im going self imployed

[Peter_t]

hi there, im planning on starting my own tree surgery and hedge cutting business. i have just left college and have a national diploma in forestry and arboriculture and NPTC qualifications in chainsaw operations and climbing. i am nearly 18, still living with my parents so i have very little living costs (they want £30 a week for keep). i cannot drive yet but i am not far off. i have been working Fridays and Saturdays with a tree surgeon for £40 a day, he says that he could pass me on some of his smaller jobs such as hedge cutting, small tree work and general garden maintenance.

i have public liability insurance to buy, i am not yet sure how much this will cost. i am planning to get a hedge cutter and possibly a chainsaw, each costing £4-500 each to get me started

at some point i plan to get a pick up truck, i was thinking of a Toyota hilux or similar but with the costs of the truck itself, insurance and fuel im thinking i will not make enough to pay for it. i think my only option is a Suzuki carry pick up or similar. far from desirable i know lol but they are fairly cheep to insure and run.

i already have some equipment such as climbing kit, pruning saw, secateurs, hedge shears and some other hand tools. And can also borrow some tools from the guy I work with at the weekends.

at the moment i have around £2000 in the bank and my parents say they will give me a bit towards equipment and a vehicle. i have a steady income of £80 a week and whatever else i can make myself. is this a sensible amount to start with?


at the end of the day im not worried about making loads of money i just want something to do that will be a bit of a chalenge and give me freedome to do my own things.

i guess i would like advice and comments, and is this a good idea?


big thanks
pete

 

[TeeDee]

Pete , You may want to speak to Spaniel Man ( nice guy ) who is a tree surgeon/consultant down here in Devon.

Sure you lot will have a lot to chat about. PM him.

 

[Draven]

I can give you no advice whatsoever about starting a business, but you may want to look into a business loan/grant - if you're under 30 they're fairly easy to get and can be pretty fair too I think, which would help a lot in getting the initial kit and advertising you need. Getting yourself in debt is obviously a big deal of course, so think about it, but it's an option if the custom is there.

Best of luck
Pete

 

[sasquatch]

Best of luck with everything! Regardless of how you get started it sounds like you've put some thought into it and have a game plan. Don't be afraid to take risks especially if you still live at home!!! If you don't fancy government grants and loans just start off small and build it up, putting money back into the business to build it up. Sounds like a very good start at the age of 18, all the best fella!

 

[Peter_t]

thanks guys im not sure about grants and havnt given them much thought yet. but it worries me that if i get grants or loans and dont produce money then i could be in a worse position?
maby it would be best to just start off small as im not in any rush having no living costs

pete

 

[Shewie]

Good luck Pete, hope it all works out for you.

 

[Nagual]

Have a look at your local Business Enterprise or Business Gateway ( names differ depending on your location ) they will be able to give you a lot of advice and it's free too. Grants- if available are great, you don't pay these back. Loans of course are different. Good luck!

 

[malente]

Sounds great, good luck!

 

[Mesquite]

Good luck with your venture. At least you've got someone willing to give you work which is a good start.

With regards money and advice don't forget to speak to the Prince's Trust. They specialise in helping under 25's start up new businesses with grants and advice.

 

[locum76]

go for it man.

I wish I had the skills and courage to start a business when i was 18. It's a good age to start aswell, when you've got less to lose. (no mortgage, no wife, no kids etc)

good luck

rob

 

[tobes01]

Good luck. Get a good accountant, they'll give you a heap of great advice and stop you from getting into trouble. Good doesn't necessarily mean big company (in most cases it's the opposite). Wish I'd had the guts to do something like you're doing when I was 18.

Cheers

Tobes

 

[TeeDee]

i would suggest you dont go down the Grant/Loan route yet unless you really need to feel it would help you.
Quite easy to make a good return on basic equipment doing good old bread and butter hedge/gardening small tree work, get soem flyers knocked up , deliver them yourself ( i would nt bother with a paper ad after trial and error on my part . Cost is pricey.) so couple thousnad flyers out about , even pay Paper round boys and girls and extra £5.00 to deliver them.

Would'nt look at specific Aerial Tree surgery yet unless your sure thats exactly what you want to do. Cap Ex is alot higher and you'll be straight way into a competitive market.

Plenty of Brass at Gardening level.

 

[Tengu]

Dont sniff at a lunchbox truck, they are cheap, easy to maintain (dont let anyone tell you otherwise) and carry loads.

I wouldnt try racing in one though.

Get one done up with an eye catching logo and your PHONE NUMBER and people will show interest.

Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. And get a memoriable business name. Branding is everything.

Also, see if you can wangle a promotional article in the local rag...they dont do this for any old body, of course, but chances are they are looking for copy `Local teen starts business` might be it...Be interesting.

Dont forget. Professionalism in Everything

Good luck.

 

[Peter_t]

thanks again guys, really appreciate the encouragement and advice

Dont sniff at a lunchbox truck, they are cheap, easy to maintain (dont let anyone tell you otherwise) and carry loads.

thats good to hear Tengu, tbh its one of the things i am worrying about most. as i will be useing it to get about as a normall car outside work i think i will get a few odd looks and laughs but i think i can put up with that. does anybody know what they are like to drive? i know some come with a 1.3L engine but if i can find one what are the 900cc models like?

im not too sure about putting my number on the side thow, there are quite a few undesirables that live neer me and i think all the abuse through prank calls will be more trouble than its worth
but i found out that in the village information center you can advertise for 50p a week!


pete

 

[dwardo]

I have been working for my self for the past 15 months. I have a large mortgage and other assorted bills to pay and i took the leap with about £1000 in the bank and the "promise" of a few jobs lined up
Its lots of sleepless nights and panic when you have loads of bills but....You live with your parents i say go for it! They say a day working for your self is a day you are not working for "the man", i agree..
It is lots of hard work running any kind of business but your working for your benifit (and the tax man of course ) so its nicer work to do
The thing to do is look into the insurance costs PL and PI if needed dependant on cost. You then setup a ltd company online for around £100-£200 sometimes less. Keep a record of any work you do and any costs you incure such as tools, petrol etc etc. You will need to seek out an accountant at some point but it shouldnt cost a lot providing you remember to write everything down, moeny in, money out dates times names and invoice copies.
Cheap advertising is getting out there with a loads of flyers or business cards and hand them out personally when you are not busy. It can be pretty soul destroying handing out a 1000 leaflets or cards with no response but you just keep going till you get a bite.

Good luck man.

 

[Mikey P]

Assuming that you are going to get work mainly through your previous employer, you should be able to calculate roughly what your monthly income will be.

To be honest, now is really not a great time to be doing tree surgery unless you are qualified to do utilities and council work. Bottom has dropped out of the market for private work at the moment and what is left has heavy competition. The fact that you are broadening into garden work/hedging is a bonus but it doesn't pay as well.

Best bits of advice kit-wise? Buy the best, most reliable kit you can afford: Huskie or Stihl saw, Stihl hedgecutters. I have a Huskie saw which is robust and revvy enough for small to medium trees but light enough for aerial work. The pro-saws aren't cheap but they use better components and will last longer.

One problem for you may be disposal of waste. Unless you have a cage trailer and somewhere to legally dispose of the waste, get a decent chipper, which will pay for itself within a year if your business plan is good. Indeed, most punters actually want to keep the chippings for mulch but no-one wants a pile of leaves and branches.

Don't take this the wrong way but you will also need to learn to write properly! For example, you'll find that the shift key will give a capital letter to start a sentence with. Business is very much about image. If you want to work for someone and get regular jobs, you need to show a professional attitude not only to the work but also to your invoices and documentation. A spelling mistake on your paper flyer does not indicate that you have an eye for detail and quality, regardless of how you cut hedges. You may think I'm being harsh but it's a fact.

If you want a grant from anyone, you'll need a business plan. This is not that difficult (realistic projected income against realistic and comprehensive expenditure) but will also act as a reality check. If expenditure > income, don't bother. £80 a week is very little and you need to think seriously about whether you can afford to do this at the moment.

In fact, you'd be better off spending the money on getting your driving license at the moment - and don't forget, you'll probably need to get a trailer qualification too. As a new driver, commercial vehicle insurance will be crippling. All this needs to be in the business plan.

Frankly, you would be better off sticking with your current employer and building experience whilst he pays for the kit, the vehicles and the insurance! It may be that, if you can do more work for him, he'll take you on properly. You have to get experience in this business as it counts for so much. When you have that experience, set out on your own properly. Many small businesses fail - do everything you can to make sure that when you start your business, it isn't one of them as bankruptcy and business failure can ruin your life.

Whatever you decide, you have youth and fitness on your side, so, good luck but be prepared for the knockbacks and lean times.

 

[falling rain]

Good for you peter_t. Go for it mate!
I quit the rat race earlier this year and have experienced changing feelings of anxiety and complete happiness. I don't have much money, and I don't own much kit or possessions but what I do have are my favourites, and I don't belong to anyone. Life is not about money, money, money. Someone said something on here a while back that really hit the spot with me, (can't remember who it was, but feel free to shout if it was you, it is a great quote)
'It's better to have fun getting by on a little, than working very hard so you can have a lot' (or words to that effect) How true!
I'm lucky my lad is grown up and making his own way, I don't have a mortgage and would never want one. I don't have a plasma, or a flash motor. I have a few key things that bring me much happiness and are very useful and reliable. My fishing rods, my trangia, my knife, my axe, my sleeping bag, a handful of excellent bushcraft/plant/fishy/tree etc books and a few other things.......but not much.
Have fun and enjoy your only life, and make it a good'un.
I wish you all the success.........not to be rich, (although a few bob wouldn't go amiss, granted) but to be happy with what you're doing is the most important thing.

 

[dwardo]

Good for you peter_t. Go for it mate!
I quit the rat race earlier this year and have experienced changing feelings of anxiety and complete happiness. I don't have much money, and I don't own much kit or possessions but what I do have are my favourites, and I don't belong to anyone. Life is not about money, money, money. Someone said something on here a while back that really hit the spot with me, (can't remember who it was, but feel free to shout if it was you, it is a great quote)
'It's better to have fun getting by on a little, than working very hard so you can have a lot' (or words to that effect) How true!
I'm lucky my lad is grown up and making his own way, I don't have a mortgage and would never want one. I don't have a plasma, or a flash motor. I have a few key things that bring me much happiness and are very useful and reliable. My fishing rods, my trangia, my knife, my axe, my sleeping bag, a handful of excellent bushcraft/plant/fishy/tree etc books and a few other things.......but not much.
Have fun and enjoy your only life, and make it a good'un.
I wish you all the success.........not to be rich, (although a few bob wouldn't go amiss, granted) but to be happy with what you're doing is the most important thing.

I agree!

When i quit working for someone else i didnt know how i could take such a paycut

Well, i now live on about 60% of what i was earning before and i have never been happier, yes the stress does get a bit mad but its your own stress and not some ejit in a suit on a power trip. I too dont own a plazma TV too big to fit in my front room but i dont care as i get loads of time for woodwork and projects, which cost nawt. Time is far more precious than money and sometimes you dont realise it until its too late to spend that time with the people you love.

 

[Dave Budd]

Having set myself up as a self employed craftsman (knifemaker primarily) with a whole bunch of debts to start with I really suggest thining about getting a job working for somebody else while you are gathering the kit and more general business experience.

Business Link and other similar outfits give free advice and helped me out a lot when I started out. Also the Princes's trust are very helpful and supportive, they lent me £2k to get me going with a low intereset rate repayment over 3 years (If I had been under 25 they would've given me a grant rather than the loan, but I was still uinder 30).

I wouldn't ever want to go back to working for somebody else now, but it is a shed load eaiser and less stressful! Especially when you don't know where the next rent cheque or food money is coming from, but the bills still keep rolling in regulalry

 

[addo]

Peter, I ran a Tree surgery, Garden maintenance and Landscaping company for 4 years.
Lots of usefull advice already here. I was constantly turning work down as I was swamped.
I made sure I was very experienced before I started, and was able to pick and choose what work I wanted and where. It was great.

But very long hrs, let down by lazy staff, and living near the Collage I trained who chun out dozens of NPTC trained folks each year, all wanting to start a buisness, ment that work got a bit thin, just as I wanted to start a family and get a mortgage.

The novelty wore off, but your younger than I was, with the option of looking at it with fresh ideas, so Id go for it for now, or at least after another year of experience and money/planning.

The following tips are based on a couple of years ago, before the current economic problems.

Get a transit tipper. Everthing else is slow, too small on the back, or exepensive.
Chippers are great, but you need a peice of land to store the spare chippings, along with logs, burnable waste, and bits of kit/materials. Extra income can then be made, along with having a usefull storage area.
People will still be impressed with tree climbing work and this can be a good platform to promote your other skills, ending up with lots of work in one place.
Flyers in shop windows, word of mouth is better than the local paper, but if you go in the yellow pages, you will never look back.
Leylandii will be your bread and butter. Reductions followed by annual pruning.
Dont aggree to hand weed gardens for hrs in the hot sun. Soul destroying.
Paving is fun, but I used to try and incorporate as much planting as possible.
Fencing is regular skilled work, that can be varied in its materials and location. I learnt many methods so that I was able to work on country estates as well as urban gardens.

You will end up needing help if you want to ern a full weekly wage, so make sure your mates are up to it, if not, willing to take someone on.

Good luck Peter. And keep up with all the extra tree related courses in Visual assesment and risk assesment ect, as inspection work and reports, is a large part of the industry at the moment, and you could move away from practical work in the future.

Cheers, Addo