, we're gonna put you in a tree.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can't climb, then we're moving on to the next person because we don't want to start out the hiring process with dishonesty.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Competition.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Opportunity for advancement.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I say that because a lot of people in the tree industry, they I would say that they just butt heads.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: When it comes to other tree services, their instant thought is, oh, what are they doing?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, am I better than them?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: What what are they bidding things at?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Did they underbid me?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a little bit more aggression than I think in other other industries.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can look at your competition and and actually use that as a tool, like, are they bigger than you?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Are they running more crews than you?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Are is their gross, yearly gross higher than yours?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's an opportunity to sit down with them and say, what are you doing?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: And what can I do to like better my company or actually even try to get to the level that you're at?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: So lots of times with us, we will ask companies that are out of our service area.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we're not competing with them and ask them what they're doing.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: We certainly did that this winter when we were slow on jobs and other people were really busy.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: We ask them, like, what are you doing?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: What can we possibly do to stay busy in the winter and get advice from them?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then for other people that are in our area that are very qualified tree services, we actually pass work back and forth to each other because there's something that we can't get to that they can because they have a higher bucket truck than us.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's some things that they can't get to because they're too busy, but we happen to have a climber that can go rescue a cat out of a tree today.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's things that we do to help each other to make sure the customer is taken care of in the long run.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I think competition, it's just a missed opportunity for some tree services that are not willing to sit down and have a relationship with other companies that are qualified.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the last word is freedom.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: What a business can provide for you.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're smart enough to make the business work as a tool to provide you freedom, then that's what it will do.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: But if you let it be a ball and chain, then it will be.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to look at owning a business as something that can take you to that can work as a vehicle to take you to the next level that you want to go.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the business for us, building it up over 10 years, it gave us the freedom that we wanted to.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we we live on a beautiful 16-acre farm with horses, and I get to work from my home, be with my children.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: My husband gets to do random jobs that he just wants to do to earn more money to build something else.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not and it's not a priority.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that business gave us our freedom, and we choose to treat it as a vehicle to get that.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: So for anyone in the business industry right now, think about your 10-year, even your five-year goals.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what do you want to be?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want to do?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: And what do you want to see in five years, even 10 years?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you can allow your business to be that vehicle for that, that's your freedom.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Your goals are your freedom.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: So let the business work for you to get there.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean necessarily selling your business like we did.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: It could mean building it up to a place where you can hire people to do the work that you're doing.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you can still own the business, but actually have that freedom because people are in the operations that are actually doing your job and you're standing back and just observing and still being the face of the company, but you got your freedom back.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what business they're supposed to be for in the first place.
• 28:02
  unknown: Mm-hmm.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate you getting through that quick fry round.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: So where do you think your industry is going?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And what are most people getting wrong about it right now, would you say?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the industry is taking leaps and bounds from when we first started.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: There was only one tree service in the area.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: We were the second.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: And now you can throw a stone and hit a tree service.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: So they uh like a new one, I feel starts about every day.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a little tough because we are as long as they get licensed and insured, which is easy and sometimes very cheap to do, then we can quickly get underbid by them just because they're they're new, they're fresh, and they're starting out, and they don't have the massive amount of equipment that we do and we're paying on, or they don't have the the skill level of some of the employees that we're paying a lot of money to.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there's there's things that are challenging about the tree industry now and how up and coming it is because um the people that the companies that have been around for a while and am really investing in themselves, their bill, you know, the company, the equipment, we're getting underbid by a lot of these new guys.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's enough to go around.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're still gonna maintain business, but I think that it's just a matter of making sure that the customer is safe in the long run.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we want to make sure that everyone's taken care of and not, you know, having malpractices.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: In Tennessee, topping trees is very, very common, but it's against the arborist practice.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we're trying to educate homeowners in that and even other tree services, you know, don't like don't do this.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is what we're that makes everyone look bad.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we this is how you're supposed to trim trees and prune trees, but then you guys don't necessarily know that.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: So our industry is certainly up and coming.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: It is a massive industry, but as far as what what it would look like in 10 years, I don't really know.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think it depends on the companies that are new and have started.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: If they're gonna maintain the, I guess, the reputation, the quality that we expect out of this industry, then I think it'll go well.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if they don't, and there's a lot of ill practices and stuff, it's gonna give everyone a bad name, and and we hope that that doesn't happen.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I think for every area, this industry looks different, but that's kind of what it looks like for us in East Tennessee.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then no threat of uh AI, do you think at all?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe for my job.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'll move on to other things, but no, not on the operation side.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that AI is gonna cut down trees anytime soon.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't think any robots are gonna be that smart yet.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, you never know, man.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I don't know about in 15, 20 years now.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: That might be a different story.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: But 10 years, I don't think so.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I want you to be as candid as you can on the next answer for this question, but let's just say hypothetically, let's say somebody, a small business owner is listening to the podcast episode with you today, rejoice, and let's say they're having just a just a hard go of 2026, you know, uh, they're feeling stuck or overwhelmed, not profitable.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: The business is just not working for them, and they're looking elsewhere and they're about to give up.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: What's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear from you today, would you say?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: They need to talk to someone that is in their industry that can give them advice.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so that person may be hard to find, but you can start on Facebook.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's lots of face group Facebook groups for the industry that you're in.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care what industry it is, there's a Facebook group for it.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if you could start by joining a Facebook group and actually talking to some of the businesses that are in that group, you could do one candid post, you know, about like your your 2026 struggles.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Does anyone have any advice for you?
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh people will comment back, but there's gonna be someone in the comments that says something that triggers you and you can private message them.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then maybe even from there, you can go do a phone call and you just need to get advice because there is plenty of times that we have felt stuck in this industry, and that's when we're reaching out to someone.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's when we're figuring out what do we need to do different.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're just trying to think of it yourself, you may not get the answer you need.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: You have to reach out to a community, you have to have some sort of mentor, someone who's doing in the industry, but doing way better than you that can give you advice.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: And most of the time, you know, that's they're willing to give it because honestly, everyone's put their heart and soul into their business and they're excited to share their successes with others.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I've never ran into someone that says, Well, I don't want to share that with you because you're my competition.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's never been the case.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that their their first step is re getting help, reaching out to someone that's in the same industry and start getting advice and go from there.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love I love that.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and just shouts out to that.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're never alone, small business owner.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to it and you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed, you're never alone.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, post on Facebook, post on social media, whatever.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Get the advice you need from somebody in your industry.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, what would you say is next for a crazy Irish tree service?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: What should people be excited about coming up in the near future?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Adam has a lot of things that he wants to do with the company in regards to taking the services to the next level.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there are so many.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: We went to Arborfest over in Asheville, North Carolina.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to that.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was absolutely wonderful this year.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: But so many previews of new equipment coming out, new rigging equipment, new forestry equipment.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so just offering more and more services to our customers is like the primary goal.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: So investing in more equipment that can do different things is most certainly the future that he wants to look at.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, what's the best way for someone to connect with you or learn more about what you do?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so they can visit our website.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy iristreeservice.com.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, you can our email's on there, our phone numbers on there, all our social media is on there.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a good starting point to get any of the contact information you need.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: But they can reach out via text, email, or even social media, and we're happy to speak with them, answer any questions they might have, or just give us a follow on social media and kind of see what we're doing.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you, Rejoice.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: This has been fantastic.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you for coming on and sharing your story and your perspective.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate you coming on today.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was a great story.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you very much.