I'm going to pose an issue that may have no breakthrough answer but here goes. No better place for it than the The House.
I've mentioned here before that The Ninja, my gifted climber and right hand man for 10 years, recently left me to move down South to be with the love of his life, a relationship he rekindled. So I became the main climber as I had been before he arrived, and I replaced him with an unskilled ground guy. On my best day ever as a younger climber I could never have equalled the ninja in terms of strength, agility, balance and nerve. Plus he was very mechanically inclined, and an excellent driver etc etc. So when he left I wasn't even sure how I was going to be able to persist in business cuz I'm a lot older now and I had become very reliant on him. Well after awhile I was honestly amazed to find that we were doing the same or better financially as when he was here. I still haven't fully figured out how that is but in terms of the climbing aspect, while he was an awesome climber in the tree, he would frequently be stopping to eat, to piss, to shit, to go back to the truck to get gear he forgot to get earlier, to check his phone, to bullshit, etc. I on the other hand am totally focused and methodical and I virtually never stop for anything, I just non stop grind full time. Not so hard that I can't work the following day but I basically never stop.
So things are fairly good and we are getting it done. My concern is about being the owner and the main climber. It was probably at The House that I once heard the phrase 'its hard to run a business from the top of a tree' and I 100% agree. So I have this nagging concern in the back of my mind that, as the owner, I may make a serious mistake while climbing because I have too much on my mind. I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with the case of Cameron, tree service owner from NJ who built up an apparently awesome small tree business that owned several cranes including a brand new, beautiful, serious, 60t or 70t crane. He was the main climber and was killed when he fell while transitioning from the ball to tree because he forgot to lanyard in, he leaned back and poof, he was gone. I imagine he had too much on his mind besides what he was doing- the next job, tonights appointments, getting this job done on schedule, a troublesome employee, etc etc) and it killed him. I'm worried the same could happen to me. Yes of course you may say 'just focus full time' but it doesn't seem that simple.
You might say get a new climber but that is highly difficult as you all know. My current guys are learning but at a slow pace (the ninja had a knack for the work and so he learned and progressed quickly).
So I'm just venting, wondering if there are some perspectives here that might shed some new light on my thoughts. Thanks.
I've mentioned here before that The Ninja, my gifted climber and right hand man for 10 years, recently left me to move down South to be with the love of his life, a relationship he rekindled. So I became the main climber as I had been before he arrived, and I replaced him with an unskilled ground guy. On my best day ever as a younger climber I could never have equalled the ninja in terms of strength, agility, balance and nerve. Plus he was very mechanically inclined, and an excellent driver etc etc. So when he left I wasn't even sure how I was going to be able to persist in business cuz I'm a lot older now and I had become very reliant on him. Well after awhile I was honestly amazed to find that we were doing the same or better financially as when he was here. I still haven't fully figured out how that is but in terms of the climbing aspect, while he was an awesome climber in the tree, he would frequently be stopping to eat, to piss, to shit, to go back to the truck to get gear he forgot to get earlier, to check his phone, to bullshit, etc. I on the other hand am totally focused and methodical and I virtually never stop for anything, I just non stop grind full time. Not so hard that I can't work the following day but I basically never stop.
So things are fairly good and we are getting it done. My concern is about being the owner and the main climber. It was probably at The House that I once heard the phrase 'its hard to run a business from the top of a tree' and I 100% agree. So I have this nagging concern in the back of my mind that, as the owner, I may make a serious mistake while climbing because I have too much on my mind. I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with the case of Cameron, tree service owner from NJ who built up an apparently awesome small tree business that owned several cranes including a brand new, beautiful, serious, 60t or 70t crane. He was the main climber and was killed when he fell while transitioning from the ball to tree because he forgot to lanyard in, he leaned back and poof, he was gone. I imagine he had too much on his mind besides what he was doing- the next job, tonights appointments, getting this job done on schedule, a troublesome employee, etc etc) and it killed him. I'm worried the same could happen to me. Yes of course you may say 'just focus full time' but it doesn't seem that simple.
You might say get a new climber but that is highly difficult as you all know. My current guys are learning but at a slow pace (the ninja had a knack for the work and so he learned and progressed quickly).
So I'm just venting, wondering if there are some perspectives here that might shed some new light on my thoughts. Thanks.